Howse just went and talked to Ward and then left. He was looking really slow and lumbering quite a bit. I think he might have a lower body injury. Hip I think.
The whole Flames management and coaching staff and sitting together, but Weisbrod is way over by himself somewhere.
Piskula is on his fourth hour practicing and still looks like he just started. He's in great condition.
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It seemed a little more technical today, which meant it was a bit slower. Lots of breakout drills were practiced today.
All five goalies looked really good today.
Aliu looked like he did yesterday. Great effort in every drill, outworking all the defensemen.
I tried to pay attention to Breen, but just couldn't keep focused on him because he's so boring to watch. He does his job so well as a defensive defensmen that he doesn't stand out. He's still got a 'lumbery' style of skating, but I guess it comes with his size.
Mouillirat continues to look good. He's got quite a good shot. He's been the most impressive invitee to this point.
Horak and Baertschi look really good together. Baertschi had such a beautiful snipe far side top corner on Taylor. Taylor was in perfect position and Baertschi still found a spot.
Patterson has so much effort, but just doesn't have the skill unfortunately. It's too bad because he's always the best conditioned player during every development camp.
Bancks, McKelvie, and Piskula were the best players on Team Black this morning. McKelvie is a tough SOB. He's hacking, slashing, and cross checking people in front the net. I'd like to see how big of a prick he can be against players that aren't his teammates haha.
Not much else to tell. It wasn't as exciting as yesterday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluck
Ferland might have a case of the "Wellwood Syndrome"
It's certainly starting to look that way bluck.
He and Howse have been less than impressive, to me anyways. Each of those guys look like they're just going through the motions instead of pretending like it's a game scenario and they're competing with very good players for jobs.
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Thanks for the updates Pierre. My sister's husband has been at the practices as well. He has similar things to say. He said he is impressed with Brodie. He felt Aliu stood out as well. He had high praise for Patterson. He said he would like to see him (Patterson) paired up with faster guys. Also I believe both Howse and Ferland came into camp with too much body fat...... think that does speak to level of commitment.
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Thanks for the updates Pierre. My sister's husband has been at the practices as well. He has similar things to say. He said he is impressed with Brodie. He felt Aliu stood out as well. He had high praise for Patterson. He said he would like to see him (Patterson) paired up with faster guys. Also I believe both Howse and Ferland came into camp with too much body fat...... think that does speak to level of commitment.
Yeah, you can definitely tell they're struggling to keep up with the pace.
If cuts were to be made today, it wouldn't surprise me to see Howse and Ferland's name on the cut list. If I was Ward I'd tell them to work on their conditioning a bit in Utah and then in a month see where they're at.
It's unfortunate because I had such high hopes for those two. I was expecting Howse to come into camp with a clean slate, but it's not looking this way.
It's only day two of actual practice, so I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it's looking worrisome.
Kind of surpirised that Howse hasn't been paired up with Horak. Maybe get Howse some confidence through familiarity. I know to be good you have to be able to play with anybody, but when a guy is in a rut like Howse is, it may work. I hoped a line of Horak, Bartschi and Howse would be put together as well. i am impressed that the Ward lifestyle coaching has helped Aliu get his game together. Hope he keeps it going.
I honestly didn't expect anything less from Brodie. It may help him in the long run getting top pairing minutes down with the heat.
Ferlands summer has been a bad one then no? First the bar fight and probably a summer of partying and now coming into camp he is feeling it. Maybe Ward should focus on him a little more outside of the rink as well.
He's been injured. He has an upper body injury and is expected to miss at least half of training camp. No sign of Nemisz either. I was looking forward to watching both of them.
Vicki Hall asks directly how Howse and Ferland did, Ward said they "didn't do as well as everyone wanted." You can definitely tell. Glad Ward didn't belittle them like a certain Marlies coach did to his own player.
Nemisz with a summer lower body injury and Ward doesn't expect him back for at least two days. Good to know what's up with him.
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The thing that amazes me about Troy Ward is that, based on conversations I've had with players, he's exactly as direct and thoughtful with them as he is with the members of the media.
