Extinction: Flames vs. Dinos Recap

To wrap up the final day of rookie camp, the baby Flames took to the ice to face the University of Calgary Dinos in their annual game. It would be one final hurrah for the kids, as most of those at camp would return to junior immediately after. For the Dinos, tonight's game was the first of the season, and it certainly showed in the 5-1 loss to the prospects, where the Flames dominated for almost the entire 60.

Flames lines were:

Out were Sam Bennett, Emile Poirier, and Mason McDonald. Gillies was originally supposed to be scratched, but McDonald was left out in the last minute. No word on what's happened, but it's apparently nothing serious.

This is a game that the Flames have traditionally dominated, so it was no surprise that they came out flying to begin the game. The first goal of the night came off of the stick of Kenney Morrison just 95 seconds in, assisted from one of our favourite in Penticton, Pavel Karnaukhov. Morrison showed off his powerful slapshot on the goal, leaving Dinos goalie Steven Stanford no hope.

The Flames continued to sustain pressure on the Dinos, forcing Stanford to make a couple very nice saves to keep the game reasonable. Even after an interference call on Chris Collins, the Flames seemingly couldn't crack the Dinos goaltending.

Then the flood gates opened. Morgan Klimchuk received a nice pass from Bill Arnold and slided it past poor Stanford to make the game 2-0. 53 seconds later, Kylington slid a nice pass to Karnaukhov, who made it 3-0 prospects. Just 29 seconds after that, Tyson Baillie scored, with Hunter Smith and Ryan Lomberg assisting.

Another Dinos penalty passed by, and the first period ended 4-0 for the Flames, leading 13-6 in shots.

The second began without many fireworks, considering this game was pretty much already over. Austin Carroll took a two minute high sticking call, which was killed without incident. He was also involved in an almost fight with an unwilling Spencer Edwards, both receiving roughing penalties for the fracas. Carroll seems to have taken the philosophy of Truculence to heart. He was seen last night aggressively boxing out kids during a pickup game. This guy never quits.

One scary pre-season moment was when a Dino attacked collided with Jon Gillies midway through the period. Gillies looked shaken at first, but got back up on his own volition and remained in the game. We'll have to wait for information, but everything seems alright.

And that was pretty much the second. The Flames still led 4-0, and outshot the Dinos 10-3 during the frame.

The third began with Nick Schneider in net, Gillies being removed for precautionary reasons (also it was 4-0).

Again, nothing much of anything happened during this period until former Flame and current Dino Coda Gordon scored with under six minutes remaining in the game. 4-1 Flames.

But that didn't hold up for long. Pavel Karnaukhov decided that the Flames would win by four goals, and made a mad dash to the net for his second goal and third point of the night. Kylington and Morrison had the helpers, reaffirming their dominance on the blueline tonight. 5-1 Flames.

Cheers:

• Pavel Karnaukhov is looking mighty fine for a fifth round pick. It's going to be exciting to see what he could do this year for the Hitmen.
• Sure, they weren't playing against spectacular talent, but Morrison and Kylington played out of their minds today. Morrison finished with a goal, an assist, and a +3. Kylington had two assists, and was +4. He could've been on the ice for every goal, but if you score three in just under 90 seconds, you probably deserve a break.

Jeers:

• Well it has to go to the organizers of this event. They charged $20 at the door for admission to a game featuring future NHL pros versus university kids. Attendance was reportedly dismal. Money wasn't a factor here, as almost none of the people involved were getting paid. If you want to have people show up while showing a bit of goodwill, ask people to make donations to the food bank or something.
  
• Austin Carroll racked up six penalty minutes without doing much else. It's against the Dinos, man. You don't need to try that hard. At least Hunter Smith had an assist.

Up Next:

The Flames begin training camp tomorrow, in anticipation of their preseason date with the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Yes, somewhat meaningful hockey is that close.