In his last chance to impress the Calgary Hitmen brass, 16-year-old Justyn Gurney appeared to redeem himself following a forgetful opening frame during the annual Black versus White intrasquad game Monday night at the Kyle Stuart Memorial Arena at the Edge School.
Having already sat for two minutes in the opening frame for an offsetting minor with Team White’s Tristen Nielsen, Gurney headed to the box a second time for tripping.
It was on that man advantage that Team White took their first swing at Team Black after weathering an early offensive push.
Jobs were on the line and 17-year-olds such as Nielsen were trying their best to survive one more round of cuts.
Nielsen used his overwhelming speed to take advantage of the open ice, slashing in on Team Black’s defenders. Despite his speed, ability to side-step defenders and blurry puck handling skills, Nielsen couldn’t find the back of the net.
Later, as Gurney’s minor was close to expiring, Hunter Lamb found enough space towards the left of the goal as the puck squirted out towards him. He chipped it once, then again, and squeezed the puck over the laid out stick of local goaltender Matthew Armitage, sneaking it past his elbow and in. This put White in front 1-0.
Just as Nielsen started to heat up in the first after a couple solid rushes, Jakob LaPointe clipped him in the mouth area near centre ice. Nielsen was building up another head of steam and tried to shoot a gap up the middle of the ice, when he ran into the 6-foot-1 defenceman, who clogged up the neutral zone.
Visibly frustrated, Nielsen left the ice immediately and headed straight to the dressing room for repairs. He did not return and was not available for comment after the game.
White was fortunate to skate away with the 1-0 lead after one, following Black’s performance in the first 10 minutes.
Not dressing in the intrasquad game were all the 20-year-olds, Matteo Gennaro, Brady Reagan, Jakob Stukel and goaltender Nick Schneider. Also missing in action were returning players Jake Bean, Lucas Cullen and Beck Malenstyn.
From the opening faceoff, Black turned up the pressure on a White team that couldn’t keep their feet moving fast enough. Hunter Campbell came out crashing, winning battles to loose pucks and kept the play alive for his offence to go to work.
Standing in his way was Connor Dochuk, an 18-year-old goalie who was fighting for what could be the backup role behind Nick Schneider — if he doesn’t join the Calgary Flames following their training camp in September.
“This is obviously a competition and you want to be the best you can be. When I saw the moves (the Hitmen) made with their goalies this summer I got excited,” said Dochuk, who wrapped up training camp with his third different WHL club. “I thought I was solid today and definitely made up for my performance during the 3-on-3 game. Now, we just wait and see what happens next.”
Dochuk was crisp, staying with the shooters, shutting down second and third chance opportunities. In his 20 minutes of work, he stopped all 13 shots he faced.
Seeing his team in a 1-0 hole in the second, Delta, B.C. native, Gurney got his legs and his shot going.
Gurney took a feed from Campbell and Mark Kastelic through the neutral zone, stepped into the middle of the ice and wired a wrister past Cody Levesque’s glove top corner.
“Last year I came up and played with the team from midget. That experience gave me a lot of confidence to finish out the season and head into this training camp,” said Gurney, who scored eight goals and 26 points in 19 games with the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget League last season.
Shortly after, Gurney was at it again, this time in tight.
He took the puck in deep, driving towards the net, when he tried to roof it in close. The puck loudly rang off the crossbar, as Levesque did a 180, trying to swipe the puck off the goal line.
“I was in this intrasquad game last year and I think I was too nervous. It was fun to be apart of, but then I went home right after it. This year, I want to stay,” said Gurney.
In Gurney’s eyes, he saw the puck cross the line. In the ref’s eyes, it didn’t.
Black wouldn’t be denied, however.
Off the ensuing faceoff, 17-year-old Zach Huber took the puck towards the net and jammed in a rebound to the right past Levesque, establishing a 2-1 lead for Black.
“I put a lot of work in this summer with my trainer Sean Hope-Ross and worked hard to get here. This is my third time at camp with the Hitmen and I want to leave a good impression,” Huber told the DUBNetwork earlier in the week.
Gurney and Team Black didn’t allow the Hitmen’s 205th overall pick from the latest Bantam Draft, Trey Hirschfield, to settle into the game in the third.
The ambush that was apparent in the first period returned in the third.
Gurney, armed with WHL vets Mark Kastelic and Jake Kryski, put on a creative display, weaving to the net, setting each other up to the side of the net and chasing down loose pucks. Despite, their efforts, they couldn’t push one across.
Former Hitmen second-round pick from 2016 Bryce Bader took a hard spill into the boards during the Young Guns game one night earlier. He appeared to be fine, as he took the puck from the blue line, worked in and wired a shot off the iron, past Hirschfield. The puck came around to Andrei Grishakov, who was initially denied by a diving stick save, but stayed with the play and chipped the rebound into the empty net, giving Black a 3-1 lead.
At the other end of the ice, Brayden Peters was making his final push for a roster spot in net with Black.
Peters stopped an initial bomb from the point by Andrew Fyten and slid over to his left to deny the rebound opportunity from Matt Dorsey. Dorsey, like Grishakov, stayed with the play and potted in his own rebound opportunity, trimming the lead to 3-2.
After an empty netter by Team Black, Team White quickly responded with a turn around stretch pass from Fyten up two lines to Luke Coleman, who was sent in alone on Peters. Making no mistake, he burnt him up high, but it was too little too late for Team White.
Black walked away with the 4-3 win as the horn sounded ending the intrasquad game and the Hitmen’s training camp.
For head coach Dallas Ferguson, it marked the end of his first training camp with the team.
“The big thing for me was to get familiar with the players. I spent a lot of time reading depth charts and stats. Now, I can put a feeling towards players and what each of their games are moving forward,” said Ferguson.
Prior to the game, there were some notable absences from the roster provided.
Of the 16-year-old draft class, not making the Black and White game were Kade Nolan (fourth round, 83rd overall), Dustin Wolf (fifth round, 105th overall) and Jesse Mistelbacher (sixth round, 127th overall).
Jackson van de Leest, Cale Zimmerman, and Jackson Niedermayer were other top picks from that same 2016 draft and remained on the roster. Notable late-round selections still in camp were Luke Robinson (10th round, 200th overall) and Connor Brock (10th round, 215th overall).
Former first-round pick Nielsen was one of the nine 17-year-olds who reached the intrasquad game. He was joined by goaltender Levesque (sixth round, 129th overall); centre Huber (fourth round, 73rd overall), Lamb (ninth round, 195th overall), Layne Toder (fourth round, 84th overall) Drea Esposito (fifth round, 107th overall), Andrew Viggars (eighth round, 173rd overall), Gurney (sixth round, 116th overall) and the undrafted Ben Solomon.
Following another round of cuts, the Hitmen now shift into exhibition season. The team will take on off day Tuesday, before resuming practice on Wednesday. The team will prepare for their first exhibition game Sept. 1 when they travel to Red Deer to take on the Rebels at 7 p.m. Of the Hitmen’s five preseason games, only one will take place in Calgary, when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings Sept. 8 at WinSport Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m.
