Bob Tory is pretty excited about the group of rookies coming to camp this year, and he has good reason to be.
"It's an excellent crop of speed, skill and size," said the Tri-City Americans general manager. "There aren't a lot of spots open on the team this year, but this gives us a chance to develop our program, identify our needs and evaluate the players on our depth chart."
The Americans' rookie camp opens today with registration and fitness testing. The players will be broken down into two teams for ice time Thursday and Friday before playing the Blue-White game Saturday night.
Main camp will open Sunday with registration, with players taking the ice Monday.
Of the 40 players invited to camp, one is the Americans' 2009 first-round bantam draft pick Connor Rankin, who is expected to play with the team this season.
The skilled forward from North Vancouver, British Columbia, had 29 goals and 27 assists in 37 games this past year for the Vancouver Giants (midget).
"Connor is very humble and brings a tremendous work ethic," Tory said of the 6-foot, 180-pounder. "For a boy of 16, he is as good a two-way forward you will find. He has been able to grasp at a very young age how to play without the puck. Some players never do."
Also participating at camp will be a quartet of players from the L.A. Selects bantam team that was runner-up at USA Nationals.
In that group is this year's first-round bantam draft pick Eric Comrie, a goalie from Newport Beach, Calif. Joining him are forwards Brian Williams and Trevor Moore, and defenseman Ryan Schlerf.
Williams was an eighth-round bantam pick, while the other two were undrafted.
"The draft is important, but it's just one way of identifying talent," Tory said. "The message rolling into camp is what you do with the ability and character you bring. Without attitude, work ethic and character, you have nothing."
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Ams send picks to Kootenay for Benning
Ams send picks to Kootenay for Benning
KENNEWICK -- While most of the Western Hockey League has been relatively quiet this summer, the Tri-City Americans have been wheeling and dealing.
Americans general manager Bob Tory pulled the trigger on his fourth transaction in the last three weeks Wednesday, trading conditional third- and sixth-round picks in the 2012 bantam draft to the Kootenay Ice for the rights to 17-year-old defenseman Matt Benning.
"This was a good opportunity to pick up a good young defenseman," Tory said. "Kootenay was very fair. It looked like Matt wouldn't report to them. To get young talent on your depth chart is difficult at times. We'd love to have him on our team. There is nothing to lose, but we could get a player who could play three or four years for us."
Ams make deal on eve of WHL trade deadline
Ams make deal on eve of WHL trade deadline
KENNEWICK -- Today is the Western Hockey League trade deadline, but many general managers in the league were busy at work Monday, tweaking their lineups for the playoff run.
Tri-City general manager Bob Tory, who on Saturday made a trade with Everett for forward Jesse Mychan, traded 17-year-old defenseman Riley Guenther on Monday to the Prince Albert Raiders for a fifth-round draft pick in the 2013 bantam draft.
"I was a chance to recoup a draft pick we gave up for Mychan, and for Riley to play," Tory said. "With eight defensemen, it was unlikley he would get back into the lineup. He'll go to Prince Albert and get a chance to play. We owe that to him to further his career."
HOCKEY: First-place Ams trade for NHL first-round pick
HOCKEY: First-place Ams trade for NHL first-round pick
KENNEWICK — Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory took a mild gamble today that could pay huge dividends when he traded for the Western Hockey League rights to Brett Connolly, a 6-foot-2 right winger who is playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the National Hockey League.
Tory agreed to send to the Prince George Cougars — on the day of the WHL trade deadline — Tri-Cities' fifth-round pick in the 2013 WHL bantam draft. The Americans will send additional picks in 2013 and 2014 if the Lightning demotes Connolly to the WHL.
The Lightning have until the NHL trade deadline of Feb. 27 to return the player to major junior.
16-year-old Comrie shines during rookie camp
16-year-old Comrie shines during rookie camp
If Eric Comrie was nervous, he didn't show it Thursday morning in the first practice of the Tri-City Americans rookie camp.
It's his second camp, and after a spending time with the Americans in the playoffs last year, he looked right at home on the Toyota Center ice.
"I just wanted to get my legs under me," Comrie said. "I felt pretty good. I know what I'm getting into."
Meet the 2011-2012 Tri-City Americans
Meet the 2011-2012 Tri-City Americans
Meet the 2011-12 Tri-City Americans Opening:
Coach
Jim Hiller
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