Merritt Centennials head coach and GM Luke Pierce and his staff liked what they saw from the 80-plus players who attended the first of two evaluation camps being run by the Cents this spring.

“It was probably one of the youngest camps we’ve had,” said Pierce, “but the games on Saturday and Sunday were very good. We were happy with how things went.”

Breaking it down by position, Pierce said that there was definitely talent on display in the players who came from throughout Western Canada and various parts of the States to showcase their abilities.

“There were a couple of excellent goalies at camp who could definitely play Junior A,” the coach said. “I liked a lot of the defencemen, and that is definitely an area that we need to address going into next season. There wasn’t anybody in the forwards who really dominated. We were pleased to see the scoring quite spread out.”

Following the Cents’ second evaluation camp in Abbotsford from June 13 to 15, Pierce and his staff will decide on the 14 to 15 guys that they want to invite to the team’s main camp in August.

Currently, the Cents have 12 to 13 players slated to return from last season’s BCHL team.