Team White scored four unanswered goals as they defeated Team Green 8-4 in the first pre-season intrasquad game at Memorial Gardens Tuesday morning.
Lirim Amidovski led the White scoring parade with three goals while free agent Stefan Forgione and local Battalion prospect Jesse Lefebvre had two goals each. Veteran Owen Van Steensel rounded out the scoring for Team White.
Team Green was led by Brenden Boring with two goals, while singles went to Ethan Procyszyn and Nolan Laird in a game that featured only a handful of returners.
Veterans Dom DiVincentiis, Pasquale Zito, Ty Nelson, Paul Christopoulos, Justin Ertel and Anthony Romani did not play.
Adam Dennis, Battalion general manager, was impressed with the effort shown at camp which started off on the right foot with a great day of fitness testing on Monday.
"I thought yesterday was a great start to the week we have been really emphasizing the strength and conditioning aspect of our program and we are trying to draft guys with a big appetite for the grind," said Dennis after Tuesday's game.
"I think every year our fitness testing as a whole has gotten better, and more competitive and I think that is always how you want to start a camp and it carried into the first game so far. I thought it was very competitive and it is a pace we would love to keep for the rest of camp. I think it is some positive signs so far."
Ryan Oulahen was impressed too.
"First off you want to see some production and gains over the summer and as coach I am really excited for fitness testing and I got to witness our guys put in a lot of time," said Oulahen.
"We challenge them to come back at the of summer to come to camp in the best shape possible, our group did that so I acknowledged it to them this morning and I thought that was our first check mark accomplished this year. It is not like we have to spend extra time getting conditioned so the guys have done a really good job in that regard.
A total of 56, numbering 33 forwards, 18 defencemen and five goaltenders, were in attendance on the first day of camp which included one practice, fitness testing and one on-ice practice.
The benches were run by coach Scott Wray on Team White and Bill Houlder on Team Green. Ryan Oulahen was not on the bench, preferring to do his early evaluations from the stands.
"For me, it is kind of watching, I do not really have an expectation right now, I just like to watch during these games and see some guys kind of jump out to me in a positive regard and start to map things out in my head," said Oulahen.
The camp also included a large crop of local prospects including 2022 13th rounder Lefebvre, 2021 14th rounder Chase Thompson, 2021 13th rounder Kaedyn Long, 2023 U18 draft selections Nate Gravelle and Caleb Dawson along with U18 AAA Trappers defenceman Davis Anello who was a camp invite. North Bay's Ryan Daze was in attendance but is nursing a knee injury.
The two groups take a break but get back on the ice for another Green verus White intrasquad game at 5 p.m. at Memorial Gardens. Admission is free.