On the Mark - Part 1

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The roster of our Guest Player Bloggers for the 2009-10 continues to grow. Previously we announced that 2008-09 CHL Rookie of the Year Brett Connolly was on "our team" and he's already pounded out his first entry for 'Pros and Conz'.

Today we're pleased to announce that defenceman Mark Pysyk of the Edmonton Oil Kings has also agreed to work with us throughout this new season as well. The Sherwood Park, AB product is (in our opinion) another sure-fire 1st round pick for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft so we think it will be very interesting to follow along with Mark during the course of the 2009-10 campaign.

For Pysyk the new season begins this weekend as he and the top '92 born players in Canada converge on Calgary to take part in Hockey Canada's U18 Ivan Hlinka try out camp. Today we are pleased to present the first chapter in the ongoing Guest Player Blog "On the Mark" written by Mark Pysyk...

Hey everyone, Mark Pysyk here from the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL a few days before the Ivan Hlinka U18 camp.

I've had a very tough off season working out at Body By Bennett with teammates Michael Burns, T.J. Foster and Kieran Friesen.

Going in to this camp I know a few guys from the Edmonton area (Brendan Ranford, Alex "Petro" Petrovic, and Troy Rutkowski) all fellow members of Team Pacific last year. I also know the others boys that are represented by Newport Sports (Don Meehan) as we met at the draft this year.

Learning from my experiences at the U16 and U17 events, I imagine that this camp will be extremely tough too. Going in to any camp you have to be confident in that you will make the team. But having said that there are 40 guys thinking the same thing. With my draft year coming up there is a lot of pressure that will come the whole year and its no different from this camp.

Everyone plays hockey because it is fun and when things are going good it makes it even more fun. So by working hard day in and day out it results in a lot more fun and becoming a better hockey player.

Making this team would be great for getting better known at the international level and to see where the Canadian boys stack up against the rest of the world. Whether I am on the team or not I hope Canada ends up on top and I'm going to do everything in my power at this camp to be a part of this team. I was very nervous the whole summer about this camp but getting closer to the start I am remembering how I felt this way for all the previous camps and they were all great experiences and a lot of fun. So now, a few days before camp I am looking forward to meeting a lot of new guys and learning a lot from excellent coaches.

#3 Mark Pysyk

Pysyk was Edmonton's top pick in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft and went 3rd overall. Last year the defenceman finished with 5 goals and 20 points in 61 regular season games and also appeared in the World U17 Hockey Challenge with Team Pacific winning a silver medal.

(Photos Courtesy: Edmonton Oil Kings, Andy Devlin, WHL)