2024 Rookie Faceoff Recap

On Monday, the Avalanche played the third and final game of the 2024 Rookie Showcase, a 6-3 loss against the San Jose Sharks. Over the past three games, several Avalanche prospects made strong impressions ahead of training camp, which begins on Thursday.

Game One vs. Anaheim Ducks

The Avalanche put up a strong fight in Friday’s game against the Ducks, but fell just short, losing 4-3.

After the Ducks took a 2-0 lead, the Avalanche struck with a power-play goal from Jason Polin, who took a cross-ice feed from Calum Ritchie and scored from the left circle to cut Colorado’s lead in half in the second period. Sean Behrens, who picked up the secondary assist on the goal, did a great job of walking the line before finding Ritchie at the right circle.

Following a third Ducks goal, Ritchie won a left-circle faceoff straight back to Oskar Olausson, who ripped a wrist shot into the net to make it a 3-2 game in the third period. The Ducks would score again to double their lead, but Max Curran answered for the Avalanche, firing a wrist shot from the high slot on the power play late in the third period.

Game Two vs. Seattle Kraken

The Avalanche were back at it on Saturday, falling 5-1 to the Kraken. Despite the loss, goaltender Jake Barczewski made several incredible saves throughout the game, and Polin scored his second goal of the weekend.

Game Three vs. San Jose Sharks

The Avalanche opened the scoring when Ritchie skated around Sharks defenders and sent a cross-ice pass to Matt Stienburg, who fired a left-circle one-timer past Dawson Cowan.

Colorado doubled its lead later in the period when Benjamin Brunelle scored his first goal of the Rookie Faceoff on a net-front drive.

After San Jose scored five unanswered goals, Keaton Mastrodonato scored Colorado’s third goal of the game off the rush with a left-circle wrist shot.

Next up for the Avalanche is training camp and the pre-season. The schedule for training camp can be found here.