GO JACKALS GO!!!

Future Stars Hockey Camp                              

On this page will you will find my pictures and report from the Future Stars Hockey Camp at First Arena. 

Day One Wednesday 8/23: Jackals coach Kris Waltze led the players in their drills on the ice at least for the first day.  It is obvious these players are extremely talented and poses tons of speed.  If you get the chance you need to stop down to the rec rink to check these players out.
It is very difficult to identify the players on the ice but as the camp goes on I hope to be able to put more names with faces.  The one player I did recognize was Elmira Jackals player Brent Cullaton.

Brent is a very gifted player and it is no surprise that he has spent time up in the AHL.  The guy has more moves than May West and has great hands around the net.  Click here to view the rest of the pictures from day one. If anyone knows the identity of the players send me an email and give me players # and name. Thanks!

Day Two Thursday 8/24:  Pictured to the left in the blue jersey is Jackal defenseman Arturs Kupaks.

Day 2 of camp featured the introduction of instructor Besa Tsintadze.  He may be the best skater I've ever seen.  When the session started he said a few words to the players and then proceeded to center ice in a flash and did a flying camel (figure skating term :-) and sit spin.  It seemed like he was showing them what he wanted them to do and a few players sort of looked at each other with a "did he just do that?" look.  He put the players through rigorous skating drills throughout the whole session with not one single puck on the ice. Click here to view the rest of the pictures from day two.

Day Three Friday 8/25: This is the professional instructor for the Future Stars camp Besa Tsintsadze.

Day 3 featured more of the same.  Skating, skating, skating and more skating.  One things for sure, these players will be in great shape as they head to their perspective training camps.  Jackals defenseman Chris Shaw was on the ice today.   To view some more shots of Besa and day three click here.

Apparently, the camp took the weekend off at least on the ice.  The rec rink had public skating and drop in hockey today.  Tomorrow the Arena hosts the open house.  I did spend a couple of hours at the traveling Vietnam War Memorial at Eldridge Park.  Click here to see some photos from the Vietnam War Memorial.  I'll return to the hockey camp Monday 8/28.

Day Four Monday 8/28: Here one of the goalies makes a great save during today's scrimmage.

Day 4 at camp saw the players hit the ice for yet another session of skating and agility drills.  Today's activities ended up differently though as both groups came back onto the ice at about 3:30 and played a scrimmage game for about an hour.  It was Blue jerseys vs. all other colors and the blue team won.  The game started out fairly ho hum but the longer it went on the competitive nature seemed to kick in and the scrimmage became more intense and the teams started to make some nice plays.  I thought at one point a couple of players were going to drop the gloves when the checking got a bit physcial.  This will all lead up to the camp ending scrimmage game Friday night at 7:00.  I found out today that John Everett will be the ref for this game.  Click here to view photos from today's blue vs. rainbow scrimmage game.

Day Five Tuesday 8/29: Kris Tebbs in action during today's scrimmage.

Day 5 was almost a carbon copy of yesterday with the scrimmage ending in a 2-2- tie.  Click here to view day 5 photos.

Day Six Wednesday 8/30: Another one of the goalies at the Future Stars Camp.

Day 6: Today I was a bit late and caught the very end of the on ice skating session with Besa Tsintsadze.  Once the ice was flooded the guys came out for today's scrimmage game.  Today Brent Cullaton was on the "rainbow" team with Chris Shaw, and Jackals Dman Arturs Kupaks was on the Blue team. 

The players in camp are pretty talented and it is really cool watching them and trying to figure out which unsigned player or players may have a chance to land on the already talented Jackals squad.  Click here to view day 6 camp photos.

Day Seven Thursday 8/31: Today the players played another scrimmage in the afternoon complete with linesman and referee Jim Everett.  They played two 30 periods and once again the blue team won the game.  The players have really started to jell and you're seeing some pretty good hockey.  I hope to see many of you at tomorrow night's game.  The pre game skate starts at 6:30 with the face off slated for 7:00.  It should be pretty fun.  I can tell you that in today's camp photo gallery you will see two more players who have been signed by the Jackals for the upcoming season.  I can't tell you their names until the Jackals announce it but I will let you know which players they are once it has been announced.  Look through the gallery and see if you can guess which two players they are. Better yet, come to the game, watch all the players (including Jackals Brent Cullaton, Arturs Kupaks and Chris Shaw) and see if you guess who the two newest Jackals are.   Click here to view today's camp photo's.

Are you ready for some hockey this weekend? As of today I was told there will be 82 players at the tryout camp this weekend.  A couple of prospects were at the arena today to take in the action of the future stars camp scrimmage.  Out of those 82 players nearly 30 of them are goalies.  That's a lot of goalie pad leather!

Day Eight Friday 9/1:   Fans crowd the glass to see the final scrimmage game.

The first ever "Future Stars Hockey Camp" concluded today with a scrimmage at First Arena and fans were invited to come watch them play for a $5.00 general admission charge and an estimated 150 or so fans took advantage of the offer.  Even former Jackal Eddy Lowe showed up and watched the game. 

We talk here about the NEW ATTITUDE concerning the Jackals and the operation of the team.  Well, tonight we saw an example of it.  Seeing how we fans did not know the players from Adam,  a fan inquired about a list of players to help identify them.  Fifteen minutes later they were handing out a list.  Thank you management for acting quickly and decisively .  This was no easy chore as half of the jerseys did not have numbers.

The final score was 11-5 in favor of the blue team but that does not matter as the players put on a good show for all the fans to see.  A huge thank you to Robbie and staff for bringing this camp to Elmira.  The majority of these players are headed elsewhere to their respective teams but a seed has been planted in their minds about Elmira.  They are now familiar with our town, our Arena and staff and most important, our fans who gave up a Friday evening and came out to watch a scrimmage game between players they did not even know.  NICE JOB ELMIRA!

Click here for a complete gallery of the final scrimmage of camp.

Don't forget, the Pro Placement Tryout Camp is being held Saturday and Sunday, September 2nd and 3rd.