FIRST PRACTICE IN THE BOOKS, GREEN-WHITE ON THE HORIZON
Oct 2, 2016By Tom Witosky | Follow @toskyAHLWild
Coach Lalonde Comments on First Day, Green-White on The Horizon
Work ethic and compete level.
Those are the watchwords for the first 10 days of the Iowa Wild’s training camp that opened Saturday, Derek Lalonde, the Wild’s new head coach said.
“We are stressing to the guys a few things for our first 10 days of camp here. It is their work ethic and compete level,” he said.
A roster of 28 players began practice Saturday as the Wild gets set to open its fourth season in Des Moines. On Sunday, the Wild holds its annual Green-White scrimmage as part of its preparation for two preseason games on the road next weekend.
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The Wild opens the AHL regular season at home on Oct. 14 against Manitoba. The game will be the first of 38 homes games at Wells Fargo Arena and it marks the beginning of seven straight at home.
Of Saturday’s practice, Lalonde said that he was pleased overall with the intensity and performance of those on the ice that included forwards Grayson Downing, Colton Beck, defensemen Max Fortunus, and goalie Steve Michalek.
“It made for a good practice, not a great practice, but a really good first practice,” Lalonde said.
Lalonde said that the early goals for the training camp will be to familiarize all of the players with the approach being taken by the Minnesota Wild’s new head coach, Bruce Boudreau, as a means of getting players and coaches on the same page whether they are in Minnesota, Iowa or Quad City. Mallard’s head coach Terry Ruskowski and assistant coach Phil Axtell attended Saturday’s practice.
“I would like all of us, from Bruce all the way down to Terry, to be on the same page,” said Lalonde, who coached the last two seasons for the Toledo Walleye, the Detroit Redwings ECHL affiliate. “It’s not easy and it takes some time, but I was fortunate enough to experience it with Detroit. That is our goal because when you see it work it is very, very valuable.”
He said that the goal is to establish the Mallard’s franchise as a strong feeder team to Iowa.
“I am looking forward to the point some day when we only call-up players from Quad City,” Lalonde said. “That is going to be on them, but I would like it to be Quad City guys first.”
Lalonde said he expects only about 30 percent of the players now in camp to be with Iowa at the beginning of the season as they anticipate a number of players getting sent down as Minnesota trims its roster. Two players who arrived for camp Saturday were forward Marc Hagel, who will begin his fourth season in Iowa, and defenseman Zach Palmquist, who will be in Iowa for his second full season.
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“They are both key pieces to our team going forward,” Lalonde said. “The sooner we get these guys out there and acclimated from being in Minnesota the better.”
Lalonde said Hagel and Palmquist will be on the ice along with other veterans and newcomers for the annual Green-White scrimmage at 5 P.M. Sunday at Wells Fargo Arena. The scrimmage will be followed by an autograph session for fans, who can attend the game for free.
The Wild’s head coach said that both sides will be hold pregame meetings and should begin to exhibit some of the structure that they are learning in practice.
“We’ve had a couple of days to work on structure. Today, we did some video and work on d-zone coverage, break-out habits and entry habits. Tomorrow morning, we will talk about our forechecking in the neutral zone, both defense and offense. So there should be some structure going forward,” he said.
Over the next two weeks, the club will begin to identify goals for the season as the Oct. 14 season-opener against the Manitoba Moose approaches. Those goals will likely focus on how to get the Wild into the playoffs for the first time since arriving in Des Moines.
“When we start preparing for our home opener we will start to identify some goals of what we want our team identity to be,” Lalonde said. “Everyone is feeling a lot of energy and they are excited because it is the first day.”