Locals heading to Jr. Tryout camps

Matt Bahm is one of many local hockey players heading to spring Jr. hockey camps. Photo by Chris Dawson.

The hockey season is still continuing for a lot of North Bay young men who are chasing their hockey dream.

Matt Bahm played goal for the Chippewa Raiders this season and he’s been invited to the Port Hope Predators spring tryout camp.

“I'm not too sure how I'll do,” said the Raiders goalie who was noticed this year by a local scout for the Ontario Jr. “A” team.

“They have an old team and both their goalies this year were 1986 birthdays. I was told I would have a good chance but I just want to go down there, play well and hopefully get invited to the main camp,” said Bahm.

In early May the Skyhawks held a spring tryout camp looking to see what this year’s crop of young hockey players had to offer. Skyhawks G.M. Guy Blanchard watched one player get invited to the main camp last season, this May however he’s expecting at least eight of those local players will be invited to the main camp in August.

For many of the graduating North Bay Trappers, this has been a very busy month too. At least nine of them attended the Skyhawks spring camp and another handful were invited to the Cambridge Winterhawks (Midwestern Jr. B league) spring camp.

Kody Carnevale, Marc Senecal, Darcy Vaillancourt, Kyle Radigan and Paul Deluca all accepted invites to the Jr. “B” team’s camp; a team which is coached by former North Bay Centennials head coach Greg Bignell. The league may be Jr. “B” but it’s considered a hotbed for Ontario players looking at U.S. hockey scholarships opportunities.

Trappers leading scorer Marc Senecal may be the most sought after hockey commodity in North Bay. He’s been invited to the Pembroke Lumber Kings spring camp; a team he played with during the Central Jr. Hockey League exhibition season last year before returning to the Trappers.

Trappers manager Ted Meggs says he’s been quite busy fielding calls about the Trappers sniper.

“We’ve been talking to scouts from Pembroke and a coach from Thunder Bay,” said Meggs.

“As soon as they find out that Marc is a good student as well as a great hockey player (he still maintained his high average in school) and when scouts hear that they think its super.”

Marc Senecal may also get a few tryouts with Ontario Hockey League teams and maybe even a few in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as well where North Bay’s Matt Marquardt is playing for the Memorial Cup host Moncton Wildcats.

So while no North Bay players were chosen in the Ontario Hockey League draft in May, the junior “A” interest proves that there is still a lot of local talent that junior hockey teams from all corners of the province are looking at.