Headshots: September 13th

Ryan Kesler said something interesting on Friday afternoon.

Training camp for the Vancouver Canucks continued today with the team competing in their first scrimmage at Rogers Arena, as fans watched on from the stands. Speaking of the fans, don’t the adults in attendance have jobs? And shouldn’t the kids be at school? I digress.

Afterwards, Ryan Kesler and Eddie Lack provided the media with some choice quotes, while the whole John Tortorella/Twitter thing inexplicably continues to have legs.

Some pertinent links regarding all of those stories, plus more, just past the jump.

Obviously some notable names (Luongo, Higgins, Hansen, Edler, and Tanev) didn’t participate in the scrimmage today, meaning we can’t put too much stock into it. We also can’t put too much stock into it, because, well, it’s the first scrimmage of training camp, and it’s only September 13th. Still, there were a few interesting things to take note of. Like Corrado being paired up with Dan Hamhuis, Hunter Shinkaruk getting the chance to skate with Kesler and Burrows, and Bo Horvat being given two less than optimal linemates.

By the way, Team 2 won 4-1 as both Burrows and Hamill scored two goals each. I don’t have the possession stats, unfortunately. There will be another two scrimmages available to the public tomorrow and on Sunday.

In case you missed the news, Alex Auld appears on Sportsnet and shares some of his thoughts over at InGoal Magazine these days. He made his writing debut talking about Luongo, the backup goaltender situation, and Twitter. You know what my favourite Alex Auld-related fun fact is, though? That he was named the MVP of the ’05-’06 Vancouver Canucks, even though he had a 2.94 GAA and .902 save %. Go kiss that Roberto Luongo poster you have hanging on your wall.

Speaking of Twitter, there has been a lot of talk regarding John Tortorella letting his feelings on the social media platform be known. We haven’t really touched on it here at Canucks Army, mostly because we’re hoping that you care as little about the story as we do. Unfortunately it just won’t die down.

During his scrum today, Eddie Lack let it be known that he has been uncharacteristically quiet on the Twitters lately for a reason. “We’re going to have to wait and see. I don’t think I’m going to be the guy who breaks the ice, that’s for sure. I’m just going to have to wait and see. See if Roberto throws the first stone and then maybe I’ll follow.” 

It’s not all sad news, though, as Lack revealed some fun little tweaks to his mask:

Much has also been made about John Tortorella’s fitness testing, and how grueling it is. During the summer summit back in July, he had the following to say about it: "We have our camp set. It’s written out. It will be a very rigorous camp. The testing and the conditioning will be the main focus." Apparently he wasn’t lying. Brad Ziemer referred to it as ‘willpower 101‘. Ed Willes wrote about how the players feel like Tortorella’s style is a breath of fresh air, but that they’ll need to catch their breath first before they can tell you about it. Daniel Wagner also provides us with 14 other drills we can expect from his first camp as a coach of the Canucks.

During Wednesday’s media session, Ryan Kesler said that the Canucks are "going to prove the doubters wrong and make them eat their words." On Friday, when asked about how he feels when people say that the team is on the decline, he sort of let loose with his words. Jason Botchford transcribed what are a couple of pretty awesomely fired up answers.

Finally, I’d strongly recommend that you subscribe to ESPN Insider this season. They added a personal favourite, Corey Pronman, to their staff, and are currently running a preview series that features another friend of the blog, Corey Sznajder (who does great work with zone entries, exits, and covering the Carolina Hurricanes). Anyways, they just released a Vancouver Canucks preview and it’s certainly worth a read.