Training camp less than 24 hours away

Published 11:29 am Wednesday, August 25, 2010

That’s right, one day remains before the Everett Silvertips take the ice for the first time in preparation for the 2010-11 WHL season. Training camp opens tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. at Lynnwood Ice Center. Camp is open free to the public, and here’s a reminder of the schedule:

Thursday

9 a.m. – Silvertips practice

10:45 a.m. – Red vs. Blue

12:15 p.m. – Grey vs. Green

2 p.m. – Silvertips dryland workouts

3:30 p.m. – Red vs. Grey

5 p.m. – Blue vs. Green

Friday

9 a.m. – Silvertips practice

10:45 a.m. – Grey vs. Blue

12:15 p.m. – Red vs. Green

2 p.m. – Silvertips dryland workouts

3:30 p.m. – Grey vs. Green

5 p.m. – Red vs. Blue

Saturday

9 a.m. – Silvertips practice

10:45 a.m. – Blue vs. Green

12:15 p.m. – Red vs. Grey

2 p.m. – Silvertips dryland workouts

3:30 p.m. – Green vs. Red

5 p.m. – Grey vs. Blue

Sunday

12:30 p.m. – Green vs. Grey game

The camp format is a little different this year. Instead of having all the players broken into teams for daily scrimmages, the veterans step straight into intense practices, while four teams of rookies compete in two scrimmages each day for evaluation purposes. Coach Craig Hartsburg decided he wanted to begin hands-on work with the potential roster players immediately this year. Last year he didn’t know the players, so it was useful to get a look at them in the scrimmage setting. Now he knows his players and can get to work right away.

A number of new faces will be donning Silvertip jerseys for the first time. That group includes trade acquisition Landon Ferraro, former Minnesota Golden Gopher Josh Birkholz, and import draftee Jesse Huhtala.

I will again be live blogging from the first three days of training camp, so those who want to follow the action can tune in tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. And for those who can’t tune in and don’t want to wade through the play-by-play, I’ll be posting a separate wrap-up post at the end of each day.

Sunday’s Green vs. Grey game is also at Lynnwood, which has much less seating/parking than Comcast Arena, so take that into consideration if you’re planning on attending. Also, while admission to the game is free, the Tips will be collecting donations for families displaced by the July 9 fire at Lynnview Apartments in Lynnwood.