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*CLICK HERE FOR A PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES AT PRACTICE!*
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2008
Unusual day today at practice.
Around 45 minutes prior to the scheduled practice time the zamboni
broke down in the middle of the rink. The practice facility
employees tried to get it moved off the ice in time for the
Thrashers to practice on their regular sheet of ice although they
were not successful. The team practiced today on the other sheet of
ice. The zamboni was finally moved off the regular sheet of ice by
the time the team was done with their practice.
There were 30 people at practice today plus a junior hockey team.
Kovy and Hoss were not at practice today. I know that Kovy was at
the facility but I did not walk over to the side of the parking lot
to see if Hoss was there or not.
Kari is trying out a new stick at practice. It looks the same as the
old one but it's a ITECH and not a RBK like he's been using in
recent times.
Forgot to mention the other day that I asked Holik how he liked the
new RBK wood stick he's been trying out at practice. He said he did
not like it...and that was about all he said on that topic.
When the goalies were warming up today they did a quasi new drill
where a shot would come from outside the face-off circle to a player
standing directly in front of the net. The player in front of the
net would attempt to deflect the shot on net. The goalie would skate
to the top of the crease then to the side in time to block the shot.
Warm-up drill for team was a one on one drill where players battled
for the puck. Everyone paired up against another player and used
stick work and physical play to try and gain possession of the puck.
At one point Slater was up against his buddy Holik ( remember Jim
bought a Range Rover from Holik 3 months ago and has been quoted as
saying that Holik gives Jim books about managing finances) and Jim
seemed to enjoy trying to bang Holik off the puck. At one point
Holik ended up on top of Slater on the ice and they (at least
Slater) laughed about it.
First real drill was actually 2 drills on opposite end of the ice.
The D men were on one side and the forwards on the other. The D men
practiced getting the puck from behind our net and passing to the
point where another D man would shoot on net. On the other end of
the ice the forwards would take possession of the puck, skate around
2 gloves which were placed on the ice at the blue line, and then
take the puck in on net and shoot.
Here is a video.
Next drill was a touch pass drill where the player skated around
center ice receiving and making touch passes to other players. Then
the player with the puck would battle a D man on the way to the net
and would take a shot.
Here is a video.
Final drill I saw (I left as the players started leaving the ice. I
think the official practice lasted 40 minutes) was 4 D men and 3
forwards on the ice. 2 D men at each blue line. The forwards would
pass with the 2 of the D men and then the play would shift so that
passing was going on between the forwards and the other 2 D men. It
was a drill to practice movement of the puck inside the defensive
zone to the forwards and into the other zone. It was a good drill to
watch. McCrimmon did not like how the drill was going and on 2
separate occasions stopped the drill, gave instruction on what he
was looking for, and started the drill again.
Here is a video.
Here were some of the line combinations today:
- Larsen / Boulton / Thorburn
- Slater with a different
line...did not take note of what line he was with
Klee and X
Zhit and Toby
Popovic and McCarthy
Did not think to take note of
lines because with Kovy and Hoss not on the ice whatever lines I saw
were probably not what we'll see tomorrow night.
Observations:
1. Mood of players was ok on the ice. Some talking and joking around
but it was fairly business-like.
2. After watching Vancouver practice a few days ago I wonder if our
practices need to be more intense. Vancouver had very good drills,
very good energy, and the players were 100% business during
practice. I personally wish at times that our practices were more
like what I saw out of Vancouver.
3. Kovy drove the Bentley again today. Maybe he wants to rotate
driving the Bentley and Mercedes.
4. I drove by the practice facility on my way home from the office
to see if Tampa was there...they were not. It was around 3 pm and
the coaches and DW were still at the facility.
Sorry for the shorter than normal entry today. I had a busy day
at work and did not have time to take as many notes and stick around
practice as long as usual.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2008
Smaller turnout at practice
today...I'd say maybe 20 of us at the facility today to watch
practice.
Normal goalie warm-up drills. Same players as usual on the ice to
warm-up the goalies (Thorburn, Slater, Boulton). And, as usual,
Havelid and Toby skated around the other end of the ice from the
goalies taking shots on net and passing to each other.
 As
reported on the Blueland Blog, Stuart was not at practice today as
he had been sent back to Chicago. Kovy was also not on the
ice. He was at the facility but not on the ice. He did not skate
before the rest of the team either. No skating today for Kovy (at
least that I saw and I was there plenty early today).
DW was on the ice for almost the entire practice.
First drill was a one on one stick battle drill where 2 players
would get a puck and basically battle each other for the puck. The
entire team did this drill including the goalies.
Here is a video.
Next drill was 2 players taking a pass at center ice and then they
take the puck into the zone and shoot.
Video follows.
During the second drill Kari let in a bunch of shots. Not sure what
the deal was. I did not notice it at the end of practice so it was
probably just that one drill.
Third drill was two on one entering offensive zone (or some players
did it one on one) and shoot on net. After shot would wait in front
of the net for the next player to complete the drill. The two
players would sometimes tee up a deflection shot.
Here is a video.
Fourth drill was the team split up into 2 groups on opposite ends of
the ice. They would get 2 complete lines and one line would try to
cycle the puck and the other line would defend against the cycle.
Once possession went from one line to the other the groups would
breakout to the other end and start over again.
Here is a video.
Final drill was all team on far end of the ice. Non practicing
players sat on the bench and watched an offensive line work on the
PP against a PK team. This drill went on for some time and had some
hitting along the boards.
Here is a video.
Vancouver started practicing on our sheet of ice at 1:00 and they
practiced for an hour. They had very good drills and were very
intense. Their coach yelled at them to skate faster and harder in
the midst of their various drills. As they came off the ice they all
were kind enough to sign autographs for the fans who waited around
for them. Several of the Vancouver players talked to McCrimmon and
Weeks who were outside of our locker room when Vancouver went off
the ice. Brad and Steve sat in the restaurant above the ice and had
lunch while watching Vancouver practice.
Observations
1. Generally good mood today amongst the players. Some hitting and
scrapping during drills but it did not get out of hand.
2. Popovic again practiced at forward. Not sure although this tells
me he's not as likely to break into the lineup anytime soon in a
defensive role.
3. Boults brought his scorers hands and shot to practice today
(those hands he found last night when he scored a goal from outside
of the face-off circles). He showed some scoring skill on a few
drills which I've not seen from him before. Maybe he's getting some
more confidence in his offensive skills.
4. As I said above, DW was on the ice today but was not skating
around talking to the players like he's done in the past. Today he
stood by himself during the drills and watched intently what was
going on. For example, when the players were doing the first drill
he was standing there watching the tandems battle for the puck with
100% of his attention. No talking.
5. Kovy left the facility around an hour after practice was over.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2008
Exciting day at practice today.
Kovy came out of the locker room at 9:25 today along with the
Assistant Trainer. I asked if I could take video and the answer was
no....which was fine considering the situation with Kovy and his
injury. So, sorry...no video. He skated around for awhile, took some
shots, some one timers, etc.. He looked to me to be doing ok
although I'm not a medical expert. Kovy and the trainer talked about
how he felt, did the "how do you feel on a scale of 1 to 10 routine,
etc.. He skated with the guys until they practice was about ready to
start at which point he left the ice. He left the facility after
practice was over so I assume he was in the back receiving some
treatment for his injury.
Around 30 fans in attendance today and about 15 stayed after
practice near the parking lot (including me) looking for autographs.
For those who remember Kovy's blue Bentley as his car it appears
that the White S 600 Mercedes is now the official ride.
More guys came out early today before practice than usual. Kovy, as
I said above, was one of them. He usually does not come out to
practice too early before the scheduled practice time so he almost
seemed to be lost out there. He helped warm up Moose and Kari but
also stood along the side boards looking as to what he wanted to do
next. Slater, Havelid, Toby, Thorburn, Boulton, etc....we all out
early and warmed up the goalies.
Kari was again not in a great mood. I said "Hi" to him and he did
say Hi back but he did not look at me and did not sound too happy.
Overall the mood was better on the ice than it has been.
DW was not on the ice.
First drill was a passing drill between a 2 D man line as well as
between the 3 forward lines. The lines would take a puck and pass it
between themselves while skating down the ice. It was a good flow
and skating drill.
Here is a video.
Next was a drill where the puck was dumped behind the next then the
line would pass and breakout of the zone. Once they got to the other
zone they would dump the puck in and the next line would take over.
Again, a puck movement, puck possession, and passing drill.
Here is a video.
After that was a two man drill where the puck was shot off the
boards as a way to get the puck into the offensive zone followed by
a shot.
Here is a video. At the end of
the video listen for Slava to yell as he beat Kari. Slava seems to
like to yell when he beats Kari on a shot. The video kind of cuts
out the yell though. It was loud and long.
Fourth drill was a two on one starting at center ice then take the
puck into the zone and shoot.
Here is a video.
During this drill Hoss was not happy with a pass he made to one of
the other forwards on his line. He yelled out lout at himself and
then again after they did not score. It was one of the only times
I've really seen him get into a drill emotionally like that and not
be satisfied with his performance (at least to that degree).
Next was a drill where 3 forwards were against 2 D men taking the
puck into the zone and shooting on net.
Video follows.
Sixth drill was another dump and chase drill. 3 forwards would dump
the puck into the zone against 2 D men and then would gain puck
possession and shoot on net/maintain the zone.
Here is a video.
Last drill was a forwards vs. D men drill. The D men would try to
get the puck out of the zone and the forwards would try to maintain
the zone and shoot on net.
Here is a video.
Observations:
1. As mentioned above, Kovy skated and looked good to me. It seems
to me like he wants to play.
2. Also as mentioned above, Hoss yelled out at himself after not
completing a pass during a drill. It was good to see some emotion
out of him during a drill. It made me feel like he wants to perform
well at practice as well as in the games...you can make your own
conclusion about the meaning of this statement.
3. As published in the AJC by Craig, DW was in Montreal recently
thus the reason he was probably not at the facility today.
4. Did not notice Sterling today (he was there but did not do
anything noticeable). That probably means he had a forgettable
performance at practice today. During training camp I regularly
noticed him on the ice so I'd say it's not a good sign that I did
not notice him today.
5. Toby is not signing as many autographs as he did before. I would
not mention it but this has been 2 practices in a row where he's
basically gone right from the ice to the locker room. (He did sign
something for me today though...want to be fair in my
characterization as to his willingness to sign after practice).
6. Drills today were very fast paced. I can't remember the last time
there were 7 drills in a practice. Good crisp passing, good flow,
good puck movement. Today was an impressive practice from my point
of view.
7. Kari is still not in a good mood. I suspect he's still mad he did
not play on Friday night.
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