The Tri-City Americans rookie camp closes Saturday night with the annual Blue-White Game at Toyota Center.
A lot of attention goes to the pair of first-round bantam picks on the ice with the team -- F Connor Rankin of North Vancouver, British Columbia (2009) and G Eric Comrie of Newport Beach, Calif. (2010) -- and deservedly so.
Rankin, a 16-year-old who helped lead his Vancouver NW Giants Midget team to the B.C. league title, had 29 goals and 27 assists during the 37-game regular season and added eight goals in the playoffs.
He heads up a top-notch group of forwards that has Tri-City GM Bob Tory salivating about his franchise's future.
"I'm really excited with the skill level of this group," Tory said. "They've showed good speed, and the kids have come out and worked extremely hard. I'm really pleased with the depth of the skill, not only on the present team, but the future of the team as well.
"We have a lot of good prospects, and that helps us plan for the future."
Comrie, a 15-year-old who is the younger brother of Edmonton Oilers forward Mike Comrie, led the LA Selects Bantam AAA club to several tournament titles last season.
He looks to be the latest in a string of quality goaltenders to come through this franchise, including NHLers Olaf Kolzig (now a co-owner), Brian Boucher and Carey Price, top prospect Chet Pickard (a first-round pick of the Nashville Predators) and last year's star netminder, Drew Owsley.
"We've had a lot of good goaltenders, and Eric is right up there with them with what he's showing at such a young age," Tory said.
"There's no question he's an elite goaltender. He's one of the few kids at age 15 who could play in our league. He's a big goaltender (6-0, 175) and he's mature beyond his years. His focus, how he follows the puck, his positioning is exceptional. He's always solid to the shooter."
Comrie's teammate in the City of Angels, C/RW Brian Williams, lasted all the way until the eighth round of the bantam draft despite being considered the No. 2 prospect by one analyst (Comrie was No. 5 on the same list).
He has shown he was worthy of being selected much higher in the first two days of rookie camp and perhaps has earned an invite to the main camp that starts Sunday.
"I don't think we've had any surprises, but I'm excited about the play of Brian Williams," Tory said.
Tory and Ams coach Jim Hiller also highlighted the play of a pair of undrafted LA Selects players invited to camp -- F Trevor Moore and D Ryan Schlerf.
"We had heard good things about the California players," Hiller said after watching the 90-minute scrimmage high in the stands. "We knew they were good players, but all four have performed extremely well this week."
Hiller also singled out F Lucas Nickles, an undrafted 16-year-old from Salmon Arm, B.C.
"Tonight, he had three or four goals," Hiller said. "He's been real physical and aggressive. He came in with the attitude that he wants to get people to take notice of him, and we have."
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