Development Camp Day #3

By Jake Wilson – July 11, 2004

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Day #3 was basically the same as day #2, the 25 players were split into the same groups, and practiced skating/power-skating drills during to begin the day.

9:00AM: I arrive at camp, I head for rink #3 and find Kostitsyn’s group, I notice that Dagenais is back for a second straight day. The group did an assortment of skating drills, Kostitsyn paired up with Dagenais for a few drills, and Kostitsyn blew Dagenais away every time, maybe its a sign of things to come for the habs? But, as tough as I am on Dagenais, I have to give him credit for actually making an effort to improve himself as a player, he knows his skating is a weakness, and he is trying to improve it.

For the rest of the 9-10 period I switched between rinks #3 and #4. I watched Lapierre and Lambert for awhile during a stop-and-start skating drill, they both looked very good, good speed and agility. One of the funnier moments of the morning was when Alex Dulac was doing the elastic-rope drill and the rope snapped off the bench and Dulac went flying, everyone had a good laugh, and nobody was injured.

10:30AM: Same as yesterday, the group of 25 reunites for a full practice. Before the drills started Dagenais practised his shot on the goalies, and in typical Dagenais style he tried to decapitate the goalies, Lacasse barely survived, but let in many goals, while Danis faired a lot better. The group of 25 then did the usual 2 on 1, 3 on 2, and 2 forwards with one backchecking forward drills.

Godin: Probably the best tryout that was invited to camp. Godin is a fast skater, handles the puck well, and has a decent wrist shot (in comparison to the other prospects). He Is way ahead of other tryouts like Magnan, Magnan could barely stand up during some of the skating drills.

Bonneau: For a goon he has very good skills. He isnt the fastest skater in the world, but he isnt the slowest either, he can get where he needs to be. Has good passing/shooting abilities, if developed properly he might be able to one day make the pros, especially since he has a nice sized thick body.

Urquhart: Good skater, big tall player, he could maybe add a few pounds to his frame. Tries to many dipsy-doodle fancy plays during practice, he has a nice set of skills, he could probably skate faster if he tried a little harder, needs to simplify.

As for Kostitsyn and Chipchura, its the same as usual for them. Kostitsyn did not show much improvement from yesterday, he might possibly be fatigued from his long trip to Canada.

Thats it for day #3, nothing spectacular happened, the players performed the same drills as the day before, and they still have not scrimmaged. I’m running out of ideas of what to write, so here is a little stat, only 2 of the 25 players at camp are not wearing visors, Cote and Archer (You can count Dagenais if you want) , even Bonneau is wearing a visor.

Urquhart and Larivee wait for their turn