2025 Development Camp | 3-on-3 Tournament – Day 2
Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hey, [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hello, Lightning fans, wherever you are tuning in from around the world on the Lightning YouTube channel. Welcome to Tampa and welcome to day two of our coverage of the 2025 Tampa Bay Lightning Development Camp and threeon-ree tournament presented by Florida Blue. Hi everybody, Dave Rand with you alongside my broadcast partner Brian Engel. Gabby Shirley is with us of course as well. You’ll hear from her momentarily. So this is our second day of coverage. The players have been here all week, Brian uh getting training on and off the ice and the three and three tournament started yesterday. That’s how we’ve started introducing a lot of these players uh to the Lightning fans who are tuning in on the stream here today. It all wraps up today with the final of the threeon-ree tournament and the championship game coming up. 31 prospects are here. Some are first timers, some are not, but this is the first step towards living the dream of making it to the NHL.
Yeah. And and the age ranges make a big difference, too. There’s 18 year olds here. There’s one 23 year old, couple of 22 year olds. and and at that stage of your life, there’s a big difference in those two or three or four years. So, for the guys who are on the younger end of that, uh it’s it’s a it’s a bit of a shock to the system, but they’ve done a heck of a job here, and uh it was fun to watch them yesterday.
Certainly was. We have some standouts to highlight as we go along here, but we want to welcome you again to day two of the 2025 Tampa Bay Lightning Development Camp. [Music] Three together. [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome back here. Um, we are getting excited for the final games of this threeon three tournament, the roundroin tournament. And once again, I’m here to give you the rules and rags of how it’s going to go here today. So, round robin, like I said, three games. It’s half ice, five minute halves with a one minute halftime. If it’s a tie, it will go to a shootout. And if there are any penalties that happen during those five minutes of each half, there will be penalty shots. One minute in between those three games. Then there will be a 15minute flood and we have the championship game which is really what we’re here to see, right guys? This is where the boys can win that trophy. So the championship game, full ice, still threeon three. It’s two 20-minute halves with a running clock. If it’s a tie, it will go to five minutes of overtime and then it will go to a shootout. So that’s how it’s going to go here today. I am very excited to see these guys once again out on the ice being their competitive selves. Brian, Dave, I’ll send it back to you.
Thank you very much, Gabby. And Gabby’s going to be ringside and she’s going to provide some uh some color and some interviews as we go along today. The players are taking the ice, getting set to warm up. They’ve already been going through some drills here this morning. This is the last day. Uh you know what the tournament is, as Gabby mentions, it’s a tournament. There’s a trophy and they want to win it. Uh so let’s in fact show you the standings as they sit. There were seven games played yesterday, Brian. And right now team Brad Richards leads the way. They were a perfect 3 and 0. And you can see Dave Andrichuk’s squad and Martan St. We Brian Bradley all the players dispersed along these five different teams playing in this threeon-ree format and team the Cavalier has only played two games. They’re going to be in the first game along with the uh Brian Bradley team. No, sorry.
I wish Brad was here right now. He’d be arguing about this. He’d be trading and all kinds of stuff. Yeah.
No, he would not be happy. But bottom line is this has been a great look for you and I and everybody in here and everybody watching on the stream to see a lot of names that they just read about. maybe see clips of on YouTube and in the hopes of uh seeing who is next in terms of the lightning lineage who stepped out in your mind yesterday into the spotlight. How about Joe Connor?
Yeah, Connor uh did a real good job as as the tournament has gone on. I really like, you know, what he’s done. He’s he’s not the biggest guy. He’s 5’9. He’s 20 years old. Played at Nor Eastern. He’s been there for one year, but the skill level is certainly there. I liked it really started to show his hockey IQ. you’re playing three on three and you’re playing in small spaces here. So quickness is uh an advantage for him in those situations. He can move quickly because he isn’t the biggest guy. So everything tends to even out. I liked his hands. I liked his vision and his ability to move the puck and he pulled the string a couple of times and scored a couple of goals too. So uh that was all good stuff.
Connor Kirth is another name that I know you mentioned a couple of times yesterday. He’s 21 years of age coming off a very solid season in the NC NCAA. the University of Minnesota.
I really liked him. The more I watched Connor Kurt, I thought he was outstanding. He’s 6 feet tall, 215 lbs already, and he’s 21 years old. I mean, he is a brick. He can really move out there, though. I was a little stunned when I looked at his stats and went, he’s 215 lbs at that age. That’s incredible cuz I watch his agility, his side to side motion. He’s got a really good release. Three years at the University of Minnesota. Um I they you know they got to be really happy with his development at this point. Just being able to show up what he’s been able to show here just in the last day or two here at this camp. I’m looking forward to this day again. I think a lot of players are going to start to feel a lot better today. Some of them probably hit a wall a bit yesterday. Look, we got to remember too that it’s the off ice stuff. You know, we just saw some of the examples there. They’re doing squats with heavy weights, working with rubber bands, all that stuff. and then on the ice twice a game uh twice a day as well too. So, one of the guys I know talked about leg cramps and everything. It it’s it’s no wonder well you hit that wall and you get on the other side. I think the players who play today are going to be feeling a lot better. You’ll see another guy wearing number 40 who was impressive yesterday as well. He plays in the men’s league in Finland. A guy that the Lightning just drafted last week, Benjamin Roinan.
Yeah, he was he was uh really interesting to watch. I think his hockey IQ stood out to me at first. He played in Tapra in Finland. He’s been there for just a little over a year. He was there a full year last year and he got a cup of coffee the year before that. So at a pretty young age, 18, he was starting to, you know, step into that Finnish league and the Finnish elite league is a really good league. So the fact that he was able to do that at all at such a young age, 18 years old, he’s 20 now. So now he’s on that other side. Here they are. here. He is, excuse me, doing the drills and the simple things that they’re working on with these players. Everything is documented. Look at that. Every the power skating coaches, every stride, how you handle the puck, everything is broken down so well. And Rotion, I think, has really been able to benefit from that.
He played pro. And another guy who’s not a first-time here who played pro last year. Hard to miss. He’s a big guy, Milo Rollins. Anytime you get the big guys who are 66 or 67, excuse me, I I think it’s interesting to watch their development because they have issues that are different. They’re growing so fast that how much can their uh dexterity stay up with them. Look at his stride here. I think he’s really smooth for a big guy. I watched him again this morning before we started this broadcast and I I’m really impressed with him as things went along last year. he was in Syracuse, but then also in Orlando. Um he played five years in the Quebec league and because of that um you know he had a certain level went to Syracuse and then you know they they had to send him to the East Coast League just to you know get a a good feel for himself again.
Those are just a few of the names that we uh noticed yesterday. There’s lots more. We’ll try to tell as many stories as we possibly can, but the players are warming up in behind us and we’re almost set to start this threeon-ree action here at the TGH Icelex here in Brandon, which is the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning Training Center during the regular season. As mentioned, three more games coming up here. All three on three and the final is going to be three on three as well. And that’ll be two 20 minute periods. That’s all coming up as we roll through the rosters here and get your programs out because these are all new names and new faces. Some of them have been here before, Brian, but as mentioned, some of them are first timers. Some of them just drafted in the NHL entry draft last week.
Yeah. And now that they’ve been here for a couple of days, I mean, it’s just human nature. You feel more comfortable at home. Even the guys that have been here last year and maybe even the year before that, just getting back and getting acclimated and kind of going, “Oh, yeah. That’s right. This is here. that’s there. Fueling at home a little bit, getting to your place in the locker room. All those little things make a big difference. And for the guys that are first timers here, it’s it’s uh you know, drinking out of a fire hose the first day or so. And so now they’re at the point here, we’re coming down to the last days on the ice and some of them will practice again tomorrow as you mentioned, but um a lot of them uh will be headed home or, you know, to whatever their college destination or their junior team, the next stop of where they’re going to play this year. A lot of these guys, uh, as you mentioned, well, this is just the beginning of their offseason training. Some will be back for the prospects camp in September. Not everybody, but some will be. And of course, then it leads into the main camp for the Tampa Bay Lightning and the start of the regular season in early October. But I think of names here that we’ve seen regularly or sorry not regularly but we’ve seen in the past such as Gage Gonzalez, Connor Geeki was in this tournament last year. Ended up playing what half a season for the Tampa Bay Lightning last year. Ross Colton was a standout a couple of years ago as well.
Yeah, that’s right. This is a way to get the coach’s eye and you go through stages and there are different reasons why some of them will or will not be at that prospect tournament. That’s the one that happens uh basically a few days before the main training camp and it’s a four team tournament from what I understand. It’s going to be like it has been the last several years. We have what uh the Lightning, Florida, uh Nashville is going to be there as well and Carolina and they play a little roundroin tournament and some of the best young players in the league have come out of that tournament in recent years.
All right, so we are underway here for the first of three threeon-ree games here to wrap up the round. Robin Porch. Team L Cavalier in whites, team Bradley in blue. And this is Ethan Goce. Goce is the highest draft pick the Lighting have had in the last few entry drafts. And he’s an important prospect for them right now. Represented Canada, the last World Junior.
Don’t underestimate the burn that happens to the legs of these guys that are out there. You can see there are two guys on each team waiting at center ice. So, you trade off one usually one at a time. So, two other guys are out there for a pretty long time. And as you can see, it’s constant motion. The legs start to burn and when they start to burn, you get fatigued, then you start to make a little mental mistakes. All those things are part of it. And of course, this is part of conditioning too early on in the season. All of this stuff is really good for these young men. Dean Bradley working the possession game in this fiveminute half. Running time. Noah Steen from Oslo, Norway. Tried to cut to the net there, but couldn’t get a shot away. comes out of the zone, but Team Bradley retains possession. Good pass in front trying to find Warren Clark, the defenseman. He’s a defenseman that plays at St. Cloud State. Just wrapped up his second season. And here he comes to the net. And that one is stopped right in front by Anders Miller, who’s in the pipes to begin this game here today.
It looks like we’re going to start off the the way we started yesterday. Uh the players want to make plays. They want to handle the puck. There’s not a lot of shooting. They try to work their way all the way to the doorstep before they take a chance on the goalender. That seems to change as the games go on. And remember, this is a competition. These guys are trying to win this game because they’re trying to get their team into the finals. And that that’s that’s a big point. It’s something that’s impressed upon them by the coaches like, “Hey, we want to see who gets to the finals.” And uh that’ll be fun to watch. We’ll be watching a threeonree full ice for the finals.
Joe Connor got that puck to the net. He’s the guy that you just talked about a few moments ago. And now team Lavalier will take it out of the zone and restart. Cooper Flinton steps in. He’s from New Hampshire. Plays at Dartmouth. Just wrapped up his third season there. Still no goals here with about h two and a half minutes to go here in the opening five minutes. There’s one minute in between the two fiveminute halves. And the guys who go to college, of course, only play about twothirds of the regular season schedule that players that play junior hockey do. In junior, you’re playing 80 games, 80 82 games. In college, you’re around 40 or so, uh, depending on, you know, how long you go in the playoffs as well for for both of those different leagues. But it is very different. So, in some ways, for guys who’ve been in college for a couple years, they have a chance to work on their bodies, too, and are not constantly playing games day after day pro style, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
And another big difference between junior and college is generally the guys are a lot older in the NCAA. Y
couple years older, a little more man strength on those guys.
Yeah. Here’s Callum Arnut, whose uncle Jason Arnard played 18 seasons in the NHL. Want to stand the cup with the New Jersey Devils. He’s out there. He’s an inviteee here to this camp. Ethan Goce, 60 plus points for him last year in Drummondville, including 25 goals. Finished the season in Syracuse, playing for Joel Bousard, who we have scheduled to be a guest on our stream here today. He’s the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch. Be interesting to get his thoughts and very important guy in this organization because he’s the guy that develops a lot of these players that come up when the Lightning needs some bodies.
Absolutely. Julian Breezes, the Lightning GM, has spoken of that on many occasions said we really like and really trust our development program. So, we look for certain types of players. Our scouts when we have our meetings, we are all in consensus about the type of players that we’re looking for. And if you see the potential, you see an IQ and maybe a player who is just sort of growing into his body, whatever, we we like to take them in the draft and then get them here and after they’ve been with us for a year or two or three, whatever it takes, we feel like we’ll teach them and show them the rest and develop them into the players that we think they can be. Arnut Strong to the net. Couldn’t get a shot away. Final 30 seconds. You need depth. Lightning fans are well aware that to have success in the postseason year in year out, you’ve got to have depth and you can’t have five, six million dollar players up and down your lineup. You’ve got to have guys coming up
in your organization. Yeah, nice goal there by Arnick.
Yes. Got in tight there and put that on the short side. But yeah, absolutely. Especially with the salar cap ever since it’s it’s become a huge factor in the National Hockey League. You have to have guys who are younger who are making fewer dollars because the guys at the top eat up a lot of the cap.
And that’s why events and weeks like this are important. It really starts here, doesn’t it, Brian?
Yeah, does.
So, one goal by Callum Arnut is the only goal in the game so far for team La Cavalier. They’re up one- nothing. Five minute halfs. Goalender will switch. We’re going to see Arthur Smith take to the net now. First of three games we’re going to see before we determine who is going to play in the championship game. And the lone goal scorer is now with Gabby Shirley. Gabby,
thank you Dave. Yes, I am with Callum Arnett who just scored the one and only goal in that first half. Callum, this is game one in the final day of development camp. How are you feeling out there?
Uh, a little tired in the legs, long week, but uh, it’s been a lot of fun. So, we’re just having fun out here and it’s it’s a great time. Having fun, but you also want to win. Take us through your goal.
Uh, yeah. You made a great play, slipped it through two guys, and I knew it was coming slow, so I just had to beat him with a quick shot and it went in.
What do you have to do to hold on to this lead in the second half?
I think we just got to shoot more. I think uh we make a lot of great plays, but we’re not getting the inside. We just got to shoot.
Awesome. Good luck moving forward here. Thank you so much, Dave. I’ll send it back to you. Talamarad who plays at the University of Minnesota Duth and as mentioned invited here. He’s a college free agent that the Lightning are tracking. John Roso and company are keeping their eyes on him. And there’s another goal from the side of the net. Another goal for team Lavier from Will. Will Elgar 20 years of age. He plays at Providence. Just wrapped up his freshman season.
He’s another invitee. There are seven invitees at this camp. Noah Steen. Steen who played for Norway at the World Championship last spring along with Denil Lillberg who was the captain of that team. Team Bradley trying to respond here. Down a couple already. And Labavia gets possession again. Throwing it out to the neutral zone which is what you got to do. Quickly moved back in by Goce. Nice move by Elgar to create some space and his wrist shot deflected wide.
I think when this threeon-ree situation starts, most players are thinking about the puck and what kind of plays am I going to make? How am I going to hang on to it? But you have to when you’re on the defensive team, coaching staff is looking at how aware you are away from the puck, too. Um, are you protecting the right areas of the ice? How good are you with your stick when you get caught in a disadvantage of speed? you’re standing still and the guy coming at you who’s got a couple of steps on you. How to react to things like that. It’s a big part of hockey.
Cooper Flinton jumped on that puck quickly and threw it back to Grant Spata. The defenseman drifts one towards the net. That’s stopped by Arthur Smith. So, it’s a conscious decision to do this three on three and a half ice to really see these small space skills. As mentioned, the championship game is going to be full ice. And we’re going to get a different look at these guys, aren’t we?
Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s very different than a real game. Of course, it’s a disadvantage for players whose skill level, first asset, maybe I should say, is their speed and their top end speed and the ability to stretch the ice out. Of course, you can’t do that when you’re only playing, we call it half ice, but essentially it’s only from the blue line in. So, it’s less than half ice. So, speed is not a factor as much as quickness, lateral movement, hand speed, and your ability to make plays. Another chance in tight. Puck goes into the corner. There’s been some pretty good attendance here at the TGH Icelex on both days. Yeah, another
good crowd here to watch these future potential future Bolts on July 4th. Happy July 4th, by the way, to those tuning in in the Tampa Bay area and around the United States.
If you live in my neighborhood, please not too many firecrackers. My great Dean is losing his mind. Yes, indeed. Here is Marco Mossa. Marco Mossup, a 20-year-old from the Toronto area. His parents made the drive down to watch this. I wonder if they’re still here. They’re probably still here.
They decided to hop in the car and watch their son in his first pro camp.
Yeah,
a seventh round pick of the Lightning last week. He’s wearing number 84. He had a heck of a year in the OHL with 85 points. He’s got the puck right now. He’ll drop it off to Lucas Mercury and Mercury to the net. Standing up there is Arthur Smith. Arthur Smith is 21 years old. Another inviteee that Brian referred to plays at Princeton. See the other thing here too obviously is their there’s no body contact really. It’s just positioning. So another thing uh players whose best one of their best assets is their size and their ability to play physical and you know use the corners and the boards that kind of thing. They’re not going to be able to show that in this situation. Nice goal there by Goce.
Yeah, Ethan Goce scored 25 times this past season in the Quebec League. He’s a player that’s gone to the World Junior. He’s gone to a Memorial Cup. He’s a Mike FYI Trophy Award winner and that is awarded annually in the Quebec League to the top prospect. So, that’s a prestigious award to win. And that’s a nice shot from the far wing there as team La Cavalier is starting to pull away. A good hard one-time there from Cooper Flinton.
Yeah, Gochce had a good showing last year at camp. I remember him very well. Um really good skills and you mentioned that he was coming off that big year and the Mike Bossy award. Um he has continued here again this year.
Well, he’s an important pick. Everybody knows that the Lightning have not had a lot of first round picks over the last several years because they traded them to acquire important players that have helped them with some playoff success and the Stanley Cup runs. So guys like Gochce in that second round are key prospects and they’ll be tracking him very closely this season as well. Here he is again. Ethan Gochce stepping in, cuts to the net and couldn’t pull the trigger before the puck was taken away by Clark. Final seconds on what will be a win here for team La Cavaloier. 4 nothing is going to be the final and that’s their first win of this tournament. So the boys no doubt had a little chat this morning.
They said we’re embarrassing ourselves on the stream. We got to get ourselves a win. And maybe maybe Vinnie came down too and had a little chat with them this morning perhaps.
Got to do it. All right. If you walked in the room with his presence, it’ll make a big deal. All right.
A Lightning Hall of Famer. Here is Gabby. Thank you, Dave. I am here with Ethan Goautier. You had the third goal in that game, but it’s the second win for your team in this roundrobin tournament. Ethan, who or what gets the credit for this win?
Um, yeah, I think uh we had a slow start our first game. We knew we had to get back on track, so I think we had a good second game yesterday and uh obviously our effort was really good here, so it’s good to get that win.
A very pretty goal for you. Like I said, third goal of the game. What is special about your offensive abilities? Yeah, I mean obviously I’m not necessarily recognized for uh like my skills and all that, but I have good abilities offensively to um score some goals around the net. I think that’s where uh most of my game is played and I’m always say trust my shot a lot. So um whenever I’m in that area, I got to let it go. So happy to get to get that one in for sure.
Ethan, sadly we didn’t get to talk to you yesterday when you were wearing the microphone, but it seemed like you were pretty comfortable with it. So you got to tell us, are you talking all the time when you’re out there on the ice? Yeah, I have a lot of fun out here, especially with these guys. Obviously, uh it’s fun to to get some chirps and and uh know talking a bit everyone, but no, I like to talk and obviously have some fun. So, I think that’s the whole point of this. Awesome. Thank you so much. Congrats on the win, guys. I missed a goal. Maybe I’ll send it back to you.
That’s quite all right. It’s good to hear from Ethan Goce, whose dad, Denny, was a longtime NHL defenseman for 10 seasons. Right off the bat, we got ourselves a goal in game number two. This is team Richards in blue. They are 3-0 and team San Louie in white
and it was Rollins right off the face off. He timed it perfectly and scored right off the drop of the puck. They drop it in in between the hash marks of course right in front of the goalender. So, uh, a rather unique situation. He takes advantage of it right away. Mino Rollins played pro last year, played in the American League with Syracuse, then finished the season in Orlando in the East Coast League. And that was a decision that was made because they wanted to get him some more playing time at the pro level.
Yeah. Development means that you have to have a good assessment of, you know, every team, doesn’t matter what level, you’re trying to win. That’s your coach’s first job. Also, at the American League level, they’re trying to teach guys, and that’s why all these guys, the American League guys are out here running this camp right now. Um, and so they’re teaching them. You’re working on power skating. you’re doing all those things, but also you’re here to win. So last year, when they see a guy like Rollins who feel like, okay, this is a little bit too much, too fast. Let’s get him to the East Coast League down a notch and let him feel good about himself again. And and that’s the smart thing to do, you know, play the long game with him. So it is one- nothing for team St. Louis with about three and a half to go here in the first five minute half. And it’s chipped outside the line. It’s going to be picked up by Yan Golichic. He’ll set it up and team Richard steps in. Here’s Jason Shagabay who made some excellent plays in yesterday’s competition. He is a playmaker. There’s a nice pass right there. Shot from Rotian. Goes high off the net minder Harrison Menigan.
Yeah, they’ve uh they’ve had a good feel for each other. Rotinan and uh Shagabay making some nice plays, finding each other on the ice there. There’s a lot of room out there. Of course, three on three.
Here’s a chance for Harvey and a good stick in the lane there at the last second by Sawyer Mazize. Took that chance away. The goalender Harrison Medigan in the pipes here. Was good yesterday. 20 years of age. He’s from British Columbia. Went to the Memorial Cup final with the Medicine Hat Tigers this past spring. Had an excellent season there. He had a really good day yesterday, too. You could tell the goalenders were getting tired at the end there. There were a lot more goals going in towards the end of the day because there are a lot fewer of them and it’s, you know, rep after rep player different sets of three coming at them all the time and a lot of shots and a lot of movements. That’s a lot of side to side and up and down and fatigue is going to get to them. But uh Migan and all of them did a real real nice job yesterday.
Yeah, he went all the way to the final. They lost to the London Knights, but what a run he had. Was the WHL playoff MVP, Brian, with a record of 14-1. Yeah. And going through so much too. We mentioned yesterday his father passed away in March and having to go through that in uh at any time is just horrific. Handled it so well. And the fact that they were heading into the end of the season and the playoffs right after that and to do what he did and win a championship, it really shows something extra uh about Menigan and what his uh mental and capabilities are. This is Benjamin Rotien, a guy that caught Yurai yesterday. Nice cut back move there into the slot. Got a shot away and Manigan got a piece of that. This is a guy who played in the finished men’s league. He’s not real big, but he has been very noticeable yesterday and here again today. That pass cut off by the long reach of Golichic. Golich is a big guy. 65. All of that from Slovenia. A fourth round pick. Here’s Rollitz who’s got a goal. The only goal so far here. Final minute of the first fiveminute half. Team San Louie trying to build on their lead. Sarinan managed to get that puck back. It’s flipped up ahead to Dylan Gil. And quick shot handled by Manigan. Another drive and he got a piece of that off of his shoulder. dug out off the boards by Rainers Rollers. Nice movement back to Gil and the pass was just not in the wheelhouse there from Sarinan. Flipped out in front and over the stick of Rainers Rollers. A Latvian in the lineup here today. A couple of Latvians in the prospect camp. He’s from Ria.
And as you watch this, as the time dwindles down too, you see that some guys get tired faster than others. Others have the ability to to sustain their level longer. Um all those things are something that you know the coaches realize and it’s something they can talk about to the other players who are having difficulty in that area. Go hey you got to work on this uh work on on your wind and your legs and your ability to sustain at a high level because it doesn’t matter whether it’s college or junior or certainly at the pro level. Uh the pace of play is incredible.
Gabby Shirley’s got another guest. Take it away Gabby.
Thank you Dave. I am here with Sawyer Maize. Sawyer, you’ll have to forgive me. I haven’t chatted with you much at all this development camp. So, let’s get into it. Can you give us a little bit of your hockey background, how you fell in love with the sport, where it all started.
I just grew up playing hockey. I mean, when I was a little kid, I didn’t really like skating at all. I would cry on the ice, but as I grew older, I just fell in love with the game, and now I’m here playing, trying on for Tampa. It’s pretty cool.
That is pretty cool. Okay, so skating wasn’t really your thing. Now that you love the game, what’s your favorite part of it? Just the battle of it. I know, kind of sounds funny, but I just love getting getting in the dirt and grinding. It’s just it’s part of my game and I love doing it. It’s just awesome.
He likes being in the mix. Last question for you. Your team is up one- nothing. How do you like your game thus far in this individual game?
It’s been good. I think I’m playing good defense, but I might have to start doing better offense. I mean, we’ll see how the game goes, you know.
Good luck moving forward. Thank you so much for your time, guys. I’ll send it back to you.
That’s good stuff. I love that. That’s a hockey player interview right there.
Yeah, no kidding. Started off crying at the beginning and then now plays a physical game. That’s great, Sawyer. Love it.
Yeah. He’s 6’4 and his cousin, by the way, Brian, is Jake Sanderson, the outstanding young defenseman for the Ottawa Senators, and he’s going to be there a long time. So, what a skater he is. That whole family. What incredible talent in the skating department. Yeah, he plays in the Western League. Played for Calgary and Seattle last year. Sawyer Maize, a guy who was an inviteee this camp. Quick shot and a save made by Caleb Hy, who’s now in the net here. Caleb Hy, a 19-year-old from Minnesota. He’s going to play one more year in the USL and then he’s going to go off to North Dakota. An excellent hockey program there. It has been for years.
I think they’re pretty stacked right now as far as their goalending position. So, it’ll be smart for him and advantageous. It’s tough for goalenders like Kyle because there is only one net. You can only have so many goalies. I mean, you can carry seven defenseman, right? It gives you a lot better chance. Oh, nice goal there, too. Good puck movement there. Nice setup by Rotina.
Roina with a little nice return feed and Galichic just had to tap that one in. So, they get on the board team Richards to tie this thing up. 1-1. Three and a half to go in the second half of this final game for team Richards.
So for Hy to go back and be able to play junior for another year, and then know that North Dakota, it sounds like at least one of their goalenders is going to graduate or move on to the pros, one or the other. So he’ll have a better chance. And playing another year, he’ll be that much older, that much more experience, and then on to North Dakota, which is a terrific program. In the meantime, come here, put up a good showing, which I think you believe he has.
Oh, yeah. I thought he was terrific yesterday. Hy was terrific in goal. We had a lot of really good performances, but I I think he was the consistently the best. One advantage all these goenders, there are four of them here at the development camp. They get to work with all the resources that the Lightning have in this facility, but they also get access to France Jan, the goalending coach for the Lightning, who obviously has been working with Andre Vasilvki for a decade now. So, that’s pretty good stuff for these young guys.
Yeah, no doubt. and and the more information especially at the goalending position um I think the more information you can get about how to play the position and some insights from guys who are at the pro level of course starting with Franjon the goalending coach and having been around Basillesi uh and you know such so many good pros here even just in the lightning organization they pass on that information and all these little tips are are valuable
that’s a good play by Harvey he dug that puck away from Ethan Sada. Didn’t give up on the play and they fed it across and it was put home by Shagabay. Those little battles in these tight spaces, those are the little things that get noticed against a decent player in Zada.
Yeah. And and the the goal by Shagabay, too. He was a righty on the left side and his feet were pretty much on the goal line. So, he’s scoring that from an extreme angle. That’s that shows a real knack for the net. Nice tip in there by Roland. Rainers Rollers who plays at RPI just wrapped up his
Oh, rollers. I thought it was roller. Okay.
I believe it was Rollers.
It was Rollers. Yeah, you were correct. They don’t have the uh the uh numbers on the sleeves here, so it’s a little more challenging.
You really I don’t you don’t realize until you do this how many times we actually use those little numbers on the on the sleeve. Yeah. You know better than I do.
You’re usually between the benches, so you’re a little closer than me uh for the NHL games. Yeah. Plus, we haven’t seen these guys a whole lot either. So, the facial recognition and style that we rely on. There’s a nice save with the handle of the stick. Those ones when you’re a shooter, you go, “Come on, I beat you on that.” But I remember Joe Sackic said one time, “I should have about 40 more goals in my career.” The number of times I hit the handle of the stick. That would annoy the heck out of them.
Dylan Gillan tight rebound sent down to Gill again and he slides one right through the wickets on Hy.
Yep. knows that one shouldn’t go in. Didn’t quite get the pad down in time and Gil found the net. Golichic drops off the puck. Foster lost his footing. Helped out by the big rangy defenseman Golich who was a fourthround pick by the Tampa Bay Lighting. He is the second highest drafted Slovenian ever behind an Kopitar who was a firstround pick and will soon be going into the Hockey Hall of Fame. So that must be a huge thrill for him to follow in those footsteps in a non-traditional hockey country.
What a role model to have too. One of the most complete players of this generation. Uh fantastic player and yeah, you can follow in his footsteps. It would be a great thing for the Lightning and for him.
So it is a 32 game here and we’ll see if there’s any penalty shots awarded onto the end of this one. Sometimes they have a couple of uh extra shots here to help determine the results based on any infractions that may have been detected during the course of play. But we have one more game. Looks like we are going to have a couple more penalty shots here. Brian,
I hope there was no influencing of the referees before this started. One more game to follow this and then we will get set for the championship game. Most of the guys in these penalty shots have come in really slowly. We’ll see if that changes today.
Here’s Jack Harvey. Harvey ran out of room there as Hy stood him up.
Jack Harvey plays at Boston University. He played with Mlin Celebrini at the line last year before Celinrini was drafted first overall and went to San Jose. And here he comes again. And once again, Hyle makes the save. Hyle showed that yesterday in any of the shootouts. He is outstanding. You you try to beat him low, cut back, double back, whatever you want to try. Five hole, beat him quickly on the short side. Anything low. Hyle had the answer pretty much every time. and he’s shown that here again and those two opportunities. So, good on him. Big goalending there.
Let’s take it back down to ice level. Here again is Gabby. Thank you, Dave. I am here with Rainers Rollers who is a member of the team that just won this game. What do you like about your team’s play today? Oh, we’re just uh battling, you know. We’re we’re playing for one another and uh yeah, we’re just a gritty team and uh trying to score goals, get to the get to the net and yeah, that’s pretty much it.
A gritty team. H I love that word. Rainers, how would you describe your game?
Uh here just a two-way uh maybe a little f focused on defense, but at the same time just getting my chances on the offense and trying to score goals. And as this is your first Tampa Bay Lightning development camp, how has this week been for you?
Oh, it’s been fun. It’s been uh great. All the guys are great and coaching staff, trainers, that they’ve all been great and uh we’re just having fun out here. So, that’s the most important thing.
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time, guys. I’ll send it back to you.
Thank you, Gabby. Thank you, Raiders. And now we have the third and final threeon-ree game, 10th overall in the threeon-ree tournament. Team L Cavalier in white and a team Andrichuk in blue.
Right off that face off, Petri with a terrific defensive play right at the net. Again, it’s it’s not just about how well can you shoot the puck, how well can you make plays, it’s how uh attentive are you, how knowledge knowledgeable are you, capable are you defensively with your stick. And Petri right off the face off did a really good job there.
Clavs Vinesbergs takes that one to the net. He is also a countryman of Rainers Rollers from Ria Latafia. And you know, we talked about having a role model in Andre Kopitar for Golich in Slovenia. How about Zimas Gurgensson’s for these two guys? A guy who’s played well over a decade was a first was the highest drafted ever Latvian first round pick himself and a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. So that does not go unnoticed by those guys here either.
No, that’s right. Everybody has their role models as they’re they’re coming up from the time you’re a kid when you first get interested in hockey to, you know, who who are the star players. Uh when when I first came to the building today, I saw Nikita Cooerov on the ice on the other side before this started. He was going through his usual and you can imagine that any of the players even just, you know, saw him for the first time and go, “Oo, that’s Cooer.” It’s such a lasting impression uh just to be in the same room in the same place and maybe the same locker room as Nikita Cuchov. And of course some of these guys they end up at the at the main camp in uh a couple of weeks. Oh, nice goal there. That was pretty slick indeed. Good hands in tight by I believe that was Maddox Labre. Yep.
Yes, it was. So good hands in tight. And you know, just to follow up the last thought on Coutrov, not only were they probably, you know, impressed to just see him in the flesh, then they probably thought, “Wow, it’s July 4th and he’s right back to work.”
Well, and the reason is, it was so funny at at the the Windup press conference. Uh he was asked a question, actually, it was kind of a statement. He said, “Where players like to come back to camp early and work with you because you teach them so much.” And it was it was a big compliment. And it’s absolutely true. Cuchov teaches a lot of the players on the Lightning little things about how to get better on the ice. And his answer was, “Come next week. We start next week.” I started I burst out laughing cuz that’s coach. That’s just the way he is. Come next week. Quick chance in there for Callum Arnut who’s got a goal already today in his previous game, but he was stopped that time. Here’s another drive and another save made by the goalender. Anders Miller.
Yeah, it’s Miller. Miller, the native of Anchorage, Alaska. That shot from Kurt goes high and out of play. Under two minutes to go in the first half of this final threeon-ree game. Miller, nice job on that one time shot, too, because he had to move from his his left back to his right, get down, get squared away, close the five hole all simultaneously, and he was able to do that. A nice job there on that one time. Little backhand feed trying to find Ethan Goce, but Labra broke that up and Arnut went down heavily in the neutral zone. He appears to be all right. Quick one-time that does not go for Labra. Maddox Labre from just outside of Montreal. He’s got a goal here in this one.
Baldwin towards the net and that is handled by Miller who throws that one out back into play. Whoa. Step on a puck. Spot back up on his feet.
Spot the defenseman for the G Storm in the Ontario Hockey League. Started last year in junior B and made his way all the way up to major junior and ended up playing 58 games in G.
Big jump.
It is. Well, he’s got the size and the reach and that helps. he can’t teach size and he’s another one of these young men that’s you know growing very quickly. It’s just matter can you can you keep up with all the other things. Do you have man strength or enough strength to compete against the guys that are at the top as strongest level that whether you’re in college or in junior and you know some of that you just can’t help. You just have to wait year over year and continue to get stronger. Kaden Petri, a shifty offensive player, dropped that puck off to Connor Kirth, trying to get a lane there against Elgar and Elgar stuck with him defensively as time is going to wind down. Here’s one more chance and Petri hit the post and then tucks in the rebound just in time for team Enrich to get another goal on the board. So, Petri and Labra are your goal scorers. Two nothing with one half to go before we move on to the championship round. Brian, in this threeon-ree tournament,
that’s an impressive goal by Petri. First of all, the release was terrific. He was down below the lower hash mark, hit the crossbar, was not in, but stayed right with it, followed it up, and put it in for goal.
Here’s Gabby.
Thank you, Dave. I am here with Claus Veainbergs. I got that pronunciation correct. I just had to double check with him. Clavs, you guys have the lead right now in this game, but give me some constructive criticism. How do you think your team’s doing? Good, bad?
Uh, I think we’re playing the the best so far. We’re playing good D. Stakes on pucks, making turnovers, just attacking the net. It’s working.
My broadcast partners were bringing up that you are from Latvia as well as one of our current Tampa Bay Lightning players in Zus Gurgensson’s. Guys, I caught him in the locker room taking a photo with Zus’ helmet, which I thought was pretty cool. So, you got to tell me, is he a player you have looked up to?
Oh, for sure. Yeah, he’s one of the few uh Lavian NHL players and actually, funny enough, I uh got a follow uh from him on Instagram 20 20 minutes ago. So, it’s for him.
That is really cool. All right, good luck out there. Thank you so much for your time, guys. I’ll send it back to you.
That’s great stuff.
Oh, yeah. That’s great stuff.
That’s what we’re talking about. You know that these guys look up to especially in small non-traditional European countries like that. It is a big deal to follow in the footsteps of a guy like Zenis.
Yeah. and Vainberg SP Colorado College last year. Nine goals and 19 points. He was a seventh round pick in 2022. I’ll tell you what, they have some rabbit hockey fans over there in Latafia have had the uh the pleasure.
Oh my goodness. You have no idea. I’ I’ve done a world championship over there and uh trust me uh
it it gets rowdy in that building when Latafia is playing.
Yeah, no doubt. They start singing. and they know everybody and even even if their team loses, boy, they back him 100%. It it’s a party when the Latians are playing. Elgar tried to work that back towards the middle of the ice and that does not go. Here is Connor Kurt. Kurt from the University of Minnesota. Three seasons there. He also finished his season playing pro at the Syracuse Crunch. getting some pro experience before you try to take that next step. Here’s Baldwin hard to the net. And that is stopped by Smith.
Nice smooth delivery there going to the net by Baldwin. He’s he’s known as a really good skater. Great lateral movement. He’s young, but I think the first day or so maybe he would just still getting his feet wet, but maybe we’ll see today he already looks like he has a little more confidence, a little more jump and and uh you know, taking the puck and going with it. He’s a guy as he picks up the puck again and takes that pass in front. Baldwin is going to go to play in the Quebec League for the new team in St. John’s Newfoundland. They’re called the Newfoundland Regiment. And before he goes off to play at Providence College, life on the rock. It’ll be interesting to talk to him next year.
It’s a beautiful part of the world.
Oh, they are passionate fans of their team, too. Here’s Bainesburgs. And thanks for that pronunciation check there, Gabby. The always intrepid reporter Gabby Shirley making sure we got that correct. Bainesburg,
not Vinesburg as the playby-play guy was saying. That’d be me. Here’s Goce backing it up. Ethan Goce will step it in and drop it off and winding his way back is Grant Spatada. Shot in towards Smith and he will steer that one aside. Just about two and a half minutes to go here in the finale of the threeon-ree tournament for 2025. Just looking down beneath me, Brian. Boy, this this place has filled up even since the tournament is
Yeah,
the play has started today. There’s a lot of fans out here today to watch this. It’s a great fan base here in Tampa Bay and they care about seeing getting a glimpse of the next wave. Spot up. Put a backhander in there and that was cut off. Two nothing right now for team Androchuk. That one goes up and out of play and they’ll have to clear the zone and start again. Picked up by Elgar. Nice pass back to Elgar and he couldn’t handle the return feed cleanly but gets on that loose puck. Flinton down low back out in front. Lavalier team Lavalier staying on the loose pucks here. Smith had to come across. Lots of chances and team Androchuk is under attack here. That one is finally tapped in. You can feel that one coming.
Yeah, they uh they didn’t give up. Those three guys all over it there. Finished off by Flinton. Nice work. Cooper Flinton at Dartmouth and also finished up at Syracuse playing four games with a crunch. Spot has a lane, takes the shot, and Smith covers that one up. So the championship game is going to be threeon three as well, Brian. And it’s going to be the full ice. So we are going to see a much different
skill set on display. Lots of room for these guys. And you think they were tired
before that game.
Oh yeah.
Two 20-minute periods.
Go end to end even once up and back full speed after doing this. Yeah. And the off ice stuff. Yeah. It’ll be some there will be some legs burning for sure.
They are going to add some players. cuz they’re going to break up all the players onto the the two sides. But and I think you have to puck in behind the net for Beansburg. Petri who’s got one of the goals here so far for team Androchuk. Kaden Petri. This one is put up top and LeBra settles it. Maddox Labrad who this season will be going to Ohio State University. All these players from all over NCAA junior ranks Europe pro leagues. The hockey world is a wide one and they all want to be in the NHL. Ohio State’s programs come along so far. Um it’s a terrific program as pretty well all of them are. So, he’s going to have a a terrific time playing there. Lowscoring affair in that three-on-ree game. The final is going to be 2-1 unless they add some penalty shots here, but that will likely be a win for team Androchuk as we will be setting the stage for the championship game. And it doesn’t appear as though we’re going to get any penalty shots in this one. So, let’s take you down to Gabby Shirley who’s standing by.
Thank you, Dave Everett. Do me a favor. Let’s look in this direction. The camera’s right up there. We’re going um final game of the round robin tournament in your first ever Tampa Bay Lightning Development Camp. So, I guess for starters, how was camp for you?
Yeah, it was a blast. Uh just trying to take everything in. I mean, there’s a lot of great coaches here to help you and in every area of your game. So, I think just coming in being open to, you know, listening about everything and trying to take everything I learned here to the rest of summer and um you know, into my season. So, I think just being all ears and um you know, learning everything and taking it in, it’s awesome.
That’s a good way to be. All right, so this tournament, right, the competitive aspects of your game can shine. What did you like best playing in this roundroin tournament? I know there’s still a championship game to go, but what do you like best?
Yeah, I think uh just the pace, like everyone’s competitive and wants to be at their best. I think that’s a ton of fun when when everyone’s going and you know, you’re buzzing and stuff. So, I think just uh the competitiveness of it is a lot of fun.
Awesome. Thank you so much and good job. Good luck moving forward here.
Thank you so much,
guys. I’ll send it back to you.
Thank you very much, Gabby. There’s a great example of the cross-section of the type of players and the experience level you have at this tournament. There are some older guys, a couple of guys who’ve been to this development camp a few times now. He’s a first- timer. He’s 18 years of old and he played high school hockey.
Yeah. Prep school.
Yeah. And and can you imagine walking into this environment and what what a step forward it is for a guy like that? It it is it’s it’s overwhelming. Um especially at 18 years old and there’s no substitute for that, right? You can’t teach experience. You just go through it. I I think he started slowly. Baldwin comes with great credentials. How when we talked to John Roso, you know, the chief scout, amateur scout for the Lightning, I remember him talking about Everett Baldwin and going, “Geez, this, you know, this kid can really skate.” Lateral movement, everything. You know, there was enthusiasm in his voice that I could uh remember. And um I I think he started slowly, but especially today even I noticed a difference in him. And that’s just going through the paces and getting used to your environment. Here are some of the goals that have been scored today. Some some real beauties. That was Shagabay from a really bad angle. I was impressed with that goal because of his hands, the catch and release from a really bad angle. The goalenders were not bad in Well, that wasn’t the best example of goalending, but a lot of the Goldies made some good stops today. They showed well. Also, there wasn’t a there’s only been really one high-scoring game we’ve seen out of the 10, and that was yesterday. So, let me ask you this. As we now shift from this half ice threeon three to the longer 20inut period threeon three full ice what are you going to be looking for in the last opportunity all these young players will have to make an impression before heading home?
Well it’s a totally different game once you open up the ice completely. Um you you’re going to see the guys with speed. So, you’re going to see the matchups now in speed and some guys who are lacking in that department are going to have to realize, okay, I got to play my position and give a guy a little more room because if he gets a step on me, I’m done and I’m going to look bad. So, how you adapt to that open ice is really important. Whether you’re a defenseman, how can you handle that speed of a guy coming at you one-on-one? But you also have to be aware of, is this really a twoon-one with a guy coming later? All those things, sort those out. But being able to use the full ice and understand where you are on the ice and what’s coming at you once you turn the puck over, how adept are you at using the ice? Uh, should you make a a long pass to the far blue line? All those things quickly, move it quickly and then get off the ice because the legs are going to burn real fast. And for those of you who have maybe seen this event before and logged into the stream in previous years, these guys want to win this thing. So, I think we’re going to see a competitive game. For the moment, we are going to take a quick break. So, for those of you joining us on the stream, we’re certainly glad you’re with us on this July 4th final day of the Development Camp 3 and3 tournament. The championship game is coming up. We’ll be back in about 10 minutes. So, go grab yourself a little refreshment and get set to come back to beautiful Tampa Bay. [Music] in like 10 minutes maybe. Commercial break.
Commercial break. [Music] Over time, lightning it. The only way to make healthcare better for the people of Florida is to keep solving with health solutions that are more affordable and easier to access. And at Florida Blue, we want you to know how we’re doing it. Offering support at our Florida Blue centers to help you get the most out of your plan. Making mental health appointments more available so you can be seen within a week. And creating lowcost plans with benefits you want and need. See health solutions that are making healthcare more affordable. Florida Blue, your health solutions partner. After taking that hit from Stiver, here’s Macau stepping in. Oh, and Basilki reaches back and keeps it up. Back up top. Schmid with a hard drive. Puck is no save. Rebound. Oh, Vaselki comes down and makes another spectacular save against Liber. Now Matthews comes in. A wrap around. He went from the old Michigan there. Tried to tuck it in.
And now the Canes come back. Misair save as And now it peroga. He’s in and Johansson with another stop
tonight as here comes working on Mcdana. He can fly. Oh, and Basilleski makes the save. Kill special teams. Here’s a takeaway and moving in is K shortanded and that is denied by Vasel.
Faceoff win. Hard slap shot by Hamilton. The initial stop may opt in and the rebound is cleared into the corner.
Shaking that right hand. No penalty.
One timer. Oh, and Basil. He got a piece of that one.
In the first now off the face off. Good stick. Rebound denial on Benson by time. Kachchuck feeds it down low. Here’s Ryard across. Oh, what a save by Johansson. Here’s Hughes. Hughes steps in, takes the shot. Save, rebound, and Basilki was there against Hamilton drops it off. Mercer with a shot, kick save, rebound out on the slot, picked up by Mercer again, turns it back, feeds it to Hamilton with a drive. Paneran. Panaran. Schneider sees a seam, takes it, centers it in front. Oh, what a save. Doy in holds back McMahon. Big save by Vasovski.
Here come the Caps with a threeon two over the line. Dubois lead for Mcichel over to Wilson. Back to Dubis. And Vaselki former seventh overall pick by the Conucks. Herbert turned it over and Basilki got a glove on it. It comes out the other side. And man is that line humming. Here’s where Anthony trying to step in. Drops it up and fast. Controlled again by Faraby. Faraby centers one out in front. Vaselki makes the save on the couturier wrist. Locked in front. Vaselki’s been on his game all game. Gosh bear. Deflects in front. It’s free. Ao saved by Vaselki. Ahead to Kyle Carter. One-on-one with Radish. Carter. Oh my goodness. What a move. Big stop into the bumper it goes. Evangelista protects it. Novak slaps one towards the net. Save. Basilki. Weak side. Basilki. Left to right. Does the gets on the line. Here’s Mercer. He’s in and he collides with Johansson. Not getting past center. Now here comes N again. N is in. Stopped by Johansson. A very hand. This is Ryan Hard. Reinhardt in pass. Oh, what a save by Vasel.
Near corners there by Vasilki. Bruce Neighbors with a steal. Save by back into the corner. It’s Kachchuck. His shot. Rebound. Big save by Vasilki. It back to Hamilton. Hamilton down low as he backand here’s a breakaway down the ice goes Cus he’s in stopped by Vaselki and moving in is Kate shortanded and that is denied by Vaselki into the bumper it goes to Evangelista plays the Shay at the point back to Evangelist go there’s the one-time shot that is blocked and now it’s a race Appleton’s breaking in there Mason Appleton stopped by ohansson full season plane set up here’s weager with a Reena saved by Sinski. Three on three. Here’s Pring with a shot. Saved by Johansson. Keep room for Meyer. Meer waits. Shoots. Save. Rebound. And
Basy back across. Nice pivot and a stop and a fine. Glove. Save. Baselki.
Chases after it and feeds the line again. Gudas does not dust that off. Is loose. Oh, what a save.
Point blank. Here’s another chance for Matuka. Another great save by Johansson. It’s a breakdown. [Applause] [Music] Welcome back, Lightning fans, to the Tampa Bay Lightning YouTube channel and the 2025 development camp coverage. And the threeon-ree tournament finale, which is upcoming, the championship game is on the way. Dave Rand back with you alongside a very special guest, the longtime radio voice of your Tampa Bay Lighting, Dave Mishkin. Dave’s been basically standing beside us the last two days. You’ve seen every minute of all the uh the action here. So, we’re going to pick your brains a little bit on what you have seen. Brian’s certainly been offering his opinions and uh first thing I would like to ask you about before I get into some of these specific players. You’ve been coming to this event now for for many, many years. It’s an important day and an important week for a lot of these players because it’s the entry level to, you know, potentially future Bolts down the road. Yeah. And they get a lot of tools to add to their toolbox. I mean, you’re calling the three on three, but prior to the threeon three, there was a lot of skill work, skating work. Barbhill was out here with, you know, the iPad recording. It’s almost like you get your golf swing, you know, on video and it’s like, okay, this is where you’re at. This is where you need to get. And Braden Point’s a great example because he’s kind of the poster child for a guy who, you know, drastically improved his skating and and it was an event like this, events like this where, you know, he got some elements to work on on his own. So you come to this camp, you get kind of a baseline and then they say, “Okay, go work on this.” And it’s up to the player to put in the work. And then if they’ve been in the organization a few years, Dave, like we see him two, three, four years. Like Flinton for example, I think this is his fourth or fifth camp.
I think Rollins has been here.
Rollins has been here too. So it’s not just that we’ve seen them in the threeon-ree, but like the Barbara Underh Hills of the world can see, all right, this is what they’ve done to improve their skating from last year, two years ago. Very valuable camp for for these youngsters.
And we can see that as well. You know, we come here year after year and perhaps even the fans out there logging in on the stream can see the the the gradual improvements by players which leads to maybe seeing a guy in the NHL this time last year. And I know he’s a first round pick and had a a high pedigree, but this time last year was our first look in this event at Connor Geeki and he ended up playing basically half the season in the NHL.
Yeah. And for him, it was his first camp with the Lightning like this.
So, they didn’t have anything to work on with him before where they can say, “All right, here’s where you’ve improved.” So, it speaks to kind of where he was even last year coming in. And yes, he had the pedigree of a first- round pick, but he had a he had a good camp. I remember noticing him as one of the guys who stood out. Would we have said definitively, yeah, he’s going to be on the NHL roster and and stay there for most of the year? I don’t think so. But this is just step one. The next step is the rookie campournament that happens in September that leads into the full training camp for the Lightning into the preseason and then into the regular season. So there are a lot of steps between now and opening night. But I think all of these prospects have aspirations to if not this year at some point you know be in the NHL. So at the risk of repeating myself this is a very important step in their development.
No doubt about that. So, I’m gonna ask you to put your scout hat on here. You got your roster list here. Yes, I do. Maybe a couple of guys who have uh stood out to you. And why? Well, uh I think the the guy that they traded up or made a a trade to pick Rotan.
Rottyan. Yeah, you had to learn it this year, not me. Uh he’s been noticeable. His team has done well, too. I believe he’s on a team. Maybe they I think they were undefeated yesterday. I’m not sure if they can’t remember if they they won today or they lost they lost by a goal. But
they pay way more attention to the standings than I do. I just try to
Well, I noticed that his team was winning a lot. Yes. But if your team is winning a lot, then I think you’re noticeable. I’ve noticed Rollins. I mean, he scored that goal right off the face off. He’s a big guy, but he has been on pucks. So, you think about, all right, he’s a big guy, but you worry about, you know, can he get around the ice? How nimble is he? You can see like his stick handling is there. So, it’s not just that he has size. He probably laid the biggest check of the tournament, too, on on Jack Harvey. What I like about this tournament, Dave, you asked me about specific players. What I really enjoy about this tournament, just selfishly heading into training camp in the preseason, it gives us an opportunity to see these guys before, let’s say, a preseason begins. And for the guys who are in college and not about to turn pro, this is it. because they’re not coming in September. They’re in school.
So whether it’s a Jack Harvey or a Connor Flinton we mentioned, we’re not seeing these guys in the September camp. So this is our only chance, our chance, you and me, to see them. And you get a sense of kind of what they can do with the puck. I mean, just from a standpoint of we need to be able to identify players. Watching them play in this tournament helps me identify them down the road. And you also can get a sense kind of like we were talking about with Barb Underh Hill from last year to this year, two years ago to now. Have they progressed? Is it noticeable in terms of the impact that they’re having in in the threeon three? And that’s one thing, you know, we keep bringing up the the training they get uh with the skating coach here led by Barbara Underh Hill and that staff. That is one intangible that you can improve like in immeasurably. Like that is one thing. You can’t give a player extra hockey heartbeat or heart or it’s up to them to put on the muscle, their skill sets. They’ve got to work on those. But the skating is one thing that you can improve as an organization.
And it’s look, the Lightning want to play a certain way and the way they want to play is predicated on being able to skate, right? I mean, it’s part of the Lightning’s identity. And I think the Lightning as an organization have belief that if they like I mean we we’ve heard from John Roso that like character matters so much in terms of whether they they invest in a player and draft that player. So they may like a lot of part of the player’s game and character. They’re like this player needs to improve his skating, but we believe that in our development program that player can improve his skating and we love all the other parts of of this player’s game. We like his skating, too, but we understand the skating needs to improve. It’s not like there’s a ceiling for the skating, and we’re just going to have to live with the skating where it’s at. Again, we talk about Braden Point or Anthony Cerelli, guys who elevated their stock because they improve their skating. So, I think it really opens a lot of doors for the Lightning as they are assessing players and whether or not to draft them or acquire them, you know, as as free agents or in trades or wherever they want to add to the organization. I’m glad you brought up that C word, character. That is definitely something that has always been of high value to the Tampa Bay Lightning when they are making decisions whether they’re drafting a player or signing a player. Speaking of signings and acquisitions, before we let you go here and get set for the championship game, let’s ask what you thought of the uh the free agent period, who they added, maybe the moves they didn’t make, and and what how you see things unveiling as the season goes forward. Well, we’ve heard from Julian Breezwa a couple of times since the season ended and he has been very consistent, Dave, in stating plainly that he likes his team. He liked his team last year. They were a top five, top six team in just about every major statistical category as a team. Talking about goals scored, goals allowed, power play, penalty kill, five on five ratio. So, I don’t think that this was going to be a major off season for moves. and he said as much unlike last year. He also prepared everyone going into free agency that it was probably going to be quieter. Now what was unexpected was they had a couple of guys with other organizations that were restricted free agents with arbitration rights. Holberg and Peltier and those teams Toronto and Philadelphia decided not to qualify them. So you can expect to see maybe all right we have this group of free agents but when a guy isn’t qualified all of a sudden they became available and Julian didn’t let any you know moss grow on stones he went out and and acquired them so those were those were two of the guys they brought in but it was not a major off season for acquisitions again because as Julian said he likes his team
yeah you’re talking about Pontis Holberg from the Toronto Maple Leafs last four years with the Leafs a good solid fourthline center and Jacob Pelj former first round pick of the Calgary Flames that ended last season in Philadelphia. That is Dave Mishkin. We thank him for spending a little time with us and you’re going to take your spot right over there and watch the rest of the championship game alongside of us. Thanks for your insights. Dave Mishkin joining us here on the Tampa Bay Lightning YouTube channel. Stick around. We’ve got plenty more coverage still to come. The championship game is coming up here at the 2025 Tampa Bay Lightning Developments Camp. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome Welcome back here to TGH Iceplex. We are moments away from the start of the championship game between team Richards and team Anderchuk. Guys, take a look right to my right. Here is the trophy that all of these players are battling for out there on the ice. Now, we have a slight change. This game is going to have be full ice, three on three, but instead of 20-minute halves like we originally thought, we’re dropping it down. 16minute halves running clock. If it ends in a tie, there will be five minutes of overtime and then they will go to a shootout. So, what are we looking for? Well, guys, you touched on it. These players are really new to us. So, I went to the expert, JP Cotay, the director of player development and the guy who’s in charge of all of this here at development camp. And he said he wants to see his guys really attack the inside. He wants to see them make those plays and then support correctly. He said this is a skills competition. and he went to all the players prior to the start of this tournament and said, “Hey, you know, the skills are going to shine here, but we know what you’re capable of. So, don’t worry about it. Just play your game and have fun out there.” And that’s what we hope to see in this championship game starting momentarily. I’ll send it back to you.
All right, Gabby. Thank you very much. And we are all set to go here, Brian. 16minute periods as Gabby just outlined there. So, that probably is going to help, I think, the pace of the game. Oh, that would have been a heavy load to carry for these guys. Three on three. So, as you would probably expect, it is team Andertuck and team Richards. Richards in blue. And Chuck in white. But they’ve augmented both rosters with all the other guys. So, everybody’s going to be in this game. They’re going to see everybody here.
And we need a goalie. We’re waiting for a goalie on the white team. Yeah, that will help. Uh-huh.
That will help indeed.
There we go.
And it’s going to be Arthur Smith heading down to that far net. And we are well the goalies get confused because they never have a team, right? Everybody’s coming at them all the time. This will be the first time I think they’ll have somebody on their team.
So here we go. Here’s a chance right off the bat for Baldwin. And a save made by Menigan right off the gate. Golich tried to stretch pass. Hit the referee in the skates there. So it bounces into the center ice area. Referees are slow.
Better not be slow in this game. It’s going to be quick. Three on three. Lots of ice. Of course, we all love threeon-ree overtime in the National Hockey League. And now we get to see these guys work their magic. Good pass up ahead to Kurt. And Kurt does a feed a pass back across the grain, picked it up himself and stays with it, getting it to Baldwin.
Yeah, and Baldwin was a guy coming out of the zone with a little spinarama move to control the puck and then a cross-sized pass. That’s the kind of stuff I’ve been waiting for from him. Again, Baldwin 18 years old, maybe perhaps a little bit slow at the the first day or so, and the game inside the blue line maybe not quite to his liking, but his skating ability and his ability to make moves showed right off the bat. His very first shift when we start using the entire ice.
Clock runs, by the way, even on the whistle for that offside call. And team Richards controls it. That is Warren Clark circling back. Clark in behind his own net being watched by Mazize. Spencer Mazize watching him. Comes back out towards center. Picked up by Dylan Gil. Gil in a twoon-one and the pass just made Ethan Zada. Ethan Zada was a late second round pick by the Lightning last week. Plays for the Niagara Ice Dogs in the Ontario Hockey League.
Yeah, they were really happy that he was still available in the draft when they finally got their chance to pick in the second round. um lightning scouting staff. Uh John Russell talked about that the other day. He said, “You know, we kept crossing our fingers at different points when it got close to our time to pick and we’re,” he said, “We’re pretty much consensus for every pick that we had.” By the time it was finally our turn, we went, “Yes.” Everybody saying, “Yes, this is the next guy that we want.”
And it’s amazing, too, when you’re the scouting table and you you see that a team has traded up to maybe get a pick. I think it was Nashville that traded up just ahead of them, but sure enough, they got the guy they wanted. And we will be watching Ethan Zada, a guy who will be in the mix to make team Canada, the upcoming World Junior Tournament.
For the for the scouts, it made it a lot easier actually this year. Just talking to John, uh, having it done remotely where not everybody was in the same location, all the teams that is, they the scouting stuff staff found it a little bit easier to communicate. It was more private. they could talk amongst themselves and felt like they knew what was going on, who was gone, and you know, just a communication level. There’s so much pandemonium when you have 32 teams and about 11 scouts and 15 pe 20 people at your table in all in one location. The scouts seem to like it better this way. Yeah. All packed onto that draft floor. What we were missing just as a fan watching is all those great conversations that you see caught on camera between one general manager and another.
Yeah. and and Julian Briezbah, the GM, talked about that. He said, “So, there were good things like the scouts being more aware of what’s going on, but also he did miss the fact of being able to just walk over to another table and start talking about deals because everybody’s under the same roof. So, there’s a trade-off either way.” Threeon-one chance here. Back across and that return feed did not get through to Minosa in front and it’s picked off by Kaden Petri. Petri who plays for the Flint Firebirds in the Ontario League. Return feed was in behind him. Still no score. Just about four minutes gone and this wide open threeon three. Jack Harvey back the other way. Harvey 22 years of age from Stacy, Minnesota. Get a little bit of body contact along the way here. And that’s the way it should be. The players know what’s coming. Just rubbing players out along the boards. And there’s a nice play by Vine Vainberg’s doing that a few moments ago.
Yeah, Petri took Medigan wide and Menigan down again. Takes that chance away from Vinesburg and it’s picked up again by team Richards. Off the ice they come. Benjamin Rotionan puts it across and the save made by Smith. Interesting that Benjamin Rotion has caught your eye throughout the two days here. also caught Dave Mishkin’s eye as well. I asked him about who was standing out. He likes number 40 as well, the Finnish elite league player. Good burst to the net here by Kurt. Couldn’t get the shot away.
And I think because Rotion played in the Finnish elite league, he played against men, he’s uh he he’s ahead of the curve in that department. 20 years old, so he’s been around the block there and played at a very high level. That Finnish league is a very good league. So coming here and playing against some of these guys that are younger than him, I think he’s been able to take advantage of some situations.
Here’s Baldwin. You can see that smooth stride he’s got on that rush up the ice. Number 97 in Whites. Kurt into the slot. Nice little move on. Got a shot away. Menigan is down. Rebound up in the air and it’s batted down in behind the net and sent around the boards.
Conor Kurt is is another kid that I really like how he’s come on. I mentioned earlier today the fact that he’s 6 foot 215 pounds already at uh what is he 21 years old. He’s at the University of Minnesota. He’s smooth and obviously very powerful at that weight and size and he could really move.
He had 18 goals at the University of Minnesota this past season. Second on the team behind Jimmy Snugarude who finished the N season in the NHL with St. Louis. This one’s picked up by Elgar. Elgar bumped off the puck in the corner and it’s taken over by team Richards. Good move up high by Ethan Zada. Zada now try to pass back across and it ends up being deflected down the ice where it’s going to be picked up by Grant Spot. There was some good tracking there defensively by Elgar too. I like that Will Elgar 20 years old as well too. Providence College not a big goal scorer. Looks like he knows what he’s doing defensively and can track players. keeps the middle of the ice clean and he knows good body position. Arnard had a shot in tight there, but still no goals to speak of in this championship game, the finale of this year’s threeon-ree rookie tournament. Steen leaves it for Foster on the fly. Aiden Foster off the ice and he was cut off. Back the other direction now circling back is Mazize. Back up ahead to Spencer Mazize. Mazize from Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Nice play by Mercury there. Looked like he was going to be beaten by Maize with some speed, but a deaf little poke check into the corner by Mercury. Nice play to keep it in the line across to Rollins. Rollins resets it. Now it comes near side for Mazize. Rollins. He had Goce headed for the front of the net. Hangs on to the puck, takes the shot, and Menigan makes the stop. Mercury is actually the oldest guy in this development camp at 23 years old. Played at UMass and at Syracuse a little bit at the end of the year. They got him in a trade from Carolina. So, while play continues here, let’s send you down to Gabby Shirley who’s got a very special guest to talk to.
Thank you, Dave. I am here with JD Forest who is an assistant coach with the Syracuse Crunch and the head coach of this team. What have you seen from your guys thus far in this first half?
A lot of pace. They’re into it. You know, there’s a championship trophy on the line. Usually that gets the juices going a little bit more. Um even though we just went down one nothing, but we had some pretty good chances. Goalies playing well on the other side. Uh so, and then also one of the big things is a lot of the stuff that we did in practice is throughout the week I’m seeing them being implemented in the games, which is great.
JD, I’m putting you on the spot, but can you specify some of those things that you worked on this week that you really want to see out there on the ice? Sure. Well, some of the on the defensive side, there was some angling and some stick on puck that I’ve seen already. There was a few different moves, uh, puck protection concepts that we did that JP implemented in the practices and Randy, um, in the corners and coming out and attacking inside ice and just a couple of those little details of the game that these guys um, are picking up on and and showing in the scrimmages. So, it’s good to see.
Last question for you. We know that these players are having a ton of fun. Do you also really enjoy this element of competition here? It’s great. I love seeing the guys go at it, you know, one-on-one against each other, 50-50 puck battles, all that stuff. That’s the game all over the ice, a bunch of little battles like that. So, it’s fun to watch them. You learn a lot about the guys, you know, the big guys, how they operate, do they use a they use their size, the little guys, are they fighting until the end. Um, all that different information you pick up on. And it’s just hockey. It’s fun to watch hockey anytime. So, I’m enjoying it. Absolutely. Us, too. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it, guys. I’ll send it back to you.
I would agree. It’s fun to watch hockey anytime. And we’ve got a goal to speak of just as that interview began. Marco Mossa scored for team Richards to make it one- nothing as we are under seven minutes remaining in this opening half of the championship game of the threeon three tournament. Mossa is the highest goal scorer of anybody here in this tournament. Marco played in the Sue last year in the Ontario Hockey League. 36 goals, 85 points.
First in team in goals and points. Career highs for him. That shot deflected high. Our thanks to the assistant coach JD of the Syracuse Crunch. And of note, we should let you know that during the intermission between the first and second period of this game, there’s only two periods. We will have a quick chat with the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch. Joel Buchard is going to join us, get his thoughts. Chance in tight for Burroughs. And good save and the rebound flipped up and in. Manigan was down and out. And Burrows got a second opportunity and scored.
A lot of good things on that goal. Burrows staying with it. Really smooth hands. Made a really nice move. Looked like he was going to score. And then Menigan stretched out that left leg and got a toe on it somehow. Then he needed some help. He didn’t get it in time. So good goalending. Needed some help. And uh nice goal by Burroughs. Oh, what a shot there.
Hagen Burroughs is from the state of Minnesota and he’s won the Mr. hockey award for Minnesota high school hockey player of the year. A very prestigious award that’s been won by many NHLers, including Ryan Mcdana. Yeah. Oh, and that one slides in on the far side there. That was Clark beating Smith. Yeah. Simultaneous contact. Uh Clark getting the shot through got deflected and it was tough for Smith to kind of pick up where that one was going to end up. It was going five hole or far side and end up in the back of the net. Warren Clark 20 years of age. He is from Ontario just outside of London, Ontario. He plays at St. Cloud State, a fenceman. And he has given team Richards a 2-1 lead here with 440 to go in this 16minut threeon-ree period. Baldwin cuts back and then throws this one all the way down the ice for an icing call. This is a totally different situation when from the threeon three just inside the blue line. And this is where and the first guy I’m looking at the huge difference is Everett Baldwin. uh all the skating that we had been told about which you can’t really see when they’re just playing within the blue line because there’s no there’s no room but already he’s all over the ice and you can tell his hockey instincts are really good. So early stages here, Everett Baldwin’s really caught my eye. And he’s he’s the young man who just played uh high school hockey, prep school, uh 18 years old, and I can see how he moves now when you get the whole ice.
He’s from Providence, Rhode Island, as you mentioned, just 18 years of age. He was a fifth round pick last week of the Tampa Bay Lighting, 151st overall. And you’re right, he can get up and down the ice pretty smoothly. Yeah, it’s it’s his whole concept of the game where the open ice is both offensively and defensively and he’s in the flow of the game all the time. Players are still a little shy right here, right off that faceoff. There should have been a shot on goal, but guys are still trying to make plays and I think that’ll change as the game goes on too and you get down to the end and you want to have a victory, you got to win. If you’re not going to shoot, you’re not going to score. So, I think we’ll see more shots as this goes on.
Good shot there by Elgar. Good save by Harrison Menigan. in the Medicine Hat Tiger Neter. Man, who got great experience going all the way to the Memorial Cup final and unfortunately for him and his Tigers teammates lost that final to the London Knights. A very good team in their own right, but it was quite the run for Minnegan and the Tigers. And going to get a penalty call here. They’re just going to add these on for penalty shots at the conclusion of the game. There’s going to be no power plays. Oh, they’re going to do the penalty shot right now. Here is Lucas Mercury. He’ll step in and score to make it 3-1 on the penalty shot.
Well, show some some hands there for sure. Coming in very slow and then slowing down. Little speed up, a little uh little shift of the shoulders. Really quick hands there. Nice goal. Been quite the tournament for team Richards. They had a good round robin and they’re up three to one in this one. So a bit of a hole now for team Andrichuk. Another chance and a save made by Smith inside with 151 and counting remaining in this opening period. Faceoff will be to the left of young Arthur Smith, the Princeton Neter. Interesting to look at all the histories of these guys. Arthur Smith, 21 years of age from Connecticut, but was a former goalender and rookie of the year in the North American Hockey League playing for the Lonear Bramas. Brian, just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. Yeah, two of the four goalenders are invitees and the other two are seventh round draft picks. Hy from this year in the seventh round and Menigan the seventh round in 24. Can’t have enough goalending prospects, can you? No.
Puckets loose in behind Menigan. Here’s Ethan Goce. Nice move and a great feed out front and Medigan makes the save. Rollins was there but nice play there by Ethan Goce beneath the goal line. Little pushing and shoving in front of the net there. That’s Rollins was not too happy there at the end of that shift. A little push back there on Noah Stein. For a guy who was 6’7, Roland certainly has the ability to get he he’s very nimble for a guy that big, isn’t he? Exactly. Yeah. Petri on the outside trying to cut to around the net now. Puts it back to Cooper Flinton. He’ll leave it for Petri. He’s got a seam and nice shot there by Kaden Petri to get back within one.
This has been his day. Um he started to get noticeable yesterday by the end of the day. Um look, you know, we come in cold with all these players, too. And some guys jump out at you for different reasons, but today Petri definitely has shown a lot more. He did in the games that were just inside the blue line, three on three, but now we’re starting to see that flow to his game here, too. And this last shift and goal was outstanding for Petri.
Petri a sixth round pick in the 2024 draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was a very high pick in the Ontario Hockey League, what they call the priority selection, which is basically their draft. And you can see why. He’s got a bunch of skill. Long pass down the ice in the final 10 seconds here in a 3-2 game. Team Anderchuk getting one back to make things very interesting. Right now, the go-ahead goal was scored on a penalty shot by Lucas Mercury.
Good defensive play there by Vayner Bergs right at the end with the dying seconds there. Uh he’s a forward but backing up as a defenseman. Real good stick there. Take a shot away. So with five minutes in between the two periods, we are going to step aside for a quick break and be right back with the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch, Joel Bousard. You’re watching the Tampa Bay Lightning Development Camp on the Lightning YouTube channel. Stick around. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Welcome back. Slight change in schedule here as they have dropped the puck for the second half, Brian. So, we get our headsets back on. Our uh thanks to Joel Bousard who made his way up here. He was going to chat with us, the head coach of the Syracuse team in the American League, and wanted to get his thoughts, but unfortunately the game started again.
Yeah, I thought you just said something to him. He was mad and he went home.
I have that effect occasionally. And that one slips through and a nice little move there, I believe, by Shagabay. And that will make it 4-2. Yes, it was Jason Shagabay scoring in the opening minute of this second period. There’s only two periods and so that is now a twogoal lead again. Yeah, your perception of the ice and where you are, where the puck is, what’s happening, what’s coming at you. And of course, when your team has the puck or you do, all these things are what the coach are looking for. Shagabay in this kind of situation, he’s the kind of player can really take advantage and he he did on his last ship. Nice steal there.
Good steal by Kurt. Kurt is in there and he couldn’t corral that loose puck before he got to Hy and Hy poked it away. Caleb Hy now in net for team Richards.
Nice steal by Kurt there. University of Minnesota went to Syracuse at the end. Sixth round pick in 2022. And he’s got the size and the speed. Connor Kurtz. Now here’s a chance. Baldwin nice little move to Eller and Elgar is stopped as well. But nice little feed from Everett Baldwin there.
Yeah. went back between the legs and made the pass across. Just ran out of racetrack there at the end. Couldn’t put it in. That was Anders Miller who was in the net down to our right making the ultimate save there. Caleb High at the other end as the goalenders have switched up. Miller will stop that and keep it going to Minosa. Minosa who’s got one of the goals. He got the opening goal in this championship game. as Brian said, the highest scoring player in this development camp. Throw a backhander across. Ends up with Foster in the corner.
Binoa coming out of his own zone there with some really good speed. Smooth skating. Didn’t look like it was any kind of effort at all. And he was able to pull away, get the puck all the way up the ice. Tim Andchuk back the other way, cutting in and letting one go was Baldwin again. And he has been very noticeable in this game as you pointed out, Brian. Yeah, nice stop up and shoot right away. Sometimes you catch the goalender not quite ready to go.
And he caught the iron there and then he steps around. Minosa Baldwin puts one in on net. Kicked out by Miller. Baldwin moving around out there like Kale Mar does in Colorado. He’s got that sort of sense of the game. Roian nice little move in tight rebound saved by Hyle and they bang away that loose puck and Caleb Hy covers up and hangs on.
Yeah, Steen with a really good chance there. He got to go up under the bar. He was trying to get it up a little bit but Hyle, you know, fighting that one off and doing a a real nice job of making a save there. That’s the kind of stuff we’ve seen from Hy in goal. He’s there’s a conservation of motion there. I’m always a big fan of that. goalenders who are all over the place and look spectacular a little too often. Something’s wrong when you’re spectacular all the time. Hiley is the opposite of that. He’s he’s already there and he makes things look easy. And keep the name Caleb Hy in your your back pocket if you’re tracking him during the season. John Roso feels he’ll be in the mix to possibly make it for team USA, the upcoming world champ world juniors.
And what an experience that is. Yeah, the back-to- back gold medalists, Team USA.
Now, there’s a great back check there by Steen. He was in trouble in the neutral zone. Connor got inside on him, but Steen used the speed and took the puck away from him. Nice save there by Miller as he spraws out and grabs that one with the glove. Rollers was in tight. Went to the backand. He’s got good long reach. He tried everything he could to get that one in, but he was robbed on that play. Rainers Rollers, who has played in three World Junior Championships for Latvia. All that experience adds up for an organization like the Lightning. Here’s Golichic. Nice pass up to him and he is stopped by Hyan Golichic took that great break pass and had a breakaway, but Hyle had the answer. Yeah, I’ve talked about Golichi several times in the last two days just because of the size that he has. He is really smooth for a big guy that’s still young. That was a terrific play by Gil to hit him just outside the offensive blue line by the way to give him that chance to come in. But good good smooth hands, good smooth stride for Galichic. Just wrapped up his second season in the Quebec Major Junior League for Gatnau where he is the alternate captain on that team. Here’s a chance down low for Goce. Goce keeps it moving around the outside. Gets it to Petri. Petri has got a beautiful goal in this game in the first period. Got them back within one before Shagabay who’s got the puck right down. Made it 42. Jason Shagabay snaps a pass up the ice and team Richard steps in. Dylan Gil, he’ll back it up. Gil, who also went to the Memorial Cup with his junior team in Monton, picking up some valuable experience on the back end. Up the ice comes team Richards. Over the line and straight up the middle was Clark and he ran out of room. Here’s Bainesbergs. Clavs Bainesburggs had his pocket picked there by Ethan Zada. Nice play by Zada. He knew he had him in trouble in front of his own net. Made a cut coming out from behind it. Bainesburgs did. And Zada took advantage of him. Knocked it away and got a dangerous chance. Here’s Bainesburggs with a quick one-time. And he parked himself in front of the net, but couldn’t get that pass cleanly as it sent back down the ice. Team Andre trying to push back, try to get back within one here. Up the middle of the ice, Flinton. He’s in and stopped by Miller. Good burst of speed by Cooper Flinton.
Yeah. And recognizing that there was room turning on the Jets. Smooth play. Looked dangerous to make a pass which allowed him to keep the puck actually and go alone from the blue line in. Just couldn’t quite finish it off trying to go five hole.
Flinton has been here before at this development camp. 21 years of age. Here’s another chance coming out of the corner. It’s Kurt. Connor Kurt forced away by Spata. Still with it.
He’s really good on his edges. Dave Kirth is he’s really impressed me over the last day or so. A stocky build, really good skater. You can tell he’s he’s got a purpose in his stride. Uses his edges really well. And he’s good coming out of the corner. He was behind the net there as well.
Yeah, you’re right about that build. 511 but 215 maybe 220 lbs. So, he is a very solid
package for sure. He spent some time in the gym, that’s for sure. And being I mentioned that earlier, he’s at University of Minnesota, so they don’t have an 80game schedule in college, right? So, um, you have more time, you have more off days, you have more practice days and more chances to get in the gym. When you’re playing games a lot, uh, playing an 80 or 82 game schedule like in in junior, it it’s very different when you can get your workouts in and when you can develop your body. And the guy’s definitely got some offensive skill, does Conor Kurt. He had an 80point season in the USL. And I always remember John Cooper saying, “When you put up big numbers like that, I don’t care what league you’re talking about, that is a good player.
You’ve separated yourself from the other players.” Save made by Hy and he’ll hang on with seven and a half to go in this championship game. Team Richards with the 42 lead. McNosa always finds a way to get himself in a a good opportunity in the offensive zone. 20 years old, played in the Sue and that I can see why. 36 goals and over 80 points last year. Mercury off the draw. Try to feed one out in front and now it’s picked up by Baldin. Let’s see if this kid winds it up again. Everett Balden. Here he comes off the left side. Cuts it in the middle. He’s got Golichic turned around and he gains the zone. Finds the late man Elgar on his backhand. His pass is cut off and cleared out. I’m enjoying watching Baldwin skate around in this full ice threeon three.
Y sure Lightning fans are as well. Pass across and then the return feed. Never got there. Back up through the middle. Here’s Baldwin again. Everett Baldwin in for Elgar. Corrals that on his backand rebound for Baldwin. Miller is down and keeps that puck out. Hard bank up to Harvey and he’s in all alone. Jack Harvey fanned on the shot as he had a clean cut breakaway.
He’s mad at himself there.
No doubt.
Yeah, he had his head up. That’s a good That’s the uh good part of it. He was looking for that top corner. I hadn’t realized that puck had rolled off the heel of the stick, but man, you could see the legs burning on a couple of guys there. Told you that Harvey plays at Boston University. He’s also been on a championship team in the USL for the Chicago Steel. And that’s another thing that a guy like John Roso always likes to see. If you’ve played on a championship team, you know what the winning environment is like and what it takes at any level. Doesn’t matter. Yeah. Pass across up ahead to Harvey and he can’t step around cleanly. Second chance there for Steen. Goes wide. Team Richards again with a puck. Snapped across to the Norwegian Noah Steen. Steen sees a lane but he’s forced back. Still with it. Sets it up over the right side to Harvey.
Rollers did a really good job there. Dogged Steen. Didn’t allow him to the inside there. He used quick feet. Careful. That one went up into the f stands. Okay, nobody’s hurt. Seriously, that’s good. But yeah, uh Rollers really good positioning there. It’s difficult when you get caught standing still there. Uh and you get a player who’s accelerating. He’s got some good hands. And Rollers did a really good job of defending the middle of the ice, stringing it outside and and not allowing the scoring chance that easily could have happened.
Here’s Milo Rollins. Rollins, who will be headed back to the well, he finished in the East Coast League, so we’ll see if he plays in Syracuse or Orlando again, but he finished as a pro or was in the pros last year after five seasons in the Quebec League. Now it’s picked up by Goce. Goce in front. He goes to Petri. And that one’s chipped just wide. Golichic good lead pass. Shagabe being watched there by Goce. And backing up is Golichic. Jason Shagabe. Back forward Dylan Gil. And Gil is checked along the side. Boards there by Milo Rollins. Here’s Vinesbergs again. He’ll pick it up in the corner and set it up back to the line. Flips near side. Rollins leaves it for Bainesburgs and the shot just off the glove of Miller and High. Three and a half to go. 42 for team Richards. We’ve only seen one goal scored in this second and final period and it was scored by Shagabay in the opening shift. All the other goals came in the first period. Ethan Zada puts it up the ice to Clark. Clark has got a goal in this game. Tripped up on his way into the slot. And now Flinton back the other way. Twoonone for team Andrew across to Flinton. Bouncing puck and he could not get a shot away. Flinton resets it. Empty net now for team Enrich. Burroughs. His drive is caught and held by Miller. Extra attacker on for team Andrichuk. You’re going to have to shoot the puck. Nothing fancy now. You got to get two goals in less than two and a half minutes here. And time winding down. Clock runs. Off the draw. They control it. And Burroughs is at the top. Burrows to Lee. Back to Hagen. Burroughs. Burrows pass in his skates. has to knock it aside. Connor Kurt switches spots there with Sarinan. Kurt gets it to Burroughs. Burrows steps in, dishes off. No shots here, Brian. Here’s one. And a great release from Labra finds the back of the net and makes it 43. Maddox Lee.
Yeah, just when you thought they weren’t going to shoot at all. LeBy on the right side there. Good setup and his release was terrific. He knew exactly where he wanted to shoot it. Shot it back against the grain right inside the goal post. Terrific. LeBra has been good in this full ice competition. A young player from just outside of Montreal. Played at Victoriaville last year. And right now he’s got a an important goal for team Andrichuk. Back to three on three for the moment here. We’ll see how aggressive they get to pull the goalender again. Dam Richards digs it out up ahead to Grant Spot the big rangy defenseman. Steps up the ice and then drops it off. Little poke check there. Ends up with O’Bri again and he springs his man Kurt. He’s got a breakaway Connor Kurt is in and no stopped by Miller. Holds his ground and keeps it a 43 lead for team Richards. Net is empty again. Here’s LeBron. Maddox LeBrade throws it back. Missed the mark. So Baldwin’s got to hustle back for it. Let’s see one more rush from the kid. Here he comes. Brian right up the middle of the ice. Takes it wide. Gains the zone. Baldwin in front and big collision at the net. And that is going to get a whistle here. And they will stop the clock as everybody ended up in the blue paint. And Miller ends up right in the net. Vaysbergs went to the net there and I think he got tangled up a little bit with his defender. Couldn’t put the brakes on. Miller got hit hard in goal. He was a little slow to get up. Looks like he’s hanging in there. Okay. Miller’s got good size. He’s 64, but uh that was a heavy collision as you say. So 52.9 on the clock. They have stopped it. This been a pretty good game. Let’s see what happens here. Baldwin holds it in,
feeds it back down low. Harvey got there first for team Richards. Elgar digs it out back to Baldwin who calls for that puck. Long shot knocked down and picked up by Steen. Noah Steen off the glass, knocked out. Team Andrichuk trying to hold it in there, but here comes Harvey. Harvey to Foster with a wide open net and team Richards will get the empty nets goal to restore a two-goal lead with 22 seconds remaining.
Well, good pressure right down to the end, but Harvey getting the puck in the neutral zone and really just make doing a good job on Baldwin. Baldwin was coming on him hard, but he knew that he could just get it into the open ice and they were able to finish it off there. Good finish. They’re up by two goals with 22 seconds to go. So, it looks like it’s all but over here. Good showcase of hockey though all week long. Certainly in the last two days with a threeon three and this championship game has been uh it was as you expected, Brian, it’s been a lot different. We saw a different skill set with the full ice, the threeon three. It’s been fun to watch and we’ve seen some good performances as Gil adds another empty netter. some guys that really, you know, you can earmark for future reference. That’s for sure.
Yeah, it’s it’s a really good format. Yeah, the just blue line in working on your skills and that’s a big part of it. Puck handling, circling, stopping, defending, uh, stick reach, all those things. But then in the end, getting back to what real hockey is all about and allowing the players who have the speed and acceleration to, you know, to play a real style game uh, on that full ice. Uh so the camp all the way around has been terrific. Uh really good entertainment for us to watch and for the players to experience all of this. Well done.
Team Richards wins the championship game and they take the championship trophy which will be presented here momentarily. Gabby Shirley is down there. She’ll get a an interview or two. But again, you know, we we look at some of these names and we kind of put little asterisks be beside a couple of them to see uh how their seasons go either in the pros or in the junior ranks or in college because uh they all want to play in the big club down the road.
Yeah, that’s true. Um Milo Rollins, I think I’m just going down the list here randomly, not necessarily in any order. Uh Rotinan who was in Finland last year, we talked about him. Zada, the first pick in the draft this year, the second round for the Lightning. Uh, I thought he’s done a good job. Golichi been very noticeable. Joe Connor came on. Rainers rollers um just in today I thought took another step and was noticeable. Connor Kurt we talked about University of Minnesota Ste. Uh, Petri, Kaden Petri, I thought really came on. Played in Flint last year and the fans are acknowledging the the players for an entertaining play. Shagabe Goce did a good job and all the goalenders did a good job. We talked about Hy a lot, but and Menigan also as well, but I thought Smith did a real nice job as did Miller here today. So, good experience for all of them all the way around. And nice touch too by the players to also acknowledge the fans who came out in large numbers both yesterday and today to get a look at future Lightning players potentially. I mean here is Rollins. Thought he was going to head over there but he was not on the winning team. See how this all goes here. Probably take one big team photo. All these players are going to disperse as soon as this afternoon. They’ve all got flights to catch today and tomorrow and their offseason training programs will begin. They’ll leave with some no doubt some instruction from the development staff here.
Yes. In terms of
their diet, their workouts, their on and off ice training. Yeah, the the development process u is really important. The Lightning staff and it’s a it’s a big staff. Everybody has their job to do and each one of these players will have individual programs that say, “Okay, work on this.” If it’s your skating, if it’s your explosive skating, is it your strength? You got to build up your body. Where are you playing? Are you playing in college? How much time on the off days will you have to work out? Are you playing in the OHL or the Western Hockey League or where you’re going to play an 80s something game schedule? Well, when you have a couple of days in between, here’s what you have to do in order to progress and and build your bodies along the way, too. It’s an experience. And for some of them, all of them, their first pro training camp, you never forget. There’s always things that’ll jump out at you that these guys will remember 40, 50 years later, something that happened to them, uh, somebody that talked to them a certain way. Um, and, uh, it’s just great for all of them.
So, Noah Steen is getting some kind of award here. Looks like a kind of extra recognition from the winning team, Team Richards. Noah Stein from Oslo, Norway. Only nine Norwegians, Brian, have ever played in the National Hockey League. Emil Liberg is one of them who plays for the Lightning. And he played with Steen at the recent World Championship. It looks like they stole Mr. T’s medallion there and gave it to him for the MVP. And Harrison Menigan is going to be called up for a top goalender. Yeah. All right. The story Menigan is and a player to track going forward as a goalending prospect. And the boys, I don’t care what time of year it is. I don’t care how big the event is. When you get to raise a trophy at the end of a tournament, these hockey players, they all love it.
Yeah. That’s for sure. It’s the Richard’s team, right? And Brad Brad would be proud of that. What a what a player he was, man. When the chips were down, especially in the playoffs, the first cup that the Tampa Bay Lightning ever played, Brad Richards was absolutely brilliant. I’ll never forget his performances. And yeah, be proud of his team that’s named in his honor, winning the championship. They’re having a good time with this. All those players that just did are doing this, they all have good showings. Oh, that’s great. Manigan, who was one win away from winning the Memorial Cup for the Medicine Hat Tigers. Gabby Shirley is down there. She’s going to get a couple of postgame interviews and comments for us. It appears though Gabby’s ready right now. Take it away, Gabby.
Thank you, Dave. I am here with Noah Steen who is wearing this lovely What do we call this? A a necklace. We’ll call it a necklace. Absolute machine of the week. Noah, what does this award mean to you? Obviously, it means a lot uh and uh a lot of work, but um it’s really fun to get uh get this award. um means that we’ve done something right and now just keep keep doing what I’m doing and uh work hard this summer and have a great season.
Why do you think you were awarded this award? I mean, what stood out to you this week about your game? What did you do well?
Uh I don’t know. I would just try to bring my game out there every shift. uh work hard, play defensively, have some uh have some good plays, play off offensively and uh just yeah, try to do my best every time. Another great week. Um what is your biggest takeaway from this week’s development camp?
Oh, it’s so much. I mean, uh everything from the ice to small details in my game and uh how I skate. I’ve got so much help this week uh of my like skating and uh how I positioning myself and how I produce power and a lot in the gym as well. So, I mean, I can’t pick one. It’s so many and I will take all with me and hopefully have a great connection with the with the staffer throughout the season so I can be my best version of myself next year.
Awesome. Congratulations again on being the absolute machine of the week. That looks good on you. Guys, I’ll send it back to you.
Okay, first of all, I don’t know who came up with that award, but I love it.
Yeah, that’s great.
The name of the award and the actual necklace is awesome.
Mr. Mr. T would be proud of that. He likes me as the absolute machine, too. And Steen was great. He caught the eye of a lot of people.
Yeah. And, you know, again, this is what this is really all about. Yes. There’s there’s higher drop picks in this uh in this development camp. There’s sometimes first rounders, there’s second rounders, there’s guys that who you expect to play, you know, pro. Noah Stein is a seventh round pick.
He’s 20 years of age, plays in the Swedish Elite League as a 20-year-old. That is a very, very good league in Sweden. And for him to have this little momentum going into his off season is going to be big.
It shows that he played in that league for sure. All right, Gabby is standing by with another interview.
Thank you, Dave. I am here with Jack Harvey. Jack, this is your third Tampa Bay Lightning Development Camp and the third time you have won that trophy. Why have you had so much success in this tournament? Yeah, I really couldn’t tell you. Uh maybe just playing with a lot of good players. Um and winning happens that way. So, I’ve just been I’ve been lucky, you know. I’ve had a good time, had fun, um and gotten to win a couple. So, it’s good.
You say luck, I feel like there’s some hard work in there. Okay. your team, who stood out to you over the duration of this week or even just in the three-on-ree play?
Yeah, I mean, all the guys were great. Um, they all did, I mean, everything we needed to to win, I guess. But, uh, uh, Shaggave was really good. He, uh, he had a couple big goals, a couple big plays, and, um, just was good throughout the whole tournament for us. So, I’d have to say he he stood out the most for me.
Development camp is coming to an end. Obviously, your family is probably not going to be surprised to hear that you’ve won again, but when you leave this ice, who’s going to get the first phone call alerting them of this exciting news?
Uh, probably my mom. I mean, she probably already knows. She she watches every time. Uh, she loves it. So, probably call her. You know, she’ll probably ask some questions about the whole thing. So, she’ll be excited to talk.
That’s good stuff. Congratulations again,
guys. I’ll send it back to you.
All right, Jack Harvey. And we’ll say
three times. Three times a winner.
Is really? Yeah.
Oh, I missed that part. Wow. It’s pretty good. Yeah. Well, we’ll say hello to his mom, too, who’s watching back in Stacy, Minnesota. And there’s the final. Team Richards wins it again. And that puts a wrap on all the festivities on the ice here for the 2025 development camp. Final takeaways, maybe a couple of last chances to for you to throw names out there that impressed you over the last couple of days. Uh, I think as the camp went on, uh, you saw guys get more and more comfortable. Um, it’s tough for the young guys that are 18 years old that are, you know, I said before, it’s like drinking out of a fire hose when you first come in. Just the whole environment, first time you’re here, first pro camp, uh, meeting the coaches, uh, all this stuff like your head just kind of spinning and you’re trying, you know, your your inner voice is saying just just play, you know, just go play. It’s hard. So, I think a lot of them, you know, as they uh, as the days went on, uh, did a really good job there. I I don’t think there’s there’s anybody any more than ever Baldwin at the end whom we remarked on in this game once it got got to full ice you really got to see his game that was totally different because playing inside the blue line the first couple of first day and a half uh it’s a very different game. Uh so I certainly you know talk about him in goal we talked about in Menigan uh I think jumped out to me. Ethan Zada the the second round pick the first pack pick by the Lightning this year I thought uh did a really nice job. Uh, Yan Galichi. Um, um, I like him a lot too. He was drafted last year in the fourth round. Uh, big kid, size, 66, 67, you know, pushing 200 pounds. A lot of things uh, you know, in his future. And, uh, Rollers today, Rainers Rollers. Um, I didn’t notice him as much the first couple of days, but, uh, as the day went on today, I kind of liked him. And Marco Minosa um, as well. He came in here with 36 goals. He had scored more goals uh last year than anybody else in this uh camp and uh he’s started to show more and more as well.
The Tampa Bay Lighting for a real good stretch there had a real reputation around the National Hockey League about mining diamonds in the rough, finding guys late round picks that would contribute. Ross Colton would be a perfect example, probably the most recent example of a guy who had the ultimate impact by scoring a Stanley Cup winning goal and he started right here at one of these development camps. So, it really all starts here and that’s why it was great to have you join us on the stream to see these young guys who all have big NHL dreams and hope to be wearing your Lightning jerseys uh in the near future. So, on behalf of Gabby Shirley, Brian Englom, and our entire crew here from the Lightning Vision crew at the TTH Icelex, this is Dave Rener saying thanks for logging on to the YouTube channel, and we will see you again next season. Heat. Heat. N. [Music]
Watch the conclusion of the round robin and championship game of the 3-on-3 tournament at the Lightning’s 2025 Development Camp.
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2025 Development Camp | 3-on-3 Tournament – Day 2