Jean-Pierre Camus Junior Review

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JUNIOR REVIEW: JEAN-PIERRE CAMUS

 

Goaltender Jean-Pierre Camus turned some heads recently with the announcement that he has entered the Season 73 VHL draft.  Born in Trois-Rivières as the son of a university professor who emigrated from Algeria and a retired French-Canadian basketball player, Camus has been an athlete since youth.  And growing up in Canada, hockey naturally became his sport of choice.  Having been tall since he was young, the now 6’8” Camus often found himself as a goalie - and the position stuck.  

 

As a child, Camus played for local youth teams and was able to catch the eye due to his combination of size and reflexes.  He truly began to stand out at the peewee level, shutting out teams in most of his games, and kept that going when moving up to Midget AAA.  This clear ability resulted in him being selected as a first round pick in the QMJHL Entry Draft by the Rimouski Oceanic at 16 years old.  

Moving up to the Major Junior level proved to be a bit more of a challenge for the young goaltender, however.  In his first ever QMJHL game, Camus started but ended up letting in five goals against the Gatineau Olympiques - a total that, in his post-game interview, he revealed that he couldn’t remember ever letting in.  Camus ended up getting much less playing time than expected in his first season as a result of this combined with poor performances in practice, mostly coming in as a replacement late in games or starting near the end of the season when the standings were already settled.

 

Things started to change for the better in Camus’ second season as he proved himself more and more to his coaches.  It was enough to result in the Oceanic’s two goalies splitting starts for the season, and Camus didn’t disappoint with an improved 2.64 GAA and .913 save percentage.  It was enough to establish himself as the team’s starting goaltender in his third and final season, where Camus would make the starting spot his own as he led the league in save percentage and began to really garner the attention of pro scouts.

 

It was after this season that the 19-year-old announced his intention to move up to a higher level.  There were offers from different leagues, as well as teams in Europe, but eventually Camus made the decision to join the Victory Hockey League.  He’ll be an interesting prospect to many as he joins two other talented goaltenders in Cal Conway and Jacob Tonn in the Season 73 draft class.  Only time will tell if Camus can put things together and capitalize on his size and potential as a prospect.