Notebook: Development Camp, Day 5

It's the final day of the Utah Mammoth's annual development camp. To wrap up the week, the team hosted an intra-squad scrimmage. Below is a full recap from the final day of camp!

Scrimmage Season

To wrap up Utah's development camp, the prospects showed off their skils in a 4-on-4 scrimmage. Forwards Jonathan Castagna, Caleb Desnoyers, Tij Iginla, defenseman Terrell Goldsmith, and goaltender Shane Soderwall did not participate in today’s scrimmage at development camp. Here's how the players were divided for the scrimmage:

The format of today’s scrimmage was two periods. The first period was 25 minutes of running time. In the second period the first 20 minutes were a running clock while the final five minutes of stop time were 3-on-3. Following the scrimmage, the team had a shootout with five players. Any penalties in the game resulted in a penalty shot. This format helped challenge the players in a game situation and allowed reps with more specialized parts of the game like shootouts and penalty shots.

For Team White, Michael Hrabal played the first period and Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko played the second period. For Team Black, Melker Thelin played the first period while Carsen Musser played the second.

Defenseman Dmitri Simashev opened the scoring for Team Black in the first period. Forward Cole Beaudoin made it 2-0 for Team Black minutes later. Defenseman Cal Thomas assisted on the second goal of the game.

Forward Owen Allard got Team White on the board in the first period, which cut Team Black’s lead to 2-1. Forward Noel Nordh had the assist on Allard’s goal. With 65 seconds left in the first period, Beaudoin scored his second of the period and increased Team Black’s lead to 3-1. Their lead remained through the first intermission.

Forward Tomas Lavoie scored for Team White in the opening minutes of the second period and cut Team Black’s lead to 3-2. Forward Noel Nordh and defenseman Gregor Biber picked up assists on the goal. Defenseman Matthew Morden tied the game, 3-3. Forward Carson Harmer had an assist. Forward Daniil But gave Team White the lead, 4-3, with a goal 12 minutes into the second period. Forward Tanner Ludtke had the assist on But’s goal.

With 11 minutes left in the second period, Cole Beaudoin took a penalty shot for Team Black but was stopped by Tkach-Tkachenko. Team White’s Carson Harmer scored and increased their lead to 5-3. Forward Coster Dunn and defenseman Will Skahan had assists.

In the final five minutes of the game, Team Black cut their deficit to 5-4 with a goal from forwards Samu Bau. Defenseman Veeti Väisänen and forward Vojtěch Hradec had assists. Following this goal, the format switched to 3-on-3. A minute later, Team Black tied the game, 5-5, with a goal from Hradec. Following regulation, the shootout determined the winners of the scrimmage. Team Black secured the win with shootout goals by Štěpän Hoch, Vojtěch Hradec, and Samu Bau. Tanner Ludtke had Team White’s lone shootout goal.

Following the scrimmage, Utah announced several camp awards:

• Forward Owen Allard and defenseman Cal Thomas won the Fittest Player Award which went to the prospects who performed the best across all testing by the High-Performance Department.
• Forward Samu Bau received the Most Improved Player Award for the most growth both on and off the ice last year.
• Forward Cole Beaudoin received the Award of Excellence which went to the prospect who excelled throughout the camp.
• Dmitri Simashev was named the Most Valuable Player of today’s game.

Involving the Community

Throughout this year’s development camp, the community had a strong presence. In Park City, fans were invited to watch the future Mammoth players on the ice. On Thursday, the stands of the Olympic Oval were packed with families and youth hockey players as the team focused on inspiring the next generation of players in Utah.

"It's everything to be able to inspire the young kids in Utah and inspire more kids to play this amazing game that we're all very fortunate to work in,” Utah Mammoth Team President, Chris Armstrong, shared.

Read more about the impact of bringing the community out here!

Summing Up Development Camp

Utah's prospects were challenged to sum up this impactful week in just one word. See what they said below!

Development Camp Roster

Here is this year’s development camp roster:

Tanev is Ready for His Next Chapter in Utah

From the outside, forward Brandon Tanev saw the Utah Mammoth as an exciting, up-and-coming team with the buy-in needed to win. When it came time to decide where he would sign as an unrestricted free agent, the excitement surrounding the Mammoth was appealing to Tanev.

“It’s an exciting time to be in Utah,” Tanev shared. “I think there’s a great, young group of core players here with the Mammoth, the ownership group, a desire to be good and to be good now is huge. I remember coming in to play in Utah for the first time last year and I remember how great it was. The surroundings, the city itself, and also the fans. Getting to play in that building was awesome. The energy, the excitement was there. It seems like they are some of the best fans in the National Hockey League. For me I felt like it was a great fit.”

Read more here!

Free Agency Strengthened the Mammoth's Roster

When Utah Mammoth General Manager Bill Armstrong discussed what he was focused on when it came to free agency, every position was named. However, Armstrong stressed not spending big money or making long deals with older players that could hurt the franchise in the future.

On the first day of Free Agency, Armstrong made a series of deals that strengthened the roster, created healthy competition, and added depth. All of these moves avoided large contracts and maximum terms. There wasn’t a flashy contract, but Utah didn’t need that this summer.

“I think in the big picture what we did today was tidy up the loose ends and make us a stronger team,” Armstrong explained. “I think you're going to see that come training camp, and it's even part of this development camp. You see the talent that's on that ice. Those young kids are pushing. Now we've signed some free agents that are going to come in and push with our core. It's going to be probably the most competitive team we've had so far, and it will be the most competitive camp we've ever had here. So, it's exciting times and we were excited about the guys we added today.”

Read more here!