Traverse City Record-Eagle

Sports

July 9, 2012

Wings’ TC camp a working vacation

TC offers 'bonding experience' once practice is through

BY JAMES COOK jcook@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Consider the Detroit Red Wings development camp a working vacation for the players.

For most of the week, the players are up at the crack of dawn and in the rink by 8 a.m. or earlier. But when they're done at 4:30 p.m., the fun begins.

Traverse City offers the players a place to get out and do things in a fairly contained — and controllable — environment, since the players don't have their own vehicles here. They can bond with their teammates with a lessened chance of getting in trouble.

"I think it's excellent," said assistant general manager of hockey administration Ryan Martin. "We used to hold it in Detroit, and there's not a whole lot of opportunity for the players to do much meaningful things during the down time. This is great. We stay right on the beach. They're working really hard here at the rink, but when they're not here, they're able to relax and have some down time. Between the downtown area and the baseball team and the beach and the watersports ... Chris Chelios always brings up paddleboards, so it's a really good bonding experience."

Assistant general manager Jim Nill called coming back to Traverse City a "no-brainer."

"With the extra locker rooms that were added, it gives us extra room for all the guys," he said. "You've got the city and the environment itself, so it's a really nice set-up. It's great to be back up here."

The 41 players in camp will also be able to enjoy Cherry Festival this year if they so choose. Last year's camp was at the tail end of the festival, but this year's dates coincide with the meat of the event.

"Last year, we came right at the end of it," Martin said, "so I don't know that we were able to take in what that had to offer. So there'll be even more things for us to do up here."

NEW 'GRIND LINE'? The addition of free agent winger Jordin Tootoo could very well form a new version of the "Grind Line" that the Red Wings employed during their heyday.

That line of Kirk Maltby, Kris Draper and Darren McCarty was known to get under the skin of opponents, and many teams had a tough time matching up against it.

The new version could be Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm and Tootoo.

"When you start talking about having Tootoo, Darren Helm and Abdelkader on the ice playing together — they're going to cause a lot of trouble for opposing defensemen," Nill said. "They're going to get in on the forecheck. They can all skate, and they're all physical. It just adds another element to our team that we haven't had for awhile. They have a real edge to them."

YOUTH GOALIE CAMP: Red Wing goaltending coach Jim Bedard will be conducting a youth goalie clinic in Traverse City the next two evenings.

The camp will be tonight from 6-8 p.m. and Tuesday from 5-7 p.m. Bedard said the camp filled up in a matter of days to its 24-player limit.

"I stressed that the lower the level the goalie, the better," Bedard said. "There's no deal where you have to have certain levels of kids. We want everyone to come out and find a way to enjoy the game more by learning some tips we use in the pros. We do it in a very fun manner."

Each day will feature two hours of work, starting with 35-40 minutes of goalie-specific power skating. "We start at the beginning and work our way to conditioning, recovery, balance," Bedard said.

"The people here (at Centre ICE) have been so great to us over the years," Bedard said, "so to be able to give something back is great."

Bedard said he hopes it will be an annual thing.

ICE CHIPS: Once again, Traverse City St. Francis is providing busing for the players during their stay in Traverse City. ... Chris Chelios arrived to camp on Saturday with four paddleboards strapped in the back of his black truck.

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