“Friday the sessions were really good and competitive,” he said, adding that effort continued through Saturday when some players were told the bad news that they were not in the team’s immediate plans.
By Sunday’s intrasquad game, with 38 skaters left in camp, Zawatsky said it was starting to show the players had not been on the ice much, if at all, in months, and the heat of the weekend didn’t help either.
But, overall the camp was solid in terms of evaluating players, not that there were many spots open for the upcoming season.
Zawatsky noted that the league required teams to sign 15 players by June, which meant only five spots remained to be filled.
The new league requirement set up some unusual situations in camp too. The Maulers had already signed two netminders so other goalies came to camp “knowing no spot was available,” said Zawatsky.
The Maulers did sign three players out of camp, leaving only two spots to fill by September when the team comes back to the city and readies for preseason games with the first home game Sept. 10, against the Saskatoon Contacts.
For mid-August Zawatsky says he likes what he has to work with.
“I believe so. It’s a really good group,” he said, adding it is likely to take some time for all teams in the league to jell since few players have U18 experience, and played little, if at all last winter due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Among those signed are four players from Yorkton; veteran Jaxon Sperling returns and Drew Fleger, Jeff Stewart, and Vinay Junek will be new to the Maulers.
