Any GM wants a competitive training camp and Flames GM Darryl Sutter is having his wish granted with a number of younger players pushing veterans seriously hard for jobs.

Strong battles for all positions, after all, is the competitive straw that stirs the drink within any organization.

In that vein, Sutter must be liking what he's seeing from younger players like Chuck Kobasew, Blair Betts, Matthew Lombardi, Dany Sabourin and even the enigmatic Robert Dome midway through the 2003-2004 Flames camp.

Playing their third straight home exhibition, the Flames rolled over Vancouver last night on goals by Kobasew, Betts, Robyn Regehr and Josh Green while riding the 21 save performance of goaltending tandem of Jamie McLennan and Dany Sabourin.

Probably the most stunning statistic of the night was the fact the Flames scored all four of their goals on the power play, an incredible revelation for last year's 29th ranked team.

The victory leaves the Flames 2-0-1 in the pre-season with Minnesota up on Thursday.

CAMP IMPLICATIONS

No shortage of sweaty foreheads in this one as a number of players at all positions tried to make an impression, hoping to avoid the next round of inevitable cuts that can only be hours or days away.

DEFENCE 

The most intriguing question of the night may have come before the game even started as veteran Denis Gauthier dressed for the third straight game, raising eyebrows for the conspiracy inspired given old war horses like Gauthier would typically be used sparingly early in the pre-season.

Is Gauthier being showcased for a trade? Inquiring minds want to know.

Certainly the three defencemen most likely to benefit from Gauthier's potential demise stepped forward to meet the challenge, all of Steve Montador, Mike Commodore and Jesse Wallin looking to secure the one or possibly two jobs available.

Two jobs that is, if Gauthier disappears.

Montador, a guy who took most of last season to pick up a single point, had two assists in this game, racking up 17:37 in ice time over 23 shifts, being very involved physically and finally being named the second star of the game.

Commodore and Wallin were also physically challenging while logging 19:15 and 18:37 of ice time respectively.

Robyn Regehr scored his first goal in more than a year and again spent the game attached at the hip to Jordan Leopold, the only two players on the Flames side to log more than 20 minutes in ice time as the coach rolled four lines and three defence combo's fairly consistently.

OFFENCE

Scoring in his third straight game, Kobasew is probably well on his way to solidifying a spot as Calgary's second line right wing while Blair Betts, with four points in his first three games, is almost certainly going to open the season as the Flame's fourth line centre.

Kobasew, with 15:48 in ice time and 21 shifts, seems to be gaining confidence with each passing game, his speed beginning to come to the fore while he shows no reticence in getting involved physically.

Betts has been racking up points while playing an NHL calibre two-way game, helping his team this night with 15:37 in ice time, 22 shifts and a a 57% percentage in the faceoff circle.

Matthew Lombardi, being groomed as a future second line centre, is likely pegged eventually for a full year of work in the minors but still logged 16:20 in ice time through 22 shifts, making a nice play at the blueline to hold the puck in the zone on Regehr's goal.

Sutter's treatment of Dome continues to be interesting if not puzzling. Dome managed only eight minutes of ice time on Saturday against the Oil while logging 10:40 in 15 shifts in this game - obviously far different numbers than others you would suppose he would be competing with for a job. Is Sutter going through the motions with Dome or giving him a legitimate shot?

Green has probably safely propelled himself in front of Matt Davidson as a third or fourth line checker with another strong game, logging 17:28 in ice time in 17 shifts and scoring once, albeit mostly because he had his skates in the right place to deflect a Dome pass.

Davidson, meanwhile, played a fairly nondescript 13:42 through 16 shifts.

Chris Clark, perhaps feeling the heat of competition from within the ranks, was generally skating hard, battling for pucks and made a nice play to set up a goal by Betts. Clark logged 15:15 of ice time in 20 shifts.

GOALTENDERS 

If Jamie McLennan had any doubts he was in a battle for his job they were probably settled when he picked up the newspaper this morning and saw Sutter saying experience wouldn't be a factor in whomever he eventually settled on as backup to Roman Turek.

McLennan got off to a rocky start, allowing a powerplay goal only 54 seconds into the game but settled down after that, although not seriously tested.

With the game tied 1-1 midway through the second period, Sabourin faced down Matt Cooke on a breakaway.

Sabourin's overall play in this camp has been impressive - in spite of three goals allowed in a start against Edmonton - while rookie pro Brent Krahn been equally stingy.

There's more to be written before this battle will be decided.