Hello again from the 2010 Washington Capitals Development Camp. Today was the final day of the camp and the last chance for these prospects to show off their skills in front of the Capitals coaching staff. The camp ended with the third of three scheduled scrimmages and the Capitals Fan Fest at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex.

The scrimmage started at 10 a.m. so Brian and I thought that leaving at eight would get us there in plenty of time. We were wrong! The parking garage was packed and when we walked in, the stands were full of people. I would guess that about 4,000 fans crammed into the small practice rink. Imagine that many people at the Ice Palace! Caps fans love their hockey, even if it’s at eight in the morning.

Prior to the scrimmage, Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis addressed the crowd and officially kicked off the days festivities.

The scrimmage was very entertaining and finished in a 2-2 tie. The two groups were divided into teams, Red and White. The Red team held Stingrays forwards Jake Hauswirth and David deKastrozza, defenseman Joe Finley and goaltender Braden Holtby. Trevor Bruess wore the white. Finley was one of the starting defensemen and Holtby played the second half of the contest allowing one goal.

 

The Stingrays were the hardest working players on the ice and provided all of the big highlights.

At 9:50 of the second period Finley and Tony Pisano squared off for round two (see Cail MacLean’s blog earlier from camp) with Big Joe coming out on top. The white team needed to regain momentum, so a second later Bruess went toe to toe with Stefan Della Rovere. Bruess landed four of five great punches, but Della Rovere was able to knock down the aggressive forward.

 

deKastrozza grabbed the attention of the Capitals coaching staff at 16:25 of the middle frame when he caught a bouncing puck and capitalized on a breakaway beating goaltender Dan Dunn between the legs to make it 2-1. Dunn would later rob the University of Maine product on a second breakaway attempt in the third period.

Overall, the camp was a great orientation to the Washington Capitals organization and all five Stingrays players made a huge impact. Most of the players packed and headed home immediately after the scrimmage. With only a few weeks left before the main NHL training camps begin, many of them wish to spend as much time with friends and family as possible.

I hope you enjoyed all of our coverage of the Development Camp and we would like to hear your feedback. Please let us know what you thought on our official South Carolina Stingrays Facebook Fan Page. Over the next couple weeks we will be posting camp video highlights, scrimmage video highlights, photos, audio interviews and more! I look forward to hearing from you. Hockey season is here! Thank you and see you soon.