CALGARY -- The top prospects in the Canadian Hockey League put on quite a show during the 2001 Canadian Hockey League Home Hardware Top Prospects Game Skill Testing competition held Tuesday.
All of the players taking part in Wednesday night’s sixth annual game (with the exception of Jean Francois Soucy, a last minute addition who didn’t arrive until Tuesday afternoon), competed in the annual Skill Testing event at Calgary’s Father David Bauer Arena.
Team Purple (to be coached by Hockey Night in Canada personality Don Cherry) and Team White (coached by hockey superstar Bobby Orr) held their own events and as usual, the top prospects put on a dazzling display in five categories.
The honour of having the hardest shot among the top prospects went to Jordin Tootoo (Brandon, WHL), who fired a shot timed at 96.1 miles per hour to top Team White. Greg Watson (Prince Albert, WHL) was second with a blast of 94.1 mph, followed by Frantisek Bakrlik (Barrie, OHL) at 92.4 mph.
Hardest shot on Team Purple was recorded by Jay Harrison (Brampton, OHL), as his first shot measured 95.4 mph. Runner-up on the Purple squad was Jiri Jakes (Brandon, WHL) with a shot of 94.8 mph, with Jakes second shot (94.7 mph) good enough to place him third as well.
Players also took part in Puck Control, 60-foot dash, 150-foot dash and Full Lap skating drills.
Team White winners included Carlo Colaiacovo (Erie, OHL) in Puck Control (16.766 seconds to race 60-feet past several pile-ons); Joel Stepp (Red Deer, WHL) in the 60-foot dash; Tootoo in the 150-foot dash and Jeff Lucky (Spokane, WHL) in the Full Lap.
Team Purple winners included Derek Roy (Kitchener, OHL) in Puck Control; Mark Popovic (Toronto St. Michael’s, OHL) in the 60-foot dash; Nicolas Corbeil (Sherbrooke, QMJHL) in the 150-foot dash and Garth Murray (Regina, WHL) in the Full Lap event.
The 2001 CHL Top Prospects Game will be played Wednesday evening at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary. The game features 40 of the top prospects as selected by NHL Central Scouting Department as Team Orr takes on Team Cherry. Team Orr leads the series three games to two.
The game will be broadcast live on CTV Sportsnet.
