Chippewa Steel: Roster building opportunities 'pretty much nonstop' as team looks to upcoming season (2024)

It's the North American Hockey League offseason.

But for Chippewa Steel general manager and head coach Chris Ratzloff and staff, there's hardly been any downtime.

Since the season ended for the Steel in mid-April, the staff has crisscrossed the country attending hockey camps while securing tender agreements with players and more recently completed the 2024 NAHL Draft last week. The team still has some important dates on the calendar before its main camp in early August leading into training camp later in the month as the season begins in mid-September.

Ratzloff took over as general manager and head coach about this time a year ago when Casey Mignone accepted a position as assistant coach at the college level for the University of Alaska Fairbanks. When Ratzloff came into the fold, all the summer work was already set in motion by Mignone and assistant coach Steve Dougherty. Now a year into the position, Ratzloff is heading up those responsibilities and is keeping a busy schedule.

“It’s been pretty much nonstop getting ready for pre-draft, summer camp, main camp and then it won’t be long until the guys report," Ratzloff said.

The team will be hosting goalie and futures camps for players with birth years between 2009-11 next month before the main camp from Aug. 1-4 at Chippewa Area Ice Arena. Players from the main camp can earn invites to training camp with the hopes of making the roster to start the 2024-25 season, which begins with a weekend series at the Wisconsin Windigo on Sept. 13-14.

Last week the Steel made five selections in the NAHL Draft, starting by choosing Slovakian goaltender Jakub Irsak with the 15th overall pick. It marks the second time in three years the Steel have chosen a goalie from the country with its top draft pick. Adam Gajan was chosen with the 29th overall pick in the first round of the 2022 draft and went on to have a groundbreaking season with the Steel which ultimately led to being chosen with the 35th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. Chippewa also chose another goalie in the sixth round, grabbing Williamsville, N.Y. native Tyler Spokane with the 190th pick.

Initially the Steel were planning on choosing one goaltender in the draft but tender Devin Shakar had a good showing with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders at a Tier-I United States Hockey League camp and earned an invite to their training camp. In addition the Steel chose defensem*n Brady Flynn (second round, pick 50) and Cael Knutson (seventh round, pick 225) and right wing Samuel Anderson (third round, pick 102) for its draft class.

Amongst the team's tenders is a familiar face to local hockey fans with recent Chippewa Falls graduate Mason Johnson. The forward helped the Cardinals win the program's first Big Rivers Conference championship since 1989 and reach the Division 1 state tournament this past season. Johnson scored 28 goals including three in the team's state semifinal loss and added 32 assists in earning Wisconsin Hockey Coaches Association All-State second team and All-Big Rivers Conference first team honors. Johnson and teammate Jackson Hoem shared Big Rivers Player of the Year recognition.

"When we’re out scouting we’re looking at guys and we identify them as possible good fits for us," Ratzloff said of the tenders. "So we make a commitment to them that they’ll come to camp and they’ll get a good, fair chance of starting the season with us and then they make the commitment that they want to play for us.”

Last season the Steel finished 29-25-4-2, four points out of the final Robertson Cup playoff spot in the Midwest Division. The team's draftees will join potential returners from last year and a tender group the team is excited about to vie for roster spots later this summer.

“We did a really good job with our tenders this year," Ratzloff said. "We’re looking good and there’s always a possibility some of those guys end up making USHL teams or at least start with USHL teams out of camp. So that could be a reality but most of the team was built based on returning players and tenders and then we tried to fill in some holes that we see that could be a possible opportunity with the draft picks.”