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http://itlan.is-a-geek.com/ • United States • 38 Years Old • Male

Ducks Training Camp: Day 2

Posted 11:25 PM ET | Comments 3
Day 1 of training camp was filled with boring physicals, and head shots for the game programs. *Yawn* Day 2 was the first full skate by the entire team, sans Schneider. Starting with drills at 9:45 and culminating with a 90 minute scrimmage game with all 50+ skaters, including 5 goalies. Below are my random and highly inaccurate thoughts:

Teemu Selanne got the loudest cheers from the 300+ fans that packed into the tiny Anaheim Ice "NHL" side of the arena.

Bobby Ryan still looks too small to me. He needs to gain 10 pounds. Preferably in his feet so he can possibly stay upright. Think weeble-wobble.

Chris Pronger is huge. Eric Boguniecki is tiny. Watching Pronger nail Boguniecki in the front of the net was almost sad to see. Like a High Schooler picking on a 3rd grader.
**UPDATE: Apparently Bogy and Pronger were teammates in St Louis. Thus the reason it looked like Pronger was picking on him.

I convinced my wife that Ryan Dingle's first name was really Barry.

Joakim Lindstrom is fast, and handles the puck well. Him and Ryan had some good chemistry for a shift or two.

Josh Green is large. And doesn't like to move much. I see a spot open for him, right in front of the opposition goalie. But not much else.

Ryan Carter either had a sunburn or he was really hot. His face was bright red for the entire session making him easier to spot than reading his number.

Travis Moen, Todd Marchant, Chris Kunitz, and Brad May took advantage of weak Rookie defenders to show off a little. None of them scored, though.

Invisible skaters: Bailey, Baines, Birner, Bodie, Bolt, Donally, Macenauer, Morrison (understandably), Stephanishion (even though he scored a goal), Trevelyn, and MacMillan.

Beauchemin is faster than I remember. Maybe he actually will be good again this year. His usual partner Scott Niedermayer got the 3rd loudest cheer from the crowd.

As with Dingle, I convinced my wife Stu Bickel's first name was Travis. You looking at me?

Brett Festerling is huge. And strong. As is Brendan Mikkelson. Nice to see these guys in the system even though their prospect of cracking the line up on defense is 1%.

Steve Montador didn't impress. Then again, Training Camp is not a hockey try-out for guys like this.

Throw Brian Salcido in the list of good-d-men-to-have-in-the-system-with-no-chance-this-year.

Invisible D-men: Viedeman, Warg, Lupaschuk, O'Donnell, Bickel, deGray.

Jiggy got the second loudest cheers from the crowd. He looked sharp in net, but visibly tired when skating around. Perhaps he didn't workout prior to training camp.

Jonas Hiller is a workman. He is very technical and looks ready to go right now.

Marco Cousineau and J.P. Levasseur were joined at the hip (both are French Canadian). Neither impressed at this training camp, they seemed more interested in catching up on the latest news from Quebec.

David LeNeveu was Jiggy's backup during the scrimmage. The clock ran continuously so at times there wasn't a whistle nor a stoppage in play. The goalies switched out every 7-10 minutes and apparently Jiggy really wanted to get in the crease. When the play went to the other end of the ice he skated out to switch on the fly with LeNeveu. Only, the puck came back to their end and Jiggy was caught standing next to the goal. He was yelling at LeNeveu to move. At one time both goalies were in the crease. Had the other team scored, Jiggy would have been razzed by the other guys for the whole season. I see a new strategy, pull a skater and stick in the backup goalie too!!

They played for 45 minutes, non stop on the NHL side of the arena, then moved over to the Olympic side of the arena for another 45 minute period. The NHL side features bench style stadium seating for about 300 or so. The Olympic side features seating for about 100. Which surprised a lot of people. As expected, the Olympic period was more wide open. It was fun to watch.

After the scrimmage, the two teams split up again and skated laps around the rink in an excercise designed to expel all remaining energy the player may have stored in his body. This kind of preparation will increase their stamina late in the season, and beyond. Thank God I am not a hockey player because I felt tired just watching them.

Anaheim Ducks recap of Day 2
Training Camp Roster

*** Please make comments in the forum thread ***

Itlan
@8-D
Filed Under:   Ducks   Training Camp   Itlan  
September 22, 2008 12:52 AM ET | Delete
good job itlan well written
September 22, 2008 12:42 PM ET | Delete
Nice recap. Being there I agree with you 100%. I was very surprised at how many people showed up. It was packed last year but I figured about 30% were bandwagoners. It was nice to see the support considering last season. An Anaheim Ice employee told me at least 100 or so people left because there was no room.
September 22, 2008 10:18 PM ET | Delete
thanks for the update
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