St. Louis Blues Prospect Camp Live Blog Day 4

It’s the fourth and final day of prospect camp for the St. Louis Blues. For many of these guys it will be their final chance to impress coaches in person and earn an invite to training camp.

Just to start off, I hope everyone is faring well no matter where you are in this world. I try to keep my focus on sports and hockey specifically, but the last week has been a little tougher to do so with all the insanity going on in our country. Hopefully, these articles provide a little bit of distraction as sports – though divisive sometimes – are still something to bring people together.

The St. Louis Blues prospects are wrapping up their work in town. As stated, for most of these guys it is their last chance to earn an invite to training camp in the fall.

While nobody in this camp looks ready to play at the NHL level yet, being able to attend the actual Blues camp would be a feather in their cap. It’s one thing to look good against guys who are at your current skill level or age. It’s quite another to be thrust into a situation where you’re practicing against guys who are twice your age or size.

That’s what most of these players are competing for this week. They know, with an exception or two, that most of them are going back to their respective colleges and junior teams. A handful will get spots in the minor leagues. Getting that invite to training camp though gets them an opportunity to give the coaches and management a second thought about where to place them though.

1:40

Goaltenders are out as usual. It’s been the typical stuff. The drills are a bit different today. Currently they are facing a shot from the slot and then rebounds from the corners.

It’s been quite sloppy from some of the guys, but that seems to be the case during the drills for the entire week. All four netminders seem to be good competitors during games, but need sharpening up to various degrees for practice drills, which hone your skills in the unexpected moments during games and keep you sharp when you don’t have much work.

1:55

Random thought while waiting for Team MacInnis to come out and while I huff on the wonderful fumes: It’s funny that we call them all zamboni’s now. Almost all of them are made by Olympia as far as I can tell. Zamboni was actually a company, not necessarily the name of the machine itself. I suppose it’s kind of like calling everything a kleenex, even though Kleenex is a brand. Poor Puffs. You’re still a kleenex.

2:05

Everyone is out for drills from the gold team. It looks like the drill at center ice will include puck handling similar to the one in between the orange pucks at the All-Star Game. Should be interesting.

Nope, I was wrong (at least for now). It’s a footwork drill similar to toe tapping in a ladder for boxers/football players.

So many pipes rung this week. Is that a trait the Blues actually look for?

Down to the right end of the rink it’s a bit more functional. The coach is bodying up the player who is trying to get position in front of the net. They then turn to attempt a shot.

Thank goodness for netting. In the old days, I’m sure either myself or one of the other fans would be seeking medical attention with the pucks getting knocked up over the glass.

Always interesting to see the fan attire at these events as well. You’ve got everything from new gear to old school Starter and CCM stuff. Puffy jackets from the 90’s and people in shorts.

Thompson is just showing off now. He’s doing the drills I mentioned at center-ice. He was able to get Fitzpatrick onto his rear before he even needed to shoot and then put it away. It’s hard not to be excited about this kid since I know he’s not going to be brought up for some time.

Gosh I love fans. Especially the ones that pretend to know it all when those of us that keep quiet just listen and laugh. Someone sitting near me was talking to his friend and literally said “Where’s Hitch? If you see him, tell me cause I’m gonna let him know about this Thompson kid,” after seeing Thompson do some good work in the drills.

Yes, go tell him. Tell the man with as much time in the business as you’ve been on this Earth how to evaluate talent. I’m sorry, but it was hard not to laugh. Maybe it was supposed to be funny, but I’m pretty sure he was serious.

2:30

It’s interesting to watch Thomas Vannelli. He’s listed as a defender on all the stuff I’ve read, but his skill set seems more applicable to a forward. He doesn’t seem to use one of those giant defenseman’s sticks either. It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on him during his time in Chicago since he seems labeled for the AHL, given that he played a handful of games there to end last year.

That does it for drills for Team MacInnis. Nothing major to speak of today. I hate to pick on the kid, but thank goodness Fitzpatrick is only 18 because right now he’s got more holes than swiss cheese. Thompson continues to look good, but you still wonder how well he works once he gets bumped around a bit.

On to the scrimmage.

2:45

I can’t wrap my head around the geography of this place. We are quite a bit north of I-70, so you would think the airport would not be that close. However, I hear planes quite a bit and they’re the big jets. I’ll have to look at a proper map later and see how close the Ice Zone is to Lambert.

The players are out now. They almost tricked Kurker into skating out by himself. He laughed about it and proceeded to shove Thompson out onto the ice.

Ruck and Vogler get the start in the pipes for their respective teams. A new score keeper today. Hopefully he’ll do better than the last couple.

We had our second penalty of the camp called. They got a penalty shot out of it, but no goal for Team MacInnis. Team Tkachuk trying not to go 0-4 this week.

This might be the longest we’ve gone without a goal all four days. Still not enough offensive flow coming from the blue team.

As I say that, Thompson gets another goal as he finishes off a give and go with Kurker on a 2-on-0. 1-0 Team MacInnis about four minutes in.

My mistake, it was Stevens with the assist. Now it is 2-0 after a giveaway. Sergeev came in tight to goal and was able to bury it past Ruck. Looking like another blowout.

Too many cross-ice passes once Team Tkachuk gets into the zone. They don’t look for the trailing player enough and always want to go for the one-timer. So, logic dictates we’ll see more of those guys in the NHL first.

Another goal for Thompson. He scores on an empty net after Ruck got pulled out of position scrambling for the rebound. That’s at least six goals for Thompson this week and likely seven.

First good break for the blue team as Musil came down the left wing on a 2-on-1. He had the chance to pass but wisely shot. Vobler made a good stabbing save with the glove.

Vogler with another solid save and smothers the rebound. Still 3-0 with about 10 to go.

4-0 after a Kyrou goal. Not the type you’d expect from him. He set up shop on the left circle and blasted a slap shot in off a one-timer for the score.

Goalies swap it up. Husso and Fitzpatrick are in.

It looks like the goalies have changed teams. Husso is in for Team Tkachuk. The blue team scores. Musil able to score and then as I was typing he puts another one in. The first was off a rebound and the second he just dragged the puck through the slot to the left circle and put it top shelf on the blocker side. 4-2.

The goals are coming too quick now. Thompson with the hat-trick, if my eyes saw it right. Another rebound goal as there’s a lot of hackin’ and whackin’ going on in front. 5-2.

3:10

Final five minutes of the first. The game has slowed down just a bit. Both teams are keeping better control of the puck. That’s something that should be mentioned – playing 4-on-4, a lot of the goals have come off careless mistakes with the puck and turnovers.

5-2 still with 90 seconds left. Husso hasn’t been tested a lot, but you can tell he’s still a big reason why the score has remained close. Some of the cheapies Team MacInnis got over the last few days aren’t available with him in there.

Kurker comes in on a break and just snaps one in off the glove side post to make it 6-2.

3:15

There’s the buzzer and we’ll swap sides. Team MacInnis will be going left to right on your radio dial, as they say.

The goalies stay the same, so we’ll end the game with Ruck and Vogler. Team Mac trying for another blowout as they’re already up by four and Team Walt trying to at least keep it respectable.

Right off the bat they get a couple good whacks in close, but Fitzpatrick is able to keep it out with the left pad.

Krag uses the screen of the defender and slips a shot in on the ice past Husso’s right pad. 7-2 now. A tough one to see, but still one the Finn would probably like to do over.

Better pressure from Team Tkachuk by Musil’s line, but it still leads to no goals. Down the other way we go and it’s another goal for the team in gold. Krag gets it again as he just sort of flipped it in once he got a few feet away from the crease. 8-2.

Everyone’s favorite polar bear, Louie, has made an appearance. I didn’t smell anything, so he must have had his summer bath.

9-2 now as they scored just by streaking down the wing on the right hand side. Pretty sure it was Dunda to score. That’s immediately answered by Team Tkachuk. 9-3.

9-4 after a fine goal from Tschantz. He came in from the right, dragged it through a defender and then went top shelf, glove side for the goal.

Final Thoughts

Team MacInnis went undefeated and got a little trophy at the end. I’m sure there will be pictures on the Blues official social media sites.

As far as the games went, I felt bad for Team Tkachuk. It’s not that they’re that far behind technically, but the way it all got split up they just didn’t have the speed or stickhandling skill that the gold team did. I think the reason they didn’t tweak the lineups, other than the goalies, was to keep everyone on the same practice schedule with certain days having morning practice and some days in the afternoon.

As far as individual players go, I’m going to do a few in-depth writeups on certain guys in the coming days. However, here are a few quick thoughts.

I really like Nolan Stevens. He’s got some slick hands and quite a bit of speed. He’s listed at 6’2, but he looks a little smaller than that. I think it’s likely he will spend another year in college before they move him to either the ECHL or AHL.

It’s hard not to be high on Tage Thompson after this week. I still see him returning to UConn for another season, but I would not be surprised if they at least give him a look in training camp with the big boys and at least float the idea of heading to Chicago.

Conner Bleackley is still an exciting talent, but he kind of disappointed me this week. Not so much with a lack of skill or anything like that, but there were just times here and there where he looked like he knew he was going to the AHL and sort of mailed it in, for lack of a better term.

Vince Dunn and Tommy Vannelli are both good players and will likely see time in Chicago this season. They’re still probably a couple years away from being serious NHL contenders, but they’re making their way up the charts in my estimation.

I personally like Justin Selman, but he’s got a lot of developing to do. He’s got the skills and speed, but he needs to get a little more hockey sense. He skated himself into a few problems during the scrimmages.

The big guys like Grant Frederic and Dwyer Tschantz are about what you’d expect. Big guys that have some skill, but need better skating ability if they’re to make it to the next level. Tschantz is a decent finisher around the net though and if Frederic can fill out, he’ll be tough on the blueline though I’m not sure the NHL is in his cards or not.

Jordan Kyrou is a bit of a mystery. It’s all there except the size, but the NHL is trending away from huge players anyway. Still, I think it’s going to take him some time. He’s got the wheels, but where his game is at sort of fluctuates just a little too much.

As far as the goaltenders, I’d rank them Husso, Rusk, Vogel and Fitzpatrick. I’m a little down on Fitz just because he was a second round pick, but the guy is only 18. Goaltenders tend not to hit their prime until their late 20’s and early 30’s, so he’s got a good long while and plenty of bodies in front of him in the pecking order before we need to worry about how many goals got past him.

Husso is the most ready out of anyone in the bunch and he still needs some seasoning. I’ll be interested to see if they try to stick him in the AHL this year, where he would get the most bang or if they bring back both Binnington and Copley and have Husso play down a level.

Overall, it was a fun week. I was surprised by how close some guys actually are compared to my initial thoughts coming in. Not everyone on these squads is going to make it to the NHL for a long career and some might never make it. Even so, there wasn’t anyone on the ice that made you wonder how the heck they got here in the first place and that’s a good thing.

Next: Who Benefits From Steen's Injury?

I’ll be very interested to see who gets an invite to training camp, assuming anyone does. There were a few guys that earned it, but it also boils down to the number of people they want to start camp off.

Thanks for following along. If I have the time, I may do these again once training camp starts, but we’ll see. Now we enter the dog days of summer.

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