Here we are again. Another year back at Rogers Arena to watch our hockey team vye for the Stanley Cup once more. But first we have to get through Training Camp or should it have been called Boot Camp?
This year brought alot of changes. Cory Schnieder was traded for #9 Draft Pick, Bo Hovart, leaving Roberto Luongo at the helm of this team once again. There were new staffing changes as well. The biggest one is the landing of this man.
Former Coach of the New York Rangers who has also won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, John Tortarella. Or "Torts" if you will. I wanted to come to camp mostly to see this man in action and compare him to AV in past training camps. So far, I'm impressed.
With a small crowd of about 200 fans on a Friday morning, the Vancouver Canucks came onto the ice mixed with the heavy ladden prospect pool we have. The ones to watch were current draft picks, Bo Hovart, Hunter Shinkaruk, along with Brendan Gaunce and Eddie Lack.
Eddie Lack is favoured to be the back-up to Luongo. He's still recovering from an injury that occurred with the Chicago Wolves. They already have chemistry as a duo which shows in their tweets to one another. Mostly digs but done in good old natured fun. When we first walked into the arena, we noticed him out there with his goalie trainers. Dan Cloutier was one of them. Dan is not in the pic below but Eddie Lack is.
It started out with a scrimmage game for an hour. Team White vs Team Blue. Roberto Luongo, Alex Edler, Chris Higgins and David Booth were missing from camp today. Torts watched this from his seat in the middle of a section at centre ice alone. As soon as the scrimmage was done, they all went inside to change their sweaters and drink some water.
Once the ice was cleared, Team 2 came out first and so did Torts. This second half of camp day was all about his drills. As he had them play 3 on 1's, 2 on 1's and other drills, it all seemed pretty intense. Once in a while, Kevin Bieksa would lift a puck onto his stick and hit it up and over the ice into the crowds siting higher up on the second level. This interaction with him and the crowds happen every game no matter how crazy things are on the ice. Its this type of interaction with his fans that make him a favourite.
Here are some pics from the scrimmage and the drills.
Ryan Kesler looked great and was having some fun talking with Zack Kassian before drills.
Hunter Shinkaruk.
Then there was stretching. That's Bieksa stretching below in blue.
Once the stretching was over with, they ended with lap relays. You could see how physically painful it was for them to keep going for as long as they did. I had Bieksa on my side of the rink so I could see his sweater which he changed into for the second half, completley drenched in sweat after skating those laps. Towards the end you could see Dan Hamhuis and others just fold over, breathing heavily trying to get ready for the next lap.
When they were done with the laps and another bout of stretching was done, the small crowd of 200 cheered loudly for that show of sheer willpower it must have taken just get through all that. The boys in turn, held their sticks up in the air and thanked the fans. At least Team 2 did. Team 1 who came on after them, couldn't get off the ice fast enough. lol
In summary, I liked what I saw today. It was sheer intensity and willpower in this training camp. Its obvious that Torts is not going to be soft on any of these guys. Having been at AV's past camps, I can tell you that it was nothing like what I saw today. It was just go, go go! I hope this is the spark the guys need to get a great season together. I'm going back tomorrow with my two nieces, so hopefully will have more to report then.
I'll leave you with the Roster Sheets we were handed as we walked in.
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