PENTICTON, B.C. - All spring long it was Taylor vs. Tyler, as the Edmonton Oilers debated whether to spend their No. 1 overall draft pick on Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin.
Then, after three games of the Young Stars rookie tournament in Penticton, there it was again.
Who was better this week for the Oilers rookies? Taylor Hall, or Tyler Pitlick, the player the Oilers chose 31st overall back in June?
"He really surprised me," Hall said of Pitlick, the nephew of former Ottawa Senator Lance. "I mean, I knew he was good, but the way he played here? He's going to have a great season (at Medicine Hat)."
Both players ended the tournament with a goal, and although Hall - the No. 1 pick overall in June - is clearly of higher pedigree today, Pitlick skated miles, hit everything that moved, and looked very much like a kid who will add a vital element of size and skill to Edmonton's line-up one day.
"I was really impressed throughout the tournament with Tyler," said Oilers GM Steve Tambellini, whose rookie squad was beaten 4-3 by San Jose Wednesday to close the tournament with a 2-1 record. "Great strength, a better face-off percentage than I thought, and he hit heavy. A strong player."
On this night however, they came to see how Hall, a winger for the majority of his junior career in Windsor, would look at centre ice between Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi, Edmonton's other two blue-chippers.
In the end it was a snapshot of what Oilers fans can expect over the next few years: the three started slowly, but by the end they were beginning to dominate.
"The puck was jumping all over our sticks," said Eberle, who could have had two or three goals had he been able to control a bounding puck. "For the most-part we were in the right place, just not making the right plays."
"When you get three (good) players together on the same line, everyone wants the puck," Hall said. "It sounds kind of weird, but everyone wants to be the difference maker. You've got to take a lesser role."
Paajarvi banked a puck in off the back of a Sharks defenceman - intentionally - during a first period power play, and then, 50 seconds into the third period, Hall blasted a slapper home from the top of the circle to make the score 4-3. It was, for the record, Hall's first goal as an Oiler.
But they were eclipsed on the score sheet by Campbellville, ON centre Michael Sgarbossa, who dangled his way to a hat trick in the Sharks win.
With the ice full of kids trying to make an impression - including a handful of undrafted skaters on tryouts - there is a ton of contact in every one of these games. And plenty of scraps, with six separate fights on Wednesday night.
The Oilers flew home after the game, with main camp set to begin this weekend at Rexall Place.
