Broadcast legend Rick Jeanneret will call today's Blue and Gold Scrimmage at HARBORCENTER. The youngins are in Day-4 of the one-week camp and after three days of going through drills they'll finally be able to have some fun in a live-action setting. Jeanneret will be joined by Brian Duff in the booth for the 1p.m. start.
Names of note for Team Blue include Williamsville native
Justin Bailey who finished strong in Rochester last season while also getting an eight-game taste of the NHL with the Sabres in his first professional season. Joining him is fellow 2013 draft pick
RW, Nicolas Baptiste and 2016 second-rounder, center
Rasmus Asplund (33rd) whom the Sabres traded up for at this year's draft.
Player to keep an eye on--
G, Cal Petersen.
The Notre Dame junior carried a huge work-load for the Fighting Irish as a sophomore last season and made huge developmental strides in the process. Petersen is positionally sound and tracks the puck extremely well and he hates to get scored on. It's what he does after a goal against that he's been working on and from all reports that aspect is coming along swimmingly.
Team Blue Roster:
Number/Name (Draft)/Age/Notes
Forwards:
13--C, Christopher Brown (2014, 151st,) 20. Will be a sophomore at Boston College
17--F, Judd Peterson (2012, 204th,) 22. Was one of the youngest players in his draft class
34--RW, Daniel Muzito-Bagenda (FA,) 20. Amerks signee played for MODO
36--LW, Brandon Hagel (2016, 159th,) 17. Youngest of the youngins. Had 47 pts for Red Deer
41--Vasily Glotov (2016, 190th,) 18. Last pick for Buffalo this year. Good camp thus far
56--Justin Bailey (2013, 52nd) 21.
61--Cliff Pu (2016, 69th) 18. Played understated role for London. One to keep an eye on
65--Rasmus Asplund (2016, 33rd) 18.
71--Evan Rodrigues (FA,) 22. Former Eichel linemate ready to make some noise this year
73--Nicolas Baptiste (2013, 69th,) 20.
86--Eric Cornel (2014, 44th,) 20. Ready for full-time duty with Rochester this year
Defensemen:
5---Jalen Chatfield (invitee,) 20. Had 37 points (10+27) for Windsor (OHL)
6---Nolan Gluchowski (invitee,) 20. Had 16 points (6+10) in the ECAC
8---Daniel Brinkley (invitee,) 21. Utah native played with Casey Nelson at Minn. St.
10--Paul Geiger (FA, Rochester,) 24. The elder statesman just graduated from Clarkson.
27--Frank Hora (invitee,) 20 Amherst native played for Kitchner of the OHL
33--Philip Nyberg (2016, 129th,) 19. Played for Linkoping (Sweden-Jr.)
49--Austin Omanski (2016, 189th,) 18. East Aurora native has raised eye-brows thusfar
54--Brycen Martin (2014, 74th,) 20. Will be making the pro jump next season in Roch.
78--Mike Campoli (invitee,) 18. The youngest invitee is a USNTDP (USHL) product
Goalies:
30--Cal Petersen (2013, 129th,) 21.
31--Antoine Samuel (invitee,) 18. Young pup got his feet wet in QMJHL playing 43 games
Team Gold boasts highly skilled left-winger
Alexander Nylander up-front as well as 2015 second round pick D,
Brendan Guhle, who was the surprise of training camp last year until he was felled by a rollicking check from Dion Phaneuf. Also in the mix are stand-up d-man
Anthony Florentino, who will be a senior at Providence this year and
Hudson Fasching, who scored his first NHL goal on his first-ever shift and is ready for full-time duty with Rochester this season.
Player to keep an eye on--
C, Giorgio Estephan. The Sabres plucked Estephan with a 6th-round pick last year as turmoil within his Lethbridge Hurricanes team sent his stock plummeting. After things stablilized he responded with 74 points (30+44) in 59 games, most of it coming in the latter half of the season. Although he got a taste of Rochester last season, he'll be back in Lethbridge next season, hopefully terrorizing the league.
Team Gold Roster
Forwards:
37--C, Connor Hurley (2013, 38th,) 20. Youngest player in his draft looking to build confidence
48--LW, William Carrier (2013, 57th, STL,) 21. Watch injuries, otherwise, extremely solid
52--RW, Hudson Fasching (2013, 118th, LAK) 20.
58--C, Giorgio Estephan (2015, 152nd,) 19.
67--F, Max Willman (2014, 121st,) 21. Bang, Bang Maxwell needs to bring a bigger hammer
72--C, Jean Dupuy (FA,) 21. Tough and gritty. Played well for Rochester as a rookie last year
74--RW, Vaclav Karabacek (2014, 49th,) 20. Stocky winger had six goals in the QMJHL playoffs
75--LW, Alexander Nylander (2016, 8th,) 18.
84--LW, Victor Olofsson (2014, 181st,) 20. MODO product seems to surprise every year
85--LW, Brett Murray (2016, 99th,) 18. Penn St. recruit has the eye of alum Terry Pegula
Defensemen:
3---Will Borgen (2015, 92nd,) 19. St. Cloud State raised some eyebrows as a freshman last yr.
38--Casey Fitzgerald (2016, 86th,) 19. Had 27 points (4+23) for Hockey East powerhouse BC
42--Ivan Chukarov (2015, 182nd,) 21. Will continue developing at UMASS (NCAC)
45--Brendan Guhle (2015, 51st,) 18.
46--Anthony Florentino (2013, 143rd,) 21.
51--Vojtech Budik (2016, 130th,) 18. Czech plied his trade with 16 pts. for Prince Albert (WHL)
53--Devante Stephens (2015, 122nd,) 19. Shutdown d-man for Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
81--Ryan Mantha (invitee,) 20. Big d-man (6'5" 225 lbs.) had solid numbers for Niagara (OHL)
Goalies:
35--Steve Racine (invitee,) 24. Williamsville native gets the call for a sick Linus Ullmark
50--Jonas Johansson (2015, 61st,) 20. The big Swede put up good numbers for Almtuna (Sweden)
The Outlook:
This looks to be a mismatch as the Sabres brass pooled a bunch of invitees on defense to take on a pretty stacked Gold lineup. Team Blue will be besieged by Gold and they'll be counting on Petersen and Samuel to hold the fort in net. Unfortunately the Blue net will resemble Fort Knox as Team Gold fills it in a 7-4 win. Olofsson with a pair and Murray with three assists.
The game will be streamed live at
sabres.com beginning at 1pm.
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