Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Washington Capitals -- Development Camp 2014: Day Two

Day Two at Washington Capitals D-Camp 2014 was busy.  So busy they had to get work in before the scheduled activities began.  It started with goalie Philipp Grubauer getting some early alone time with coaches Olaf Kolzig and Scott Murray, who were snapping pucks at him from opposite faceoff circles as Coach Micth Korn looked on from the side. 



That was merely prelude to a busy morning session.  “Three-ring circus” busy, in fact.  Really.  After a false start on the Capitals rink, the coaches and players headed across the hallway to the public rink to begin the day.  At one end of the ice goalie coach Mitch Korn was working with goalies Rasmus Tirronen and Phoenix Copley, while at the other end of the ice the skaters were split into two groups, both working on different aspects of skating to start.  One looked to be repeating the exercises of Day One as the other was working on maneuvering among cones set up on the ice.

Insofar as Coach Korn and his goalies were working just beneath our perch in the balcony, we paid most attention to those drills.  It started with the goalies facing one another, about a stick length apart.  The object of the exercise was for one goalie to shuffle back and forth and to step forward and back, his opposite number trying to mirror his every move as quickly as possible.  After 10-12 seconds of this, the goalies switched roles, the other being the “initiator,” while his partner took on the role of the “mirror.”

Then it was to the front of the cage and another excuse to get the goalies working together in an odd sort of way (this would be a theme).  Goalie A stepped to the front of the crease where Coach Korn faced him.  Here, the object was for the goalie to track Korn’s movements with three quick shuffles to one side, then push hard in the opposite direction to the far post.  These nets being only loosely anchored, the other goalie was standing on the skirt of the net to keep the rig from shifting when the goalie performing the exercise jammed his skate hard to the post.

Working in pairs with the goalies was the common thread here, but the best was saved for last.  Coach Korn had the nets set up facing each other below the goal line, about 15 feet apart.  Each goalie took a net, and coach stood between them.  At the top of the crease stood another coach.  The object was this.  The coach at the top of the crease would start play by either shooting the puck at one or the other goalie, or passing it to the other coach standing between the netminders.  If the coach starting the play passed the puck down to the other coach, Coach 2 could shoot on either of the goalies, or he could pass it back up to Coach 1.  Ah, but here is the diabolical part.  Coach B, standing between the goalies, could shoot the puck by banking it off the end boards to try and slip it behind one or the other goalie.  The object appeared to be using familiar skills in unfamiliar ways with an emphasis on quickness and recovery…


Tomorrow is the last day of drill sessions, Thursday through Saturday limited to intrasquad scrimmages, according to the published schedule.  If you have a chance to visit, watch Korn and the goalies.  It really is quite entertaining.  And he hasn’t even broken out the toys yet.  We can’t wait to see what he has in store for Braden Holtby, Justin Peters, and Philipp Grubauer for training camp.

Other snippets…

Nathan Walker got to wear the helmet cam for the morning session...


Young Mr. Walker appears to prefer wearing the back of his jersey tucked into his pants.  It makes it difficult to see the entire number of his jersey (79), he being somewhat on the short side.
At the other end of the height scale is defenseman Eliot Antionetti who, at six-feet, six inches, towers over many of his teammates.  He also looks to have a playoff-ready beard going on, too.

The CSN folks were in to do some media type stuff.  No, we were not asked to do an interview segment.  We think they had their hearts set on Cheerless.

And, some more pics…

 Glee club is now in session

Working on D-to-D reversing the puck breakouts

One...step...in...front...of...the...oth...er

Student to teacher ratio is pretty good here

 
It's the same everywhere... Hurry up and wait