High-profile tryouts for two Junior A Aurora Tigers

July 8, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

Three months after a devastating early exit from the OJHL playoffs, the Junior A Aurora Tigers are still earning accolades for their outstanding performance during the season.

Tigers forward, and OJHL Rookie of the Year, Cam Morrison was named to Hockey Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team Selection Camp roster last Monday, one of three Junior A players to do so.

He will be heading to Calgary at the end of the month as one of 43 players to take part in practices and three intra-squad Red and White games at the Markin MacPhail Centre.

22 will be selected for the chance to represent Canada in the 2015 U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in mid-August, taking place in locations around Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

“It’s a great honour to be given the opportunity,” said Morrison. “I’m just going to go out there and work hard and hope for the best.”

Joining Morrison from the CJHL are Will Reilly of the North York Rangers and Stephen Baylis of the CCHL’s Carleton Place Canadians.

The 16-year old was a highly-touted prospect coming out of the Midget ranks in 2013-2014, choosing the OJHL and NCAA route in joining his hometown Aurora Tigers. The 6’3” forward used his size and power to plant himself in front of the opposition’s net, notching his first junior goal in his first game and leading all Tigers with 31 throughout the regular season. He was the youngest player to capture the Rookie of the Year award since 2008, at the age of 16 years and seven months.

The tryout will be his first opportunity to represent Canada internationally, having missed December’s Central Canada Cup All-Star Challenge due to appendicitis.

Canada has won the past seven Hlinka tournaments.

Defensively, the Tigers allowed the fewest goals in the league throughout the regular season, thanks in large part to the shut-down play of defenceman Callum Fryer.

The 6’2”, 185-lb. blue-liner will be spending the next week in Collingwood at the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs’ prospect camp, alongside the likes of highly-touted prospects William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and Frederik Gauthier.

He and Baylis are the only Junior A players who earned an invite, Fryer the sole representative of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Seen as more of a defensive-oriented defenceman, Fryer still put up four goals and twelve assists during the regular season last year, earning the 202nd spot on the NHL’s Central Scout draft rankings.

It’s been a busy week for the 19-year old, who also committed to playing hockey at the University of Massachusetts in the 2016-2017 season. In a statement on their website, UMass head coach John Micheletto called Fryer “a smart, two-way defenceman,” who will be looked to in the future to help the team with their league-worst 4.22 goals-against-average last season.