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 Posté le: Lun Sep 09, 2013 3:50 pm Sujet du message: Gregor: Players will have ‘clean slate’ |
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{Gregor: Players will have ‘clean slate’ at Canadian Olympic team orientation camp}
EDMONTON - Ken Hitchcock will be looking for a third gold medal in his fourth appearance with the Canadian Olympic team programme in 2014.The St. Louis Blues bench boss, who has coached more than 1,100 NHL games and won a Stanley Cup, has been coaching in midget AAA, the Western Hockey League or the NHL since the mid-1970s.Before Hockey Canada’s Olympic orientation camp began Sunday in Calgary, Hitchcock made an appearance at Hockey Alberta’s first-ever hockey summit at Banff.Hitchcock and Mel Davidson, general manager of Canada’s women’s program and the only coach in Olympic history to win back-to-back gold medals, headlined a roundtable discussion on Friday night and shared their thoughts, stories and opinions on grassroots hockey,[url=http://www.michael-korshandbags-outlet.org]michael kors canada[/url], as well as the Olympic experience.Hitchcock said the players will have “a clean slate” at the national team’s summer camp, because it won’t include on-ice sessions.“In 2010, we made some decisions based on the summer camp,” he said. “The tempo was so high, it was like an Olympic game and we felt like there were some guys who couldn’t keep up to that pace, so we mentally cut 18 players from that camp.”Only one of those players made the Olympic team roster.“We aren’t doing anything that we will gauge the players on. It is important for the players to understand that. It is the 47,[url=http://www.michael-korshandbags-outlet.org]Michael Kors Handbags[/url], plus another 10, who are in the mix and their play in the first three months will be a major factor,” said Hitchcock.“When we scrimmaged in Calgary (in 2009), that video was a mainstay until we played our third game at Vancouver. We used the video from that scrimmage as our teaching tool when the players came to the Olympic village. That red/white game was a great teacher for all of us.“This is a different challenge. This is much fairer for the players because they will be judged from October to December. It will be more wide open, because we won’t have any preconceived notions of what guys can do on big ice; because we won’t have practised on it. From a player’s standpoint, even a guy who wasn’t invited, if he comes out smoking (in the regular season), he’s going to have a really good opportunity to make the team.”With no on-ice sessions due to prohibitive insurance costs, Hitchcock outlined two areas players must focus on during the four-day orientation camp to prepare for Sochi, Russia,[url=http://www.michael-korshandbags-outlet.org]Michael Kors Handbags Outlet[/url], in 2014.One is learning to deal with the large ice surface.“It is going to take a certain type of player to play on the big ice: mobility, agility and smarts are going to be completely relevant. If you are not mobile, you better be really smart,” he said. “There is a time to forecheck and there’s a time not to forecheck, and you’re going to need speed and agility to get through some of the five-man fronts that you’ll face.“The second part for us is the maturity in the environment, because it is going to be difficult. It’s not going to be easy and we have to know that we can trust the players to keep their energy for the 2-1/2-week period,” Hitchcock said.Players with previous Olympic experience will have an advantage,[url=http://www.michael-korshandbags-outlet.org]Michael Kors Outlet[/url], because the coaches know they can handle the pressure and pace of the tournament. However, this year, it seems only 11 or 12 players are locks to make the team.
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