Planning for the 2025-26 season reaches its apex this weekend, as the Minnesota Wilderness begin the process of selecting the players who will comprise its roster.
The main tryout camp opens Sunday at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. Goalies will hit the ice for the first two days for a special goalie camp. 40 netminders will be evaluated Sunday and Monday morning, with the top 20 joining 175 skaters initiating their camp Monday afternoon.
Players will be divided into ten teams and evaluated through a series of scrimmages on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
All players will be working to earn their way into the lineup of two games set for Thursday. The first will be a “futures” game at 10 a.m., followed by an all-star matchup which will help coaches decide who to invite to the team’s pre-season practices beginning Aug. 24. The camp’s top 30 players will be invited to begin the season with the team once pre-season practices begin Aug. 24.
All new players tendered for the upcoming season and selected in the 2025 NAHL draft are expected to attend this week’s camp. They’ll join 13 players returning from the Wilderness’ 2024-25 campaign.
Northeastern Minnesota is expected to have some good representation at the camp. Over a dozen players from local high schools will participate, including forward River Freeman from Hermantown and defenseman Sam Troutwine from Eveleth. Freeman suited up in 29 Wilderness games in 2024-25, while Troutwine played in 9, after being acquired in a mid-season trade with the Corpus Christi Ice Rays, where he skated in 28 contests.
One of the newcomers will be Niko Gentilini, a forward from Cloquet, who the Wilderness tendered earlier in the off-season. Gentilini racked up a team-leading 55 points in his final season at Cloquet-Esko-Carlton in 2024-25, generating 21 goals and 34 assists over 28 games.
Leading the player evaluation will be Wilderness general manager Brandon Ferns, head coach Zach Stepan and assistant coach Evan Alexius.
All camp activities will be open to the public free of charge.