The battle for rosters spots continued at Memorial Gardens on Tuesday for day three of North Bay Battalion training camp.
Veterans Matt Struthers and Bradley Chenier have been impressed with the level of competition so far.
“It is a good pace, everyone is working hard and what you like to see is it's competitive, everyone is trying to earn their place whether it is older guys trying to move up in the lineup this year or younger guys trying to make the team,” said Struthers.
“That is what I like to see, guys working hard,” added Struthers who will be leaving for the Montreal Canadiens development camp soon.
Chenier believes training camp is a time for building chemistry and relationships
“I have Paulie (Christopoulos) and Arnsby on my team we have been getting along, asking who their billets are,” he said.
“They are great kids, they want to be here and they want to work and that is great to see.”
Now it will be up to hockey operations to decide who stays and who goes at the Troops expect to cut down today in preparation for their pre-season tournament action this weekend in Kitchener.
“We have a lot of returning guys, but the thing you want to see at training camp is non-roster guys push those guys for spots,” said Adam Dennis, assistant general manager, and an assistant coach.
“You want to see your returning players making sure they’re keeping spots, and really what we want is competition, and I think we’ve had that so far. It’s going to make some tough decisions for us.
“As far as separation, I’m not sure when exactly that happens. It’s up to the players. Tuesday is more of a hump day, I guess you’d call it.”
Tuesday consisted of two intrasquad games. In the afternoon veteran Mitchell Russell scored four goals and added an assist and Brad Chenier contributed one goal and two assists as Green downed White 7-1 for a third straight victory.
Jack Stockfish and Gabby Kioki were credited with the other Green goals while Struthers replied with the lone marker for Team White.
Tuesday morning, 2019 first-round pick Liam Arnsby scored two goals, and each of Russell and Kioki had one goal and two assists to pace Green to a 9-4 decision.
Paul Christopoulos, David Campbell, Stockfish, Chenier and Cameron Peters had the goals in the high scoring intrasquad affair.
Ty Hollett, Josh Currie, Brandon Coe, and Harrison Caines replies for Team White.
After the camp ends today, the Battalion head to the second annual Preseason Showcase at Kitchener to play three games on the weekend starting Friday night.
