The Winkler Flyers will be holding their annual Olympic Source for Sports – Spring Camp from April 10-12 at the Winkler Recreation Centre. Around 85 players born between 1997 and 2000 will be on hand looking to get their hands on future roster spots.
The Flyers will have some significant holes to fill on their roster for the upcoming 2015-16 season as the club will lose nine 20-year-old players (1994’s) due to graduation. Forwards Patrice Wren, Bryce Enns, Brett Klassen, Jagger Thomas and Ryne Keller, defenceman Reid Burak and Jon Carlson along with goaltenders Dasan Sydora and Devon Fordyce have all graduated from Junior hockey.
“No question, we will be using this year’s spring camp to help us find some younger players who can step into our lineup and help us right away,” said Flyers Head Coach and General Manager Ken Pearson. “Although we have a strong group of returning veterans for next season, we need to replace at least nine players from last year’s lineup, so players coming to this spring camp will have every opportunity to earn a spot on our roster for next season.
“We finished with a record of 31-17-12 in 2014-15 and lost 4-2 in the playoffs, so we certainly didn’t meet our expectations,” said Pearson. “We need to be better in every position and hopefully we’ll find some players at this year’s spring camp who can challenge for a spot.”
The 2000 born players will be evaluated ahead of this June’s MJHL Bantam Draft. The top performers from the Olympic Source for Sports – Spring Camp will be invited back to the Winkler Flyers Main Camp in August
Please continue to check back for the camp schedule and team rosters in the coming days.