Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Washington Capitals -- 2015 Development Camp: Day 2

Day 2 of Development Camp 2015 was dominated by testing.  You know the drill by now... those spidery timers set up on the ice and the prospects going through a number of courses to time their skating over a number of courses.  Maybe it was a product of being the first item of business in the morning, but some of the skaters had their troubles keeping their skates under them.  Two of them -- Riley Barber and Liam O'Brien -- were particularly adventurous.  Barber lost his skates on several occasions, while O'Brien seemed to have a beef with the "giant plungers" that served as pilons for some of the skating tests, knocking a number of them over on his routes.  Perhaps it was his own practice for getting under the skin of opponents for the upcoming season.  While the skaters were undergoing skating tests, goalie coach Mitch Korn was working with the prospect netminders on the Capitals Rink.

The testing sessions for Team White and Team Red lasted about an hour, after which they crossed the hall from the Arlington Ice Rink to the Capitals Ice Rink for another hour or so of a more traditional drills session.  The day included a couple of Caps alumni -- Jeff Halpern on the ice again assisting in conducting the drills, and Brian Sutherby, now a pro scout with the club, looking on from the balcony in each session.  With testing followed by drills of two-man rushes, five-man breakouts, shooting off the rush, we got some pictures of today's activity...












Washington Capitals -- 2015 Development Camp: Day 1

The morning session of Day 1 of Development Camp 2015 was a teaching session, sort of a "Learn To Skate" advanced class.  For the first hour of both the Team White and Team Red sessions in the morning, no pucks were in play as the coaches took the prospects through a series of skating exercises that stressed technique.  And, there was a familiar face among the coaches overseeing the drills.  Some images from the morning session...


Christian Djoos...first on the ice for D-Camp 2015



...you put your right foot in, and you shake it all about


huddle up...

 
The "Rookie Revue" goes through their dance steps




Hey, aren't you Jeff Halpern?