Credit to Timmins Daily Press

TIMMINS - The Timmins Majors took another important step back toward respectability on the weekend with a three-day training camp helping new coach Brandon Perry identify the make-up of the GNML’s 2017-18 roster.

With only eight players — Cameron Svec, Cameron Dutkiewicz, David Beaven, Fred Leclair-Pouw, as well as forwards Riley Brousseau, Cameron Chisholm and Austin Holmes and Riley Robitaille, who can play both forward and defence — eligible to return, there were plenty of jobs open when the fall camp kicked off on Friday night.

“We got a lot of numbers out, which is really good,” Perry said.

“The first night (Friday), we had 48 skaters and we didn’t even dress a lot of the guys we had already signed. It is always a good problem to have when you have a lot of kids to look at in camp.”

The down side, of course, is that means you end up with a lot of kids to cut — the least enviable part of any coach’s job.

“You can’t keep them all,” Perry said.

“We had to let go some really good hockey players, but the guys we think are going to be on the team have looked really good and we are excited about it.”

Further complicating things for Perry and his staff was the fact Svec, Leclair-Pouw, Holmes and Robitaille were still in camp with the Timmins Rock as of Saturday night, as was goalie Jordan Yaremchuk, who is expected to sign with the Majors if he does not crack the NOJHL club’s roster.

“We are still waiting to see what the Rock are going to do,” he said.

“Those jobs are kind of up in the air. We had about seven or eight spots to fill.”

The coach wasn’t looking for anything out of the ordinary from the forwards attempting to secure any of the open jobs.

“I am just looking for effort,” Perry said.

“It all comes down to effort, being physical and being smart. Just make plays. If you are noticing the same players over and over again, shift after shift, it means they are either doing something right or something wrong.

“If they are doing something positive every shift, whether it is making a hit, making a nice play at the blue-line or scoring a goal, that’s all we can ask for from them.

“We have a pretty good idea of who we want to keep, but it all comes down to effort, always, always, always.”

When it comes to defencemen, not getting noticed can sometimes be a good thing.

“That’s especially true with our D,” Perry said.

“We have a lot of D who are returning and I think we are going to be really solid in net. We are going to be really solid on the back end. They are probably two or three of our D corps who could be playing Junior ‘A’ hockey. That’s how good they are.

“All we want them to do are be steady and move the puck, not try to do too much. When you try to do too much, that’s when you end up coughing up pucks or turning it over in your own zone. That’s what leads to odd-man rushes.

“If you are noticing your defencemen for that, that’s not a good thing.”

The Majors’ goaltending situation has been complicated by the number of quality puck stoppers who showed up at camp.

“It is really our toughest position to settle on because we have probably five goalies who can play at the Midget ‘AAA’ level,” Perry said.

“That really makes it really, really hard to let some of them go, but there are only two positions.

“Obviously, we have to wait to see what is going to happen with the Rock, but we are really satisfied with our goaltending.”

The Rock plan to go with a goaltending tandem of Brendan Bishop and Eric Jackson, but Bishop is still recovering from surgery to correct an upper-body injury he suffered while training during the off season, so Yaremchuk will likely remain in camp at least until he is cleared to begin practising.

Overall, Perry is confident the Majors will have a much better season than the 2016-17 campaign which saw them endure a record of 2-32-2 and finish dead last in the GNML standings.

“I think we are going to be a pretty quick team up front,” he said.

“Up front, we want to be fast, fast, fast, always on pucks. We are going to have to score some goals, so we are going to have to rely on some guys to put pucks in the net. Some of our late signings are just crash and bang kind of guys, who can get in there and get their noses dirty.”

Scoring goals was clearly an issue for the Majors in 2016-17, as the team’s 88 was second lowest in the GNML — ahead of only the 80 scored by the New Liskeard Cubs.

“I think we have the potential for guys to score goals this season,” Perry said.

“I think it is all mental. Our forwards, especially our returning guys, are really nice skaters who can make moves and beat a D-man, then beat the goalie, but fail to put the puck in the net.

“They just need to get over that. Maybe it is because of the lack of success they had last year.

“We definitely have guys who can score goals. They just need to put the puck in the net.

“When you are struggling to score goals, you go to the net. The points will get pucks through that can go off your shin pads, off your skates. It doesn’t matter how the puck goes in.”

Perry is really excited about the potential of the Majors’ blue-line corps.

“We have got good mobile defencemen, who can more the puck, join the rush, then get back to defend,” he said.

“They are all good skaters. They are all fast and we have some big guys back there. We also have some young guys, who are going to need some work, but some of those guys are pretty physical, which is nice.”

Perry was hoping to have a better idea of what the Majors’ roster will look like following Sunday’s training camp session.

“We are probably going to carry a couple of young guys into the exhibition games so they can get a little extra experience,” he said.

“We also have to wait to find out what is going to happen with the players still in camp with the Rock.”

Organizing a training camp isn’t possible without a lot of behind the scenes work, of course.

“I would like to say a big thank you to Audrey Lariby, (Majors assistant general manager) Ron Holmes and (Majors general manager) Doug Cheechoo, for all all their hard work,” Perry said.