The Traverse City North Stars are putting on their final tryout camp this weekend at Centre ICE and in a perfect world, come Monday, Traverse City head coach and general manager Scott Gardiner will have his first roster set for the 2005-2006 season, the North Stars' first in the NAHL.The team is also hoping the end of the NHL lockout will have a trickle-down effect on junior hockey, especially with the North Stars starting the season soon after the Detroit Red Wings finish training camp in Traverse City.
"Hopefully, we'll be riding the coattails of some positive hockey news, finally," said Gardiner to the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
The approximately 45 players at the invitation-only camp will be split into three teams for games Friday evening and Saturday morning. The pool will then be trimmed down to about 30 players for a Blue-White game at 7 p.m. Saturday evening and more games Sunday morning starting at 9 a.m.
"I wanted to go with two teams going head-to-head all weekend, but we kept seeing guys we wanted to see again," Gardiner said. "So we decided to go with three teams."
The team doesn't have a goaltender on its roster yet, as third-round draft pick Kyle Jendra of Chicago is trying out for the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League. Gardiner said Jendra told him that he would play for the North Stars if he doesn't make the Whalers. The North Stars do have three goaltenders in this weekend's camp fighting for spots on the team in Jeremy Kaleniecki (Addison Township), Ryan Donavan (Pinckney) and Stephan Shivley. Second-round pick Daniel Lawson also did not sign with the North Stars, opting to play for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League and tendered player Jon Madden (Howell) has not yet committed to TC.
Check out the full story by James Cook here.
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