Traverse City ends; Training Camp begins

And the Buffalo Sabres are your 2011 Traverse City Prospects Tournament champions.  Their first year ever doing the tournament, too!  Eh, so it goes.  It was fun to watch hockey, and these kids have a lot going for them.  Went down 2-0 in the first, came back to tie it and went into the third tied 2-2, then gave up 3 goals in the third.  Honestly, I think the kids played a decent third period, just had some bad breaks.  2nd place at Traverse City is nothing to be sad about.

What I actually came here to say was that J.T. Miller and Carl Hagelin, both of whom I called out yesterday as being not particularly impressive, bounced back with very good games last night.  Miller was much more of a presence than he was in the Carolina game, and Hagelin showed much more of that speed that I had read about but not seen.  So, good for both of them.

Meanwhile, hockey really is booting up quickly here.  With the Traverse City tourney ending yesterday, official training camp starts tomorrow.  Though most of the Rangers have already been skating at the practice facility by now, tomorrow starts Torts's official training regimen.  Sometime soon, we'll see an official roster of something on the order of 60 players who are at camp, and that'll be the group that the roster is eventually made of.  Torts will try various combinations at camp and in the 7 preseason games that will come between next Wednesday and October 3.  Throughout this process, the roster will be trimmed a few players at a time until it is down to the opening night roster, in time for the Rangers' season opener October 7.

I'll try to keep this thing updated, as I did last season, with all the new roster announcements as they come in.  Holy shit you guys, hockey's starting!