Your source for the latest news, views and observations from the Atlanta Thrashers practice arena.

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SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2008
Prospect Camp – Final Day

White team was out first today. Typical skating and puck handing drills first.

Individual skating and puck handling in neutral zone while goalies get shots on net from Steve Weeks. Then passing player to player in the neutral zone while skating.

Next was a cool drill which was a one on one battle in zone for puck. Clip of Kulda and Espo and then another clip on the other end of the ice.

Following that was a drill where fwd brings puck into zone and is defended by 1 d man....take puck to net and shoot.

In between sessions Coach Anderson came out to have a picture taken with his son (#66 Spencer Anderson) and his cousin (#68 Cody Crichton).

Blue team came out 25 minutes later than scheduled. First was puck handling and skating around the ice surface. After that they did some basic passing and skating drills from side board to side board.

Again, session ran by Chicago skating coach.

Blue team much better hitting net with shots than White team showed earlier.

Clip of D men taking puck at center ice and then take puck in and shoot. In clip is Bogy, Enlund, Redmond, and Albert.

Cool clip of 1 D man going 1 on 1 against 3 different opposing players in succession. Clip is of Bogy and Will O'Neil defending.

Anderson and Bogy hitting each other a little bit harder than normal for the drills.


Afternoon

White team came on the ice and skated around tapping sticks on ice because it was their last skate. Then they skated around the rink hitting their sticks on the side boards as they skated by. Was pretty darn loud. Players seem pretty upbeat about it being their last skate.

First drill take pass from side boards and take in and shoot. Then one on one drill defend and shoot on net. Kulda got puck and beat the d man and then slid the puck 5 hole for a goal.

Vinny not on ice for White session. I have no idea where he was and why he did not participate.

Goalie Rosen got hit by shot on inside of leg and then gave up a good number of goals against.

Weeks on ice for session.

Next pass along boards to point where D man would shoot on net and fwd would be in front for deflection. Matt Siddall scored a few goals posting up in front of the crease and deflecting the shot by the goalie.

Blue guys started with typical pass in neutral zone and then take in and shoot. Then 2 players pass zone while approaching net and shoot.

Bogy great skills. In drill he was approaching goalie and made goalie commit at which point he passed to other player who had empty net.

Next same 3 man drill has White team. Pass around goalie to point and shoot.

Ryan Daniels got hurt by puck and hobbled around a bit. He did stay in net though.

Next drill was pass to point with shot from point with fwd in front of goal for deflection. Bogy took shot and hit Anderson in the leg. Anderson had to be helped off the ice. He sat on the bench until the end of the drill when he was helped off the ice and into the locker room.

I talked a bit to Nicklas Lasu after his last session on the ice today. His English was ok although I was not sure if he totally understood what I was saying to him. I told him that I was very impressed by his good performance during the practice camp. He said thanks although when I asked him how he thought it went he said that he did not think his skating and shooting was all that good as he had just started skating 2 weeks prior to camp (that's where I am not sure he understood what I was saying). I told him that I had a website where I reported on practice and that some of his countrymen had sent me messages asking about him. He seemed surprised, although happy, to hear that people had been asking about him and his performance.

Overall observations and thoughts about this year's prospect camp:

1. The players I expected to do well (Bogy, Esposito, and Kulda) did not disappoint.

2. There were a few surprise performances....Enlund and Lasu. I was very impressed with these two players.

3. There were many shots on net which totally missed the net. Many shots.

4. The goalies seemed to have a rough time of it. I would not say that any of the goalies were all that impressive.

5. Painchaud, Machaeck, and Holzapfel had good performances but were not the best in camp.

6. Vinny Saponari had a good camp, showed a lot of speed, had good moves, made some great shots on net although also missed the net a bit.

7. Marchesi had a good camp although he did not stand out (IMHO) as much as some of the other defensemen (Bogy, Kulda)

8. I thought Grant Lewis had a good camp and was very steady and consistent most every day and every session on the ice.

9. Bogy was very good with the fans. For a 17 yr old (for a few more days) it's amazing the amount of maturity he shows off the ice (as in being quite gracious about picture and autograph requests). He signed all autographs and complied with all picture requests every day of camp.

10. Turnout for camp was better than I expected. Morning sessions were not as heavily attended as afternoon sessions. I would say, on average, 50 fans were in attendance for the sessions.

11. Coach Anderson did not participate in any of the on ice sessions today and fewer yesterday than the previous days.

12. I'll put this one in bold because I know this has been a hot topic for a lot of people. In 6 days of camp I did not see a single drill designed to practice dump and chase. There were some 1 on 1 drills and one of them was in a corner behind the net. Other than that, no dump and chase practice. Anderson said he wants to run a puck possession game. So, while there may be a place for dump and chase I don't believe it's real high on Anderson's list of “systems” to teach. Could be wrong though...guess we will see in September.

I could go on with additional tidbits about each of the players who participated although I've already written quite a bit about each day's activities. I am looking forward to training camp and will be eagerly awaiting the roster to see which of the prospects is invited to camp in September.

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