Busy summer for Panthers
It has been a hectic off-season for Peham Panthers head coach/assistant general manager Zac Rinaldo.
The second-year coach spent a good deal of his summer at the rink, assessing players at prospects camp, holding skates and preparing for the upcoming Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League season.
“We were at the rink starting in July two times a week together hosting skates and conversing with agents and GMs from different leagues,” Rinaldo said. “We did it the majority of the time as a staff and everyone was involved in the process.
“We have our own say this year on what we can bring in and what we want inside of our culture. Having that teamwork with my coaches has gone such a long way. We work every day together.”
Rinaldo feels he has a much better idea of what type of team to assemble with a year of coaching in the GOJHL under his belt.
“I learned a lot, learned how the league operates, how the players play and the style of hockey that is played within our league and the small details. I really got a sense of the league,” he said. “Heading into the off-season I had that in my mind and how I’m going to pick my team and what kind of players we need to fit the style of this league.”
Rinaldo was impressed with the quality of talent from the prospect camp.
“We had a lot of hungry, passionate players that are very smart and think the game. In today’s game, you need to be able to think very fast and have a strong IQ,” he said. “That rolled into more summer skates which just wrapped up so I think we have a good sample size of the players coming to main camp that are smart with a very hard work ethic.”
The Panthers open camp Tuesday, August 13 and Rinaldo singled out five players —Cooper Drennan, Noah Aboflan, Brandon Petrova, Riley Smythe and Josh Czalij — as the core of the returning roster.
“I have my players that I’m still developing and there’s still so much more in the tank and the relationship between the coach and the players,” he said. “From that core group I can build around that to compliment that group. I have a very strong relationship with that group. They’re loyal and have bought into the program so bringing those guys along into next year will be very important for our season.”
Rinaldo is excited about the newcomers he has added, particulalry Philip Castrodale and Francesco Sanita.
Castrodale is a 17-year-old defenceman who played part of last season with the Niagara North Stars.
“He is a big, strong, hard working, coachable defenceman who is going to be awesome for us. He’s very highly competitive and gets shots through,” Rinaldo said.
Sanita, a 17-year-old native of Stoney Creek, scored 13 goals and 27 points with the North Stars U18AAA squad and also appeared in nine games for the Panthers where he collected a pair of assists.
“He is a natural centre who played wing last year,” Rinaldo said. “Very smart, thinks the game and a very ultra competitive kid with strong leadership qualities. He’s an underdog who didn’t get drafted.”
Rinaldo said many of the others he expects to break camp with the team have at least a small taste of the GOJHL.
“It is still going to be a big turnover but the majority of them did AP in our league that we kept eyes on. It’s a big turnover inside our dressing room but these guys have played more than a handful of games in our league and have experience,” he said.
The Panthers begin pre-season action Sunday, August 25 at Caledon before hosting Hamilton Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 6:45 p.m. Pelham will host Caledon, Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 6:45 p.m. and travel to Hamilton Thursday, Sept. 5.
The Panthers open the regular season Thursday Sept. 12 in Brantford. They are in Cambridge Saturday, Sept. 14 before hosting Caledonia Sunday, Sept. 15 at 2:45 p.m. in their home opener.
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