2 games down (sort of)

Our first weekend of games has come and gone, albeit only exhibition games. We're back at practice again this week, in preparation for our season and home opener Friday night. Our first victim is the Fayetteville Fireantz, the team that eliminated us in a 5th and deciding playoff game last season. We've changed quite a bit since then, and they probably have, too. I haven't seen their roster yet, so I don't know who made their team. Actually, I'm not completely sure who made our team. We made 3 cuts from training camp on Sunday, but still have 2 extra players on our roster. The 3 players cut were forwards Josh Coyle (who played here briefly at the end of last season), Brandon Heck and Atlanta native Jacob Cline. I wasn't surprised by any of those moves. They were the 3 that I agreed should be the first to leave.

We still need to cut one D-man (assuming we'll go with 6 again this season) and one goalie. Competition is heating up at those positions, and Jerome has a couple of very difficult decisions to make. This is one of those times that I'm glad I'm not the Head Coach or General Manager...and I'm certainly glad I'm not the Head Coach/GM.

We split a pair of preseason games with Huntsville this weekend, one at the Snake Pit in Columbus, and one at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Each team won its home game, so the fans had plenty to cheer about. The first game in Columbus showcased a very different Havoc team from last season's. They had left 7 or 8 returning players at home to get a look at some of the young talent in their camp. The Snakes beat the pseudo-Havoc handily on the scoreboard and in most of the fights (of which there were several). The Havoc turned the tables on a sleepy-looking Snakes team Saturday night and skated away with a 4-3 win. I'm not sure either game will be indicative of how each team will play when the puck drops for real, but they were downright entertaining.

A couple more days of practice, and a couple more roster cuts, and this season will start for real. Go Snakes!

Training Camp - Day One

So today marked the beginning of the Columbus Cottonmouths' 2009-2010 training camp. Officially we opened camp yesterday with player physicals, but today was the first day on the ice, and that's what really counts in my book. It was a bit of a scramble to get the guys ready and get them out on the ice (it always is, really), but all things considered the morning went pretty smoothly. The players were stopped on their way to the ice, just long enough to pose for their program photos. We began practice on time, more or less, and skated for just shy of two hours. Then the players headed off for a quick dry-land circuit before showering and heading off to a team lunch.

The pace was pretty good for the first day of camp. I was impressed by the fitness level of the players. Everybody came to camp ready to go, which is a good sign. That means less attention will need to be paid to conditioning, allowing for more time to practice systems. There isn't much time to work on much of anything. We have 4 days on the ice, then our first preseason game comes on Friday, followed by a trip to Huntsville for a second preseason tilt. After that we'll have 3 more days on the ice to prepare for our home opener the following Friday. So that means Jerome only has 7 total days to work on conditioning and teaching the new guys the system. That's not a lot of time. Luckily, we have a pretty good core of experienced players to help drill the Cottonmouths' system into the newcomers. In the meantime, Jerome will have a few tough decisions to make on some of these players. We opened camp with 20 players on the ice today, with 2 or 3 more to join us later. One goalie is still in camp with the South Carolina Stingrays, and a couple more players may or may not be on their way to join us. That would leave Jerome with 4 or 5 cuts to make, assuming nobody else pops up on his radar between now and opening night (which is a distinct possibility). I know some teams have 30 or more players in camp, which means competition for jobs (which can be a good thing), but Jerome has a pretty good idea who his team will be comprised of (give or take a couple of tweaks). I'm confident that he will put together a good team.

But then...that's just me.

Hockey is in the air!

This is my favorite time of year. After a long summer, it's finally hockey time. We had our first informal skate today...not a real practice, but a few of the guys who are already in town getting on the ice to shake off a summer's worth of cobwebs. It's enough to make it feel like hockey season. All the elements are there...the chill in the air, the smell of the ice, the sound of steel slicing into the ice, the clap of the puck off the graphite stick blades, the clank off the iron, the crash off the boards. But beyond all that, there's a feeling inside-knowing that it's almost here. It's nice to finally have some hockey gear hanging in the dressing room, if only for a few days before we have to move out again for Disney. Last year, we didn't even have that. We had to start training camp in Pelham, Alabama for the first 2 days last year. We'll have another informal skate tomorrow, then maybe an early one on Monday before they start covering the ice. Then we won't be back on until camp opens the following Monday. Still, we're in the homestretch now. I can feel it coming. I can't wait for training camp!

8 days and counting!