The teams shake hands following the game. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

As has become tradition, Kettler Capitals Iceplex was packed to capacity Saturday for the final scrimmage of the team’s Development Camp and annual Fanfest. On a mid-July morning, hundreds were jammed into the team’s practice facility to watch prospects and college and free-agent invitees duke it out for the last time. Fans also took advantage of autograph sessions with Caps prospects and new Capitals center/rapper Mike Ribeiro, who met the media for the first time yesterday.

As for the game itself, Team Red won in thrilling fashion, pulling out a 4-3 victory in overtime. After red pulled their goaltender, T.J. Syner scored in the final minute of the third period. In overtime, Max Iafrate set-up free-agent invitee Greg Miller for a slam-dunk one-timer in the slot. Stan Galiev and Riley Barber also scored for the red team. Daniel O’Donoghue, Taylor Stefishen, and David Vallorani tallied white’s three goals.

Below, check out my shots from the final day of camp.

Photos from Fanfest

Adam Oates addresses the crowd.

P.A. man Wes Johnson unleashes the fury.

Garrett Haar walks out of the locker room.

Sergei Kostenko warms up.

Ribeiro signs for a fan.

Caps great Ron Langway signs autographs.

Puck drop.

Galiev fires off a shot.

Filip Forsberg (right) fights for the puck.

Patrick Wey delivers a crushing check.

Red celebrates Galiev’s goal.

Red celebrates another goal, this time from Riley Barber.

O’Donoghue scores White’s first goal.

Caps GM George McPhee speaks to reporters during the first intermission.

Ribeiro talks to the media.

A t-shirt toss from the Red Rockers at Kettler.

Radio play-by-play man John Walton calls the game for a live video stream on the team’s website.

Red celebrates Syner’s late goal.

Miller wins it.

Tom Wilson and Galiev embrace.

Max Iafrate (right) after the win.

Haar smiles after the victory.

Coach Adam Oates laughs after calling Ribeiro a “rapper.”

Sergei Kostenko’s mask features a surprising amount of English on it, not all of which makes sense.

Day four of Caps Development Camps got a lot more interesting than the previous day, with a fight, two penalty shots, and nine goals.

Team Red beat Team White in Thursday scrimmage by a final score of 6-3. Team Red’s goals were scored by Matt Bailey, Greg Miller, Cam Wojtala, 2012 first round pick Tom Wilson, and two from David Vallorani.  Team White’s three goals were scored by David Civitarese, Michael Quinn, and Christian Djoos.

Russian draftee Sergei Kostenko played in his first scrimmage after arriving yesterday from Russia and impressed with his performance for Team Red today, stopping tough shots through three periods, including a penalty shot attempt by blue-chip prospect Filip Forsberg.

My photos from today are below.

Photos

Filip Forsberg looking moody before puck drop.

Aussie free agent invitee Nathan Walker reaches for the puck.

Tom Wilson (red) plays defense.

The red team celebrates a goal.

Stan Galiev (red) in a fight for the puck.

Forsberg (white) gets tangled up near the boards.

I think Adam Oates wants to kill me.

Max Iafrate gets stuck on the opposing team’s bench after a check.

Kostenko receives congratulations after the first period.

Galiev races up the ice.

Free agent invitee Greg Miller scores a rather unorthodox goal.

Patrick Wey celebrates another Red goal.

Forsberg sliding butt-first into Sergei Kostenko after getting taken down on a semi-breakaway.

Kostenko makes the save on Forsberg in the ensuing penalty shot.

Another Red goal. Another Patrick Wey celebration.

Wilson scores on yet another penalty shot.

Forsberg reacts to a faceoff.

Red goal. Noticing a trend here?

Wilson (red) battles for the puck.

Wilson takes the puck up the ice.

Oates looks on.

Forsberg watches the action from the bench.

Galiev laughs while taking to reporters.

Oates speaks to the media.

Goalie coach Dave Prior answering questions from the media.

Caps Development Camp had its first fight today, coming after the final buzzer sounded on Thursday’s scrimmage, which Team Red won 6-3. Max Iafrate, son of former Cap Al Iafrate, dropped the gloves with 2012 third-round draft pick Chandler Stephenson after a scrum in front the white team’s net. The bout came after the squads were jawing at each other in the waning minutes of the game. (Some gems from Tom Wilson: ”What are you, 25? Let the kids play!” and ”Why you do us all a favor a take some skating lessons, [expletive]!”)

“Oates said he didn’t want us fighting, but when your [freaking] adrenaline gets flowing…” Iafrate told reporters at Kettler Capitals Iceplex immediately following the scrap. “I guess fight when the opportunity knocks. You don’t look for it.”

“I was playing the game,” Iafrate continued. “He kind of hit me after I put the puck down the ice. I kind of like swung my foot to try to trip him. Then he cross-checked me.”

Caps Head Coach Adam Oates was not impressed.

“I did talk to the guys [after practice]. I really don’t want that,” Oates said. “We’re all here under the Capitals umbrella. I know you want to show your stuff and there’s plenty of time for that down the road. But they still get frustrated at times and I understand that as well.”

Check out my photos of the scrap below.

Photos of the Fight

Tom Wilson jaws with a member of the white team.

As does Iafrate.

Photos by Chris Gordon

We know the Capitals have plenty of skill players, but when the team drafted Tom Wilson last month they added something else: a big, bruising forward who isn’t afraid to push people around. In the first two scrimmages of Washington’s Development Camp this week, that something was on display as the 6′ 3″, 205-pound winger bounced around the ice making a myriad of hits and occasionally jawing with prospects on the opposite team. This, it seems, is exactly what Capitals General Manager George McPhee was looking for when he took Wilson 16th overall, somewhat ahead of his projected draft slot.

“When we were in the middle of the playoffs I made a note after the games: remember these games when you’re at the draft,” McPhee told reporters in Pittsburgh after the pick. “Remember how intense they are, how physical they are, how demanding they are, and make sure you get someone who wants to play in that kind of stuff.”

At just 18-years-old Wilson still has more room to grow — as a player and perhaps in size — but so far he has impressed during Development Camp with his dominating physical presence, especially when matched up against fellow teenagers.

“The first thing I’ve noticed is that the compete level is really high which is great,” Wilson said of his experience so far in an interview at Kettler Capitals Iceplex Tuesday. “All the guys are competing for spots which is really good to see.”

He continued: “I think I just want to play my game and make a few hits and make things happen out there. I’m still learning trying to take as much from [new coach Adam] Oates as possible and implement that into my game. Just go out there, play my game, try and make things physical and see what happens.”

Though his ability to manhandle opposing players is the most important part of his game now — and probably the key to an NHL career — Wilson wasn’t always able to the play that way. In fact, he says his growth spurt is “fairly recent” and “was tough to adjust” to as he made the transition up to midget hockey.

Now that he does have the size, Wilson is often compared to Milan Lucic, a hulking forward for the Bruins who has notched over 60 points and 25 goals the last two seasons. It isn’t just other people who put him in Lucic’s mold. Wilson himself says the Boston winger is “definitely” the main player he’s patterned his game after.

The Lucic correlation, however, may be a bit of a stretch at the moment. While they both have massive frames (though Lucic has an inch and 20 pounds on Wilson), Lucic is also able to put up big offensive numbers consistently, something Wilson just hasn’t done yet as a single-digit goal scorer in junior hockey. But the upside is there. Though he scored just nine goals as bottom-six forward for the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers in the regular season, Wilson showed a huge increase in production when he was bumped up to a top spot in the playoffs after Plymouth suffered injuries to its forward corps. In 13 postseason games, he tallied 13 points including seven goals.

Wilson laughs as he exists the locker room.

“A couple guys went down who have great shots and that allowed me to get a little bit more playing time, a little bit more power play time,” said Wilson. “Had a few goals, got the confidence, kept it rolling, and just had a good playoff.”

In addition to his physical play during the action, Wilson is also know for his willingness to drop the gloves. As for a former high school rugby player, he is no weakling, though he did decide to stick to hockey because rugby is “a pretty gruesome sport.” In his two years playing junior hockey, he racked up almost 20 fights and TSN analyst Bob McKenzie called him one of the best fighters in this year’s draft class. Wilson insists, however, that he isn’t simply a goon who fights for show.

“I try and pick the right spots in a game to fight,” Wilson said. “If somebody gets cheap-shotted or if one of my teammates goes down, then I’ll step up. Or sometimes guys have problems with the way I play so I have to defend myself. I don’t really go out there and look for it that often.”

Time will tell if Tom Wilson makes in the NHL, whether as a dynamic top-six forward or gritty third- or fourth-liner. For now, he’s just a 18-year-old kid playing the sport he loves with a chance to live his dream.

“After I got drafted to the O[HL] pretty high, it sort of set in that maybe I could make this a career and run with it,” Wilson said.

“I’ve been pretty lucky,” he added.

2012 first-round pick Tom Wilson absorbs a big hit. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

Day two of Caps Development Camp took place today, with timed tests for the prospects in the morning and a scrimmage in the afternoon, but it was what was said off the ice that was most interesting. Olaf Kolzig talked about a possible lockout, Stan Galiev talked about gaining nearly twenty pounds, and Max Iafrate brought us the distressing news that his father now listens to rap music.

Connor Carrick had the quote of camp however, explaining what Adam Oates’ first day as coach was like. “He’s nervous, we’re nervous, everybody’s nervous so nobody’s nervous.” Somebody put that to music, we’ve got a new hit for Carly Rae Jepsen.

In regards to the scrimmage, Team Red avenged Team White after their 3-1 loss yesterday, and won today, 2-1. Australian Nathan Walker scored the white team’s lone goal, while the red team’s two tallies were scored by Aaron Gens and David Vallorani.

RMNB’s Chris Gordon was there to capture all the action. Check out his photos below the jump.

Photos of Day Two’s Scrimmage

Tom Wilson disses out a hit.

Stan Galiev waits for a faceoff.

New top pick Filip Forsberg battles for the puck.

Forsberg goes for a ride.

Bears coach Mark French delivers some instruction.

Wilson with the puck.

Larry Courville, the head coach of new the Caps’s new ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals.

Goalie prospect Steffen Soberg.

Garrett Haar speaks to the media.

Forsberg watches from the bench.

2012 draft pick Chandler Stephenson (white) fights for the puck.

Wilson carries the puck out of the defensive zone.

And plays some defense.

Caps GM George McPhee watches the action.

Wilson leaves the locker room.

Oates barking some orders.

Galiev watches the action from the bench.

Wilson has a laugh on the bench.

Thomas Di Pauli waits for a faceoff.

Chandler Stephenson looks on.

Olie Kolzig talks after the sessions.

Photo credit: Chris Gordon

There were 46 prospects invited to Caps Development Camp, but arguably the two that DC fans most wanted to see were brand new 2012 draftees Tom Wilson and Filip Forsberg. Wilson has been billed as a power forward in the mold of Milan Lucic, while Forsberg is a high-talent offensive player who the Caps were lucky to draft eleventh overall.

Both impressed on the first day of Development Camp, Forsberg with his skating skill and Wilson with the physicality we’d heard all about, hitting hard all throughout the scrimmage that took place in the later half of the day. RMNB’s Chris Gordon has got plenty of photos of the future Caps stars below.

Photos

Adam Oates, clearly thrilled, coaches his first game as the Caps’ bench boss, albeit not a real one.

Today was the opening day of the Capitals Development Camp, and new coach Adam Oates‘s first day on the ice as head coach. The first day featured a scrimmage, some goals, and glandular freak Tom Wilson destroying everyone like Godzilla let loose on Tokyo – and there’re still five days left to go! We assume at the end of the week they will all burst out of their cocoons and fly away as hockey butterflies.

After both sets of prospects had a chance to practice in the morning, all of them came to the ice for the first of five scrimmages that will take place this week.

Team White won the scrimmage today, 3-1, with Greg Miller scoring the red team’s lone goal. The white team’s three tallies were scored by Greg Burke, Travis Boyd, and Andrew Ammon.

RMNB’s Chris Gordon has pictures of all the action below the jump!

Photos From Day 1′s Scrimmage

Free agent invitee Brent Tate prepares for the drop of the puck.

2012 third-round pick Chandler Stephenson goes for a ride.

Red gets on the board.

Stan Galiev celebrates the goal.

Andrew Ammon, a free agent invitee, tallies for the white team from what we expect is not the most comfortable position.

The white team celebrates another goal.

Norwegian goalie prospect and 2011 fourth-round pick Steffen Soberg after the victory.

Stephenson congratulates Soberg.

Hershey Bear Cameron Schilling speaks to the media.

Galiev talks to the press.

Adam Oates holds court for the first time at Kettler.