EDMONTON – Party’s over! Welcome to Training Camp 2014.
As the Edmonton Oilers returned to the ice for practice on Wednesday afternoon, they did so in true September style: Three groups and as many on-ice sessions before retreating to the gym for what Jordan Eberle described as the "(Bike) ride of my life."
Sounds fun…
Well, at least one person thought so. Dallas Eakins took part in all three while assistant coaches Kelly Buchberger, Steve Smith and Keith Acton handled the on-ice portion of the day, which lasted until the early evening.
"Nobody was puking, so I think guys were fairly smart during the break," laughed Oilers captain Andrew Ference.
While many of the players – including Eberle, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Justin Schultz, Ryan Smyth and Sam Gagner – opted for the sun in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Ference, a connoisseur of the colder climates, enjoyed some family time in the picturesque town of Canmore, Alberta.
"It’s all about taking full advantage of it," Ference said. "You obviously want to maintain your conditioning, but you have to dial it back a bit. It’s a good opportunity to get rid of the little aches and pains. With the condensed schedule, you need a break. In the last calendar year, I was up to about 110 or 120 games, so this was welcomed."
Back to work on the ice at Rexall Place after an 11-day reprieve, there were a lot of red faces – sunburns, mostly, but the workout wasn’t half bad either.
"There are a few guys that came back pretty red," Eberle said. "But I think our trainers probably took the cake – a few of them look like lobsters."
Like hauling muffin stumps to the local repository, the players were weighed pre- and post-vacation, ensuring no one returned to Edmonton packing some extra pounds.
"If we would have done that, we would have been in trouble," Eberle said. "I was working out pretty regularly. I knew (Wednesday) was going to be a tough day. It was only a little bit of a skate, but most of the stuff was done in the gym and it wasn’t easy.
"Your mind is a little off when you’re on vacation – you give yourself a little break there – but as far as your body goes, you’ve got to make sure you can come back and play 22 games."
The Oilers aren’t back in action until Feb. 27 against the Minnesota Wild (7:30 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West), but the players can’t wait to get back to it. There’s little worth celebrating after suffering through one of the worst seasons in recent memory, but the club is playing great hockey right now. The Oilers have rattled off a 5-1-1 record in their last seven games and are encouraged by the strides taken in the weeks leading up to the break.
Of course, having one of the NHL’s hottest goaltending tandems doesn’t hurt, either. Ben Scrivens and Ilya Bryzgalov have been nothing short of sensational – a far cry from the early-season debacle that was Devan Dubnyk and Jason LaBarbera.
Still, a win’s a win and the Oilers have actually been getting some lately. As the week progresses, Eakins will make the most of the extra practice time by expanding on his team’s system play, challenging them with a more advanced defensive posture, and continuing to drive home the fundamentals that have plagued the team for much of the year.
In short: Educate, educate, educate.
"Your mind is so out of it [when you’re on vacation] that you think, ‘Wow, I have to come back and play hockey,’" Eberle said, "but as soon as you get back to Edmonton and see the snow on the ground, you snap back pretty quickly. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel, but I’m really excited to get back.
"It’s almost like a new season here. I feel really energized, ready to play."