DEVELOPMENT CAMP TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK
CRANBERRY, Pa. – The most highly-anticipated event of every annual Development Camp is the scrimmage tournament. The enthusiasm derives from a number of factors: fans are excited to watch competitive hockey for the first time in weeks, fans are excited to get their eyes on recent draft picks and other touted prospects, and pundits are excited to watch something other than practice for the first time in days.
This year’s tournament at the conclusion of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2025 Development Camp was played in front of a packed house at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, and the fans got what they came for. High pace, some big hits, and plenty of competitive, tightly-contested hockey to wet their whistles.
Team Stevens won the Michel Brière Trophy as champs when it was all said and done, but a full summary of Monday afternoon’s events are outlined below.
For starters, the tournament format was played in a round-robin format with campers split into three teams. Games were played with four skaters a side and a 25-minute running clock. Ties at the end of 25 minutes immediately went to a best-of-three shootout.
GAME 1 – STEVENS 4 vs. PATRICK 0
Team Stevens kicked off the day’s festivities with an explosive showing, much to the delight of the hundreds of Penguins fans who took time out of their Monday to watch (seriously, there was no space to be found in the stands or in the parking lot.)
Team Stevens notched a pair of quick goals to set the tone, then started stretching things out to put Team Patrick on its heels.
Quinn Beauchesne, who Pittsburgh drafted in the fifth round of this summer’s draft, had drawn a lot of positive attention for his play in practice this week, and he took it a step further in the first game of the tournament. The defenseman was omni-present on almost every shift in Game 1, throwing his weight around, activating in the offensive zone, and making some really impressive reads with the puck on his stick.
It was another 2025 draft pick, first-rounder Bill Zonnon, who ultimately extended Team Stevens’ lead to 3-0. Billy Z’s fingerprints were all over this dominant showing by Team Stevens, even without the goal. Zonnon pours the pressure on puck carriers and gives them no time to think, even in exhibition environments like this.
Eventually, a pair of AHL-contracted forwards combined to put the game away. Aaron Huglen forced a neutral-zone turnover and shuffled the puck to Nolan Renwick, who proceeded to bury an empty netter from the opposite blue line. Huglen received a shoutout from Penguins Director of Player Development Tom Kostopoulos after the tournament as an unheralded standout from the week’s events.
“I would say Huglen stood out,” he said. “He’s a guy I didn’t know a ton about coming into this. Our scouts liked him. I’ve only seen him on video a few times, and chatted with him a few times, but I think he left a really good impression.”
There were no official shot totals tabulated during the scrimmage, but Game 1 ended in a 25-minute shutout for invite goaltender Joshua Kotai. Remember that name for later…
Game 2 – STEVENS 3 vs. JOHNSTON 1
Team Johnston had Team Stevens on the ropes after the latter’s strong showing in Game 1, but a late surge in the last two minutes of play improved Team Stevens to 2-0.
A beautiful drive to the crease and finish from recent first-rounder Will Horcoff started the scoring roughly four minutes in. Horcoff had himself an impressive week both on the ice and in the weight room. He’s unafraid to use all of his 6-foot-5 frame, but he’s got some touch with the puck on his stick too.
The second-generation power forward almost made it a two-goal lead on an ensuing shift, showing excellent patience while shuffling around a sliding defender on a two-on-one rush.
Team Stevens stayed in the hole until a nifty feed from Jake Sondreal found Ryan Miller wide open in the slot, and Miller did not miss. That made it a tie game with two minutes left to play.
Then in the blink of an eye, Team Stevens took the lead on a wicked snipe by defenseman David Breazeale with 1:38 to go. Even before the goal, Breazeale was noticeably jumping up into the rush in his squad’s first two contests. The 25-year-old rearguard was humming in the open ice of four-on-four hockey. Breazeale kept it simple in his two AHL games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season, but he was happy to unlock a more aggressive mindset today.
Undrafted invitee Iiro Hakkarainen mopped things up with an empty-net goal with 47.8 left, his second tally in as many games.
Game 3 – PATRICK 4 vs. JOHNSTON 3 (SO)
With Team Stevens at 2-0, their two victims went head-to-head in the last game of the round robin with the stakes clearly defined: Win and advance, lose and pack your bags.
Both teams embraced the urgency and kicked things off with a lightning-like pace to start. This resulted in Cruz Lucius launching a drag-and-snap missile to the back of the net two and a half minutes in for a 1-0 Team Johnston lead.
Tommy Budnick announced his presence with authority during this game. At one point, he stepped up for a huge open-ice hit on Carter Sanderson, a blow that drew a big “Oooooo” from the crowd in unison. Shortly thereafter, Oliver Tulk combined with fellow invite Ty Hanson to make it 2-0 with five minutes in the books.
At this point, Team Patrick had been out-scored 6-0 through 30 minutes of gameplay, but that was about to change.
One of Pittsburgh’s three 2025 third-rounders, Brady Peddle, broke Team Patrick’s drought with seeing-eye shot from the point eight and a half minutes in. Buzzing from their first goal of the tournament, they kept their foot on the gas and were rewarded again. Harrison Brunicke set a heavy pick on Finn Harding, thus opening up enough space for Chase Pietila to tuck one neatly under the crossbar. Team Johnston didn’t like the no-call, but it was a tie game.
At this point, Team Patrick really started to put Team Johnston on its heels. They kept getting numbers up ice, but either strong transition D or Johnston’s last line of defense, Justin BriseBois, held firm. On one occasion, soon-to-be-pro Zach Urdahl wowed by letting everyone know he’d been working on his Crosby hand-eye coordination drills. An arial pass from the Patrick zone was knocked out of midair at the far blue line by Urdahl for a clean breakaway. The former University of Nebraska-Omaha Maverick tried to go between the legs, but was ultimately stoned by BriseBois.
Speaking of which, Urdahl can scoot. His get-up-and-go created numerous challenges for opposing defenders, even if his team had yet to earn a lead at this point.
Budnick continued to frazzle members of Team Patrick during the 2-2 stalemate. At one point, he and Travis Hayes were giving one another the business after a whistle. Super competitors like those two can create combustible situations, but both players decided to walk away before they got too hot. Standing behind the Johnston bench, Kostopoulos seems to like the snarl from Budnick.
Kostopoulos’ crew went back ahead, 3-2, with Horcoff doing the damage once more. He snapped one five-hole with three minutes to play, an opportunity generated thanks to a fierce backcheck by Lucius.
“The one play I was most impressed with (by Lucius) in the games was on Horcoff’s goal, he set the whole thing up by tracking back and forcing the turnover,” Kostopoulos said. “It was good to see him get rewarded offensively. He knows this is a huge year for him. He has to prove what kind of player he can become. He’s been working hard throughout the summer, and I know he’s going to push himself, so this is going to be a big season for him.”
Lucius was acquired as part of the package the Penguins received from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Jake Guentzel back in February of 2024, and he will be back at Arizona State University in the fall.
It looked like Lucius and Horcoff’s effort was going to propel them to the final, but Brunicke had other plans. The 19-year-old buried a bar-down one-timer with 8.9 left and tied the game at three goals apiece. Travis Hayes won the faceoff.
That sent the game to a shootout. Ben Kindel and Lucius exchanged pretty conversions in the second round, and Brunicke tucked in the winner in round three. With that, Team Patrick went to the final, and Team Johnston was left with broken hearts.
Another note, Team Johnston’s Sasha Teleguine can fly. Several times, the undrafted invite from Lake Superior State University he showcased effortless acceleration in open ice. He didn’t score, but that speed was hard to ignore.
CHAMPIONSHIP – STEVENS 3 vs. PATRICK 2 (SO)
After the dramatic finish to the win-or-go-home conclusion to the round robin stage, Team Patrick enters the prestigious Development Camp Prospects Challenge Final looking to avenge their lopsided defeat from the start of the day’s activities.
Team Patrick gave them all they could handle, but in the end, Team Stevens came from behind to emerge as undefeated champions.
Pietila buried a rebound on the rush, granting Team Patrick its first lead of the tournament six minutes in. Another rebound conversion extended that lead to 2-0, but this time, it was Sanderson cleaning up his own trash after leaking behind Team Stevens’ defense.
Team Stevens had a great chance to get on the board when Renwick collected a lead pass for a breakaway, but Brunicke caught him from behind before Renwick even got to the top of the circles. Watching Brunicke skate doesn’t get old.
Kotai then conjured a jaw-dropping save on what looked like a sure goal on the backdoor. It was a “remember that one” type save that kept his team in the fight.
Kotai served as an interesting invite to Development Camp. He played at Augustana University, and in the program’s second season as a Division-I outfit, he was responsible for 17 of the team’s 18 wins. He collected a whopping 1.92 goals against average and .939 save percentage. That big stop with Team Stevens down by two was mighty impressive in the moment, and proved paramount given what happened next…
Miller lit the lamp during a four-on-three power play, brining Team Stevens within one with eight and a half to go. Miller, a Penguins fifth-round pick last week, looked better with each game, and he scored one in the clutch here.
“[Miller] made an impact out there almost every shift he was on the ice,” Kostopoulos said. “He was on the puck. You see when players keep getting the puck, you can tell that they’re into the game. He was all over it. It was nice to see his compete level, and I think there’s a lot there to work with.”
Four minutes later, a lovely, lovely, lovely pass by 2024 seventh-rounder Mac Swanson found Hakkarainen for a tuck atop the crease and a 2-2 tie.
Kotai made another big stop on the next shift, stalling Kale Dach on a late breakaway.
Gabriel D’Aigle, goaltender drafted by Pittsburgh last week, denied Sondreal with the tip of his glove right before the buzzer, sending us to a second consecutive shootout. But this time, it was for all the marbles.
Miller and Caden Taylor both converted for Team Stevens, while Kotai stopped both shooters he faced. With that, Team Stevens celebrated their victory and posed for their photo with the Michel Brière Trophy.
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