puck7x Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 Sept 13th 2003 - (Pierrefonds) I went to the training camp today , here is my report... First I'll tell you the teams (or parts of the teams)... WHITE -------- Dagenais - Perreault - Ward Lambert - Kilger - Ferland Higgins - Larrivee - Carpentier Souray - MacLellan Beauchemin - Hainsey Brisebois - Plante Damphousse Fichaud RED -------- Blouin - Ribeiro - Zednik Milroy - Bulis - Lapierre Balej - Juneau - Sundstrom Dykhuis - Komisarek Shasby - Quintal Traverse - Villeneuve Garon Michaud? Or Bergiven... couldnt tell , no name on jersey. 3rd TEAM -------- This team wasnt involved in any inter-squad games , and they did not have names on their jersies... But here is a list of players I reconized. Koivu , Theodore , Rivet , Dwyer , Plekanec , Markov , Audette , Hossa , Ryder , Bouillon , Cote , Urquhart , Marois , B.Gratton , MA.Thinel , Flood , Cote <hr> Alright now onto the practices/games... The first practice I saw was the whites at 10AM (I assume the reds were practicing on one of the other rinks at the time) , Guy Charron directed the practice , he made the players do a variety of offensive drills including give and go breakaways , 2 on 0's , 3 on 0's , and 3 forwards vs 2 d-men. Nobody really stood out during the practice , one player who stood out for the wrong reasons was Ben Carpentier ... I'm sorry but this guy is horrible , he kept tripping over his skates and his shot is awful (weak). The goalies were the top performers of the practice (Damphousse/Fichaud) , stopping nearly all pucks shot on them ... The skaters looked a bit rusty. <hr> Now onto the game... Reds vs Whites... The Reds won the game 4-1 ... Reds 1-0 : Zednik (Nice deke on Damphousse) Reds 2-0 : Milroy goal , tipped Lapierre shot Reds 3-0 : Bulis (Great shot) Whites 3-1 : Daganais (Great shot , with 1 second left in first half... they played 2 30 minute halfs) Reds 4-1 : Bulis from Shasby and Ribeiro The game was very relaxed but at the same time mildly intense , the game was surprisingly physical for an inter-squad game. Komisarek had a few nice hits , though he jumped into the play a few times to many for my liking and was caught out of position (but to be honest most of the d-men were doing that). Beauchemin and Souray were equally as physical as Komisarek with both of them having a few nice hits. Chris Higgins also got in on the fun and flattened D.Milroy near the benchs. But the hit of the game has to goto Jan Bulis who absolutely destroyed J.Ferland with an inverted clothesline (or something) , great hit... Bulis was the player of the game imo , followed by Zednik. 2 d-men who impressed me today were Matt Shasby and Brent McLellan , Shasby was very steady on the backend , he was sound positonally , he is a good skater , and he has a nice offensive upside (got one assist) , McLellan played a strong game defensively and was one of the better defenders on the losing white team. One thing I noticed was that Brisebois and Hainsey both played on their off-side during the game (Brisebois on the left) Hainsey on the right (but they didnt play with each other). Overall the game was pretty sloppy. oh yeah during the game (well the 2nd half anyways... first half in rink-1 , 2nd in rink-2) , I stood next to Habs managment (A.Savard , B.Gainey , T.Timmons , P.Boivin... I think? etc.) , I shook Gaineys hand and wished him good luck , he said thanks (I'd later see Bob again and get his autograph). <hr> Alright next up was another white-team practice. This time they had the players do skating drills (Skating redline to redline , backwards , etc) . The fastest 2 players during the drills were S.Souray (surprising?) , and C.Higgins. <hr> I then went onto rink#4 to see the 3rd habs team practice. Theodore looked very sharp , although he let out a few rebound , Dwyer actually scored a few times (On Michaud) , if only he could do that in the regular season. The 3rd group was being led by all 4 of the habs coaches (Rollie , Charron , Green , Julien) ... Anyways the 3rd group later did some one on one drills in close on the goalie (one guy being the defender , one the forward) , Plekanec played vs Koivu ... Plekanec got around Koivu the first time (stopped by the goalie) , the 2nd time Koivu crosschecked Tomas to the ice , when Koivu became the forward he could never get around Tomas , it was fun to watch these two play against each other because they are pretty similar players imo. Rivet kept being beaten to the outside by the guy he was up against , and when it was Rivet's turn to play forward he did nothing. Markov excelled in both positions during this drill , scoring a sweet wraparound and not letting anyone get body positon on him as a defender... <hr> That was it for the on-ice training... I later went outside in hopes of seeing the players as they left the arena... But to my surprise the players jogged out the building in shorts and t-shirts towards a small park outside the arena... The players involved in the run were the guys from the 3rd team and they were being led by P.Gervais. They must of ran around the park for a good 30 minutes , plus they ran up and down and around a hill located in the park... As they ran by I gave high fives (or medium fives) to the players and cheered them along and other fans chanted "Theo" and "Saku" , sometimes a few little kids would join the team for a lap... (Kind of funny to see) ... Anyways the fastest runner on the team was Craig Rivet (at the front the whole time), and the slowest was Saku Koivu... lol <hr> Anyone have any specific questions on any players? The players who impressed me the most today were... Souray - Showed he isnt afraid to be physical , looked really strong out there. Had good speed , played a good scrimmage. Bulis - Lightning speed , scored a couple of goals (during scrimmage) ... Always dangerous when on the ice. Higgins - The kid has NHL skills , he has a great shot (didnt use it much today) , he has NHL wheels , he has grit , he has what it takes... The guy has natural instincts... I'd rank the goalies from today as follows... 1) Theodore 2) Garon 3) Michaud 4) Fichaud 5) Damphousse 6) Bergevin-Robinson Anyways sorry if this report seems kind of choppy , it would of been easier to write had I known who was who ... Its tough when they dont provide you with a roster list , and part of the team plays with no numbers on their jersies PICTURES White Team at bench Hainsey on the ice... Dagenais , same thing Inter-Squad game , benches Mystery goalie! Run Rivet Run!!!! Dwyer/Hossa/??? Running P.Gervais and Rivet at the front [Edited on 2003/9/13 by puck7x] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs77 Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 Great analysis... thanks puck. I ran across another fan that was at the practice, Moosehead from FLR. He seems talks a lot about Ribeiro... which is funny because you didn't mention him at all. Here it is: The Reds (the 3rd team I didn't see practice yesterday) won the second game in the round-robin tournament by a score of 4 to 1. The Reds' goals were scored as follows:1- Zednick on a perfect set up by Ribeiro 2- Milroy on a nice tip in of a shot by Lapierre after a terrible turnover by the Whites. I believe Perreault was the goat. 3- Bulis on a nice play started by Ribeiro. 4- Bulis assisted this time by Milroy. Bulis really buried it top shelve on Fichaud's left side. The Whites scored a goal in the last minute of play of the first period which i didn't see at all. They played two 30 minute periods without any pause except a few minutes to change rinks. The players on both sides looked tired at the end of the game. The Whites started the game with the same line up as yesterday: Larrivée-Perreault-Ward Lambert-Higgins-Dackell Dagenais-Kilger-Ferland Plante-Brisebois Souray-Maclellan Beauchemin Hansey Fichaud The Reds started with the following line-up Bulis-Ribeiro-Zednik Sundstrom-Juneau-Balej Blouin-Lapierre-Milroy Traverse-Villeneuve Shasby-Quintal Dykhuis-Komisarek Garon The game was dominated by the Bulis-Ribeiro-Zednik line. Ribeiro seems faster than last year and he was very accurate both with his passes and shots on goal. In the warm up he scored on most of his shots on goal. Ward started the game with Perreault and Larrivée but at one point he was playing left wing with Dagenais and Kilger. In the second period I didn't notice him at all. I thought he was injured but I saw him skate well at the end of the game. Brisebois made a major blunder trying to push the attack. He fell down which created a 3 on 1 but Fichaud saved the day. My 3 stars would go to Ribeiro, Bulis and Zednik. Again Higgins was centering Lambert and Dackell and that line was almost invisible throughout the game. Higgins himself however showed some hussle at times. I can't see why the coaches insist on playing their best prospect with those two duds. Those who are counting on Dagenais and Ferland to add some much needed size and grit will be disappointed. Those two are ticketed for Hamilton the way they've been playing during those first two scrimmages. They were not impressive at all. If I were in Gainey's shoes, I wouldn't show much patience with Kilger, Dackell and Juneau. In my humble opinion, the first one doesn't have a heart and the other two are simply over the hump. I really like his thoughts on Ribeiro... and really hope that Bulis-Ribeiro-Zednik line stays together. I also like what it says about the Habs management. By putting Ribs with Bulis & Zednik they're putting him in a position to succeed. Last year in camp Ribeiro was put with Hossa & Kilger, and still managed to do well. But it said volumes about what the coaching staff had in store for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puck7x Posted September 13, 2003 Author Share Posted September 13, 2003 I didnt mention Ribeiro because I was too busy to follow everyone. lol , in one hand I had my camera , in other the notepad... And I was doing all this while trying to watch the game... ... When I go back tomorrow I'll pay more attention to all the players. But yeah Ribeiro looked good , his speed looked the same as last year to me (my opinion) , and I was pleased to see him dish out a few (light) checks. The one time I did notice him was when he tried some fancy-doodle dandy play that failed miserably... Personally I think Bulis carried the line , when the line was together anyways (lines were constantly changing) [Edited on 2003-9-13 by puck7x] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habland Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 Did you catch what jersey number Higgins, Damphousse and Perezhogin are wearing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puck7x Posted September 13, 2003 Author Share Posted September 13, 2003 Higgins was wearing #88 , Damphousse I think might of been wearing #31 , or a 30-39 number anyways... As for Perezhogin , to tell you the truth I didnt notice him at all today , I know he was in the 3rd group (the group that didnt play) , but I didnt even see him on the ice... I wouldnt worry about the numbers though , since its unlikely Higgins will ever play in the NHL with #88 , its just a training camp number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakiqc Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 Thanks a lot Puck! Really interesting to read. I was really happy to read such good news about Sheldon Souray. I'm really confident he'll have a strong year, finally, after a long process (but he's still young). Also, quite interesting to see Ribeiro being matched up with the best winger (Zednik). Also, I hope Dagenais will turn to be the revelation of the camp. He has size, skill (and a pretty good shot.. and he showed it today!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAussiePosse Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 :clap: Great Job Puck :clap: A few questions/ideas - Why isn't Dagenais playing with Ribeiro? It's a good sign for Ribs when he plays with the top 2 wings on the team (Perreault should get Higgins and Ward on the wings), but with all the heralded "Ribs-and-Mayonaisse" that was going on, it doesn't seem to be happening. - If I was BG, I'd try some inter squad trading (What a great idea). Move Dagenais (Red) for Sundstrom (White)? Or Balej? - I think the Blue team (3rd team) looks like this: Hossa-Koivu-Audette Plekanec-Gratton-Ryder Dwyer-Urquhart-Thinel Markov-Bouillion Rivet-Archer Flood-Cote Theodore Bergevin-Robinson - Remember, there are 30 forwards at camp. Which equals 10 lines. And seeing as each team seems to have 3 lines (9 skaters), then there are either 4 lines on the blue team, or each team has an extra forward (which would mean subbing in on the 4th line). Great job overall Puck. Keep up the good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puck7x Posted September 13, 2003 Author Share Posted September 13, 2003 Thanks for the kind words aussie , and I will keep up the good work (or at least try to) , tomorrow I am going back to the training camp and will file another report. And the next day another HW member is supposed to be attending the camp ... And NEXT weekend HW will have someone covering the camp at the bell centre (unless the unexpected happens anyways)... Lots more reports to come. Oh btw aussie , I hope you dont mind but I resized your avatar , a width of 250 was too large and made the page difficult to view , its at 150width now and still looks great... great avatar btw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montreal Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Hey Puck, great work! I look forward to reading your tomorrows article. I'm interested in MacLellan, as I really hope they sign him and maybe Villeneuve. :hlogo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAussiePosse Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Hyuk hyuk. Aw shucks, ah did it mahself... couja tell? Avatar thing's all good. It looked a little too fake bigger, but i wasn't computer literate enough to smaller it. er, make it smaller. I wonder (from reading a few other scattered reports) if Komisarek and Ward have a little rivalry going on. Reportedly they're getting a little more physical than one would normally expect at a training camp. *Insert Mission Imposible voice here* Puck - Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puck7x Posted September 14, 2003 Author Share Posted September 14, 2003 Originally posted by TheAussiePosseI wonder (from reading a few other scattered reports) if Komisarek and Ward have a little rivalry going on. Reportedly they're getting a little more physical than one would normally expect at a training camp. *Insert Mission Imposible voice here* Puck - Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is... Hmmm now that you mention it I remember seeing one play that I thought was a bit odd. Ward had the puck in the neutral zone , he passes it off , at the same time Komisarek skates out from his defensive post and lays a hit on Ward... The hit wasnt needed and it took Komisarek out of position... But maybe this is the exact play that you were reading about? I'd look more into the situation if I could , but its not possible since the red and white teams do not play each other tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Damphousse I think might of been wearing #31 , or a 30-39 number anyways... You're right puck, Damphousse is wearing #31, if you look closely in one of your photos you can somewhat see Damphousse's name (get a magnifying glass to be sure as I did...) White Team at bench Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quebecois Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Great Report puck. Can't wait to read the next one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonavistaman11 Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 The Dwyer/Hossa picture is really Dwyer/Ryder.. Thanks for all the training camp reports puck Keep it up! Cant wait to see the Habs in action! :hlogo: :ghg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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