Exciting battles expected heading into Hurricanes camp

By Lethbridge Herald on August 25, 2022.

Herald FILE photo Hurricanes G.M. Peter Anholt went centremen heavy in this year's WHL Prospects Draft

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes will having many exciting questions answered with their prospects and leadership group  as camp is just around the corner.

“After the draft we signed our top four picks in Will Sharpe, Kash Andreasen, Carsen Adaire and Koen Cleav er — so we’re really please about that, getting those guys signed,” said Peter Anholt, Hurricanes general manager.

“So they’ll be here at camp and play some exhibition games with us. So we’ll get a real good feel for them and they’ll give us some depth going down the road through regular season to have them as affiliates. And we’ve basically turned our third and fourth lines into a lot of young guys and guys that we think have lots of skill and so that’s exciting for us.”

Anholt said your draft is the key and letting those players develop back home.

“And now they’ll come into your team and see where they’re at and if they’re good enough to be able to contribute,” he said.

“So the summer, for us, I mean you do the Prospects Draft and then you get the guys signed that you want — you know all those top guys— and then everybody else will come into camp unsigned from those drafts and I’m sure they’re hoping that they can get signed and get into some exhibition games.”

While the club has been in contact with their top draft picks, it all comes down to what they do on the ice.

“You know those 2007s — I mean we think they’re good players because we drafted them high,” he said.

“They’re all on their own workout programs. Our coaches touch base with them. But hey it’s what they do on the ice when they come here. When it’s all said and done, we’re excited about them coming in. We’re going to have a more normal situation than ever now with our two days of  15-and-16-year-old camps and then we will parachute in our main camp after that and then have our intersquad and then we’ll make some decision of who sticks around for exhibition games.”

Anholt thinks the club needs more  leadership and contribution from the likes of Jett Jones, Alex Thacker, Tyson Laventure and Ty Nash this season.

“Those guys are going to be key for us right off the bat,” said Anholt.

“But losing Yegor Klavdiev hurts because we thought that he was going to probably be able to score 20 or 30 goals and he’s not back — so we’ll see how we can fill that hole down the road.”

Anholt said guys have got to step up this season.

“There’s opportunities when guys graduate or they move on,” he said.

“There’s opportunities in front and we’ll see how Logan Wormald comes back and how Brayden Edwards comes back and we had a special line in Wormald, Edwards and (Miguel) Marques last year and we’ll see how they perform as a group and with higher expectations coming in. So it’s always interesting how expectations can change a player whether they blossom with it or maybe the extra pressure is harder on them.”

Anholt thinks it’s going to be a real competitive camp once players hit the ice later next week.

“But it’s fun in different ways because you see the 15-and-16-year-olds battle it out the first two days and you get a real good feel for Marques, Tristen Doyle and Trae Wilkie, (who) will all be in that group too. So you see that standard of where the other guys are at, “ said Anholt.

“You know a guy like Sharpe, who was our first round pick this past year, is an ‘07 and we’ll see where he’s at and what his summer has been like. So that’s exciting first of all and then we go into main camp. We’ll bring probably 15 or so guys from rookie camp right into main camp and then it’s game on.”

The Canes will be without the services of goalie Brian Thomson to start the season as he recovers from surgery —which will create a battle in the crease.

“Jared Picklyk won a lot of games for us last year,” he said.

“So we’re excited to see what he can do while Thomson is out with his injury and we think we’ve got two really good prospects  in Harrison Meneghin and Brady Smith coming in goal.”

Rookie camp will be on Sept. 1 and 2 and main camp is on Sept. 3 and 4 and to wrap up with intrasquad game on Sept. 5 at noon.