Lightning Player Development Camp, Day 1

by Meredith Qualls on Jul 10, 2010 11:53 PM EDT in The Minors

Saturday morning, the future of the Tampa Bay Lightning was witnessed with the kick off of the 2010 Lightning Development Camp, an annual event designed to give prospects exposure to new skills and to make improvements.

Fans trickled into the morning on-ice session, which began around 9:00a. This first session focused on skating and individual technique. Each session lasted 45 minutes, and was repeated verbatim with Groups 1 and 2 (see Camp Roster).

Before the afternoon session, we were able to see a bit of talent from the much-discussed draft pick, Brett Connolly, as well as Dana Tyrell and James Mullin as they took shots against goalies Dustin Tokarski and Zane Kalemba.

The evening on-ice session, starting at 4:30p, emphasized collective team effort, including line relays and shots on goal (piquing interest by introducing pucks!). The crowd was improved for the second session, though not packed.

As Head Coach Guy Boucher underscored in an interview with Damian Cristodero, the purpose of the camp is to teach skills and develop players, not to hold try-outs for prospects:

"This is not a training camp," Boucher said. "It's not a week where they have to show us what they can do. It's a week to learn some skills they haven't seen or haven't seen enough of. The whole week is aimed at giving them some tools, on-ice tools and off-ice, to figure out that the pro level is a different level than they have been playing at." (St. Petersburg Times)

If you're local, and interested in going, it's a worthwhile experience, even if you're just stopping by for an hour or so. The camp will conclude on Wednesday, July 14 with a final scrimmage--the "Young Guns Game"--from 6:00-7:15p. Be sure to attend the scrimmage and following Q&A session, featuring new GM (and genius), Steve Yzerman. (See full information for Wednesday here)

See more photos from Day 1 after the jump!

[Photo Credit: Meredith Qualls]

Prospect_20camp_202010_20189_medium

Group 2 (James Wright, 43; Carter Ashton, 15; Scott Jackson, 58) [Photo Credit: Meredith Qualls]

[Photo Credit: Meredith Qualls]

Prospect_20camp_202010_20104_medium

[Photo Credit: Meredith Qualls]

Prospect_20camp_202010_20213_medium

Group 2 (Kevin Quick, 51; Scott Jackson, 58; Joe Hartman, 76) [Photo Credit: Meredith Qualls]

Group 2, Ending Stretches [Photo Credit: Meredith Qualls]

Poll

Do you plan on attending any of the developmental practices or the Young Guns game in the next few days?

Yes, I'm going to check out a practice

6 votes

Yes, I'm going to check out a few practices

3 votes

Checking out a few practices AND the Young Guns game

20 votes

Just checking out the Young Guns game on Wednesday

16 votes

Nope, no plans.

15 votes

Don't know yet

3 votes

63 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 6 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Thanks!

Great post and photos, Meredith.

I couldn’t make it yesterday and I decided to sleep in today (going to the early-afternoon Rays game), so my first look at these guys will be Monday a.m.

I’m really interested in seeing newly drafted defenseman Radko Gudas skate. How’d he look out there or did he not stand out? His stride looks pretty fluid and balanced—he appears to be very “strong on his skates”—in various Youtube videos (which are there for his big hits and subsequent fights).

by Michael Gallimore on Jul 11, 2010 11:23 AM EDT reply actions

Yesterdays session was pretty even across the board, so it was hard to make distinctions based on drills, etc. In the afternoon, however, there were some players taking shots on goal (Connolly, Tyrell, Mullin) so I’d guess that as the week goes on, you may be able to see more than what I saw yesterday.

by Meredith Qualls on Jul 11, 2010 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions