I rediscovered this thread today and got caught up about a week in the last hour or so, and what an absolute joy it has been. Thanks so much to "monster" in particular. I'm also getting even more hyped about alui. Did not know about his speed, and i cannot wait to unleash him on frail players like nugent-hopkins and see him draw calls off dumber players like theo peckham and straight up rage on goons like darcy hordichuk.
Class was cancelled this morning so I stopped over at the arena in time to catch the Black Team's practice.
Reinhart was extremely impressive today. His best day today by far. Remember that Vicki Hall article on the last page where she quoted Reinhart as saying, "I hate to lose the puck"? Well he hates to lose the puck.
They were doing 1-on-1 drills in the faceoff circles. Basically it was a game of keep away. Reinhart did not lose the puck. He didn't just not lose the puck, but he did it with ease and was creative about it. He was threading the puck between the other guy's skates and his own skates. I was quite impressed and I think the Flames brass was too. He was paired with Kolanos again for line drills. Looks like Reinhart will be Kolanos' set-up man for the year.
I'm starting to see Eddy as a bit of power forward, not just a grinder. I mean the guy's got great hands around the net and in the corners. Like I said last time, he's a bowling ball. Decent speed as well. No agility though haha.
Lamb is such a smooth skater I've been noticing. He's probably the next best skater to Brodie out there. His backwards skating crossovers are effortless. I don't what else to say about him, he's going to be a key cog for the Heat this year.
They finished the practice off with another line race. Of the guys with the Black jersey, McKelvie was first with Piskula in second by about a foot or two. For the Red jerseys, Kremyr finished first by a mile. Bancks fell down on the first line, but was still able to catch up to most of the guys by the end.
The last thing I want to mention is a bit of bad news. Reinhart caught a stick in the eye from another player (I think it was Wahl) when they were doing a 1-on-1 drill in the corner. It didn't look good. He sat on the bench for a while and he was in clear agony. The trainer put some drops in his eye, but he eventually went back to the dressing room.
Let's just say Feaster and co. weren't happy. I won't get into details, but they weren't happy.
I'll probably be going to tomorrow's practice in the morning. The Black Team is on first so I'll see if Max is out there.
EDIT - I also wanted to mention that Ferland left practice about 20 minutes early. Not sure if he came back, not sure if he got hurt.
Last edited by Pierre "Monster" McGuire; 10-03-2012 at 02:49 PM.
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Yeah, that would be disappointing for Reinhart.Sounds like hes having a great camp. I noticed that the interview guy for the Heat said he though Kolanos was looking quicker this year, have you guys noticed this at all?
Yeah, that would be disappointing for Reinhart.Sounds like hes having a great camp. I noticed that the interview guy for the Heat said he though Kolanos was looking quicker this year, have you guys noticed this at all?
I wouldn't say quicker, but I'd say more agile. By that I mean he's able to turn and pivot quicker than last season. He still cherry picks and is a weak backchecker, but I can see a bit of difference in his agility.
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^^^ How has McKelvie played Pierre? Does he have a shot at making the team? Seems to be a pretty positive buzz about him.
Best way to describe him is a better skating, smarter Matt Pelech. He's mean, aggressive, and hits. I'd be surprised if he isn't one of the final eight d-men.
Last edited by Pierre "Monster" McGuire; 10-04-2012 at 10:27 AM.
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I found that kind of odd as well. In what world doesn't the head coach have say over who's going to be on HIS team?
I don't believe him in this case. He's got to have at least a bit of say.
Agreed. I remember Feaster often saying that he does the business moves and provides Brent Sutter with players, but Sutter had full control over who he decided to play. I think it arose on him benching Matt Stajan and Babchuk for awhile. I would assume that it would be similar for Ward. The only difference I see is that maybe certain players, like the physical players, are in more demand for the flames and they want to make sure they are playing in Abbotsford over others in case of needing to recall one.
I found that kind of odd as well. In what world doesn't the head coach have say over who's going to be on HIS team?
I don't believe him in this case. He's got to have at least a bit of say.
I'm sure he'll have a say. In some cases he won't have the final word due to contract issues mostly. Weisbrod manages the team and therefore has to deal with how many ppl they can assign to the ECHL, how many invitees they can sign to AHL only deals, AHL/NHL deals, etc.
This year is a bit different due to the depth in the minors with guys like Baertschi, Brodie who were almost locks to be in Calgary and guys like Horak, Aliu, Nemisz and Bouma who would have had a good chance. Calgary wants to control who is getting developed and therefore has the primary say in who should make the team. It is also different because all the coaches and management are watching the training camp whereas normally they'd be in Calgary.
Should be interesting to see who makes the cuts. The depth looks great down there.
Last edited by Flames Draft Watcher; 10-04-2012 at 12:58 PM.
Brust was stupid good today. Again, he never gave up on a puck. He was making ridiculous desperation saves. He was doing Luongo belly flops, but actually stopping the puck. So impressed with this guy. He was showing up Taylor all practice.
Martin wasn't good today. He was losing puck quite a bit in one on one drills.
Reinhart was easily the best player out there. I already talked about him, but he was very good. He doesn't lose the puck. I guess it's all those years of playing keep away against Griffin and his dad.
Eddy was great today too. Can't say enough about his strength. He can snipe it too.
Wahl was good today too, but was made to look like a novice player by Reinhart in the one on one drills haha.
Ken King and several Flames scouts are here. King and Feaster are sitting off by themselves chatting right now.
Red Team on in about 10 min. CBC is here with cameras and a reporter.
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Baertschi was great today. He was very creative in the one on one drill. Ward runs his practices so intense and Baertschi is just having a ton of fun. He's always smiling and joking around with the other guys.
Bouma worked his ass off today. Easily the hardest working guy out there. Beating dmen to pucks easily and grinding in the corners.
Aliu was invisible. He didn't do too well today.
Asked about Ferland. Turns out he's limping, so he's injured.
Last edited by Pierre "Monster" McGuire; 10-04-2012 at 04:26 PM.
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Max is out there. Thank god. He's doing very well too. You can tell he's a quick learner because he's been getting better every practice.
He is a very intelligent player (as is often the case with children of pros) and that is why I am so high on him and so confident that he will be an NHLer - and a good one.
Thanks as always, Pierre
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Very Interesting, that the coach won't have much say on the cuts.
It is interesting, but the question asked of Ward was just specifically about when all of the cuts are being made. The more important issue of who will make the cuts wasn't discussed so we don't really know what level of control he has of that.
