A team of Avalanche rookie camp attendees traveled to San Jose for the Rookie Showcase and picked up three of four possible points against after a 7-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks and a 6-5 shootout defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights.
In Saturday’s win against the Ducks, Taylor Makar, Beckett Hamilton, Matt DiMarsico, Kalder Varga and Alex Gagne each scored a goal, while Cooper Gay posted a pair of tallies.
“[At] five-on-five, I thought the guys were committed,” Colorado Eagles Head Coach Jussi Ahokas said. “They were playing the right way. We played two ways. We had good tracking, we had good drivers and we [scored] good net-front goals and good tip goals.
In addition to scoring, Gagne, who served as a team captain on Saturday, picked up an assist and a fight, completing the Gordie Howe hat trick.
The Avalanche also posted a perfect mark on the penalty kill against the Ducks, including a five-on-three penalty kill and a four-minute double minor.
“Guys were committed to it,” Ahokas said when asked about the penalty kill. “Of course, both goalies (Ilya Nabokov and Tobias Tvrznik) played really well. But, you have to commit. Guys were sacrificing. There were a couple of huge blocks there.”
On Sunday against Vegas, Colorado picked up a point while finding the back of the net five times, courtesy of goals from Noah Jettelson, Nikita Prischepov and Varga, along with a pair of tallies from Jake Chiasson. In the shootout, Hamilton scored in the second round to conclude his impressive weekend on the ice.
“I think he’s really skilled,” Ahokas said about Hamilton on Saturday. “He finds plays. [He’s] creative.”
The Avalanche organization’s next game is its preseason opener against the Utah Mammoth on Sunday, September 20th at 5 p.m. MT at Ball Arena. Avalanche Posts Solid Showing at Rookie Faceoff
