Gosford Training Camp- Day 7 & 8

Day 7 began with an early morning wake up call followed by our usual breakfast and a morning drive to the rink.

Our ice session was very sharp this morning. We decided it was time to work a little on our competitiveness. So after a couple quick flow drills we went straight into a series of Small Area Games and gave the boys a chance to really compete and show their edge. Rick came away with the Star for the session. We held our daily round of Dish Boy. A couple familiar faces took the title today in Lyle Idoine and Andrew Hay.

We came back to the villas for lunch- chicken soup! A little while later we held a team meeting where we discussed the captaincy and held a vote. The team decided Corey Down would continue to be our leader. This is a big vote of confidence and shows the respect we have for him and the pride we all feel in his coaching the Ice Fernz to their first ever Gold Medal. Well-done Corey! Brett Speirs and Ian Wannamaker will ably assist him. Here are three guys that lead by example and personify the values of this team.

We then went over our face-off sets pieces and discussed our options. This is what we were going to work on in training after dinner.

After a big bowl of Spag Bol we headed to the rink for a quick session of live play off face-offs. It was a short session and I could tell the boys wanted to keep playing; they were that keen. But we had other plans for the evening. Ian and Sue managed to get us corporate box tickets to the League game between Manly Sea Eagles and South Sydney Rabbittohs here in Gosford. It was a great game and the boys all had the chance to relax and have a laugh and a beer after a hard week or work. The boys all chose sides and scores and it was Lyle Idoine that came away the victor predicting the Bunnys would win by 2!

Day 8 is our last full day in Gosford. We scheduled it as a day off thinking we’d have a game on Monday. At least now it gives the guys a day to dry all their equipment and do some laundry before we head to Melbourne tomorrow morning. We cleaned out the dressing room this morning and will spend the afternoon in Terrigal on the beach before coming back for dinner and a little bit of home with last dessert in the Tea Room where Mel has prepared a big old Pavlova for the boys.

We all want to thank Ellis and Ashley at Erina Ice Rink for their helpfulness and great service all week. We also need to say a huge thank you to Mel and Donna in the Avoca Tea Room for the love and kindness they have put into every home cooked meal we have had this week. They are certainly honorary Ice Blacks and we know they will be cheering us on next week from Gosford.