The demise of the St. Albert Steel has been greatly exaggerated.
The Alberta Junior Hockey League team is picked to finish near the bottom of the north division for the fourth-straight year, but forward Spencer Pommells believes the Steel will compete for home-ice advantage in the opening playoff round.
"It's still early to tell but I think we're going to be a lot better than people think we're going to be," Pommells said Wednesday at Performance Arena during the Steel's training camp. "There was a lot of speculation because of Bryce [Williamson, the co-recipient of the Ernie Love Trophy as the AJHL's scoring champion] leaving, as well as Alex [Perkins] and Eddy [captain Ryan Edens] and Dave Carr and Nolan Smith, but it looks like we picked up a few guys that like to work hard. We've also got a good core group coming back from last year that like to work hard too."
After four days of tryouts the Steel skated Friday in Sherwood Park against the Spruce Grove Saints in the opening game of a four-team pre-season tournament. The score was unavailable at press time.
Today in Spruce Grove, the Steel play the Sherwood Park Crusaders at 9 a.m. and Drayton Valley Thunder at 5 p.m. at Grant Fuhr Arena. The tournament wraps up Sunday at Servus Credit Union Place. The B final is 2 p.m. and the A final is 5 p.m.
Next week the Steel and Crusaders have exhibitions scheduled for Thursday in St. Albert and Saturday in Sherwood Park at 7 p.m.
The regular season opens Sept. 10, as the Steel hosts the Drumheller Dragons at 7 p.m.
"I'm really excited. I can't wait to get going," Pommells said. "Training camp has been pretty good. The first day everybody was getting their legs back and we were a little bit sore. Our coaches weren't happy with that first day but it's going good now. We've got a little bit more enthusiasm and competitiveness and intensity going and the veteran guys are trying to set that tone."
Top line status
After centring the second line in his Steel debut last season, Pommells has been promoted to the first unit as the left winger to complement all-star centre Reed Linaker, the AJHL's seventh highest scorer in 2009/10 with 81 points in 58 games.
"I'm excited to have the chance to play on the top line. It's quite the honour," said Pommells, the Steel's sixth-leading scorer with 37 points in 39 games. "Reed is a pretty good player and I think we're going to work well together. We've developed some chemistry [in training camp] and we've always had a good relationship before so I'm really looking forward to it."
The left-handed shooter hasn't patrolled the wing since midget in Grande Prairie and two seasons ago during a brief fling with the Crusaders.
"I've had some practice with it and we're working on it right now. I'm watching some video to help figure out how to play it. Reed is also helping me along with it. He used to play the wing, too."
The rail-thin five-foot-10, 165-pound Pommells will be counted on to put up big offensive numbers after scoring 15 goals and adding 22 assists last season.
"When I was younger I was always a playmaker. I was a lot smaller too so I never really had the scoring touch but last year I put up a decent amount of goals so I'm looking towards being that all-around kind of guy, a playmaker and a goal scorer. That's another thing Reed and I have in common and that's why I think it's going to work out well with us playing together."
The projected right winger on the top line is Taylor Fraser, 19, a scrappy player who is projected to tally more than 20 goals in his third AJHL season after recording 22 goals and 26 assists in 116 games with the Steel.
"He will be the crash and bang guy who will muck things up. He will try and create some space for me and Reed and hopefully we can bear down and bury our chances," Pommells said.
Major contributor
Last season with the Golden Rockets in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, Pommells caught the Steel's attention with nine goals and 13 assists in 18 games. In his first game with the Steel on Nov. 4, he scored a penalty shot goal in the 6-3 home-ice win over Drayton Valley. He went on to become a bona fide offensive threat, sniping seven goals while adding five assists in 15 games.
"It kind of took off pretty quick last year. I didn't expect it to go like that. That first game was kind of cool how it went. After that I just kind of solidified myself with the team and the league," said Pommells, who finished the 2008/09 campaign with 20 goals and 15 assists in 39 games in Golden after he was cut by the Crusaders after only a few games.
"This year I really want to work on having another good year and hopefully it leads me to a school next year where I can continue to play hockey. I also want to be one of the guys that everyone looks towards as a leader. We had a great leadership core last year so now I'm kind of taking what they showed us into this year. I'm definitely looking forward to teaching some of the younger guys and show them kind of the reins and how it works."
His performance with the Steel was rewarded with a berth on the north division all-rookie team.
"It's definitely something I'm most proud of and I'm going to keep in my memory for a while, forever probably," said Pommells, who ironically lost out to defenceman Jordan Abt for the Steel's rookie of the year award. "It was quite an honour and a surprise too to be recognized like that. There are some pretty good players that made that team. They're going to be guys to watch out for this year and I'm hoping it will be the same for me."
