What I saw on Tuesday:
The best players on the ice were Blonda and Jackson.
Blonda was very impressive with skating speed and stick handling. My only concern is that he joins the rush too much leaving an inexperienced forward playing full-on defensive rolls. Overall, he probably spent about 50% of his gamed up front with the forwards. That's too much.
Jackson didn't really do anything special but played with confidence making clean passes and defending well. You could tell that he has experience at the OHL level.
H. Chitaroni underwhelmed a bit. I think that maybe he was trying too hard; maybe needs to simplify his game a little. His try-out last year was very impressive and I thought that he had would have had a good chance last year of making the team had it not been for the Wolves already stacked up on the front lines with experienced players. He also seemed small last year. He had a good run in the NOJHL last year putting up big numbers and he'll have a great chance of making the team.
Mazanik has excellent skating speed and looked impressive. He'll likely get a few unexpected looks from team management.
Dean seems to have good physical presence but not sure if he is OHL ready. To be honest, I would need to see more of his play. It should be a young team this year so maybe there is an opportunity in there.
Didn't notice Doucet much but that doesn't mean anything; just can't really provide any feedback.
Kearns seemed to be trying to make his way onto the team as the tough guy. Was involved in one fight. Later, he was trying to instigate one with Blonda. Personally, seems bizarre to me that he'd go this route and risk injuring the Wolves top draft pick. I can't imagine that management were impressed. Imagine trying out for the Penguins and, in your first year, you go after Crosby. Recommendation: If you are going to demonstrate tough guy skills, do with someone further down the ranking.
As for the goalies, none of them really stood out. They have potential but I didn't see anything to pick one out over the other. I imagine Krawchuk will get the start with one of these young players joining him as a back up.
