Training Camp Day 3: Fabbri returns, scrimmages wrap-up
by Matt Pelkey
The 2015 Guelph Storm Training Camp continued Wednesday with players battling it out in a series of scrimmages. Wednesday’s scrimmages were the last chance some players had to prove to management they belong with the club as the roster is to be trimmed down later that evening.
In addition to the six Storm Alumni that were participating in yesterday’s games, Guelph native Stephen Pierog was on the ice Wednesday, playing as a defenceman.
After missing the first two days of camp while in St. Louis, star forward Robby Fabbri made his first appearance at camp. The Mississauga native showed flashes of dominance and finished the day with three markers while setting up multiple goals in the process. Fabbri is expected to miss the beginning of the season while he attends the NHL’s St. Louis Blues camp in hopes of cracking the roster.
Fabbri and Russian import Vladislav Barulin played on a line for the majority of the day and the two were the cause for a number of fashionable goals.
Aside from Fabbri and Barulin, Swiss import Timo Haussener had a strong showing offensively for Team White. The big winger registered four goals on the day with the majority of them being fancy finishes.
Scrimmage 1 – Red (3) V Black (4) 10:10 AM (Nichols vs Popovich)
Team Red took on Team Black in the first scrimmage of Day 3 of camp, with Justin Nichols and Anthony Popovich guarding their respective nets.
Team Black’s Ryan Horvat found the back of the net first. Horvat banged off a loose puck at the side of the net that squeaked its way by Nichols and trickled over the line. Jesse Hilton was also whacking away at it before Horvat got a piece of it.
Team Red answered back three minutes later when Nicolas Sicoly corralled a loose puck in front of Popovich and raised it to the top of the net with a nifty backhand. Sicoly was all over the ice on Wednesday, playing responsible defence while creating plenty of offence in a strong showing.
Just a minute later, Team Red took their first lead of the game. Fabbri scored his first of the day on a three-on-one rush led by Tyler Bertuzzi. The former Storm dropped the puck back to Givani Smith, who dished it off to a wide open Fabbri who made no mistake.
Less than one minute into the second period, Scott Kosmachuk capitalized on a turnover and rifled one under the blocker of Nichols. Shortly after, Team Black took the lead for the second time when Luke Burghardt found Horvat open at the point, who one-timed a low slap shot past Nichols.
Team Black widened its lead with four minutes to play as Swiss import Timo Haussener put home a centering James McEwan pass. Team Red would answer right back, however, as a result of a great offensive cycle. Fabbri did a great job protecting the puck down low before passing it off to Justin Auger. Barulin one-timed a pass from Auger to the left side of the net to bring Team Red within one.
Despite pulling the goalie, Team Red could not score the equalizer as Team Black prevailed with a 4-3 victory.
GOALS
Team Red – Sicoly, Fabbri, Barulin
Team Black – Horvat (2), Kosmachuk, Haussener
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Scrimmage 2 – White (2) V Black (5) 11:00 AM (Van Schubert vs Popovich)
In the morning’s second scrimmage, it was Bradley Van Schubert and Popovich between the pipes for Team White and Team Black, respectively.
It took just 30 seconds for the game’s first goal thanks to a pretty Tyler Boston tally. Boston slipped around a defender down low before extending the puck around Popovich.
2015 15th round pick Matt Wilbee scored his first goal of camp for Team White when he slipped the puck by Popovich from the right side of the net.
The next five markers belonged to Team Black. Leading the charge was Haussener, who sniped a wrister from in close that went bar-down for his second goal of the day. Then, Zac Leslie let off a cannon of a one-timed slap shot from the right half-boards and beat a sliding Van Schubert.
Near the end of the period, Marc Stevens danced around a defender before threading the puck five-hole to give Team Black a 3-2 lead. McEwan made it 4-2 when he intercepted an attempted Team White breakout pass and snapped a shot off the far post and in.
2015 12th round selection Noah Benjamin would score late off another Team White turnover with a pretty forehand-backhand deke to seal the deal for Team Black, who took this one 5-2.
GOALS
Team White – Boston, Wilbee
Team Black – Haussener, Leslie, M. Stevens, McEwan, Benjamin
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Scrimmage 3 – Team White (1) V Team Red (3) – 11:50 AM (Savory vs Nichols)
It was Owen Savory in the crease for Team White and Nichols for Team Red for the morning’s final scrimmage.
After a series of saves from both Savory and Nichols, Team White’s Liam Buckley was the one who broke the scoreless tie midway through the first period. A rebound from a Pierog slap shot landed directly onto the stick of Buckley, who roofed it over Nichols.
Team Red answered not long after when the camp’s leading goal scorer Barulin registered his second marker of the day and fifth of camp. Barulin walked into Team White’s zone down the left wing, made a quick step to his right, and rifled a wrist shot off the left post and in.
Bertuzzi gave Team Red the lead with just five seconds left in the first period when he breezed his way to the slot and backhanded a shot that fooled Savory.
In the second, Fabbri scored his second of the morning after finishing another pretty passing play. On a three-on-two break with Barulin and Givani Smith, Fabbri and Barulin made three quick passes between each other before the St. Louis Blues prospect tapped it in.
Nichols shut the door the remainder of the game to cap off a strong performance from the veteran goaltender and give Team Red a 3-1 win.
GOALS
Team White – Buckley
Team Red – Barulin, Bertuzzi, Fabbri
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Scrimmage 4 – Team Black (4) V Team Red (7) – 5:00 PM (Popovich vs Chan)
Getting things going for the afternoon sessions was Team Black facing off with Team Red. Tending goal for Team Black was Popovich while Matthew Chan made his first appearance of the day between the pipes for Team Red.
Opening the scoring was 2015 2nd round pick Liam Stevens for Team Black. The youngster scored his first of camp when he found himself with the puck at the top of the left circle.
Sicoly would give Team Red the lead after a couple of quick goals. Scoring his second goal of the day, the Sault Ste. Marie native wired home a shot that went off the far post and in.
Justin Auger added to Team Red’s lead by flicking the puck between Popovich’s legs.
Then, for a span of 7 minutes, the goalies shined. Both Chan and Popovich made a flurry of stops off quality scoring chances that received loud stick taps from their benches.
After taking a high-stick to the face, Jared Nash dropped the gloves with Hilton in what has been the camp’s only scuffle thus far.
Team Red’s goal success continued when Barulin sniped the puck under the blocker of Popovich on an odd-man rush with Fabbri.
Then, Team Black added a pair of their own to make it a one-goal game. Hilton responded minutes later from the slot when he put home a centering feed from Benjamin. Haussener brought the game to within one when he completed a play started by Zac Leslie. The Storm Alumni cleared the puck up the ice, where Marc Stevens picked it up and dished to McEwan. McEwan slipped the puck to a streaking Haussener who foud mesh below Chan’s blocker.
Team Red would put the game away thanks to two consecutive and identical goals from Jakub Lee. His first came off of another odd man rush when he received a pass from Sicoly and snapped a quick wrister home with 1:30 to go. With seconds left to play, Lee scored again off yet another pretty feed from Sicoly to make it a 7-4 final.
GOALS
Team Black – L. Stevens, Hilton, Haussener
Team Red – Sicoly, Auger, Barulin, Lee (2)
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Scrimmage 5 – Team White (3) V Team Red (3) – 5:50 PM (Savory vs Chan)
The day’s fifth scrimmage saw Team White battle Team Red featuring Savory and Chan in goal, respectively.
Manny Silverio put Team Red on the board first after he collected a loose puck in front of Savory’s crease and put it in the top of the net.
Matthew Hotchkiss evened the score when he took off on a breakaway and pulled off a nifty backhand-forehand deke before raising it over a sprawled-out Chan.
Team Red regained the lead couresty of vintage Fabbri. Bertuzzi hit Fabbri, who was skating in full stride, with a tape-to-tape pass. Fabbri blew past his defender and reached around Savory to slip the puck across the line.
With just over two minutes to play, 2015 14th round pick Michael Mannara tied the game when he slapped the puck past Chan from a distance.
The game looked to be in the books when Bertuzzi scored after his shot hit Savory and trickled in to make it 3-2, but Jason Dickinson knotted the game back up with 20 seconds remaining with Savory on the bench in favour of the extra attacker.
The teams would skate to a 3-3 tie.
GOALS
Team White – Hotchkiss, Mannara, Dickinson
Team Red – Silverio, Fabbri, Bertuzzi
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Scrimmage 6 – Team White (2) V Team Black (4) – 5:50 PM (Van Schubert vs Popovich)
The last contest of the day saw Van Schubert and Popovich duke it out for Team White and Team Black.
This game initially had more of a defensive battle as both goaltenders were tested frequently and defenders made it hard for opposing forwards.
Ryan Foss, acquired in a trade from the Windsor Spitfires last season, slipped a deke around a defenceman and buried the puck five-hole on Van Schubert to give Team Black the game’s first tally.
James Turner cushioned the lead when he beat Van Schubert with an accurate shot glove side for his first of two goals in the scrimmage.
Team White battled back, however, and would score two straight goals to tie the score. First, Liam Buckley went post-in on a penalty shot. Moments later, 1st round pick Isaac Ratcliffe potted his first goal of the day and fifth of camp when he banged in a lost puck at the side of the crease.
Turner netted his second goal when he was the only player from either team to find a lost puck at the top of the crease where he made no mistake. The goal was Turner’s fourth goal of camp.
Haussener tallied his fourth goal of the day and fifth of camp to give Team Black its fourth and final goal. The Switzerland native streaked around a defenceman abd effortlessly flipped a backhand shot over the glove of Van Schubert as Team Black won this game, 4-2.
GOALS
Team White – Buckley, Ratcliffe
Team Black – Foss, Turner (2), Haussener
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Camp continues Thursday morning when players will be divided into two teams. Once divided, players will go through one off-ice and one on-ice workout before playing an intrasquad game at 3:00 PM.
For all training camp details and roster, click here.
