It’s not every year the Kents Hill boys hockey team sends a player to the annual USA Hockey national training camp.

This season, it sent two.

“We have good depth in the program,” Kents Hill coach Larry Cockrell said. “We’re seeing some good return on the talent.”

Kents Hill teammates Mark Dufour, a sought-after Division I prospect from Winthrop, and Caleb Fizer will head to Rochester, N.Y. later this month for the USA Hockey camp.

Players tried out for the opportunity at various district camps. Fizer, of Sarasota, Fla., was one of 11 players selected from the Southeastern District tryouts. Cockrell served on that district’s evaluation committee.

Dufour received an open invitation.

“It’s a good chance to make myself visible,” Dufour said. “It’s a real good opportunity to put myself out there and show what I can do. This is the best competition you can get.”

Both players will compete in the Select 17 camp.

“It’s been a good run,” Cockrell said. “We’ve had players go in the past, but sending two doesn’t happen often. Mark is a strong player and Caleb really stood out at the development camp.”

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Messalonskee senior goalie Nate DelGiudice will play for the upstart Lake George Fighting Spirit in the new Northern States Junior Hockey League.

DelGiudice, who helped the Eagles reach the Class B state title game, will report to the Spirit in mid-August.

“It’s a good opportunity for me,” DelGiudice said. “I just couldn’t pass it up.”

The league features seven teams and is in negotiations to add more. Some of the teams — the Cape Cod Islanders, New England Stars and Syracuse Stampede — competed in the International Junior Hockey League last year.

The Maine Moose are planning to field a Super Elite team in the IJHL this season.

The NSJHL will compete under the American Athletic Union umbrella.

“Nate has a lot of potential,” Lake George coach Rod Simmons said. “He has a lot of potential. He’s a good, young goalie who we hope to develop.”

Simmons said the Spirit will play a 50-game schedule, including 20 exhibitions against various competition.

“We’ll play college junior varsity teams, Bridgton Academy,” said Simmons, who spent the last three seasons coaching in the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, N.Y. “We’re in a new league, so there will be growing pains. We just started recruiting two weeks ago. We have 10 or 12 guys out now.”

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Former Waterville standout defenseman Matt Lee made quite an impression in his first season with the Portland Junior Pirates A team last season.

Lee led all Portland defensemen with three goals and finished with 16 points. He was named an Atlantic Junior Hockey League all-star.

“It was really eye-opening playing with 20- and 21-year-old guys,” the 18-year-old Lee said. “You could really see the difference between 18-year-olds and 21-year-old players. But I got a lot better.”

Lee described his role as an “offensive defenseman,” which he played at Waterville.

Lee will play for the Walpole Express in the AJHL next season. The Express are the three-time defending champs in the AJHL.

“It’s a good opportunity,” Lee said.

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

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