Golden State Rookie Tournament Recap

By Thomas Harrington

The Ducks played two games at the Golden State Rookie Faceoff and lost both of them, first to the San Jose Sharks and then to the Los Angeles Kings. The record in these kinds of tournaments doesn’t matter to me, what does matter is how the players looked on the ice. Nico Myatovic was Anaheim’s captain for the weekend, while Tim Washe and Stian Solberg were the alternates. All three goaltenders who came to the tournament played in two periods of action. Ian Moore and Coulson Pitre did not play in either game, meaning Anaheim had the same group of forwards and defensemen for both games. Despite being only two games, this was a nasty tournament, as both games featured multiple fights, with Konnor Smith dropping the gloves in both games.

Game 1 Recap – Ducks vs Sharks

Vyacheslav Buteyets got the start in game one. He only played the first two periods and Michael McIvor took over in the third in a planned goaltending chance. The Ducks had a strong first period, but the Sharks took the game over in the second and third periods. One area that San Jose really excelled in was blocking shots, as the Ducks were limited to only a handful of shots on goal over the final two periods. San Jose opened the scoring early, scoring on the first shot of the game. It wasn’t a bad goal, but it’s one that Buteyets would probably like back. However, after that goal, he played much better through the end of the second, making a number of difficult saves, and the only other goals that beat him, he had little chance of stopping. 

Alexis Mathieu tied the game for Anaheim, with a seeing-eye point shot. Tarin Smith made the goal happen with some great stickhandling to gain the offensive zone. The Sharks retook the lead late in the first, with their first powerplay goal of the night. In the second, Washe tied the game on the powerplay, tipping a point shot from Solberg. Beckett Sennecke picked up the second assist on this goal, his only point of the game. San Jose scored to make it 3-2 with their second powerplay goal of the night. 

Early in the third, Solberg made a great pass and Sennecke had a breakaway, but he was stopped. Moments later, San Jose scored off a bad turnover to double their lead. San Jose followed that up with their third powerplay goal of the game to make it 5-2. Yegor Sidorov scored a powerplay goal of his own to cut the lead to 5-3, and Solberg picked up his second point of the night on the goal, with Myatovic getting the other assist. The Sharks scored into the empty net and won 6-3.

Overall, it wasn’t a great first game by the Ducks, but it wasn’t a terrible one either. It was definitely a messy one, with several penalties and poor penalty killing. I was impressed with Solberg, Tarin Smith, and Konnor Smith; I thought all three played very well on defense. Konnor Smith in particular impressed me with how much he was jumping into the play. At forward, I thought Sidorov was probably Anaheim’s best player, with Washe also having a strong game. Sennecke wasn’t bad, but he was not the dominant player I was hoping for. In net, even though they allowed a combined five goals, I thought both Buteyets and McIvor played well. I was excited to see a top line of Sennecke, Washe, and Sidorov, and they did have some good shifts, but didn’t record any even strength points.

Game 2 Recap – Ducks vs Kings

Tomas Suchanek got the start in game two, his first game in about 17 months after missing all of last season with an injury. Other than one major miscue, he looked pretty good. Neither team scored in the first and neither team was dominant. Both the Ducks and Kings failed on the powerplay, and both teams had good pressure at various times. In the second, the Ducks played probably their best period of the tournament, but got scored on three times. Early in the second, the Kings had a partial breakaway and beat Suchanek with a clean shot. They followed that up with a powerplay goal to make it 2-0. Suchanek made the save on the initial shot but was beaten on the rebound. 

Later in the period, the Ducks had a powerplay of their own. The Kings cleared the puck and Suchanek came out to play it. Seeing a Los Angeles player coming towards him, he turned to clear the puck behind the net, but accidentally scored into his own net, giving the Kings a shorthanded goal. The own goal was clearly a sign of rust from the young goaltender. 

The Ducks were down 3-0 after two, but held a 27-16 shot advantage in the game, with 18 of those shots coming in the middle frame. In the third, McIvor replaced Suchanek in another planned goalie change. The Ducks scored on an early powerplay chance in the final frame. Sennecke set up Myatovic in the slot, and he one-timed the puck toward the net. Washe tipped the puck home for his second goal of the tournament. The Ducks kept the pressure on, but were unable to score any more goals. Sennecke turned the puck over late, and the Kings scored into the empty net.

The Ducks were much better in game two, but Kings goaltender Carter George was the star of the game, stoning Anaheim at almost every opportunity. On the backend, Solberg continued to impress, while Sidorov continued to be Anaheim’s most dangerous forward. At one point he even tried to score a lacrosse style goal. Other than the own goal, Suchanek played well for having missed 17 months of action. Sennecke picked up another assist, tying him with Solberg for the team lead with two in the tournament. It felt like he was trying to do too much by himself. He had some dangerous shots but overall didn’t have a great tournament. Washe led the team with two goals, both coming on the powerplay.

Final Thoughts

Despite losing both games, it was great to see Anaheim come back with a much stronger effort in the second game. That’s the kind of response that you want to see from these young players in a tournament like this. Other players who stood out to me include Emile Guite, Ethan Procyszyn, and Myatovic. Training camp starts later this week, and the preseason soon after. Expect many of these players to get a game or two of action before being sent down to the AHL or their respective junior teams.

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September 15th, 2025