Recap: 2024 Avalanche Development Camp, Day Three

Goodbye, team-sanctioned activities until September.

The final day of the 2024 Colorado Avalanche Development Camp was shorter in terms of practice time, with more attention and focus on the scrimmage in the afternoon. Hence, the morning session was only for goaltenders and a big group practice which didn’t even last an hour.

The goaltenders got loose with drills, but it was nothing spectacular. We got a clear look at the back of new man Louka Cloutier’s helmet, which donned a fun quote. Also notable was watching Pavel Francouz and Matt Davis have several individual chats, which had to be some interesting conversation.

Notably, from the beginning of the session, Oskar Olausson looked the best he had in these three days on the ice. He’s still recovering from shoulder surgery that kept him off the ice for the rest of last season and is just getting back skating in a red non-contact jersey. Give him some time, and he should be back to his regular self come October for Colorado Eagles training camp.

The afternoon scrimmage was divided into two 25-minute halves with a running clock. Bret Link opened the scoring for Burgundy with a nice move on Eagles goaltending hopeful Jake Barczweski. Boston Buckberger also impressed with the second goal for Burgundy, with his future DU head coach David Carlile in attendance.

Avs-draftee Nikita Prishchepov scored the lone goal for Team White with a one-timer past the other Avs-draftee Louka Cloutier. Finally, Cal Ritchie left his mark with some great looks on Matt Davis in net and assisted Jake Fisher on a breakaway goal to give Burgundy the 3-1 lead heading into the halftime break.

In the second half, Team White would quickly respond with Eagles defender Garrett Pyke snuck a one-timer past a sliding Nils Wallstrom but was responded promptly by Ritchie assisting Fisher again, this time on the power play to double the Burgundy lead.

The game would open up from here, with Team White responding with two quick goals to even it up at four from Miles Cooper and Colby Ambrosio, with the latter of the two stealing the puck in the neutral zone and speeding into the zone for the goal.

Hence, we went to a shootout to decide the scrimmage winner, with Team Burgundy coming out on top with shootout goals from Link, Christian Humphreys, and the winner from Marek Hejduk.

Wrapping up Development Camp is a bittersweet moment. Not only is it the end of team-sanctioned events until September with Rookie Camp and Training Camp, but we also get a great idea of the organization’s future. Aside from the tweet below, here are some other takeaways from a few other names.

Fresh off signing his ELC, Chase Bradley was good in drills and practices but never really impressed in the scrimmage. As a middle-six forward at UCONN, he will likely hold a similar place in Loveland with the Eagles and not much else.

On the other hand, Colby Ambrosio was great in the latter half of the camp. He showed excellent power, speed, and hands to score some nifty goals and grab the coaching staff’s attention. The Avs have a decision to make with him, as they lose his rights in August. Do they sign him to an ELC and fit him in with the Eagles, or let him return to college hockey as a free agent?

Plenty of decisions are to be made as we enter the dog days of summer for hockey. We’ll have to see if the team decides there is a future for any of the invites and if they choose to sign Ritchie to his ELC while he is in town. What were your biggest takeaways from Development Camp? Let us know in the comments below!