That led to 88 of the top 2006- and 2007-born players in the province converging on Barkman Arena in Caronport this past weekend for the first-ever Saskatchewan Male Prospects Showcase, an event designed to give players a chance to take the ice in a competitive environment after missing most of their respective campaigns last season.
“It was a really good turnout and we had lots of scouts and coaches out to watch,” Ernest said. “Everyone was pretty happy to be back on the ice playing actual games, and it was fun to watch. It was a great weekend.”
Players were broken into six teams and each played four games throughout the day on July 17 and 18. And it wasn’t just your average house league player, either -- some of the top AA and AAA-level kids in the province were skating this weekend, and that drew all sorts of attention from Western Hockey League and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League scouts and coaches.
“Everyone had played Tier I hockey, so everyone was really good, and that was the whole point, to showcase them to the WHL and the SJHL and all that,” Ernest said. “It was a chance for all these guys to come in and watch them, and the players to face the best in the province.”
The players themselves were more than aware of who the faces in the stands represented, and helped elevate the level of play to a near season-like level.
“It was intense, I’ll tell you that, there were even a couple of scraps,” Ernest said. “The boys were playing no holds barred out there, it was old-time hockey and kind of fun to watch.
“And the way it worked out, all the teams were so even, the first day they were all one-goal games and there were even some shootouts. So it was really good to watch and made it fun for the guys, too.”
Much like the Female Prospects Showcase, Ernest brought in some high-level talent to act as guest coaches and referees, including the likes of Portland Winterhawks standout and New York Islanders prospect Reece Newkirk, Jaxsen Wiebe from the Edmonton Oil Kings and Chase Lacombe of the Swift Current Broncos.
“It was great to have all those guys out, you could tell the players looked up to them,” Ernest said.
The focus for Dustin Ernest Hockey Camps now turns toward Sask First preparation for the next couple of weekends before Ernest himself begins preparing for his first season as head coach of the Notre Dame Hounds Under-17 Prep team, who will take the ice in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League for the coming campaign.
