McGrath: A Man on a Mission

Tryout forward Patrick McGrath's (Shavertown, Pa. native) locker room stall at the 2014 Rookie Tournament. Photo credit: @graph_pedal8.

Prospects from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs will compete in an annual rookie tournament in London, Ontario starting today at 2 p.m. when the Penguins take on the Senators.

You can make a case that all the players attending this four-day camp are coming in with something to prove, but I'd make a case that one of the names that top the list for the Penguins is Shavertown, Pa, native Patrick McGrath.

McGrath, 21, was a forward tryout at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL training camp last year after two seasons of Canadian junior hockey in the QMJHL with the Prince Edward Island Rockets. He appeared in one AHL preseason game not far from his hometown last fall before signing an ECHL contract with the Penguins affiliate in Wheeling.

This season, already re-signed by the Wheeling Nailers, McGrath finds himself not only an invitee to the rookie tournament in London but on a tryout with the Pittsburgh Penguins at NHL training camp in Pittsburgh following the tournament as McGrath is one of the 57 players listed on the Penguins training camp roster released earlier this week.

"I've always been optimistic of my career but this is certainly a nice surprise and a great honor," McGrath said. "I'm thankful they are giving me the opportunity and I'm excited to get things going."

Last season with the Nailers, McGrath proved to be the same physical player he was in the QMJHL, racking up 176 penalty minutes in 45 regular season games and 21 more in six playoff contests last spring. This time around, McGrath wants to show the new management in Pittsburgh a lot more.

"I want to show I'm a more complete player than just the tough aspect of the game," McGrath said. "I'm looking to show my progress from my experience last season and the hard work I've continued to put in during the off season."

If there's one thing Nailers beat writer Shawn Rine knows about McGrath, it's how relentless he is on the ice. 

"Pat is a hard-working kid that would literally run through a wall if his coaches asked that of him. He will drop the gloves with anyone," Rine said. "If his goal is to become a more complete player, then I have no doubt he will stop at nothing to accomplish that."

PREVIEW: 2014 Rookie Tournament - London, Ontario

Here's a look at the full tournament schedule. The four-day camp runs from September 13-16th:

Saturday, September 13

2:00 PM - Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa
7:00 PM - Chicago vs. Toronto

Sunday, September 14 

2:00 PM - Pittsburgh vs. Chicago
7:00 PM - Toronto vs. Ottawa

Monday, September 15 

7:00 PM - Ottawa vs. Chicago

Tuesday, September 16 

2:00 PM - Toronto vs. Pittsburgh

For hockey fans in Canada, Rogers TV is broadcasting the rookie tournament in a variety of platforms. Here's a link to their page on the 2014 Rookie Tournament coverage schedule.

Penguins fans can listen to broadcasts of the games via Penguins Live.

Team Rosters

Pittsburgh

(2) G - Tristan Jarry and Matt Murray
(7) D - Brian Dumoulin, Scott Harrington, Reid McNeill, Harrison Ruopp, Nick D'Agostino, Clark Seymour and Alex Boak
(13) F- Josh Archibald, J-S Dea, Tom Kuhnhackl, Christophe Lalancette, Matia Marcantuoni, Patrick McGrath, Adam Payerl, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Oskar Sundqvist, Dominik Uher, Scott Wilson and Anton Zlobin


Ottawa

(2) G - Chris Driedger and Andrew Hammond
(8) D - Travis Brown, Frederik Claesson, Mitch Jones, Ben Harpur, Stefan Leblanc, Alex Lepkowski, Matt Murphy, Troy Rutkowski
(14) F - Jakub Culek, Vincent Dunn, Ryan Dzingel, Alex Guptill, Daren Kramer, Curtis Lazar, Tobias Lindberg, Max McCormick, Nick Paul, Francis Perron, Shane Prince, Matt Puempel, Buddy Robinson, Garrett Thompson


Toronto

(3) G - Antoine Bibeau, Christopher Gibson and Garret Sparks

(8) D - Kayle Doetzel, Cody Donaghey, Matt Finn, Jeremie Fraser, Eric Knodel, Viktor Loov, Tom
Nilsson and Rinat Valiev
(17) F - Tyler Biggs, Ty Bilcke, Parker Bowles, Zachary Bratina, David Broll, Connor Brown, Brett
Findlay, Frederik Gauthier, Zachary Hall, Waltteri Hopponen, Josh Leivo, William Nylander, Luke Philp, Matt Rupert, Ryan Rupert, Carter Verhaeghe and Patrick Watling

Chicago 

(2) G - Ken Appleby and Mac Carruth

(7) D - Dillon Fournier, Kirill Gotovets, Justin Holl, Stephen Johns, Viktor Svedberg, Paul Swindlehurst and Trevor Van Riemsdyk

(14) F - Chad Bauman, Alex Broadhurst, Matt Carey, Cody Caron, Phillip Danault, Ryan Hartman, Mark McNeill, Dennis Rasmussen, Garret Ross, Teuvo Teravainen, Cory Thorson, Ryan Van Stralen, Brett Welychka and Jamie Wise