Dustin's Camp Story

This photo by Randy Emery is Dustin Scafe. Dustin has been creating some positive buzz at the BCHL message board recently with his posts on attending different junior hockey spring camps. He's got a great attitude. That place could use more of that sometimes. A lot of times you'll think that the only people happy after a camp are the ones who get jobs or invites. Dustin's story proves that there's more to it than that. If every player had an attitude like this the team would be in great shape. I hope he catches on somewhere in Alberta and makes great strides so we can see him in Trail in 09/10. This is the e-mail he wrote me for the blog. Thanks Dustin, and good luck!

"What a camp! I had alot of fun in Priceton and it was really nice to get
out and meet all the nice people I met and I even had the chance to play some
even better Hockey. Going into this camp I knew i wasn't going to make an
immediate impact onto the Smokies team, but I knew if I could go out and play my
hardest I could gather some interest and maybe have a place to play in 09/10.

Day 1 was the latest starting day for me, registration at 11 AM and then we
had a quick player meeting, I got picked for team yellow, and we didn't have to
play until 3:30 I believe. First icetime was just a practise, which, for me,
started a little slow as I hadn't been on the ice in over a month. After about a
half hour my legs started to come back and my game was picking up. Later on that
night we played our first game, we were down 2 nothing about 20 minutes in when
surprisingly I notched my first goal. Felt really good to get one for my team and
even better to know that my performance thus far was pretty good. We ended up
losing 5-2 but it was a ton of fun playing against and with some of the best
players in and around BC.

Day 2 was an early 7:30 start for us, as our second game came. We played
poor in the morning but managed to tie 4-4. Later on, we played another game
against team blue, pretty sure we lost track of the score. 6-2 is my guess. Blue
was really the dominant team at camp but hey no complaints all the better for
Trails scouts.

Day 3 was a 7 AM start for us, it was a scheduled practise but Jim Ingram
came down to talk and told us we'll play a game since were a bunch of softies.
that brought upon alot of laughs, good to see a coach with an awesome sense of
humour. I believe we won this one 5-4 i got 2 assists in this one. Actually made
me sad having to get off the ice as the team actually was starting to come
together. The ice in Princeton would rank among the 3 worst surfaces i have ever
played on! the other two in that top 3 would probably be my road and my
driveway, so that tells alot! There was a good 5 or 6 guys who really stood out
in my eyes and I see them having a great chance at making this team come Main
camp.

So, upon leaving we had our individual meetings, they were surprisingly
short i wasn't sure if they would be evaluations or just the staff saying whats
happening with me as a player. The second one of those 2 was how it went, and I
was informed I would not be attending main camp, and that I'm a year back of the
imports minimum age. Jim also expressed some interest in where I will be playing
next year which really brought me some confidence.

Even though i never got my invite to Main Camp, I still left with LOTS more
confidence then what I came in with. I had a ton of fun this weekend and look
forward to hopefully spending another weekend with the Smoke Eaters organization
in one years time. Who knows, my birthdays in January, maybe it could come
earlier! I would like to express my thanks to Jim Ingram and his coaching staff
on an excellent camp and that I have gained a ton of respect for not only him,
but the entire organization. This team showed great amounts of class to me, and
I'm sure to everyone. players from last years team made the drive to Princeton
to ref and fill in some games, and I must say, they are some pretty cool guys
with great attitudes so they deserve a huge thanks.

Looking forward to stepping on the Cominco Arena's ice,

Dustin Scafe."