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Landeskog, Downie providing big hits, intensity |
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Rick Sadowski
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UPDATED BELOW:
Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy has seen plenty of physical play and intensity in scrimmages in the first three days of training camp, perhaps none more so than in Saturday's final scrimmage at the Family Sports Center in Centennial, Colo.
Tempers flared a couple of times between Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and Steve Downie after some hard hits and perhaps a trip or two. It looked like they might come to blows after one collision, but peace prevailed.
Downie, who sustained a torn ACL in his knee in the second game last season, left the ice and sat behind his team's bench to talk to a team trainer after one hit, but he returned to the scrimmage shortly after and looked just fine.
"It was good," Landeskog said. "Guys are going hard and both teams want to win. All the guys at this camp want to show management and the coaching staff that they want to be here. It's hard out there. You don't want to give an edge to the other team. You don't want to give an edge especially to your teammate.
"You practice against these guys all year and you don't get to play as hard (during the season) as you do out here. When you get a chance, you want to play extra hard. I think it was a good scrimmage today. All three days have been good."
The hard hitting is just fine with Roy.
"I like it," he said. "It just shows that guys want to do things different than probably in past years. When you make the playoffs one time in the past five years -- you've missed four times in the past five years -- you need change. You need to come with a different attitude, and that's what I have seen so far."
There are no friends on the ice, even among teammates, once scrimmages begin.
"You don't want to hurt anyone, obviously," Landeskog said. "We're all in good shape and guys get run pretty healthy in every game, so you want to make sure you're aware of that and you're prepared for that. I think we're doing a good job of preparing each other.
"Absolutely it's more fun. For me, it's good to get into the physical aspect of the game pretty early like this. We've been skating all summer and scrimmaging and whatnot, but it doesn't measure up to this. It's good to get into those game-type situations."
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Roy and his staff have been so impressed with defenseman Chris Bigras, a second-round pick (32nd overall) in last June's NHL draft, that he may have a chance to win a roster spot even though he's just 18.
"We have meetings after every practice and he's been the guy that everyone's overwhelmed with so far," Roy said. "We're extremely excited about him. He's playing so smart and he's solid out there. He and (defenseman Erik) Johnson seem to connect extremely well together. The exhibition games will tell a lot on our decision."
Bigras, a 6-foot-1, 186-pounder, had eight goals, 30 assists and 34 penalty minutes in 68 games last season for Owen Sound in the Ontario Hockey League.
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Oft-injured center Joey Hishon, who was the Avalanche's first-round pick (17th overall) in 2010, skated hard by himself after Saturday's workouts as he recovers from a groin ailment that has prevented him from taking part in practices and scrimmages.
Hishon missed the entire 2010-11 season after suffering a concussion in a playoff game, and he played just nine games last season with the Lake Erie Monsters in the American Hockey League, where he had one goal and five assists.
Roy said Hishon is making progress and is listed as day-to-day.
"He's getting better and better," Roy said. "It seems (misfortune) seems to follow him a lot. At the same time, he was drafted in the first round and we're certainly going to want to keep an eye on him in the future."
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Goalies Semyon Varlamov and Jean-Sebastien Giguere will start for their respective teams Sunday in the annual Burgundy and White Game at the Air Force Academy. Roy said Varlamov would start Wednesday night when the Avalanche opens exhibition play against the Anaheim Ducks at the Pepsi Center.
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