Gogolev stepping up his game
Pavel Gogolev wants to make a statement this year with the Peterborough Petes and he’s done that in training camp.
The Petes’ 2016 first-round draft pick spent most of the playoffs in the press box and was in and out of the lineup late in the season. The skillful forward said he’s determined to not just be a regular this year but a key contributor.
Through three sessions of training camp scrimmages Tuesday and Wednesday he was the leading scorer. He capped it off by converting Bobby Dow’s pass by Jordan Smith 2:16 into overtime to lift Maroon to a 6-5 win in the annual Maroon and White game Wednesday night at the Memorial Centre.
Gogolev returned to Peterborough from his home in Russia in early July to workout with Pet es strength and conditioning coach Josh Gill am to be in the best position he could come training camp.
“I tried to push myself all the time and work hard thinking about how much I want to play and how important this year is going to be ,” Gogol ev said .“I think I did that and we’ll see how it goes.
“This is my NHL draft year and I want to lead this team and it’s one of the most important years of my life,” he said. “I wasn’t ready for last season at the start and I didn’t play a lot. I hope this year to show good at camp and I hope this year is going to be the year.”
Pet es head coach Jody Hull likes what he’s seen so far.
“We had a good exit meeting with Pavel and he knew some of the things he needed to get better at and be more consistent with,” Hull said.
“He showed he wants to take that next step. He came back from Russia on July 11 and worked out with our fitness guy and was on the ice on a regular basis. Since day one at camp he’s been a guy who has been noticed.
“He’s been finishing his checks. He’s been driving to the net. He’s been scoring goals. He’s doing a lot of good things and he’s playing with a little bit of confidence.”
Gogolev also set up Dow on a goal early in the third period to put Maroon up 4-3 in a game that went back and forth.
There were a number of players who stood out including free agent John Parker-Jones who led all scorers with two goals and an assist including an electrifying goal where he split the defence. Nick Robertson showed nice hands collecting are bound and then stepped around Dylan Wells to backhand the puck home, the only one of 33 shots to elude the veteran goalie. Robertson also added an assist. Nick Isaac son had ago al and assist ripping a shot in from the faceoff dot.
Also scoring goals were Chris Paquette, Isaac Emon, Matt McNamara, Alderic Denis and Matyas Svoboda. Logan DeNoble had two assists with singles to Alex Black, Graeme M cC rory, Cameron Supryka, Adam Timleck and Matt Timms.
In the nets, Hunter Jones stopped 19 of 21 shots and Blake Curran saved 15 of 18 in the Maroon net. Wells made 32 stops on 33 shots and Smith blocked 19 of 24.