Avalanche Camp: Goal by Elliott among highlights of Avs first day

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Stefan Elliott, one of the Avalanche's prized prospects, scored a goal in Saturday's second scrimmage with a wicked wrist shot from high in the right faceoff circle.
  
"Me being slated as an offensive defenseman, you're expected to put up numbers," he said. "It was nice that I scored today."
   
Elliott, 20, should be used to raising his arms in celebration after a goal. He was named the Western Hockey League's Defenseman of the Year last season after collecting 31 goals and 81 points in 71 games for the Saskatoon Blades.
  
A second-round pick (No. 49) in the 2009 Entry Draft (behind Avalanche centers Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly), Elliott completed his junior career as the highest-scoring defenseman in Blades history with 241 points (82 goals, 159 assists) in 282 games.
   
"He's very skilled," Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. "He's very good with the puck and he has a really good, quick shot – a nice, quick snap shot – a good release of the puck. He has high-end skill. I thought as the games went on with him he started to get more comfortable. You could see the confidence. He was rushing the puck up ice and joining in the attack – all the things that he does well as a young player."

This is Elliott's third camp, and he wants to make the most of it, knowing there appears to be an opening for an offensive defenseman following the June trade of John-Michael Liles to Toronto. 
   
"I felt pretty good, first day," he said. "I was sucking wind a little bit in the first scrimmage, but the second one I started to get a little more comfortable as it went on. I remember my first camp, I was pretty nervous in practices and things. I think now you just kind of settle down and just worry about playing.
   
"My expectations are higher than in my first camp coming in. Obviously I want to make the team this year. I want to play my best and see how things go. There's a lot of good competition, and that makes for a lot of hard battles."