

(Courtesy South Carolina Stingrays)

VOORHEES, N.J. – The midway point of the second period had arrived and he had just made back-to-back saves, so this seemed as good a time as any for Pheonix Copley to leave. He skated toward the Washington Capitals bench, lined with hopeful prospects just like him, and sat at the very end. He slipped off his goalie’s mask and slipped on a baseball cap, a clean sheet behind him and the unknown ahead.

By the time the Capitals fell to the Flyers, 3-0 on Tuesday afternoon, Copley had delivered his team’s best performance, withstanding a flurry of defensive-zone turnovers, two Philadelphia power plays and one point-blank breakaway. And though whether Washington deploys Copley to the ECHL in South Carolina or the AHL in Hershey depends on any number of undecided factors – his pending performance in training camp and preseason, the health of Edward Pasquale, the desires of goaltending coach Mitch Korn – what Copley showed here at Flyers Skate Zone in a little over a period and a half couldn’t hurt.

“I thought both goalies were our best players,” Hershey Coach Troy Mann said, referring to Copley and backup Vitek Vanecek, who split time almost evenly. “I thought Cops was outstanding in that first half.”

It backed up the progress Copley had shown during five practices of rookie camp, where he quickly grew accustomed to Korn’s teaching methods thanks to his experience at Michigan Tech working under Steve Shields. Later, dressed in his road travel suit as the Capitals packed for their bus ride home, Copley deflected praise onto his blue-liners, though his glove and stick deserved plenty of credit too.

“It feels good,” he said. “Would’ve been nice to get the win. But that’s how it goes. They got a couple breaks there, and they were able to capitalize. That’s the difference.”

As their attention shifted to the preseason, which begins Friday, Copley said the Capitals hadn’t yet addressed his placement, though it’s a conversation Korn said he and fellow staff have had “many, many times.” Copley and Pasquale, who is still recovering from hip surgery and questionable for the start of camp, seem headed for a battle for the backup job in Hershey behind Philipp Grubauer, though Korn suggested a scenario wherein they swap regularly between the AHL and ECHL.

“No, I haven’t heard anything,” Copley said. ‘Like I said, I just try to stop the puck, see where they put me.”

Language barrier an imposition for Vanecek

The day before he made his Capitals debut, at least in a preseason context, Vanecek and fellow Czech prospect Jakub Vrana sat on a bench near the podium at the team’s practice facility, doubling over in laughter. Vanecek was about to address the media for the first time since he was drafted this June, a task complicated by his lack of English, so he asked Vrana to help translate.

“When people ask him something in English, he say, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ but he don’t understand sometimes,” Vrana said.

Since Vrana’s English is still progressing too, the translation probably wasn’t perfect, but the friendship of the two teenagers was on full display. That said, the language barrier has made teaching Vanecek difficult.

“We can’t help him as much as we’d like to help him with his language,” Korn said.” But he’s learning words like ‘left’ and ‘right.’ He’s learned ‘holes,’ ‘no holes.’ He’s learned the word, ‘tight,’ all things we talk about goaltending-wise.”

Vanecek said he planned to return to the Czech Republic for another season, where he plays with the second-level HC Benatky and Jizerou.

“Then the next year he’s going to be ready to be here,” Vrana translated.

Defenseman Djoos comes from NHL stock

Christian Djoos skated on the first blue-line pairing with Madison Bowey on Tuesday, exactly four months after signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Capitals.

“It was nice,” he said. “It was a dream come true. I’m happy for it … All my family was together. Nice evening.”

That family included his father, Par Djoos, a former NHL defenseman with the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers, who used to give Christian hockey tips on the phone every night whenever he was away.

“He learned me a lot when I was a kid,” Christian Djoos said.

The younger Djoos, a seventh-round draft pick by the Capitals in 2012, played for Brynas IF Gavle of the Swedish Hockey League in 2013-14, where he tallied 13 points. He also has two IIHF world junior championship appearances under his belt with Team Sweden, and plans to return to his native country this season.

Miscellaneous

>> Bowey served as Washington’s captain for Tuesday’s game, with center Chandler Stephenson and wing Nathan Walker the alternates.

“It’s pretty cool,” Bowey said. “Anytime you get recognized like that, I think…there’s a lot of guys who could’ve worn it at this camp, and they chose me, which is definitely an honor for myself.”

>> Mann and several Capitals brass emerged impressed with defenseman Tyler Lewington, who skated on the third pairing with Wade Epp. Lewington, who has spent the past three seasons with Medicine Hat in the Western Hockey League, was physical around the net and made his presence felt with opportune hits.

“I thought Lewington had a strong game as a stay-at-home guy, a meat-and-potatoes type of defenseman,” Mann said. “During the week you probably don’t see that much but you bring it to the game, he was a kid who stood out for me on the back end as well.”

>> The ranks of prospects expected to play in Hershey this season was pretty well set by Tuesday: Walker, Stephenson, Andre Burakovsky, Caleb Herbert and possibly Copley. One who currently sits on the fence is Michal Cajkovsky, who had an up-and-down scrimmage.

He dropped the gloves in the first period, succeeded at being a physical presence around the net and displayed surprising speed in carrying the puck through the neutral zone. On the flipside, his turnover led to Philadelphia’s first goal and several deep carries left the Caps shorthanded on counter-rushes.

Cajkovsky didn’t fight in the ECHL last season, but did with the Capitals last preseason and plans to do so again.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “I will fight for Caps. For my size, I should be fighting. I don’t mind.”