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Training Camp Day 1 Discussion


Did anyone else [besides Dario's twitterfied iphone] make it to training camp today?

I was only there for a bit, but figured I would share some of my random observations:

First off, the disclaimer: I had no idea what to look at specifically; I just showed up to get a feel for how the rookies were doing.

Sacco was running the camp today. It was all business: drill, lap, drill, lap.

Everyone participated in every drill. Even the goalies had to do the skating and puck handling bits. Cann was the only one that kept himself together on it.

I spent the first few drills watching the Goalies. I sat at the end where Cann and Delmas were switching off. During the first drill [where Tessier accurately fired pucks stickside and gloveside, high and low], I immediately noticed that Cann plays big in the net, and Delmas plays small. Delmas looked pretty weak that first drill, but got better as the day went on. Cann was pretty solid, didn't get rattled, showed good form squaring up to the puck. During the drill Delmas definately looked more willing to drop down to block low shots, even tho another shot was coming 2 seconds later.

Stoa looked really good. Smooth skater, good positioning, good timing.

Tessier struck me as looking really good too. Maybe it was just that I was closest to him as he was shooting at my end, but his shot seemed accurate and quick. Decent skater.

It was great to see someone wearing 39 hustle. It threw me several times as a nice bit of skating or a quick shot came out of what I had come to think of as a black hole. Galiardi did look pretty good, but he has been out in the fray a lot more than some of these other kids.

The same went for Dupuis... even his handful of point-less games last year gave im a little step above the rest of the kids out there.

Mercier has a hard shot, but the setup is really deliberate; hes definately going to have to work on getting it off quicker. Maybe he's better in scrimmages than drills.

There was a great moment at almost the end of the day when there was a line of Duchene, Stoa, and Tessier, with the later two switching wings. The drill was just a single puck breakaway drill involving a 3 man rush. It was pretty fun to watch, the three definately seemed to be working well off of each other. Poor Delmas looked lost having to face these three as a breakaway.

After the 50 minute practice session a bunch of the rookies went over to the other rink, where a few of the vets were working out. Liles, Stats, Svats, the Hobbit, Mr Anderson, and a few guys I had trouble recognizing. I only stayed at that practice for a couple minutes before I had to leave.

All in all tho, it was a good day. I hope to make it back to tomorrow and see what they end up doing.

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