Players arrived for the first day of the Boys Select 17 Player Development Camp in Amherst, NY today. Checking into their dorms and dropping their equipment off at the rink, there was an excitement in the air of the possibility of making the Hlinka Gretzky Cup team, which will be picked at the end of camp. Each of the kids met their teammates, coaches and team leaders and started with some team building activities before getting on the ice together for the first time for practice.
Throughout the day, the coaching staff, created practice plans for the the two days of practices. Today’s practice consisted of small area games, and the coaching staff discussed drills that would help breakouts, forecheck and power play along with general skill development.
There were also discussions about the type of player that the staff would be looking at for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Of the 180 players in camp, 22 will be chosen to compete for Team USA in the Czech Republic/Slovakia.
