PDA

View Full Version : Rookie Camp Report



MidgetAAA
06-05-2008, 05:37 PM
The good news is, nobody puked. The first full day of Edmonton Oil Kings Spring Training camp is in the books after a full regimen of off-ice testing, education seminars and a fairly high tempo practice at the NAIT Arena. All of the Oil Kings 15 and 16 year old prospects are in town for an introduction to the organization.
You could tell a lot of the young kids were nervous heading in but looked much more comfortable once the puck dropped and they started to throw a few checks and engage in some 1 on 1 battles along the boards.
“It was hard. It was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun too.” said Oil Kings 2008 third round pick (36th overall) Ryan Dech. “I honestly had no idea what to expect coming in. I just kept an open mind and gave it my best effort. Most of the fitness testing was what I expected but that 5 minute bike ride at the end was one hell of a test, that’s for sure.”
Dech’s referring to a sprint at the end of the off-ice sessions where the players had to ride the stationary bike as hard as they could for 5 minutes to see how many calories they could burn in one quick ride. They were warned not to drink any milk the night before, or the morning of, by Oil Kings Assistant Coach Rocky Thompson. Luckily, nobody was close to losing their breakfast after the killer bike ride. The rest of the testing was designed by the Oil Kings new Strength and Conditioning coach Simon Bennett. The tests had an emphasis on strength, stamina and agility.
Another important element of the weekend was a series of education seminars conducted by the WHL’s Director of Education Services Jim Donlevy and Oil Kings’ Education Advisor Roger Castle plus Salisbury Composite High School Vice Principal Ron Horton. The players got some advice on how to structure their high school programs to get them ready for the transition to life in junior hockey where they’ll have to make time for both their studies and their play.
There was a noticeable comfort factor for the 1992 born players who have been through this training camp before. 16 year old T.J. Foster is one of those players and can’t wait to show what he’s got at main camp after a successful year with the St. Albert Raiders of the Alberta Midget Hockey League.
“I’m more comfortable the second year around and not nervous because I know what to expect. “ said the Slave Lake, Alberta native who tallied 8 goals and 17 assists for 25 points in 34 games during the regular season and added another 2 assists in 3 playoff games for the Raiders. “ I know what I’m up against and you know how hard you have to work to get further along. It’s been good to get the feet wet and see what it’s like. Hopefully it will help me out in the long run once I get to fall camp.”
For the most part, the players were most impressed with how they were treated like pros.
“It’s great, it’s really exciting. They do an amazing job at making you feel good.” said Travis Ewanyk, the top local kid the Oil Kings drafted this year. (3rd round - 48th overall from St. Albert) “I just thought it would be like other camps, you go there and haul all you stuff around. But here, we got into the room and they had sticks for us, they brought our gear to the rink and set it up for us, it was just great.”
So far it has been very evident that this training camp is all about instruction rather than evaluation.
“We want to show them what we’re about, teach them a little bit about preparation, some of our basic fundamentals on the ice and details that we talk about like our structure.” outlined Oil Kings Head Coach Steve Pleau. “We also want to learn about them a little bit. Who needs help a bit off the ice, give them a little kick when it comes to their conditioning and show them which way they need to be going.”