It is the first official activity in the Colorado Avalanche 2024-25 season.
The first official milestone of fall and the hockey season is upon us as the Colorado Avalanche rookies take to the ice today at 8:45 a.m. for one practice session at Family Sports Center before heading to Los Angeles for the weekend to participate in the Rookie Faceoff.
In California, the Avalanche prospects will play three games, one each against the rookie squads of Anaheim, Seattle, and San Jose. Typically these rookie tournament games are streamed by the host and a link will be provided when it becomes available.
The roster of rookies in competition for attention from the organization and a leg up heading to the NHL main training camp was released by the Avalanche last week. As expected top prospect Calum Ritchie headlines the group as well as the recently inked out of DU Sean Behrens. A few other familiar faces from the Colorado Eagles round out the group including forwards Oskar Olausson, Ondrej Pavel, Jason Polin, and Ivan Ivan.
Interestingly Nikolai Kovalenko wasn’t asked to participate and Jean-Luc Foudy was deemed graduated from rookie camp going into his fifth season of pro hockey. They both are expected to join the group for the main Avalanche camp.
The one session of rookie camp in the state of Colorado will be mostly a light group practice but some hints as to which lines the coaching staff are thinking of and who might figure to see usage on each special teams unit.
Fireworks are saved for game time and usually, the line up for the Friday game is stacked for the greatest impact. The following two game groups will mix in more invites and scratches from the first game in a quieter showing.
Who are you excited to see? What defines a good rookie camp?