Killer Bees Weekly Notes

Published on October 7, 2003 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees News Release


IN TRAINING

Monday opened training camp for the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and 25 players stepped onto the southernmost sheet of ice in Texas and the newest venue in the state, the Dodge Arena, to complete the first day of camp and the first training camp practice for second year head coach Tracy Egeland. Egeland was an assistant coach with the Lubbock Cotton Kings during training camp last season and did not take over the head coaching role until December. Egeland has divided the camp roster into two groups to focus on the individual skills and to give players more repetitions during drills. The two groups then clash together for a scrimmage each afternoon for the first couple of camp days. Egeland has until Wednesday, October 15th, to reduce his 25-man roster to 18 active players, which must consist of at least three rookie/developmental players and no more than 5 veteran classified players. "HAVE WE MET BEFORE?"

One would think that the first day of camp with an expansion team would bring a quiet atmosphere, but this isn't a typical expansion team. There are at least 6 combinations of players on the Bees roster that have prior experience with a fellow teammate on a prior roster elsewhere in the hockey world. Take a look:

Rookies Craig Clare and Craig Bezjack played the previous three seasons together at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), which was also attended by defenseman Mike Rees.

Speaking of Rees, Jeff Levy, Troy Linna, Jason Tessier, Justin Van Parys, Jeremy Vanin, and Rees all played together with the El Paso Buzzards.

Player / assistant coach Sean Gillam played last season in Jackson with Bill Newson and Kevin Mackie.

Newson and forward Roger Holeczy played NCAA college hockey together at Northeastern and turned pro together with New Orleans, where they teamed up with forward Andrew Taylor.

Rookie forwards Tim Jurajevic and Matic Kalj are both Slovenian natives.

Rookies Luke Spannbauer and Kevin Block each played amateur senior hockey together last season with the Texarkana Bandits.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Its typical for hockey players to have nicknames and they are used more than their real names. This team will need nicknames. There are 2 players with the name "Jason", "Craig", "Taylor," and 4 players with the name "Ryan". "J" can't be a nickname used for any of the players either, because 6 of the player's names begins with the letter "J".

WEEK AHEAD

Fri. Oct. 10 7:05 @ Corpus Christi Rayz Radio: No Broadcast Available

Notes: For the ones that want to include preseason, the puck does drop for the first time for the Killer Bees in Corpus Christi, as the Bees have their first structured competition in the Corpus Christi Caller Times "Best of the Best" Preseason Showcase. Not all 25 Bees will suit up, as CHL guidelines (like the regular season) only allow 18 players to dress for preseason contests. The only rule that is different from a regular season game deals with fighting. A player receiving two major penalties (instead of 3) in a single game will automatically be issued a game misconduct.

Sat. Oct. 11 7:00 @ Laredo Bucks Radio: No Broadcast Available

Notes: As Texas and Oklahoma have their border battle at the Cotton Bowl, the Killer Bees and Bucks open up their own border battle with a preseason match-up. This will be the Killer Bees final preseason tune-up before the regular season begins October 18th in San Angelo.

It is typical for preseason games not to be broadcasted, but all preseason contests will use the Pointstreak.com real-time scoring feature, which will can be viewed on the Killer Bees website (www.killerbeehockey.com), CHL website (www.centralhockeyleague.com), and/or Pointstreak's site (www.pointstreak.com).

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