Champlain Camp Opens Up

Preparation is key to any WHL season, and that was the thought process of Champlain Athletic when they decided to open training camp in July.

45 members of Champlain Athletic's hockey side congregated in Burlington this afternoon. The lone absentee was Jim O'Brien, and with good reason: he had been traded to the team (from Edmonton, in exchange for Carl Klingberg) just before the start of camp. Tye McGinn has also been traded, to Waterloo, for a late round pick.

Before camp started, new addition Martin St. Louis announced that this season would be his last. "There's no place I'd rather end my career than where it started," said St. Louis, a UVM alumnus. "Burlington is an amazing place, and I want to give the fans here everything I've got in my last season. These fans deserve nothing but the best, and I'm going to make sure Champlain gives it to them."

Most of the first day was primarily meant for teambuilding. After light jogging early in the afternoon, the team broke into groups and hiked up Camel's Hump, with an incentive for the winning group. The winner was the team of Vladimir Tarasenko, Seth Jones, and oddball of the group, goalie Igor Bobkov. Jones joked: "We bonded quickly, using memories of beating Team Canada at the World Juniors." This group gets the morning weight session off tomorrow!

Asked why she opened camp before the upcoming draft, GM Locria Fox responded, "Given that whoever we draft probably won't be playing right away, it's important to get our first team playing together and gelling as soon as we can. On top of this, they need to get acquainted to Cammi [Granato] and the rest of our new coaching staff. The prospects will join immediately after the draft." The team's top pick is at #23 overall, but they've been mum on who it will be spent on.

We'll see how the team looks in an on ice evaluation game tomorrow.