A glorified intra-squad scrimmage turned ugly tonight as Jordan Caron was taken to hospital with what's being called an "upper body" injury.
Minutes into tonight's Red vs. White Game, Regina Pats defenceman Colton Teubert laid out Caron with a bone jarring open ice hit at centre ice. A check that was very much like one that Scott Stevens used to dish out. From my vantage point in the press box it looked clean but I've been unable to see film on it so I can't say for certain.
To no one's surprise, the hit dominated the post game interviews and here's what Head Coach Willie Desjardins had to say.
"I think he caught him with a tough check. Caron didn't see him coming at all which is the hard part. If he would have saw him, he wouldn't have been hit that hard for sure. It is something - we all play physical but it's disappointing that he got hurt on the play."
Meanwhile, Colton Teubert had no regrets over the hit.
"It's unfortunate but it's part of the game right? I'm just doing my job and that's what I do. It sucks for him but hopefully he has a quick recovery." He went on to say, "We're Canadians. We're all going to compete out there. It just shows how competitive we all are and everybody's trying to make the team. Everyone's trying to make the most of their opportunity."
There's no word on Caron's condition - we hope to hear something from Hockey Canada officials sometime Sunday morning.
Speaking of opportunity, Ryan O'Reilly made the most of his tonight. The 18-year old (Erie - OHL), a 2009 second round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche, wasn't afraid to get his nosy dirty in the corners and worked really hard around the net. His efforts were rewarded when he stormed the back of the net, took the puck away from the d-man, came back out to the front of the net to beat Martin Jones. For his efforts, O'Reilly was named "Player of the Game" and in true Saskatchewan fashion wore a watermelon on his head following the game.
Louis LeBlanc is another player that caught my eye. He was speedy and always a threat when around the net. He scored a beauty of a goal - soft hands, nice deke, nice goal - let's just say Montréal Canadiens fans will be happy with his performance. LeBlanc will be attending Harvard next year and while he knows some people aren't happy with his decision, all that matters is that he is happy with it - and he is. If LeBlanc makes Team Canada, he'll be the first non-Major Jr Canadian Player to crack the roster since Paul Kariya in 1992.
All four goaltenders looked decent tonight but if we were choosing Team Canada based on the summer camp, I think the hands on favorite to be the starter would be Jake Allen (Montréal - QMJHL). He looked really good in between the pipes, coming up with some stellar saves including two in rapid fire succession with Team Red on the powerplay.
The two teams hit the ice Sunday morning for their final practices of this development camp before one last shot to impress the coaching staff in the Red vs. White Game at 6pm.
TEAM RED VS. TEAM WHITE
Credit Union Centre - Saturday, August 8, 2009
Attendance: 2635
1st Period
(1-0) 00:48 RED Patrice Cormier (Calvin de Haan, Travis Hamonic)
(1-1) 15:13 WHITE Ryan O’Reilly (Gabriel Bourque)
(1-2) 18:08 WHITE Alex Petrangelo (Kelsey Tessier, Ryan O’Reilly)
2nd Period
(1-3) 13:21 WHITE Louis Leblanc (Luke Adam)
3rd Period
(1-4) 08:53 WHITE Jordan Eberle (Eric O’Dell)
(2-4) 14:20 RED T.J. Brodie (Greg Nemisz) PP
(2-5) 19:30 WHITE Evander Kane (Jordan Eberle) – empty net.
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