Flames prospects learning to bond

They can skate. They have the skills. All of them are chasing the National Hockey League dream.

But can they work as a group and, in less than a week, put together their favourite Saturday Night Live skit? Or lip-sync Justin Bieber’s Sorry in perfect harmony?

Those are the questions that will be asked later this week when the Flames prospects show their teamwork skills and perform in front of their soon-to-be-teammates.

Yes, it sounds more like drama camp than an NHL summer camp which is happening right now at WinSport’s facilities. However, there’s a method to the madness.

Instead of focusing on strictly on-ice competition and battles, the Flames have this year decided to place more emphasis on team building and bonding activities.

“Yeah, we want to evaluate and see where they’re at … competitiveness is great,” said the Flames director of player development Ray Edwards. “But we don’t need to see that in July. We’ll see that in September. We’ve got guys from Sweden and overseas, from college, from junior ... We’ve got 18-year-olds and 22-year-olds. Some of these guys are going to play together for a long time. We need to get them to understand each other, to know each other. They’ve got different personalities. So let’s get them together and force them to get outside their comfort zones.”

The camp opened on Monday with an “Amazing Race,” a mentally challenging team-building session that required communication and, of course, lots of teamwork.

The performance night on Thursday is another element of that. Edwards explained that the players would be split up into groups and forced to plan.

“They’ve gotta figure it out,” Edwards said with a chuckle. “It forces them to introduce themselves … we give them an outline, and they have to get in front of us and do it. “It could be a fun night.” And as horrible as the acting/ singing/lip-syncing might be, the upcoming Flames Have Talent show will provide more than just comedic relief.

“As you do that stuff, you feel closer, and then, hopefully, as they go play in (AHL) Stockton or play here, they’ll be a lot more comfortable with each other,” Edwards said. “We’re thinking beyond September.”

Then, the camp will wrap up in its usual way — with a scrimmage Friday.