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| SportsMonday, October 8, 2007 10:08 PM CDT |
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Crowded Thunder camp opens Tuesday with 30 players
Booth expects spirited ‘battle for it’ in drills
BLOOMINGTON — Jarrod Skalde’s 17-year career has included stops in the National Hockey League, Sweden and several minor league outposts in between. But the 36-year-old player/coach for the Bloomington PrairieThunder still gets stoked about the start of another season. “You always have to look at it as a great opportunity,” Skalde said. “If you’re not getting excited about the start of the year, I don’t think you’re fully committed to what you’re doing.” Skalde will be joined by 29 other players on the preseason roster today when the Thunder opens camp at the Pepsi Ice Center at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in preparation for the Oct. 20 season opener at Flint in the resurrected International Hockey League. Second-year Thunder coach Derek Booth said he will cut “six or seven guys” on Sunday before making the final cut the following week. The Thunder will play exhibition games Wednesday at Fort Wayne and Saturday at Muskegon. The roster for regular-season games will be limited to 19 players. “We talked about having 24 guys at camp but sometimes players come out of nowhere and fall in your lap so I think we’re going to max out at 30,” Booth said. “I think it’s a good number. We’re probably going to keep 22 and let these guys battle for it. “The guys that aren’t on the 19-man roster will be put on the inactive list. I’d like to keep a few extra guys around this year because it’s tough to find quality players once you start releasing guys. They’re going their separate ways and all of sudden you get a couple of injuries.” Skalde is one of seven new veterans on the roster, which also includes nine rookies and five returnees from last season’s team: Casey Handrahan, Jamison Orr, Sam Miller, Kristjan Jefkins and Tim Schneider. “I think the recruiting side has been a lot different this season,” Booth said. “Jarrod and I put a template together of what we wanted and the style of players we wanted. The league changed a little bit where they’re allowing tougher play in the corners and in the offensive and defensive zones, so you really had to recruit a different style of players. “It’s nice to go after power wingers like a Jason Ralph, a Don Margettie or a Jamison Orr. These are guys that can put numbers on the board and play hard and bring that element every team wants. If I recruited this team my first year, I think I would have had some pretty good success.” Slade said he used his many contacts throughout hockey to help Booth in the recruitment process. “The reason I took this job was because of Derek Booth and (general manager) Jerry McBurney,” Skalde said. “They gave me an opportunity to make some calls this summer and get involved in the coaching and business side of this game. I’m glad I’m here and can sit with Derek and get some stuff done. “I think we’ve done a great job of putting some guys together on paper. It’s a good group of players and hopefully that transforms on the ice.” Camping with the Thunder Key early dates for the Bloomington PrairieThunder’s second season: Today: Start of preseason camp Wednesday: Exhibition game at Fort Wayne, 6:30 p.m. Saturday: Exhibition game at Muskegon, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20: Regular season opener at Flint Oct. 26: Home opener vs. Fort Wayne, 7:05 p.m. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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To the baseball wannabe wrote on Oct 10, 2007 8:55 AM:
who cares if it isn't NHL wrote on Oct 10, 2007 8:50 AM:
To: To... wrote on Oct 9, 2007 9:21 PM:
who said anything... wrote on Oct 9, 2007 8:30 PM:
Thunder wrote on Oct 9, 2007 7:56 PM:
To: just curious wrote on Oct 9, 2007 6:57 PM:
To... wrote on Oct 9, 2007 6:25 PM:
thanks for those not intersted wrote on Oct 9, 2007 6:22 PM:
not a joke wrote on Oct 9, 2007 5:22 PM:
You called me Short Fry...lol wrote on Oct 9, 2007 5:03 PM:
Are the brawls wrote on Oct 9, 2007 4:50 PM:
To: Oh Boy.. wrote on Oct 9, 2007 4:45 PM:
Are the brawls wrote on Oct 9, 2007 4:44 PM:
for those interested.. wrote on Oct 9, 2007 4:44 PM:
If you guys get tired wrote on Oct 9, 2007 4:38 PM:
just curious wrote on Oct 9, 2007 4:37 PM:
To: Re: To: To Oh Boy wrote on Oct 9, 2007 3:56 PM:
to oh boy wrote on Oct 9, 2007 2:07 PM:
Re: To: To Oh Boy wrote on Oct 9, 2007 1:00 PM:
To: Oh Boy wrote on Oct 9, 2007 12:40 PM:
loud and proud wrote on Oct 9, 2007 12:10 PM:
to: to Oh boy wrote on Oct 9, 2007 12:01 PM:
to what wrote on Oct 9, 2007 10:55 AM:
to Oh boy wrote on Oct 9, 2007 10:39 AM:
What... wrote on Oct 9, 2007 10:33 AM:
excited wrote on Oct 9, 2007 10:13 AM:
Oh Boy wrote on Oct 9, 2007 9:01 AM:
Uncle Andy wrote on Oct 9, 2007 7:16 AM:
Go Thunder wrote on Oct 8, 2007 11:26 PM:
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