There will be no shortage of good, young talent at the Chatham Maroons' spring camp.
The team is expecting to have a capacity camp taking the ice this weekend, capped at 85 prospects.
Maroons General Manager Kevin Fisher says about three quarters of the players they will be looking at are born in 2001.
"It's filled in with a few '98s and a few '99s and of course some 16-year-olds coming into camp this year," says Fisher. "There's a lot of local talent... we do have some guys coming in from out of town -- as far as Toronto and the States -- it's going to be a rather competitive camp."
The players at the camp will be divided up into four teams with two games on Saturday from 12pm - 2pm and 3pm - 5pm. The losing teams will play Sunday from 9-10:30am and the winners will play a game from 10:30am-12pm.
Fisher says based on the conversations that he and new head coach Kyle Makaric have had with players who are eligible to return in the fall, they are still expecting a good number of veterans to compete for a spot on the team again this year.
There is one position in particular that the Maroons will be looking to fill, though.
"Goaltending is our main spot right now with [Ryan Wagner] moving on and getting a scholarship stateside," says Fisher. "We're not 100% sure on Lucas Patton right now... he was coveted by the [Windsor] Spitfires last season and we're expecting that's where he's going to be playing this season."
The Maroons' main camp is expected to take the ice starting on August 7 with some pre-camp skates -- the full camp will follow that starting August 18.
Fisher is expecting to invite no more than 40 players to the main camp -- that includes returning veterans, new recruits, and players who have been selected from the spring camp.
