Zach Bratina, playing for Team White during the second day of Battalion Training Camp at Memorial Gardens. Bratina and the Troops will head to Sudbury Sunday for their pre-season opener against the Wolves. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
It was a summer of highs and lows for Battalion forward Zach Bratina.
First it was disappointment when Bratina, ranked 186 by NHL Central Scouting, left unclaimed at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft in Philadelphia.
However, the skilled forward who joined the Battalion at Christmas when the Troops sent Blake Clarke to Saginaw in exchange for the rights to Bratina, did get some great news a few weeks after the draft as he was told the Toronto Maple Leafs invited him to their training camp.
“I was kind of bummed out that I didn’t go in the draft and you know my agent told me to keep working hard and then about mid summer he told me that I got invited and I’ve worked pretty hard the last couple of months of the summer and I feel pretty good in training camp so I’m excited,” said Bratina, who recorded 12 goals and 18 assists in 58 games split between the Spirit and Battalion last season.
Bratina will join other Leafs prospects for the 2014 Prospects Tournament which takes place in London, Ontario. Prospects teams from Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators will compete in the 4-day tournament at Budweiser Gardens.
He hopes to make an impression.
“I definitely want to get stronger and it will be a good chance for me to see all these bigger guys, playing with some American Hockey League players, seeing what it really takes and how big and fast you really have to be so it will definitely improve my game just watching and experiencing,”
Bratina is among 6 Battalion players that will be attending NHL camps including Nick Paul with the Senators, Miles Liberati with the Canucks, Kyle Wood with the Avalanche, Michael Amadio with the Kings, and Marcus McIvor, who is an invite with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
