The rookies awoke bright and early Tuesday morning for the second and final day of the 2015 NHLPA Rookie Showcase. The group of nearly 40 rookies and prospects boarded a bus at their downtown hotel and headed to the Mattamy Athletic Centre – former home of Maple Leaf Gardens – for a full day of memorabilia shoots and a friendly scrimmage.
McDavid VS Strome: bubble hockey edition #NHLPARookieShowcase pic.twitter.com/mwDDKyvF98
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) September 1, 2015
Upper Deck had a variety of stations set up for the players to filter through over the course of the day, including both on and off-ice photo shoots. The players suited up in their NHL team uniforms and were photographed doing a wide variety of poses and movements for both still and action shots that will be used on some of their very first trading cards. Those cards will go to print in Upper Deck hockey card sets that follow the rookies playing in their first NHL games.
Group shot #NHLPARookieShowcase
A photo posted by NHLPA (@nhlpa_official) on Sep 1, 2015 at 8:05am PDT
Zack Fucale during his @upperdeckhockey trading card photo shoot #NHLPARookieShowcase pic.twitter.com/U5CqhHTHWD
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) September 1, 2015
The rookies trying their hand at figure skating #NHLPARookieShowcase pic.twitter.com/2Fz5zYyyK8
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) September 1, 2015
.@cmcdavid97 speaking with media #NHLPARookieShowcase pic.twitter.com/BfzYglVLMe
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) September 1, 2015
Now it's @Jack_Eichel11's turn #NHLPARookieShowcase pic.twitter.com/sreGljRMit
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) September 1, 2015
EA Sports also had their 360-degree photography station set up for collecting player head scans to use in future installments of the NHL video game series.
Shea Theodore having his head scanned for @easportsnhl's NHL video game. #NHLPARookieShowcase
A photo posted by NHLPA (@nhlpa_official) on Sep 1, 2015 at 7:06am PDT
Later in the day, the rookies were split into two teams and suited up for a friendly scrimmage. All of the top five draft picks were on Team White but Team Black managed to pull out the win in the end.
Group photo before they play a scrimmage to end the day. #NHLPARookieShowcase pic.twitter.com/71MMBoXCnm
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) September 1, 2015
Team White and Team Black #NHLPARookieShowcase pic.twitter.com/v07oCmOOFT
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) September 1, 2015
To cap off the two-day event, the rookies headed to Real Sports for a fun-filled dinner and a chance to play the EA Sports NHL 16 game.
With the seventh annual NHLPA Rookie Showcase in the books, the players will disperse in the morning between a variety of destinations – about half of the group will depart for the Rookie Orientation Program, while others will return home and some will get settled in their NHL cities.
For more coverage from the #NHLPARookieShowcase, our live coverage can be found across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Vine.
And for a full recap of day one, visit: http://www.nhlpa.com/news/nhlpa-rookie-showcase-day-one-wrap-up
