Training Camp Begins

This morning the 08/09 hockey season officially began. Day one consists of a lot of paperwork and protocol and some strength testing in the gym. Everyone was split into 3 teams and told to arrive at separate times, in order to keep the lines down. For the players that were not here last week physicals were done first thing. They are required in order to make sure that you are healthy and fit enough to start the season. After the physicals there were pictures and video to take that they use in the team media and up on the scoreboard during and after games. It feels weird when they tell you how to stand and where to look but it looks cool once they add in background and all the effects. Then it was down to the weight room to go through the 8 strength and flexibility testing stations. They test things like height, weight, body fat, vertical, flexibility, core, upper and lower body strength. Once that was done all players fill out their tax and immigration paperwork. All together it took about 5 hours, and they provided an excellent lunch at the end for everyone involved. Tomorrow we get started with a practice. If it is anything like the first day that the rookies had last week it will be very difficult.

For those of you who have not seen the Caps new practice facility it is first class all the way. Two rinks give plenty of room and one of the rinks has enough seating for a couple hundred to watch a game. The locker room set up is the nicest I have ever seen and is perfectly set up.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch the Caps rookies play the Flyers rookies and it was quite a game for the Caps. They played very well and were relentless on the puck for the entire game. Their speed and aggressive play forced the Flyers to take a number of penalties and the power play was clicking. All 3 goaltenders were excellent and the line of Bouchard, Pinizotto, and Perrault were fun to watch and dominant. It was nice to watch an actual game with systems and most importantly contact. Adding contact is what makes it a hockey game and it looked very different from the shinny hockey that I have been playing since last April.

Tonight we have a team dinner at 6pm to go over the club's rules and expectations for the year. There is a lot of enthusiasm and positive energy coming from everybody right now and I am excited to finally get started!

The Mayor Cometh

This morning I had just left the gym and was heading home for lunch when my phone rang and guess who it was, the Mayor. Yes, the one and only Dean Arsene phoned me as he was driving through Iowa towards Hershey, PA. He expected his ETA to be sometime tomorrow afternoon so the parade should be sometime Friday morning. Unfortunately I will be unable to attend, but I am sure that the tickertape and crowd support will be nothing short of breathtaking. Hopefully I will be able to tune into John Walton's call of the event, perhaps on Penn Live's internet stream. I won't get into details of the conversation with Dean but needless to say we are both excited that the summer is finally over and that we get to be productive members of society again. (If you can call playing hockey productive!) I hope Deano doesn't tire himself out for training camp this weekend kissing too many hands or shaking too many babies...

End of Summer

It has been a while since my last post. Mostly due to the fact that I am trying to tie up all the loose ends that are out there before I leave for the winter. My training intensity has also picked up considerably. A couple of people have written me and asked what the average summer day is like for me. It starts at about 7:45am with me getting up and making breakfast for myself. I need to eat an hour before I train in order to allow everything to settle in. I am at the gym at 9:00am and I am there for about two hours training. What I do in the gym depends on at what point in the summer I am at. Periodization is big these days in making sure you continue to improve without peaking too early or too late. Generally though my workouts consist of weight training, agility training, and conditioning. I like to bike early in the summer and not skate at all until mid-June. The pro season is long and taking a couple months off from skating allows my body to heal up and prepare for the next season. Once June rolls around I start skating lightly, maybe once or twice a week and this increases in intensity until I am skating 5-6 days a week in September. After I work out in the morning I eat lunch and rest for a couple hours until I get on the ice in the mid afternoon, usually around 3 or 4pm. After a good skate I have dinner, relax with my wife and dog and get ready to do it again the next day.

The next couple of weeks will be really hectic for me so I won't be posting much, if at all. Once training camp starts I will have time in the afternoons to fill you in on how camp is going and the types of things that we are doing. My goal is to keep this blog updated constantly throughout the season to keep everyone that is interested informed. Enjoy the next couple of weeks because summer is quickly ending and hockey season will be here before we know it!