Adam Gaudette and Tyler Motte dropped the gloves at training camp

Photo: Dan Toulgoet / Glacier Media

Adam Gaudette

The Vancouver Canucks' second scrimmage of their training camp was a lot more spirited than the first. It seems clear that everyone on the team is well aware that the season starts in just a few days and the battles were a little more fierce. The game itself ended 1-1 in regulation, as goaltenders Thatcher Demko and Braden Holtby were also a little more locked-in.

The spirited affair got a little too spirited at one point, as two teammates dropped the gloves and did a little knuckle-chucking in the third period.

Tyler Motte and Adam Gaudette were chasing down a loose puck when Motte wrapped up Gaudette with his stick and hauled him dangerously to the ice. It was arguably a slewfoot, one of the more dangerous plays in hockey, as a player can't protect themselves from hitting their head on the ice.

Gaudette was incensed, and not in the sense that he was lighting and breathing incense, which normally leads to a much more zen state of mind. Instead, Gaudette was ready to rage-quit: he threw down his mitts and started throwing haymakers.

Adam Gaudette and Tyler Motte drop the gloves after a questionable play on the boards. pic.twitter.com/DlK8kKD544

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At least one of those punches from Gaudette landed and the two went down in a heap, with Gaudette still looking ready to keep throwing punches when the two returned to their feet.

While training camp fights aren't unheard of, they're certainly a rarity. Teams like to focus on brotherhood and unity, with everyone pulling together towards a common goal, but the internal battles can be intense at camp.

On Friday, for instance, Gaudette got into it with Elias Pettersson in a 2-on-2 drill, pushing him down from behind. Pettersson got up and gave Gaudette a lumberjack chop to the shinpads, sending Gaudette toppling like a mighty Scots Pine. 

That, at least, seemed fairly good-natured. The fight in the scrimmage had some real heat to it. No one in hockey likes to be slewfooted, especially not in a relatively meaningless scrimmage by a teammate.

Will it amount to anything? Probably not. Perhaps Motte will owe Gaudette a dinner on the road. By opening night they might be laughing about it. Heck, it might be a source of lighthearted barbs in the room already.

At the very least, it shows just how game-like the Canucks' scrimmage was, which is a positive sign for their potential readiness for Wednesday's season opener against the Edmonton Oilers.

Team Blue eventually won the scrimmage thanks to an Elias Pettersson goal in an informal — and much calmer — shootout.