BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW
Copper Cliff hockey coach Denis Aubut wants
to give young players the best shot at making their potential
OHL or college dreams come true.
Aubut, along with Mike Heaphy and Rod
Larocque, have organized a new hockey team for Sudbury, the
Copper Cliff Minor Midgets Redmen.
Heaphy will act as assistant coach and
Larocque will be the GM. Aubut will be the head coach.
The team will be specifically for players
with birth dates no later earlier 1990 and no older players
will be allowed to compete.
Aubut sees the venture as new sun rising in
the local hockey scene, and one that might brighten up the
future for many talented players.
"It's been a long time coming," said
Aubut.
"The point is to give these kids as much
exposure to junior and college hockey scouts as possible. We
will play in the Nickel District Hockey League, and also play
30 to 35 AAA minor midget level hockey tournaments down south
throughout the season. These will be games where the players
will be exposed to OHL scouts on a regular basis. There's a
pile of top-notch AAA tournaments down south each year. The
Toronto Marlies Tournament, for
example, has more than 200 scouts from junior
and college and university teams."
Like most teams in their first year of
existence, the Copper Cliff Minor Midgets will have a tough
road to haul, but success can easily be measured.
"At the end of year one, if we get just one
player drafted, it would be a success for the program," said
Aubut. "That would mean one player was drafted, who otherwise,
probably wouldn't have been selected. Hopefully, beyond that, a
handful of players can get drafted or at least get invites or
try outs - at least open the door for them to progress up the
hockey ladder."
Having another team, locally, to monitor has
scouts excited.
"I applaud the people putting this together,
and trying to fill a void out there," said International
Scouting Services Chief Scout Mark Seidel. "With the recent
Hockey Canada model, I think more kids are going to be pushed
back to playing AAA minor midget hockey. It's positive, and
even further, I think there's a need for a minor midget league
in Northern Ontario."
Try outs for the squad will take place in
mid-August.
Anyone interested can contact Aubut at
692-1369 or Larocque at 671-9587. "We're out to prove we can be
a viable option to the Great North Midget
League," said Aubut. "There's room for a team
like this. We want to be an on-going team in Copper Cliff each
year for the next few years."
