Bloomington Jefferson Hockey

So how should you approach camp and what do you have to do to make an impression?

The simple fact of the matter is, you have to know how to try-out.

This past season www.hockeyscouting.ca did an article on a kid named Gerbe, who stood out at the USNTDP program camp. Why did he stand out? While not the most talented player on the ice, Gerbe played every shift like it was his last, and like it was a do or die situation.

In 1987, Theo Fleury was an unknown prospect, who was passed up for the 1986 NHL draft and selected in the tenth round of the 1987 NHL draft that summer. Players who saw the 140 pounder could not believe that he was actually trying out in an NHL camp. When Fleury got on the ice, the fun and games were over, he hit, he fought, he sticked everything that moved and made people look stupid with his work ethic. He was the best player in the camp. He even ran Mark Messier from the other end of the rink in an exhibition game; something that was not done in those days.

The reality of it was that no one wanted to see Fleury succeed. He was not a high draft selection of the team, so he was farmed out to Salt Lake City, where he proved he was the best player in the league earning a call-up later in the year.

At the younger levels of play, players have to prove themselves over a course of a two, three or five-day camp. At the higher levels, players usually have a good couple of weeks to show what they are made of.

Our advice for try-outs and camps is very simple:

a. Be physically ready and in top shape - make sure that you have strategically set up a training program that will allow you to be peaking at the camp. Keep in mind that it takes up to 90 days of proper training, diet and rest to be in the proper physical shape you need to be in to compete at a reasonable level of effectiveness.

b. Work harder than any other player on the ice. If you are going to make a team you have to show the team skills that are better than the other players at the camp. If you are a fighter you have to win your scraps; if you are a pesky player you have to infuriate everyone; if you are a goal scorer you have to finish; play your game and play it better than anyone else at the camp.

The one mistake that players make at try-outs and camps?

They play out of character. Do what got you invited to the camp in the first place, and know what your role is as a player and what role the team envisions you filling. And make sure that you work harder than any other player during the camp.

At camps you are constantly being judged and coaches are looking for any excuse to cut you. The key thing is to never give them one. Many players will float through a drill or let up for a shift and that is often the difference of a kid making the team or not making the team.

First impressions are vital at a camp; show up well dressed, with a professional attitude and you will go far in this game.

Keep in mind that there are going to be many times in your career where you are just not good enough to play at the next level of play. Ask the coaches at the camp what you need to work on, as a player, to make it to the next level and refocus and go and work on what you need to work on, relentlessly.