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Dube shines in rust-filled Flames scrimmage
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Photo credit: Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Pike
Jul 20, 2020, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 20, 2020, 01:14 EDT
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It looked like the Saddledome. It sounded like the Saddledome, thanks to a bang-up job by the team’s game production staff. But it didn’t feel much like the Saddledome on Sunday evening as the Calgary Flames held their first intra-squad scrimmage.
Before a crowd of roughly a dozen assembled media, the Flames’ red and white teams skated to a 4-4 tie in a game punctuated by a lot of errant passes, missed shots, and general rust on both sides.

The rundown

Via the talented Pat Steinberg, here’s the scoring summary with goal notes added by me:
Score
Credit
Notes
1-0 Red
Dube (Lucic, Bennett) 2:50 1st
Wrister finishes off nifty passing play.
1-1
Lindholm (Monahan) 5:24 1st
Odd-man rush off turnover.
2-1 White
Rinaldo (Rieder) 5:49 1st
Rush goal off turnover.
2-2
Dube 2 (Valimaki) 13:00 1st
One-timer finishes nifty passing play.
3-2 Red
Bennett (Lucic) 16:33 2nd
Nice set-up pass by Lucic.
3-3
Gaudreau (Monahan, Gustafsson) PP 13:19 3rd
One-timer on 5-on-3.
4-3 Red
Lucic (Dube, Giordano) PP 13:44 3rd
Redirect in slot on 5-on-3.
4-4
Lindholm 2 (Gaudreau, Monahan) PP 13:50 3rd
One-timer on 5-on-3.

So, how’d they look?

Well, it was very much July hockey featuring a bunch of guys that hadn’t played competitive hockey in months. That said, there were good flashes here and there:
  • Dillon Dube, with two goals and assist, looked awesome. He stood out with both his burly lumberjack beard and his composed, speedy play.
  • Milan Lucic and Sam Bennett were also really good and were able to keep up with Dube.
  • Andrew Mangiapane broke up more passes than anybody else on the ice.
  • Juuso Valimaki didn’t look like someone who hadn’t played in over a year.
  • Adam Ruzicka didn’t look out of place playing with (and against) established pros.
Aside from the bright spots? Connor Mackey was rough early but settled in nicely. The goaltenders were both fine – Rittich was beaten short-side twice, but both were on odd-man rush situations off turnovers – and this wasn’t exactly a game where defensive play was top notch.
Lots of errant passes. Lots of misses shots. Lots of guys that looked like they were trying to find their timing and not quite succeeding.

Quotable

Up next

The Flames will scrimmage twice more this week as they try to replicate the different game day experiences they’ll have in Edmonton. They’ll head up to Edmonton next Sunday and play the Oilers on July 28.

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