Quote:
Originally Posted by letsgojackets
For anyone that was there for the first part, how did Picard look? I am pulling for him as a 4th line dark horse this camp.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skraut
I tried following him during the drills and he seemed to be doing ok. Didn't really do anything to stand out during the game though. I do remember him getting stood up with the puck coming into the zone, but that was the only time he really did anything memorable, sadly. Am really pulling for him too.
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Strange. I couldn't disagree more about Picard though Skraut. Every time he was on the ice he was right in the middle of it. He was buzzing around everywhere and really looked like a veteran player taking charge. He even got under the skin of the ultimate agitator (Dorsett) and at one point, it looked as though they were going to square off but Picard just skated off. Dorsett looked back at him as he was going to the bench and gave him the stink eye.
The games were great fun. My observations from both games:
-The first game was really tightly played and the score was close.
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Brassard wants the puck all the time and he just finds people. He made
Dorsett look like a 30 goal scorer today. That kid is special.
-see above RE:
Picard
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Modin looked healthy and strong.
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Moore IS a great skater. The kid looks like he can skate as fast as he wants to. Right on top of the ice this guy.
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Roy was awful--gawd-awful. Slow, gets beat on the wall, doesn't seem like he can sort it out. Let's just hope it was first day rust...
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Voracek looks like a veteran player. He is markedly improved in size, poise and confidence with the puck. The guy was a standout.
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Filatov really tried at both ends. If/when he got batted around he just hung right in there. He scored a BEAUTY of a goal from and even better pass from Jake--batted it out of the air into the net. It was great.
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Pahlsson looked just average. Not really his type of game.
RJ was the same.
-I thought
Blunden and
Sestito were both standouts.
Sestito isn't the fastest skater in the world but is smart and has really good hands. Very physical. He makes Commodore look like an averaged sized player. The kid is huge.
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Blunden was strong on the puck and very physical. He seemed very aware and smart. I didn't see any laboring in his skating like Skraut did.
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Mayorov is fast and has loads of skill, but other than his move on the 2 on 1, he just doesn't really have a big chunk of the game.
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Plehkanov--I didn't really notice him much at all.
-I thought
Legien really tried and was involved early in his game.
-the
Russell Commodore pairing was a good one. I think it might be a keeper. I really liked how Russell was skating deep and trying to make things happen. I would rather see him do some of that than just skate like hell to the far blue line and then dump it like he has the last two years. He looks more confident.
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Dorsett was a standout. Working hard as usual and smart.
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Boll looked like he tried hard this summer and improved his puck skills. Made a nice steal which led to Sestito's goal.
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Calvert was very good and you can see how he would be a standout at a rookie tourney. He was very good. Makes plays, gets his nose dirty, works hard. Puck follows him around.
One guy that I caught my eye was
Liffiton. Liffiton is an older player with experience overseas. He was a 63rd overall pick in Colorado in 2003...I liked what I saw of him today.
I don't think much needs to be said about
Nash and
Juice. As soon as they started to really play, it was game over. It didn't help that they shot on that poor little kid Tucker in the 2nd period. They owned the puck every time they were on the ice in the 2nd half of that game. Yes, Huselius hit the crossbar, but Nash DID score on his breakaway--(albeit on a jr. goalie
). Nash also hit a post.
The games were just a great idea. The owners were all really into it and were having fun with each other. Brass, Dorsett and Mason (and one or two others who I didn't know) came out and watched the 2nd game.
The 2nd game tomorrow is the championship game. Should be fun.
