2011 Boston Bruins Development Camp: Day 3 recap

It was another day of mostly drills and power skating work. No scrimmages to assess player skills in a competitive setting by.

So, we'll post the link to three new posts on the Boston Bruins development camp happenings for you to look at:

Click here for Day 3 recap, Warsofsky and Cross feature and Brian Ferlin update.

For those not down with a redirect, here's a teaser of the activities from today's camp sessions:

The Boston Bruins prospects continued their on- and off-ice workouts at the Ristuccia Memorial Arena Saturday in front of a large crowd that saw them conduct situational drills practice, followed by a second consecutive day of grueling power skating.

“I’m real sore,” defenseman Ryan Button said just before he headed to the team weight room for an off-ice conditioning session held by strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides. “But that’s a good thing. It means that we’re working hard and hopefully going to see some results.”

Bruins assistant GM Don Sweeney, as has been the case every day since the team came together on Thursday, led the team through its paces along with Providence head coach Bruce Cassidy and goalie coach Bob Essensa. After another productive hour of drills to build individual skills and get the players comfortable with some of the hallmarks of what the Bruins like to employ against the opposition (speed, backside pressure, puck pursuit), skating coach Besa Tsintsadze ran the youngsters through another grueling session of power skating work.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have Paul Vincent, John McLean and Victor [Teleguine], some guys that have certainly helped us and it’s just an opportunity to explore a guy that brings a little different look,” Sweeney said when asked about the move to bring the new skating instructor into the fold. “He’s worked with a lot of NHL players and had, obviously some success and where he has been. It’s kind of a fresh approach. We felt that we could tap into a resource there and obviously primary focus will be here as well as Providence but there’s no reason why guys up here in Boston couldn’t use it too, because he’s got some kind of neat things that take you outside your comfort zone, which is a good thing for us.”

Center Ben Sexton, a seventh-round selection of the Bruins in 2009, echoed Sweeney’s thoughts about the benefit of the skating sessions.

“I thought it was neat,” Sexton told New England Hockey Journal. “Working on different edge and things you don’t really think of while playing in a game, so I thought it was good.”

Button saw the long-term benefit in what the team was doing with the skating work.

“The funny thing about it is that you probably won’t use any of those skills in a game,” he said. “But at the end of the day, they really do make you more of an athlete, which is going to help you skate better. A lot of it’s significantly different than a normal skating stride, but again as I said, it’s going to help us skate a lot better at the end of the day.”

Tsintsadze employs a different, even radical approach to traditional power skating instruction, emphasizing not only the edgework and attention to technique that is the foundation of any skating platform, but by placing a heavy emphasis on integrating pucks into the drills and forcing players to conduct movements that are alien to them. One such drill occurred when he had the players skate backwards while hopping over their sticks from blue line to blue line.

“I think deep down, the next drill coming, you don’t know necessarily what it is and you can be the one struggling,” said Sweeney. “There’s some ribbing going on, I’m not going to tell you, there’s guys that are like, ‘Can I send you a manual for that one?’ Because, I mean it happens. Everybody is feeling that way and one might click for you, but you might be embarrassed in the very next one, so I think that’s the beauty of that and he’ll find something during the course of the time here, I’m sure that you won’t be able to do and you’ll be challenged.

“I love the fact, to be honest with you, I love the fact that guys are falling down, guys are really trying to do the things. There was no one mailing something in out there in the course of the past couple of days from the power skating side of it that weren’t really trying to be like, ‘Wow, this is kind of neat stuff.’”

2011 Boston Bruins Development Camp Video: David Warsofsky eager for pro challenge

Defenseman David Warsofsky had nothing else to prove at Boston University. He was a national champiion as a freshman, then followed that '09 Frozen Four victory up with a World Jr. gold medal the following winter. His hometown Boston Bruins then acquired him from St. Louis at the 2010 draft.

The Marshfield, Mass. native turned pro in the spring and finished the season in Providence of the AHL. Now, he'll take on his first full pro season with former Terrier teammate Colby Cohen and an opponent from that national championship sudden death win, former Miami University scoring sensation Carter Camper.

In the meantime, he got to see his beloved Bruins win the Stanley Cup and will try to one day put his stamp on the team himself.

2011 Boston Bruins Development Camp Video: Here come the goalies

Friday was goalie day for B2011DW. We caught up to all three of the B's netminders here at development camp: Mike Hutchinson, Zane Gothberg and Lars Volden. Here are their thoughts in general:

Hutch


Z Great Zane


The Lars Volda

2011 Boston Bruins Development Camp Video: Dougie Hamilton checks in

B2011DW wanted no part of the scrum that surrounded top pick Dougie Hamilton yesterday, so we got in on him first, though we were joined by other media folks shortly thereafter (WBZ).

Hamilton thus far has delivered the goods as advertised as a top-10 pick at development camp. He's a mobile, fluid skater and keeps his head up. Looking forward to seeing how he does at the scrimmages, but kid has the look and carriage of a winner.

2011 Boston Bruins Development Camp: Day 2 recap

We were back at the Ristuccia Memorial Arena in Wilmington, MA on Friday for the second day of Boston Bruins development camp.

1st A.M. session- Power skating skills development

Georgian (the former Soviet republic and not the Peachtree state) skating instructor Besa Tsintsadze put the B's kids through the paces with a spirited, challenging session.

The prospects group as a whole skates pretty well. Some are certainly better than others, but nobody stood out as struggling or having a hard time with accomplishing what needed to be done.


2nd A.M. session- Skill work and drills

More 1-on-1 skating, passing and shooting drills followed once they resurfaced the ice.

Not a great deal to focus in on today or get excited about. This was building block work. I leave the detailed analysis to others, but I do urge caution in getting too excited about what we're seeing in drills and small, isolated snapshots. The real scrutiny should be reserved for the scrimmages but most importantly, the camp and preseason work in the fall.

In any case, will analyze the work by individuals with more depth in preparing each prospect profile.

For a more detailed look at what happened today, please check out the Kirk's Call blog at the New England Hockey Journal website.

2011 Boston Bruins Development Camp: Video

With the Boston Bruins doing power skating work with new skating instructor Besa Tsintsadze on Day 2, thought I'd post a few videos from Day 1 interviews.

Craig Cunningham


Tommy Cross

2011 Boston Bruins Development Camp: Day 1 recap

The first day is in the books and things were a little discombobulated today with travel and touching base with folks hadn't seen in a while.

Bruins Assistant GM Don Sweeney told me that center Carter Camper, who signed as a free agent with Boston last spring, is not in attendance because he is still recovering from a recent procedure on his hip. No word on whether he'll be ready to go for the start of rookie camp in the fall.

Tomorrow will bring a better, more cohesive report, but for now, here are the highlights from today:

Ryan Spooner: Absolutely flying around the ice and doing his high-end puck work. Was lighting up Zane Gothberg pretty good at first (but I still thought Gothberg had a solid day overall though some disagree). Spooner is a puck wizard and he looks like his off-ice work is paying off- he's added some mass to his small frame and is getting there. Didn't cost him any in the speed department. The more I look at Spooner, the more I think he was a steal with the 45th overall pick a year ago.

Jared Knight: His competitiveness shines through in everything he does. He was lasering shots up under the crossbar all day and then he blew up goalie Mike Hutchinson in a huge collision when he took the puck to the net. For a smaller guy, Knight packs a lot of power in his lower leg drive and when he gets up under bigger defensemen with a higher center of gravity, he's able to drive them back. Impressive. And, Hutch wasn't hurt. Knight went right to him after the session was over to apologize and make sure his former London mate was OK. Once again, Knighter proves the old adage: it isn't the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog that counts.

Alexander Khokhlachev: Skill. He has it. And as slick and dynamic as he looked, little Koko is still a work in progress. He got turned inside out by Alexander Fallstrom on one drill who then beat him to the puck and rifled it past Lars Volden while Koko was several steps behind him. But after it all, the kid had a huge smile plastered on his face in the locker room and truly relished the chance to be out there with a spoked-B on. He's likely missing something in translation when it comes to the drills, so no one is going to kill him for getting turned around. The real proof will be in the pudding when he gets to speak the international language of hockey in the scrimmages and preseason games (possibly) in the fall.

Dougie Hamilton: He moves well, but noticed that he has an upright stance. The B's top pick didn't do anything really flashy today, but that's his game. He had an active stick and stayed with his man in the drills. He was shooting the puck with good velocity. It was an OK day for Dougie, and like Tyler Seguin last year, I heard rumblings of people being disappointed because he didn't dominate. Sometimes I don't know what people expect from these kids, but Hamilton looked like a first-rounder today.

Robby O'Gara: Turned 18 just yesterday and his skating really came to the fore today. He's tall, but a stringbean. But, have to keep going back to the fluid stride and quick, agile footwork. Had he spent two years at Milton Academy before the draft instead of just the one, I'm convinced that he would have been as high as a third-round pick, but solid at least a solid fourth-rounder. I don't think enough NHL teams knew about this kid going in, but Boston did because he plays in their backyard. Long-term project, but O'Gara could be a steal. Size + mobility + intelligence + character almost always = player.

Josh Jooris: Camp invite from Union College, but I saw some good wheels and a real smart passer. He's the one guy who really stood out among the camp invites. It was just one session, but going to watch him closely and see where he takes things this week.

Brian Ferlin: He does skate like he's carrying a baby grand piano on his back, but he has some speed to him. Was getting shots off from all over the ice. Put on a whale of a hit in the offensive zone on one drill that woke everyone up. For a guy not known as a big hitter, he eliminated his man along the boards and rattled the glass. Here's some video from some of the guys

Jared Knight


Zach Trotman