The turn of the calendar has led to a flurry of hockey activity at the Ladner Leisure Centre as the Vancouver Giants opened their training on Thursday in preparation for the 2022/23 season.
The opening day skill sessions were exclusively for 2006 and 2007 born players.
Among them were 2021 Western Hockey League Prospects Draft first round pick Colton Roberts and goaltender Matthew Hutchison. The 2007 group included 2022 first round selections Cameron Schmidt (seventh overall) and Jakob Oreskovic (22nd overall), along with Chloe Primerano, the first-ever female taken in the draft.
Today (Friday), the younger players will merge with players born in 2002/2003/2004/2005. The next couple of days will be the first opportunity to see new additions such as Carson Haynes and Samuel Honzek (Friday) and Kyren Gronick (Saturday).
The groups will be split into three teams named after prominent alumni players - Team Lucic, Team Gallagher and Team Byram with the teams playing a series of one-hour scrimmages that will conclude at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The camp wraps up on Sunday with the Quinn/Howe Legends Cup Game at 9 a.m. with teams primarily featuring the younger age groups.
All training camp sessions are free to the public.
The Giants will open their pre-season schedule next Friday (Sept. 9) when they take on Prince George in Port Coquitlam.
The regular season starts Sept. 23 with Seattle visiting the Langley Events Centre.
