clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Practice Notes: Wednesday, January 19

By Cheryl Bradley
Getty Images


I don't have a whole lot of commentary for you on individual player's performances today; Stazz and I were chatting! Here are some things I wrote down, though:

Drills

  1. Passing warm ups - two skaters passing pucks side-to-side between each other about 5' apart, skating in loop around the rink; same drill but with one skater going forward, the other backwards, passing ahead and back; same drill but with three skaters, two on one side, one on the other.
  2. During the time skaters were doing that drill, Andy and Boods were working on close wrist shots and garbage goals.
  3. Tip-ins and transition - forwards accept pass and move through the neutral zone, pass to defender on the blue line who moves up to the right or left side of the slot (depending on side he started from) and sends a wrister on net; forwards try to tip in.
  4. Neutral zone passing - I'm not even going to try to describe this drill. It was a criss-crossing extravaganza with passes going across the neutral zone and along the blue line.
  5. Combination - take all of the above, throw it together, and there you go.
  6. Short stretch break and then the D and forwards split up
  7. Defensemen skating - figure 8s around cones with the puck, transitioning forwards to backwards skating, crossovers
  8. Forwards down low (TWSS) - two forwards, one behind net, the other in front; pass to one behind, works on wrap around, other forward takes puck for a shot on net while the first one screens the goaltender.

Player observations:

  • No Hejduk or Stastny or Fleischmann; Cumiskey was participating in full practice
  • Andy sometimes (okay, often) relaxed on the plays, not going into full butterfly mode; Boods was his usual, hard-working self
  • Stewart's shot much harder and more accurate than the last time I was there; a lot of snap to his wristers, hitting top corner and getting the goalie's soft spots; had an impressive tip-in goal off of an O'Byrne shot that he promptly made sure everyone knew was his (lol)
  • O'Byrne constantly smiling and making some sweet goals; didn't know he had it in him!
  • Cumiskey pretty much invisible, but then I wasn't looking closely for him; when I did, he still seemed to be taking it easy. I'm concerned this concussion issue is going to linger for quite a while. (Update: Per Dater, he'll be in tomorrow v. Nashville)
  • Hunwick nearly fell down in the d-men skating drill; I laughed (so did he and his teammates). "Skating is hard." - Bubblegum.

That's it for today!