Four Free Agents Make Beast Training Camp
Brampton Beast Media Release
BRAMPTON, ON – The Brampton Beast, proud ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, are excited to announce that four players from the Free Agent Camp held from July 24-26 have been invited to the Beast’s main Training Camp this September.
Goaltender Paul Dorsey, forward Luke Sandler, defenseman Ben MacAskill and former Beast blueliner Dean Willmott were chosen from a prospect pool of 76 total participants to advance to the next level of selection and battle for a spot on the 2015-2016 Beast roster.
“The quality of the players was a lot higher than in previous seasons,” said Beast front office staffer Mike Pupo, who assisted in the coordination of the camp and players over the past two years. “There was also a lot more diversity on the ice with players coming from a wide variety of hockey levels and leagues around the world.”
Beast President and General Manager Cary Kaplan agreed that there was a much bigger buzz around the camp this summer, given the Beast’s solidified position in the ECHL and affiliation with the Canadiens.
“Over the course of our three seasons here in Brampton, this was without a doubt the largest, most intense and most competitive Free Agent Camp that we have run,” said Kaplan. “The response from the guys on the ice was incredible. As a result, we are inviting four players to our main training camp this fall, each of whom will battle for a roster spot with the Beast.”
Assistant Coach Peter Goulet, who oversaw the Free Agent Camp, also provided an update on the Boston Chowder Cup Tournament he participated in from July 16 – 19, 2015. Goulet assembled and entered a team into the Senior Jr. A Elite Division, composed of players aged 18-20 years old, against a field of 58 total teams. Former participants in this tournament include six prospects selected in the first round of the 2015 NHL entry draft, among them No. 2 overall selection Jack Eichel and No. 5 pick Noah Hanifin, out of a total of 41 NHL draft picks from this past year alone.
“I have been bringing teams to the Boston Chowder Cup for the last 14 years,” said Goulet of the experience. “Of those years, I have coached teams into the Semi-Finals twice, only to come up short both times. This summer was my third trip to the Semi-Finals, with a team that had only five players who played Jr. A Hockey in Canada last year, and while we didn’t win the tournament I was extremely impressed with the way the team came together against some very high-level competition. We look to build off these very successful results when we return to Boston next season with teams in both the Senior Jr. A Elite, College Open, and 2000/2001 Divisions.”