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Todays rookie camp brought about 300 people strong to the Amherst Pepsi Center to see the future of the Buffalo Sabres. Again today there were two rinks going with about 20 players on each. Lindy was there today running the practice and was having the players go through a lot of puck moving and stick handling drills. Drew Stafford was leading the way through most of the drills and acting as the veteran of the squad.

At this practice I wanted to focus on our goaltending future, mainly Adam Dennis. He was nice enough to talk to me for a bit before he hit the ice and let me take a picture of his helmet. He seemed very enthused and excited to be here. I asked him what he wants to focus on more this year and he told me "I'm looking for more consistency and hopefully that would lead to more playing time." I told him he'll probably get a shot this year to get in a game or two and he'll be running Thiabult out real fast. He is very modest and just said "Thiabult is very good but he has to focus on his game first."
Towards the end of the practice Lindy was having them finish up with a 2 on 0 drill and nobody good get passed Dennis. He was moving from side to side very quickly and covering all the angels. At one point James Patrick had to go make it a 3 on 0 before they could score on him.

Some other players that looked sharp were Kennedy, Funk, and Dylan Hunter. Funk has a nasty shot and is very agile. Hunter has some nice hands. Staffard absolutely smoked some people with his moves.

One of my highlights was with one of our fellow HockeyBuzzer's SabreCrazy07 askedDarcy what our cap number was and he didn't give us an exact answer but since I had Darcy in a talking mood I told him he did a good job handling Bucky's onslaught of questions the other day during the press conference of Vanek's signing and Darcy's response was "I must have done something to him in a previous life!" I just thought that was funny and we both got a chuckle.

I urge anybody who has some free time to go to these practices because this is a great opportunity for the Sabres fans to go out and see the young talent and be in a more intimate environment with them. All of these players are very approachable and love to chat you up about their Junior experiences and what they are looking forward too.

One final thing I want to touch on. It was real great meeting some hockeybuzz regulars and having a close encounter with Garth! It was real nice getting to meet the people from the site and speculating on who Garth and Eklund are and just talking hockey with knowledgeable fans. I would like to have a get together sometime for us hockey fans. If anyone has suggestions lets hear them. I would like to have a get together at a bar where we can talk hockey. I think it would be fun having this.
Filed Under:   Sabres   rookie camp   Hunter   Dennis   Ruff  
July 7, 2007 9:55 PM ET | Delete
killab4061 Well said my man. These young guys were amazing to talk to many of them are just happy to get the chance to impress the staff. More from some of my conversations with a few players
July 8, 2007 9:35 AM ET | Delete
Nice reporting.
July 8, 2007 10:11 AM ET | Delete
When is the last practice???????
July 9, 2007 10:34 AM ET | Delete
Wednesday night 5-7pm
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