Westminster, CO – An early 3-0 deficit for the San Jose Sharks rookies proved too big of a hill to climb as the Sharks fell to the Anaheim Ducks rookies, 5-3, Monday afternoon at Ice Centre Promenade in Westminster, Colo. in the final game of the Colorado Avalanche Rookie Showcase.

Kevin Roy opened up the scoring for Anaheim at 10:30 of the first to give the Ducks the early advantage on a quick snap shot from the right wing. Roy then set up Max Jones in the low-slot who beat Sharks goaltender Jamie Murray at 14:13 to give the Ducks the 2-0 lead. After falling behind by a pair, Jake Marchment dropped the gloves with Darien Skeoch at 19:43 of the opening frame. The two exchanged heavy right-handed counters before falling to the ice. The chippiness continued moments later at 19:58 after Tyler Morely applied a knee-to-knee hit on Rourke Chartier, Timo Meier defended his teammate by quickly dropping the mitts with Morely.

In the second, Anaheim went up 3-0 with fluid puck movement that led to Nick Ritchie receiving a back-door pass and an open net score at 1:21 on the power play. At 10:23 Jermaine Loewen broke the ice for San Jose by beating Kevin Boyle at the top of the crease after a below the goal line feed from Marchment. Jason Fram made it 3-2 and inched San Jose even closer on the power play by sniping a perfect shot from below the left dot and over the shoulder of Boyle at 15:14.

Anaheim responded in the third after two unanswered San Jose tallies. Forward Keaton Thompson redirected a point shot past Murray 1:16 to push the Ducks lead to 4-2. The Sharks got back within one at 13:12 after Tyler Nother’s dump in hit a glass stanchion and redirected past Antoine Samuel, but San Jose couldn’t find the equalizer, and Anaheim added an empty-netter at 19:50 off the stick of Nick Ritchie to secure the 5-3 win.

Antoine Samuel earned the victory for the Ducks stopping 21 shots in 40 minutes of play. Kevin Boyle also stopped all 13 shots he faced in the first period.

Notes: Final shots were 40-44 in favor of Anaheim… Kevin Boyle and Antoine Samuel combined to make 34 saves for Anaheim… Jamie Murray made 40 saves… San Jose went 1-for-5 on the power play while Anaheim went 1-for-3.

Coming up…
The Barracuda will play an exhibition game at Sharks Ice on Thurs., Oct. 6 against Tucson (7:00 p.m.) and Sun., Oct. 9 vs. Bakersfield (6:00 p.m.) before beginning the 2016-17 campaign on the road against Stockton on Sat., Oct. 15 (7:30 p.m.).