Boyer and Training Camp Scrimmage Recap

First news came out last night and was confirmed this morning that Jeremy Boyer did not report to camp and has requested a trade. My guess is that he wants to be traded to Saskatoon but who knows... In my opinion, this is a really strange decision by Boyer who would have been the Tbirds 2nd highest returning scorer and would have been given a ton of ice time on either the 1st or 2nd line. Whatever... The real impact here is that Seattle has lost another potential scorer and as Alan Caldwell pointed out this morning, the Tbirds now have only 85 goals returning from the 2008-09 roster which is now the lowest in the league by a pretty wide margin.

On to the scrimmage recap....

- Jared D'Amico for Blue and Calvin Pickard for White starting in net for the two teams.

- White with a ton of pressure early in this first period and D'Amico was equal to the task turning away several shots. He did drift out of the crease on one save but recovered nicely. I'd like to see him improve his balance but for a 15 year old, I liked what I saw.

- Midway through the first period and Blue has not had much pressure on Pickard.

- I wrote down as many line combinations as I could but I probably did not get all of them. First one I wrote down was Petruzzelli - Jacobs - Silvester.

- Nice feed by Rai to the middle but D'Amico was ready for the re-direct and makes a nice stop. - Nice chance for Tyler Sybil from Luke Lockhart as Blue finally gets some pressure but Pickard makes the initial save and also squeezes a blast from Steve Chaffin off the rebound.

- Good hit by Joey Baker who dumps Parker. Quick additional note here... No less than 3 times last night I saw a good check only to look down to check the number of the player and it was Joey Baker. I have been very impressed by his physical game.

- Blue starting to finally apply some pressure and have dominated the action from the mid-way point to the 4:00 mark so far.

- Ness gets fed by Sanvido and gets off a good shot, saved by Pickard.

- Goal change here as DeSerres goes in for D'Amico who leaves with a clean sheet. Side note... Blue has 4 goaltenders tonight.

- Chance Lund with a nice speed rush around the outside of Berry-LaMontagna and gets a jam on DeSerres who makes the save.

- End of the 1st period, White dominated the 1st half, while Blue dominated the 2nd half as the period ends 0-0.

- Jahraus in net for Blue to start the 2nd period, DeSerres still in net for White.

- Schappert clangs one off the post after a rebound kicked out to him after a Rai shot.

- Petruzzelli tees up a big blast from the high slot on a give and go with Jacobs but the drive goes wide of the net. - Dillon hits Alos from behind... no call... not many penalties actually being called here.

- Jahraus with a couple of nice saves as Blue applies some nice pressure.

- Goal change as Barrie comes in for DeSerres for the Blue team. - Blue is on the board as Steve Chaffin beats Jahraus through the 5 hole (I believe) off a nice feed from Nielsen and Blue takes a 1-0 lead. Chaffin has impressed tonight... he has flashed some speed, played aggressively and looked confident being physical.

- Kind of a boring 2nd period and it ends with Blue leading 1-0. - Kowalski in net for White to start the 3rd with Barrie still minding the net for White.

- Sena just punked Fleming as he tried to apply a big hit along the board and Sena just blasted him back to the ice. Sena could be a real force up front if he uses his body and checking ability.

- Patrick D'Amico gets the White team on the board as he slips a shot past Barrie after Rai had a wraparound attempt that kicked out a rebound... game tied at 1-1.

- Right after that Enegren comes on in net for Blue replacing Barrie.

- Nice pinch at the blue line by Crema. Crema is a big kid (6'3" I believe) and I really like his potential... needs a little work on the footwork.

- Some more line pairings... Lockhart - Elliot - Sybil, Houcher - Newton - Acolatse, Sanvido - Ness - Hoff, Hickman - Tutt - Parker.

- Penalty on White for tripping... I was looking down and didn't see the offender but Blue is awarded the "contested" penalty shot and Joey Baker converts through Kowalski to give Blue a 2-1 lead. Baker has really impressed tonight...

- Nielsen goes right around Muth and fires into the bottom corner past Kowalski to give Blue the 3-1 lead.

- Lockhart gets around the defense gets off a shot that is saved by Kowalski, gets his own rebound and puts it off the top bar and down to give Blue the 4-1 lead. Kowalski has had a tough night but all three goals have been basically uncontested or lightly contested.

- Huge hit by Dillon as the buzzer sounds as he completely flattens Lechance. Team Blue takes the win 4-1 in the 1st training camp scrimmage.

Few more general thoughts on some kids.

- A couple of the defensemen that need to step up this season really impressed me on the first night. Dillon, Chaffin, Crema and Fleming all looked improved, confident and physical with Dillon and Chaffin really looking good to me.

- Relatively quiet night for Jacobs...

- Baker really impressed me tonight and unless he just falls apart after tonight, I would think he has to make the team as one of the 16 year olds.... however... as an un-drafted kid... I think he needs to continue playing like that.

I will only be able to attend the first 45 minutes of the scrimmage tonight... so I would highly encourage everyone to go down and check it out. 7:05 ShoWare Center.