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Flyers: on the right course? |
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After finishing the preseason a dismal 1-5-1 and having their coach say the team lacks chemistry on the ice and the general manager finger-pointing and threatening jobs the Flyers did something curious this weekend.
They went on retreat.
It was one of those team building experiences where they're supposed to form closer bonds and become a more tight-knit group.
Ken Hitchcock is big on this stuff. His first year with the team he took them to beautiful Banff, Alberta. When he was with Dallas he took his team to Vail, Colorodo or Breckenridge, Colorado.
Being a history buff, Hitch took them to West Point last year. He also took them on a tour of the Pentagon when they were in D.C. last season.
This time around, it was the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
But, there was something different about this trip. While there was structure to the schedule, Hitchcock sent home the team trainers. He sent home the travelling PR staff. He limited media availability to lunch on Saturday.
And, he and his assistant coaches even stayed away.
"This is their time," he told me. "It's their time right here."
(At this point I had a strange flashback to a young Sean Astin in "The Goonies" convincing his friends to not climb the bucket in the well because it was "their time down here," to find buried treasure. Anyone else get this reference? Or, am I the only screwed up individual still haunted by mid-80's cheeseball flicks?)
Anyway, back to the Flyers...
They went as a group of 25 onto a secluded marine ropes course in the Maryland wilderness where they had to use teamwork to make their way through. (The few, the proud....)
Anyway, some injured players just stood and watched (Petr Nedved was limping badly with a bad back. Lars Jonsson was a trooper, hobbling around on crutches with his high-ankle sprain, Denis Gauthier, who suffered a nasty concussion, was nowhere to be found, and Derian Hatcher remained cautious of his creaky knees), but the rest of the team took part.
Some loved it. Niko Dimitrakos called it "a blast."
But, the most interesting part was when Hitch received a cell phone call from the course that one player couldn't make it through the course, which at times rose 50 feet above ground.
And you could sit here all day and never figure out who the player was, but surprisingly it was strapping 23-year-old Joni Pitkanen.
Apparently he has a fear of heights or something, and bailed, much to the chagrin of his teammates.
Pitkanen didn't want to talk about it afterwards, but one of his teammates told me that he froze on the course at one point, got scared, and stayed there for a long time. Then finally, he came down and excused himself from the rest of the course.
Not a big deal, but it may say a little something about mental toughness, I don't know. I'm not a psychologist, I'm just speculating.
The team then had lunch in the mess hall with the Navy hockey team before getting a brief tour of the campus.
It was interesting to see all seven Americans proudly taking the time to stand in silence at the memorial for all the Naval Academy graduates who have lost their lives at sea during battle, but even more interesting was Sami Kapanen, whom I never knew was a U.S. history buff.
We spent a good amount of time talking about some warships that were under seige in the Korean and Vietnam wars that he knew about and studied a flag that flew on one of those ships. Sami immediately recognized there were only 48 stars on the flag and impressed me with his knowlege of the fact that there weren't 50 states until 1959. (although, in his unending thirst for knowledge, he did ask what those last two states were, and when I told him, he vowed never to forget.)
The team then had afternoon chats with a sports psychologist, and then had a team dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse before being left to their own devices in the happening downtown area of Annapolis.
It was a different experience than West Point for sure. Everything at West Point was physicaly demanding and under the watchful eye of the coach.
This was a lot more relaxed and unsupervised. And the players appreciated it.
Now, does this translate to a better showing in the regular season than the preseason? Only time will tell, but to a man, the belief is that the time off together does them good.
We shall see.
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