Sioux Falls camp this year didn't have as much star power as last year's camp with Jake Hansen and Jack Connolly giving impressive performances, but it was another very fast-paced camp. It was pretty well-attended too. It looked like some fans had made the trip from Sioux Falls which is pretty impressive.
The Navy team was the most impressive at the camp, led by Harvard recruit Luke Grenier. Grenier was the most impressive player of the day. He's filled out over the past 12 months, and should be due for a huge year for the Stampede. Returning player Matt Farris also had a nice game. St. Cloud recruit David Eddy looked talented, but was kind of all over the place. A year in the USHL refining his game a little bit should serve him very well. Also, former Blaine HS forward Mike Schaber played an excellent second half of his game and was rewarded with a goal. He was recruited by some WCHA teams over the high school season. Former Texas Tornado forward Adam Mitchell also looked very good, and has very good size.
On defense, Randy Cure recently committed to Mercyhurst. He's a big guy that skates well. He's a little unpolished, but has a lot of potential. Another intriguing defenseman was '91 birthdate Drew Scurfield. He played a couple games in the MJHL last year. In another couple years, he could be very good.
Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel looked pretty good for the Green team, as did returning forward Dane Walters.
On the Gold team, Anthony Raiola had a pretty impressive camp and he should have a solid year for Sioux Falls. Cretin-Derham Hall's Ryan Bohrer also had a good game. The Gold team also had a couple nice power forwards in Ryan Kesti and Duncan McKellar.
The most impressive player for the Red team was former Texas Tornado forward Sam Goodwin. Goodwin was great, but he might have trouble making the team because he's an '88 birthdate. The Stampede have '88s Kris Reinthaler, Max Grover, Terry Broadhurst, and Joe Knoepke all returning, so one of them would have to go for Goodwin to make the team. If Goodwin didn't make it in Sioux Falls, I'm sure somebody would pick him up.
'91s Andy Simpson and Travis Belohrad both looked pretty good for the Red team.
Among the goalies, Eric Hartzell will likely be returning unless he commits to a college. Sioux Falls also had two of the better '91 goalies out there in camp with C.J. Motte and Clay Witt. Both are talented, but maybe a little raw right now, though they'd potentially make nice back-ups to Hartzell. Also at the camp was a goalie named Matt Ray, a '92 from Andover, Minnesota. I wasn't familiar with him, but he was outstanding.
