Ritchie, Theodore, Pederson all score in Ivan Hlinka scrimmage

Toronto, ON — About 1500 fans, parents and scouts filed into the MasterCard Centre on a Saturday night in August for the Team Canada U-18 camp Red-White game, the first of three contests to be held over the long weekend.

Team Red won the first contest 3-0, which is being used as a tune-up and tryout for the 2012 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament, to be held August 13-18 in Piestany, Slovakia and Breclav, Czech Republic. With no TV or radio coverage of the event, this is fans' only chance to get an in-game look at some of the players competing.

The hitting in the game was pretty intense, and a couple of boarding penalties were handed out as players look to make an impression on the Todd Gill-led coaching staff. Players were out blocking shots even as the game was already decided when time ticked away in a late powerplay for Team White.

Here are a collection of thoughts from the contest:

-Team Red got on the board early on with a bang-bang play at centre ice by, who else, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin. The Halifax Mooseheads pair exchanged the puck at centre, opening up space for Nick Ritchie to move in with the puck. It was the only time that that group was able to click for a goal, as they were mostly shut down the rest of the game.

-The game's second goal was scored by Shea Theodore of the Seattle Thunderbirds, off an excellent play from his defensive partner Jordan Subban of Belleville. It may seem odd to have two defencemen leading a rush forward, but the forward group was headed off on a change. Subban took the puck from the side of his net over the opposing blue line and dished it off for Theodore.

It looked like the shot may have hit a stick before going over Mississauga goaltender Spencer Martin's outstretched glove hand, but it was a very impressive rush from Subban.

-With all the skill that Team Red had on their team, their lone powerplay goal of the contest came on a jam play. Up a man, Nick Baptiste brought the puck from the corner boards to the front of the net and began jamming away. It looked like Brent Pedersen of the Kitchener Rangers was there to put it home. Goaltender Tristan Jarry was buried in his net and didn't have much of a chance.

-One of the aspects of the tournament I'm looking forward to is how opposing teams shut down, or at least try to shut down, the promising duo of MacKinnon and Drouin. Since Team Canada has been averse to taking on draft-eligible players to the World Juniors in recent seasons, the Ivan Hlinka may be the last time MacKinnon and Drouin compete together for Canada. I don't expect MacKinnon to be around for the 2014 World Juniors...

International squads at this tournament probably won't have defencemen with the ability of Darnell Nurse and Aaron Ekblad, who were sent on for most shifts against the top pairing. There's been some buzz created about Nurse this week, and for good reason it seems. Granted, I've only watched him for a game, but he's very mindful of his surroundings and doesn't allow skilled guys to get too much space against him. Drouin and MacKinnon seemed to control the play a little more when they weren't out against those two.

These camps are fun because you get to see the best players from other leagues compete against one another, and it appears like the OHL won out this round.

-With the score 2-0 with about 11 minutes to go in the third period, Anthony Duclair had a chance to bring Team White to within one. A gaffe behind the net by Tri-City goaltender Eric Comrie left Duclair with a wide-open chance , but Comrie came across and appear to make amends with his stick. Duclair would take a penalty on the ensuing shift, the one that led to the third goal.

-Nic Petan was buried on the Portland Winterhawks' third line this season, despite the offensive tools to be in the top six and see some powerplay time. The amount of top-end talent kept him hidden in the lineup, b. Midway through the second period, Petan corralled a loose puck and came in on a breakaway, beating Zachary Fucale over the glove but his effort rang off the crossbar and stayed out.

Later, during a shootout for the goaltender's subbing out, Petan scored the winner on the same move, freezing Fucale with his stick handling and this time, getting the shot in just under the bar. Call him the WHL's Bo Horvat, if you will. Horvat showed some impressive speed, and he'll get more of a chance to display his skill with Hockey Canada than with in the Bottom Six in the London Knights system.