Lightning camp Day 3, scrimmages the main ingredient

Posted Sep 14, 2009 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Sep 14, 2009 at 09:46 PM

Wow, it’s really a difficult task to transition from summer mode to training camp mode. I forgot how long of a days it requires to put out the required amount of print. And that’s just for the newspaper. That doesn’t count all the tweets from today’s scrimmage, the early recap for the website, transcribing everybody I talked to today and trying to figure out my own chicken scratch of those I spoke to, but did not record. Throw in a trip to school, starting dinner before the wife got home and trying to concentrate enough to get out a couple of stories while the children got in their Wii time. I just finished dinner, and it’s time to get back to the computer now to round out my workday providing some tid bits that won’t make it into your morning newspaper.

WHEW. But enough about my complaints, on to the scrimmages.

The line of Marty St. Louis-Steven Stamkos-Ryan Malone was dominant today. The had the crowd at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon ohhhhhing and awwwwwing on just about every rush in the offensive zone. And for good reason. The passes were crisp between the three and whatever chemistry they had at the tail end of last season carried over. Sure, it was just one scrimmage game and they were playing against mainly a team of players who will be in Norfolk by the end of next week. But it still had to make you stand up and take notice.

“We understand each other’s game,’’ St. Louis said. “It’s not like we have never played together, I think we all bring something to the table and we try to be in the spots where we are going to be successful and get the guys the puck where they are going to be the most successful. It was a good scrimmage for us and it’s nice to build on moving toward getting ready for the start of the season. The next step will be an exhibition game and just try to take it a step at a time.’‘

The trio of Alex Tanguay-Vinny Lecavalier-Steve Downie had a strong showing as well wit Tanguay notching a hat trick. There seemed to be some chemistry there, even though it was just one game.

And as Tanguay said, “it’s nice for confidence, but the goals don’t count at this time of year. It’s just a matter of getting ready for the first game of the season. It was a fun day for us getting to know each other; I mean, you know each other but on the ice it’s different when you play with one another. We certainly had good timing today and we’ll execute a little bit better, we were about a step behind on some plays, and that’s just timing. The more we play, the better it’s going to get.’‘

Was rather interesting to see that during the scrimmages, when a penalty was called, all the players on the ice of the offending team had to go to the defensive blue line and do 10 push ups. At the end of their exercise, the player who drew the penalty got a penalty shot with the rest of the team chasing behind. In the first scrimmage, Team A got whistled for five penalties, which got this reaction from Coach Rick Tocchet: “I’ll tell you what, those guys are going to have big arms.’‘

Couple of other things to note: The travel roster for Wednesday’s game in Dallas will be announced tomorrow, but Mike Smith will not be on it so the former Stars’ goaltender will not make a return visit to Dallas. Look for Smith to make his preseason debut at home on Friday against Atlanta. I would expect Jaroslav Janus to travel and get a look, he’s been pretty strong since last week when he took part in the prospect camp. He’s playing for a contract, so the team needs to give him the opportunity if he’s earned it to this point.

That’s all I’ve got for tonight. Still have to get to putting the trash together, making four school lunches, setting up the coffee pot, folding some clothes and maybe, maybe squeeze in some Wii time for myself before packing for the trip to Dallas!!!!