Back on the Horse

We did not talk with players, as we had some plans to meet up with some HW readers over at Tom Reid's (go there, have a beer), and some other time constraints to overcome for the rest of the afternoon.

However, we did take in the entire scrimmage, and a few things stood out to us. Make the jump, let's get back to talking hockey.

Observations

There was zero puck cycling in either zone. The players drove into the zone, made made a deke or a pass, and immediately shot the puck. They did not stop and control the puck or try to set up many plays at all. All of this is likely due to it being early in camp, and the point of the scrimmages to really just get the legs back under them and going. While the fans would have appreciated some goals, the point was not to light the lamp as much as to simply ramp up.

Using only equipment to judge them, Endras (hereafter "Der Goalie") has the early edge. Solid black out theme going on with his eagle themed helmet. Very cool look. Harding's tribute mask gets style points, but Der Goalie has some solid gear.

The defense did not look overly terrible, but they were not impressive either. Of course, nothing was overly impressive today. It had a very loose feel, nothing overly pressured. Good second day to things. Pairings were interesting, seeing some Schultz - Lundin, ZZ Top, and Spurgeon was with Scandella. Prosser and Stoner looked good, and steady.

Enough for Now

That's about all there is out of camp today. Shooting to talk to some guys tomorrow, get a feel for how things are progressing, and tomorrow is the first "real" day of camp. Team will remained split in two for awhile, making things more manageable. Should be fun to watch them really get ready for the year.

All-in-all, it was just excellent to be back talking hockey with the hockey folks again. More tomorrow.

Hockey is back, everyone.