Flames put fitness to the test
Gruelling physical, medical assessments let players see results of their hard work
It was, officially, deemed as a “voluntary” exercise.
But all of the veteran players invited to Calgary Flames training camp were present and accounted for on Wednesday as they checked into WinSport’s facilities and underwent physical and medical testing.
With the Flames opening the 2018-19 NHL pre-season in China — a nine-day excursion which sees them skate in two games against the Boston Bruins — the team’s schedule has been re-adjusted to accommodate their epic trip.
Medicals and physicals were moved ahead.
The team’s annual golf tournament is on Thursday.
And the players are already in a groove.
“It was a good day,” said Flames captain Mark Giordano. “Nowadays all players put in the work during the summer so it’s good to see where you’re at after a long summer of training.
“For us, it’s a bit different this year, trying to get it done early as players. We have a long flight to China, and it’ll be good for us to get to recover before we get on the plane and travel for all of those hours.”
While the option was there for players to test early next week before departing for China, the majority of them wanted to get the hard stuff over and done with early.
“That’s the first I’m hearing about it,” said Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk, regarding the “optional” nature of the testing. “It would have been nice to know earlier. Everybody is here … some guys could have done (Wednesday) or right before (the team left for) China. But everyone would rather do it ( Wednesday) and get it out of the way and have a few days to regroup and be ready for China.”
Notoriously a gruelling process, fitness testing includes Wingate bike test, VO2 max test, bench press, pull ups, flexibility measurements, jump station, grip strength and agility testing.
“For us as players, we wanted to get here early,” Giordano said. “You care about your body and worry about your body as a player and want to feel good going into camp. I think this is, by far, the best option.”
Because this is a unique training camp.
“It’s different, for sure,” Giordano said. “But it’s cool. We’ve got all the guys together and ready. It feels a little bit earlier (than most years), but we’ll have a good experience getting our group together and spend some quality time together on the ice and off the ice.”