Even though they played junior hockey in the same city for two years, forward Ben Walker of the Victoria Royals and defenceman Nolan De Jong of the Victoria Grizzlies knew each other only in passing.
But they have time together this week at the Minnesota Wild NHL development camp for some Island bonding and to discuss all things Victoria.
Walker is there as a free agent and De Jong as a 2013 seventh-round draft pick of the Wild.
Meanwhile, as Royals teammates in the Western Hockey League, 2013 third-round draft pick Keegan Kanzig and free-agent invitee Austin Carroll know each other pretty well in the prospects camp of the Calgary Flames.
It may be high summer, but there no longer seems to be an off-season in hockey, especially for those good enough to dream about eventually making the jump from junior to the pros in the NHL development camps taking place this week.
鈥淲e [junior and college] prospects are thrown in with players from the AHL and ECHL who are already in the Wild development system. And suddenly everybody you鈥檙e up against here is bigger and stronger,鈥� said De Jong.
The Stelly鈥檚 Secondary graduate will have up to four years to work on his game in Ann Arbor on an NCAA athletic scholarship with the University of Michigan Wolverines.
Walker鈥檚 progress, meanwhile, will likely continue back in Victoria by claiming one of three 20-year-old roster slots on the Royals for the 2013-14 WHL season.
Walker is a Minnesota homey attending Wild camp in St. Paul, just 20 minutes from his house in Edina. That may have interested the Wild in taking a flyer on him. The rest is up to him.
鈥淚 have to keep working hard and on my skating, shooting and ability to see the ice,鈥� he said.
Home-province Albertan Kanzig, too, didn鈥檛 have far to go 鈥� down Highway 2 from Athabasca to the Flames camp.
鈥淭his is a bigger stage but it鈥檚 still the same game I鈥檝e played all my life,鈥� he said.
The six-foot-five blueliner, who will return to junior and the Royals next season, gets to match-up this week against players who have already tasted pro hockey in the AHL and ECHL.
鈥淭hings are a lot quicker and it forces you to think faster,鈥� said Kanzig.
鈥淟earning how to play at a higher speed will be important. This will help me focus on playing smarter and getting faster and stronger.鈥�
Having the free-agent forward Carroll from the Royals with him in Flames camp was a pleasant surprise.
鈥淚t鈥檚 good to have a familiar face out there with you,鈥� said Kanzig.
鈥淟ike Benny [Walker] in the Wild camp, Austin is a good player and he鈥檚 earned this [free-agent tryout],鈥� said Kanzig.
While Kanzig is a first-year draftee, things are getting more urgent for 2012 Royals draftees Steven Hodges, who is in development camp for the second year with the Florida Panthers, and fellow-forward Logan Nelson, entering his second Buffalo Sabres camp.
They have until next June to sign with the NHL clubs that drafted them before becoming free agents.
鈥淕etting to the next level is all up to me,鈥� said Nelson, a native of Rogers, Minn.
The biggest thing he said he learned from last year鈥檚 Buffalo development camp was to play within himself.
鈥淎ct like yourself,鈥� said Nelson, a 20-year-old who will likely return and join Walker to give the Royals over-age corps a distinctive Minnesota flavour next season.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be a player you are not.鈥�
Meanwhile, forward Wade Murphy of Victoria 鈥� who spent his BCHL junior career with the hometown Grizzlies and Penticton Vees and who is headed to play in the NCAA at North Dakota 鈥� was selected in the seventh round of the 2013 draft by Nashville and is skating in the Predators development camp.
