2022 Spring Camp Recap
Regina, Sask – The Regina Pats Hockey Club held their 2022 Spring Camp last weekend, inviting 27 players from across North America, which included a mix of 2005, 2006 and 2007 born prospects.
It was the first Pats Spring Camp since the 2018-19 season, when the club invited a number of 2004 and 2003 born prospects – in which current Pats Easton Armstrong, Braxton Whitehead, Zane Rowan, Parker Berge, Layton Feist and Matthew Kieper attended.
This year, the Pats featured one of their deepest prospect pools in recent memory following a strong 2020, 2021 and 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, along with several strong list players.
“When I came here, we did a quick rebuild with some trades during the winter of my first year,” Regina Pats GM and Head Coach John Paddock said. “After that it was building towards something and after that it was recovery. We like our young players. It’s an awful thing to say, but what messes it up is that Connor [Bedard] is so good, he wont be with us long. Our 2005-born players are going to take a hit because he leaves soon but we like our young players and what the future looks like.”
The highlights of the camp were the appearances of 2022 first-round pick [fifth overall] Cole Temple, 2022 second and third-round selections Corban Almen and Brayden Smith, as well as 2021 first and second-round picks Jaxsin and Corbin Vaughan, and goaltender Kelton Pyne who made a name for himself last season, recording two shutouts in nine games as a call up.
The Pats brass also had an opportunity to have a close glance at some of their later picks, including signed fourth-rounders Carter Herman and Raiden Zacharias, as well as list defencemen’s Mitchell McEachern and Matthew Loo. The club also invited four U.S. prospects, as goaltender Justin Bayers, and defencemen’s Brogan Young, Stephen Grumley and Dylan Lebret took part in their first spring camp.
“It was really good,” Paddock said. “[This year] you don’t get much of a chance to see the players, but with Spring Camp, you can look forward and get a glimpse of the future. Under all the circumstances, it gave us a chance to look at some guys and see how they developed or get our first look at them because we had two drafts in the last six months. It was an important thing for us and an important thing for them [the players].”
Here’s a look at the full roster from Spring Camp.
| Prospect | Position | YR | Drafted | |
| Goalies (4) | ||||
| 1 | Kelton Pyne | G | 2005 | List |
| 2 | Nicolas Rempel | G | 2006 | 2021 RD 8 (#172) |
| 3 | Justin Bayers | G | 2006 | 2021 U.S. RD 2 (#33) |
| 4 | Cruz Chase | G | 2007 | 2022 RD 7 (#136) |
| Defense (13) | ||||
| 5 | Carter Herman | LD | 2005 | 2020 RD 4 (#71) |
| 6 | Ty Plaisier | LD | 2005 | 2020 RD 4 (#74) |
| 7 | Ethan King | RD | 2005 | List |
| 8 | Brogan Young | RD | 2005 | 2020 U.S. RD 2 (#27) |
| 9 | Mitchell McEachern | RD | 2005 | List |
| 10 | Matthew Loo | RD | 2005 | List |
| 11 | Corbin Vaughan | LD | 2006 | 2021 RD 2 (#30) |
| 12 | Aaron Krestanowich | LD | 2006 | 2021 RD 5 (#92) |
| 13 | Kolten Bridgeman | RD | 2006 | List |
| 14 | Brayden Smith | LD | 2007 | 2022 RD 3 (#53) |
| 15 | Samuel Laplante | RD | 2007 | 2022 RD 7 (#141) |
| 16 | Stephen Grumley | RD | 2007 | 2022 U.S. RD 2 (#42) |
| 17 | Dylan Lebret | RD | 2007 | 2022 U.S. RD 1 (#3) |
| Forwards (10) | ||||
| 18 | Carter Ralston | LW | 2006 | 2021 RD 6 (#119) |
| 19 | Raiden Zacharias | LW | 2006 | 2021 RD 4 (#75) |
| 20 | Dru Mushumanski | RC | 2006 | 2021 RD 7 (#141) |
| 21 | Jaxsin Vaughan | RW | 2006 | 2021 RD 1 (#21) |
| 22 | Kaslo Ferner | RW | 2006 | 2021 RD 7 (#151) |
| 23 | Corban Almen | RC | 2007 | 2022 RD 2 (#31) |
| 24 | Cole Temple | LC | 2007 | 2022 RD 1 (#5) |
| 25 | Wyatt Stinton | LC | 2007 | 2022 RD 5 (#102) |
| 26 | Owen Nelson | RW | 2007 | 2022 RD 8 (#163) |
| 27 | Kelsen Podworny | RW | 2007 | 2022 RD 9 (#185) |
Most notably, the Pats were able to ink two players out of last weekends camp, signing 2022 first-rounder Cole Temple, and 2022 second-round selection Corban Almen to WHL Standard Player Agreements.
🚨NEWS🚨 The Pats are excited to announce the signing of 2022 first-round pick Cole Temple!#MarchOn
— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) June 14, 2022
“My comparison in my own mind is Sam Steel,” Paddock said of Temple. “I think there are a lot of those things in him as far as skating ability and playmaking. They’re both that kind of player. One was taken at two and the other at five, but if we were picking at two, we would have taken him. He’s going to be a very good player in this league.”
🚨NEWS🚨 The Pats are pleased to announce the signing of 2022 second-round pick Corban Almen!#MarchOn
📰👇
— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) June 15, 2022
“The scouts had him ranked pretty high, and felt he was a pretty good player,” Paddock said on Almen. “When I saw him for these two days [Spring Camp], I thought he was probably the most noticeable player. You usually sign your first two or three picks pretty quick. From what we saw this weekend, it made it easy to move ahead with him.”
In case you missed it, here are links to all the media availabilities that took place at the Pats 2022 Spring Camp, including a photo gallery from both days.
MEDIA – TEMPLE, PYNE, VAUGHAN’S
