Just some general observations:
Stephon Thorne did not play today because he is ill... Chris Auger has a lower-body injury, General Manager David Franke said, and has not reported back to Fort Wayne yet... scoring goals in the scrimmage were Brayden Metz, John Dunbar, Mark Hoban and J.P. Chabot scored twice... Pat Knowlton scored on a beautiful wrist shot from in front... It's only a scrimmage, and there's a tremendous difference between scrimmage speed, exhibition speed and game speed, but the young defenseme all looked pretty solid, maybe better than expected considering their lack of experience. Kyle Atkins is great with the puck, always calm and makes great passes. Scott Kishel is extremely good in all areas, Nicolas Thommen is huge and plays like it, hitting and blocking shots, and also skates better than most big guys. Dan Nycholat struggled right at the start with nerves, but then settled down and played a nice game... John Dunbar is amazingly quick and a great puckhandler to highlight the forwards... Matt Firman showed he knows how to use his size in front.. Impressed that Chabot blocked a couple of shots AFTER he scored the two goals... Among the goalies, Gerry Festa looked like the best, and Fracois Lacerte and Larkin Saalfrank looked solid... it was a very wide-open game with everybody running around trying to make plays... Linus Werneman has a nice shot with a quick release.
This is a much stronger overall camp than the K omets have had in a while. Nobody looks out of place and everybody made a play or two.
More coming later.
