Tuesday, May 16, 2017
The Royal Bank Cup 2017
The Royal
Bank Cup is in the midst of preliminary rounds at present in Cobourg,
Ontario. As the host team, the Cobourg Cougars receive an automatic
bye into the chapionship. There are five teams in the tourney, vying
for the prize as the best junior hockey team in Canada, excluding the
CHL teams. There are 132 teams at this level, and some fine young
hockey players in the mix.
The top five
teams, with some very good players are on the ice in Cobourg this
week. There are many sets of eyes keenly observing these lads.
Included in this group are several scouts from all over North
America-pro scouts, amateur scouts, college and university scouts,
scouts from various levels of hockey.
More than a
hundred former Royal Bank Cup players have had at least a cup of
coffee at the National Hockey League level. As far as I can discern,
only one Wellington Duke who played at the RBC in Charlottetown,
moved on to the NHL. That is Liam Reddox. If you check the list
posted at Hockey Canada, you will find the names of some fine
players, including four of the Sutter brothers.
Thus, the
job of the scouts at the tourney is to assess these young players, to
find the gem who just might be a super star in the NHL. On several
occasions, I have run into Andre Savard at hockey games in Florida.
He is a pro scout for the New Jersey Devils, and he was at the Brooks
Bandits game with other personnel from the Devils. It is their job to
separate the wheat from the chaff, in terms of hockey talent.
Cale Makar-Photo credit Murnaghan-Hockey Canada
As was the
case with several other scouts at that game, they were focusing on a
young defenceman for the Bandits, Cale Makar. Makar has already
stirred up quite a bit of interest in the scouting hockey circles.
Rather small relative to other backliners, (5' 10”-175 pounds), he
is slated to be a top prospect in this year's NHL draft. The New
jersey Devils won the first pick in the lottery. Makar was the MVP at
last year's RBC, and also the top scorer.
Brooks
Bandits coach Ryan Papaioannou is well aware of the situation. “I
think a lot of it with him is just his skating ability, his puck
skills. He is offensively=minded, but because of his feet, he's able
to defend very well. He's done a really good job establishing his
footing in this year's NHL Draft. We're always impressed with the way
he plays, but like all coaches, we keep encouraging him. There's more
he can do, and we want him to be better.”
I spoke with
one of his teammates at the Bandits' first game against Terrebonne.
Orca Wiesblatt and his brother Ocean play with Makar. There were both
in the stands for the first game. “Cale is committed to play at the
University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the fall.”
No question
that the Bandits are a team to watch. They won the RBC in 2013, and
played in the semi-finals last year in Lloydminster. The other teams
in this year's tournament are the Cobras de Terrebonne, and the
Penticton Vees.
Cale Makar- Hockey Canada
Round Robin play will continue until Wednesday night, when the host Cougars will play the Bandits at 7:30pm. The Cougars started the tourney with an overtime win over the Trenton Golden Hawks; however, as we witnessed in Charlottetown, and in Camrose with the Dukes, until the final buzzer goes, anything can happen.
James Hurst
May 15,
2015.
# posted by James Hurst @ 4:58 AM 
