I invite you all over to my brand new website, called Nick's Notebook. You can find it here:
nicksnotebook.com
It's still a work in progress, but I hope those who do read me are able to check it out! Thank you!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
15 minutes with Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Gould
Continuing with my post-Olympics interviews, this week I spoke with United States mountain biker Georgia Gould. Georgia took home the bronze medal in the mountain biking event in London, and she was kind enough to talk with me about her time at the Games, the different events she competes in, and what her future plans are.
You can listen to the interview below:
You can listen to the interview below:
Monday, August 20, 2012
Interview with Olympic silver medalist Jacob Wukie
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| Photo: Toledo Blade |
Wukie, who took second in the team event with Team USA, took some time out of his training schedule to chat about how he got his start in archery, his training regimen, and what's next in his future.
You can listen to the interview below:
Special thanks to Teresa Iaconi and USA Archery for setting this up, and to Jacob as well.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Recap of Day 3 of the London Olympic Games
Apologies for not recapping Sunday's events. Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch that much of today's action, although I was able to DVR some of the events that I hope to go back and watch later.
After 38 of 302 events, the medal standings look like this:
(1) China: 9-5-3-17
(2) United States: 5-7-5-17
(3) Japan: 1-4-6-11
(4) Italy: 2-4-2-8
(5) France: 3-1-3-7
SWIMMING
Missy Franklin just continues to straight up impress the nation, claiming gold in her first individual final, the 100m backstroke. Her time of 58.33 was a new American record, and to make it even more impressive, came only 15 minutes after she qualified for the 200m freestyle. Continuing with the women, 15 year old (!) Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania, won gold in the 100m breaststroke. That's insane, and makes me want to reevaluate my life at 18 years old. American Rebecca Soni won silver.
It was also a busy day for the men, as Matt Grevers and Nick Thoman went 1-2 in the men's 100m backstroke, capping off a successful day in the pool for the Americans. On the downside of things, Ryan Lochte continued to "stuggle," finishing fourth in the 200m free.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
It was an up-and-down day for the Americans, as the men's team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal faltered while Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings once again did not lose a set en route to victory. The Polish team of Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel, seventh in the Olympic rankings, took out Gibb/Rosenthal (who were number four in the world heading into London) 21-17, 21-18, leaving the Americans with a 1-1 record in group play. While watching this match (and it's obvious I'm not a volleyball expert), it looked like Rosenthal was struggling for most of the match, as the Polish seemed to attack him on their serve. He also only had a 45% success rate on attacks while Prudel was at 64% and Fijalek was at 52%.
On Misty's birthday, the duo won their 16th consecutive Olympic match, taking down Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova of the Czech Republic 21-14, 21-19.
DIVING
One of the biggest stories of the day came from an athlete competing in his home country in one of the more popular Olympic events. Eighteen year old Tom Daley (along with Peter Waterfield) had the entire crowd behind him for the Men's Synchronized 10m Platform competition, but unfortunately was not able to reach the medal podium, finishing fourth. To the delight of Americans David Boudia and Nick McCrory, this meant that they were able to snag the bronze medal, quite a feat for U.S. Diving.
Daley and Waterfield were in position to possibly win gold until a reverse 3 1/2 somersault on their fourth dive scored them a 71.28, knocking the duo down to fourth place and they weren't able to recover. The U.S. team of Boudia and McCrory picked a good time to earn their highest score of the competition, putting up a 95.04 on a back 2 1/2 somersault 2 1/2 twists with their last dive to put them into third.
BASKETBALL
In the disappointment of the day, the U.S. women's basketball team only beat Angola by 52 points (the line was 55). Unbelievable. The score was 90-38. While I wasn't able to watch the game, it doesn't take a basketball expert to proclaim that this team is good.
GYMNASTICS
Ah...for the real disappointment of the day, the U.S. men's gymnastics team was unable to get the job done, finishing fifth in the team event. The group finished with a score of 269.952, almost two points behind bronze medalists Great Britain. Miscues on the pommel horse and vault ultimately doomed the U.S. team, where the placed seventh and sixth in respectively. While the men's team certainly did not have the same expectations placed on them that the women's team did, they still were expected to compete for a medal (most likely silver or bronze).
FENCING
One of the strangest scenes in Olympic history took place in the women's individual epee semifinals today, as an hour long delay sparked controversy in the fencing world. Deadspin's Timothy Burke explains it better than I can:
ARCHERY
The men's and women's individual competition kicked off on Monday. South Korean superstar Im Dong Hyun defeated Emanuele Guidi of San Marino 6-0 in the round of 64 in the men's competition. As far as Americans go, today 19 year old Miranda Leek took down Kateryna Palekha, Ukraine, 6-2, scoring 113 out of 120 possible points. (That's awesome.) In the round of 32, Leek pushed Pia Lionetti of Italy to the brink, forcing a shoot-off, but couldn't break through, losing 6-4.
After 38 of 302 events, the medal standings look like this:
(1) China: 9-5-3-17
(2) United States: 5-7-5-17
(3) Japan: 1-4-6-11
(4) Italy: 2-4-2-8
(5) France: 3-1-3-7
SWIMMING
Missy Franklin just continues to straight up impress the nation, claiming gold in her first individual final, the 100m backstroke. Her time of 58.33 was a new American record, and to make it even more impressive, came only 15 minutes after she qualified for the 200m freestyle. Continuing with the women, 15 year old (!) Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania, won gold in the 100m breaststroke. That's insane, and makes me want to reevaluate my life at 18 years old. American Rebecca Soni won silver.
It was also a busy day for the men, as Matt Grevers and Nick Thoman went 1-2 in the men's 100m backstroke, capping off a successful day in the pool for the Americans. On the downside of things, Ryan Lochte continued to "stuggle," finishing fourth in the 200m free.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
It was an up-and-down day for the Americans, as the men's team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal faltered while Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings once again did not lose a set en route to victory. The Polish team of Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel, seventh in the Olympic rankings, took out Gibb/Rosenthal (who were number four in the world heading into London) 21-17, 21-18, leaving the Americans with a 1-1 record in group play. While watching this match (and it's obvious I'm not a volleyball expert), it looked like Rosenthal was struggling for most of the match, as the Polish seemed to attack him on their serve. He also only had a 45% success rate on attacks while Prudel was at 64% and Fijalek was at 52%.
On Misty's birthday, the duo won their 16th consecutive Olympic match, taking down Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova of the Czech Republic 21-14, 21-19.
DIVING
One of the biggest stories of the day came from an athlete competing in his home country in one of the more popular Olympic events. Eighteen year old Tom Daley (along with Peter Waterfield) had the entire crowd behind him for the Men's Synchronized 10m Platform competition, but unfortunately was not able to reach the medal podium, finishing fourth. To the delight of Americans David Boudia and Nick McCrory, this meant that they were able to snag the bronze medal, quite a feat for U.S. Diving.
Daley and Waterfield were in position to possibly win gold until a reverse 3 1/2 somersault on their fourth dive scored them a 71.28, knocking the duo down to fourth place and they weren't able to recover. The U.S. team of Boudia and McCrory picked a good time to earn their highest score of the competition, putting up a 95.04 on a back 2 1/2 somersault 2 1/2 twists with their last dive to put them into third.
BASKETBALL
In the disappointment of the day, the U.S. women's basketball team only beat Angola by 52 points (the line was 55). Unbelievable. The score was 90-38. While I wasn't able to watch the game, it doesn't take a basketball expert to proclaim that this team is good.
GYMNASTICS
Ah...for the real disappointment of the day, the U.S. men's gymnastics team was unable to get the job done, finishing fifth in the team event. The group finished with a score of 269.952, almost two points behind bronze medalists Great Britain. Miscues on the pommel horse and vault ultimately doomed the U.S. team, where the placed seventh and sixth in respectively. While the men's team certainly did not have the same expectations placed on them that the women's team did, they still were expected to compete for a medal (most likely silver or bronze).
FENCING
One of the strangest scenes in Olympic history took place in the women's individual epee semifinals today, as an hour long delay sparked controversy in the fencing world. Deadspin's Timothy Burke explains it better than I can:
A timing error in the last second of the bout led to a 20-minute delay and a controversial decision in the women's individual epeé semifinal today between South Korean Shin A Lam and German Britta Heidemann, one that has the Korean refusing to leave the piste.Eventually, Lam was removed from the piste, sobbing almost uncontrollably, and to make things even worse, had to compete for the bronze medal 15 minutes after the decision. (She lost that match.) Lam took some criticism for not leaving the piste, but I don't blame her: I think it's clear that Heidemann was given a couple extra seconds that she should not have had to score. The ruling was confusing, especially since it seems like the technical error was pretty clear.
With one second remaining in the match, Heidemann needed to score a touch on Shin to win the match. (Shin would have advanced if they finished the round tied.) The clock then got stuck, allowing Heidemann several extra seconds to score, which she did. Officials then congregated for a long time discussing their options before finally awarding the win (and a chance at the gold medal) to the German.
Shin, in tears, sat down on the piste and has yet to leave. The arena announcer explained to the audience that if she were to leave, it would mean she accepted the decision; since the Korean team is filing an appeal. Even more bizarrely, fencing rules require the Korean team to pay a cash deposit in order to secure an appeal. (Yahoo!'s Maggie Hendricks informs me this is the case in every Olympic sport.)
ARCHERY
The men's and women's individual competition kicked off on Monday. South Korean superstar Im Dong Hyun defeated Emanuele Guidi of San Marino 6-0 in the round of 64 in the men's competition. As far as Americans go, today 19 year old Miranda Leek took down Kateryna Palekha, Ukraine, 6-2, scoring 113 out of 120 possible points. (That's awesome.) In the round of 32, Leek pushed Pia Lionetti of Italy to the brink, forcing a shoot-off, but couldn't break through, losing 6-4.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Recapping the Olympics: Day 1
Day 1 of the 2012 Olympic Games concluded on Saturday, and despite being only the first day of non-soccer competition, there was no shortage of excitement as China, followed by the United States, raced out to an early lead in the medal standings after 12 of 302 events.
I’m going to try and post a nightly recap covering all the days’ action here at Nick on Sports, but the consistency of that remains to be seen (as with everything I write). I hope to post some other stuff in addition to recaps and previews as well.
Again, after 12 of 302 events, here’s the medal standings:
(1) China: 4 gold-0 silver-2 bronze-6 total
(2) Italy: 2-2-1-5
(3) United States: 1-2-2-5
(4) South Korea: 1-1-1-3
(5) Brazil: 1-1-1-3
NBC/TAPE DELAY
Starting off with something not related to the actual competition, the hot topic of the day would have to be the frustration that is NBC’s decisions regarding tape delaying certain events. Now, obviously from NBC’s view, their logic is that because of the time difference, waiting to air marquee events until primetime on the east coast equals more money (and probably exposure). But from everyone else’s point of view, that’s incredibly dumb and affects the way we the fans can watch the Olympics.
The 400m Individual Medley race, featuring Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, started at 2:30p EDT. Considering NBC has no problem airing college football games live in the middle of the afternoon, why can’t one of the most important races of the entire Games be broadcast live in America? As I watch NBC’s primetime coverage (see, no matter what, people will still watch, tape delayed or not), I understand how they can use it to air special features in addition to the sports. I find (some) value in that. But I see no reason why in 2012 events still are shown on TV six hours after they already happened.
That brings us to another issue...NBC’s online viewing situation. Twitter was in an uproar at 2:30, as multiple live streams on the NBCOlympics.com site were either buffering for insane amounts of time, or the streams were broken all together. On the iPad app, I wasn’t even able to watch the 400m IM race as I wasn’t given the option to. Yet somehow, the iPhone app had no issues. This is a problem that NBC has to fix before tomorrow, or at least before another high profile event takes place. Too many people who didn’t want to wait for the tape delayed broadcast were left unable to watch, and that’s unacceptable.
SWIMMING
The most popular event of the day came from the pool, where Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte faced off for the first time in the 400m Individual Medley. Unfortunately, it was not much of a race as Lochte destroyed the field, and Phelps, en route to his first medal of the Games and the United States’ first overall gold medal. Lochte finished with a time of 4:05.18, more than three seconds ahead of the silver medal winner, Thiago Pereira of Brazil, and more than four seconds ahead of Phelps (4:09.28). Phelps entered the final already in trouble - he barely qualified after finishing with the eighth best time in the heats, forcing him to swim in lane eight for the final. Lochte swam from lane three.
At the trials, Lochte used his strength in the backstroke and breaststroke to pull away from Phelps, and he did it again at the Olympic Aquatics Centre to route Phelps and the field. Lochte broke from the pack during the backstroke, and really turned it on during the breaskstroke, -0.52 ahead of Phelps’ world record. He faded a bit during the freestyle section, but it wasn’t enough for anyone else to catch up.
So what does this mean for both Phelps and Lochte? For Lochte, it’s definitely “his time.” Of course it’s only one race, but he seems to have a significant edge over Phelps and the rest of the competition. All of his training, including a “warmup” of lifting 500 pound truck tires over and over, seems to have paid off. For Phelps, maybe the motivation for an event he said he would never race in again just wasn’t there. I think he will make up for it when he gets back in the pool tomorrow.
In other swimming events: Sun Yang won the Men’s 400m Freestyle with a time of 3:40.14, a new Olympic Record. Americans Peter Vanderkaay and Connor Dwyer finished third and fifth, respectively... In the Women’s 400m Individual Medley, Ye Shiwen, born in 1996 (!), won gold, setting a new world record. American Elizabeth Beisel got the silver... Australia, Netherlands, and the U.S. took the gold, silver, and bronze in the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay.
ARCHERY
Archery has almost turned into the curling of the Summer Games, captivating many Americans as Team USA took down the South Koreans in the semifinals of the team competition. Just as curling had a way of drawing the attention of viewers, many couldn’t not watch as Team USA, led by world number one Brady Ellison, took out the heavy favorites 224-219, setting up a matchup with Italy in the gold medal match.
Unfortunately, Ellison, joined by Jake Kaminski and Jacob Wukie, could not take out the Italians in the final, losing on the last arrow when Mauro Nespoli hit a 10 to win Italy the gold. All three Americans were great in the semis against Korea, but in the final, Ellison did not look like the No. 1 archer in the world. That’s not to say he wasn’t good, after all, he went last in every single end and stabilized the U.S. team after falling behind Korea early, but it seemed like when America needed a 10 to finish off a round, Ellison couldn’t get it done. Still, it was Americas first medal in this year’s games and quite an accomplishment for the U.S. team. South Korea won bronze.
CYCLING
I’ll admit it: cycling’s strategy confuses me. The Tour de France confuses me. For some reason I can’t get it out of my head that even though a rider may be capable of winning the race, he’s bound to his team to not win the race yet help someone else win it. (If someone could help, that’d be great). Today I was expecting all parts of the Great Britain team, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, etc, to propel Mark Cavendish to victory in their home nation. Did not exactly work out that way. Former doping example Alexandr Vinokurov (Kazakhstan), whom I am being told is somewhat like the Brett Favre of cycling, took home gold in the road race, with Uran Rigoberto of Colombia taking the silver, and Alexander Kristoff of Norway taking the bronze. American Taylor Phinney finished in fourth, and sounded completely depressed in his post-race interview. Cavendish was 29th.
It certainly was an exciting race, though. Unfortunately there was no sprint finish, as Vinokurov and Rigoberto broke ahead of the first lead group, leaving the peloton unable to catch up. The peloton was always about 50-55 seconds behind during the last 40km or so, part of the reason why the Great Britain team was unable to keep up.
SOCCER
The women’s tournament continued, with six games being played across the United Kingdom. In Group G, the USWNT took out Colombia 3-0 behind two goals from Abby Wambach and a strong performance from the team’s defense. At this point, the U.S. team is not only one of the best soccer teams to watch, but one of the best teams to watch in any sport. They score, play with an aggressive edge, and seem to always live up to the hype. (Alex Morgan helps too.) In the other Group G game, France defeated North Korea 5-0. Brazil survived a scare from New Zealand, ultimately winning 1-0, securing a spot in the quarters.
OTHER (before this gets too long...I guess I want to be thorough)
I’m going to try and post a nightly recap covering all the days’ action here at Nick on Sports, but the consistency of that remains to be seen (as with everything I write). I hope to post some other stuff in addition to recaps and previews as well.
Again, after 12 of 302 events, here’s the medal standings:
(1) China: 4 gold-0 silver-2 bronze-6 total
(2) Italy: 2-2-1-5
(3) United States: 1-2-2-5
(4) South Korea: 1-1-1-3
(5) Brazil: 1-1-1-3
NBC/TAPE DELAY
Starting off with something not related to the actual competition, the hot topic of the day would have to be the frustration that is NBC’s decisions regarding tape delaying certain events. Now, obviously from NBC’s view, their logic is that because of the time difference, waiting to air marquee events until primetime on the east coast equals more money (and probably exposure). But from everyone else’s point of view, that’s incredibly dumb and affects the way we the fans can watch the Olympics.
The 400m Individual Medley race, featuring Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, started at 2:30p EDT. Considering NBC has no problem airing college football games live in the middle of the afternoon, why can’t one of the most important races of the entire Games be broadcast live in America? As I watch NBC’s primetime coverage (see, no matter what, people will still watch, tape delayed or not), I understand how they can use it to air special features in addition to the sports. I find (some) value in that. But I see no reason why in 2012 events still are shown on TV six hours after they already happened.
That brings us to another issue...NBC’s online viewing situation. Twitter was in an uproar at 2:30, as multiple live streams on the NBCOlympics.com site were either buffering for insane amounts of time, or the streams were broken all together. On the iPad app, I wasn’t even able to watch the 400m IM race as I wasn’t given the option to. Yet somehow, the iPhone app had no issues. This is a problem that NBC has to fix before tomorrow, or at least before another high profile event takes place. Too many people who didn’t want to wait for the tape delayed broadcast were left unable to watch, and that’s unacceptable.
SWIMMING
The most popular event of the day came from the pool, where Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte faced off for the first time in the 400m Individual Medley. Unfortunately, it was not much of a race as Lochte destroyed the field, and Phelps, en route to his first medal of the Games and the United States’ first overall gold medal. Lochte finished with a time of 4:05.18, more than three seconds ahead of the silver medal winner, Thiago Pereira of Brazil, and more than four seconds ahead of Phelps (4:09.28). Phelps entered the final already in trouble - he barely qualified after finishing with the eighth best time in the heats, forcing him to swim in lane eight for the final. Lochte swam from lane three.
At the trials, Lochte used his strength in the backstroke and breaststroke to pull away from Phelps, and he did it again at the Olympic Aquatics Centre to route Phelps and the field. Lochte broke from the pack during the backstroke, and really turned it on during the breaskstroke, -0.52 ahead of Phelps’ world record. He faded a bit during the freestyle section, but it wasn’t enough for anyone else to catch up.
So what does this mean for both Phelps and Lochte? For Lochte, it’s definitely “his time.” Of course it’s only one race, but he seems to have a significant edge over Phelps and the rest of the competition. All of his training, including a “warmup” of lifting 500 pound truck tires over and over, seems to have paid off. For Phelps, maybe the motivation for an event he said he would never race in again just wasn’t there. I think he will make up for it when he gets back in the pool tomorrow.
In other swimming events: Sun Yang won the Men’s 400m Freestyle with a time of 3:40.14, a new Olympic Record. Americans Peter Vanderkaay and Connor Dwyer finished third and fifth, respectively... In the Women’s 400m Individual Medley, Ye Shiwen, born in 1996 (!), won gold, setting a new world record. American Elizabeth Beisel got the silver... Australia, Netherlands, and the U.S. took the gold, silver, and bronze in the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay.
ARCHERY
Archery has almost turned into the curling of the Summer Games, captivating many Americans as Team USA took down the South Koreans in the semifinals of the team competition. Just as curling had a way of drawing the attention of viewers, many couldn’t not watch as Team USA, led by world number one Brady Ellison, took out the heavy favorites 224-219, setting up a matchup with Italy in the gold medal match.
Unfortunately, Ellison, joined by Jake Kaminski and Jacob Wukie, could not take out the Italians in the final, losing on the last arrow when Mauro Nespoli hit a 10 to win Italy the gold. All three Americans were great in the semis against Korea, but in the final, Ellison did not look like the No. 1 archer in the world. That’s not to say he wasn’t good, after all, he went last in every single end and stabilized the U.S. team after falling behind Korea early, but it seemed like when America needed a 10 to finish off a round, Ellison couldn’t get it done. Still, it was Americas first medal in this year’s games and quite an accomplishment for the U.S. team. South Korea won bronze.
CYCLING
I’ll admit it: cycling’s strategy confuses me. The Tour de France confuses me. For some reason I can’t get it out of my head that even though a rider may be capable of winning the race, he’s bound to his team to not win the race yet help someone else win it. (If someone could help, that’d be great). Today I was expecting all parts of the Great Britain team, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, etc, to propel Mark Cavendish to victory in their home nation. Did not exactly work out that way. Former doping example Alexandr Vinokurov (Kazakhstan), whom I am being told is somewhat like the Brett Favre of cycling, took home gold in the road race, with Uran Rigoberto of Colombia taking the silver, and Alexander Kristoff of Norway taking the bronze. American Taylor Phinney finished in fourth, and sounded completely depressed in his post-race interview. Cavendish was 29th.
It certainly was an exciting race, though. Unfortunately there was no sprint finish, as Vinokurov and Rigoberto broke ahead of the first lead group, leaving the peloton unable to catch up. The peloton was always about 50-55 seconds behind during the last 40km or so, part of the reason why the Great Britain team was unable to keep up.
SOCCER
The women’s tournament continued, with six games being played across the United Kingdom. In Group G, the USWNT took out Colombia 3-0 behind two goals from Abby Wambach and a strong performance from the team’s defense. At this point, the U.S. team is not only one of the best soccer teams to watch, but one of the best teams to watch in any sport. They score, play with an aggressive edge, and seem to always live up to the hype. (Alex Morgan helps too.) In the other Group G game, France defeated North Korea 5-0. Brazil survived a scare from New Zealand, ultimately winning 1-0, securing a spot in the quarters.
OTHER (before this gets too long...I guess I want to be thorough)
- The U.S. Women's Basketball team kicked things off with a victory over Croatia, 81-56. It was their 34th consecutive win in the Olympics. That's insane. Next up for America is Angola.
- Misty May and Kerri Walsh almost lost their first set in the Olympics to a team from Australia, but the two Americans pulled out a 2-0 win in their first match in beach volleyball. The American men duo of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal also won their first match 2-0 over South Africa.
- In fencing, Italy dominated the day, sweeping the podium in the women's individual foil. Elisa Di Francisca defeated fellow Italian Arianna Errigo for the gold medal, while Valentina Vezzali won bronze. Fencing has always been one of my favorite Olympic sports, although today, the constant beeping of the suits was enough to notice and thus become annoyed by. The intensity, skill, and light show is pretty cool, though.
- The first judo medal of the Games was awarded to Sarah Menezes of Brazil, who defeated the defending Olympic champion Alina Dumitru of Romania in the women's 48-kilogram class. Arsen Galstyan of Russia won the men's 60-kilogram gold, winning in less than a minute by performing an ippon score. I'm told that's the equivalent of a boxing knockout. All right.
- The first gold medal of the entire Olympic Games went to Yi Siling of China, as she won the Women's 10m Air Rifle event with a score of 502.9. In the men's event, Jin Jongoh of South Korea won gold.
- And finally, Wang Mingjuan, China, won the first gold in weightlifting, taking home the Women's 48kg class.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Red Wings development camp continues with practices on Wednesday
After a quick turnaround from last night's scrimmage at Centre Ice Arena, the Red Wings prospect development camp continued on Wednesday morning with half the players on the ice, and half the players in the weight room.
Admittedly, it was a rough morning as I got to the rink with only 30 minutes left of practice, so for a practice recap I'll have to turn you over to George Malik, but I was able to snag some interviews in the locker room that I hope to turn into profiles later this week.
While I only asked Jim Paek one question (George Sipple of the Free Press and Malik asked the others), this Q and A with the Griffins assistant coach was thought provoking because he is one of the main coaches out on the ice this week. In particular, I was interested in one drill he created in which both nets were down on one goal line, one beneath each faceoff circle, and a total of 14 guys in the drill. In one faceoff circle, four players in white jerseys created a box around the circle, and two players in red jerseys played defense inside the circle, and vise-versa in the other faceoff circle. From there, the four players creating the box tried to score on the goalie defending them in their circle, and if the guys inside the circle were able to take the puck away, they could then get it to their teammates in the other circle where the drill continued as is. Really interesting to watch, incredibly confusing to describe, so I hope that works.
I'm very happy I was able to talk to Brendan Smith, even though it took some time as he was playing some soccer with a bunch of his teammates, but man, what a guy to talk to. He understands that there is a lot of pressure on him this season with the departures of Nick Lidstrom and Brad Stuart, and at times he looks like he's only going at 50% but still is better than almost everyone else on the rink.
Trevor Parkes, despite an ugly turnover in front of his own net that led to the game-tying-goal last night, was upbeat after practice today:
And finally, I wanted to talk with Landon Ferraro about his hockey stick, as you'll hear that him and I share the same love for the original Reebok O-Stick, so that was a fun interview. While I was talking to him he was taping up a brand new CCM/TaylorMade RocketBallz stick:
Later this week I hope to have an article up on MiHockeyNow about the off-ice stuff the players are doing, in addition to some profiles of some of the guys I've talked to that may or may not be posted there or here.
Admittedly, it was a rough morning as I got to the rink with only 30 minutes left of practice, so for a practice recap I'll have to turn you over to George Malik, but I was able to snag some interviews in the locker room that I hope to turn into profiles later this week.
While I only asked Jim Paek one question (George Sipple of the Free Press and Malik asked the others), this Q and A with the Griffins assistant coach was thought provoking because he is one of the main coaches out on the ice this week. In particular, I was interested in one drill he created in which both nets were down on one goal line, one beneath each faceoff circle, and a total of 14 guys in the drill. In one faceoff circle, four players in white jerseys created a box around the circle, and two players in red jerseys played defense inside the circle, and vise-versa in the other faceoff circle. From there, the four players creating the box tried to score on the goalie defending them in their circle, and if the guys inside the circle were able to take the puck away, they could then get it to their teammates in the other circle where the drill continued as is. Really interesting to watch, incredibly confusing to describe, so I hope that works.
I'm very happy I was able to talk to Brendan Smith, even though it took some time as he was playing some soccer with a bunch of his teammates, but man, what a guy to talk to. He understands that there is a lot of pressure on him this season with the departures of Nick Lidstrom and Brad Stuart, and at times he looks like he's only going at 50% but still is better than almost everyone else on the rink.
Trevor Parkes, despite an ugly turnover in front of his own net that led to the game-tying-goal last night, was upbeat after practice today:
And finally, I wanted to talk with Landon Ferraro about his hockey stick, as you'll hear that him and I share the same love for the original Reebok O-Stick, so that was a fun interview. While I was talking to him he was taping up a brand new CCM/TaylorMade RocketBallz stick:
Later this week I hope to have an article up on MiHockeyNow about the off-ice stuff the players are doing, in addition to some profiles of some of the guys I've talked to that may or may not be posted there or here.
Coverage on MiHockeyNow and again, more interviews from Red Wings development camp
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| Photo: Nick Barnowski |
(1) Checking in from the Red Wings’ development camp in Traverse City
(2) Glendening discusses his first development camp experience
(3) Team Lidstrom tops Team Zetterberg on Ferraro’s shootout goal
While I'm still learning the ways of the interview and the locker room, I'll again post some short audio clips from a couple of the players after last night's scrimmage.
Phillippe Hudon is quickly becoming one of my favorite prospects to talk to, and while I only wanted to ask him questions for a couple of minutes, even with off the record stuff he's still incredibly intelligent and honest about what he has to say.
Because there is no way I, George Sipple of the Free Press, or George Malik could describe his shootout goal, I asked Tomas Jurco himself to instead.
Echoing the thoughts of many others, Mike McKee is also fun to talk with, as he seems to have his focus right where it needs to be.
I learned the hard way that Marek Tvrdon's English still needs some tuning. Kind of embarrassing, and I felt bad, but I guess that's how things go...
Riley Sheahan is a nice kid:
Tomorrow I'll be back at the rink and hope to talk to more of the players and try to expand upon my questions a little bit further.
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