T-Birds training camp: Volcan shines as Team Blue beats Team White

By Andy Eide

KENT — The Seattle Thunderbirds wrapped up their training camp Saturday night with the annual Blue-White game. The Blue team held on to win 5-4 and were paced by two goals and an assist from Nolan Volcan.

Volcan turned in an impressive camp this year and the speedy forward from Edmonton appears poised for a big season.

“It’s gone good, pretty smooth,” Volcan said about training camp. “I mean, it just feels like anything I’m throwing at the net is going in. It’s been fun so far and hopefully it carries on into the preseason and regular season.”

The T-Birds are hoping that he keeps throwing the puck at the net all year as Volcan, Scott Eansor and Jamal Watson have been an impressive line so far. All three players have speed and create match up problems for the opposing forwards and defenseman. Volcan played most of last season with Eansor and their chemistry was already there. Watson is the new comer but he has gelled with the two returning players quickly, which is somewhat surprising given how little the three have practiced together.

“We just compliment each other well,” Volcan said of his line. “Scotty’s got good skill in the corners and Watson is just so fast that it just creates space for both us. Its been fun.”

Its been fun to watch as well and the three give Seattle a strong second line. Mathew Barzal will most likely start the year centering the T-Birds top line, along with Ryan Gropp and Keegan Kolesar. That line will have to face the opposing team’s top defensive pairing on most nights which means that Volcan’s line will get to go up against lesser opponents. That is something that could be huge for the T-Birds.

Volcan and Eansor made their mark last year as the ‘shut down’ line for the T-Birds. They still possess the ability to defend and make life hard on puck carriers trying to get up ice, but this year they look like they’re going to score more. Volcan says going against tough forwards last year, has really helped him.

“Last year going against guys like (Nic) Petan and (Leon) Draisaitl really shaped my game and helped me complete my game,” he said. “We should have a lot of scoring chances that hopefully we capitalize on.”

As a 16 year old rookie last year Volcan scored nine goals to go with 14 assists. Those are not bad numbers for a player that age, but the way he’s playing in camp, those numbers are sure to rise. Volcan has said that he doesn’t like to set a specific number of points he wants to score in the season and instead focused on working to improve certain aspects of his game in the summer.

“Just burying my chances and worked on my shot for sure,” he said about improvements he’s looking for. “I mean last year my shot was ok but I thought it could improve, get more accurate and a little more power. That’s really the thing I worked on this summer along with skating. I wanted to get another gear.”

It was a busy summer for Volcan as he was invited to Team Canada’s U18 camp for the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in the Czech Republic. He didn’t make the cut and the loaded Canadian team would go on to dominate the tournament and win gold. That was definitely a disappointment for the young forward, but he’s using it for motivation.

“I felt like I had a good camp,” he said. “I was a little depressed not being selected for the team. I learned a lot and it got me ready to come to Seattle and get the season underway.”

Here are other notable observations from Saturday’s game:

Decision time for Ormsby and Shore

Luke Ormsby and Baker Shore both have played well in camp so far. Has it been good enough to get a roster spot? We will find out this week as the two 16 year olds will either be given a roster spot and sign with team or return home. Since neither U.S. born player have signed with the T-Birds yet, they most likely would not play in next weekend’s preseason games as they would lose NCAA eligibility. If either are playing next weekend then it would most likely mean that they will be on the roster this season.

Wedman finishes strong

Another 16 year old looking to make the squad is Matthew Wedman. Wedman finished a strong camp with two goals Saturday night and while there is still time to go before the season starts, the 2014 second round pick looks like he might have earned himself a spot on the roster.

Defense appears set

Barring anything out of the ordinary happening it appears that the T-Birds defensive group is set. Returning players Jared Hauf, Jerret Smith, Ethan Bear, Turner Ottenbreit and Sahvan Khaira are all locks to make the roster. It looks like they will be joined by 2014 first round pick Jarret Tyszka and 17 year old Brandon Schuldhaus. The only question that really remains is what the pairings and rotation will be heading into the season. All seven players have turned in solid camps and the T-Birds should have a quality defense again this year.

Holiday Preseason Tournament important

While its only preseason, next weekend’s tournament in Everett is important. It’s the last time before the season that head coach Steve Konowalchuk will have his full compliment of players and his last chance to look at line combinations. After the weekend, Barzal, Gropp, Bear, Kolesar, Gustav Olhaver, Turner Ottenbreit, Watson and Eansor will all be headed to NHL camps for various rookie tournaments. They will miss the following weekend games and some will get invites to NHL main camps and have the potential of missing Seattle’s opening game on September 25th. The T-Birds first game of the tournament is on Friday morning against the Tri City Americans at 11:30 am.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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