Watched the third Intersquad Game (Team Red vs. Team White) at the WJC Development Camp here in Calgary.
Not sure of the final score, because I left a little early to beat traffic, but thought I'd share a couple more points I picked up on. My observations definitely weren't up to snuff today, because in the second period I unwittingly ended up standing right beside ex-Flames GM Craig Button and one of his scouting buddies and I spent most of my attention trying to pick up anything I could that they were saying. The ******* said things like "Listen, what I really think about him is..." and "You know who the best dman out there is..." and then move in closer to his buddy and speak real quiet so I couldn't hear!
Anyway...
M-A Bernier - As I thought yesterday, this kid will have to work on his skating to "make the jump" His top-end speed was on par with everyone out there, but his acceleration is just painful to watch. Button and his buddy mentioned a couple of times that his puck pursuit/battling were weak. The scout also said "he'd score you 50-60 goals, and they'd all come in 6-1 games."
Sidney Crosby - For the second game in a row, he went directly after Dion Phaneuf after the whistle, and in this case appeared to almost drop the gloves with him before Jeremy Colliton stepped in. Other than that, an iffy game from what I saw, really nothing special.
Dion Phaneuf - Got ejected for his scrap with Jeremy Colliton in the 2nd (I think). Pretty much comes as advertised, good puck mover, gets hard shots on net. He had a forward from Team Red get halfway through a 'thru the legs' deke on him before knocking the guy's ass down with a straight-ahead bodycheck. Phaneuf did seem to lose his positioning a little bit in his own end at times when the other team would work the puck around the outside.
Kyle Chipchura - Didn't get a good look, but he seemed pretty all-around solid. Scored a pretty good SH goal in which he went one one one with the dman and seemed to suck the goalie (Kevin Nastiuk) into thinking he was going to peel back and keep control of the puck before ripping a shot from the faceoff dot, thru the dman's legs and over Nastiuk's glove hand. That made the score 5-1 I believe, and I heard Button say "it looks like they're into Nastiuk's kitchen now"
Braydon Coburn - Again, didn't manage to see a lot of him, but he doesn't seem overly inclined to lay on the body. Got a shot blocked on the PP and I heard Button say "A good defenseman would get that shot through"
Clarke MacArthur - Just kept showing up when you least expected it, forechecking, setting up goals (set up Eric Fehr for a goal on a 2 on 1) and generally being a pain in the butt.
Other notes
- Eric Fehr scored a breakaway goal right out of the penalty box (on a beauty of a bank pass from Nigel Dawes) and was then rammed into end the boards by the trailing dman, Braydon Coburn. Fehr was down on the ice for a mintue or two, and went to the bench holding his right hand/wrist, but didn't go to the dressing room.
- I hope Nigel Dawes can overcome his size (and maybe skill) limitations to make the NHL, because he was the smartest player out there, bar none.
- Mike Richards looks better offensively than I expected after reading comparisons to Mike Ricci (although he was expected to be more of a scorer, too)
- Travis Zajac is obviously still getting accustomed to the higher tempo. I don't think anyone was expecting him to jump straight to the NHL, but if you were, forget about it.