Price put through paces
Sept 7, 2005 13:06:25 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2005 13:06:25 GMT -5
www.canada.com/sports/hockey/canadiensstory.html?id=d444c703-535f-406a-941b-ea7589cb6a6b
The press delegation amounts to two print reporters and one radio reporter. With the Bell Centre undergoing renovations, the press conference room is torn up and rookie hopefuls for the Canadiens are dressing on the visitors' side of the ice.
With most of the Canadiens and most of the working press attending the annual golf tournament at Laval sur le Lac, this has little of the flavour of a real workout without the usual media horde and the usual familiar faces on the ice.
And yet it is a certifiable Canadiens practice, the first for this scribe since that short, not-so-sweet playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the spring of 2004, so it is an occasion of sorts, something to be savoured. For better or worse, the National Hockey League is back, the Canadiens are back, the rookies are back.
Most of the rookies out there practising will never get much closer than this to the National Hockey League.
They all have their hopes, but reality says that no more than two or three - perhaps a half dozen at most - will ever crack an NHL lineup.
One who will, surely, is 18-year-old Carey Price. The Canadiens raised some eyebrows when they used the fifth overall pick in the NHL draft to choose a goaltender - especially with Jose Theodore not yet 30.
Given that the Habs were making their highest pick in two decades, surely they could have found some flashy scorer capable of filling the net.
But Bob Gainey & Co. made the choice for the simplest of reasons: In their assessment, Price was the best player available at that spot in the draft.
Certainly, he has the pedigree. He's tall (6-foot-2) and athletic and the scouts praise his quick reflexes, ability to control rebounds, catching glove and work ethic. Price dominated the Western Hockey League last season and he was a star of the World Under-18 tournament. He is supposed to be good under pressure.
He also has the genes. His father, Jerry, also a goaltender, was drafted 126th overall by Philadelphia in 1978, but tore up a knee and never made it to the NHL. And cousin Shane Doan scored 27 goals in the last NHL season with the Phoenix Coyotes and starred in the last World Cup of Hockey.
But Price is a kid from Williams Lake, B.C., who, when he was 10 years old, had to have his father drive for six hours to take him to play hockey. For him, a town of 20,000 was the big city; now he's in Montreal, practicing at the Bell Centre, and he's a little wide-eyed.
"The ice isn't very good, but this is an amazing barn," he said. "You don't see places like this in the Western Hockey League."
After yesterday's practice, Price was hopping a bus with the other rookies, bound for Ottawa and a three-game rookie tournament at the Corel Centre beginning tonight. The two-hour ride to Ottawa, he said, "will be a lot better than the Western Hockey League, where you get 30-hour bus rides."
His first impression of the NHL is that the work under Canadiens goaltending coach Roland Melanson is really hard, even for a youngster who is used to working hard.
"It's a lot of work. Rollie sure puts you through a few drills that are pretty tough, but I guess it's all good for you. We're doing a lot of lateral movement, a lot of leg recovery and now we're working behind the net. A lot of the stuff is new. I'm just trying to get the hang of it."
Price, who will return to his junior team after camp and will try to make Team Canada for the world junior tournament in December, said he has no idea how far he is from the NHL at this point.
"It's hard to say. With development, who knows? Only time will really tell. That's hard work out there. It's not your average Western Hockey League practice and I've never worked with a real goalie coach before. This is a great opportunity for me, to work with one of the best goalie coaches in the game."
Melanson, he said, "is not really changing my style, he's just helping me with a few things. I'm not used to playing so much with my knees, so a lot of this is new to me."
The day before Price arrived in town, the Canadiens announced that they had signed Theodore to a three-year, $16-million U.S. deal.
"I think it was good news," Price said of his reaction. "I guess down the road, we'll have to see what happens. I don't know what they've got planned for me, but I'm sure everything will work out in the end. If Jose's still around, I'm happy to have the chance to work with him. It's a good situation for a young goalie."
Price is also a high draft choice in a hockey-mad town and a unilingual anglophone in a French city.
"I know a lot of French words," he says, "but I don't know grammar. I couldn't carry on a conversation."
That part he will have to work on. For the past two decades, the goaltender has been the go-to guy in the room for the French media: Patrick Roy, Jocelyn Thibault and Theodore. Price will never be expected to handle the language of Moliere in that fashion, but if he can get his French to the Sidney Crosby level it will help.
And if he can make some big saves off Crosby, it will help even more.
jtodd@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005
The press delegation amounts to two print reporters and one radio reporter. With the Bell Centre undergoing renovations, the press conference room is torn up and rookie hopefuls for the Canadiens are dressing on the visitors' side of the ice.
With most of the Canadiens and most of the working press attending the annual golf tournament at Laval sur le Lac, this has little of the flavour of a real workout without the usual media horde and the usual familiar faces on the ice.
And yet it is a certifiable Canadiens practice, the first for this scribe since that short, not-so-sweet playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the spring of 2004, so it is an occasion of sorts, something to be savoured. For better or worse, the National Hockey League is back, the Canadiens are back, the rookies are back.
Most of the rookies out there practising will never get much closer than this to the National Hockey League.
They all have their hopes, but reality says that no more than two or three - perhaps a half dozen at most - will ever crack an NHL lineup.
One who will, surely, is 18-year-old Carey Price. The Canadiens raised some eyebrows when they used the fifth overall pick in the NHL draft to choose a goaltender - especially with Jose Theodore not yet 30.
Given that the Habs were making their highest pick in two decades, surely they could have found some flashy scorer capable of filling the net.
But Bob Gainey & Co. made the choice for the simplest of reasons: In their assessment, Price was the best player available at that spot in the draft.
Certainly, he has the pedigree. He's tall (6-foot-2) and athletic and the scouts praise his quick reflexes, ability to control rebounds, catching glove and work ethic. Price dominated the Western Hockey League last season and he was a star of the World Under-18 tournament. He is supposed to be good under pressure.
He also has the genes. His father, Jerry, also a goaltender, was drafted 126th overall by Philadelphia in 1978, but tore up a knee and never made it to the NHL. And cousin Shane Doan scored 27 goals in the last NHL season with the Phoenix Coyotes and starred in the last World Cup of Hockey.
But Price is a kid from Williams Lake, B.C., who, when he was 10 years old, had to have his father drive for six hours to take him to play hockey. For him, a town of 20,000 was the big city; now he's in Montreal, practicing at the Bell Centre, and he's a little wide-eyed.
"The ice isn't very good, but this is an amazing barn," he said. "You don't see places like this in the Western Hockey League."
After yesterday's practice, Price was hopping a bus with the other rookies, bound for Ottawa and a three-game rookie tournament at the Corel Centre beginning tonight. The two-hour ride to Ottawa, he said, "will be a lot better than the Western Hockey League, where you get 30-hour bus rides."
His first impression of the NHL is that the work under Canadiens goaltending coach Roland Melanson is really hard, even for a youngster who is used to working hard.
"It's a lot of work. Rollie sure puts you through a few drills that are pretty tough, but I guess it's all good for you. We're doing a lot of lateral movement, a lot of leg recovery and now we're working behind the net. A lot of the stuff is new. I'm just trying to get the hang of it."
Price, who will return to his junior team after camp and will try to make Team Canada for the world junior tournament in December, said he has no idea how far he is from the NHL at this point.
"It's hard to say. With development, who knows? Only time will really tell. That's hard work out there. It's not your average Western Hockey League practice and I've never worked with a real goalie coach before. This is a great opportunity for me, to work with one of the best goalie coaches in the game."
Melanson, he said, "is not really changing my style, he's just helping me with a few things. I'm not used to playing so much with my knees, so a lot of this is new to me."
The day before Price arrived in town, the Canadiens announced that they had signed Theodore to a three-year, $16-million U.S. deal.
"I think it was good news," Price said of his reaction. "I guess down the road, we'll have to see what happens. I don't know what they've got planned for me, but I'm sure everything will work out in the end. If Jose's still around, I'm happy to have the chance to work with him. It's a good situation for a young goalie."
Price is also a high draft choice in a hockey-mad town and a unilingual anglophone in a French city.
"I know a lot of French words," he says, "but I don't know grammar. I couldn't carry on a conversation."
That part he will have to work on. For the past two decades, the goaltender has been the go-to guy in the room for the French media: Patrick Roy, Jocelyn Thibault and Theodore. Price will never be expected to handle the language of Moliere in that fashion, but if he can get his French to the Sidney Crosby level it will help.
And if he can make some big saves off Crosby, it will help even more.
jtodd@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005