Less than a week removed from their semi-final loss at the Centennial Cup, members of the Portage Terriers' organization are already back to work.
The club held their annual Spring Evaluation Prospect Camp on Friday and Saturday, which saw players from across the province compete at Stride Place in front of Terrier coaches and scouts.
Scout Angus Moar says the Manitoba Junior Hockey League Draft is on June 4th.
"What we're doing right now is getting ready to finalize our draft list for next weekend," Moar explains. "It's kind of threefold this weekend. We get a look at who we might want to have at camp in the fall. Plus, who we might want to take in the upcoming draft next weekend in Winnipeg, and we get a first look at the players we'll be scouting this coming winter."
The camp saw players born in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 in attendance. Moar says it would be very difficult to make decisions in the draft without hosting an event like this.
"It's great. It's something where, if the draft was in the winter, we'd have to drive around for three or four weekends just to see everybody. It wraps everything up pretty well."
The Terriers will be losing eight 20-year-olds next season, including three starting defencemen, a goalie, and four forwards. Moar says while they don't focus on positions with the younger players, that is something they think about with their prospects that are already in the Terriers' system.
"A lot of the younger ones are still a few years away but we are looking to fill holes from the older group," Moar continues. "If we see anything in these guys, we'll be getting them back for fall camp with a chance to make our hockey team."
While not every player with these abilities will make it, Moar says there are two main things they look for in players in this type of camp.
"We look for skill and compete. Those have always been models of Blake's (Spiller) hockey teams. That's what we're looking for, and that's who we're trying to get out there as future Terriers. It's not a hard thing to spot. It's just the guys that are hard on the puck and hard to play against, plus being able to do something with the puck when they get it."
The Terriers are now in full draft mode, with the 2023 MJHL Draft going down on Sunday.