It might have only been a three-on-three scrimmage and the first game of training camp for the veterans, but Moose Jaw Warriors overage forward Eric Alarie looked like a man on a mission on Friday night.
Alarie scored five goals, hit a couple posts and was one of the most dominant players on the ice as his Team Black battled to a back-and-forth 10-8 win over Team White at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
About as good a start as any player in camp could have hoped for, and one Alarie was happy to have under his belt.
“With three-on-three you get lots of ice and things went pretty well out there,” he said. “It’s the start of camp and it was the second skate of the day, so it was pretty tiring and I’m proud of what the boys did. I went out and gave it my best and felt I did pretty well, so that’s a good start.”
Alarie had a bit of an advantage in that he took the ice with Tate Schofer and Lynden Lakovic, two players he’d seen ice time with last season. In a situation like Friday night, that helped make all the difference.
“I was lucky enough to play with Schof and Lak a bit last year, so we had a bit of chemistry going on and we took advantage of the other team not having quite as much,” Alarie said.
Lakovic, Andrej Tomasec, Brady Ness and Lucas Brenton also scored for the Black, while Atley Calvert, Josh Hoekstra, Denton Mateychuk, Ben Riche, Ahmed Assaf, Patrik Kral, Pavel McKenzie and Ryan Seeley scored for Team White.
All four overagers currently in camp -- Alarie, Calvert, Hoekstra and Brenton -- hit the scoresheet in the game and looked dominant at times on the ice, something that was of little surprise to Alarie knowing the stakes of camp and the pre-season when it comes to cracking the line-up.
“We’re four guys skating here and we’re all trying to make the team,” he said. “It’s a nice competition to have, it makes you play better and takes your game to a whole new level. So I’m excited for this camp to go on and not only battle with the 20-year-olds but every single player that’s in camp.
“Hopefully it’ll keep going like it did for me today, but I’m not looking too much into it. I always try and do my best and go out on the ice and what happens happens.”
If things keep going like this for Alarie, it wouldn’t be unique -- Tristin Langan came into training camp as an overager in 2017-18 and essentially did what Alarie did in every scrimmage. His 40 points the previous campaign translated into 113 that season, something Alarie is hoping will be in the cards for him, as well.
“When I was 15, I remember seeing Langan dominating the three-on-three and the five-on-five and being who he is,” Alarie said. “It’s my goal to come in here every single year and expect to have a good season, I work hard all summer for it. So I’m excited to be a 20-year-old in this league and I want to show what I’m capable of.”
Training camp continues with main camp all day Saturday, followed by the Black White Intrasquad game at 12 p.m. Sunday.
