tuesday practice: meh

i got up early today to attend the morning skate, when i realized that it wasn't until 2pm... so i set off doing a whole bunch of other stuff and ended up being late.... typical. ;)

i'm thoroughly amused by the fact that i've spent countless hours on the saddledome's second tier watching the rookies/prospects and training camp sessions but i've never bothered to attend an actual practice until today... well, now i know why: there was nothing really to note whatsoever...

i suppose that's a lie, i had my eye squarely on rhett warrener, who is not only practicing but giving and receiving hits (nothing major, but no third-colour jersey to dictate "hands off"). he's definitely a step behind, but i wouldn't be totally shocked to see him crack the lineup before the season's end (cap space permitting ---i don't know the rules after the deadline). as i've noted in the comments on various sites, this prospect does not make me a very happy WI. his current defensive play involves very little man-taking and a whole lotta stickwork (read: own-goals and tripping/hooking calls). not comforting...

other than that, vandermeer looks like the slowest guy out there, dion is hands-down the loudest, and everybody else seemed about as happy to be there as ME. i'm not sure why i find jordan leopold so totally invisible, or why every move jamie lundmark makes catches my eye. the drills they were doing seemed rote and without urgency, and included a heckuva lot of sloppy passes... keenan et al also seemed rather bored... perhaps it's because i have nothing to compare it to but this did was not the kind of practice i'd imagined would occur the day before a game, when there's a team on their heels in the playoff race...

it's scary, a little.

hopefully there was a lot of video-watching and Xs and Os on a whiteboard in the past couple of days, cause none of that was apparent here....

ugh.