The Storm hosts the expansion Cape Breton Highlanders tonight at 7 p.m. at UPEI.
“We’ll be down to our final 12 by tomorrow,” head coach and vice-president of player personnel Joe Salerno said Tuesday morning. “We really want to have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday for practice for our full roster.”
The Storm hosts the expansion Cape Breton Highlanders tonight at 7 p.m. at UPEI.
“We’ll be down to our final 12 by tomorrow,” head coach and vice-president of player personnel Joe Salerno said Tuesday morning. “We really want to have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday for practice for our full roster.”
The Storm cut three players on Monday to reduce the roster to 15 active players.
Forward Dane Miller and centres Dominique Dawson and Sharife Sergeant were released. Sergeant is from Scarborough, Ont., leaving the Storm with the required number of four Canadians.
Salerno said the decisions have been difficult to make.
“You really hate to send anybody home,” he said. But “it’s good to start getting the training camp roster trimmed down.”
Guard Jackson Trapp is the 16th player still with the Storm. He broke a bone in his foot and could start the season on the injured reserve or be released.
Guard Shawn Vanzant is in the second stage of the concussion protocol and will not play tonight.
The Storm will have 14 guys dressed for tonight’s game with the team looking to use the first half of the contest to play the top-eight guys in its projected rotation. It includes guys like Nick Okorie, Terry Thomas and Tirrell Baines.
“We have been playing those guys a lot together in practice and our scrimmages,” Salerno said.
The Storm opens the regular season on Boxing Day at home against the Saint John Riptide at 2 p.m. at the Eastlink Centre.
They play the Highlanders on New Year’s Day in Sydney, N.S. The expansion club has a few familiar faces, including Morgan Lewis, who played two seasons, including last year, with the Storm, and Shaquille Keith, who played last season with the Windsor Express.
Training camp roster
A look at the players remaining in the Island Storm training camp in no particular order.
Point guards
Ryan McCoy
Jahii Carson
Al Stewart
Guards
Jackson Trapp**
Terry Thomas*
Nick Okorie
Shawn Vanzant
Forwards
Al Richter
Wayne McCullough
Demitri Harris*
Brad States*
Power forwards
Tirrell Baines
Ryan Christie*
A.J. Stewart
Centres
Ephrem Davis
Leon Gibson
* – Canadians
** – Injured
