Thursday, August 23, 2018

A Long Week

I really wanted to write about Urban Meyer and what a pathetic, mewling, coward he is, but I'm so tired I can't muster the outrage.

Man, camp has been long this year. In a good way, but for some reason, I'm so much more tired than I've ever been during camp week before.

It's been hard for Eli 17.0, too. This is the highest level camp his goalie school offers, and almost all the shooters are either NHL, D-1, or play in the USHL or NAHL.

In short, it would be easy to be embarrassed. That did not happen.

This morning, at the pre-ice workout (at Barwis), he won a run by a ridiculous margin (against juniors and college goalies), and his trainer said, "Man, I know you're skinny, but you are a UNIT!"

Yes, that's a good description. The kid who worked out on Thanksgiving and Christmas is indeed a unit.

On ice, he's never looked anything less than in control. It's been his best week, by far, at a goalie camp, and it's because his game scales so well, even at this level of competition. It scales up as far as anyone wants it to go.

I've seen him make saves this week that I've never seen him make consistently before, but it's all come together, and man, it's powerful. I've really enjoyed watching him.

It's a grind, though. An hour off-ice workout, then two two-hour ice sessions each day. Intense ice sessions, with lots of drill reps because only ten goalies were invited to this camp.

We go home tomorrow, and next week, I'm going to try to write something thoughtful for you guys instead of scrambling to come up with something when I can't even think straight.

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