Takeaway #1: Emphasis on rebounding & penalty kill
The Ice Wolves got back to it Friday morning with heavy emphasis on positioning and penalty kill. Head Coach Kevin Hartzell talked about the emphasis on these key details, “We continued to work on offensive positioning and rebound position too, often positioning gets overlooked. We have a goal to be the best rebound team in hockey and we’re getting good at that. Penalty kill has to be an emphasis, in my experience, players come with the least experience of good penalty killing, details matter more and more every level you move up so that will be another focus going forward.”
Takeaway #2: Climbing the mountain
An exciting weekend as well as an exciting week is upon us and the excitement is at an all-time high. Assistant Coach Vinny Bohn continues to notice the excitement within the team, “With the weekend off and our special guests (US National Team – NTDP) coming in town this weekend, the team is itching, it’s an exciting and productive week to becoming a team. You can’t climb the mountain without taking the first step and we took a couple steps this week.”
Takeaway #3: Special Guests Senior Chief Lou Nebel and Gary Bowman
The Ice Wolves will be welcoming Senior Chief, U.S. Navy SEAL, Lou Nebel on Sunday Sept. 8 to begin a three-day leadership program. The team will learn skills to apply on the ice and in their personal life. Hartzell highlighted this after practice, “ The boys will be with Gary tomorrow and then we start a three-day leadership program with Senior Chief Lou Nebel, Navy SEAL, this is an exciting time to learn from a world class team and we’re very excited to learn from players. These lessons will make them better teammates, husbands someday, and team members for whatever they do in the future.”