Day 1 of Training Camp!

I was out of my mind with excitement as I headed to Duluth to watch the first day of camp. Brand new season...brand new practice net. They are usually pretty gross. There was a good crowd, but I got there early and got a good spot.



I think I was excited and did more watching, but I didn't take many pictures. My camera lens is all dirty, too. Gotta have it cleaned. This was the only (crappy) picture I got of Mason. He was on the other side of the rink.



Woo Hoo, goalies! Pavs stretches and Carrozzi puts his stick by the bench.



Carrozzi and Pavs chat.



And there he is! This is who I was most excited to see at camp, Dustin Byfuglien. This is first picture I took of him as a Thrasher.



Hainsey goes back to his old habit of clearing out the net.



Rookies get puck duty. Burmistrov and Chiarot get all of the pucks into the bucket. You can see Esposito behind the net. It was good to see him moving around so well. He skated well and hopefully can stay healthy.



Pavs heading to the net.



Safety first! Buff tying his shoe lace. Nice pose.



Several songs come to mind....
"you're a big fine player why don't you back dat ass up"
"what what drop it like it's hot."



Today's camp was a little different than I expected. There were no drills or anything, it was all scrimmage. All 52 players were divided into 3 teams (Teams A, B, and C). All of the coaches as well as Dudley sat up in the Break Away Grill and watched.



Can't have a camp post with out pics of Carrozzi and his mesmerizing pads stretching.



Johnny Oduya looked good in camp. They had him paired with Byfuglien several times.



Let me tell you this was NOT prospect camp. There were some BIG hits and they were playing rough. You could tell that they are fighting for roster spots.



Eric Boulton and Evander Kane almost got into an altercation. There was pushing and shoving and a pretty good cross check. You can see in this crap picture Boulton reaching for Kaner.



Close up of Manino's mask.



Brent Sopel chatting with Mannino.



Pasquale looked good, I joked it was his magical red pads. They give him power!



Rooks getting the pucks ready.



Well well well! Look what we have here, some of the guys came out to watch. I tried to get a good picture of Buff, but he wouldn't look over at the right time. Buff, Anthony Stewart (nice tat!) and Jimmy Slater watch the action.



DOH! There's 1/2 a Buff. At least I got a good one of Steward. Then, Hainsey came out and Buff blocked my shots.



Pasquale getting ready to see some rubber.



Cody Sol taking the puck behind his fellow former teammate with the Saginaw Spirt, Pasquale. Pasquale and Sol also played with Thrashers prospect Ivan Telegin in Saginaw.


Not too many pics. I was just so excited to be there watching the guys again! I will do better tomorrow.

What I noticed today:

• Fredrik Modin is HUGE...says he's 6'4'', seemed bigger.

• Boris skated well, made a crap pass, but other than that was fast and where he should be. I love Boris, but he's gonna have to fight pretty hard for a spot.

• Both teams that shot on Chris Mason scored several times, don't know if they were bad goals, wasn't down on his end.
• Akim Aliu has awesome hair.
• Jared Ross is TINY. Like he looked St. Louis tiny. I thought we grew them bigger in Alabama!