The Brandon Ice Sports Forum was busy yesterday morning as a good crowd of Lightning fans streamed in to see the Bolts’ open training camp session. Despite the absences of Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Drouin from the majority of the proceedings, practices and the early afternoon scrimmage were spirited. We headed out to the rink to check out the first open practice of this year’s camp. (Photos/Susan Ferlita)
Fans that arrived early got to take in Drouin working individually with coach George Gwozdecky on some skating drills up and down the length of the ice. Group One took the ice around 9:15 and featured prospects like Dan Milan, Tanner Richard, and Dylan Blujus. Eric Neilson, a face familiar to Syracuse Crunch fans, was also part of this group.
Group Two featured some more familiar faces like J.T. Brown, Mark Barberio, and Radko Gudas. It was the first time many fans got to see newcomers to Tampa Bay like Brian Boyle, Brenden Morrow, Jason Garrison, and Evgeni Nabokov in Lightning sweaters. Highly touted goaltending prospect Andrei Vasilevskiy also joined this crew.
Group Three featured a lot of the guys Lightning fans are used to seeing on a nightly basis. Ben Bishop, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Ryan Callahan held their practice after the scrimmage ended. Kristers Gudlevskis joined this group as the second netminder.
The Blue vs. White scrimmage was intense, which was good to see with the first preseason match up only a day away. Bishop, Nabokov, Vasilevskiy,and Gudlevskis all got time in net but didn’t face that many shots. Two words can accurately sum up the proceedings: fast
and physical. So physical that Brian Boyle ended up with blood stains on the front of his jersey following a gash to his eyebrow sustained during a hit.
Here’s a few things that stood out from yesterday:
- Despite not participating in the practices and scrimmage, both Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Drouin were in the building.
- Nabokov and Vasilevskiy were the goalie tandem working with Group 2. Goalies hit the ice before the rest of their squad and these two spent most of the time talking along the boards. Here’s hoping Vasilevskiy picked up some tips from his veteran countryman.
- Brian Boyle looks to be making fast friends among his new teammates. A lot of smiling and joking going on during his group’s time, particularly with J.T. Brown and Radko Gudas.
- During the scrimmage, the newly acquired veterans were quite vocal on the ice with their teammates. It’s awesome to see and should definitely improve in game communication.
The first preseason game is set to take place at Amalie Arena tomorrow night. The next open practice session is set for Fan Fest on Saturday. We’ll be on the scene for both events so make sure to stick with LightningShout for updates!
Follow me on Twitter @alexis_b82 and please “like” LightningShout on Facebook. You can email us at [email protected].
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
