Training Camp: Day 10

The Mammoth started a span of four straight practices before Utah’s next preseason game. Head coach André Tourigny said that forwards JJ Peterka and Barrett Hayton took maintenance days today.

Forward Liam O’Brien, who was week-to-week with a lower body injury, is now a full participant at practices. O’Brien discussed his recovery following Friday’s practice:

“I feel great,” O’Brien explained. “I’m looking to play next week. I want to get into that one, get back into the rhythm of things and I think today was great. It was great to practice and do some system drills and things like that just to get the mind going, I felt good.”

As they have throughout camp, the roster was split into two groups. Here’s who was in each:

Group A

Tij Iginla, Curtis Douglas, Clayton Keller, Liam O’Brien, Ben McCartney, Andrew Agozzino, Cameron Hebig, Gabe Smith, Cole Beaudoin, Daniil But, Scott Perunovich, John Marino, Maveric Lamoureux, Olli Määttä, Nick DeSimone, Lawson Crouse, Dmitri Simashev, Michael Carcone, Kailer Yamamoto, Kevin Stenlund, Sean Durzi, Brandon Tanev, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, Ian Cole, Mikhail Sergachev, Nate Schmidt, Vitek Vaněček, Karel Vejmelka

Group B

Noel Nordh, Maksim Barbashev, Sam Lipkin, Montana Onyebuchi, Owen Allard, Lleyton Moore, Michal Kunc, Julian Lutz, Ryan McGregor, Austin Poganski, Artem Duda, Miko Matikka, Sammy Walker, Maksymilian Szuber, Jaxson Stauber, Matt Villalta

Goals for Guenther

As Utah forward Dylan Guenther enters the first year of an eight-year contract, he’s already off to a hot start. Guenther has three goals in two preseason games, including two against the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday night. Coming into this season, Guenther wanted to elevate his game and scoring.

“Holding on to pucks down low, getting inside more,” Guenther shared on media day. “I think scoring (greasier) goals, scoring more in tight. That's what I'm good at, shooting it, and finding different ways to score & being more well-rounded that way.”

Guenther’s hard work and focus has paid off with some greasy goals in these preseason contests. On Friday, Tourigny discussed his conversations with Guenther and the progress he’s seeing.

“The big topic with Guenther last year when we met with him was to have a game that was more flexible,” Tourigny explained. “To score a lot of different ways. I really like what we see right now. His goal in Anaheim, he drove on the outside and attacked the net, scored another one like that yesterday.

“He still scored off the rush on his great shot. He will have his look when he’s on his one-timer side,” Tourigny continued. “But we want him to have the opportunity and the mindset of scoring from the front area, having that net front ability to score goals in tight as well.”

The Game Plan

The Utah Mammoth have wrapped up four preseason games in five days and enter into the second phase of training camp. The first week was focused on teaching the systems and schemes while getting everyone up to speed. On Monday, head coach André Tourigny shared what the second phase will entail for the group:

“Next week we’ll go a little bit on a different phase where (there) will be a lot of teaching,” Tourigny shared Monday. “A lot of progression in the system, in the structure, and special situations. Then we’ll have to fine tune, just crank it up a little bit before the start of the season. Drop the volume as much as we can, and be ready for the season.”

When it comes to sharpening up the systems and being detail oriented, Tourigny shared that this started to happen already in practices:

“It happened a little bit organically as well, because the guys are more structured so now the details pop a little bit more,” Tourigny explained. “When you’re not exactly in your spot or you don’t do the fundamentals in your role, that stands out a little bit. So we’ll keep doing a lot of structure drills but at the same time we want to have some pace, some execution.”

At the end of Group A’s practice, the team participated in a shootout style competition where players would guess if their teammate would score or not. The loser of each round would have to skate. Tourigny balanced the intense drills at today’s practice with some fun competition to keep morale high:

“Just fun,” Tourigny said. “Guys have to bet on their teammates, chirp a little bit, and have fun. I think keep (practice) light … I think it was just fun.”

Roster Moves:

Friday afternoon, Utah announced 19 roster cuts. The current training camp roster now sits at 41 players. Earlier that day, the Mammoth placed defenseman Kevin Connauton on waivers with the purpose of being assigned to Tucson (AHL).

On Wednesday, forwards Coster Dunn and Carson Harmer were released from their try-out agreements and returned to their junior clubs. Also on Wednesday, Defensemen Ludvig Lafton, Tomas Lavoie, Max Pšenička, and Veeti Väisänen were assigned to their junior clubs.