Gladiators camp 10-7-07

First, the jersey colors:

Blue: Mike Hamilton - Jeff Campbell - Andy Brandt
Yellow: Jamie Milam - Lou Dickenson - Dirk Southern
Red: Stuart MacRae - Derek Nesbitt - Ryan Walsh
Green: Josh Bennett - Jared Wiseman
Burgundy - defensemen, which included Jon Awe.
Goalies: Craig Kowalski, Dan Turple, Chad Collins

Today is Jeff Pyle's birthday. Cam Brown guessed that he was 44, but he's really 49. He's the youngest 49-year-old I've ever met. I think coaching 20-somethings keeps him young.

Al Blevins will be coaching the goalies again this year. That's great news. For those who aren't familiar with him, he's the manager over at the IceForum, and he was someone Dave Caruso had worked with for years. He'll restart work with Turps and K-Wal once camp is over and the regular season starts. Al is a great guy and I think he really helped last year.

As far as players go, Lou Dickenson looked good to me, hitting and he has speed. Actually there's a lot of speed in general on the team. Not a lot of size though, but that's normal. It looked like a pretty tough workout, lots of 2 on 2 and 1 on 1 work.

The thing that made it worth the drive was seeing the three goaltenders play keepaway with the puck along the boards. Each one had a different strategy. Turps would lock it up along the boards and no one could move him. Collins tried bodychecking him off it, that didn't really do much except make me about choke on my drink (he's about 5'6). K-Wal's strategy was throwing his stick.

Kowalski will need to put in a new mask order ASAP. Both the Carolina logo and the palm trees look a little out of place here.

Gladiators camp update will be Sunday instead

Since I mentioned a couple days ago that I would probably go to Gladiators camp today, I feel like I should post and say that's going to be tomorrow instead. Last night at the Thrashers game I was invited to play hockey as a sub today, and since my regular team is in a bye week, it's hard to pass up. And free hockey is free hockey.

I did talk to Jeff Pyle this morning just to confirm that the Sunday practice was still on (coaches love to cancel on Sundays), and it is. He said that Myles Stoesz, Mike Vigilante and Jimmy Jackson will likely arrive in town Sunday night, so they won't be at practice until Monday.

NHL debuts by Enstrom, Little and Sterling

Of course Bryan Little must be first, having scored his first NHL goal. More impressive than scoring was his positioning though. He was always in the right spot, which goes a really long way. He told me a week or so ago that as an older guy his coach rarely said anything to him last year -- but I'm sure it wasn't just because he was older, it was because there isn't anything to say. Little already plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. He stuck to his defensive assignment, and picked up the right guy.

Little was the only Thrasher player who managed to get on the board, rookie or otherwise. He threw it towards the net from behind the goal line, and banked it off Brent Johnson's skates. It happened on one of the first few shifts that he had been moved up to wing on Kovalchuk's line.

Kovalchuk was just as excited as Little about the goal, but that's par for the course. This is a player who genuinely celebrates when he scores in practice. He loves goals -- his own and those by his teammates too.

I happened to read in his hometown paper today that Bryan Little's dad would be in the house, and I was able to pick him out before the game purely on family resemblance. He had a very big smile on his face after Bryan scored. I'm sure he's very glad he made the trip down because you wouldn't want to miss that.

One funny moment -- White got thrown out of the faceoff circle in the third period and Kovy was headed in. Little (another center of course) talked him back out and took it himself (and won it, by the way). Hartley would definitely approve of this exchange -- the kid was stepping up.

Brett Sterling's debut didn't go as well. The biggest problem was his positioning -- he was constantly drifting over to the left wing, his comfort zone -- so that there were three players bunched up together. Kovalchuk was willing to switch over when Sterling came to his side, but it wasn't flowing. Sterling also wasn't in good position to receive a pass on the breakout, often skating along the far blue line waiting for a break. The Kovalchuk-White- Sterling line wasn't clicking, so it's no wonder that Sterling and Little were swapped out for each other in the second period, including on the power play. Sterling then played on the third line with Dupius and Perrin (who moved to center).

Sterling did have a couple takeaways on the backcheck and forecheck. But his overall play was disappointing. I'll chalk this up to nervousness for now, but Sterling will need to stay in his lane in order to succeed on any line. He cannot be chasing the puck all over the ice and cherry picking on the breakout.

Tobias Enstrom played exactly like he did in preseason -- that is to say very well, very calm. The power play looked better, with more containment within the zone, and he was a big part of that. He saved a breakaway chance by tipping the puck away from the path of the Capital coming out of the penalty box. His defense down low was good, chased or stayed put when he should have. He did perhaps pinch too low to keep the puck in the zone and lost it (something seen in training camp as well), but nothing bad came of it.

Wolves preview done and Gladiators camp

I just finished my Chicago Wolves preview. Thrasher fans should at least read the last portion that has quotes from Ondrej Pavelec for entertainment value.

I'll be heading out to Gladiators camp on Saturday afternoon so I should have some observations to post at that point. Lots of familiar faces should be out there.

Edit: Here's the official Gladiators training camp roster, just released. Jeff Campbell (ECHL MVP in 2005-06) is back in the fold. Names not added yet include Craig Kowalski and Myles Stoesz. They probably just need more time to gather their belongings and drive down.

The Gladiators training camp roster opens with 18 players. In addition, Scott Mifsud and Matt York have been suspended by the team. (Both are playing in Europe -- suspending them allows the team to retain rights).

# PLAYER POS HT WT DATE OF BIRTH

4 JEFF MASON D 5'10" 195 August 11, 1981

6 JAMIE MILAM D 6'1" 200 May 13, 1984

7 DINOS STAMOULIS D 6'0" 195 November 16, 1983

9 BILL LECLERC D 6'0" 190 April 26, 1984

10 STUART MACRAE F 6'2" 195 June 25, 1982

11 MIKE HAMILTON F 6'0" 200 May 2, 1983

12 JARED WISEMAN F 6'0" 205 April 24, 1984

15 JEFF CAMPBELL F 5'10 185 May 9, 1981

16 RYAN WALSH F 6'0" 185 January 7, 1980

17 DEREK NESBITT F 5'11" 185 April 16, 1982

20 ANDY BRANDT F 6'1" 190 June 1, 1983

22 RYAN MAHRLE D 5'11" 180 February 8, 1985

23 DIRK SOUTHERN F 6'0" 195 August 9, 1983

24 JON SITKO D 5'10 205 August 26, 1983

29 JOSH BENNETT F 6'1" 210 June 17, 1980

30 CHAD COLLINS G 5'8" 180 February 3, 1981

38 DAN TURPLE G 6'6" 225 January 1, 1985

54 LOU DICKENSON F 6'1" 200 August 15, 1982

Homage to Per

No one has picked up on the connection, but Tobias
Enstrom wearing #39 will be an homage to fellow Swede
Per Svartvadet, an original Thrasher who played with
Enstrom at MoDo and was instrumental in preparing him
to come over.

Svartvadet played for the Thrashers from 1999 to 2003,
wearing #39. He was a checking liner, a player in the
same vein as Colin Stuart. A very good guy.
Svartvadet might not have ever gotten much of the
spotlight, but he'll be remembered through Enstrom for
years to come.

Trickle down has begun

The Thrashers have assigned right wing Myles Stoesz and goaltender Dan Turple to the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators. Stoesz will be the resident "heavy" for the team. During the Traverse City tournament, Gladiators coach Jeff Pyle said the great thing about Stoesz is "He's a gamer and he wants to learn."

The Wolves have also assigned (former Thrashers draft pick) left wing Mike Hamilton to Gwinnett. Hamilton was the guy who in college went over to a baseball player's apartment (with a posse) and beat him up over a girl. It's probably something he'd like to forget at this point, but there I go bringing it back up. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy, just don't steal his girlfriend and you'll be fine.

Pilar to be waived again, likely back to Wolves

Per the Chicago Tribune's Blackhawks blog, Karel Pilar will be waived by the team. This means that the Thrashers get first dibs on him again, and can send him directly to the Chicago Wolves.

I don't see why the Thrashers wouldn't pick him back up, as they need more veteran presence on the blue line in Chicago.