Hitman Camp
Courtesy Aaln Caldwell:
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Hitmen camp
Alrighty.....Hitmen camp today was divided into three teams, and there were three scrimmages in the afternoon with each team playing twice. Green beat White 8-5, Red beat White 9-7, and Red beat Green 7-5. The scorers, as tallied by me....pretty sure I got all the goals right, assists are bit subjective:
Brendan Rowinski (90): 3g,2a
Matthew Knoll (90): 2g,3a
T.J. Galiardi (88): 2g,2a
Craig Simchuk (89): 2g,2a
Keegan Dansereau (88): 2g,1a
Brett Sonne (89): 2g,1a
Devon Kalinski (90): 1g,2a
Cody Sylvester (92): 1g,2a
Keith Seabrook (88): 1g,2a
Ryan Fox (90): 2g,0a
Taylor Gal (90): 2g,0a
Adam Ross (87): 2g,0a
Alex Plante (89): 2g,0a
Cole Brunet (91): 2g,0a
Bostjan Golicic (89): 2g,0a
Derek Ginnell (91): 2g,0a
Ryan Gillen (87): 1g,1a
Brandon Kozun (90): 1g,1a
Carson McMillan (88): 1g,1a
Ian Duval (88): 1g,1a
MacKenzie Royer (92): 1g,1a
Graham Telford (89): 1g,1a
Tyler Fiddler (90): 1g,1a
Martin Stepan (89): 0g,2a
Ryan White (88): 0g,2a
Eric Frere (88): 1g,0a
Spencer Humphries (92): 1g,0a
Ryan Letts (89): 1g,0a
Carter Page (92): 1g,0a
David McKelvey-Gunson (91): 0g,1a
Cody Beach (92): 0g,1a
Derek Lashuk (92): 0g,1a
Ian Schultz (90): 0g,1a
Jesse Mireau (91): 0g,1a
Shaun Roundtree (91): 0g,1a
Anybody not listed didn't have any points. For the goalies, Spence, Komistek, Widen, and Jones all played about 60 minutes each while Snider, Dreger, and Krushel all played about 40 minutes each. Goals allowed by each:
Jordan Dreger (90): 4g
Martin Jones (90): 5g
Chase Komistek (92): 6g
Dan Spence (88): 6g
Jason Krushel (91): 6g
Joel Widen (91): 7g
Mike Snider (91): 7g
Guess that would make Jones the best since he played 20 more minutes than Dreger.
Amongst the vets, generally I thought most of them were the better players on the ice, which you should expect. The two NCAA acquisitions, Seabrook and Galiardi, were right in that group too which bodes well for them making immediate significant impacts. Galiardi is a very slick offensive talent, good skater who can shoot the puck as well as anyone in camp. Seabrook was very comfortable carrying the puck and was IMO easily the best defenceman in camp today.
I was really impressed with Brendan Rowinski and Devon Kalinski; they seem quite prepared to step up their games as 17 year olds this year and were very noticeable on the ice. White, Sonne, Dansereau, McMillan, and Duval were all among the better forwards, as you'd expect. Duval could have been a bit more noticeable perhaps but who's complaining. Eric Frere and Ryan Gillen also looked good on the back end, as did Alex Plante and Michael Stone. Not so impressed with Brett Plouffe on defence or Ryan Letts at forward. Honestly, I think Letts is on the bubble as far as making the team. This will be his third year in the league and he really hasn't proven he can play above the 4th line. He's a tough kid but you gotta be able to do more than that and he didn't show it in camp today. If a vet is going to be displaced up front, it could be him.
Pushing Letts today was a invitee, Graham Telford. Telford has played a few games for Swift Current in the last couple years and right off the start of their head-to-head game, Telford lines up on his off-wing so he's lined up with Letts. They talk and talk and when the puck drops, they drop the gloves. Telford lands the only (weak) punch and Letts goes down quick but I'm 99% sure he slipped. A non-fight really. As soon as they were both back on the ice together a few minutes later, they went again and this time Letts cleanly won a half-decent bout, no damage done but he landed the only shots. Still though, Letts was outplayed by Telford overall - Telford got a few points by being immovable in front of the net. We'll see if Telford sticks around past the Black & White game tomorrow. If he does, Letts should worry.
Today was the first look at the two new imports too. Slovakian forward Martin Stepan and Slovenian forward Bostjan Golicic are both 18 and actually I was pleasantly surprised with both of them. You never know what you'll get in the import draft but I think they got a couple decent players. Not going to be huge stars right away I don't think, but they have skill and didn't look out of place. Especially Golicic, he had some real "wow" moments where he showed off a great set of wheels and hands to match. Stepan seemed more tentative although he is also quick on his feet. Both of them are on the smaller side (5'9", 5'10" maybe?) and will have an adjustment period here but I think Figren's 06-07 numbers (30-35 points) from both of them seems safe and reasonable? Golicic could provide more depending on how he's used.
Amongst the other prospects considered to have chances of making the team.....defenceman Matt MacKenzie did not impress me, unfortunately. I was really looking for him but rarely saw him and when I did, he didn't look very comfortable defensively. Needs more strength and confidence if he's going to play in the WHL this year. Apart from him I'm not sure that there are any defencemen in camp who can make the team this year. Some of the other '91s weren't bad (Erik Bonsor, Otis Rabbit, David McKelvey-Gunson) but ready for the WHL? I'm not sure.
Up front, overage hopeful Adam Ross wasn't too bad and actually looked like he could make the team. Good showing from the QMJHL vet. Brandon Kozun and Ian Schultz looked good, as did Taylor Gal and Tyler Fiddler. Not so impressive for Ryan Fox and Chase Schaber.....Schaber in particular did absolutely nothing and looked lost. If I had to pick the team based on today alone, he doesn't make it even if he was the 2006 first round bantam pick. I was really expecting more from Fox, who was definitely outplayed by his Mintos teammate Fiddler. Jesse Mireau and Derek Ginnell weren't too bad either but both are probably looking at next year when they'll be 17. Couple invitees looked very good too - Matthew Knoll and Craig Simchuk. I quite liked Simchuk but he's 18 so he'll have to be significantly better than a 16 year old to take a spot on the team.
In net, Spence and Jones were very good, followed closely by invitee Jordan Dreger. Joel Widen and Jason Krushel were not so good.....Krushel was OK but nothing special.
Realistically nothing is changing here - it's going to be Spence-Jones again this year and always was. But Dreger looked very good, right up there with Jones.
For the 92's, I really liked a couple of drafted forwards, Mackenzie Royer (2nd round) and Cody Sylvester (8th round). They are both extremely quick and terrific puckhandlers. They were consistent offensive threats which is good to see from 15 year olds going up against WHL veterans. Sylvester is small but that didn't seem to make a difference. Could be a good later round pick there. 3rd round pick Cody Beach was OK, he certainly has the size and showed a little grit but I'm not sure that the hands were up to this level yet. Give him a year. On defence, draftees Tim Daly and Zach Sweet looked OK for 15 year olds. And in net, I was really happy with the play of Chase Komistek; he might have been the best bantam goalie in Alberta at 13 but slipped last year at 14 and ended up in the 4th round while a couple other Alberta goalies went in the first round (Simpson, Bunz). He certainly didn't look out of place out there compared to guys like Spence and Jones.
Anyways, got to wrap this up. There's supposed to be some cuts made tonight and then they'll go at it again tomorrow with about 40 players. So, more notes after tomorrow's scrimmages.
# 8-9-11-22 ALWAYS REMEMBERED