Six Dartmouth hockey players attended NHL development camps over the month of July as undrafted invitees, looking to hone their skills in the hopes of playing hockey at the highest level.
NHL teams traditionally invite between 30 and 40 players to their development camps in an attempt to identify and train young talent. The camps traditionally have both on-ice and off-ice elements as well as a few high intensity scrimmages.
Though the Dartmouth hockey team struggled last year, earned a 10-20-4 (7-13-2 Ivy) record, the number of players sent to NHL development camps showcased the talent on the team, goalie Charles Grant ‘16 said.
“It’s just like a feather in the cap of our organization to get the recognition we feel we deserve,” he said.
For forward Brandon McNally ’15, this summer marked his second time attending an NHL development camp. He attended the Tampa Bay Lightning development camp after freshman year.
“You’ve worked so hard so it’s an honor to get invited, but it’s still just another step in the process of reaching your full potential to make it to the NHL,” McNally said. “It was a huge learning experience my freshman year, and I was just really happy and excited to be there. This time I really wanted to prove I belonged and could play well.”
Most invitees to development camps are draft picks, but the front office of organizations can pick several free agents to invite.
Though it is an honor to be invited, McNally noted the camp is “just another step” in making it to the NHL.
“It was a huge learning experience my freshman year and I was just really happy and excited to be there. This time I really wanted to prove I belonged and could play well,” he said.
Most invitees to development camps are draft picks, but the front offices of organizations can pick several free agents to invite.
“Throughout the week, there’s no apparent differences from the mentality side between being an invitee and being a draft pick,” Opperman said. “It’s almost a confidence booster to be invited as a free agent because it means they saw something that they like and they weren’t just inviting you because you were drafted a few years ago.”
Going to camp as a free agent can be more difficult since invitees from outside the organization may not know each other beforehand, McNally said.
Every organization offers a team-building day, providing an opportunity for players to have fun and get to know each other away from the rink. The Minnesota Wild took Opperman and the rest of the invitees paint-balling.
“One guy on my team shot me on accident from two feet away, and for some reason that turned out to be a good icebreaker,” he said.
Throughout the course of the week, the players spent a lot of time both on ice and in the weight room, with days beginning as early as 8 a.m. After breakfast, one team of players went to the weight room, and the other team went to the rink, Opperman said.
The workouts exposed the invitees to some new workouts, but mainly aimed to mirror the standard routines of NHL players, Opperman said, noting that the ice sessions leaned heavily toward instructing and developing the players rather than challenging them physically.
“The ice sessions would vary, but they were actually more instructional than physically challenging,” Opperman said. “They had a skating coach, a skills guy and a shooting guy. There was lots of emphasis on learning throughout the week and experiencing the organization.”
At the Wild’s camp, each day ended in a scrimmage or three-on-three tournament, which represented the biggest boon of the camp to Opperman because it allowed him to practice outside of the college season.
After a week of training, developing and showcasing, the players got a chance to sit down with the organization’s player development personnel and coaches for an exit meeting, McNally said.
“They talk to you about how they think your camp went and how they think you did,” McNally said. “That meeting was really important to me because they got to watch me really closely over the week. The Canadiens said they’d keep in contact and watch me over the year.”
For the rising seniors on the hockey team, the upcoming season represents a critical portion of their college careers as they face mounting pressure and look to sign NHL contracts.
“Hopefully I’ll have a good year and the chance to get signed,” McNally said. “It’s really not as important to look that far ahead as much as it is to have a good year and focus on accomplishing our goals as a team and let everything else take care of itself.”
