CKAC's Martin McGuire reported this morning that Team A is:
A. Kostitsyn - Plekanec - S. Kostitsyn
Tanguay - Maxwell - Pacioretty
Begin - Lapierre - Laraque
Lehoux - Fortier - Dandenault
(There was a 5th line of prospects/minor leaguers)
Hamrlik - O'Byrne
Gorges - Brisebois
Valentenko - Weber
(there was another defence pair I can't remember)
Halak
Denis
This team will be playing Monday and Tuesday. Then they should be playing next Saturday and Sunday. We'll see them twice on TV.
Team B:
Higgins - Koivu - D'Agostini
Latendresse - Lang - Kovalev
Stewart - Chipchura - Kostopoulos
And again, two other lines of minor leaguers and prospects
Markov - Komisarek
Bouillon - Carle
Henry - Belle
Price
Desjardins
This group will play in Detroit on Wednesday and Friday vs Ottawa it appears.
CKAC's Martin McGuire reported this morning that Team A is:
A. Kostitsyn - Plekanec - S. Kostitsyn
Tanguay - Maxwell - Pacioretty
Begin - Lapierre - Laraque
Lehoux - Fortier - Dandenault
(There was a 5th line of prospects/minor leaguers)
Hamrlik - O'Byrne
Gorges - Brisebois
Valentenko - Weber
(there was another defence pair I can't remember)
Halak
Denis
This team will be playing Monday and Tuesday. Then they should be playing next Saturday and Sunday. We'll see them twice on TV.
Team B:
Higgins - Koivu - D'Agostini
Latendresse - Lang - Kovalev
Stewart - Chipchura - Kostopoulos
And again, two other lines of minor leaguers and prospects
Markov - Komisarek
Bouillon - Carle
Henry - Belle
Price
Desjardins
This group will play in Detroit on Wednesday and Friday vs Ottawa it appears.
I'm going to the Monday night game in Halifax & fully expect for Tanguay to get a huge, huge standing O when he hits the ice!!!
Came back from the practice. Pissed off. Didn't see everyting I wanted.
My rant of the day is that for fans, today wasn't that good. You had to be in rink #1 to have something interesting as far as drills are concerned. I didn't go to rink #2 but the pamphlet was saying that on rink #2 it was only skating exercices. So people who were could confirm if it was interesting anyway. If I remember correctly in previous camps, you had 2 teams playing simultaneously on both rinks. Now everything started in rink #1 and then an hour later, the guys from rink #1 go in rink #2 for skating while another group takes the stage in rink #1. So had to leave at 11:45 so saw 1 group for the entire practice, and another group for 15 minutes.
Just to say that I arrived at 9:15 and at rink #1, I think it was already 2 lines standing while in rink #2 it was almost 1 though I understood that once I got the schedule. I've never seen, and I've been to a lot of them, that many people. My guess is that to be seated, you'll have to be there 2 hours prior to the start tomorrow. The problem is that if people think it's at 10:00, they'll be there at 8:00 which will make 3 hours before the start.....I won't be there that early but I wouldn't be surprised if some are.....It's actually crazy and it doesn't serve the fans too well. Better be moving this in something much bigger, even the Bell Centre.
As far as reports of players for day 1, it won't be as extensive as I used to 'cause didn't see everything and there's not a lot to say though some things 'caught my eye:
- The guy that caught my eye the most was......Gregory Stewart. Awesome wristers, great dekes, nice speed, nice passes, honestly, I'm not going to exaggerate but let's say I was so pleased by what I saw.
- Guys like Flinn and especially Henry are monsters. Komi is a big guy but those 2 caught my eye. Flinn though also caught my eye as far as not so good he is with the puck. Though we all know what his role would be. Henry was fine on D for a big guy. Laid the body for a couple of occasions.
- Kosto welcomed Weber in the NHL with a thunderous bodyckeck near the blue line. Weber was fine and I think Kosto went to see him right after to check if he was fine. Welcome in the NHL kid. Though Weber showed some of his great passing skills today.
- Price looking faster but I wasn't close to his end at all. Just got 2 or 3 shots that he should've caught with his glove and didn't. So I hope that still not a problem. But I let the others who were closer to say how he really was.
- I actually like what I've seen from Lacasse today. Looked more composed. Though there's some NHL quality shots I'm not sure he saw or heard, and I might compare to what I've seen from him in the latest camps, but he might actually be a nice goalie for Cincinnati, something I wasn't even sure he'd be able to do....
- Desjardins' day didn't start so fine. I think he let the first 5 shots in. But he also saw some quality shots there.
- MaxPac got some OH's from the crowd with his precise wristers on the top shelf. He really didn't look out of the place for the few minutes I saw him.
- Belle's skating is impressive. I really really like how he moves on the ice.
- Gorges looks to play with such confidence now. Great to see.
- Both Kostys showing that the wristers are still there. I was pleased to see Sergei K. going at it quite hard. Is not taking this too lightly.
- Kovy and Lang doing their thing. Nothing to write about except that on a lot of exercices we saw a lot of Lats-Lang-Kovy doing some 3 on 1 together. Didn't seem to click at first, worked better as it went along. But Lang seems so happy, was joking around with a lot of guys. Looked to me like he was the only one doing it that much. Great to see.
- Lats looking faster and his wristers and moves are up to par.
- Tanguay; didn't see a lot of him, looked smaller than I thought he looked.
-Trotter: Liked him today. Some impressive moves he did, didn't seem to be impressed by the vets he was playing with. Really liked his wristers as well. Good practice for him.
- White......is White. Again, amongst the rookies, didn't shine, I saw a good wrister that touched the crossbar. Besides that, just looked out of place, but again, and again, and again....I must be biased.
-Russell....seems a good candidate for Cincinnati once again.
-Aubin: doing what he does best....being invisible.
Other guys were there but didn't notice them too much, guys like Chip, Desharnais, Beauregard, Carle, Pleks (besides one incredible wrister to Desjardins), Maxwell, Wyman, Halak, Bouillon, Markov and Martin.
Note that I didn't see half of the second practice and didn't see the 3rd group who is practicing as we speak. So I didn't see guys like Bégin, D'Agostini, Fortier, Glumac, Higgins, Koivu, Lapierre, Laraque, Lehoux, Denis, Mayer, Brisebois, Dandenault, Hamrlik, O'Byrne, Subban, Valentenko. Don't remember if Anderson was there or not.
Last edited by Whitesnake: 09-20-2008 at 01:04 PM.
- The guy that caught my eye the most was......Gregory Stewart. Awesome wristers, great dekes, nice speed, nice passes, honestly, I'm not going to exaggerate but let's say I was so pleased by what I saw.
This really excites me, I really like this guy. I know that one game last season doesn't mean much and his success could definitely be arguable with various factors but nonetheless, he has potential.
Thanks for the report, great as always Whitesnake. Don't know what happens to Stewart this year, but I think with Begin and Kosto's contracts up, a 4th line slot is there for him to lose in 09/10.
How many times is Kovalev going to have to answer the question of who he'd rather play with? Do these reporters think their going to get an answer like "Oh yeah, I'd rather play with Lang for sure, Carbo better make it happen!"
Kovy will start the season with Pleks and Andrei, just let it go people.
How many times is Kovalev going to have to answer the question of who he'd rather play with? Do these reporters think their going to get an answer like "Oh yeah, I'd rather play with Lang for sure, Carbo better make it happen!"
Kovy will start the season with Pleks and Andrei, just let it go people.
"Who would you rather play with, Alex?" is the new "What's it like to play on the same team as your brother, Sergei?"
How many times is Kovalev going to have to answer the question of who he'd rather play with? Do these reporters think their going to get an answer like "Oh yeah, I'd rather play with Lang for sure, Carbo better make it happen!"
Kovy will start the season with Pleks and Andrei, just let it go people.
I'm quite sure that they wouldn't. They better let the two kost together with Plekanek, they are amazing. This way, we can build something very special between the two brothers and Plekanek. Those three players are young and can be together for maybe most of they're career. A A.Kost-Plekanek-Kovalev wouldn't stay for a while.
Just got back. I had no clue what was going on for a the first bit as I forgot to get a schedule. I was in Rink 2 and I moved to rink 1 when nothing was happening, so by that time I had already missed Group A completely.
Group B was pretty well covered by Whitesnake.
Group C is the one I remember the most because it just happened.
- Hamrlik was serious business the whole time. He's definitely not a big fan of training camp. Laraque hit him with a shot in the foot (by accident obviously)
- Laraque was having a great time. Smiling a lot and got a big cheer from the crowd also. Didn't score
- Fortier was very nervous. I can see why. At first, he was paired with Koivu, then Higgins. He settled down when he was paired with Lehoux
- Subban was also pretty serious. He was a bit rough out there, but had a good day
- Loving Valentenko, looks very strong defensively
- Mayer is someone I'd look into a bit more. Made the save of the day IMO (Koivu sent a cross-ice pass to Glumac, and Mayer robbed Mike with the glove). He made a lot of big saves, but he let in the easy ones. Maybe ECHL for now?
- Lapierre, Begin, Higgins, and Koivu were all pretty good, that's to be expected
- Brisebois was invisible
- Dandenault was out there and he looked like he had something to prove, he did well
- D'Agostini had a very good day, might've been the best in Group C
Most Impressive of the Day: Pacioretty, Mayer, Carle, D'Agostini, Russell, Valentenko, Subban, Maxwell (not including roster players here)
Most Invisible: Aubin, Wyman (wasn't watching for him), Martin, Denis (he was at the other end), everyone in Group A (didn't see them)
The Kosty bros have visa problems (ditto for Weber) so they can only play in Canada right now. The visa problem should be solved within the week according to McGuire on CKAC. It's also why the top line from a year ago is not together right now...
Mike Boone with a recap of the day, Chipchura comments are interesting. He knows he's gotta really impress.
whitesnake
