This group of rookies exceeded this editors expectations in terms of overall talent. Some rookies, who did not begin camp playing well, came on in day 2 of camp. This is especially true of Bret Nowak. He was invisible in scrimmage 1 but was the star of scrimmage 2 with 2 goals and 1 assist. The top prospects of the camp in this editors eyes were: C Andy Hilbert , RW Martin Samuelson, Jan Kubista, LW Ivan Huml, D Lars Jonsson, D Shoane Morrison, and G Adam Hauser. The amazing fact is that none of the rookies looked out of place.
The surprises of training camp were: Mike Gellard and Pat Leahy. Mike sat out all of last year with colitis while Pat was a point a game player in the Eastern League. Sometimes, by watching rookies against rookies, your evaluation can get clouded however most of these rookies moved on to veteran camp and blended in smoothly. All prospects who attended rookie camp will be updated in the prospect rating section in the near future.
