A few impressions from todays' 1st rookie camp session,a game won by Team Blue 4-2
over Team Red
Starting with Team Red, despite allowing 4 goals but 1 in the last half actually I was impressed with all 5 Dmen
Beginning with Sanvido,who impressed with his increased physicality,Burns though not big
at 5"11 showed poise and promise with the puck and his breakouts,along with a decent dose of physicality,Baughman the 17 year old American drafted last yr started tentatively
but came on in the 2nd half improving in all areas including puck movement,engaged play
and defensive awareness,but the 2 that caught me were 16 year olds Markovic and Kotsovos though he turns 17 in Dec,both played very well,displayed nastiness,a great bit of hitting,these 2 were trying to hit everything in sight,was a joy to see I must say,the Markovic kid for a 16 year old really jumped out at me,might be a steal from the 6th rd,upfront Hosang was his usual whirling dervish self sometimes u are in awe other times he coughs up the puck much like last yr,Ryan Moore impressed with his speed and grit plus hockey sense might be a treat going forward,free agent Ryan Foss a big kid showed
some nice hands and chemistry with Hosang upfront,apparently they have played together growing up and at times it showed,free agent forward Darren Brady played and showed some nice wheels,while 16 year Michael Andlauer worked hard and got involved
in a physical way,the other forwards for team red including Jared Leslie did not do much
As for the goalies,Eli Billing was okay not great,gave up 3 goals in 1st half,while 18 year old FA Paolo Battisti actually played well allowing just 1 goal and used his big 6"4 frame efffectively
For Team Blue,Goalie Brendan Johnson who played 40 of the 50 minutes played very well
giving up 2 goals,seemed to be focused and was very calm and methodical in the cage,Billing played the last 10 minutes and did very well making a couple outstanding saves
The defence played very well including Grahame Brown,Liam Murray,Michael Alberga and
Lucas Zitmanis,sound position play with the right amount of physical play,while the other Dman 16 year Matt Busby struggled at times with the speed and size of some of the older forwards,his turning reallly needs work
Upfront forwards Rob Demontis,Cameron Hughes,Matt Kenney,Mason Schmitt,Aaron Luchuk and Vince Scognamligio were all impressive,Demontis with his speed and sick hand skills.Hughes with his size and skill,liked him alot,Kenney despite being small showed skill and grit,Schmitt and Scognamligio displayed a ton of grit with their grit and drove the red D to distraction at times,Luchuck showed a nice blend of skill and smarts,along with a good work ethic
Ryan Verbeek was ok but not outstanding,while Daniel Miller a big forward from Pitt but living in Erie PA played ok though I understand he is not 100 per cent and is gutting things out
Finally Ryker Killins who played upfront but was drafted as a Dman actually did not look out of place on the wing showing good hustle and grit
Last yr as a 16 yr old Dman in JrB with Stratford,he scored 9 goals and had 13 assists,not bad numbers,just dont where this kid fits upfront or on defence
Well thats it for now,thanks for reading
Considering it was the 1st workout a fairly impressive day,will be interested to see
what tomorrow brings
