Pre-Season Q & A With Rich Preston

The Hurricanes attention now switches from training camp mode to exhibition hockey mode.

As camp wrapped up Sunday, I had a chance to sit down with Coach Preston to get his take on what he saw over the four days of practices, scrimmages, and the 70 players that came to camp.

Pat: Camp is now in the books. Are the coaches happy to now turn the focus to actually games play against other teams?

Preston: "That's right Pat. The boys are looking forward to that too. It's always nice to play an opponent rather than your teammates. I was really happy with the scrimmages and the games. It was a very competitive atmosphere, some very interesting battles and a lot of speed. That's one thing that really impressed me. Our draft picks from this year and the 94's obviously did some work over the summer to get stronger and the speed is one thing I really noticed".

Pat: Were there any players that stood out to the coaches more than others?

Preston: "Well, not talking about our veterans. Our vets looked really good for the most part. They looked well conditioned. With the young guys, a fellow like Adam Henry, who played a few games last year had a really good camp. He put on some muscle and obviously came to make this team as a 16 year old. He was impressive. As for the forwards, I really liked our 95's. Jay Merkley was impressive as was Leverton. Our top pick defenceman, McCoy Erkamps is going be a real good d-man....he does everything well. Joel Topping was picked in the second round. He has really good offensive instincts for a defenceman. Jamal Watson, our 5th round pick. He was one of the most impressive forwards I thought. He's got a lot of speed and had a good camp. Our 94's, Sam McKechnie, local product Russ Maxwell (Mitch's brother), Ryley Bennefield, Mitch Guiel, all had great camps. Guiel is one of the fastest skaters I've seen at that age. There were some impressive kids and you could see how hard they all worked over the summer".

Pat: Your taking nine rookie forwards, two rookie d-men, and a rookie goalie into pre-season. Is there a chance some of these kids could challenge or push out a veteran player on this team who played last year?

Preston "Oh, most definitely Pat. There is a very very good chance! We have an extra exhibition game this year. That's good given the situation we're in. We're going to get a chance to look at these young guys as well as some of the kids that played last year like Jackson, Tot, Reners, Moser, and Tarnasky. It's evaluation time here. We're not going to edit things. If there's a 16 year old or 17 year old that can come in here and do the job and play in our league than we have to look at that. Players (17 year olds) like Michael Sofillas, Brady Ramsey, the Russian Alexander Kuvaev all had excellent camps in my opinion. Kuvaev really goes to the net and likes to score and has a good shot. He was impressive".

Pat: Can this year's Hurricanes turn some heads in the WHL?

Preston: "I certainly hope so. We've made some strides in our goaltending and our back end from last year. It's the old story in either junior or the pros. You get one year under your belts no matter what age they are and they come in that much better the next year. I think with the experience our players have gained from last year and just playing together, they are all a little more comfortable with their teammates. I think the key for us is to get off to a good start with the exhibition season. We're all looking forward to that".

Pat: Were there any veteran players that stood out to you?

Preston: "Well Pat, Austin Fyten looks very good, Cam Braes as well. You expect these guys to come to camp ready to go. Brody Sutter went to Buffalo's summer camp and looks really good too. Graham Hood, Machacek, Johnston, Tot, and all the vets did a lot of work over the summer and everyone on this team is chomping at the bit to get things going".

There's not much there I would disagree with Preston on. It was a busy camp, a lot of players, and maybe tough to get a look-see at everyone with 70 kids attending. Once the season starts though, it'll be interesting to see which of these rookies stick and which don't. Not to metion if one or two of these rookies actually push out someone who was on this team last year.

The Hurricanes play their first pre-season game against Spokane Thursday. I'll have some details in the days ahead on the Hurricanes exhibition game against Red Deer September 14 at Nicholas Sheran Arena. Should be fun!

Thanks,
Pat

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