Photos from Nashville conditioning camp

Here's a photo gallery from Saturday's session of Nashville Predators conditioning camp. I've already put up a Q&A with Roman Josi and Chet Pickard at HF. I will have another with Nick Oliver coming. I really enjoyed talking to Pickard. And he's very even keel, which you want in a goalie.

Funny story. I was looking for Nick Oliver in the locker room afterwards, and couldn't find him. The PR guy pointed him out. I went over Oliver, who was visually heckling Blake Geoffrion during an on-camera interview. I tapped Oliver on the arm and his face was the look of someone caught red-handed. Guilty! Then he proceeded to talk my ear off. The kid is not shy.

Taylor Stefishen. When I went up to see Ohio State last November he was out of the lineup with mono so it was good to see him out there this time.

Charles-Oliver Roussel. He was the only defenseman who came out as a shooter for the goalie ice work. That's telling. Hopefully he got some sun before leaving the south.

Cameron Reid.

Jani Lajunen reacts to a puck going out over the glass. Patrick Wellman looks like John Cusack.

Milwaukee coach Lane Lambert.

Lambert at the board.

Taylor Beck and Ryan Ellis are towards the front of this group shot.


Bruce Lauer, assistant coach of the Admirals, helped out during the goalie session.

Mitch Korn poses with Chet Pickard, Anders Lindback and Jeremy Smith. Atte Engren didn't skate in the afternoon due to a groin pull. He toughed it through the morning but was held out later.
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Photos from the U18s in Fargo/Moorhead

A few photos from the U18 Championships. These are roughly in chronological order.

Team Czech Republic. At the top of the stands you can see all the NHL scouts in black.

Filip Gunnarson (SWE)
Sweden during warmups.

Sweden during a game.

USA goaltender Adam Murray checks out the Finns.

Finnish captain Sami Vatanen gets into a scuffle against USA. I mentioned it to a Finnish official later and he said he didn't see it. Uh-huh.

Team USA celebrates victory over Finland.

USA and Finland during the anthem at the Urban Plains Center.

Vladimir Tarasenko chats up some girls in the stands during the USHL game that followed theirs.

Team Sweden watching the USHL game. Bertilsson and Ekman-Larsson are sitting together in the top row.

Russian goalie Emil Garipov.

Nikita Dvurechensky and Sergei Chvanov.

Reimer's future may not be just in playing

Every so often you meet someone who you know is going somewhere and you think to yourself, 'I'll be able to say I knew them on the way up.' I said that about one of my students once. I said it again after meeting James Reimer last weekend.

Reimer is a goaltending prospect for the Maple Leafs. He's quite a good goalie and has a bright future on the ice. But that's not the end of it. He has that special something that will draw people to him, inspire them. The kind of quality you find in a great coach.



Here's the Q&A I did with him for Hockey's Future. If he didn't have to catch a bus, I could have talked to him for an hour.

I'll go on record as saying that in 25 years, Reimer is coaching in the NHL. Most likely a goalie coach, but very possibly more than that. And he'll be an excellent one.


Photo of the back of Reimer's mask, featuring Ramona's Courage and an accompanying bible verse.

Della Rovere turns pro (photos)

Tonight was Stefan Della Rovere's second game as a pro, having joined the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays from the OHL Barrie Colts. He looked about as I expected, having seen him in the WJC. He's an agitator and played like most agitators do. Like a lot of guys fresh out of junior, he ran around a lot, sometimes from one side of the ice to the other just to make a hit. He always finished his checks -- to a fault. His physicality seemed to turn up the tempo on the game though, which worked to South Carolina's advantage. Della Rovere had several failed hits, as his timing was a bit off. Also cherry picked and had a roughing penalty for putting a guy in a headlock along the boards after the whistle.

Della Rovere played left wing on a line with Pierre-Luc O'Brien and Jeff Corey and had one assist. Also had a good tip in front for a chance, and made a nice centering pass.

Here are some photos.


At warmups.

Listening to the older and wiser Maxime Lacroix explain what to do during warmup.

Crashing the net -- par for the course for him.

Chirping all the way back to the net. Also par for the course.
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