Hockeyville Opens Up Preseason

With all the training camps open around the league, it's time to start with all of the games for young players and some older veterans to try out for open spots on team's rosters. The Kraft Hockeyville game opened up the official NHL preseason on Monday night, with the Canucks hosting the Islanders in Terrace, BC.

In the end, it was the Canucks that took the opening game of the preseason by a 2-1 score, thanks to a pair of goals from 23-year old Russian forward, Sergei Shirokov. Shirokov (not pictured, rather Shane O'Brien) has been making quite the name for himself and could end up being a pretty hot commodity on the draft floor this Fall. You might want to wait and see if he's a lock for the roster or not before making that decision, but I would say he's a pretty good bet.

AHL Goaltender of the Year Award winner, Cory Schneider, got tagged for the win, not allowing a goal in the second half of the contest and being on the ice for the winner. Schneider split time with Andrew Raycroft in the game, as both keepers are vying for the back-up job behind Roberto Luongo.

The Islanders did not have rookie phenom, John Tavares, in the line-up for their opening pre-season game, as he sat out with the flu.

At least the first game did give us some names to consider.