Canes Country's Guide to the 2010 Hurricanes Conditioning Camp

Here at Canes Country, all of us have spent the better part of the last three weeks predicting the order of the Entry Draft, covering the Draft as it happened, and then analyzing the new players who may well comprise the future of the Hurricanes franchise.

Starting today, many of those we saw two weeks ago with Bob Wage in LA, as well as some from previous years' drafts - as far back as 2005 - are here in Raleigh to learn about NHL hockey in the South. While the RecZone, where the on-ice portion of the camp will be held, will never "wow" them with anything close to four-star accommodations, the old-time rink holds a special place in the hearts of many of us who follow hockey in Carolina. As fans, this is our chance to give these kids a taste of the dedicated Carolina fanbase, and show them we really do know a thing or two about our hockey and our team. 

Off-ice, the players will be under the [grueling] supervision of Hurricanes Head Athletic Trainer/Strength and Conditioning Coach Pete Friesen most of the day. Then, they'll lace 'em up and take to the ice in the late afternoon at the RecZone with Associate Head Coach/Director of Player Personnel Ron Francis, Assistant Coach Tom Barrasso, Director of Defensemen Development Glen Wesley and Charlotte Checkers Head Coach Jeff Daniels. The sessions are open to the public for all four days, starting this afternoon and running through Saturday, at 4:45 to 5:45 pm

Canes Country has also put together a printable Guide to the prospects, in table format with photos, a sort of "Conditioning Camp Cliff Notes", to help you identify and remember these 13 players while you're there. For ease of reference, you can download this Guide as a.pdf. Print it out and bring it with you. You will be the envy of all those around you trying to figure out who all those new hockey players are. Click here to download the table for printing. 

After the jump a look at some random numbers of this year's camp and a web-based version of our handy Guide to help you sort through this information overload.

Some numbers to consider:

Headcount: 13  (Last year only had 10 in attendance, 4 of whom were free agent tryouts or college invitees)

Position: 5 Forwards, 8 Defensemen, 0 goalies.

Average age: 19 years, 8 months.

Average height: 6' -0 1/2" and Average weight: 187.5 lbs.

Average overall pick #. 102nd (mid 4th round)

Nationality: 7 Canadians, 3 US, 2 Finns, 1 Czech.

Junior hockey path: 9 Major Junior  (CHL) hockey, 4 NCAA. 

Total times these players have attended camp with the Canes: 0

As promised here is the table compiling the highlights of the information we've been studying the last month. (Regretfully SBN's table-graphics are limited and wouldn't allow the photos that you'll see on the printable .pdf). Take a look and see what sticks. And be sure to make a note in the comments below if and when you'll be at the RecZone to coordinate some Canes Country meet-ups. 

And finally, the name of the young man photographed at the top? That's Riley Nash, taken on Draft Day 2007.