Day One

Camp has officially begun, and things seem to be going pretty well so far.

I got to the LEC a few minutes before 10 a.m., and all of the guys were already out on the ice, except a couple who have yet to arrive and forward Erick Lizon, who just got down here after trying out with the Rockford Icehogs of the AHL and had to go get a physical before joining the team mid-practice.

Everyone seemed very excited and like they are all already getting along very well.

The ice is apparently a bit on the heavy side due to the humidity, so that made the guys' first skate in a while even tougher, but they should be back in shape in no time.

Though head coach/general manager Terry Ruskowski obviously hasn't seen enough to know too much about the new guys yet, here are some thoughts he shared with me after the team's first practice:

"I didn't do a very hard practice today because I understood that we hadn't had any ice here for four or five days (because of Carlos Mencia's performance at the LEC last Thursday), and the guys that came in didn't have that ice time. Plus, they had to travel, so they're probably about a week of not being on the ice.

"We just did some passing and shooting drills; it was kind of a simple practice. We'll get more in-depth this afternoon, maybe go over how we regroup and how we forecheck, then maybe do a four-on-four scrimmage and get a pretty good sweat going.

"Every day, we'll get a little bit tougher, a bit more sophisticated, and get more into our systems as we go on. But I thought it was good. I thought there were some guys there who I didn't really know what to expect, but they skate pretty big. Some of the defensemen skate pretty well, so I'm really happy with that. I think once the guys get in shape up front, there's a couple guys there who can impress me, too, so all in all, I'm okay with that.

"But, I really don't think a lot into the first day. Second or third day, fourth day is when I really kind of pick out who's adjusting well, who's doing well and other things. On the first day, it's just skating and passes and any kind of potential you can work with. Like I said, it's on the second, third, fourth days that we really get down and see what we can do."

Obviously, most of that is what can be expected from a first day, but coach genuinely seemed thrilled to be back on the ice and even scored on goaltender Ryan Gibb during one of the drills.

There were a couple of season ticket holders checking out the practice, and obviously plenty of other media members were in attendance, as well.

The girls from El Manana were shooting plenty of pictures of the returning players and will apparently attempt to recreate a "Heroes" poster with the guys who have come back. I wonder who gets to be the regenerating cheerleader...

Meanwhile, here is my story about the strike lift and the opening of camp that ran in today's Times.

It seems forward Justin Saulnier has opted not to come to Laredo after all, and one other player who was expected to attend camp on a tryout basis has also not made the trip.

Everyone else is in town, except defenseman Ryan James Hand, who is expected to arrive tomorrow after being in camp with the Rochester Americans (AHL) last week, and forward Darryl Smith, who is still trying out with the Houston Aeros (AHL).

There are also a couple more guys who have not been announced yet, but the team expects to have all that taken care of in the next couple days.

I will have a story in tomorrow's paper from the first day of camp, and I'll be going back for the afternoon practice today, so I'll post some more quotes later.

In addition to all the new faces on the ice, the team has a new equipment manager. He's a very young guy who goes by "Matty." I'll try to get the scoop on him later, as well.