Interview with Dave Torrie, GM of the Soo Greyhounds (OHL)

Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver...are all names that come to mind when thinking of places in Canada.

Sault St. Marie isn't one of them. Located about six hours from the hockey hotbed of London, Ontario, the OHL Arena Guide notes "For a city as isolated as Sault Ste. Marie, visiting fans are a seldom-seen rarity."

However, it hasn't stopped the locals from packing the home town building to watch their Greyhounds. Through the years the team has featured a who's who of hockey - Ron Francis, Phil Esposito, Tony Esposito, Paul Coffey, John Vanbiesbrouck, Marty Turco...and that Wayne Gretzky guy.

For the last seven years the organization has been run by Dave Torrie, a man with his own impressive resume - he owned, coached and managed the Chatham Maroons (a successful junior B franchise) for 10 years and previously served as a scout and player personnel director for the 'Hounds. Thus, the man knows hockey, especially at the junior level.

In an article a few days ago he offered up his opinions on several Kings prospects that have spent time in the Soo.  Today, he's back for more - with insight into the world of junior hockey, the art of drafting players and thoughts about a very interesting road trip they'll be taking this coming weekend as part of their training camp.

Enjoy!

MM:  Earlier this summer the Kings drafted Tyler Toffoli out of the OHL.  As a player born in 1992 he was part of the 2008 OHL draft, which has become one of more controversial drafts of late.  Several top players taken in the first round that year were accused of manipulating the draft by saying they were going to college instead.  Is this a common occurrence in junior hockey?

CHL Prospects Game wrap-up

Last night was another showcase event for players looking to be drafted by an NHL team this June in Los Angeles. The CHL - comprised of all three major Canadian junior leagues - put on their annual Prospects Game in Windsor, Ontario.

Nearly all of the players on both rosters are ranked in the top 100 by the NHL's Central Scouting, including the top three ranked North American players: LW Taylor Hall (first), C Tyler Seguin (second) and D Cam Fowler (third).

Another guy on the roster was the kid that should be called 'number one with a bullet' the way his stock is rising, Swiss superstar-to-be Nino Nierderreiter. He had another strong game, netting one of the two goals for Team Orr (Bobby Orr).

You can catch Nino on TV again this Friday. He'll be playing for his regular junior team, the Portland Winterhawks, when they host the Everrett Silvertips (Oscar Moller's old team). The game can be seen on FoxSports Northwest (channel 687 on DirecTV).

Team Cherry (Don Cherry) won the game with four goals from Ryan Spooner (ranked #38), Emerson Etem, Jordan Weal (ranked #45) and Louis-Marc Aubry (ranked #89)

Although Hall was held to just an assist in the game, he was named player of the game for Cherry.

Jeff Skinner (ranked #47) scored the other goal for Team Orr and was voted his team's player of the game. He also won the breakaway contest in the prior night's Skills Competition.

"It's just an honour to play for Bobby Orr and it was a great game," Skinner said. "It was a tough one to lose but I think our team battled hard and it was a lot of fun."

Seguin ended the night with zero points and a minus-2 rating. Fowler, also held pointless, was a much better plus 4 in the game.

Click here to see the official game story and game sheet.

Click here to see the current player rankings by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau.

The draft will be here before you know it. Read up!

The Mayor
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