CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. - The Florida Panthers closed the book on their annual development camp with an exciting 3-on-3 prospect tournament at the Panthers IceDen on Friday morning.
With Territory Members cheering on from the stands, the camp's 36-prospect roster was divided into three teams. Each of those teams - Team A, Team B and Team C - then alternated playing each other over the course of six games, which each lasted for 10 minutes with a running clock.
In the end, Team A and Team B each won three games.
'A lot of fun': Panthers close out D-Camp with 3-on-3 Tournament
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"I think it was great," said Geordie Kinnear, who serves as head coach of the organization's AHL affiliate in Charlotte. "You work all week, and you want a little fun at the end. I thought they did a good job of having some fun and also applied some of the concepts that we'd worked on all week. Ultimately they had a good time, and it was a good way to end the camp."
In Game 1, Mackie Samoskevich and Jakub Kos each scored during regulation before Santtu Kinnunen tucked a shot just around Tyler Muszelik's outstretched pad in the shootout to give Team B a 2-1 win over Team A. In Game 2, Samoskevich, Ethan Keppen and Colin Graf scored to lift Team A to a 3-2 win over Team C, which got goals from Patrick Giles and Tag Bertuzzi.
In Game 3, Ben Steeves registered a pair of goals - both coming within a span of less than 30 seconds - to fuel Team B to a 2-1 win over Team C, which received its lone goal from Bertuzzi. In Game 4, Calle Sjalin and Josh Davies touched twine for Team A in a 2-1 win over Team B.
"It was a good pace and good compete out there," said Davies, a sixth-round pick in this year's draft who possesses a mix of skill, speed and physicality. "Just having fun out there with all the guys and getting to know them, I'm looking forward to the future and playing alongside them."
In Game 5, Samoskevich, Jack Devine and Xavier Cormier all found the back of the net and Mack Guzda gobbled up every single shot he faced to send Team A to 3-0 win over Team C.
A first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, Samoskevich finished the tournament with three goals.
"There were a lot of great players out there, so it was definitely a lot of fun," said Samoskevich, who will return to Michigan for his sophomore season in the fall after making the B1G All-Freshman Team in 2021-22. "It was high pace, a higher pace than I thought. It was fun."
Kinnear said he was impressed with Samoskevich all week.
"He was buzzing," Kinnear said of Samoskevich's showing in the tournament. "He's an elite player. He showed that he's an elite player. I know that he's got a big August coming up going to the World Juniors. It's about momentum. He's a nice player to watch. I'm excited about him."
Ending an eventful morning of action with an exclamation point, Team B claimed a 3-2 win over Team C in Game 6. Giles and Kai Schwindt, the brother of Panthers prospect Cole Schwindt, recorded goals of Team C, while Steeves scored a pair and Kos added one more for Team B.
A late addition to the camp's roster, Steeves, who will be suiting up at Minnesota-Duluth during the upcoming season, was one of several undrafted camp invites that had a really strong week.
"I guess that's sort of my thing and what I try to do, to score goals," said Steeves, who led the tournament with four goals. "I went out there and scored a couple. I think that's important, to get out and show that I can shoot the puck."
Aside from the scoring, the four goaltenders, who rotated teams throughout the tournament, all had good showings, especially Guzda and Muszelik. Guzda, who signed with the Panthers in February, had several highlight-reel stops, while Muszelik, a sixth-round pick in this year's draft, had the biggest save of the morning when he came up in the clutch on a 2-on-0 rush in Game 3.
While 3-on-3 usually gives goaltenders nightmares, they all looked calm, cool and collected.
"I thought the goaltending was outstanding," Kinnear said. "In 3-on-3, if you get a grade-A chance at one end, you usually have another at the other end. That's what makes it exciting. It's not easy on the goaltender, but I thought they were pretty dialed in. It was fun to watch that."
A fitting end to the week, every prospect is now leaving South Florida with some new skills.
But for as much as they learned on the ice, the time they spent off of it was just as important. They volunteered at the Boys & Girls Club of Broward County, learned from a professional chef how to cook a healthy meal, and even spent an afternoon paddle boarding on the intercoastal.
"I think the biggest thing is that we didn't forget about fun, and we had a lot of fun this week," Steeves said. "That's what hockey's all about. Kudos to the Florida Panthers for having fun with us. … For the cooking, a lot of guys just threw some food together and it turned out to be good. That's what I did it. It was fun doing that. The paddle boarding was awesome, getting out in the water. This morning we had a beach workout. I think it's all gone by fast, but it's been a blast."
So much fun, in fact, that no prospect is itching to pack their bags.
"I loved every second of it," Samoskevich said. "I don't want to leave."
That's OK.
After all, we'll do it all again next summer.