Joe Noyes Photography
The Washington Capitals concluded their 2022 Prospect Development Camp with a scrimmage at Capital One Arena, the home of the team during the regular season. Team Red came out on top over Team White, 5-3. Former first-round pick Hendrix Lapierre and Peter Laviolette, son of the Capitals Head Coach, each recorded a goal and assist.
The two teams were divided into Team Red and Team White, and featured the prospects that participated in the camp throughout the week.
Team rosters for the Capitals’ 2022 Development Camp Scrimmagehttps://t.co/tRQIPWvTk4 pic.twitter.com/cvz8tYFxNa
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) July 15, 2022
First Period
The first period saw relatively little scoring opportunities through the first several minutes, with both teams keeping a solid pace of play before the period’s first whistle. The deadlock was broken by David Silye, a Center from the University of Minnesota on a breakaway feed from Peter Laviolette, son of the Capitals’ Head Coach.
the Lovely Lappy feed for a Silky Silye finish pic.twitter.com/bZKvcuWjCw
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 15, 2022
The lead for Team Red would not last, however, as the team’s 2022 seventh-round pick, David Gucciardi tied the game at 1-1.
David Gucciardi, 7th rnd pick in 2022, with a bomb, ties the game 1-1. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/UN1Yql5Yzz
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 15, 2022
Team White would take the lead just before the first intermission, with a goal from free agent invitee Grant Cruikshank, a St. Cloud State commit and 23-year old left wing who recorded 15 points in 33 Games Played with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers last season.
Grant Kruikshank, a free agent invite, gives Team White a 1-2 lead. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/ESM6LbGdmb
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 15, 2022
Second Period
The second would see a surge by Team Red, with Laviolette recording his second point of the contest with a batted goal in front to tie the game at 2-2.
Peter Laviolette Jr. with the batted goal. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/UusUsF09hY
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 15, 2022
Ohio State Center Camden Thiesing notched his first of the game to edge his bench to a 3-2 lead.
Camden Thiesing, another college free agent invite, gives Team Red a 3-2 lead. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/tk1hEWwDWU
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 15, 2022
2020 first-round pick Hendrix Lapierre, who scored his first NHL goal in his first career game last season, nabbed his second point of the night with a goal to pad Team Red’s lead by two, 4-2.
Hendrix Lapierre cleans up the loose change to give Team Red a 4-2 lead. Lapierre has 2 points so far tonight. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/13dr0jVChk
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 15, 2022
Goaltender Chase Clark, the 183rd overall (sixth-round) pick in 2021 by the Caps and who is coming off a 2021-22 season in which he spent seven games with the Tri-City Storm and 13 games with the Muskeegon Lumberjacks of the United States Hockey League, made a number of impressive stops in the second, first with heavy traffic in front and again on a penalty shot attempt by Haakon Hanelt.
Hendrix Lapierre cleans up the loose change to give Team Red a 4-2 lead. Lapierre has 2 points so far tonight. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/13dr0jVChk
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 15, 2022
Third Period
The final period of play saw the two units play 4-on-4 for the first 10 minutes, followed by a 3-on-3 matchup for the final 10 minutes.
Harvard University defenseman Ryan Siedem, 21, put Team Red ahead by three, with a nifty weave-through the defense to make the score 5-2 against his now-college teammate Mitchell Gibson. Siedem was one the Caps’ free agent invitees to the 2022 camp.
Free agent invite Ryan Siedem with nifty moves beats fellow Harvard classmate Mitchell Gibson. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/sEjLz5gsTo
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 16, 2022
Among the crowd in attendance at Capital One Arena were Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov, defensive prospect Alexander Alexeyev, and 2022 first-round pick Ivan Miroshnichenko.
Look who decided to stop by!#CapsDevCamp | @ThinkRed pic.twitter.com/Y3eyweTasD
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 16, 2022
Another goal came a little too late for Team White, with Oskar Magnusson, the team’s 2020 seventh-round pick, notching a goal off a rebound from a shot by touted defensive prospect Vincent Iorio just over three minutes left in the period.
Vinny Iorio with a nice drive, is denied, but Oskar Magnusson cleans up the loose change and knocks it off the back of Garin Bjorklund. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/NylwamruEN
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 16, 2022
Team Red would prevail after an additional shootout portion of the scrimmage, with the future of the Washington Capitals finishing to a chorus of cheers from those in the stands, concluding the 2022 Development Camp.
All of the goaltenders played exceptionally well on the night, with Clark the highlight.
Chase Clark denies Vinny Iorio. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/VtaLcVQRpn
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) July 16, 2022
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By Michael Fleetwood
Its interesting how GMBM is trying to jumpstart the re-build with a risky approach… HL, AA and Mircho were all projected top 10 picks but fell due to injuries… They work out then great… if not…
Very interesting, indeed. I think you nailed it, he’s trying to hit a home run or two, because he will be losing huge stars over the next few seasons. Taking a chance on potential superstars is one way to do it, but if he misses…..
Worth the risk. They likely won’t all work but Fever, CMM, Protas, Lapierre all look to be punching well. While 1-2 years away I like Iorio. I like the risks/picks this year as well.
I don’t think you have a choice if you are continually drafting in the 20s or later. You aren’t likely to build a championship team with safe picks that late. You need to take risks, and hope that enough top 5 talent with injury or political or other “issues” overcomes those problems and becomes a star to keep you competitive. Kuznetsov was really the first of those in this era for the Caps, and despite his issues as a pro, he has delivered. I think that taught the Caps a lesson that they are repeating most years.
I think that’s exactly it. How do you replace two legends with 20th picks overall?
Very hard. Boston managed to get a superstar in 2014 with a 20 something pick overall with Pasta. The next year, they had three mid round picks and only got so so players with them.
Our goaltending depth is all of sudden fairly impressive.
I thought the first 2 Bjorklund gave up were a bit soft, but he played better later. The others were solid.
Gibson reminds me of VV — not a big goaltender, but depends on positioning and discipline to stop shots. Gibson looks a little quicker than VV, but I’ve only seen Gibson on TV, so YMMV.
The others are big boys with good basic tools. Let’s hope the Caps’ goalie coaches can turn at least one or two of them into legit NHL tenders.
The White Team started both of the Italian D prospects, Iorio and Gucciardi.
The Red Team had both Lapierre and Laviolette, both of French descent, who were the stars of the game, each with a goal and an assist.
Cruikshank was misspelled in the game write-up. But the write-up is consistent with the spelling in the Capitals PR Twitter but did not agree with the roster list.