The Minnesota Wild held their annual development camp this past week, and the conclusion was a 4 on 4 scrimmage of all the prospects in camp, open to the public at the Xcel Energy Center.
Fellow Hockey Wilderness posters mbennett and SpaethCo joined me at the event. We had a fantastic time, and highly recommend to all of you that you check this out next year.
To show just how into hockey we Minnesotans are, it was a beautiful summer day in the low 80s with nary a cloud in the sky, yet 2,000 die-hard Wild fans were inside watching kids who may be 4 to 5 years from the NHL play a scrimmage.
The roster was as follows:
Here are my tweets from the scrimmage, courtesy of www.twitter.com/hockeywildernes
4-1 white over green afterthe first period. Cal Clutterbuck's team is beating Brent Burns' handily. http://twitpic.com/a4zyk
Colton Gillies blames coaching for the green team being behind. Brent burns gives him a wet Willie in return
There is an impressive crowd here. Wish they had more than popcorn available though. http://twitpic.com/a50lo
In case you are wondering which Wild prospects are here http://twitpic.com/a50sj
Haula and Fallstrom from Shattuck look awfully good with the puck. Gillies looks confident, which he should considering his experience
Overheard "pass the puck!" My response: "Yeah, that was this team's problem last season, they didn't pass enough. Idiot. Just shoot it."
Dude "it's a practice! You need to learn to give it to the guy in a better position" Me: "in a real game, the guy in the slot is on his ass"
Matt Kassian is a big, big kid. Would love to see him in full contact.
And it ends 7-4 in favor of the white. Cal's kids held the lead over Brent Burns' fedora
More after the jump
Alexander Fallstrom looked awfully good. Excellent finishing touch. His Shattuck line-mate, Erik Haula also made a nice impression.
Jarod Palmer had the best move in the shootout
Colton Gillies was a man among boys out there, but with his NHL experience, he should have been.
Matt Kassian has an NHL-ready body. now, if he can just show some consistency, he's ready to be a power forward.
Peter Kalus also showed promise. His puck control was far and away the best of the day.
Now for the pictures (thanks to SpaethCo for some of these):
100% of Cal Clutterbuck's agree: "Hockey Wilderness: A-OK!"
