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Rebels Will Begin To Assemble Their Roster

Today the Jamestown Rebels will take a large step towards their second season in the North American Hockey League with the start of main camp.

More than 100 skaters from across the United States and beyond will gather at Northwest Arena, with registration taking place at 12:30 p.m. before an introductory players meeting at 1 p.m.

After checking in, players will be split up into eight different teams for a series of preliminary games n, which will run every hour from 3-6 p.m. starting with a goalie session.

Players will have two sessions of skating on Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. and running through 7 p.m. before the first round of cuts are made.

The Rebels finished their inaugural season in Jamestown with a 35-17-5-3 record, good for second place in the East Division, and began to fill out their roster with the NAHL draft on June 4.

With their first pick of the day at No. 35 of the second round, the Rebels selected defenseman Cooper Swift, while goaltender Jon Howe was taken 61st overall.

This weekend’s camp will be open to the public, who will have a chance to get a look at some of the best young players in the country free of charge.

“It is a great opportunity to get a little bit of summer hockey,” said Jamestown head coach Joe Coombs. “Certainly to come and see some future players for next year as well as some future players down the road who might be a year or two away. If you are looking for some free-of-charge entertainment we’ll be here all weekend.”

The field of around 120 will be narrowed down to four teams over the course of the weekend, which will play a pair of games on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m.

From there, more cuts will be made until two all-star teams are selected. They will face off at 5 p.m. on Sunday and 9 a.m. on Monday.

“We went to eight sort of partial teams rather than six full teams so that we could see players more often and they can touch the puck more,” said Coombs.

Fans will also have a chance to do more than just watch the new crop of Rebels talent take the ice, as the organization will be meeting with any prospective billet families on Sunday as well.

Billet coordinator Amber Smith will be available starting at 12:30 p.m. to field any interest regarding host families for the upcoming season.

“It is the most important aspect, the bloodline of every junior hockey team in the United States,” Coombs said of billet families. “The billet families play such an integral part in these players’ lives. It is where they are going to feel comfortable in a family setting. The billet families are the ones building relationships with these players, even more than staff and coaches. As an organization, we are extremely thankful that people are willing to do it.”

Smith can be reached at 665-9642 or via email at rebelsbillet@gmail.com.

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