The Calgary Flames have officially finished up the 2024 Young Stars Classic in Penticton, and this was definitely one for the books. With one of the deepest prospect lineups in some time, the Flames absolutely came to play and did remarkably well in their three games, despite finishing the tournament with a 1–1–1 record. Here’s how it all went down.
The Flames lose Game One to the Winnipeg Jets
The Flames came into the tournament with a strong lineup up front and on defence, but were riding three undrafted goalies. In the first game against the Jets, the Flames played Connor Murphy of the Calgary Wranglers in this one.
Things did not start out well. Artyom Grushnikov gave the puck away in his own zone, and three passes later Nikita Chibrikov had beat Murphy to make it 1–0.
Minutes later, the Jets broke into the Flames’ zone, and all of the Flames’ defenders swarmed to the left side of the ice. Luke Misa tried to get back to get his man, but Connor Levis was wide open and beat Murphy up high to make it 2–0.
The Flames would answer back. Sam Morton tried to feed Matvei Gridin in front, but the puck took a weird bounce and ended up back with Morton who shot and scored.
Morton continued to buzz through the period. Later in the frame, he took the puck behind the net and fed Hunter Brzustwicz, who snuck in from the point to beat Thomas Milic and tie the game.
The Flames got into some penalty trouble in the third, and with Parker Bell in the box, Jacob Julien redirected a pass in front to give the Jets the lead again.
Later in the frame, Lucas Ciona chased down a loose puck after the Jets lost it at their own blueline. He then put the puck on net from a bad angle, Milic mishandled the puck, and Jaden Lipinski put the puck into the net to tie the game again.
This one would go to overtime. Zayne Parekh lost a battle at the blueline, which sprung two Jets on a clean two-on-zero breakaway, and Dmitry Kuzmin would beat Murphy to win the game.
The Flames and Jets traded momentum through this one, and it honestly could have gone either way. A good game from the Flames’ prospects.
Game Two was a big win over the Oilers
The Flames came into this one determined to show they deserved better following the heartbreaking overtime loss in the first game. Waltteri Ignatjew started this one as the Flames went with lines that were reasonably similar to those in the last game.
The team in red came out flying, pushing the Oilers hard to start the game, but one bad giveaway from Eric Jamieson led to Carl Berglund beating Ignatjew from right in front of the net.
However, this lead wouldn’t last long. On the power play, Luke Misa had an unbelievable pass cross-ice that found a wide-open Andrew Basha who ripped it into the top of the net to beat Connor Ungar.
Minutes later, Sam Honzek made a nice pass in the neutral zone to spring William Stromgren and Sam Morton on a contested two-on-one, and the latter beat Ungar cleanly to give the Flames the lead.
The Flames continued to give it to the Oilers through the second period but had many opportunities go wide. They really deserved an extra goal or two. The Oilers pushed in the third, but the Flames held it down defensively when it mattered.
With the net empty, Ignatjew had an attempt on goal that looked like it may have gone in were it not for a very high stick knocking it down. Luke Misa, who looked very good in this one, put the game away with an empty-netter to seal the win for the Flames.
Being on location for this game, the nuances and high hockey IQ plays of the Flames’ top prospects really stood out against their peers.
Flames play well but bad turnovers led to a loss against Canucks
The Flames went into Game Three against the Vancouver Canucks, who had one of the more impressive rosters of the four teams in Penticton. For the third game, they gave Morton, Brzustewicz, and Stromgren the game off, and iced a weaker roster than the other two games.
Despite this, the team came out flying. Etienne Morin picked off a weak pass from a Canucks blueliner on a breakout, gained the offensive zone, and found a streaking Matvei Gridin, who beat the Canucks’ netminder cleanly.
From there, the Flames kept it coming. Jacob Battaglia found Jaden Lipinski in the middle. He flipped it over to Zayne Parekh who skated up from the blueline and scored to double the Flames’ lead.
However, with just over a minute left in the period, Arshdeep Bains deflected a puck from right in front of the net to beat Ignatjew to cut the lead down to 2–1.
The second frame started off all Canucks, with the first goal being a beautiful deflection from Riley Patterson who tipped in a Danila Klimovich blast. Then the second was scored by Vilmer Alriksson, who took a great feed from Cooper Walker after he took the puck away from Eric Jamieson. Alriksson would then add one more off a bad angle shot that beat Connor Murphy—who was put in for the second half of the second and the balance of the game—to take a 4–2 lead.
The Flames would get one back. Gridin found a pinching Honzek on a contested breakaway, who beat the goalie cleanly over the pad, but that would be as close as the Flames would get. They ended the tournament 1–1–1.
Big takeaways from this tournament
Despite their record, this was one of the better years for the Flames in Penticton. The team showcased the depth of their prospect pool and the potential in their pipeline to the NHL in the coming years.
Of course, the team’s older prospects were the shining stars, with Morton and Stromgren really showcasing their skills. However, the prospects from the 2024 NHL Draft—namely Andrew Basha and Luke Misa—really impressed all tournament long.
While most of these prospects won’t get NHL games, this was a great proof-of-concept tournament for the Flames’ management. They got a chance to see just how good their prospect system really is, and the fact that the Flames performed as well as they did was a great sign that the team’s rebuild is progressing the right way.
What’s next for Calgary’s prospects?
That’s all for this year’s Penticton Young Stars Classic. The team will head back to Calgary from here, with the main camp opening soon with physicals. The Flames will then hit the ice and will take on the Seattle Kraken in their first preseason tilt on Sunday night. Expect cuts to happen quickly to many of the invitees and younger players, with the Flames starting off the season on October 9 against the Vancouver Canucks. Hockey’s back!
