Day One: Penguins Training Camp
The Pittsburgh Penguins actually kicked off training camp yesterday, but today was the first official day of workouts on ice. The festivities started off at 9:00am with Group A, headlined by Sidney Crosby(group rosters will follow the post). Head Coach Michel Therrien ran the group through several drills that seemed to concentrate on a lot of skating and passing. They also worked on their breakout. It was evident during the Penguins Rookie camp and again today, that Therrien is going to have a team that is well conditioned. He has been waiting to get his hands on this group in camp since he took over in the middle of last season. They ran 1 on 1, 2 on 1, and 3 on 2 drills. Most of the team seemed to be able to keep up. Of course there were some guys sucking air, but I guess that is to be expected on the first day.
The practice wound down and lead right into the scrimmage between Group A(White) and Group B(Black). Black went on to win the scrimmage 5-3 on the strength of two Evgeni Malkin goals. He scored on a penalty shot, picking the top right corner above MA Fleury's glove hand(sound familiar), and the second by finding a seam on Dan Sabourin's short side that didn't seem to be there, a seeing eye puck if you will. Actually Malkin looked much better today than I thought he did in rookie camp. He was good there, but he seemed relaxed and a lot more comfortable. He was stick handling and making great passes. He did seem to struggle on face-offs a bit though.
Sidney Crosby was Sidney Crosby, making some great plays and setting his wingers up. Sid was surprisingly stopped on 2 of 3 penalty shots in the scrimmage, which may be one of the only parts of his game he can improve upon a bit. He didn't convert many of his shoot-out chances last season.
The most impressive goal of the day goes to the newly acquired Nils Ekman. Ekman drew a penalty shot and moved in on young camp invitee Andrew Penner. He brought Penner to the ice, stopped on a dime, glided backwards along the crease and roofed a shot over Penner's shoulder. Great goal.
The goals for each team were as follows: White - Crosby, Ekman, LeClair Black - Malkin(2), James, A Roy, and Recchi.
The line combos shaped up as follows:
White:
Ekman-Crosby-Armstrong
LeClair-Moore-Ruutu
Pivko-Christensen-Filewich
M.Roy-Dixon-Carcillo
Orpik-Whitney
Melichar-Scuderi
Nasreddine-Letang
Bissonette-Skolney
Fleury
Sabourin
Black:
Malone-Malkin-Recchi
A.Roy-Talbot-Ouellet
Stone-Staal-James
Jensen-Kennedy-Walsh
Eaton-Gonchar
Welch-DuPont
Carkner-Lannon
Thibault
Penner
Following the scrimmage, assistant coach Mike Yao had the white team skate laps around the nets, which he had placed between the face off circles. The team was broken into 3 groups and put through the paces. All part of the conditioning program.
Group B was them brought out for their practice session. It was much the same as the first one. A lot of skating, breakouts, and man on man puck pursuit. They ended their session with the laps mention above. Many of the players stayed on the ice to shoot around a bit, including Evgeni Malkin.
All in all, the team looks to be improved. They should have at least two quality scoring lines, with a 3rd and 4th line that can contribute. I look forward to seeing their first preseason action Tuesday night when they take on the Ottawa Senators in Halifax.
Group A
Forwards: John LeClair, Erik Christensen, Dominic Moore, Colbey Armstrong, Libor Pivko, Ronald Petrovicky(did not skate today), Nils Ekman, Jarkko Ruutu, Stephen Dixon, Dennis Bonvie, Jonathan Filewich, Daniel Carcillo, Mathieu Roy, Sidney Crosby
Defense: Josef Melichar, Rob Scuderi, Ryan Whitney, Alain Nasreddine, Wade Skolney, Brooks Orpik, Kristopher Letang, Paul Bissonnette
Goal: Marc-Andre Fleury, Danny Sabourin
Group B
Forwards: Michel Ouellet, Mark Recchi, Ryan Malone, Maxime Talbot, Andre Roy, Jordan Morrison, Ryan Stone, Tyler Kennedy, Jordan Staal, Tim Wallace, Joe Jensen, Evgeni Malkin, Conner James
Defense: Mark Eaton, Noah Welch, Eric Cairns, Matt Carkner, Micki Dupont, Ryan Lannon, Sergei Gonchar, Michael Sersen
Goal: Andrew Penner, Jocelyn Thibault, Patrick Ehelechner
The practice wound down and lead right into the scrimmage between Group A(White) and Group B(Black). Black went on to win the scrimmage 5-3 on the strength of two Evgeni Malkin goals. He scored on a penalty shot, picking the top right corner above MA Fleury's glove hand(sound familiar), and the second by finding a seam on Dan Sabourin's short side that didn't seem to be there, a seeing eye puck if you will. Actually Malkin looked much better today than I thought he did in rookie camp. He was good there, but he seemed relaxed and a lot more comfortable. He was stick handling and making great passes. He did seem to struggle on face-offs a bit though.
Sidney Crosby was Sidney Crosby, making some great plays and setting his wingers up. Sid was surprisingly stopped on 2 of 3 penalty shots in the scrimmage, which may be one of the only parts of his game he can improve upon a bit. He didn't convert many of his shoot-out chances last season.
The most impressive goal of the day goes to the newly acquired Nils Ekman. Ekman drew a penalty shot and moved in on young camp invitee Andrew Penner. He brought Penner to the ice, stopped on a dime, glided backwards along the crease and roofed a shot over Penner's shoulder. Great goal.
The goals for each team were as follows: White - Crosby, Ekman, LeClair Black - Malkin(2), James, A Roy, and Recchi.
The line combos shaped up as follows:
White:
Ekman-Crosby-Armstrong
LeClair-Moore-Ruutu
Pivko-Christensen-Filewich
M.Roy-Dixon-Carcillo
Orpik-Whitney
Melichar-Scuderi
Nasreddine-Letang
Bissonette-Skolney
Fleury
Sabourin
Black:
Malone-Malkin-Recchi
A.Roy-Talbot-Ouellet
Stone-Staal-James
Jensen-Kennedy-Walsh
Eaton-Gonchar
Welch-DuPont
Carkner-Lannon
Thibault
Penner
Following the scrimmage, assistant coach Mike Yao had the white team skate laps around the nets, which he had placed between the face off circles. The team was broken into 3 groups and put through the paces. All part of the conditioning program.
Group B was them brought out for their practice session. It was much the same as the first one. A lot of skating, breakouts, and man on man puck pursuit. They ended their session with the laps mention above. Many of the players stayed on the ice to shoot around a bit, including Evgeni Malkin.
All in all, the team looks to be improved. They should have at least two quality scoring lines, with a 3rd and 4th line that can contribute. I look forward to seeing their first preseason action Tuesday night when they take on the Ottawa Senators in Halifax.
Group A
Forwards: John LeClair, Erik Christensen, Dominic Moore, Colbey Armstrong, Libor Pivko, Ronald Petrovicky(did not skate today), Nils Ekman, Jarkko Ruutu, Stephen Dixon, Dennis Bonvie, Jonathan Filewich, Daniel Carcillo, Mathieu Roy, Sidney Crosby
Defense: Josef Melichar, Rob Scuderi, Ryan Whitney, Alain Nasreddine, Wade Skolney, Brooks Orpik, Kristopher Letang, Paul Bissonnette
Goal: Marc-Andre Fleury, Danny Sabourin
Group B
Forwards: Michel Ouellet, Mark Recchi, Ryan Malone, Maxime Talbot, Andre Roy, Jordan Morrison, Ryan Stone, Tyler Kennedy, Jordan Staal, Tim Wallace, Joe Jensen, Evgeni Malkin, Conner James
Defense: Mark Eaton, Noah Welch, Eric Cairns, Matt Carkner, Micki Dupont, Ryan Lannon, Sergei Gonchar, Michael Sersen
Goal: Andrew Penner, Jocelyn Thibault, Patrick Ehelechner
posted by Bmetzer66 at 4:39 PM
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