Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

First Golden Knights scrimmage is a fierce clash

Golden Knights First Practice

L.E. Baskow

Players cruise about the ice during a drill as the Golden Knights hold their first on ice practice during their inaugural Development Camp at the Las Vegas Ice Center on Tuesday, June 27, 2017.

It didn’t even take 30 seconds for someone to fly headfirst into the boards.

In the opening minute of the first scrimmage in Golden Knights team history, Nick Suzuki attempted to speed past fellow first-round pick Erik Brannstrom.

Brannstrom cut Suzuki off, shoved him to the ice and they both crashed into the end boards.

It was the first battle of a game-long war between the two 17-year-olds who were chosen only two spots from each other in the draft last week. The Golden Knights held their first scrimmage Thursday afternoon, with Team Gray playing Team White over three 20-minute periods in front of fans at the Las Vegas Ice Center.

“I love playing games and being in that battle,” Suzuki said. “He kind of laid me out in the first shift. We were going at it but I’ve gotten to know him pretty well over the last few days, and he’s a great guy and we get along really well.”

Early on, Brannstrom stole the show. At only 5-foot-10, 172 pounds, he is undersized as a defenseman, but he doesn’t play like it. The Swede was involved in nearly every play and continuously body-checked opponents into the boards.

“I work a lot on the angles because I’m not that tall,” Brannstrom said. “I work on them every day.”

And while his work on the defensive end was most impressive, he also found the back of the net on a laser of a shot following an offensive zone face-off win.

“I am just trying to play my game and I thought it went pretty well out there,” Brannstrom said.

University of Michigan product Jake Slaker scored the first goal, and Jack Dugan, Alex Tuch and Alex Barre-Boulet also found the back of the net.

And while Brannstrom got the best of Suzuki early, the forward finished strong with two goals in the final minutes of the scrimmage.

“You’re playing with a bunch of different line-mates, so by the end I felt a lot more comfortable out there so I was lucky enough to get a couple goals,” Suzuki said. “The game really shows the player I am with being able to read the play really quick. I feel like I’m not a great practice player, but in games I thrive.”

In case there was any question how serious the players took this scrimmage, down two goals in the final minutes, Team Gray pulled the goalie in a last-ditch attempt to tie the game.

With only seconds left, a Team White defender dove into the goalpost to stop an empty net attempt, knocking the net off its posts.

“You definitely want to win,” Suzuki said. “There’s no point in going out there to play if you don’t want to win. We almost came back but we were down too much.”

Team Gray came away with the 5-4 win. The team will scrimmage again today at 10 a.m. and Saturday at 10:15 a.m.

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