A group of 49 skaters and goaltenders were in attendance Monday when the North Bay Battalion opened its four-day Ontario Hockey League training camp.
Fitness testing, including running, took place on the St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic Secondary School track, followed by registration, ending with Memorial Gardens practices for Team Green and Team White.
Attendees included all five Battalion members taken this year in the National Hockey League Draft. Defencemen Ty Nelson and Tnias Mathurin, forwards Kyle Jackson and Liam Arnsby and goaltender Dom DiVincentiis all reported. North Bay led the OHL in the number of selections July 7-8 at Montreal.
A total of 42 choices from the OHL Priority Selection accounted for the bulk of veterans and prospects at the camp opening.
Sixteen were selected in 2022, including first-round pick Ethan Procyszyn, a centre who played last season for the North Central Predators U16 team. A further 14 were named in 2021, eight in 2020, and four in 2019. Among that quartet is left winger Justin Ertel, who joins the Troops this season from Cornell University of Ithaca, N.Y.
Two players’ rights were acquired in each of the 2022 and 2021 OHL Under-18 Priority Selections, while another two, wingers Kyle McDonald and Nikita Tarasevich, arrived in trades last January. One, defenceman Thomas Sefton, who played last season with the North Bay Trappers U18s, is a free-agent invitee and member of the Powassan Voodoos.
Green and White play the first of five intrasquad games at 10 a.m. Tuesday, with the second at 5 p.m. Admission is free to all intrasquad games, two of which are scheduled Wednesday and another Thursday.
Three players were unable to attend the opening. Defenceman Avery Winslow is at home in St. Pete Beach, Fla., recovering from hip surgery, while Russian imports Matvey Petrov, a left winger, and rearguard Alexander Lukin are expected to report Saturday. The threesome also missed the camp opening last year.