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SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2008
Prospect camp – Day 5

Today's schedule basically splits the group into White and Blue teams as well as forwards and defense for the rest of the camp. The last scrimmage was on Friday so we won't get to see if the increased physical play we saw at the end of scrimmage was going to continue or not. There were 40 people or so in attendance for the morning sessions.

Eric Boulton was out watching the prospects a bit in the morning session. He was apparently in the locker room working out. Several fans recognized him and went over to have pictures taken with him and to ask him for autographs.

During the session with forwards there were some drills which required very fancy skating maneuvers around the neutral zone....forward, backward, sideways and switching between those three really fast. Lasu looked very comfortable in this drill (IMHO) compared to the other players.

Next was a great drill where the skaters started with up backs (skate from one line to another and from side to side) and then 2 players would battle for the puck. The player who got the puck would drive toward the net and the non puck player would defend. It was great to watch.

Espo showed some good backchecking skills during this drill. Vinny was really flying during the drill compared to the other skaters. Paul Postma came out of the locker room for a minute to watch and was sporting a really nasty cut on the bridge of his nose.

The forwards session ended with up backs the entire length of the ice. Espo and Vinny were fast. Myles Stoetz was not so fast. He collapsed at the end of the drill. Myles has improved his skating greatly although was paired against some pretty fast skaters.

The D men came out 15 minutes after the forwards were done. They started with skating around the neutral zone stick handling while coach was down working with goalies. Coach shoots on on net, goalie makes the save, and D man passes puck out of zone.

Bogy is trying a new Warrior stick. I asked him about it and he likes it. he said he's going to order some to use. Bogy is much faster than the other D men he was skating against today.

They then did some upbacks. Bogy was the fastest of his group with Chad Denny the second fastest. Kulda wold have been the fastest in his group but he lost an edge on a turn and could not recover the lost ground.

The afternoon session was very crowded. There were over 100 people in attendance. I was late to the session because I was in the meeting with John Anderson.

The skating coach from Chicago was running the drills. There were various passing drills between 2 players and then shoot on net. The players appear to be getting tired and maybe ready for the camp to be over. Many shots missed the net from close range. There were drills where there was no goalie and even then the players could not hit the net.

Espo again skated right past the defender and shot on net. It was almost like the defender never even got to move his feet.

Not a lot of notes from the afternoon session because I got there late and was talking hockey with some of the fans who were sitting around me.
 

FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2008
Thrashers prospect camp – Day 4

I missed the beginning of the session this morning because I was in the breakfast meeting with Don and John. The overview I put together covering the breakfast took a lot of time so today's prospect camp entry is not going to be as long as usual.

The group started with the same basic skating and passing drills that they have started with the other sessions. I took 2 videos today of different full ice drills that looked interesting.

The first drill was a 5 on 2 drill where the players basically skated around the neutral zone passing the puck via touch passes and then ending up in the defensive zone battling for the puck and shooting on net. Here's a video of that drill.

The next video is of the 5 on 5 drill/scrimmage. It's 2 minutes long this time. Nothing really that remarkable about it but you can pick out from the video any players you want to see.

Observations:

1. Vinny Saponari looked fast today.

2. Grant Lewis was good, consistent, and confident with the puck in both zones.

3. Espo and Kulda also continued to impress.

4. Smaller crowd today...maybe 20-25 people in attendance.

5. Awesome goal was scored by Zach Redmond...he skated through the zone and left his feet and scored.

6. Spencer Anderson had a few good plays where he took the puck to the net although on some shots on net early in the session he missed the net by a wide margin.

7. Enlund was very difficult to move off the puck in the offensive zone.

8. Bogy exhibited some awesome skating ability today. One play in particular he skated backward gaining possession of the puck, then skated laterally with the puck evading the opposing player, and then skated around the opposing player to make a tape to tape pass. I am by no means an expert and skate ok although watching the skating move he made was truly amazing to me.

9. Bogy also did a couple of passes where he passed the puck to himself off the side board and around the defensemen which I thought was pretty cool.

10. Lasu was not as strong today in the 4 on 4 scrimmage as he's been in the past.

11. The goalies seemed to have a better session today as they gave up fewer goals. I did not write down the final score of the scrimmage...sorry. I think Blue won though.

12. Kulda and Bogy seem to have a bit of a rivalry going on. When they were at the faceoff circle they were trying to get position on each other by hitting the other player's stick aside and there were times where it looked like Kulda was trying to show Bogy he's not the only big boy out there on the ice. Could be wrong...just how it struck me.

13. By the end of the session the hitting was really picking up. I am looking forward to watching again tomorrow.
 

THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2008

Today was a busy day at prospect camp. The crowd arrived early...30-45 minutes prior to the scheduled start time...and totaled 70 people. Darin Elliot was in attendance as were the Saponaris' parents and also John Albert's dad from Ohio. (he told me he's driving back to Cleveland tomorrow though).

The guys came out a bit late today which was unusual...one thing I've come to expect out of attending practice is that the guys are not late out on the ice. It's probably because today was the day that the guys had a very in-depth work out with the strength coach Ray Bear today during the day. I did not hear any of the players talking about it but yesterday Ray was talking to some other folks about how much "fun" he was going to have with the prospects today.

Today Steve Weeks was on the ice as a coach and assisted with the drills. Also, after the scrimmage, he stayed on the ice with the remaining players (I'll get to that later) and ran drills for another 20 minutes. He was running drills which were skating and shooting drills right around the net and are the same ones that the Thrashers use. There is a marked difference in the success level in the drills of our prospects and that of our Thrashers.

Many of the early drills, as was the case in the first 2 days, focused on skating and shooting. Here is a video of a drill where the players took the puck and skated up the wing to shoot on net. I tried to get the footage today from behind the players as much as possible so that you could see their numbers and refer to the roster at atlantathrashers.com to see who the players were on the video.

Next was a pretty cool drill where there were 5 players on the ice. They would skate from end to end and switch from offense to defense depending upon what end of the ice they were on. At one goal 2 would be on defense and 3 on offense and then on the other end of the ice they would switch so that the D men and forwards who had played one position would play the other (hope that made sense). Here is a video.

Following that was a scrimmage where the action went end to end. Here's a video.

Here's another video clip of the scrimmage although in this one Bogy starts out bringing the puck up ice. He looks very comfortable (to me at least) bringing the puck up ice and driving to the net. He pretty much just skates through the defense with his skill and speed and heads straight for the net. Here's the video.

Next are 2 videos of the shootout drill that follows the scrimmage. In the first one you will see Steve Weeks right in front of me watching the action. 50 seconds (or so) into the first video the player in white who does the fancy SO move and gets a big ovation from his teammates is none other than Miles Stoesz. He's the one who has spent alot of time working on his skating (according to what I've read). Here is the second video. 

Today I tried to take video of some action covering players which I'd not had much video of before.

Here are some notes I took during the drills:

1. Lasu continues to impress. He had some great shots on net today and was also fast and physical.

2. Kulda looked good at times and then at other times turned over the puck (one time that resulted in a goal by the other squad).

3. John Anderson's son is big and not as fast of a skater as some of the other guys. I noted a few times where he was passed by the opposing player carrying the puck into Anderson's zone.

4. Enlund had a few plays where he went hard to the opposing net with a shot on goal.

5. Esposito is very fast and a good puck handler. On one play he had the puck from his own net, all the way down ice to the opposing net, through the defenders, to shoot on net.

6. Grant Lewis looked very steady and good today.

7. Lasu skated by Kulda at one point (and Kulda has been good so that must have meant that Lasu was flying).

8. Forney scored 2 goals during the scrimmage within .20. (one was because of the turnover that I mentioned earlier from Kulda).

9. Carrozzi let in a softie. I've not watched the goalies a whole lot although I did notice that one shot that seemed to squirt between his arm and chest protector.

10. Esposito also scored 2 goals today in the scrimmage.

11. Blue team won today 6-2.

I had a question on the message board about the Blue team losing 6-1 yesterday and how many of the goals was Bogy (yes, that is his official name now. The Mod asked him and the name is Bogy) was on the ice for. Bogy played a lot in the scrimmage yesterday although he was paired a lot with Zach Redmond I believe (could be wrong). Thus far Redmond strikes me as an offensive defensemen and while I don't remember how many goals against Bogy was on the ice for I did not see any Suttonesque (sorry...) issues from Bogy....far from it. More than anything I'd have to say the offensive play has been better than the goaltending thus far and that is, in my opinion, more the reason for the high goals against...not the play of Bogy or any defensemen.

Around 10 players left the ice right after the scrimmage was over. I did not keep track but Bogy was one of them, so was Grant Lewis, and also Arturs Kulda. There were probably 15-20 players left on the ice after the scrimmage who worked with Steve Weeks and a few other coaches on the skating and shooting close to the net drills I mentioned earlier. It looked like a voluntary drill type of thing to me. So, I'd not read anything into who stayed on the ice and who did not.

As I was leaving the practice facility Kari Lehtonen pulled up behind me (on Satellite) in his Porsche.  We slowed down and waived to him as he pulled into the parking lot on the other side of the road. I did not see him at the facility although he was likely in the locker area working out.

Tomorrow I will only be at the morning sessions. I will miss the afternoon forwards and defense drills.
 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2008

Today was a great day at prospect camp....a very long day...but a great day. The morning session had approximately 15 people in attendance and the afternoon session was a bit more crowded with around 40 people in attendance.

Notables in attendance today were Don Waddell who watched most of the afternoon session (when he was not on his blackberry...hmmm, wonder what his calls were about), Craig Custance who was in town for an article he's writing for The Sporting News, and 2 television crews. Vinny and Vic Saponari skated in the later morning session and their parents were in attendance all afternoon.

Danick Paquette was still sick but he and another prospect, who I don't have the name of, were out of the locker room most all day watching the action. Danick said he was leaving for Europe tonight (skating practice/camp over there with his current coach) and he would not skate today. He has quite a personality. While I did not talk to him much it is obvious he has quite a bit of life and personality and should be fun to watch if/when he makes it to the big club. At one point he was play fighting to show the other player he was with some moves and it was obvious to me he'd been in a few fights in his time.

Ben Wright reported that Nickas Lasu reportedly likes to be a big hitter and hit people on the ice. He's not all that big when you look at him but he lived up to his word by laying some big hits today. One was on Miles Stoetz and Stoetz left the boards spinning (his body, not his head) after the hit.

Anderson again ran the practice the entire day. Looks like that's the plan for the rest of camp if the first 2 days are any indication.

Chad Denny finally got his equipment so he skated today. He moves pretty good for such a big guy.

Here's an overview of the videos we have today.

First is a video of a skating and shooting drill. Here's Esposito skating around some cones and shooting.

Next is a video of a 5 man drill where the 5 man unit brings the puck up the ice and shoots. Bogy and Riley Holzapfel are in this video.

After that is a video of the shootout drill which is the same as the one they did yesterday. The video is of the victorious White squad and includes their post win celebration.

Next are a few videos of the scrimmage that took place in the late afternoon. Blue group against White group. First video is of Bogy scoring a goal (and the only goal for the Blue team).

Next scrimmage video is of Bogy driving the net. He did this a few times today and, as far as I am concerned, I hope we get to see some of this during the upcoming season.

Last video is of the White team scoring. It includes Esposito, Kulda, and Painchard scores the goal.

Lots of observations today:

1. All of the players are using a face shield. Not sure if they have been told they have to or not, but all of them have one on.

2. The drills being used are very similar to those which I've seen the Thrashers use the last few years. This morning the drills focused on passing and skating.

3. Steve Weeks was in attendance in the afternoon. He watched the action with a player list in front of him.

4. Between the morning and afternoon sessions the players were outside in the player parking lot joging backward and stretching. I thought that was rather strange to see all of them outside stretching instead of doing it in the locker room workout area.

5. Esposito was good passing today although I read the Falconer said that he thought Espo had alot of turnovers. I did not notice that.

6. Bogy appears to be very comfortable taking the puck hard to the net. Zach Redmond also took the puck hard to the net a few times.

7. White team beat the Blue team 5-1.

TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2008

It was great to back at the practice facility today to watch a practice session. There was a very large turnout...approximately 50 people were in attendance including Vinny and Vic Saponari's parents. Prior to the practice Vinny and Vic were talking with Dan Kamal's son (who is a goalie but is not at the camp) and Dan Kamal.

Also in attendance were 2 TV crews, Mark from the AJC, and Holly Gunning from Hockey's Future.

Bogy (I'll call him that as it appears there is still some question about what his "official" nickname is going to be) came out early for some photos by the AJC.

Once the guys hit the ice they posed for the camp picture.

John Anderson was on the ice the entire time and ran the drills.

The team is divided into blue and white jerseys with pretty much an equal distribution of offensive and defensive players.

There were many drills...too many to list so I'll just list the ones that I took video of.

The first drill was a basic warmup drill where the guys split into 2 groups. The skater took the puck in and shot on net. Here's a video.

Next video is of a 1 on 1 drill. Bogy is #44 and is the blue shirt defensemen who drills the forward into the boards. The crowd went wild when Bogy put the hit on. Here's the video.

Next video is a 2 on 2 drill. Spencer Machaeck is #46 who takes the puck hard to the net.

After that is a drill where the defensemen started against 1 forward, then 2 forwards, and finally 3 forwards. Again, Bogy is the defensemen in the video.

Final video is of a shootout drill which the 2 sides did at the same time. The side that had the most shootout goals won. Bogy scored the winning goal for his side. In the video Angelo Esposito (#57) scores for his team and then the next skater is Vinny Saponari (#54) also in a white jersey,

After the shootout drill the guys took a 15 minute break in the locker room and then came back out for another 30 or so minutes of drills.


Observations:


1. Bogy was the first player to get physical during the drills. There was little hitting and physical play other than from him (although I could not watch everyone at once so I may have missed some physical play).

2. It seemed like a lot of shots were missing the net. The guys were probably just nervous.

3. Angelo Esposito has some serious speed. He (and Bogy) were obviously amongst the fastest players on the ice.

4. Danick Paquette and Chad Denny did not skate. I heard that Danick was not feeling well and he's only scheduled to be there through July 10 as he's going to Europe for skating camp over there with his current coach. Not sure if he will skate tomorrow or not. Not sure why Chad did not skate today.

5. Anderson was passing the pucks to the players himself during a drill. His passes were very hard so it appeared to me like he wanted to see how well the guys could accept and handle hard crisp passes.

Please post on the message board what players I should focus video on during the upcoming days at camp.

MONDAY, JULY 7, 2008:

Prospect camp starts tomorrow, Tuesday July 8.  Here is a link to the camp schedule and a list of the players who will be participating.

I will have updates on the site each day of training camp that I am able to attend (which I hope is every day).

Today's Update from the practice facility: It appears that the team has rented two vans to shuttle the players between their hotel and the practice facility. The equipment managers are at the site today and are surely getting all of the equipment ready for the players to start prospect camp tomorrow.

When I arrived at the practice facility today I saw a few players walking into the facility, although I did not see who they were. They are probably completing paperwork and taking a look around the facility before camp starts tomorrow.

I did see Thorburn leaving the facility, although I could not see if his brother was in the car with him when he left.

I don't see any other players' cars at the facility today. The black Hummer I mentioned on the message board is at the facility today, although it's parked in a part of the lot where non-players usually park.

Look for updates throughout the week!

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