Smith ready to take Blazers camping

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The comfort zone for veteran players will be a little larger Friday than it was a year ago when the Kamloops Blazers opened their first training camp under head coach Barry Smith.
A year ago, that comfort zone was about the size of a pea; this week, it may resemble a thimble.
Which is just how Smith wants it.
“They know what my expectations are,” said Smith, who is about to enter his second season as the WHL club's head coach. “I know the players coming in so I have an idea what their capabilities are. The players understand what our expectations are so I think it's going to be easy, more comfortable . . . and I think we are going to see more productivity in camp. We are going to see better strides made because of that.”
Which doesn't mean this camp will be any easier. After all, the Blazers are coming off a season in which they finished 33-33-2-4 and were swept from the first round of the playoffs by the arch-rival Kelowna Rockets.
In fact, in a lengthy conversation Monday night, Smith made it quite clear that if there is a buzzword during this camp it will be “compete.”
“They are going to see more competitive-type drills. I think that's where we have to improve,” he explained. “They are going to see a hard camp. It's going to be as hard as the first one was. They know that and expect that.
“We won't have to do as much structural stuff or as much systems play. We are going to be able to do more competing drills . . . how to compete within our system.”
Looking back to last season, his first in the WHL after six years with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, Smith said
“I thought we came into our systems well and the players stayed with them,” he said. “I liked how the team came together as a group and supported each other, although I think they still need to learn a little bit more of that.
“I liked our growth throughout the season. We weren't consistent but we did improve all the time. We improved . . . sometimes we slipped back . . . but there was a definite effort to improve all the time.”
The one thing he didn't like was what has come to be know in the game as the “level of compete.” There were too many nights when the Blazers, who for example lost 13 times to the Rockets, just didn't have their game at a high enough level.
As Smith pointed out: “You can have the world's greatest systems and teach them and do whatever, but if you don't win the battles for the puck and you aren't willing to compete for the puck you aren't going to be very good.”
That, then, will be the focus of training camp when it opens Friday at Interior Savings Centre. Players will register for camp Thursday evening, with on-ice sessions starting Friday.
And when it all gets started, Smith said, he will be looking for a few of the veterans to step up and show the way.
“Tyler Shattock will be a guy we'll really look to,” Smith said, referring to the 19-year-old Salmon Arm native who was a fourth-round selection by the St. Louis Blues in June's NHL draft. “Him getting drafted and the way Tyler carries himself, I look for him to be more vocal, more of a take-charge guy.”
Smith said he has noticed a difference in Shattock, even in precamp workouts.
“I've noticed a bit more swagger to his game,” the coach explained. “I think he has the confidence. . . . It helped last year that he had a real good camp with (the San Jose Sharks) and now he got drafted. He has that belief in himself now that 'I'm a pretty good hockey player and if I do the little things and do them right, I've got a chance at playing this game.' ”
In other words, Shattock, who attended the Blues' development camp in July, is feeling awfully good about his game.
“I think he feels, 'Hey, I've got a chance now.' He knows he has a long way to go but I know he'll work hard at it,” Smith said. “He feels good about himself. And that's how you have to be . . . you have to feel good if you want to play here.”
Smith said he also will look to the likes of forwards C.J. Stretch, 20, and Shayne Wiebe, 19 - he said they are “quieter and lead by example” - to help in that department, as well as defenceman Zak Stebner, 19, who was acquired last season from the Prince Albert Raiders.
“Zak Stebner, now that he isn't that guy who came halfway through the season, I can see him stepping up and taking more of a leadership role. But now guys like (third-year forward) Jimmy Bubnick have to help these guys out as well.”
Bubnick was a sixth-round selection of the Atlanta Thrashers in June.
All 19 players off last season's playoff roster who are eligible to play this season will be in camp. Throw in forward Mark Hall, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, and there will be at least 20 veterans in camp.
But will they all be there come, say, Nov. 1?
“If we're playing great and all 19 of them are here,” Smith said, “it means they all got the message and that's what I'd like. I liked all the kids I worked with. If they didn't get the message . . . I would be surprised if there isn't going to be some tweaks. Will there be anything drastic? I don't think so.”
Of course, there likely are to be some changes if for no other reason than to accommodate youth.
Centre Colin Smith, the seventh overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft, finished last season with the Blazers. Listed at 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds last spring, he is a gifted offensive talent who now goes 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds.
“We know what he can do,” the coach said.
Smith said he is especially looking forward to seeing 16-year-old defencemen Tyler Hansen, who is from Magrath, Alta., and was a third-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft, and Max Mowat, a list player from Coldstream who put up 14 points in 40 games with the major midget Okanagan Rockets last season.
“I got to see Mowat play a little bit at the B.C. Cup,” Smith said. “He is something we don't really have, an overly gifted offensive guy back there. We have (veteran) Giffen Nyren but this kid has a little bit different poise to his game. He's not as high-risk, high-return.
“And Hansen will be interesting. He's got a chance and we'll see what he does.”
Hansen spent last season with the midget AAA Lethbridge Y's Men Titans.
Smith also said he is anxious to see Californian Uriah Machuga, 17, who started last season with the Blazers but was sent home in December.
“Hopefully, he has matured. He has the skill level to play in the league,” said Smith, who watched Machuga in precamp workouts. “He kept his head down, he worked hard, he did the right things.”
Smith also wants to get a real close look at two young goaltenders who will be in camp.
John Keeney, 16, is a list player from Twin Peaks, Calif., and Josh Thorimbert, a third-round bantam pick in 2007 who turns 17 on Oct. 7, is from Saskatoon.
The top two goaltenders on the depth chart remain Justin Leclerc, 20, and Jon Groenheyde, 18, but depending on how things go . . .
The Blazers opened last season with three goaltenders - the third being James Priestner, who ultimately was dealt to the Brandon Wheat Kings - and Smith said he wouldn't be averse to taking that route again.
“It's not ideal,” he said, “but you can do it until you get to where you think you have to make a move.”
For the team's sake, Smith continued, “I'm hoping the two (veterans) are going to be dynamic and not make room for a guy to be No. 3.”
As in most training camps, there will be some uncertainties. But there is one thing that is more certain than anything else. And that is that, yes, the head coach is ready.
“I'm very excited. Yeah. I'm ready,” he said.
“It's so much easier this year with everything more in place and having the summer to prepare for it. In fact, it's been like - GEEZ! CRIMINY! - let's get going here.
“Yeah, I'm ready.”
JUST NOTES: F Matej Bene, the Slovakian who was the Blazers' lone pick in the CHL's import draft in June, arrived in town Monday, with sophomore F Dalibor Bortnak. Both players were to have skated Tuesday morning, but that didn't happen because their equipment went missing en route. . . . Both players are expected to skate this morning. . . . Bene had a goal and two assists in four games as Slovakia finished sixth at the U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament that concluded Sunday.By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The comfort zone for veteran players will be a little larger Friday than it was a year ago when the Kamloops Blazers opened their first training camp under head coach Barry Smith.
A year ago, that comfort zone was about the size of a pea; this week, it may resemble a thimble.
Which is just how Smith wants it.
“They know what my expectations are,” said Smith, who is about to enter his second season as the WHL club's head coach. “I know the players coming in so I have an idea what their capabilities are. The players understand what our expectations are so I think it's going to be easy, more comfortable . . . and I think we are going to see more productivity in camp. We are going to see better strides made because of that.”
Which doesn't mean this camp will be any easier. After all, the Blazers are coming off a season in which they finished 33-33-2-4 and were swept from the first round of the playoffs by the arch-rival Kelowna Rockets.
In fact, in a lengthy conversation Monday night, Smith made it quite clear that if there is a buzzword during this camp it will be “compete.”
“They are going to see more competitive-type drills. I think that's where we have to improve,” he explained. “They are going to see a hard camp. It's going to be as hard as the first one was. They know that and expect that.
“We won't have to do as much structural stuff or as much systems play. We are going to be able to do more competing drills . . . how to compete within our system.”
Looking back to last season, his first in the WHL after six years with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, Smith said
“I thought we came into our systems well and the players stayed with them,” he said. “I liked how the team came together as a group and supported each other, although I think they still need to learn a little bit more of that.
“I liked our growth throughout the season. We weren't consistent but we did improve all the time. We improved . . . sometimes we slipped back . . . but there was a definite effort to improve all the time.”
The one thing he didn't like was what has come to be know in the game as the “level of compete.” There were too many nights when the Blazers, who for example lost 13 times to the Rockets, just didn't have their game at a high enough level.
As Smith pointed out: “You can have the world's greatest systems and teach them and do whatever, but if you don't win the battles for the puck and you aren't willing to compete for the puck you aren't going to be very good.”
That, then, will be the focus of training camp when it opens Friday at Interior Savings Centre. Players will register for camp Thursday evening, with on-ice sessions starting Friday.
And when it all gets started, Smith said, he will be looking for a few of the veterans to step up and show the way.
“Tyler Shattock will be a guy we'll really look to,” Smith said, referring to the 19-year-old Salmon Arm native who was a fourth-round selection by the St. Louis Blues in June's NHL draft. “Him getting drafted and the way Tyler carries himself, I look for him to be more vocal, more of a take-charge guy.”
Smith said he has noticed a difference in Shattock, even in precamp workouts.
“I've noticed a bit more swagger to his game,” the coach explained. “I think he has the confidence. . . . It helped last year that he had a real good camp with (the San Jose Sharks) and now he got drafted. He has that belief in himself now that 'I'm a pretty good hockey player and if I do the little things and do them right, I've got a chance at playing this game.' ”
In other words, Shattock, who attended the Blues' development camp in July, is feeling awfully good about his game.
“I think he feels, 'Hey, I've got a chance now.' He knows he has a long way to go but I know he'll work hard at it,” Smith said. “He feels good about himself. And that's how you have to be . . . you have to feel good if you want to play here.”
Smith said he also will look to the likes of forwards C.J. Stretch, 20, and Shayne Wiebe, 19 - he said they are “quieter and lead by example” - to help in that department, as well as defenceman Zak Stebner, 19, who was acquired last season from the Prince Albert Raiders.
“Zak Stebner, now that he isn't that guy who came halfway through the season, I can see him stepping up and taking more of a leadership role. But now guys like (third-year forward) Jimmy Bubnick have to help these guys out as well.”
Bubnick was a sixth-round selection of the Atlanta Thrashers in June.
All 19 players off last season's playoff roster who are eligible to play this season will be in camp. Throw in forward Mark Hall, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, and there will be at least 20 veterans in camp.
But will they all be there come, say, Nov. 1?
“If we're playing great and all 19 of them are here,” Smith said, “it means they all got the message and that's what I'd like. I liked all the kids I worked with. If they didn't get the message . . . I would be surprised if there isn't going to be some tweaks. Will there be anything drastic? I don't think so.”
Of course, there likely are to be some changes if for no other reason than to accommodate youth.
Centre Colin Smith, the seventh overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft, finished last season with the Blazers. Listed at 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds last spring, he is a gifted offensive talent who now goes 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds.
“We know what he can do,” the coach said.
Smith said he is especially looking forward to seeing 16-year-old defencemen Tyler Hansen, who is from Magrath, Alta., and was a third-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft, and Max Mowat, a list player from Coldstream who put up 14 points in 40 games with the major midget Okanagan Rockets last season.
“I got to see Mowat play a little bit at the B.C. Cup,” Smith said. “He is something we don't really have, an overly gifted offensive guy back there. We have (veteran) Giffen Nyren but this kid has a little bit different poise to his game. He's not as high-risk, high-return.
“And Hansen will be interesting. He's got a chance and we'll see what he does.”
Hansen spent last season with the midget AAA Lethbridge Y's Men Titans.
Smith also said he is anxious to see Californian Uriah Machuga, 17, who started last season with the Blazers but was sent home in December.
“Hopefully, he has matured. He has the skill level to play in the league,” said Smith, who watched Machuga in precamp workouts. “He kept his head down, he worked hard, he did the right things.”
Smith also wants to get a real close look at two young goaltenders who will be in camp.
John Keeney, 16, is a list player from Twin Peaks, Calif., and Josh Thorimbert, a third-round bantam pick in 2007 who turns 17 on Oct. 7, is from Saskatoon.
The top two goaltenders on the depth chart remain Justin Leclerc, 20, and Jon Groenheyde, 18, but depending on how things go . . .
The Blazers opened last season with three goaltenders - the third being James Priestner, who ultimately was dealt to the Brandon Wheat Kings - and Smith said he wouldn't be averse to taking that route again.
“It's not ideal,” he said, “but you can do it until you get to where you think you have to make a move.”
For the team's sake, Smith continued, “I'm hoping the two (veterans) are going to be dynamic and not make room for a guy to be No. 3.”
As in most training camps, there will be some uncertainties. But there is one thing that is more certain than anything else. And that is that, yes, the head coach is ready.
“I'm very excited. Yeah. I'm ready,” he said.
“It's so much easier this year with everything more in place and having the summer to prepare for it. In fact, it's been like - GEEZ! CRIMINY! - let's get going here.
“Yeah, I'm ready.”
JUST NOTES: F Matej Bene, the Slovakian who was the Blazers' lone pick in the CHL's import draft in June, arrived in town Monday, with sophomore F Dalibor Bortnak. Both players were to have skated Tuesday morning, but that didn't happen because their equipment went missing en route. . . . Both players are expected to skate this morning. . . . Bene had a goal and two assists in four games as Slovakia finished sixth at the U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament that concluded Sunday.