Written by CK | 18 July 2009

Much of the buzz this week surrounded highly-touted prospects John Carlson, Anton Gustafsson and Dmitri Orlov. So when Saturday's final scrimmage rolled around, much of the capacity-filled building had their eyes on at least one of them, with visions of lamp-lighting, crushing hits and smart plays in a Capitals uniform.

But in the corners, digging at the puck and setting up his teammates with pure-grit and a never-give-up attitude was Trevor Bruess, a recent free agent signee. He hails from Minnesota State, and he made quite a reputation for himself in the Western College Hockey Association as a physical powderkeg who couldn't always be controlled.

At 6'0, 200 lbs., he isn't the most physically imposing player by looks, but his reputation would suggest otherwise. In the second half of his junior season, Bruess was suspended three games for his physical play, which ended one opponent's season.

Bruess didn't take anyone's head off at camp, but he did leave an impression on those who saw his on-ice work ethic.

A sequence that stuck out during the camp's final period involved Bruess fending off two men at the boards in his defensive zone. At first he had the puck and was slammed into the corners. He then began to kick the puck around before another man came crashing in, cutting off his escape. Soon there were two sticks jabbing at his legs, but Bruess still kept on the puck, thrashing about to free himself, styming any offensive attempt.

He was finally dropped to his knees, but he still had his stick near the puck, keeping it along the boards, giving time for his teammates to assist him. Finally, he was able to push the puck loose to a teammate while lying on the ice on his stomach. As the puck moved onto his teammate's stick and the defenders let him be, he immediately jumped up and dashed to join the offensive rush.

We caught Bruess for a few questions and got to know this gritty forward.

CK: How do you feel camp went for you this week?
TB: It went well as the week went on; I got tired quickly. It gave me a good idea of how much more in shape I need to be for the main camp.

CK: What sort of things do you think you need to work on?
TB: I need to get in shape for the main camp, but I've also got to work on my hands getting stronger, just overall getting better.

CK: How soon will you return to training?
TB: I'm gonna take a few days off and get right back at it.

CK: We did a live blog of the game and your sister joined our chat; she told us you used to fight with your brother a lot. Is that where your hockey grit comes from?
TB: [laughs] Yeah, I used to fight a lot, or well, defend myself, and make sure I didn't get beat up by [my brother] and it made me run a lot more. That's why I'm fast, but I fought in juniors and I fight quite a bit and I like to square up. If I'm called to it, I'll step up.

CK: So you're a pretty scrappy guy; do you like the agitation role?
TB: I do. I like to think that a player is only as strong as his weakest point, so I try to make my weak spot my strongest then. I play with an edge, I'm an agitator.

CK: Are there any players you model your game after?
TB: Guys like Jarome Iginila. I like guys who are complete players, someone who can be a top-five goal scorer and is willing to fight for his team and do anything to win. That's what I'd like to be. I also try to pick up little parts of each guy I watch and try to make myself better.

CK: Are you looking forward to meeting the main roster?
TB: Yeah, I am, I'm really excited about that and I haven't done that. I met the guys from Hershey and I'm looking forward to taking on the bigger, faster and stronger guys so I have to prepare for that.

The Capital Letter: Do you want to try to hit Ovechkin?
TB: [uneasy laughter] Yeah.

CK: What excites you most about being part of the Capitals organization?
TB: That's a tough question, I'm really excited about just playing with the Capitals themselves.

CK: You recently took a tour of D.C., what did you think?
TB: I think it's a really clean city, it's nicely put together, it's cool how they don't let the buildings be taller than the Capitol. We were at the baseball game, and the stadium was beautiful. The whole city is just beautiful and nicely set up.

CK: What did you think of the crowd size all week?
TB: It was the best crowd I'd seen in awhile. I didn't see an empty seat, I just couldn't believe it. They made [camp] fun and they cheered for us. It was just awesome.

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