Hockey at 1pm today
Some things I want to see:
- Hugo Alnefelt play well. He didn’t look so great in this tournament last year. Imo I thought Miftakhov, who he split the games with, looked better than him. And then obviously he didn’t have the kind of season we all hoped for in Syracuse. Usually these September rookie tournaments are not kind to goalies, but I’d like to see him be a little more competitive and roll into training camp/preseason on the right foot.
- Speaking of starting off on the right foot, Koepke and Fortier need to have good tournaments. Last year Koepke didn’t play due to an injury and Fortier was somewhat quiet before emerging in the preseason. Both these guys will probably wear a letter here as the veteran prospects before fighting for Cirelli’s open roster spot in training camp. This is a good time to start that competition now.
- Roman Schmidt. He had a quiet tournament last year which was understandable as one of the younger guys. He’s a year older, and hopefully we will see some of the improvements he’s made physically growing into that huge frame of his. Some of the reports from the US junior evaluation camp were very positive, so I’m excited to see. With Perbix and Thompson here, this is probably the best right handed d group we’ve had at a tournament like this.
- and then lastly I just want to see some of the new guys I haven’t seen before. Edmonds and Usau the most.