First Practice Notes

Obviously the big news out of this morning's practice was Darryl Smith's return, but he wasn't alone on the ice.

Coach Ruskowski is already pleased with the crop of players he's brought in, and the guys are practicing hard and really getting into things.

The ice was a bit of a disaster due to some pressure issues and the fact that it was covered just a couple nights ago, and I'm sure it will continue to be a problem this week thanks to Pit Bull and his show here tomorrow night.

FYI, the team will meet up tomorrow despite not having ice and will take a spin class together to keep their leg muscles going. Most of them got some skating time in last week or over the weekend, but it takes some time to get that muscle memory back when you've been off it all summer.

One person who said he was feeling great after practice today was Jeff Bes, who does not seem to be feeling any ill effects from the knee injury he suffered in January. I spoke to Bes after the skate, and I'll post some of those quotes later.

I also spoke to Adam Rivet, the only defenseman returning from last season's lineup, and he seems pleased with the guys who he'll be playing alongside this season. He's living with Mike Looby for now and said Looby is excited to be back. Rivet seems happy to have someone who was with him on the blue line when the team won a title around after losing long-time teammates Serge Dube and Steve Weidlich.

My story in tomorrow's Times will feature quotes from Bes and Rivet, and I also hope to speak to Looby and Lance Monych, another former Buck, after the afternoon practice session that starts at 4.

Among the random things I noticed today was the fact that all three goalies have different color pads, which makes it much easier to tell them apart from a distance. Kyle Gajewski wears classic whites, Gerry Festa is in black, and Dan Spence has brown ones.

In other randomness, every player on the ice had their socks taped up with clear tape, except Bes, who appeared to have used masking tape or white stick tape.

On a more serious note, two players were sitting out of practice, and one of them may be headed home. It seems both David Croteau and Kevin Flather failed their physicals, and Ruskowski didn't want to be too specific but seems to think he might be a player short of what he expected.

In addition to Ruskowski and his 28 players, there was one more person on the ice, apparently someone from the Arctic Wolf Ice Center who is here to watch Ruskowski in action this week.