First day of training camp under Peters is high energy, up tempo, and organized
Jeff Skinner got knocked down hard by Ron Hainsey. Carter Sandlak and Dennis Robertson got tangled up and almost came to blows. Yes, training camp has finally started for the Carolina Hurricanes.
All 51 players participated in a scrimmage on the first day of camp and that meant that the ice was pretty crowded during the warmups. The five-on-five hockey was intense, even if some players were a bit rusty.
"I liked the intensity but I thought they looked sloppy", said head coach Bill Peters when asked about the scrimmage.
The scrimmage ended in a 1-1 tie. Alexander Semin had the goal for Group B on a breakaway and Jeff Skinner will take credit for the goal for Group A, even though there was some discussion whether or not the puck hit Jared Staal before it went into the net. Skinner said he was trying to pass the puck.
Semin scored on Anton Khudobin and hit the post on a perfectly placed shot. I thought I noticed the Russian shaking his right wrist a bit later during practice but perhaps it was just from habit. His shot looked very good.
Peters said he liked what he saw from Victor Rask and that Brock McGinn also played well in the scrimmage. The coach said not to read too much into his current lines or defensive pairings. He plans to experiment with many different things.
Group A will be playing in Sunday's game against the Blue Jackets while Group B will travel to Buffalo for Tuesday's game.
All in all, Peters was happy with today's practice sessions.
"I thought we got some work done, I liked our day," said the coach.
Both groups spent time working on the powerplay, specifically breaking the puck out of their zone and entering it into the offensive zone. Peters had mentioned in a previous interview that after reviewing tape, he felt the team needed work on that.
Rod Brind'Amour was barking out most of the orders during this segment.
After practice I asked Ryan Murphy if they also spoke of the powerplay in the room before practice.
"Oh yes," he said. "We were not happy with our powerplay last season and it is important in this league to be able to take advantage of them when you have the chance. We have committed ourselves to improving it."
The Canes will be back at it tomorrow but the practice will not be open to the public because of the NC State football game.