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Scout
08-25-2008, 09:36 AM
Rookies Rarin' To Go

The Edmonton Oil Kings opened training camp with rookie fitness testing at Body By Bennett.

Edmonton, AB - It's show time. Or more specifically, it's time to show off for all the rookies attending the Edmonton Oil Kings 2008 Rookie Camp. Almost 80 players reported on Friday for registration and fitness testing at Body by Bennett on Edmonton's west end. The Oil Kings new strength and conditioning coach, Simon Bennett along with Oil Kings coaches and management caught their first glimpse of all the hopefuls vying for spots on this year's roster.

"Well we were a little more comfortable doing this having done it before but it doesn’t make it any easier." commented Ryan Dech, Edmonton's 3rd round pick in this year's bantam draft. "You still have got to put it all out and give it all."
A number of players are attending their second Oil Kings training camp and some of the rookies were given a sneak peak back in May when they were here for a spring orientation session. They knew the series of tests from bench press, to sprints, to pull-ups and of course the grueling 5 minutes calories ride on the stationary bikes were going to be tough.
According to soon to be 16 year old Dylan Wruck, any experience is beneficial. "It helps a lot. You know what you’re going to do and what to expect. It’s very important to get into the flow of things. We’ve got a long way to go."
The toughest part of the afternoon is the bike ride. The players are given 5 minutes to ride the bike as hard as they can to burn off as many calories as they can. It's safe to say their lunch is sometimes a casualty. To make it even tougher, they save the bike ride for the last and to top it all off Montreal Canadiens tough guy and Body by Bennett co-owner Georges Laraque is right in your face barking out all kinds of motivation or intimidation depending on how you take it.
"It’s fun to see the kids, the same way when I came up doing physicals and stuff and it’s just ironic that I own the gym where they’re doing the physicals now." described Laraque. "Best advice is to lay it all out there. Try as hard as you can. Try to impress the coaching staff. It’s always like this, it’s a competition for a coach when they look at the testing. They look at the best guys that work the hardest during the summer. It’s not any different in the NHL. When you’re testing, you want to impress with your score and this is the same thing."
"Its very inspirational. I’ve never been in a room being pushed by a guy like that." exclaimed the Winnipeg native Dech. The 15 year old was born six months after Laraque started his junior hockey career with St. Jean of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League which makes Georges feel a little old.
"I guess I do. I’m 31. That’s twice their age. Time flies. I remember when I was their age, battling it out to make the junior team and now I look at those kids and it’s just like me, just many years ago. Back then we didn’t do as many tests and it wasn’t as organized as this. We had a 1 mile run. I do remember that."
The rookies will be on the ice all Friday morning for practices at the Confederation Arena on Edmonton's south side from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. There'll be a series of scrimmages from 5:15 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. all at Confederation Arena. Those players that move on, will join Oil Kings Main Training Camp Monday in Fort Saskatchewan.



Scout

Scout
08-25-2008, 09:38 AM
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