Main Camp Day 1

Spruce Kings 6' 6" d-man Ben Woodley (green jersey)
prepares to take a draw against 5' 7" Gerry Fitzgerald

The first day of main camp has come and gone, and my first thought is, it feels great to have hockey back. Over 50 players took to the ice tonight starting with a few coach's drills before they were let loose during scrimmages. We saw three sets of scrimmages with the players being put into three groups. Each group got to play two games where we saw great hustle form both the new guys and the returning vets. We even got to see a bit of a scrap as tensions ended up boiling over. I'm not exactly sure what the coach thought of two guys fighting during a scrimmage, but my thought is, as long as nobody breaks a bone, do whatever you see necessary to get a spot on the roster.

As someone who is new to the organization, here are a few observations I had from day 1

-All the players who were picked up in the off season made an impact and were seen on day 1
-The defence is HUGE
-Jujhar Khaira seems like he will pick up where he left off last season
-There is no shortage of young talent out there to scoop up at any time
-After just one day, this team seems to be having fun and ready for a breakout season
-On a personal note, it is going to be tough announcing for a team that has a set of twins AND triplets

With day 1 in the books we now get ready for days 2 and 3 on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday the teams will go through fitness testing in the morning and then hit the ice for some more scrimmages, this time with the games being two hours a piece instead of one. Then Sunday you can head down to the Coliseum to see the Blue and White Intra-Squad game which will end this weekend's main training camp. Be sure to keep it locked to the blog, twitter and Facebook for all your Spruce Kings updates and analysis. Hope to see you at the rink soon!

Matt Anthony