scamperdog
08-25-2005, 09:05 PM
Blazers Open Camp
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
If it's good enough for Canada's national junior team, well, it must be good enough for the Kamloops Blazers.
During each of its last two summer evaluation camps, the national junior team has split its prospects into two teams and there has been little, if any, interaction between them. It is done in an attempt to build a rivalry and make scrimmages more intense.
When the WHL's Kamloops Blazers open their main training camp on Sunday at the Interior Savings Centre, they are going to follow the Baby Nats' blueprint.
"Typically what happens," Blazers head coach Mark Ferner explained earlier this week, "is that these guys come back and they see a bunch of 15- and 16-year-olds and there's no one to push them. I know every team says it, every coach says it - 'We want it to be a competitive camp' - but I would like to see when we break up into our teams that there is no interaction between the teams at all. None.
"We're going to do that."
Ferner expects the move to create "the right atmosphere" and "competitiveness."
The veteran players are going to find a couple of other things to be a bit different, too.
"First and foremost," Ferner said, "you let them know that the plan is to bring in some older guys."
The Blazers expect to have 19 players - 11 forwards, six defencemen and two goaltenders - in camp who were on the roster that dropped a first-round playoff series to the Kootenay Ice in April. Also expected are centre Marc Connors, 20, who was acquired from the Tri-City Americans in an offseason deal, and centre Janick Steinmann, 18, a Swiss centre selected in the CHL import draft.
With Connors the only 20-year-old on the roster, there is room for two more, and Ferner is emphatic that the Blazers are searching for a few more experienced players.
The head coach also has changed the format for training camp.
"We are going to get them acclimatized to the systems," he said. "In years past, there hasn't been a lot of practising. We're going to practise and we're going to practise our systems from Day 1, so that we don't have to wait a month down the road and then start implementing our systems.
"The quicker you can get your systems down, the quicker you can start identifying where the problems are and the quicker you can fix them."
However, things will be a bit more relaxed with the rookie camp that opens today. That is because Ferner feels it is important that the rookies be made to feel comfortable.
"I've been in that position as a young guy going to camp and if the older guys aren't good to the younger guys that makes it that much harder on the younger guys," he said. "They're all here for a reason; they all want to be part of the Kamloops Blazers.
"If we can make it as comfortable for them as we can, as far as being able to go out and show why they're here S I think that's important for the rookies."
JUST NOTES: Of the players from the 2004-05 season-ending roster who are eligible to return, only LW Richard Jasovsky and RW Nathan Grochmal aren't expected in camp. Jasovsky would take up one of three 20-year-old spots and one of two import spots, so won't return. Grochmal, 19, is at home in Yorba Linda, Calif., awaiting a two-year mission assignment from his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ... Ray Macias, who started last season as a defenceman and finished as a right winger who played the point on the power play, will open camp, in Ferner's words, "playing both." Tri-City C Alex Aldred won't play for about six weeks as he recovers from emergency surgery. Aldred, 19, had his spleen removed in Edmonton on Wednesday night. Aldred, who was acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks on May 6, was injured during a conditioning camp ... LW Kyle Bortis, the Swift Current Broncos' first pick, 16th overall, in the 2003 bantam draft, is out with mononucleosis. He was diagnosed at the under-18 national team camp in Kitchener and isn't likely to play before the Broncos open their regular season. Bortis led the Saskatchewan midget AAA league in scoring last season while playing for the Saskatoon Contacts, who went on to win the national title ... G Trevor Peeters, the son of former NHLer Pete Peeters, has left the Broncos and plans on playing in the AJHL this season. Kyle Moir is the Broncos' starter, with Contacts product Travis Yonkman the likely No. 2 man.
:clap:
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
If it's good enough for Canada's national junior team, well, it must be good enough for the Kamloops Blazers.
During each of its last two summer evaluation camps, the national junior team has split its prospects into two teams and there has been little, if any, interaction between them. It is done in an attempt to build a rivalry and make scrimmages more intense.
When the WHL's Kamloops Blazers open their main training camp on Sunday at the Interior Savings Centre, they are going to follow the Baby Nats' blueprint.
"Typically what happens," Blazers head coach Mark Ferner explained earlier this week, "is that these guys come back and they see a bunch of 15- and 16-year-olds and there's no one to push them. I know every team says it, every coach says it - 'We want it to be a competitive camp' - but I would like to see when we break up into our teams that there is no interaction between the teams at all. None.
"We're going to do that."
Ferner expects the move to create "the right atmosphere" and "competitiveness."
The veteran players are going to find a couple of other things to be a bit different, too.
"First and foremost," Ferner said, "you let them know that the plan is to bring in some older guys."
The Blazers expect to have 19 players - 11 forwards, six defencemen and two goaltenders - in camp who were on the roster that dropped a first-round playoff series to the Kootenay Ice in April. Also expected are centre Marc Connors, 20, who was acquired from the Tri-City Americans in an offseason deal, and centre Janick Steinmann, 18, a Swiss centre selected in the CHL import draft.
With Connors the only 20-year-old on the roster, there is room for two more, and Ferner is emphatic that the Blazers are searching for a few more experienced players.
The head coach also has changed the format for training camp.
"We are going to get them acclimatized to the systems," he said. "In years past, there hasn't been a lot of practising. We're going to practise and we're going to practise our systems from Day 1, so that we don't have to wait a month down the road and then start implementing our systems.
"The quicker you can get your systems down, the quicker you can start identifying where the problems are and the quicker you can fix them."
However, things will be a bit more relaxed with the rookie camp that opens today. That is because Ferner feels it is important that the rookies be made to feel comfortable.
"I've been in that position as a young guy going to camp and if the older guys aren't good to the younger guys that makes it that much harder on the younger guys," he said. "They're all here for a reason; they all want to be part of the Kamloops Blazers.
"If we can make it as comfortable for them as we can, as far as being able to go out and show why they're here S I think that's important for the rookies."
JUST NOTES: Of the players from the 2004-05 season-ending roster who are eligible to return, only LW Richard Jasovsky and RW Nathan Grochmal aren't expected in camp. Jasovsky would take up one of three 20-year-old spots and one of two import spots, so won't return. Grochmal, 19, is at home in Yorba Linda, Calif., awaiting a two-year mission assignment from his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ... Ray Macias, who started last season as a defenceman and finished as a right winger who played the point on the power play, will open camp, in Ferner's words, "playing both." Tri-City C Alex Aldred won't play for about six weeks as he recovers from emergency surgery. Aldred, 19, had his spleen removed in Edmonton on Wednesday night. Aldred, who was acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks on May 6, was injured during a conditioning camp ... LW Kyle Bortis, the Swift Current Broncos' first pick, 16th overall, in the 2003 bantam draft, is out with mononucleosis. He was diagnosed at the under-18 national team camp in Kitchener and isn't likely to play before the Broncos open their regular season. Bortis led the Saskatchewan midget AAA league in scoring last season while playing for the Saskatoon Contacts, who went on to win the national title ... G Trevor Peeters, the son of former NHLer Pete Peeters, has left the Broncos and plans on playing in the AJHL this season. Kyle Moir is the Broncos' starter, with Contacts product Travis Yonkman the likely No. 2 man.
:clap: