Ryan Nugent-Hopkins quietly stands outside the dressing room leaning up against a table filled with post-practice snacks. Some of his teammates, other Canadian junior hockey team hopefuls, are busy doing interviews with media at the selection camp. The practice rink is buzzing as 40 of the best junior players Canada has to offer are fighting for 22 coveted spot.

Dressed in a black jacket, polo shirt and slacks, Nugent-Hopkins is rather nondescript, hidden in the background. A man looking more than double the baby-faced forward’s 17 years approaches with a question: “Mr. Nugent-Hopkins,” he asks politely, “can we get a picture?”

After receiving an approving nod, a zaftig woman runs up and throws her arm around the six-foot, 167-pound centre who hints at a smile as the photo is taken. As one of the top-ranked forwards for the June 2011 NHL entry draft, the photo ops, autographs and full-blown fame are still fairly fresh to Nugent-Hopkins.

“It’s kind of strange. It’s a little surreal,”

The hockey season is almost at the halfway mark in the OHL, and yet it’s already shaping up to be a banner year for Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors goaltender J.P. Anderson.

He’s backstopped the Majors to one of the hottest starts in Canada (26-4-0-1) and leads the league with a stingy 2.29 goals-against average and a 17-4 record.

“It’s been kind of a roller coaster ride,” said Anderson, one of four goaltenders vying for a spot with Team Canada at their world junior selection camp, which opened Sunday at the MasterCard Centre in Toronto.

Anderson was passed over in June at the 2010 NHL draft in Los Angeles, but a mere hour after the draft concluded was invited to training camp with the San Jose Sharks. In the fall, the Sharks signed the Toronto native to a three-year entry-level contract. And now Anderson is looking for his shot to lead Team Canada between the pipes when the 2011 world junior championship gets underway in Buffalo on Dec. 26.

He’ll be under the watchful eye of Canadian

A new start in Saginaw might just be the spark to help John McFarland reboot his junior career.

The Florida Panthers prospect was traded by the Sudbury Wolves on Thursday night to the Western Conference-leading Saginaw Spirit.

“John sounded pretty pumped,” said Spirit head coach and GM Todd Watson. “I’ve had good discussions with him so far and I’m really excited about the potential this (trade) could bring.”

McFarland, who is coming off a high ankle sprain, was scheduled to meet with the team doctor before Saginaw’s game against the visiting Kingston Frontenacs on Friday night. The injury has caused the second-round pick of the Florida Panthers to only play in 12 games this season in Sudbury, where he had six goals and four assists.

“We’re expecting him to play tonight,” said Watson. “That’s the plan.”

The Wolves drafted McFarland first overall in the 2008 OHL priority selection, a year after the Toronto native had his petition to jump to the OHL as an “exceptional” 15-year-old was

His smile was so wide one began to wonder if Casey Cizikas’s cheeks were locked into position.

“I’m pretty excited,” said the captain of the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. “This is definitely the most exciting moment of my life, being here right now.”

On Monday afternoon, “here” was the MasterCard Centre in the west end of Toronto where Cizikas was among 39 players to garner a Hockey Canada invite to their world junior selection camp next month. Dave Cameron, who coaches the OHL’s Majors, will also be behind the bench for Team Canada – giving him added insight into invitees like Cizikas and teammate, goaltender JP Anderson.

Cizikas says he just wanted to fly under the radar off the ice with Cameron while the Hockey Canada committee was deciding the camp roster of 23 forwards, 12 defencemen and four goalies.

“I thought the last thing I want to do is annoy him,” said the Mississauga native, who has 13 goals and 17 assists in 23 games this season. “I just wanted to catch his eye by

It might look a small step, but it’s a significant one as far as Ben Fanelli is concerned.

The 17-year-old defenceman for the Kitchener Rangers, who was critically injured after a hit from behind last year, will finally be taking part in full practice, 390 days after the incident that shook the hockey community.

“It’s definitely a positive step in his recovery and I hope he does well with it,” said Rangers head coach and GM Steve Spott on Wednesday.

According to Spott, Fanelli will be on the ice Wednesday and Thursday with the team, though he noted his planned drills for those days wouldn’t include that much contact.

Fanelli received the green light for full contact from his parents and he is continuing to be supervised by renowned concussion specialists Dr. Karen Johnston and Dr. Charles Tator. Neither doctor has given Fanelli full medical clearance, though he has passed the baseline concussion test as well as a battery of other tests.

"For both our organization and Ben's family, the

Gary Roberts is the Chuck Norris of nutrition.

For years now he’s been kicking fitness class and taking names of unhealthy foods to the point where the retired National Hockey League player has become the go-to guru for players wishing to take their conditioning to the next level.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Tim Brent had always heard stories about Roberts’ legendary fitness regimen. But it wasn’t until 2007-08 when Brent was a teammate of Roberts in Pittsburgh that the young pro learned just how serious the veteran was about keeping his body a fine-tuned machine.

“He had the water the team used replaced with Fiji water because it was the most pH balanced,” Brent recalls. “I thought, ‘Wow, he’s hardcore.’ ”

While most people wouldn’t give a second thought to something as simple as water, Roberts has spent years researching nutrition and fitness. He is a firm believer in eating organic and whole foods and won’t touch anything with a “non-fat” label or any product with more than a

Almost as quickly as it started, the race to land coveted forward Ryan Spooner is over.

The Kingston Frontenacs paid a hefty price Thursday in order to acquire the 18-year-old Spooner, who was sent home by the Peterborough Petes earlier in the week after requesting a trade. Peterborough’s leading scorer will head to Kingston along with defenceman Jeff Braithwaite in exchange for forward Alan Quine, 17, defenceman Clark Seymour, 17, a second-round pick in 2011 and a conditional second-round pick in 2013.

“I think we’re a legitimate contender and anytime you can add someone like Spooner, one of the top guys in the league, it can only make us better,” said Frontenacs general manager Larry Mavety on Thursday morning. “(Braithwaite) has been in the league three years and we obviously feel he’s going to be a big asset to our hockey club.”

As of this morning, the deal had yet to be finalized by the Ontario Hockey League head office, though the process is usually only a formality.

Spooner, a

Let the Ryan Spooner sweepstakes begin.

Ontario Hockey League suitors started lining up almost as quickly as the news broke that Peterborough’s star centre had asked the Petes for a trade.

“Ryan had just felt it was time for a fresh start,” Spooner’s agent Murray Kuntz said Monday night. “It’s something we had been talking about for a couple weeks now. He’s been through a rebuild for two straight years now (in Peterborough) and it’s gotten to a point where it looks like it’s going in the same direction, so he just felt it was time to move on.”

The Petes (4-11-0-1) are tied for last place in the league with the Barrie Colts (4-12-1-0), who are rebuilding after going to the OHL final last season. Peterborough was positioned to be a contender in the Eastern Conference with the likes of Spooner, a second-round draft pick of the Boston Bruins in June, Nashville Predators first-round pick Austin Watson and reigning CHL rookie of the year Matt Puempel. But with the off-season jettisoning of