July 24th Update............

After all the pomp and circumstance of last night’s game, it was nice to get back to a regular day of camp. The boys were all lit up when they arrived today. We had a good day of drills both on the ice and off.

Per the request of Mr. Naumov, Curt Fraser provided a coaches clinic this evening for coaches from Minsk, Brest, Groduo, Mogilev, and Gomel. Curt enlisted the help of Vladimir Tsyplakov who happens to know a bit about hockey!! Curt’s presentation dealt with preseason preparation, practice plan development, and D-zone coverage. Vladimir provided insight on penalty killing. Feedback was positive from the Belarus coaches that were in attendance. Last week, Curt Fraser, Todd McLellan and Mark Jorgenson performed a similar clinic.

After the hard day yesterday, the instructors were glad to have a night off to rest and relax. The boys skated very hard today and were glad to have an easy night with their host families.

To view photos from the day, click here Pictures



Instructor's input to the blog...
Since today was an easy day to ‘blog’, I thought I’d turn the keyboard over to some of the instructors:

Todd Woodcroft – I am really looking forward to joining all the players in Minsk. I have heard they are having a good time and are almost through the customs line.

Seriously, this has been more than I could have imagined: the people here are so passionate about the game, and our players & instructors are being treated like kings. I hope the boys appreciate all the work that the BIHF has put into this experience! Great ten days so far and even though I am leaving later today (no one knows), I hope everyone has a safe trip back to Cleveland where we will meet all the parents.

In the lingo of our players: “Big ups to the coaches: they is aiite.” Peace out. P.S: has anyone seen Curt Leich yet? I checked him with my bags in Warsaw and haven’t seen him yet.

Curt Leich- I have been having a great vacation in Warsaw. I have been staying at a local hostel and am now engaged with a beautiful girl named Ayinka. I can’t wait for the rest of the guys to arrive and meet the (PIHS) Polish Ice Hockey Federation. Camp is going to be a lot of fun on this upcoming Monday.

Steve Walters (a.k.a. Ayinka), All of the boys have been great at interacting with the guys from Belarus. It is very fun to watch how close the group from Canada and the United States have become. The older guys have taken the younger guys under their wings. You would be very proud of each of your children.