The Kindersley Jr. Klippers are officially ready to enter offseason mode. The Klippers held a three-day spring camp over the weekend, and Monday marked the start of the ice removal process inside Inter Pipeline Arena in Kindersley.
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The first game took place Friday at 2:00 PM, beginning near non-stop action into Sunday. One of the Klippers eyes in the stands all weekend long, assistant GM Ryan Gibson shared how things went.
"Good to see our draft kids, and our list kids, and all the Kindersley area kids, and the kids who come from near and far... It was a good weekend." said Gibson, attempting to ballpark just how many kids were in attendance for camp. "Would have been around 180, I think? We had 13 teams total, so would have been in that mid-to-high 100s."
SJHL spring camps are a great opportunity for young players to open some eyes after their season. Joining West Central Wheat Kings colours were those of AA teams around the province, all vying to earn a look at the junior level.
"Just with the way we do our draft, it's nice to get the U15 kids in there as well."
We have both age groups for U15, obviously we can draft two rounds of those kids. For the younger ones it's nice to get them to a junior camp and show them our facility and have them meet everybody.
"The older kids are a mix of Saskatchewan kids looking to get listed. Our list and draft kids, and then some older out of province kids that are looking for an invite back to main camp in the fall to try and make the team."
The next step this offseason will be the SJHL scheduling meeting and AGM coming up in May, and then in June junior teams can begin signing players again. There is no date set for the June draft, and then after that it's about making the final roster touches headed into main camp.
SJHL Playoffs
The SJHL second round continues tonight as the Yorkton Terriers and Flin Flon Bombers look to get back in their respective series.
The Melfort Mustangs won 6-1 and 3-0 against Yorkton over the weekend, now hitting the road with a comfortable lead. Flin Flon is down 2-0 to a good Weyburn team, after the 2nd seeded Bombers lost 3-1 and 4-1 over the weekend at home.
Unless both series end in sweeps, the SJHL playoff action will continue Saturday with potential Game 5's.