The teal helmet and stick clashing with Adin Hill’s fresh gold pads made one thing clear the first day of Golden Knights training camp Thursday.

Things are going to be different in net this year. Very different.

Hill still hasn’t changed over all his equipment after being traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Knights on Aug. 30. His likely goalie partner to start this season, 25-year-old rookie Logan Thompson, only has 20 NHL appearances and 17 starts to his name.

The two have plenty to prove in preseason and throughout the season. But, with Robin Lehner out for the year and Laurent Brossoit expected to miss all of camp recovering from offseason hip surgery, they’re the ones fighting to be the Knights’ opening-night starter.

What makes it even more interesting is the two go way back to their youth hockey days in Calgary.

“I’ve known him forever,” Hill said. “We’re friends off the ice, so it’s fun to have that healthy competition on the ice.”

Hill, 26, was always a year ahead of Thompson, but they played in the same organizations.

Hill played for the Calgary Bisons U15 team and Thompson did so a year later. Hill was on the Calgary Buffaloes U18 squad and later, so was Thompson. It was easy for them to follow each other.

“He was quite the athlete,” Thompson said. “I remember I couldn’t keep up with him.”

No one would’ve guessed years later they would be reunited in the NHL. Hill was a third-round pick in 2015 and is still looking to establish himself. He has played 74 games in five seasons with a 29-32-5 record, 2.74 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.

His size stands out at 6-foot-6, and he is athletic enough to make impressive saves.

“Big boy,” center William Karlsson said. “You don’t see a lot of net.”

Thompson’s rise has been incredible from undrafted goaltender to potential NHL starter. He already made history by becoming the first U Sports — the national governing body of college athletics in Canada — goaltender to play in the league since 1994.

He wants to make more this year. His first extended stint with the Knights showed he’s capable. He was 10-5-3 with a 2.66 goals-against average and .914 save percentage last season.

“He was thrust into a pretty difficult situation last year, especially as a young guy, and I thought he handled it really well,” defenseman Alec Martinez said. “He played really good hockey for us. He gave us an opportunity every night he was in.”

The question in training camp is how many chances the Knights will give Thompson vs. how many they’ll give Hill. General manager Kelly McCrimmon and coach Bruce Cassidy both said the two goaltenders will play often this preseason to give them more chances to evaluate the duo.

The competition likely won’t end with the Oct. 11 opener either, as the two will fight for starts throughout the regular season.

The Knights hope the friendly battles between the two bring out the best in both. Neither goaltender is as proven as previous opening-night starters Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury.

The two do have talent, however, and Cassidy’s goalie-friendly defensive system could still help the Knights improve their 20th-place finish in team save percentage last season.

They just have to decide who gets the first turn in net.

“That’s going to answer itself,” McCrimmon said. “We want those players to help us make our decisions. You let them play long enough, they make the decision for you.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.