Development Camp 2009: Gillies Day 2 Diary

Home: Development Camp 2009 Gillies Camp Diary: July 6

Throughout Camp, Colton Gillies will provide his thoughts on the experience. Gillies, a 6-foot-4, 189-pound forward from White Rock, B.C., was Minnesota's first choice in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft (No. 16 overall), and is attending his third such camp.

July 7, 2009

9:15 p.m. CDT

Today I woke up at 7:18 a.m., knowing it was going to be an active and productive day at camp. We all had breakfast at the Downtowner Woodfire and Grill. There are very few morning people at camp, me included, so the tables were very peaceful and quiet, but the food and service were great!
 
We had a meeting at 8:30, but that was just to inform us that my group had won the general knowledge test that we did last night. Many thanks to Kyle Medvec, the information genius of the group!!! The real reason we came to the rink was to skate ... and boy did we ever!  The first 45 minutes we worked on power skating and then we practiced for 1:15. Overall, the practice went well, with everyone getting the bugs out and starting to get their feet under them. We had lunch at Xcel Energy Center again and a two-hour break at the hotel before going back to the rink to work out.
 
The mental skills development we're doing is very interesting, and we are really trying to learn about ourselves. Today was all about being able to focus on the process of playing the game, being in the moment, being able to accept the situations we are put into and committing to the task.

Right now, I am just waiting for room service before I have a one on one meeting with Dr. Maher.
 
I can tell you this, everyone is exhausted tonight. It's 6 o'clock right now, and my roommate has already fallen asleep, and I'm not too far from dreamland myself.
 
Until tomorrow...
Colton Gillies