On America's birthday, the Colorado Avalanche celebrated by playing Canada's most popular sport, though the second day of development camp began with a few new faces from just nearby.
Denver Pioneer freshmen and Avalanche draft picks Tory Pitner and Jake Fisher were both absent yesterday but were included in this group. Pitner was a force to be reckoned with in the first group, with good feet and good transition skills. Fisher made his debut in the second group and showed some sluggish skating but a nice wrist shot.
They were joined by some of the camp's best surprises, Chase Bradley and Nikita Pirchepov, who kept busy at goal after their own sessions, Matt Davis' crimson and gold DU colors shining with the Avalanche logo and Jake Barczewski trying to bounce back from his one not-so-great game last year as a member of the Colorado Eagles.
Michigan native Jake Barczewski will be playing for the Colorado Eagles this season behind Trent Minor. In his one game last year, he posted a 6.94 GAA and .813 SV%, numbers he'll definitely want to improve on. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/TiFojVsyhk
— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) July 4, 2024
The players took part in a large group practice at the end of the day and worked tirelessly as Jared Bednar and his coaching staff showed up, upping the intensity of the session and forcing the players to work twice as fast as normal.
In what felt like a shootout practice and end of day game situation, Colby Ambrosio stood out in the forward group and scored two great goals in the shootout. Of course, it was Makar, Taylor Makar, who ended the shootout game.
In the end, two players performed well. Chad Hillebrand, who played his collegiate career at Western Michigan University and attended the camp by invitation, played two games with the Eagles in the ATO and has signed an AHL contract for next season.
He has good puck-handling ability and the speed to show for it, and while he hasn't been a big scorer, he could be a solid bottom-six forward in Loveland down the line and one to watch.
With just one more day of development camp and a lighter session in the morning, scrimmages begin on Friday evening at 4pm Mountain Time, bringing all the energy and effort onto the ice. We'll be on-site covering the final hockey games before the hot summer days really begin.
