Bantam teams in midst of tryouts

Wednesday night saw the So Thunder and Greyhounds bantam teams continue their tryouts in preparation for the new season.

Both teams kicked off their tryouts on Monday night and had plans of making their first round of cuts on Tuesday. The coaches of both clubs also noted that they expected their roster to be complete by the end of the week.

The Greyhounds bantams had 41 players when camp kicked off on Monday night and coach Domenic Deluca was extremely pleased with the turnout.

“We know, coming from the Sault, that hockey is first and foremost on everybody’s list,” Deluca said. “We expected to have between 40 and 50 kids and that’s what we got. We’re happy with that. There’s just a lot of good hockey players in this area and we’re excited.”

Deluca noted that he was pleased with the talent level of the players trying out for the Bantam Greyhounds organization this season, which is competing at the minor bantam level.

“Development-wise, there’s a lot of kids that have come out of house-league that have caught our attention,” Deluca said. “That says a lot about the kids that are coming up at this age group. We just keep continuing to get a lot of good kids out. We’re excited about the core group that we have trying out here.”

Being on the minor bantam side, Deluca said it’s a fresh start for him as a coach as many of the players will play for the Greyhounds for two seasons as the team jumps back to major bantam in place of the Soo Thunder next season. The Thunder, will drop back to minor bantam next season.

“For me you’re starting from scratch,” Deluca said. “You’re molding these kids, especially with some of the systems you want to start teaching. Even before we get into that, there’s certain things we want to see from these players.”

For the Thunder, Sal Lamantea noted that the tryout numbers are down because the general thought is that the team has already been selected due to the number of returning players.

“There’s some kids really pouring it all out,” Lamantea said. “They’re going to make my decision really tough with the last few picks. It’s always a great luxury to have. My job’s going to be the toughest one come Monday night. “

Lamantea is using the tryout as an opportunity to enhance the team in any way possible after their successful run last year in winning the NOHA tournament as well as the NIHL title.

“What I’m looking for is any adjustments out there if I can make any,” said Lamantea. “We want to try to make the team stronger because winning last year at the NOHA’s and the NIHL, it puts a mark on us as the team to beat in the north. We’re just looking to build on last year and enhance it if we can in any way.”