Greetings hockey fans and welcome to the offseason. Your Johnstown Tomahawks are hard at work preparing for the 2016-17 North American Hockey League season, our fifth in the league.
The Tomahawks begin their offseason preparation in Pittsburgh with the first of three try-out camps during the summer. This camp takes place at the Robert Morris University Sports Center, located on Neville Island. The center is home to the Division I Colonials program.
The first day of camp was filled with excitement and an eagerness to get started. The camp is well-attended, drawing prospective players from all over the United States.
Tomahawks head coach Mike Letizia said the camp has plenty of talent, which was on display for three games Friday afternoon.
“We have a lot of good kids here from around the area and other parts of the country,” Letizia said. “As the games went on today I felt things got sharper. Everybody is competing and I think it will get better as we go along.”
With a portion of the 2015-16 roster advancing their careers to the next level, Letizia said the camp is wide open and players have to earn their spot.
“We’ve told them that we’ve have space available on our roster,” Letizia said. “The opportunity is there for them to go after and for them to compete as hard as they want to.”
Day two of the camp contains six games. Check back later for more updates from Pittsburgh.