First-year Johnstown Chiefs coach Jeff Flanagan believes his roster is set, or at least as close to set as possible with a week remaining until the team’s 22nd ECHL season opener.
“That’s pretty well the final roster,” Flanagan said after making two cuts on Friday and signing four players who had been on tryout contracts.
“There may be one decision left, but we’re getting real close.”
The Chiefs finish their exhibition season with a 6 p.m. game today against the Wheeling Nailers at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
On Friday, Flanagan named Shane Connelly as his backup goaltender and released goalie Jimmy Spratt. Center Jason Silverthorn also was cut.
The Chiefs signed Marc Rechlicz, Tyler Hirsch, Troy Schwab and Connelly. All four had been on tryouts.
The Chiefs have 22 players in camp. Teams are permitted to have 20 on the active roster with as many as three on injured reserve.
Eighteen may dress for a game.
“We’ve got a lot of really skilled players,” Flanagan said.
“The guys are really coming together as a team. The character of our guys is excellent.
“They’re real good guys and everyone gets along really well.
“There doesn’t seem to be any egos that are out of control. We’re pretty happy about that.”
Flanagan said he and assistant Jason Spence put a lot of thought into the backup goaltender spot. Having to choose between Connelly, a University of Wisconsin product, and Spratt, a former Bowling Green goalie drafted by the Calgary Flames, was not easy.
“It was probably the toughest decision we had to make,” Flanagan said.
“Shane’s professionalism is one of the things that really stood out to us. His work ethic.
“His skill. He’s a real calm goaltender. He’s real sharp in the net with his movements and his angles.”
Connelly won 34 games the past two seasons at the University of Wisconsin.
The 5-foot-9, 177-pound netminder is from Cheltenham, Montgomery County.
“The knock against him probably would be his size, but there seems to be no problems with that at all,” Flanagan said.
The Calgary Flames picked Spratt in the seventh round of the 2004 NHL entry draft. He played four seasons at Bowling Green.
“Spratt is a real good kid,” Flanagan said. “His movement in the net was very good. That’s his biggest plus. Jimmy very easily could have been our backup as well. It was a tough decision. It was a confidence thing.
“We were a little more confident with Shane in the net and that led to our decision.”
Flanagan said Pittsburgh native Kris Mayotte will play the entire game tonight against Wheeling.
Mayotte won 20 games last season and was the ECHL All-Star Game starter.
“Mayotte will play a full game so we can get him ready to go for the regular season,” Flanagan said.
The Chiefs edged Wheeling 2-1 in an overtime shootout on Wednesday at WesBanco Arena. Both teams will use the exhibition as a tune up to the regular season.
“We put some line combinations together. We want to see how that will work out,” Flanagan said.
“Guys are now battling for position on the depth chart. We want to try everybody in all situations.
“We want to see who works out best and who does the right things. We’ll get the last kind of feeling out process as to what type of players we actually have.”
Today’s game
Who: Wheeling vs. Johnstown.
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
Chiefs
Chiefs’ roster nearly final
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