Practice Notes: Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Sorry this is going up so late; I actually had to work today. Not a lot of detail in these; mostly some quick shots. So here ya go!

• I took a 3-hour lunch just to get Forsberg's signature; he chose not to engage in that activity today. Grrrr.
• O'Reilly was wearing the pumpkin jersey...and took part in the skating and passing drills! I'm thinking a game or two after the All-Star break? Before he left from doing his own stuff prior to the rest of the team hitting the ice, he flipped the pucks into the bucket. I know; we've heard about that before. Except this time, the bucket was sitting on the ledge of the bench divider thingee. (What is that called, anyway?) Pretty impressive, especially for a guy with a sore shoulder. He ended up staying out with the guys for about 15-20 minutes. At that point, they moved into contact drills.
  
• Forsberg was the first one out, but only by a couple of minutes.
• Hejduk and Foote had a maintenance day

• Lines for today:
  • Yip, Stastny, Stoa
  • Forsberg, Duchene, Jones
  • Stewart, Dupuis, McLeod
  • Koci, Galiardi, Porter, Winnik
  • Defense was as usual, except Hunwick and Cumiskey were paired as Foote was out.

• As the team was still doing their unofficial warm up time, Sacco spent quite a while talking with Stewart. He seemed quite animated although I'm not sure he was actually angry. He certainly was serious, though.
• The whole group was pretty somber without a lot of joking around or smiles. Kind of strange after a win.
• Stewart beat Andy top shelf and then sent a free puck back to Liles who also beat him, bottom corner. Yes, they were good shots by the guys, but he should have had Liles' goal. Didn't move very quickly side to side.
• Duchene passed to Jones to move into the offensive zone; Jones sent it across the slot to Forsberg; Forsberg beat Budaj cleanly blocker side. Pretty tic-tac-toe
• Gali also got a chance to beat Andy, who was sprawling for the puck
• Boods had a great glove save on Duchene; robbed him
• Stoa hit a sweet goal five hole on Andy
• Gali got another great goal, this time on Boods blocker side; he sent it diagonally across the crease with just a hint of an opening
• This isn't anything new, but Budaj really needs to work on rebound control. Yikes. He was snapping pucks out of the air glove side, but the blocker was an issue
• Stastny, Stoa and Yip had a nice give-and-go to enter the offensive zone and Stastny left a drop pass for Yip for a clean shot on net
• Kono spent some time talking with Forsberg after a stint in the zone scrimmaging drill; he was giving him some positional advice
• Budaj was always facing the first and second lines in the drills; Andy took the third and fourth. Boods starting tomorrow?
• There was a nervous moment with Forsberg when he went to the bench and was adjusting his skate. Fortunately, it was his left skate and ended up being only about a dull edge. He had it sharpened on the bench, but it wasn't good enough for him. Equipment manager ended up bringing him a new skate and then he was fine
• In the scrimmage, Jones had a nice rebound attempt but hit the post; Forsberg picked up his rebound and sent it home. On another trip to the net, Jones scored a one-timer
• O'Byrne sent a nice pass across to Duchene while looking the opposite way for misdirection; Duchene got the shot on and Forsberg tipped it perfectly in. That line looked delicious, and I don't mean it that way.
• Andy had some nice saves on Gali and Winnik; got better as the practice went on
• The bottom 6 forwards were working extremely hard. Nachos suck.
• About half-way through, Forsberg was really starting to look tired and then sat out a drill. It might have had something to do with his edges because that's about when he did the whole skate thing
• Stewart tried to mow over Shattenkirk, but the rookie stood him up
• Koci had an absolutely beautiful top shelf goal on Andy's glove side; he hit a small corner of the net by snapping a shot off quickly from the pass.
• McLeod and Forsberg had a pretty play that beat Andy who was going to the left and Forsberg burried it in an empty net on the right.
• Boods had a solid save on Stewart (who was having a bit of trouble finding the back of the net all practice) and then contained his rebound nicely
• Winnik got a beauty of a shot on Andy but Andy made an equally good save
• At the end of regular practice, the guys had a huge free for all with the coaches joining in. Boods held up well until Forsberg got a hold of a rebound, and then the fat lady was singing
• A few guys stuck around and one group did a skating drill at center ice. Across the circle to the opposite side with a hockey stop. First, one time across. Then two. Then three. All the way up to 10 times back and forth. The guys involved? Hunwick, Porter, Koci, Stewart, Kono...and Forsberg. Everyone but Stewart did the entire drill. Stewie stopped at about 7 or 8. Hunwick is incredibly fast off the line. He also kept up his intensity throughout the drill and upped it in the final round. It would be fantastic to see that in games; might make a huge difference in his offensive output. Porter has the most amazing stamina (TWSS). He never really looked gassed. And Forsberg? About half-way through, he did look tired, not quite going full steam ahead. But he picked it up towards the end, clearly pushing himself. The best part is his stride looked fine; he didn't favor a side on the stops. No hint of any problems with his feet.

That's it! Not sure when I'll make it back; working sucks.