Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Recap: Day 2 of Training Camp

By Lorne Webster | @LDub023
SN Staff

The second day of on-ice activities is now complete at the Sea Dogs camp. And day two proved to be a continuation of the strong play displayed yesterday. Once again, the teams split a pair of scrimmages. 

In the morning, Team Blue came out on top with a 6-4 victory. Team White jumped out to a 4-0 lead with goals from Francis Theriault, Isaac Ceh, Matt Highmore and Mitchell Dempsey. However, Team Blue came roaring back with six unanswered goals from Ryan Kenny, Stefano Pezzetta, Nathan Noel, Mark Tremaine, Sam Dove-McFalls and Matt Green. 

In the afternoon, it was a see-saw battle with Team White pulling out a 4-3 win. Team White's Will Thompson, Kyle Ward, Mitchell Dempsey and Daniel Del Paggio found the back of the net, while Stefano Pezzetta, Nathan Noel and Chris Sarault responded for Team Blue.

Position Battles
While virtually all of the players have shown Darrell Young and his staff that they deserve to be here, a few players stood out with noticeable performances in the looming battles for spots on the final roster. The veteran players, notably Mark Tremaine, Mitchell Dempsey, Kelly Bent, Nathan Noel and Matt Highmore, showed that they are not going to give up their roster spots without a fight, so to speak.

Forwards - of the newcomers, Daniel Del Paggio made an excellent first impression with strong skating ability, excellent hands and stickhandling as well as tenacity in going for loose pucks. With Jakub Zboril receiving glowing accolades at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament this week, Juraj Siska again showed that he is ready to earn the second 'Euro' slot, most likely on one of the top two lines. Other challengers who stood out in an extremely competitive crowd on day two were; Isaac Ceh (with a goal and a nose for the net), Matt Green (many face-off wins and strong, heads-up play), Stefano Pezzetta (who now has potted four goals through two days of camp), and Kyle Ward (who appeared to gain confidence and had a goal and a strong showing during the afternoon session).

Defense - with Olivier LeBlanc, Thomas Chabot, Luke Green and Jakub Zboril leading the way, the battle for spots on defence is becoming extremely interesting. During the morning session especially, Jack Van Boekel, Sheehan Kirkwood, Bailey Webster and Braedyn Asselstine all used their large bodies to their advantage in order to show strong defensive play while delivering several big body checks. As for the 'puck movers', Adam Bateman continued to play solid D while making sharp passes out of the zone and Will Thompson turned in a strong performance in the afternoon session, including a nice top-shelf wrist shot goal from the point. 

Goal - the battle for a spot behind Sebastien Auger is also heating up. In case it wasn't interesting enough already, two more goalies from the USA (see News and Notes below) made their first appearance in the afternoon scrimmage. Both Bobby Dugan and Nick Vilardo came ready to go to work and they only allowed one goal each in their 30 minutes of action. Also of note, Blade Mann-Dixon continued his solid play by extending his shut out streak at camp to 60 minutes.  

News and Notes
  • During the afternoon scrimmage, the Sea Dogs announced that forwards Adam Marsh, Troy MacTavish and Alex Kealey, as well as goaltenders Nick Vilardo and Bobby Dugan have been added to the roster.
    • Marsh, who turns 17 later this month, is a native of Clarendon Hills, Illinois. Listed at 6'0", 160 lbs., he played last season with the Chicago Young Americans Under-16 program and also spent time with the Indiana Ice Under-16 program.
    • Kealey, 16, is from Ottawa, Ontario. The 6'6", 187-lb winger posted 12 goals and 28 points in 27 games with the Ottawa Senators Midget AAA club, and added three goals and 11 points in 14 playoff games.
    • MacTavish, 16, is also from Ottawa. Listed at 6'0", 162 lbs., he had 12 goals and 35 points in 28 games as a teammate with Kealey on the Ottawa Senators Midget AAA team. He added seven goals and 13 points in 14 playoff games. Kealey and MacTavish led their club to the Ontario Major Midget championship game.
    • Vilardo, 17, is a native of Buffalo, New York. The 5'9", 165-lb. netminder suited up for 11 games during the 2013-14 season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights. He was also part of the Team USA squad that won the gold medal at the Five Nations Cup tournament in Slovakia.
    • Dugan, 17, is listed at 6'0" and 174 lbs. The native of Brunswick, Ohio, played last season with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres Under-16 program, posting a 22-5 record with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
    • All five players are expected to join the team this week.
  • Darrell Young also noted that forward Monte Graham, a seventh-round pick by the Sea Dogs in the 2014 QMJHL Draft, will be joining the team later in training camp due to an injury suffered while attending the Team USA Under-17 camp.

Camp Schedule Updates
Training camp practices and scrimmages will continue this week at Harbour Station and are open to the public.  Here (subject to change) is the schedule until Sunday, August 17th;
  
Wednesday, August 13th
9:30 a.m.  - 10:30 a.m. -- Practice
10:45 a.m.- 11:45 a.m. -- Practice
3:00 p.m.  -  5:00 p.m. -- Scrimmage, Team Leland vs. Team Cowan

EDIT:

Thursday, August 14th
9:30 a.m.  - 11:00 a.m. -- Practice
11:15 a.m.- 12:45 p.m. -- Practice

Friday, August 15th
10:00 a.m.- 10:45 a.m. -- Practice
11:00 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. -- Practice
PRESEASON GAME -- Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs. Saint John Sea Dogs, 7 p.m. -- FREE ADMISSION

Saturday, August 16th
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. -- Practice
PRESEASON GAME -- Saint John Sea Dogs at Halifax Mooseheads, 7 p.m. (Dartmouth Sportsplex)

Sunday, August 17th

DAY OFF
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