Wha? Amyot ? Washington? Really?

Saint John Sea Dogs at Development Camp
The Sea Dogs have an online writeup about their boys at development camp. Apparently defenceman Pascal Amoyt was invited to Washington's development camp. I missed this, but mostly because I quickly perused the development camp roster at On Frozen Blog and did not really spot anything strangely unique about the invites. All I noticed was that Perreault's hair is looking quite luxurious. You can check out how Perreault's development camp went at the Caps website.

I am going to rip the Sea Dogs article and steal a picture. I recommend going to the Sea Dogs site to check out the Captain Alex pictures.

"Various teams throughout the National Hockey League have been holding their annual rookie/prospect developmental training camps this week, with several members of the Saint John Sea Dogs taking part in the arduous training and evaluation sessions in cities all over North America.

Yann Sauvé (Vancouver), Chris DiDomenico (Toronto), and Alex Grant (Pittsburgh) have been taking part in their respective rights holders’ camps, while Pascal Amyot (Washington) and Robert Mayer (Montreal) were asked to attend as free agents.

"It's awesome, like a dream come true. Being in (the Canadiens') locker room is just unbelievable," Mayer recently told the Telegraph-Journal. “It's a big opportunity for me to show what I can do.”

In addition to training hard both on and off the ice down in Pittsburgh, Sea Dogs Captain Alex Grant also recently joined several of his fellow Penguins prospects in leading an instructional youth hockey seminar in western Pennsylvania."

Poor, poor, citizen Fullerton, Montreal Canadiens are his favorite team and yet the boy with the 2.98 GAA and 0.905 save % gets left behind, while his backup with the 3.77 GAA and 0.877 save % gets a development camp invite. Grrrrr, who do I need to punch. Surely this must be because Carey Prrrrrr-ice did not want competition when it came to being sexy-between-the-pipes. But because I could never hurt my darling Carey I will have to find some other way to punish him - perhaps something involving ropes.

Vancouver had their development camp shortly after the draft. They have an article and videos featuring Yann Sauve up on their website (check the news for June 26, 2008). The Vancouver blog states that "Sauve seemed to have a strong outing today on both the ice and in the weight room. Appearing calm and collective Sauve, the 6’2” Quebec native, demonstrated strong skating ability, convincing puck control, and accurate passing."

There is also Cory Schneider's development camp blog which features a picture of the development camp attendees with Sauve front and center.



Here are the Sauve videos from the Canucks website:








Toronto:
The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Sea Dog Christopher DiDomenico in 2006. You can check out the Maple Leaf's website for all of their development camp shenanigans. Dido is featured in the following video:





My only problem with the Sea Dogs is that our love affair is so secret that even they don't know about it. They do not seem so smart because I keep hinting and hinting that we are secret lovers kept under cover and they just stare blankly back at me and skate away. Only one Sea Dog acknowledges our love and I do not know who that boy is. Once, during a warmup I was sitting there all alone in the first row of section 24 fiddling with my camera, and not paying attention to the goings on around me, when a Sea Dog who was skating past me lifted his stick and tapped the glass right in front of me, you know, to acknowledge our love. I looked up to see a pile of boys on blades to my right. I will hunt that Sea Dog down and make him love me. Dear Sea Dog - you will rue the day you earned my love, for it is a lusty, drunken, obsessively scary kind of love.



There are two new Sea Dogs articles at the Telegraph journal. The first discusses Sauve, DiDomenico and Grant and their upcoming stint at the Canadian IIHF world under 20 training camp. The second is about Mayer and Amoyt being invited to development camps.

"The Switzerland native was an 18-year-old rookie last season after Saint John made him the third overall pick in the 2007 Canadian Hockey League Import draft. He had a respectable first half, posting a 3.37 goals-against average and .889 save percentage in 17 appearances. But he faltered after playing for his country at the World Junior Championship. In 15 second-half games, he stumbled to a 4.27 GAA and .864 SP, ending up at 3.77 and .877 for the year.

I kind of was (disappointed) when I wasn't drafted, but I didn't have a good second half, the end of the season wasn't good, so I kind of expected it. But I'm looking forward to a new season, to do my best and maybe get drafted next year," he said.

The Sea Dogs have a lot invested in Mayer, and still believe he can be an elite No. 1 goalie capable of carrying them to the Memorial Cup. Head coach and general manager Jacques Beaulieu has repeatedly stated his belief that Mayer's second season will be much better now that he has adjusted to North America. While eight goalies changed hands on draft day, Beaulieu did nothing to bring in another netminder to challenge Mayer. Rival GMs say he hasn't even been asking.

Mayer appreciates the vote of confidence.

"I want to be with Saint John and play every game. My goals are to play as many games as I possibly can."