Nesbitt Named Team Captain

Ottawa 67's fans, meet the leaders of your 2010-2011 team.

From the Ottawa 67s's:  The Ottawa 67’s today announced that veteran winger Thomas Nesbitt will be the team Captain this season, with Travis Gibbons, Marc Zanetti and Ryan Martindale serving as Alternates.

Nesbitt, a 20 year old who hails from the Ottawa suburb of Stittsville, is in his 5th season with the team.  He’s coming off a season in which he set career highs in goals (33) and points (57), after establishing himself as dependable 2-way player in his previous seasons.  “Thomas has worked hard and improved since the day that he arrived for his first training camp,” said Head Coach and Assistant General Manager Chris Byrne.   “He serves as a great example to his teammates.”

Gibbons, a 20 year old defenceman, is also an OHL veteran entering his 5th season.  He was acquired by Ottawa from Guelph during the 2008-09 season.  Zanetti, a 20 year old defenceman, is entering his 4th full season in the OHL, all of them with Ottawa.  Martindale, a 4 year veteran who turns 19 next month, is a centre, coming off a season where he set a career high in points (60) and was drafted in the 2nd round of the NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers.  “We’re fortunate to have such a strong leadership group with our guys wearing a letter, and we also have other strong leaders on the team who aren’t wearing a letter,” said Byrne.  “It’s a great situation.”

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Congratulations gentlemen - we look forward to seeing the impact of your leadership on and off the ice.

Veterans Returning to Ottawa

As NHL teams begin to trim their camp rosters in preparation for the season, 67's veterans are returning to Ottawa.

The Edmonton Oilers are sending Ryan Martindale back and the Detroit Red Wings are sending Mark Anthony Zanetti and Petr Mrazek back. I have been following some Red Wings coverage of camp and both players were doing very well. Apparently the Wings are considering signing Zanetti and have until the end of the month to do so.

Smith is still listed on the Columbus camp roster but Toffoli's status is less clear from the LA site.

While it's likely a let down for the guys returning from their NHL camps, they are not rookies here in Ottawa; they are elite veterans who can provide leadership to their team and continuing honing the skills that got them on the NHL radar in the first place.

Welcome back gentlemen, we look forward to your contributions as the season gets underway this weekend.

ya! Hockey!

Thomas Nesbitt Gets Invite to NJD Main Camp

Just surfing the internet from Canada's great (not yet white) North here in Whitehorse and see that Thomas Nesbitt has been invited to the New Jersey Devils main camp as one of 12 right wingers. It will be along shot but as far as I can tell, he's the first one among the guys at rookie camp who has been invited to their team's main camp.

The notice on NHL.com.

Here's another write-up. Someone should contact this guy and give him the scoop on Thomas.

Best of luck to Thomas in NJ!

Kingston takes the Game: 4-3

Today was the first chance for Ottawa fans to get a look a the new faces for this year's team Kingston. Both teams had a lot of players missing so I wouldn't put too much into the results. This will be a really quick post due to other obligations.

Forward Combos:

• Prince, Lindsay, Carnevale
• Farmer, Graovac, Janes
• Foglia, Giftopolous, Fontana

D-Pairs:

• Hanes, Gibbons,
  
• Shipley, Ceci,
  
• Fielding
  

Goal: Perugini

Scratches: Mrazek, Nesbitt, Zanetti, Monahan (injured), Smith, Martindale
It was a pretty up-tempo game with both teams showing a lot of energy - if not finesse. And even with so many new faces, it didn't take long for the rivalry to reveal itself with the new players pushing and shoving after the whistle and getting into each others' faces.

Kingston scored the only goals in the first period on 5 shots. The first was by Mike Farrell with assists from Steven Broek and Nathan Moon about 6 minutes into the game. Nathan, Derek Froats and Mike Farrell combined for the second goal with 7 minutes left in the period. Meanwhile, Ottawa started getting the shots through to Kingston starter Palezzese, piling 15 shots by the end of the first without getting through.

Ottawa didn't get on the scoreboard until close to halfway through the third when Tyler Graovac finally beat Blake Richard who took over Kingston netminding duties in the second period. Robert Farmer had the lone assist.

But before the goal was finished being announced, Kingston restored the 2-goal lead: Mitch Lebar, Nathan Moon, and Clarke Seymour doing the damage.

On the power play with 1:20 left, Ottawa was in the offensive zone but not quite in control when Perugini was pulled. It wasn't hard for Michael Cajovsky to gain possession and send the puck into the empty net to put them up 4-2.

Ottawa kept pushing and with just under 5 seconds left, Cody Lindsay got an unassisted PPG to make it a 1-goal game.

Final shots on goal: 43-22 for Ottawa.

Three Stars:

Nathan Moon was the first star but did not take a turn.
Random Thoughts:

• Ottawa was 1 - 6 on the PP and perfect in the 4 PKs they were assessed, including great back-to-back PKs in the second. Each team had one shot on goal in during the 4 minutes.
  
• Missing Toffoli, Nesbitt and Martindale from the PP was certainly noticed. Kingston had a few great short-handed opportunities that were thwarted by Perugini.
  
• The Farmer, Graovac, Janes line was great to watch. They were fast, pushing for shots and in the mix of things. Will be interesting to see if they are kept together.
  
• Gibbons and Hanes had their work cut out for them today as the vets on the blue line. Hanes even showed some attitude that I don't recall seeing last year.
  
• Saw some great back-checking from Farmer.
  

I will miss the game on Friday as I will be winging my way back from Whitehorse.
More Pictures:

Shane Prince working his way through the Fronts

Nicholas Foglia

Taylor Fielding

Robert Farmer

Tyler Graovac

Off the post

Chris Perugini finding the puck through the traffic

Ryan Shipley

Then and Now: Catching Up with Thomas Kiriakou

Then: “Then” isn’t so long ago for this 2009 graduate of the Ottawa 67’s. Fan favorite Thomas Kiriakou spent all 4 ½ years of his OHL career with the Ottawa 67’s where his hard work and leadership earned him the respect of team mates, team management and other teams. In his final year he was a reliable point-a-game face-off specialist and penalty-killing machine.

Thomas Kiriakou on his way to a playoff hat trick against the Niagara Ice Dogs.

As one of 16 members of the Richmond Hill Stars to be drafted into the OHL in 2004, Thomas was glad to come to Ottawa and to a great team like the Ottawa 67’s where he had wonderful billets and fantastic team management.

His best memory as a 67’s was being called up for the 2005 run to the Memorial Cup. Chris Hulit, Joe Talbot, Mark Mancari and Bryan Bickell (who was a member of the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks this past season) were like older brothers to him. He wanted carry the feeling from that experience as inspiration for future playoff success; unfortunately that was not to be.

Thomas considers his most important take-away from his time in Ottawa is the respect that Brian Kilrea and the club ingrained in the players. It may be a cliché but Thomas believes that he came to Ottawa as a boy and left as a man.

Now: I caught up with Thomas just as he was settling into his second year at Guelph University where he is in a general BA program for now but is considering a move to Landscape Architecture after some exposure to it this summer.

He had an outstanding rookie year playing for the Guelph Gryphons with 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points in 26 regular season games which earned him honours as the Ontario University Athletics West top rookie and being named to the CIS all-rookie team. All this while meeting his academic commitments.

There were some similarities and some adjustments in moving to CIS hockey. Academics are a priority; players are not allowed to miss any class that is scheduled at the same time as the daily two-hour hockey practices. Tutors are available to assist the athletes. Road trips are quite different than his major-junior days….it’s very quiet on the bus with everyone’s nose in a book either studying for exams or getting the reading done. As for the hockey, it’s fast and physical (although fighting is not allowed) playing with and against highly skilled mature players.

With his rookie year behind him, he has big expectations for the team this year. Last year’s team was essentially a brand new team with almost 12 new guys – many with major junior experience. With a year under their collective belts, he has his eye set on going the distance.

As for a possible shot at playing professional hockey, like Danny Battochio, he hopes to have the best of both worlds – taking full advantage of his OHL scholarship to get a post-secondary education and playing competitive CIS hockey to the best of his abilities to warrant a shot at the pros. His experience at the Traverse City Rookie Tournament was amazing and showed him what it takes to get to that level. He's going to keep working hard on and off the ice to get another shot at the pros noting "It's not where you start but it’s where you finish."

There is no doubt that Thomas Kiriakou will finish very well, wherever his journey takes him.

67's cut 20 from camp

By BRUCE GARRIOCH, Ottawa Sun

The 67’s can get down to work now.

As they prepare to open the pre-season Sunday against the Kingston Frontenacs, 2 p.m. at the K-Rock Centre, the 67’s sent 20 players packing Saturday, after three days of scrimmages.

With 14 forwards — including nine returnees from last year — six defencemen and three goalies, the 67’s will likely only make one more move before they open the season on Sept. 24 in Sault Ste. Marie.

“The pace really picked up here in the last scrimmage,” said 67’s coach Chris Byrne Saturday. “Some of the veterans who were off to a slow start really picked it up and we’re ready for the next step. We’re keeping the guys we like and that are going to fit in with us.”

While goalies Peter Mzazek and Chris Perugini will split the duties in Kingston, the club also kept local goalie Francis Dupuis. He’ll likely get some action when Mzazek attends Detroit’s camp.

Up front, the 67’s held onto import selection Robert Farmer, Nicholas Foglia, Remi Giftopolous, 2010 No. 4 selection Cosmo Fantana and injured No. 1 pick Sean Monahan, who won’t return for three weeks.

Defencemen Cody Ceci, Marc-Anthony Zanetti, Ryan Hanes and Travis Gibbons will return. Newcomers Ryan Shipley and Taylor Fielding — both selected in Round 2 last spring — have secured spots.

Tyler Toffoli (Los Angeles), Thomas Nesbitt (New Jersey), Ryan Martindale (Edmonton), Zanetti (Detroit) and Mzazek (Detroit) leave for NHL camps next week.

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So there you have it. I'm surprised they didn't hang onto a few more while the NHL-hopefuls are at their rookie camps.

Last Day of 67's Camp

I took in the morning of the last day of training camp and by all reports it was a good choice - not too much fog on the ice and much more intense than yesterday's games. It was also the last day for some players to make their case.

It was non-stop for a good hour until they broke to have the ice flooded. The whistles were only for goals, goalie freezes and injuries (there were a couple). No penalties called, next to no icing, a few off-sides (Steven Janes took a lot of ribbing for his excursions at the blue line) - just full time playing.

With numbers only on their backs (not on the shoulders and only on a few helmets), and watching mostly through my viewfinder, it was tough for me to keep track of all the newcomers - and there were a lot of them.

Team White	Team Black
1-Petr Mrazek	10-Marc-Anthony Zanetti
5-Jon Carnevale	13-Remi Giftopolous
6-Ryan Shipley	17-Steven Janes
8-Thomas Nesbitt	21-Cosima Fontana
12-Zach Rodier	27-Robert Farmer
18-Shane Prince	29-Braden Mann
19-Tyler Graovac	30-Chris Perugini
20-Sean Monahan	32-Francis Dupuis
22-Dalen Hedges	34-Cody Lindsay
23-Ryan Van Stralen	36-Taylor Fielding
25-Copper Rush	37-Nicholas Foglia
28-Aaron Taylor	40-Daniel Walsh
31-Denny Dubblestyne	41-Sean Callaghan
33-Dalton Smith	42-Christopher Lane
44-Jon Carlson	46-Henry Thompson
45-Brett Gustavsen	50-Blake Stephenson
51-Gian Marco DeMeis	71-Patryk Wojenski
55-Travis Gibbons	77-Ryan Martindale
61-Tyler Toffoli	89-Nathaniel Quinn
81-Ryan McCaughan	91-Ryan Hanes
84-Cody Ceci
85-Michel Vered

With the departures of Cuma, Demers, Nigro, Cowick and Merrett, there is room for 5 additions (2D, 3F). Earlier this week Brian Kilrea was on Team1200 and noted that a few vets needed to step up their game or be at risk of being replaced (scroll through their facebook posts to hear the interviews with Killer and coach Byrne). So there could be even more new faces this year. This camp will identify the first set of cuts with a few guys getting an extra long look while Mrazek, Zanetti (DET), Martindale (EDM), Toffoli (LA), Smith (COL) and Nesbitt (NJ) head off to their NHL rookie camps soon.

Mrazek and Perugini didn't dress - likely saved for the afternoon game. As reported in the media earlier this week, this year's first round draft pick, Sean Monahan was injured on his first shift of camp. I noticed him at the rink with an ice bag taped to his wrist.

The White Team dominated the first half of the game (or was it the first game - not sure if they played two games or just one long game). It was high-tempo, intense, with a few hits and at times chippy. I lost track of the score - something like 6 - 2 for White; apparently they were handed their butts yesterday so there was some motivation today.

As you would expect, the the guys that are closer to making it to the NHL stood out - especially Ryan Martindale. He just moved the puck at will through and around pretty much everyone.

Of the new guys, I noticed Taylor Fielding, Daniel Walsh, Cooper Rush and Brett Gustafsen the most with Fielding standing out the most for me. These players were in the mix of things with Brett irritating Lindsay enough to nearly start a scrap.

And speaking of scraps, newcomer Robert Farmer dropped the gloves to tangle with Dalton Smith. Jon Carnevale tried to intervene but was clearly more familiar with Dalton's fighting credentials than Robert. If Robert makes the team, he will need to be told about the penalty for removing his helmet for a fight.




I don't know who made it hard for the coaching staff and who made it easy over the last three days. A smaller crew will be traveling to Kingston tomorrow for the first pre-season of the year. Team1200's Jon Abbott will begin this season's coverage of the 67's with this game.

Here are more pictures from today. I tried to concentrate on the hopefuls but without more visible numbers, I am not able to put a name to most of these players. My apologies to them and their families.

And the season begins!!!

Getting to Know Robert Farmer

Camp starts this week and there will be a new import among the hopefuls - 19 year old Robert Farmer who hails from Nottingham England and who spent last year playing with the Sheffield Steelers of the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) in the United Kingdom. This self-described big skillful winger played 36 games last year with former 67's Joe Talbot and Jon Zion, scoring 6 goals, 11 assists and spending66 minutes feeling-guilty-before-going-free.

I met up with "Farms" (one of the nicknames Jon has for Robert) and Jon Zion a few weeks back to find out more about our newest import.

The EIHL is the highest level of professional hockey in the UK and Robert was an 18 year old playing against men. He wasn't being used a lot and Jon thought that he would be a good fit for the 67's and told them so. The club brought him over in June to see him skate and were impressed enough to draft him in the import draft.

He's been here for much of the summer skating and training in preparation for the upcoming season. In addition to skating with a couple of 67's, he's been working with a skating coach in Arnprior and playing summer hockey. With his season having ended in April and the limited opportunities to skate in the summer in England, he felt it was best to get here and get skating well before the season started. And it didn't hurt that Jon was here to take him under his wing.

This isn't his first trip to Canada, he has relatives out west and has been to tournaments in Ontario and Quebec. And he's been living away from home for a few years now playing hockey much like many of his new team mates. But it will be his first full-on Canadian winter and with Jon's "you're gonna die man" ringing in his ears, he's bracing for the shock.  He doesn't plan to own a vehicle while here. 

As for other expectations, he really doesn't have too many. The game in the UK is more styled to a North American game, physical and fast. And fighting is allowed. With up to 11 imports allowed on each team, and many of those imports coming from North America, it's like playing in the professional minors here.

He's also used to playing a schedule that has 3 games in 2 1/2 days as they had some of those last year too.

Depending on who they are playing, audiences can range from between 7000-8000 for a good rivalry to as few as 300 - 400.  Like the OHL. (Ya Brampton - I'm looking at you).  It can be tough competing for fans when both local football teams are playing on the same weekend. 

One difference is that he will likely spend more off-ice time with his team mates. In Sheffield, the players all scatter to their own lives with their wives and kids. Here in Ottawa he will be like most of the other players, living away from home without other obligations (other than school for some).

He's eager to play hockey and seems very open to the experience (cold and all).  With Jon Zion showing him around now and helping him get ready for the season, he should be in a much better position than most imports.  Keeping in touch with the family across the pond will be easy with Skype and other social media and his family has already booked their flights to see him here in late October.

As for Jon Zion, at 29 he hopes to keep playing for a while but he notes that it's not as lucrative as it once was.  When it's all said and done, he plans to return to Ottawa and seek a career in either the police force or as a firefighter.  Ottawa is where his family and home are - cold winters and all.

The 67's Camp Schedule:

Thursday Sept 2nd 9:00 to 11:00 Practice, Civic Centre 2:30 to 4:00 Scrimmage, Civic Centre Friday Sept 3rd 9:00 to 11:00 Scrimmage, Civic Centre 2:30 to 4:00 Scrimmage, Civic Centre Saturday Sept 4th 9:00 to 11:00 Scrimmage, Civic Centre 2:30 to 4:00 Scrimmage, Civic Centre

Not sure if I will be able to make it to any of the camp sessions but will post if I do.

In the meantime, welcome back gentlemen, we have been waiting all summer for the season to begin!!

Summer Re-Runs: Then and Now with Seamus Kotyk

We're deep in the doldrums of the hockey off-season so I have decided to re-run a few articles about former players that I wrote for the Ottawa 67's news letter last season.  

The second one is with Seamus Kotyk who was in town early in the season last year.  It's interesting to read the article almost a year later and see how much has changed.  His good buddies Nick and Brian won the Stanley Cup and he's back in Canada as the goalie coach for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds as was announced today . Congrats Seamus and good luck!

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Then:
This London born player had quite the ride during his four years with the Ottawa 67’s: he won the OHL Dinty Moore trophy in 97/98 as the first year goaltender with the best regular season goals against average (2.66), was named to the 98/99 OHL All Star team, was a member of the 1999 67’s Memorial Cup winning team and had the tournament’s best GAA with 2.83 (Roberto Luongo was 4th with a GAA of 3.67), and won the 2000-01 Wayne Gretzky award as the MVP of the OHL playoffs backstopping the 67’s to an unexpected OHL Championship and another trip to the Memorial Cup. Oh, and during that time he had his 1999/00 season cut short by a heart arrhythmia that needed corrective surgery (think the Monster Leaf Gustafson).

His most memorable moment as a 67’s? His very last game on home ice to win the OHL Championship in 2001 and a return trip to the Memorial Cup. “There were about 4 of us that had played 4 years together and those guys were like my brothers. No one expected us to make it through the second round and we had gone on this unbelievable run. To win the last game I would ever play in this arena in front of these fans…I remember Jonny Zion jumped right into me and I have a picture on my wall from the Ottawa Sun with everyone around the net, Lance Galbraith, Joey Talbot. That was us winning the Mem Cup among ourselves. It was a run that no one expected us to make and we did.”

Now:
He’s in Austria for the second time, playing for the HC Tiroler Wasserkraft Innsbruck. He just landed there in mid-January after the team he played for last year (also an Innsbruck team) folded at the end of the season.

Between Ottawa and Innsbruck, this 29 year old has covered a bit a ground. He was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the 5th round (147th overall) of the 1999 draft but never signed. The San Jose Sharks were lurking in still waters with an offer and he dressed for 7 games for the Sharks but never saw ice time. Seamus then spent 5 years with various teams in the professional minors in the US before getting a chance to play in Europe.

He had never travelled to Europe much less considered living there but when a former teammate asked him if he was interested in filling in for an injured goalie in Wolfsburg Germany, he leapt at the opportunity. From there, he played in the Austrian league for Jesenice (Slovenia) and Innsbruck.

His experience in Europe gave him new insights into how the European imports have to cope when they come to Canada. Simple things like understanding menus, figuring out how to mail stuff, shopping, and communicating with teammates.

On-ice memories are great but it was the friends, the growing up, the shared goals that stick with him. He still speaks with Mark Bell almost everyday, he’s playing with Luke Sellars in Innsbruck, and a few of them, including Nick Boynton and Brian Campbell try to get together once a year to catch up and play golf.

When I caught up with Seamus, he was in Ottawa catching up with old friends and practicing with the 67’s to keep in shape. He thoroughly enjoyed his visit in Ottawa and with the club – it was like he never left and was clearly touched by the warm welcome he received.

He hasn’t decided what he will do when his playing days are done so he’s keeping his options open. In the meantime, this very personable goalie is enjoying playing in Europe in the winter and figuring out what’s growing in the gardens at his waterfront home in the summer.

Toffoli Heads to The Rock for Team Canada Camp

Tyler Toffoli and the rest of the National Junior Team hopefuls head to St. John’s, N.L for development camp that runs August 4 - 7. Tyler has been assigned to Team Red.

Click here for the roster and access to other development camp news.

Good luck Tyler!

Summer Re-Runs: Then and Now with Gary Roberts

We're deep in the doldrums of the hockey off-season so I have decided to re-run a few articles about former players that I wrote for the Ottawa 67's news letter last season.  


The first one is with Gary Roberts. He was great to interview - relaxed, unhurried and chatty. Turns out he keeps an eye on major junior.

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Then

Gary Roberts left his North York home in 1982 to join the Ottawa 67’s and was on the road pretty much ever since until his retirement in 2009.  He recalls that it was a bit of a shock going to the draft and getting picked in the second round.  It was also a pretty big deal at the time being the only guy from among his crowd to leave home to play hockey.  His good friend Joe Nieuwendyk stayed in town and went to the NHL via college.

According to Gary, he barely made it through his first year. It wasn’t his on-ice performance but rather his off-ice antics that landed him in hot water. He says he was a bit of a follower at that time and followed the 20-year olds into places he ought not to have been. He also got into a couple of fights at school that almost got him a bus ride home. A couple of teachers stood up for him, he stayed in Ottawa and he stayed out of trouble.

In his four seasons with the 67’s he scored 122 goals, 140 assists and spent 587 minutes in the penalty box. He played in all 5 games in the 1984 Memorial Cup tournament, scoring 1 goal and adding 4 assists as the club won its first national major junior hockey championship. Among his teammates were Darren Pang and Adam Creighton who also went on to NHL careers.

Gary has great memories of his time in Ottawa. He credits Brian Kilrea as being the most influential person in his hockey career and he fondly remembers his billets, Mary and Cliff Kelly as a second set of parents.

Now

Gary’s career is well documented: traded to the Guelph Platers late in the 84-85 season where he won his second Memorial Cup; drafted by the Calgary Flames as their first round pick in the 1984 draft (12th overall), spent 12 years with the club, winning the Stanley Cup in 1989; won the Bill Masterton trophy in 1996 for his remarkable perseverance after going through potentially career-ending surgery on his neck; and played for 5 more NHL teams before announcing his retirement in March 2009.

And so, for the first time in well over 20 years, Gary found himself out of the usual rhythm of going to camp, preparing for and starting a new season.  He admits it was hard at first and was glad that September was great for golfing to occupy his mind. As the co-owner of the Wooden Sticks golf course in Uxbridge, he had ample access to tee times.

Gary enjoys spending time with his two young sons (ages 6 months and 4 years), including using them as an excuse to get in the afternoon nap that he has been used to for so many years.

He has still has a passion for the game and sees himself getting back into hockey in some form or another in the future. His current thinking is that he would really like to work with the young men who have their eyes on the NHL. They are now entering the league with so much preparation and he would like to contribute.

In the meantime, he is really enjoying time with his family that he was not able to when he played in the NHL and preparing to become a hockey dad.

Coming to a Theater Near You in October...

In case you missed the news, here's a trailer for "Score: A Hockey Musical" scheduled for release in October. It looks like a campy Glee-inspired laugh at all the cliches. If you can stifle the cringes, it might actually be funny.

Martindale at Oilers Camp - Day 4

I made the trek to the east end of Edmonton to catch the last day of Ryan Martindale at the Oilers development camp.

The 27 prospects were divided into four teams and played half-ice 3-on-3 scrimmages with two games going on at the same time. The scrimmages were 3 5-minute running clock periods. Ryan was on the Red Team with D Brandon Davidson (WHL), D Damon Kip (NCAA), Jordan Eblerle (WHL), Anton Lander (Swe) and Drew Czerwonka (WHL). His linemates were Brandon and Drew and for the game I watched, they were up against the Blue Team made up of D Jeff Petry, Mike Connolly, Taylor Hall, Tyler Pitlick, Kellen Jones and Cameron Abney.

Eberle and Pitlick were clearly the most intense players in that scrimmage. The Red Team won and moved to the other end of the rink to take on the Grey Team who apparently also won their game. Based on their reaction at the end of regulation time, it looked like Team Red may have won that one too.

It will be really interesting to see what Ryan takes from his time at camp. He certainly didn't look like one of the more intense players on the ice. It might have been the awe of being at his first professional camp or perhaps he's one of those players who tends not to look all that intense. His development will be interesting to follow.

Some pictures:











Prospects saluting their avid fans


Team Photo of the Oilers 2010 Development Camp

Ryan Martindale at Oilers Development Camp

In the 30+ years since I left Edmonton, I have made that long trip from the airport countless times without giving the scenery a second thought. This trip I tried to see it through the eyes of the Oilers prospects coming to town for this week’s development camp. This is definitely a blue-collar city with the attendant industrial look and feel.

Having played in Windsor for the last three years, this might look a little more familiar to Taylor Hall than it does for Brooklin native Ryan Martindale who played in white-collar Ottawa for the last three years. But it’s likely that neither of them looked past their hopes to worry what the scenery looks like. This is the big league and this is a hockey city as evidenced by another full house to watch the 28 hopeful prospects do their best to impress.

I just happened to be in Edmonton visiting family and thought I would check out how Ryan Martindale was doing.

The Oilers certainly have favoured western Canada in their drafting with 12 of the prospects coming from the WHL or BCHL. There are three guys from the Q and two from the O (Hall and Martindale). The rest are from Europe, NCAA, one out of high school or already in the AHL.

It was a fast-paced hour and a half of skating and team drills led by Steve Serdachny for the first 40 minutes or so and then on to the other pad at the Clareview Arena with all of the coaching staff, including Head Coach Tom Renney, leading the rest of the on-ice workout.

They ran out of player lists and there are no names on the jerseys so it was really hard to figure out who was who. I recognized Ryan, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle but was at a loss for the rest of them. The D wore red jerseys and the forwards were divided between grey and blue jerseys.

I am certainly no expert but you could tell there is a range of skill out there. Again, not knowing the prospects out there, I couldn’t tell you who did well other than Eberle is pretty darn good as is pretty much a lock to make the team. Ryan did not look out of place but I would not be surprised if his take-home instructions centre on skating and gaining weight and strength and sustained intensity (given the scouting reports).

Rob Thomas from the Oilers organization politely advised me that they were unable to allow full media access to “alternate” media outlets (i.e. bloggers) but he was kind enough to allow me behind the media lines at the rinks to get decent shots through the glass for which I am grateful. It was packed in there and it would have been impossible to get a good spot otherwise.

So, without further ado, here are some shots of Ryan Martindale, first pick in the third round at his first professional hockey camp. Blue and Copper looks good on him. Last day of camp is on Friday and scrimmages are planned. I may make it out for that.

Best of luck to Ryan as he does his best to stand out from 27 other prospects.


Eager Oilers fans


Skating and skills drills with Steve Serdachny


Practicing fancy moves around an opposing player








Getting instructions for the next set of drills


Paying close attention to Head Coach Tom Renney

67's in the NHL Entry Draft - Petr Mrazek to Detroit

Petr Mrazek went to the storied, original 6 Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round (141st overall) and just the second European goalie taken in the draft.

The brouhaha definitely diminishes in the later rounds and I don't think Petr was even at the draft so there are no draft day pictures or interviews. And pretty much all the commentary involves stuff like "don't know anything about this kid but his stats look good".

An article about their pick from Redwingcentral.com. More info from that site.

A few articles I read noted that Detroit looks to take a goalie with each draft, if there's a good one available. This article expands on that and provides some context for choosing Petr.

So, Petr is going to a solid franchise that has a good reputation for treating its players well. No idea when their development camp is (if they even have one). The Red Wings have a good reputation of finding gems and let's home they've hit a big one with this pick.

The one think I find interesting to read consistently in the few articles I have found is that Petr will be the starter for the 67's next season. Does that mean that a trade involving Perugini is in the works? Hmmm.

67's in the NHL Entry Draft - Dalton Smith to the Columbus Blue Jackets

This was a surprise...while we all expected Dalton to be picked up in the draft, I am pretty sure very few folks saw him going before Tyler Toffoli and Ryan Martindale. But that's what happened when the Columbus Blue Jackets picked him early in the second round (34th overall).

Here's his prospect summary from NHL.com.

The CBJ (their name is just too long to type in all the time) were really intent on getting Dalton, noting his hard work and focus. Here's an article from a Columbus newspaper on the club's choice.

A very brief video post-draft:


Pictures from the draft are here.

Here's the draft summary from the Blue Jackets' site. Their development camp started yesterday and runs until July 4th. Nothing posted yet on yesterday's activities.

If you are not a member of facebook, go to the facebook spot on the Team1200 site to hear a good post-draft interview with the Summer Scratches.

There's no doubt that Dalton will improve his play this year. This is one focused kid.

67's in the NHL Entry Draft - Tyler Toffoli to LA

The LA Kings traded up to pick Tyler Toffoli in the second round (47th overall).

His "Getting to Know...video from the combine:



And here's his pre-draft summary from NHL.com.

Here's his interview after being drafted:



An article on LA's draft day from the LA Kings site.

More stuff from the LA Site: Five Questions with Tyler Toffoli.

LA's development camp is underway but Tyler isn't partaking in on-ice (at least he didn't yesterday) apparently due to a minor injury. Not sure if it will keep him off the ice for the entire camp.

The pre- and post-draft chatter about Tyler was all pretty good but of course, like all players, he needs to improve. The one consistent knock on Tyler is on his commitment to conditioning. We all saw the Citizen article before the draft that mentioned his focus on this now. If the Kings organization could make a hard-body out of dough-boy Doughty, they will certainly know how to get Tyler into the shape he needs to be in (if he's committed to the program).

And this can only lead to good things while he is still here in Ottawa.

67's in the NHL Entry Draft - Ryan Martindale to Edmonton

Ryan Martindale was the first pick of the third round (61st overall) and went to the Edmonton Oilers (my home town).

Here's a video of Ryan from the combine:


And here's a pre-draft write-up from NHL.com.

The Oilers homepage features pictures of all their draft picks last weekend.

Here's the Oiler management take on Ryan:


Here's Ryan's interview:


Some draft day pictures.

And a picture from Life.com.

He's in some good company (Eberle, Hall, Pitlick) and tough competition to boot. He will have to work hard to make the Oiler club which is clearly rebuilding. Reading the various post-draft commentary pretty much repeats what the Oiler management had to say. He now has even more motivation to improve his consistency and show that he belongs in the NHL with the other Oiler prospects. And this can only benefit the Ottawa 67's next season. It will be a pleasure watching him work hard to improve and get a serious shot at the next level.

I don't know when the Oiler's development camp is. I will be in Edmonton next week visiting family so if they are running camp then and anything is open to the public, I just might drop in for a peek.

Logan Couture's Rookie Season

Here's a nice summary of Logan's rookie season with the Sharks organization.

McGinn's Frequent Flyer Experience

This article on Jamie McGinn's up and down, cross-country experience this year. I bet he can pack in a hurry...

From James Mirtle at the Globe and Mail.