With week one of practice complete along with two preseason games, the Ice Wolves focus on developing more fundamentals and continuing strides in the correct directions.
Takeaway #1: Fundamentals are key.
The Ice Wolves hit the ice Tuesday, Sept. 3, stressing blocking and tackling fundamentals. Head Coach Kevin Hartzell emphasized how important key fundamentals are to the team’s success, “No matter how good the plan is, if the fundamentals aren’t there everything will fall apart. I’m looking forward to seeing our boys learn and execute everything we’ve gone over so far.”
Takeaway #2: Dr. Gary Bowman
With the start of the second week the Ice Wolves will be able to see and use Dr. Gary Bowman’s assets to their advantage. This week, the first week of September, the team will be able to visit Propel HP and use cold tubs and saunas for recovery purposes. Kevin Hartzell is thankful to have someone with Gary’s knowledge on board, “Dr. Gary Bowman, is our human performance coach and has our boys on Tuesday and Thursdays. We’re lucky to have him cover mind, body, and spirit during his time with the team. He’s been at the professional level and we’re lucky to have him here. Personally, I’m excited to have him here with his expertise in his field as well as his expertise in hockey.”
Takeaway #3: Plenty of learning.
After the preseason games, in Dallas over Labor Day weekend, Assistant Coach Vinny Bohn enjoyed all of the learning experiences that have come forth thus far, “We’ve learned a lot about players and staff as well as learning from Kevin Hartzell. The preseason provided great learning experiences about what we got in front of us, and just like we tell our players, we’re looking to get better every day.”
The Ice Wolves take on the US National Team – NTDP on September 13 and September 14 at the outpost and tickets are still available at tickets.nmicewolves.com.