St. Croix, Reinhart among those added to Team WHL

~
There will now be a trio of Oil Kings that will face the Russians for Team WHL in the Subway series on Rogers Sportsnet. Forward Michael St. Croix and blueliner Griffin Reinhart will take part with Reinhart taking the place of Everett's Ryan Murray. Reinhart will play in Regina, along with Brett Bulmer and Zach Franco of the Kelowna Rockets and Colin Smith from the Kamloops Blazers who were also added the squad. St. Croix will suit up for the final game of the series in Moose Jaw, along with Warrior forward Cody Beach. Oil King captain Mark Pysyk was named to the team originally.


The 6 games that will be played are kind of a pre camp if you will for Hockey Canada. The team's scouts will be watching very closely to see if there is anyone they have missed as far as camp invites. None of the players added were at the team's summer camp. Reinhart like Murray is in his draft year and the way he was playing last year before his injury some were talking about him getting an invite to Canada's camp. However a poor Ivan Hlinka camp had others wondering if he was still feeling the effects of an ankle injury. One scout told TPS that he 'made the team on reputation'. So far this year with the Oil Kings the kid they call 'big cat' has been on the prowl. While he's been overshadowed by his partner Martin Gernat who's been the best defenceman story all year, Reinhart has been solid and at times has shown a flash of offence from the point that has NHL teams drooling about his potential. Her certainly has the size at 6.04 and 208 pounds and if he plays with aggression he could earn a camp invite.

St. Croix, a Rangers 2011 draft pick had a break out season last year with 75 points in 68 games. He's just below a point per game pace this season with 15 in 16. I'll be honest I've never heard his name come up in conversation when it comes to the WJC, but sometimes it only takes getting hot at the right time, and the Winnipeg product can certainly do that. He's currently riding a 9 game point streak with 13 points during the span. Last season he put up 24 points during an 11 game streak.