Canucks Training Camp 2013 - Day 1

Finally!  Canucks training camp opened today with an open practice to the fans.  The Canucks are committed in making it up to the fans and they have started by keeping all of the practices and two evening scrimmages open to the public.  Today, I got there at 2:15pm and didn't have to wait long in line as they started to let people in quickly.  Training was to begin at 3pm.

So, I hurried along and got to my seat - close to the ice and in the aisle.  There must have been a few hundred fans that showed up.  Not as much as last year.  First one out was the new Canuck, Jason Garrison.  They had him skating around in a Canucks jersey while a photographer took pictures.

Then the others followed out.  As the rest of the team slowly trickled onto the ice, cheers went up for them.  When Roberto Luongo came out, the crowed cheered "Luuuuuuuuuuu" and someone screamed "Don't go!".  It was pretty nice to be in the presence of fans who weren't being mean to him.  He doesn't deserve the mean comments and digs from "fans" that he gets.  Super nice guy and has acted with so much class since the end of last year.  Even he didn't expect to be back at training camp in Vancouver.

It was nice to see most of the team there, minus Booth (groin),  Hamhuis (groin) and Kassian (back spasms).  Volpatti was back and the newly aquired Cam Barker wearing #18 was on the ice.  Alain Vigneault was there and pushed the guys for speed in a lot of the drills.

 
The Sedins and Burrows were being teased by some fans up front and they were responding to them in fun ways.  Its nice to see the guys all back together again and having fun.

After a few stretches on the ice, the team were ready for more drills.  The 3 on 2 was fun to watch.

When half the team left the ice, the other half stayed on to work on some more drills.  Some worked on their shots on net, others worked on their face-off skills.

The final stretch.

And that was it.  It was an hour long practice from 3-4pm.  Camp will continue every morning for the rest of the week except Wed and Thurs when they have evening scrimmages from 6-8pm.  Tickets will be required to get into the building for those two days which you can get on canucks.nhl.com sometime this week.  It was a fun practice and everyone seemed in good form, which is good to see.

I'll be going to the scrimmage on either both or one of those scrimmage days again just to see how they are coming along.  So I'll have more to report then. 

For more information on the ever changing schedule of the training camps, please go to the Canucks website.