ST. LOUIS, MO---
St. Louis Blues Senior Vice President and General Manager Larry Pleau announced today that the club will participate in the 2002 Centre Ice Prospect Tournament, September 6th through the 10th, in Traverse City, Michigan. St. Louis and Worcester prospects will compete in the five-day round robin tournament against a field of top draft choices and prospects from the Atlanta Thrashers, Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals.

            The St. Louis/Worcester prospect roster, which includes draft picks, signed players and tryout players, is highlighted by John Pohl, who led the NCAA in scoring and also led Minnesota to a National Championship, and Christian Backman, St. Louis' first round selection, 24th overall, in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. The roster also includes 2002 NHL Draft selections Tomas Troliga, Robin Jonsson, Andrei Mikhnov and D.J. King.

           For the third straight season, the prospect squad will be under the direction of IceCats Head Coach Don Granato and Assistant Coach Steve Pleau. Last season, the Blues/IceCats squad won their third straight tournament title. That championship roster included Jeff Panzer, Greg Davis, Igor Valeev and Brad Voth, all members of the 2001-2002 IceCats. Marc Brown, Dale Clarke, Justin Papineau, Jame Pollock, Mark Rycroft, Mike Van Ryn and Matt Walker are also previous participants in the rookie camp tournament.