South Island Has Talent - 2009-10 Evaluation Camp Underway

South Island Thunderbirds, August 06, 2009

The battle this month to earn one of 20 roster positions up for grabs for the 2009-10 edition of the South Island Thunderbirds Major Midget Hockey team is being contested by a total of 51 elite players aged 15 to 17 from around the Greater Victoria area and the Cowichan Valley.  The competition started in earnest on Thursday afternoon at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre when 12 goalies took the ice for a pre-camp evaluation and faced a barrage of shots from a dozen shooters from last season’s BCMML semi-finalist team. 

For the current crop of eager netminders, there is no easing into the program as this immediate “trial by fire” would see the goalie group cut in half by the group of evaluators on Thursday night.  Only six goalies were to be invited back to the team’s three day main camp that runs this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Goaltending has certainly been a strong spot for the Thunderbirds in its first four years, with several of its grads making successful moves up to the WHL and BCHL in following years.  The alumni group includes Kiefer Smiley (2005-06) and Taylor Pears (2006-07 and 2007-08) of the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals and Jamie Tucker (2007-08) of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.  Last year’s T-Bird tandem included Brandon Glover, who became South Island's first ever selection to the BCMML All-Star team and is expected to play this season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors.

This year should be no different as the other half of last year’s pairing was then 15 year old Ryan Waldhaus who is back in the Thunderbirds’ camp this week to contend for one of the two roster spots.  Ryan had an excellent rookie season in 2008-09 and earned the team’s “Unsung Hero” award, putting up sparkling numbers in the team’s second half stretch run to make the playoffs (.913 save percentage and 3.00 goals against average in his final six games).  He will be challenged by a bevy of other contenders in this year's group.

The action heats up steadily this weekend at Juan de Fuca as all skaters and the remaining six goalies will take the ice on Friday night for an initial practice session (Group A at 6:00 PM and Group B at 7:30 PM).  There will then be two scrimmages on Saturday (starting at 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM respectively) and a third on Sunday morning (starting at 10:00 AM), after which a minimum of 12 skaters and one goalie will be named to the team and the overall group will likely be cut in half.

There will be no shortage of South Island hockey talent on display and, with players at this stage of development, you never know who might emerge as the local equivalent to “Susan Boyle”.  (Hmm - better make that Curtis Joseph or Martin St. Louis!).  Let the fun and games begin!