Rochester Grizzlies Kick off First Main Camp Under Tyler Veen

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A new era is now underway for the Rochester Grizzlies as the team kicked off its first main camp under new Head Coach Tyler Veen on Friday.

A group of about 70 players came out with the hopes of making the Grizzlies roster. Veen says the goal is to get down to about 30 by the end of camp, the first step in building this roster.

“We’re looking for guys that want to play hard, play fast, be physical and just do things the right way. We don’t care about all the fancy skill stuff that you see on the internet or Instagram or that stuff,” Veen said.

“We want guys that do things the right way and that’s ultimately what we’re looking for and we want team players too. Team success leads to individual recognition and that’s what we’re all about here.”

The Grizzlies are coming of a 33-9-2 season, falling in the Central Division Finals of the Fraser Cup to Oregon. Success and especially postseason success has been standard for the Rochester organization.

Veen has been with the organization since 2019 and seen the success firsthand, now he says he’s ready to take that standard and go farther at the helm.

“It’s up to me now to continue it, to continue to grow it, elevate it to another level and just continue to develop these guys. I mean we’re looking; I set out a goal hopefully this year we’ll have one of our first D1 guys that went NA3 to NA and hopefully D1.”

“My goal is to have three guys do that eventually once we’re here. That’s just kind of the goal I’ve personally set, and we have a staff to do it, to develop these guys get them on to the next level and that’s why we’re here,” Veen said.

Grizzlies Main Camp wraps on Sunday with two All-Star Games. The 2023 season begins September 15th against the Granite City Lumberjacks.

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