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*CLICK HERE FOR A PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES AT PRACTICE!*
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2008
Another smaller turnout today at
practice...around 15 fans.
There were, however, 30 people or so at the facility who were filing
a Cartoon Network show. There were child actors, their parents, and
the film crew. I think the show is called Fried Dynamite. Anyway,
they were all over the place before and after practice. Kovy went
out in his shorts and a coat before practice to get in the filming.
Here is a brief video of him over with the TV
crew.
 Also
before practice Eric Boulton came out of the locker room in his
shorts, an Under Armor tee shirt, and his skates and skated around
the rink like a figure skater. I took a video although he saw me
filming it and said "you are not filming that, are you?". I said
that I was and that he could see it on YouTube. He said he better
not see it on You Tube which told me I'd be better off not putting
it on YouTube. So, guess what...it won't be on YouTube.
There will be limited videos posted today. I don't have a lot of
time to upload the videos tonight. Sorry!
Moose was out real early again today. He spent some time talking to
the Fried Dynamite child actors who were along the side of the rink
before the practice.
One of the TV crew photographers asked Slater to shoot a puck at the
glass where the photog was standing. Slater just kind of looked at
him like "who are you?" Then he kind of smiled and went ahead and
shot the puck at the glass.
Before the start of the practice Duper shot a puck out of the rink
hitting the door to the locker. It was a really hard shot and scared
everyone standing around because we were not watching him . He was
also skating around using his stick with the handle on the ice. It
was funny.
Here is a video.
On the first drill the team started at center ice. 2 D men would
take the dump in pass and would pass the puck out to 3 forwards at
blue line who would pass the puck across the ice to enter the other
zone. The drill obviously was designed to practice movement of the
puck up one side of the defensive zone and then across the ice to
the other side to enter the offensive zone.
Next drill the players would skate a circle around the face off
circle and then pass puck to blue line where other player would take
the pass. That player would take the puck into the offensive zone
and shoot on net. After he took his shot he would wait in front of
the net for the next forward to come in and shoot. The first forward
would then try to deflect the shot on net. Duper beat Moose high
glove side during this drill and Moose let out a very loud yell and
some particular phrases to let Duper know he was not happy about
being beat by Duper.
Next drill I took notes on was basically one squad against another
going one end of the ice to another. It was almost like a PP drill
but it appeared to be an even strength drill.
Observations:
1. No real practice on PP or PK again today. I've not mentioned this
recently although I seem to think about it after I prepare the post.
I don't understand why we don't practice the PP or PK more often.
Our PP is 16th in the NHL with a success rate of 17.5%. PK is 26th
at 17.2%. Our special teams needs to be better in order for us to
win the Division (in my opinion).
2. Kovy was one of the last 3 players off the ice today. Then he
signed autographs for every fan who wanted him to sign something.
All that after he spent 15 minutes before practice with the TV film
crew and kids who where at the facility to tape the children's'
show.
3. Duper was in a particularly playful mood before, during, and
after practice today.
4. Kari is still experimenting during practice with a new goal
stick. No new mask/helmet yet though.
5. No DW on the ice today.
6. It seems clear to me that the drills which the team has been
practicing have been focusing on passing accuracy, reducing
turnovers, and creating traffic in front of the net to clean up
rebounds and create deflection opportunities.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2008
Practice started today at 11 instead
of the posted 10
am because Casino Night was last night. Everyone
seemed to be in pretty good shape this morning (player
wise) so it appears that the players took last night
in moderation.
There were 15 or so fans at practice this morning.
Boulton came out around 9:30 to talk to some Jr hockey
team members who were in town last week apparently to
play in tournament. He knew the coaches and talked to
the players.
As usual, Moose and Kari were out first followed by
Thorburn, Havelid, Toby, and Slates. Moose was out
extra early today (even for him). I remember him
coming out early like that last season when he was not
getting a lot of game time.
Slates is back to his old Easton stick that he used
last season.
Hoss, Kovy, and Holik were the last 3 players on the
ice.
Once everyone was on the ice the coaches had them
skate clockwise around the rink for awhile and then
turn around and skate the other direction.
Next was a drill that started with skating around the
zone and a shot from the blue line. Once the shot was
stopped by the goalie the 2 D men would regain
possession and practice breaking out of the zone
through passing to the forwards.
Here is a video.
The second drill was one where the players skated
around some gloves that had been set on the ice and
then take the puck into the zone and shoot on net. It
was a one on one drill.
Here is a video.
During the second drill Recchi skated right by Kovy
and had a good laugh. Kovy was smiling at Recchi's
sweet move.
Third drill looked like a PP drill but it really was
not. It was more of a 2 on 2 drill where the 2
offensive players would try to maintain puck
possession and score and the defensive players would
try to get the puck and exit the zone. The play would
go from end to end. When the coach blew the whistle
the players would switch out.
Here is a video.
Fourth drill (that has 2 videos today) started as a 5
on 2. After the drill started players exited the
drill so that it was a 2 on 2 or 3 on 2 drill. It was
basically a puck possession, passing, and maintaining
the zone drill. Another end to end drill which was
very fluid in which players would enter and exit the
drill on the fly. Here are 2 videos:
Clip #1,
Clip #2.
During this drill Kovy really battled to keep the puck
out of the net. He did not have a lot of D support and
really was battling. It was in good fun but it was
obvious to me that he did not want to let certain
players...like Kovy, Recchi, and Slava...score on him.
The final drill was a skating drill that looked to me
like speed skating more than anything else. The
players looked like the would take turns drafting off
of each other. The first 5 times or so around the
shortened ice the players were trying to win the race.
By the end most players were winded and just wanted
to finish...except for Kovy, he wanted to win all the
races.
Here's a video.
Observations:
1. No DW on the ice. He was at the facility and left
kind of early. He had to take his mother to the
airport (or so it appeared, he loaded her suitcases
into his trunk and left).
2. During the practice Hoss stepped off the ice and
went into the locker room. About the same time that
happened the head PR guy for the Thrashers called
Craig Custance into the locker room as apparently DW
wanted to talk to him. Hoss came back onto the ice
with a new stick. It's probably just a coincidence
that he left the ice and the AJC reporter was called
in at the same time.
3. Hoss looked really good during the drills when he
was paired with Slava.
4. Much better mood today at practice.
5. McCrimmon had a talk with all the players (in a
group) at the end of practice. It took around 2
minutes. A lot of the players took a knee during the
talk. You could almost hear him but his facial
expressions, in my mind at least, told me that he was
basically telling the team that if the guys are going
to make a move it has to start on Wednesday night
against the Craps. (oops, I mean Caps.)
6. Kari started out practice with the new stick he's
been trying out and then left the ice and went and got
the trusty RBK stick he appears to prefer.
7. Hoss left the practice facility without signing
any autographs (he usually stops his car and signs
some things before he drives off). He did not sign
any autographs inside either. Someone said he had to
go and pick someone up at the airport.
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