BROSSARD, QC. — After coping with a disastrous year on the ice and considerable upheaval in the off-season, it was refreshing to see the guys wearing the CH back on the ice in Brossard. Sunday marked the opening of the 2016 Montreal Canadiens Development Camp. 45 players were invited to camp to be tested, receive instruction and compete in scrimmages through July 7th.
Strength and Conditioning Coach Pierre Allard put the group through an off-ice workout in the morning. St. John’s IceCaps head coach Sylvain Lefebvre was in charge of the on-ice sessions. Former Canadiens defenseman Francis Bouillon helped out serving as a guest coach for the week.
A disappointment for many fans was the absence of Finnish forward Artturi Lehkonen who remained in Sweden to continue his off-season workouts. Lehkonen has announced that he is making the transition to North America for next season and could be part of the solution for additional offense if he can stick with the big club. Lehkonen is expected to attend training camp in the fall.
IceCaps defenseman Brett Lernout was not in attendance still sidelined with a knee injury suffered late in the season during a callup-up by the Canadiens. Lernout played just 6:30 in his NHL debut on April 2nd in a game against the Florida Panthers.
#Habs Scherbak "It's gonna be crazy if it's a Russian pwr play. U don't know what to expect" joking about PP w/him, 27, A-Rad, 79, Sergachev
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) July 3, 2016
The day ended with two inter-squad scrimmages. The scrimmages featured a first period played at 4-on-4, and a final period with a 3-on-3 format.
Zach Fucale was lit up for eight goals against with IceCaps teammate Jeremy Gregoire scoring the hat trick as Team B coasted to an easy victory in the first scrimmage. Freshly-drafted Will Bitten and try-out forward Hayden McCool each had two goals.
Teams C and D skated to a 2-2 draw with Giovanni Fiore scoring the tying goal with just three second remaining. IceCaps forward Markus Eisenschmid picked up a goal on the penalty shot.
Three stars for Day 1
- Jeremy Gregoire – hat trick
- Will Bitten – 2 goals including the prettiest goal of the day
- Charlie Lindgren – solid performance with several big stops in an offensive game
Development camp scrimmage – July 3, 2016
Team B – 8
Goals: Gregoire (3), Bitten (2), McCool (2), Evans
Team A – 3
Goals: Pezzetta, Reway, Duke
| Team A | Team B |
| Forwards | |
| 40 Connor Crisp 55 Michael Pezzetta 63 Lukas Vejdemo 84 Martin Reway 85 Reid Duke 86 Scott Eansor |
37 Will Bitten 38 Nikita Scherbak 47 Jeremy Gregoire 52 Jake Evans 78 Karson Kuhlman 92 Hayden McCool |
| Defensemen | |
| 8 Mikhail Sergachev 73 Luke Ripley 77 Scott Dornbrock 97 Michael Zipp |
44 Marshall Rifai 53 Victor Mete 58 Noah Juulsen 61 Nikolas Koberstein |
| Goalies | |
| 30 Zach Fucale |
35 Charlie Lindgren |
Development camp scrimmage – July 3, 2016
Team C – 2
Goals: Parisi, Eisenschmid
Team D – 2
Goals: Addison, Fiore
| Team C | Team D |
| Forwards | |
| 34 Michael McCarron 48 Daniel Audette 56 Massimo Corozza 57 Markus Eisenschmid 91 Maxime Fortier 96 Petrus Palmu |
46 Nicolas Poulin 54 Charles Hudon 62 Matthew Bradley 64 Jeremiah Addison 83 Frankie Dichiara 90 Giovanni Fiore 94 Kody McDonald |
| Defensemen | |
| 49 Casey Staum 81 Arvid Henrikson 82 Tom Parisi 89 Ryan Johnston |
60 Simon Bourque 75 Tariq Hammond 98 Colton Bobyk |
| Goalies | |
| 80 Hayden Hawkey |
70 Michael McNiven |
Injured
36 Brett Lernout
Not present
Artturi Lehkonen