Bernier Plays, Smith Stands Out in First Scrimmage of Camp | FEATURE

A scrimmage like this isn't always about the final score, though being athletes it's always competitive, but it's a first real opportunity to showcase yourself to the coaching staff and management. From players making a first impression as newcomers, to players battling back from injury, this was the first opportunity at camp to appear in game-action and see where they measure up.
Nathan Bastian has the honor of being the first to score in a scrimmage during the 2022-23 training camp, beating Jonathan Bernier for Group B to take a 1-0 lead. Group B would build on their lead making it 5-0 with goals by Bastian, Michael Vukojevic, Jesper Bratt and two from Damon Severson. But for Bernier, a scrimmage like this is about getting that feel again, having played just 10 games last season before undergoing surgery.
"Definitely felt like a long-time coming," Bernier said after the scrimmage. "It took a long time for me to kind of go over that hump and the last couple of months I started to feel much better and was able to skate twice a week, then move to three and four."
Bernier and Vitek Vanecek played half the game for their respective teams, while Nico Daws and Akira Schmid later subbed in to finish the game. The game ended in an 8-1 final for Team B, who was dressed in white. They will be Saturday's practice group, before Team A and C battle it out in the second scrimmage of training camp.

Over the Hump

Today was a good gauge for Bernier.
"It's not pain-free, but obviously we never play pain-free. And as long as it doesn't (become) too much, I just got to manage the inflammation in there, and we have a great medical staff for me."
Bernier is still not quite ready to return to game action, not yet cleared by the doctors to return to game action, but he does feel like he is over a significant hump in his recovery.
"I think the main focus for all of us is not to go in and out of the lineup. You know, I want to progressively go into practice and games, and see what's my limit and go from there. But at the end of the day, I don't want to play for two weeks and then be out again for a week. I want to take the right steps and take my time to make sure that I don't have too many setbacks."

From the Get-Go

When Brendan Smith spoke on Thursday, he talked about wanting to make an immediate impact, particularly in the leadership department. As a veteran brought in, he understands that that was one of the roles he was sought out for. He's wasting little time embracing the role on a new team, one of the most vocal players on the ice during the scrimmage. When there was a breakdown in plays, there was an audible expletive, a sign immediately of his care-level and personal expectations. In the final play of the second period, Smith laid his body on the line with a shot block, again setting an example and a standard of compete. Smith wasn't happy seeing how his team was playing, even in a scrimmage, and felt he had to say something.
"That's part of me," Smith said, "It can be a vice or a virtue, where it becomes difficult for me to lose at anything. I struggle to lose at checkers in that sense. I think when it comes to skates and getting prepared, you need to have that intensity. I would say the way (Team Red) showed up was not even close. And it became very frustrating for some of the older guys, and we had to speak up."
As the first period wrapped and Bernier was leaving the ice, it was Smith the first one to give Bernier the tap on the pads with his stick and said a few words to him. No doubt words of encouragement as Bernier works himself back from a significant surgery that limited him to 10 games last season.
"I wanted to tell him that it had nothing to do with his play," Smith said, "I wanted him to know that it wasn't him, that was us and for him to be doing everything that he's been doing, everything that he's been working to try to get to that level, I was very frustrated with the way we showed up (in front of him)."

Different Vantage Point

Behind the two benches were four assistant coaches, with Lindy Ruff and Utica head coach Kevin Dineen sitting in the stands watching the game. Ryan McGill and Sergei Brylin were behind one bench, while Chris Taylor and Andrew Brunette manned the other. For Ruff, this gave him a different vantage point in evaluating his players.
"You get to see the whole play, I think sometimes when you're on the bench you don't see what's down in the corners. You get to see a lot of the big-picture system stuff. So it's an opportunity to take a look from atop. We're basically looking at the backbone of our team. I was really happy with some of those guys, the way they played, the way they skated, and their speed."