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Habs Prospect Camp


Psycing

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Day 1

Hey, I just got back from the practice not long ago. Today was the first day that the prospects hit the ice for the public at the Martin Lapointe arena in Lachine.

I got a good look at a couple of the players I recognized, and I'll get to them in a moment.

Of the 21 players RDS reported as being at the camp, 19 were at the practice this morning. The two players missing were the two I was looking most forward to seeing: Guillaume Latendresse and Kyle Chipchura.

See for complete list of players: http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/207970.html

The players went through a number of drills while both goalies at the camp, Carey Price and Loic Lacasse worked with the goalie coaches off on their own to the side. The drills were mostly skating orientated, such as skating backwards and forwards, skating on one leg from blue-line to blue-line, etc.

I didn't really watch the goalies too much, as I plan to get a better look at them as the week goes on. However, I did notice that Price looked quite confident, and was quite a good puck handler. Locasse wasn't really impressive today, but that may be due to Price's superiority. I'm anxious to see how they both fare against shooters and reading plays though.

I mostly followed our 2006 1st round draft choice David Fischer and our 2003 3rd rounder Ryan O'Byrne today. Both impressed me quite a bit.

D David Fischer - During the first hour he looked to be a step behind everyone, however he turned it up in the 2nd half of the practice. He seemed to be a strong backwards skater and was quite strong and quick when he had to pivot around the pylon set up they had.

Fischer also seemed to be having a lot of fun out there really. I constantly saw him with a smile on his face and cracking jokes with the other players. At one point, he was hooking his stick onto a couple of the guys shirts and pulling at them. (Actually, it wasn't their shirts. Each of the players had a belt-like tie on them so that they could hook themselves to a bungee chord for on of the drills they did.)

D Ryan O'Byrne - This guy is huge. He looks like he's the right size for the NHL as he is right now. He caught my attention because for a big player, his skating wasn't as bad as I would have thought. He doesn't have the fastest start, but makes up for it with his strong strides as he continues to skate. He also faired quite well on the more finesse type-drills. I'm hoping he gets a shot in Hamilton this season.

I'll have more as the days go on, but right now I've got to get to the orthodontist.

Let me know if there are any players from the list that you are especially interested in hearing about, and I'll see what I can do :D.

-Matthew Macaskill

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1. Sergei Kostitsyn

2. Matthew D’Agostini

Gotchya.

:clap:

By the way, any info on where Latendresse and Chippy were?

No idea.

He sent me the pictures.

Yeah, I'll put them up on here soon. My battery died so I didn't get too many pictures, and the ones I got weren't of the best quality. However, having seen how everything went today, I have a better idea on how and when to get the good pictures tomorrow :D.

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Kostitsyn can't be there right ? He's suppose do be in europ for 3 months.

To tell you the truth, I really didn't see him there. Though, there are 19 players when there are supposed to be 21, and Chipchura and Latendresse are not there (yet?). So maybe the Habs invited someone else that wasn't on the list provided by RDS.

I'm not familiar with the prospects at all, so I really barely knew any of the guys there. However, I was shown a site with all the pictures I need to figure out who is who, and should have it down by the end of the week. That way I can actually let you know who was officially there and who wasn't, lol. (btw, thanks for the link "dark_faerie" :D.)

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Merci beaucoup. :clap::clap:

It's both great to have the input/info and it's like a fix for my Canadiens cold turkey. :puke:

I'll take whatever you can find on whatever player(s) you decide to follow. :):)

:king: :hlogo: :king:

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If I can just point out the fact that TSN.ca (as an example) did not have someone covering this event, while Habsworld did. Just awsome how comitted the members and the community are here. Thanks Macaskill!

:hlogo: World all the way

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If I can just point out the fact that TSN.ca (as an example) did not have someone covering this event, while Habsworld did. Just awsome how comitted the members and the community are here. Thanks Macaskill!

:hlogo: World all the way

Actually, I hate to say it, but Michael Whalen walked right by me today... thus even Toronto's favorite TSN was there, as was CTV, CBC, and RDS. Several camera men all over, and not a whole lot of ppl were actually there.

It's a rather small arena with only 1 side of it with bleachers to sit and watch, and even then, only the top rows of the bleachers had anyone sitting on them. I suspect that the arena is sort of hard to find/get to. I know it because it's close to my house, but I can definitely see people having a hard time finding it.

BTW, thanks to everyone who is thanking. :D

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Chipchura and Latendresse will attend camp Wednesday because they are in Toronto right now attending a WJC celebration.

Excellent.

Can't wait until Wednesday! I'll be sure to get some good pictures of them.

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M. Macaskill,

You sir are a blessing! As Shortcat1 said, sort of, you are scratching my Habs itch! And as a fellow Matthew sitting here in Saskatchewan (a looong way from Montréal), I offer up a heartfelt thanks!

Keep up the excellent work, I am just lucky to read updates on whatever/whoever you choose.

:ninja:

Edited by The Saint
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THANK YOU HIPPIE!

That's great to have someone down there!

Can we give you assignments Maca? I'd have a couple! They're really easy:

Just try to compare players to each other and tell us which ones looks like:

- Best skaters (straight line speed, agility, first-steps acceleration, etc)

- Best stickhandlers (pass reception, puck control, etc)

- Best shots (release, accuracy, velocity)

- Best hockey sense (positionning, anticipation, offensive instincts)

Maybe just try to rank each category with a "Top 5".

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