The week before last couldn’t have run any smoother for the Thrashers franchise. The team’s prospects had just finished a perfect 3-0 run during the Traverse City Prospect Tournament to make it to the championship game against the Dallas Stars, while back in Georgia the team looked healthy and prepared for the upcoming training camp. During last Wednesday’s game in Traverse City, Mich., however, things turned very quickly.
In the championship game against the Stars, Atlanta’s prospects struggled to do what they had done so well in the previous three games of the tournament: play solid defense. The game was not out of hand early, even though Dallas got on the board first with a power-play goal eight minutes into the game. Zach Bogosian responded for the Thrashers, scoring his first goal in an Atlanta uniform, to tie the game at 1-1. The two teams each traded a pair of goals as Angelo Esposito and Danick Paquette each scored for Atlanta to tie the game at 3-3 halfway through the second period. For the Thrashers, the good news would end there.
Dallas scored five unanswered goals on Atlanta goaltender Chris Carrozzi, who only faced 28 shots on the night, giving the Stars an 8-3 victory. Looking at the silver lining from the game, Atlanta cut down on its penalties, only allowing five Dallas power-play opportunities. Unfortunately, the Stars were unfazed by the lack of man-advantages, as the team scored more goals on Atlanta than the team had allowed in the previous three games of the tournament.
The bad news didn’t end that night, as Bogosian found out the next day that he had suffered a hip flexor during the game, leaving him out of the first part of his rookie training camp.
BACK AT CAMP
Speaking of training camp, the team hit the ice collectively for the first time on Saturday morning to open the 2008 Thrashers Training Camp. Everyone was in action, minus Bogosian, as the team split up to go through opening drills and workouts.
The team separated into two groups for the opening skate, but first-year head coach John Anderson wanted to make sure it was known that the groups had nothing to do with any line combinations. Instead, those combinations will be determined during the third and fourth preseason games.
The preseason schedule begins with a game on Thursday at Nashville. The team will follow that with a trip to St. Louis to take on the Blues on Friday night at 8:30 p.m., before ending their road preseason schedule with a game in Detroit to face the Stanley Cup Champions on Saturday at 5 p.m. After the trip to the Midwest, the team will return home for three preseason games against the same three teams before beginning the regular season six days later on Oct. 10. Check back in with Scoreatl.com for more updates this week as the team begins their preseason schedule.
Boral can be reached at jboral@scoreatl.com.
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