
Thursday I popped out to the rink in the morning to see what I would see. Just driving into the parking lot I knew it was busy. There were a lot of cars. Inside on the rinks I saw evidence of drills. The ice was marked with black dots and it looked like a Zamboni was needed.
I continued on my way to the main rink and on the way I passed a sweaty Jason Garrison with a bottle of water in street clothes. Looked like he was done for a bit.
In the main rink nothing yet but you could tell everything was going to start soon. Within a couple of minute I saw John Tortorella step onto the ice. It was exciting. I did love Coach AV, Rick Bowness and Newell Brown. Great great great coaches but at the end of last season they were let go. Coach AV and Torts simply traded places because AV is now head coach of the New York Rangers. Bowness signed on to coach the Tampa Bay Lightning and Newell Brown has signed on with the Phoenix Coyotes. With Torts skating I did get goose bumps. What will this era of Canucks look like?
Soon Torts was joined by both Sedins, Alex Edler, Dan Hamhuis, Chris Tanev, Zach Kassian and a slew of guys vying for a spot on the team but most will likely be sent the AHL's Utica Comets. All in all it was a really fun testing session to watch. The guys warmed up a bit and then it was show time. Weaving into and out and all around. Countless laps around the rink.
Now the Canucks have on ice scrimmages for the next 3 days. Starting at 9am you can head to Rogers Arena and watch for FREE! Doors are at 8:30am. All you have to do it go to the Canuck website, click on the open scrimmages link and enter how many people you are bringing and what day. Print off the confirmation and you are done.
Below I have uploaded photos from yesterday plus an episode of "Hockey Talk with Courtney" where Arpad and I discuss all of the people it takes to build a winning NHL hockey team. Most of these guys were at testing yesterday. Enjoy

