Peterborough pares down its roster, but decisions still need to be made
The opening three days of Peterborough Petes training camp didn’t do much to clarify some of the tough decisions the club will have to make prior to the regular season.
Management knows it will take a month or more to sort out some of the questions they have about which goaltenders and overage players to keep, but this week they have to make decisions on some of the prospects hoping to win a roster spot by bumping a veteran from the lineup.
Following fitness testing and two days of scrimmages, Petes management pared the roster down by reassigning 13 skaters Thursday night, leaving 54 for the annual Maroon and White Game to be held at 4:05 p.m. Friday at the Memorial Centre.
The reassigned players included Jonny Brooks, Elijah Chavez, Quinton Kim-Lemay, Kasra Fathi, Matthew Crawford, Calum Hartnell, Justin Ouellette, Alexander Smyth, Owen Cassidy, Marcus Sulug, Raiden Doxtator, Matthew McKenna and Nicholas Wlodarczyk.
Second-year forward Caden Taylor and veteran Quinton Page led the training camp scoring with four goals and one assist each, while overage candidates Ryder McIntyre and Jonathan Melee had two goals and two assists apiece. Defenceman Martin Matejicek had a goal and three assists and sophomore forward Nico Addy had four assists.
Rookies Colin Fitzgerald and Dylan Turcotte, along with sophomore Aiden Young, scored three goals each. Brennan Faulkner had two goals and an assist, Kyle Secko a goal and two helpers and Braydon McCallum three assists.
Goalies Liam Sztuska and Dylan Lee-Stack pitched four shutouts in eight scrimmages.
Petes GM and vice-president of operations Mike Oke said he’s pleased to see the examples being set by the returning players. “It’s obvious the returning players all put a lot of hard work in over the summer. We had meetings at the end of last season highlighting what the expectations were over the summer in order for those players to move forward and, to a man, it was obvious the returning guys put some solid work in off the ice.
“With the players we’ve recently drafted and the prospects, we had good dialogue with those players at development camp and highlighted with each of them what it was going to take in order to come back and make a case to be here full-time,” he said. “I was really impressed by the work those particular players put in. We had really competitive scrimmage games throughout the two days. It’s going to lead to some really difficult decisions.”
He expects the quality of play to ramp up for the Maroon and White Game.
“We expect the level of competition to take another step and give us a chance to see which players are able to take the step with it,” Oke said. “After (Friday), we’ll have to make some more difficult decisions.”
Notes During Tuesday’s fitness testing, Chase Lefebvre, Sztuska, McCallum and Easton Lynds featured in the top three of multiple events. Three players tied for the best 300-yard shuttle run of 57 seconds, including Lefebvre, Lynds and Brayden Velliaris. Sztuska had the best broad jump of nine feet, eight inches. William Haley had the most pull ups with 27. Lefebvre topped the 5-10-5 shuttle run in 4.25 seconds ... McCallum has been invited to the Carolina Hurricanes development camp and Lefebvre to the Detroit Red Wings camp. Petes alumnus Austin Watson also signed a tryout agreement with Detroit ... 2007-born forward Vasily Serov was loaned by the Oshawa Generals to the Petes for a tryout. Serov, Oshawa’s ninth-round draft pick in 2023, signed with the Generals last fall but didn’t play a game for them. If the Petes decide to keep him, Oke said a trade agreement is in place ... The Petes start their preseason schedule Sunday when they host the Niagara IceDogs at Port Hope’s Jack Burger Recreation Complex at 2:05 p.m.