Observations from Scrimmage #2

Just a couple of quick notes as today was the second scrimmage and also the shortest day of development camp.

• Travis Boyd is unbelievable. He has incredible hockey sense and vision way beyond his 17 years. He has the innate ability to see exactly how a play is forming, and set up several chances and goals.
• Dmitri Orlov is very strong and makes great hits, but if he has the puck, he carries it way too far into the zone, nearly to the crease sometimes. It leaves just one defenseman back at the blue line, and if a breakaway forms the other way, Orlov is totally behind the play and in trouble. He has to learn how to reel in his excitement for contributing offensively and find a balance between contributing while remaining defensive-minded. I'm sure the coaches will try to get him to adjust that aspect of his game.
• Someone I may try to talk to at some point is T.J. Syner. He's very small (probably 5'6") but he's incredibly fast and very strong. I'm not sure if he's contributed any points in scrimmages (scoring is not being announced in the rink after goals), but he has an interesting skill set.
• Garrett Mitchell's shootout goal was gorgeous. A Twitter follower compared it to Matt Hendricks' chosen shootout move, and I don't disagree. He scored the lone shootout goal to win the scrimmage for Group A.
• Philipp Grubauer has been getting better every day. He was very sharp in the scrimmage. He stopped all shootout attempts, even boldly slapping away with his stick Stanislav Galiev's attempt. (a wonderful YouTube user got video of the whole shootout, catching Mitchell's lovely goal at about 0:48 and Grubauer slapping the puck right out out Galiev's grasp at 1:19)
• There were two fights in today's game, both involving Scott Wietecha. He fought both Garrett Mitchell and later, Danick Paquette. The fight with Mitchell was fairly tame, just a little bit of grappling, and the two were separated. The fight with Paquette was much more spirited. Paquette, in his area of expertise, was not hesitant to throw punches. Paquette got the take down, and Wietecha had to go to the dressing room for repairs. When he returned, his right eye was already massively swollen and it looked like he also had a cut above his eye.

Danick Paquette met the media after the scrimmage, and went to the main focus area in front of all the cameras and lights. As he approached the microphone, he was slightly awed that he was getting the attention, and said (my audio was not on at the time), "I feel like President!"

And now, presented without further comment: Danick Paquette.

Rookie Camp Day 5: Rookie Game

 celebrating the 4-3 win (photo by me)

The rookies took the ice for the last day of their week of camp, and they hit the ice wearing brand-spanking-new Capitals sweaters.  Not the red practice jerseys of development camp, but actual home Capitals jerseys.  They certainly looked the part as they faced the rookies of the Philadelphia Flyers, and many of them lived up to the tremendous hype.

The same guys we've been talking about all week were the ones who impressed in the 4-3 win over the Flyers.  2010 third-round draft pick Stanislav Galiev opened up the scoring in the first period, with assists from Dustin Stevenson and Marcus Johansson.  

Mike Testwuide answered midway through the second period, going high glove side on Philipp Grubauer.  A few minutes later, Brandon Anderson relieved Grubauer in net so the two could get some equal work.

A major presence on the power play unit was defenseman Josh Godfrey.  Setting up on the point, Godfrey unleashed his tremendous slapshot, beating the Flyers goalie not once, but twice, on two separate power plays in the second and third periods.  We hadn't seen much of Godfrey's offensive prowess before, but Coaches French and Boudreau say that his shot is why he was drafted.  French adds that his hard shot is "probably NHL-level now" but "his five-on-five play has got to be better."

After Godfrey's goals, the Flyers came back, with Eric Wellwood and Marc-Andre Bourdon scoring on Anderson, and leveling the scoring 3-3 with less than five minutes to go in the third period.

With less than two minutes remaining, Cody Eakin led a breakaway into the offensive zone, swept around the back of the net, and potted the game winner unassisted.

But in the locker room after the game, Eakin was the picture of modesty.

"It was a perfectly executed controlled breakout.  The goalie didn’t play it, so I just kind of wrapped around to the back end and it squeaked through."

Despite the goal being recorded as unassisted, Eakin credited his teammates for the setup.

"It was kind of lucky, but it was a good chip by Mitch [Garrett Mitchell]. It was a good breakout, and it led to a good opportunity."

Coach French gave a little bit more credit to Eakin.

"Cody scoring the winning goal there, he’s the type of guy we saw last year in the Calder Cup  that relishes those big-time opportunities.  When you need him he seems to come through; I thought he was excellent in the second and third period."

Eakin's looking forward to showing his chops in the upcoming preseason games.  He knows it's "a long shot" but says,

"I’m here, I want to prove that I can play here."

Marcus Johansson didn't score any goals, but assisted on two goals and was a critical member of the power play.  Coach Boudreau also pointed out that he was "strong on faceoffs and on the puck" and was "the most consistent player we had all night."  But Johansson said that he learned a lot from playing a game as opposed to just practice:

"Well of course you learn more in games, that’s what you’re practicing for.  I try to play my game as much as I can to learn about time and to be at the right point at the right time."

On possibly making the roster, Johansson added:

"I'm going to work hard for it."

Other notes and observations:

• Trevor Bruess was excellent on the penalty kill.  He showed speed and stickhandling skill that we hadn't yet seen from him.  His fight with Zac Rinaldo wasn't exactly the bout he had with Stefan Della Rovere in development camp, but at least he made good on his promise.

• Samuel Carrier was solid on the blue line, but needs to work on his passing play.  On some passes he had trouble hitting the tape of his teammate.

• Bruce Boudreau's honorable mentions after the lengthy discussion of Eakin and Johansson (and Godfrey) were: Philipp Grubauer, Dustin Stevenson, Brett Flemming, and Patrick Cullity.

• When asked about Joe Finley, Mark French did express doubts on his playing at the AHL level next year.  He said that Finley needs to "play at a higher pace" in order to make it in the AHL.

• At several points, Flyers rookies were trying to get under the skin of Marcus Johansson - chirping at him after whistles, playing him a little more physical.  Johansson never engaged, and always shrugged it off.  In post-game interview, he proved himself extremely smart and mature.

• Alex Ovechkin stuck around for the rookie game after the vet skate in the morning, and came into the locker room after the game ended to congratulate the guys and chat with them for a few moments. The captain was all smiles, and according to Jared DeMichiel's Twitter, Ovechkin and Mike Green took the rookies out for a sushi dinner.

Rookie Camp Day 1: Catching Up with Philipp Grubauer

photo by Dan Janisse, The Windsor Star

On day one of Rookie Camp, the guys went through various drills and then off-ice weight training. After all that work, I got a chance to speak with goaltender Philipp Grubauer for a few minutes about his upcoming OHL season.  
 

Rink Rebel: Are you looking forward to your season with Kingston?

Philipp Grubauer: Oh yeah, I'm looking forward to it, I think we have a good team, and we should be going back to the championship with this team.  Everybody has to do their job, and I'm looking forward to this year.

RR: And you'll also be in the WJC with Germany, are you looking forward to that as well?

PG: Yeah, I think we have a pretty good team as well there... So we should stay in the group [Germany is in Group A with USA] and our goal is getting a medal this year.

RR: During your playoff series with Barrie, you got run over by Darren Archibald. When you got up you had sort of a smile on your face, so what were you thinking?

PG: Yeah I mean I kind of knew it was coming to that point, we won that game 6-2 and there was only one minute left so they tried to do everything to disturb me. It was kind of funny to me because I knew it was coming.

RR: You had a shutout against your former team Belleville just a couple days ago, how was that feeling?

PG: It was an awesome feeling to get that shutout, because you're getting back to the old building, playing against your friends, and it was just an amazing feeling to show them that we can do it in Kingston too.

RR: Goalies are kind of known for their weird little quirks, I don't know if you've watched Braden Holtby prepare his crease, but do you have any quirky little things that you tend to do?

PG: I think I have my own game routine, every player has, but I don't do anything special.  Just a nap before the game, I always eat pasta, but that's pretty much all I do.

I should have more exciting interviews after the rookie game on Thursday. Dustin Stevenson interview is coming up next.

Focus on Prospects: Andy Miele

 photo by me

The last scrimmage of the Washington Capitals' development camp drew approximately 4,000 fans to Kettler Capitals Iceplex on a Saturday morning in July. One of the standouts of the scrimmage game, with the game-winning shootout goal, was Andy Miele, a camp invitee. So who is he? The Rink Rebel decided to find out.

 photo by Associated Press (Miele in white)

Name: Andy Miele

Position: LW
Shoots: Left
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 175 lbs
Birthdate: 1988-04-15

Hometown: Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan

Andy Miele started early in the last development camp scrimmage - he scored the first goal with a pretty move to send the puck past goaltender Philipp Grubauer. Later on, in the shootout, he scored the game winner with a stutter-step move to beat Braden Holtby.

Small (his listed roster height may be a tad generous) but speedy, the undrafted Miele began his hockey career in the USHL in 2005 with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. He blossomed after a 2006 midseason trade to the Chicago Steel, becoming a strong scorer and the star of the team. He was selected to the USHL All-Star roster in 2007, and was the team's top scorer. However, becoming college-eligible in January 2008, Miele announced his intention to attend Miami University (OH) and departed Chicago midseason. But not before breaking the Chicago Steel's all-time scoring record with 43 goals in his time on the Chicago roster.

When Miele got to Miami, he kept up his energetic scoring pace, scoring the game-winning goal against Lake Superior State in his first game as a RedHawk, just over a week after departing Chicago. In his next season in 2008-09, he improved still, becoming a reliable member of the power play unit (4 of his 15 goals in the season came on the power play). He was selected as the CCHA Offensive Player of the Week in October for his performance in a double-header against Notre Dame. Though he wasn't racking up the scoring numbers he'd seen in Chicago, he was earning the respect of the Miami coaching staff and his fellow players. According to Miami Assistant Coach Chris Bergeron, Miele came in to Miami "with his mouth shut and his ears open" and while he isn't a vocal leader in the locker room, he leads by example on the ice. 

2009-10 was an even better year for Miele. He was selected to the All-CCHA second team and was second on the RedHawks in points with 44. Miele's outstanding ability to see the ice and his puck control were benefits for both him and his linemates - he recorded a team-high 29 assists and was +22 for the season, which was also second on the team. He proved a defensive prowess as well and became a valuable guy in front of his own net and on the penalty kill, blocking 34 shots. The RedHawks went to the Frozen Four in 2010, besting Michigan in overtime to get to the tournament. However, Miami was knocked out of the tournament in a rout courtesy of Boston College, who won 7-1.

 

But Miele has high hopes for next year, especially as the rising senior has been awarded an "A" on his sweater. Miele hopes for a national championship for the RedHawks, but whatever the outcome, Bruce Boudreau may have a job for him after the season - Miele was one of the players the coach singled out at the conclusion of this week's development camp. Boudreau's "all-camp" team consisted of Miele and his former Steel teammate Eric Alexander, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Marcus Johansson, Cody Eakin, Dustin Stevenson and Joe Finley. Boudreau was obviously impressed with the diminutive forward:

"I really liked that Andy Miele, I thought he had a great camp... How can you not like the little guys? He was shifty, made great plays, and had a beautiful first goal. When you get little guys and they compete, it’s hard not to be pulling for them... His skating is tremendous, there's little things he has to do, but we've got three weeks in training camp with the best players we have, and I think you'll see a marked difference... I like what I saw and I know he's going to improve."

The folks over at Rock the Red were able to sit down and have a chat with Miele during the week - it's worth a read.

Note: Miele was one of two current Miami RedHawks to be invited to camp - his teammate Steve Spinell (So.) also attended. Teammate Pat Cannone (Sr.) attended last year's Capitals camp.

Focus on Prospects: Philipp Grubauer

I was in Las Vegas working during the NHL Draft, and missed about 99% of it, so all my draft news came in tidbits of the 4 seconds a day I was able to check Twitter. So the second I saw that with our fourth-round selection, we traded up two draft picks in order to get Philipp Grubauer, I squealed in the middle of a crowded restaurant (yes, people stared). So without further ado, I present... Philipp Grubauer, my very favorite Capitals draft pick of the 2010 Entry Draft.

photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images

 
Name: Philipp Grubauer

Position: G
Catches: Left
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 180 lbs
Birthdate: 1991-11-25

Hometown: Rosenheim, Germany

I've become a Windsor Spitfires fan over the past two seasons, and while I was sad to see Andrew Engelage (now with the ECHL's Reading Royals) go after the 2009 Memorial Cup Championship, I grew to know Grubauer after he was traded from the Belleville Bulls to the Windsor Spitfires in January 2010. Grubauer took over the top goalie position for Windsor, and quickly made an impression with the 2009 Champions, being named as the Spitfires Player of the Week (as voted by Windsor coaching staff) in March. At that point, he was tied for first in GAA among all OHL goalies and second in save percentage. Grubauer entered the Spitfires roster as they were gearing up for their 2010 playoff run, and he helped them toward that lofty back-to-back CHL Champions goal.  

As we know, the Spitfires did indeed repeat, and Grubauer was an integral part of the victory - in the Memorial Cup tournament alone, his stats were outstanding: besides being undefeated, he had a 2.14 GAA and an exceptional .930 SV%. Keep in mind that though these stats were only over 4 games, they were against the best teams in the Canadian Hockey League. During the games he played with the Spitfires in the regular season (19 games) he was 13-1-2 with a .906 SV% and 2.37 GAA. Still impressive numbers for the well-traveled German.  

He becomes more well-traveled next season - he and a 2010 draft pick were traded to the Kingston Frontenacs just last week in order for Windsor to gain higher draft picks in the OHL Entry Draft. Windsor has also signed WJC US goalie Jack Campbell, and thus didn't seem to have much use for Grubauer with Campbell's pedigree and experience putting him as the obvious starter in Windsor. However, it should be a good move for Grubauer, since with Campbell in charge in Windsor, Grubauer would play limited minutes, whereas he is slated as the Kingston starter next season.

There has been talk amongst Capitals analysts that has labeled Grubauer as "inconsistent." He was yanked from net after allowing 12 goals in the first 2 games during the tough playoff series with the Kitchener Rangers (the Rangers went 3-0 the first 3 games). However, as the starter in Game 5, he shut out the Rangers, stopping 28 shots. In the Spits' later series with the Barrie Colts (Stefan Della Rovere's club) for the OHL Championship, Grubauer was seeing (and stopping) over 30 shots in the majority of those games.

In terms of the consistency issue, I'd just say keep in mind that he is only 18, and has played just two full seasons in juniors. He has had a great amount of experience in just these past few months: winning the 2010 Memorial Cup, and also competing as the starting goalie for Germany in the 2010 WJC-20 Division I Championships: where he racked up unbelievable numbers - a 0.64 GAA and .974 SV% in 5 games (he also participated in the 2008 U17 Challenge and the 2009 WJC-20 Championships). At the end of those 2010 WJC-20 D1 Championships, Germany finished with the gold medal, and Grubauer with the "Top Player on a Team" honor. Germany's win means that they will be competing in the 2011 WJC. So we know he at least is good under pressure.

And of course, he has many years to continue to develop as a goalie. Being just 18, he has at least two more seasons in Canadian juniors before he ages out, plus he will be gaining experience in this year's Capitals development camp. His glove hand definitely needs to be improved, but his kick saves in general are excellent due to his agility and quickness in the crease. With next year's expected Caps goalies being Varlamov and Neuvirth, Grubauer could end up in Hershey after juniors. But I wouldn't worry about any inconsistency just yet - he's got a lot of time before he sees solid ice time with any team in the Caps organization. Right now his job is to take all he can from development camp and get as much experience as possible as the starter in Kingston next season. Overall, he may condition enough to be a great goalie, and it is a good goalie draft pick for the Caps.

To see more of his grace under fire, check out the below video (which I watched live and was outraged over of course) during Windsor's OHL Finals series against the Barrie Colts. In the final minute of Game 3 of their series (which Windsor swept), the Colts were already losing 5-2 when Colt Darren Archibald ran over Grubauer as he stepped behind the net to clear a puck to his defensemen. The collision was troubling, but Grubauer got up, smirking a bit as if to say, "Is that all you got, punk?" I think Grubauer has the sense of humor necessary to deal with the pests in hockey, and also has the smarts to brush off the insults. Archibald, by the way, was suspended for this incident.
 

(Note: I wish I could have used a picture of Grubauer in a Caps draft jersey, but alas, there isn't one, as Grubauer was in Germany during the draft and thus was obviously not present. Grubauer's first appearance in a Caps jersey will be during next week's development camp - all five 2010 draft picks are slated to attend.)

Windsor Spitfires Repeat as MasterCard Memorial Cup Champions

Well, I was going to do a gamer on the CHL Memorial Cup final, but it turns out there isn't too much to write about. The Spits channeled Game 1 again, and destroyed the Brandon Wheat Kings 9-1. It started off innocently enough, with a scoreless game for the first 6 minutes of the first period. Wheat Kings goalie De Serres and Spitfires goalie Grubauer were both making sparkling saves. De Serres earned himself a spot on a highlight reel with a dazzling kick-out save on a streaking Eric Wellwood in the first period.

And then Adam Henrique struck. And the Spits didn't stop until the final buzzer sounded. De Serres was excellent all night, but could only do so much without his team supporting him. The Wheat Kings gave the Spits too many chances, and that was definitely reflected in the final score, as well as the shot count (Windsor fired 52 shots on net to Brandon's 28). Henrique scored twice, with Wellwood, Hall, Nemisz, Cantin, Fowler, Kassian, and Mitchell adding markers for Windsor. The lone Wheat Kings goal was scored by Wheaties star Matt Calvert.

Despite the anticlimactic ending to the tournament, the Spitfires were ecstatic after the win, earning their place in history as being one of just eight CHL teams ever to win back-to-back championships. Taylor Hall became the first player ever to be named tournament MVP in consecutive years. The Spitfires organization raved about Hall post-game, expressing why they thought the young star should go #1 in this summer's NHL draft. Spits General Manager Warren Rychel said,

"He's as good as gone, he's sick... Sometimes NHL Central tries to create a story of who's rivaling who, but obviously there's no comparison (between Hall and No. 1 ranked Tyler Seguin). I thought he was the best player in the Canadian Hockey League."

The next season will be a tough one for the Spitfires - many of their best players are either expected to be drafted and play directly into the NHL (like Hall) or will be over the age limit for CHL players. The overagers are Scott Timmins (FLA), Dale Mitchell (TOR), Harry Young (NJD), Greg Nemisz (CGY), Adam Henrique (NJD), Mark Cundari (STL) and Eric Wellwood (PHI). This is the last you've seen of this particular lineup, but coach Bob Boughner is confident that it won't be the last you've seen of the Windsor Spitfires, despite the pressure:

"I know one thing: it's going to be tough to match what we've done here in the last two years."

Three stars:

1. Adam Henrique (2 goals, 1 assist)

2. Scott Timmins (2 assists, +3)

3. Matt Calvert (1 goal)

My star:

photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images

Again, I agree with the actual first star. Adam Henrique was amazing - creating chances, handling the puck with ease, and definitely being the most effective player on the ice. It certainly doesn't hurt when Taylor Hall is your linemate, but I think that Henrique is definitely a star in his own right. I hope to see him in the NHL next year with the team that drafted him, the New Jersey Devils.

Video highlights are worth a look.