VOORHEES, N.J. — Those planning to attend this year’s Flyers training camp can expect to see a wide range of hockey talent over the next week.
Workouts at the Flyers Training Center commence on Thursday morning beginning at 8:30 a.m. There will be three sessions which, in total, will involve all 58 players, including the projected Lehigh Valley Phantoms roster.
The first day will be mostly skating drills. Friday, scrimmage action will begin as well as practice sessions. Action starts at 9 a.m.
On Sunday, the Flyers will send a team down to Washington to play the Capitals at Capital One Arena, with game time set for 3 p.m.
The following day, the team will be in Montreal to play the Canadiens in their second preseason game.
However, there will be players working out at the FTC/Voorhees both days starting at 10 a.m.
The team is off on Tuesday, then resumes workouts on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
All Flyers practice sessions are open to the public and free of charge.
>Challenging camp
The Flyers rookie camp ended on Tuesday and Lehigh Valley head coach Ian Laperriere, who oversaw the six-day event, sounded satisfied with the overall performance.
The coach was asked about Thursday’s first day of the full training camp, which will feature big-time skating drills. Players will be doing laps in a shuttle format and there will be a lot of tongues hanging out and bodies bent over with heavy breathing.
Laperriere, a former NHL player who finished his career with the Flyers, said the conditioning drills are demanding. Maybe even more challenging than those he took part in with the St. Louis Blues in 1995 when that old taskmaster, Mike Keenan, was at the helm.
Laperriere indicated this year’s program, run by current Flyers head coach John Tortorella, would make Keenan proud.
“I love it,” Laperriere said of the schedule. “I’ve been around the game a long time and I’ve never seen a harder test than like that. I had Mike Keenan as my first coach. So you would think that I did but nothing like that.
“Mike had his own way of testing us. But this was another level. Guys are nervous but it’s good. It pushes the guys and ‘Torts’ is a smart coach. He’s been around for a long time. I don’t think he cares so much about the timing of it, like their test results, but he’s looking at the guys and that tells him a lot about their character.”
Like any NHL team, the Flyers would like to get off to a fast start but the schedule is demanding, kicking off the schedule with a four-game western Canada swing.
Without a doubt, fitness will play into that. But there should be no excuses. The Flyers have been off since mid-April and they’ve had five months to get ready for this occasion.
“If I have any advice for those kids, just keep pushing,” Laperriere said.
Off-ice conditioning is important, too. Players must maintain their strength for the long haul of an 82-game season.
“It goes hand-in-hand,” Laperriere said. “Whatever you do in the gym, you can carry that on the ice. I know guys are working on that in the summer.”
For players who haven’t been through this before, there are going to be some jitters.
“The kids are in for a treat,” Laperriere said with a twinkle in his eye. “They can prepare as much as they want but when the whistle blows, it’s very hard.”
