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One of two rookie goaltenders to make the Soo Greyhounds roster out of training camp, Charlie Schenkel feels right at home in Sault Ste. Marie.
Though he hadn’t spent time in the city prior to making the trek from his hometown of Ottawa to the Northern Ontario city in which he’ll begin his Ontario Hockey League career, he’s been impressed with his first month in the area.
The local cuisine has left its mark on the 17-year-old early on.
“The first thing I noticed is that the food is amazing,” Schenkel said. “The food is great here. It’s all local restaurants and fresh food. I haven’t had a bad meal here. It’s crazy. Everyone really cares about the meals and it’s delicious. There are a lot of good restaurants.”
Shifting to hockey, the 6’5” netminder was happy to be back on the ice in a competitive fashion when the team opened up training camp and got into pre-season action.
“It was awesome just to be back on the ice,” Schenkel said. “It was the closest I’ve had to a game in a long time. We got to play exhibition games and stuff like that. It was a lot of fun.”
“This is the first time seeing everything and it was a great experience getting a feel for everything and meeting all of the staff,” Schenkel added. “It was pretty awesome. It was fun playing in some exhibition games and getting back into a flow of playing hockey.”
The former fifth round pick of the Greyhounds in the 2020 OHL Priority Selection has used his early days with the team to work on his game in preparation for the opening of regular season action in October.
“The goalie coach here (Matt Smith) is great,” Schenkel said. “We’re working on my skating and lateral movement, tracking passes and getting that speed and control cross-crease.”
“Schenks is a big boy and very athletic,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “He really wants to battle in the net and it’s fun for him to compete against the group. Anyone who wants to compete in practice and compete against his peers and have that battle, you can’t ask for anything more from a goaltender.”
While working on his game, Schenkel spoke of his technical ability and athleticism as strengths in his game.
“I have a really high compete level and I track pucks very well,” Schenkel said. “I’m confident in my technical abilities and my foundation and I feel like I have good athleticism as well. Where I need to work is lateral control and speed and staying compact.”
With the Greyhounds splitting exhibition action between Schenkel and fellow rookie goaltender Samuel Ivanov, Schenkel called his first non-scrimmage game action an exciting experience.
“It was cool getting into a real game environment,” Schenkel said. “In the scrimmages, it was intense, but (in the exhibition games) you’re playing a different team, so you have a solidified team and you’re more with your group and ready to go to war and representing the Sault.”
What was just as exciting for Schenkel was the moment he found out he made the team, a moment he was able to share with family who made the trip for training camp with him.
“It was very exciting,” Schenkel said when asked about making the team. “I was with my family. My mom made the trip, so I saw her right after I talked to (Greyhounds general manager Kyle) Raftis and we were both excited. I knew this was the place I wanted to be. We finalized the contract pretty quick, and it was really exciting being able to sign.”