The club鈥檚 returning veterans and rookies took to the ice Sunday at Prospera Place for Day 2 of 鈥� main training camp.
After going through the standard pre-camp testing on Saturday, veteran forward Tomas Soustal said it鈥檚 good to be on back on the ice and into the swing of a new season.
鈥淐amp鈥檚 going really good,鈥� said Rockets鈥� forward Tomas Soustal, 20. 鈥淚鈥檝e played two scrimmages and practiced once so far. I was a little tired from the 5 K run and all the testing but other than that it鈥檚 good so far.
鈥淭he legs are definitely feeling better than yesterday from the testing though so we鈥檙e making progress there.鈥�
Rockets veterans like Soustal get a chance to play with the younger talents in the first portion of main camp before they are returned to their respective midget camps. Soustal says he enjoyed skating with the kids.
鈥淚 think the new guys look pretty good. I got a chance to play with a bunch of new guys throughout the scrimmages so far and they definitely have potential and it鈥檚 been a lot of fun playing with those guys,鈥� Soustal said. 鈥淣ow in the afternoon we get to fine tune it and get a little more speed and a little more power to it.鈥�
What Soustal is referring to when talking about adding speed and power is that following the morning skates this morning the main camp rosters were trimmed down. 琉璃神社 sent the bantam draft picks from the most recent draft back to their clubs after seeing what they had to offer for a couple of days. The camp will now move forward with two teams.
For a couple of Rockets, main camp is a great form of putting players into game shape for upcoming NHL camps. Devante Stephens is one of those players, as he鈥檒l be heading to the Buffalo Sabres camp on Sept. 4.
鈥淥ff-ice and on-ice training are a lot different, it鈥檚 tough to get into game shape but this really helps get you there,鈥� Stephens told. 鈥淭his will be my third time at Buffalo鈥檚 camp now and it鈥檚 a bit more exciting and there鈥檚 more on the line for me since I鈥檓 20, so I just have to make sure I prove that I鈥檓 at the level that I鈥檓 supposed to be at.鈥�
Main camp runs until Thursday.
The Rockets takes the ice as a team for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 2 when they host the Victoria Royals at Prospera Place at 7:05 p.m.
