Developing in Winnipeg With James Kruger: July 2 & 3

James Kruger is in Manitoba for the Winnipeg Jets' Development Camp along with numerous prospects. The rising-senior and Dartmouth goaltender will be blogging his experiences throughout the week.

Schierhorn's First Blog

Day 1: July 2

Hope all of the Big Green hockey fans are enjoying their holiday weekend! I chose to give up my holiday weekend for an opportunity to participate in the Winnipeg Jets Development Camp.

Day 1 consisted of traveling to Winnipeg from my home in Minnesota. I was greeted by members of the Jets' staff along with a handful of other players who were on my flight. Then it was off to MTS Centre to get fitted for equipment and fill out some medical paperwork.

When I walked in, a member of the medical staff looked at me and said, “Yes, this is good drafting right here. A big solid defenseman!” I informed him, to his dismay, that I was actually a goaltender, and not their new enforcer.

Later on, we had an introductory dinner where various members of the Jets' front office and hockey operations staff were introduced, and the players went around and introduced themselves as well. A short video featuring former Jets Development Camp invitees turned Jets was played at the dinner, which gave some cool insight as to what to expect and what to try to take away from our time at camp. Then it was off to the Clarion hotel, where I am rooming with fellow goaltender Eric Comrie (Canadian Word Junior Gold Medalist/2013 2nd round Winnipeg NHL draft selection) to rest up (“marinate”, in my roommate's words) before a busy day tomorrow.

Day 2: July 3

Day 2 was a very busy day. We woke up to catch a 7 a.m. bus to MTS Centre to undergo a very thorough physical examination and off-ice fitness testing. I had a routine physical, orthopedic examination, dental checkup, eye exam, EKG, heart ultrasound, blood and urine tests, body fat test (good thing I've been laying off the candy these days), height and weight measurement (6'3.5”, 208.3lbs) got my photo taken, and participated in a variety of strength tests, including jumps, a sprint, and some peak power tests for upper body strength. I enjoyed and did pretty well in the fitness testing. However, again, much to the disbelief of the training and equipment staff, I informed them that I was a goalie, my upper body strength wouldn't exactly be on display in the net (at this point I'm starting to get self-conscious). Nevertheless, after a total of about five hours of the aforementioned activities, we had lunch in the players lounge and loaded up the bus to go to the MTS Iceplex, the Jets' training facility.

Once at the Iceplex, we divided into the two separate groups (A and B, with me being in group A and teammate Brad Schierhorn in group B) and my group did an off-ice workout led by the Jets' strength coach, and then prepared for our first ice session. I didn't get to see much of group B's ice session, but I noticed Brad was wearing the number 97, and I'm pretty sure he must have requested that number… bold move from our new captain.

Comrie and I headed on the second ice sheet about 15 minute early with developmental goalie coach Rick St. Croix to go through some warm-up skating and shots. Then, we moved to the main rink, which was packed with fans watching. The passion that Winnipeg fans have for the team was palpable, and I was super impressed with the turnout. This also made it a lot of fun to play, as you would hear “oooh” after a nice save (or goal… maybe). The ice session was a short one, around an hour, but with only two goalies on the ice for the session and near-constant shots, it was one of the harder skates I have had in recent memory! I felt good in net despite some fatigue, and felt I had a good day. I also managed to take a shot off of my plastic throat protector, which shattered into about 10 pieces. Luckily the equipment staff fixed the problem almost immediately.

After the ice session, I stretched out and returned to the hotel with all of the players. Fellow goalies Jamie Phillips and Connor Hellebuyck joined Dartmouth teammate Brad Schierhorn and me for some shopping at the mall across the street before we had a team meal at Earl's Restaurant. After dinner, we returned to the hotel to “marinate” and get some much-needed rest after a very long day. It's been an awesome experience so far, and an absolute blast to be around such high-level players and coaches from a great professional organization. Time to get some sleep!

- James