Competitive spirits are already at a rolling, but controlled, boil through just two days of practice at Utah Hockey Club training camp.
Utah Hockey Club forward Alex Kerfoot called the intensity of practices under head coach Andre Tourigny normal.
To an outsider, that might not seem the case, the way Tourigny firmly instructs his players when they stray from his directives, or when bodies are crashing into the boards at game speed.
But Tourigny said that's the sign of a great practice, like his team had today at the Olympic Oval in Kearns, closing the second day of training camp.
Noteworthy incidents included Kerfoot getting dumped in the corner by defenceman Sean Durzi, forward Egor Sokolov dishing out some punishment to multiple teammates, and goaltender Connor Ingram tossing his equipment in disbelief after losing a mini-game to end his group's practice.
Tourigny even had to pause practice twice to remind his team to "show some urgency" after he felt it slipped.
Both groups didn't take long to heed that message, and it showed throughout the rest of the sessions.
Tourigny even took some time to borrow a line from Paul Maurice, joking that "no one was in the hospital" and that "everyone was alive".
"The first thing we say about our team is how hard we compete," he added. "If you play with that kind of level, there will be some emotion, eventually."