Friday, July 18, 2008

Friday - 1st Session

Each of the 6 teams played a game in the first session this morning. There is some very good hockey being played so far this week. Most of the games have been competitive, and the pace is fairly fast. I haven't heard a single complaint about the way camp has been run thus far, so once again, kudos to the powers that be for great organization.

Observations:

- There is a lot of talent on the ice, and a lot of quickness, including some very high end guys.

- You can start to see who some of the guys that are going to be wearing Express sweaters this fall, and they are going to be very fun to watch.

- The only thing that troubles me so far is that none of the goalies have stood out. There is plenty of hockey to be played this weekend, so let's hope the proverbial cream rises to the top, and we find a goalie or two.

- They are selling merchandise at the rink this weekend with the new color scheme and logo, so get to the rink, and bring your checkbook.


There will be 3 more games in the 2nd session today, and then 3 games Saturday morning. Then I think they are going to make a round of cuts, and scale it back to 4 teams of 20. Those 4 teams will square off in a pair or games Saturday afternoon. Another round of cuts will whittle it down to the 2 teams that will battle Sunday morning in the camp All-Star game.

More updates to come after the 2nd session, see you at the rink.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you have a schedule posted somewhere? I might be interested in catching some of the games/tryouts this weekend, but I live out of town.

Pete Ostlund said...

You can watch hockey Saturday from 9:30-2:30 and 4:30-7:45. The all star game is 11:00 - 1:00 Sunday. Its all free and a great way to get out of the heat

Anonymous said...

so what happened with all the tenders the Express were going to trade to get players back from last years team?

Anonymous said...

Well they wouldn't let an all North Suburban Conference goalie even try out, so they better find a couple of gems between the pipes.

Faribogopherguy

Big Kahuna said...

Since they have to limit the amount of goalies at the camp, I can see why they turned away a seemingly qualified goalie. I would guess that if he would have turned his registration in earlier, he could of had one of the 12 spots.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

He was amongst the first to turn his in. Was sent a form letter saying that they weren't interested in giving him a tryout.

Faribogopherguy

Anonymous said...

In the roster sheet that I had, there is an Owatonna goaltender who will only be a senior this season. Cullen doesn't take guys that are still in high school, right? Seems like a waste of a tryout spot. I'm not trying to pump the tires up of a goalie, that I've not seen play in person to be honest. I'm just wondering what the thought process is. The only 2 goalies who stood out as far as name recognition are Buegler (Fargo NAHL and New Ulm HS), and Yumusaklar (Lakeville) who had a strong State Tournament.

Faribogopherguy

Anonymous said...

I am not impressed with the experience of skaters attending this camp. They took in too many unqualified players in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Dave;

Saw you conversing with the coaches yesterday for a long time, are you involved with how the camp is being run?

Big Jim

Dave Swenson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave Swenson said...

I was just trying to remember my password on the previous post. Guess I remembered it.

I was at camp just trying to help out where I could and watching the new faces compete for a roster spot.