Troy Grosenick shares his thoughts on New York Rangers Prospect Camp
Last week, five Dutchmen took part in NHL Development camps, including Daniel Carr and Wayne Simpson (Boston Bruins), Josh Jooris (Vancouver Canucks), and incoming freshman Timothy Boyle (Ottawa Senators).
Also among the group was rising junior goaltender Troy Grosenick was in New York last week on an invitation to New York Rangers Development Camp, which took place from June 25-29 at MSG Training Center in Greenburgh, NY.
Grosenick, who by all accounts was impressive in camp, took the time to reflect on his five days in New York…
Before I went to camp, I talked to some of the Union guys that had gone through NHL camps before. I talked to Keith (Kinkaid) which was helpful, especially since he had been to Rangers camp two years ago. I also talked to (Josh) Jooris, my roommate, about his experience. All the advice really helped. It’s a pro camp, and they are evaluating you to see where you fit in their system. It’s great to see the next level, see where you have to get better at, and that’s what I took away from it. Learning what the next step is really like, and what it takes to reach your goal of playing at the next level.
I didn’t know too many of the other guys at the Rangers’ camp beforehand. Ryan Haggerty of RPI was a familiar face, and we talked a bit. The college guys hung out together – we all have similar experiences, so it was good to meet those guys.
On Day 1, like every day, we woke up early for a shuttle that left the hotel at 7:00 a.m. The MSG Training Facility is pretty sweet. We got to use a state-of-the art facility and have meals in the Rangers’ cafeteria. On the first day, all the goalies had to do was off-ice testing. We had all different kinds of jumps, two-legged, single-legged, chin-ups, push-ups, you name it. The forwards and defensemen had to do a lot of skating tests on the ice. We all went back to the hotel and chilled out that first night.
On Tuesday morning, the goalies were on the ice for the first time, and I worked with the Rangers goalie coach Benoit Allaire for 50 minutes. It was pretty cool to establish relationship with an NHL goalie coach. It’s really good to work with a guy like that, who works with Henrik Lundquist on a daily basis. He gave me some things to work on over the summer and get better at, and it’s always nice to have a coach at that level tell you how you’re doing, some constructive criticism. Then the camp split up into two teams and right after that we had our first scrimmage of the camp. (click here for video of Tuesday scrimmage, with highlights including Grosenick, wearing #81)
That night, we took a boat cruise on the Hudson River around New York City. We had the opportunity to meet Rangers season-ticket holders, and there were a number of Union College alumni in the group, so that was great. Some of the Rangers’ alumni were also on the boat, like Jeff Beukeboom and Adam Graves, and I later had the opportunity to meet Mark Messier. It’s pretty cool to be able to meet a few of the names you followed as a kid watching the NHL.
The next two days we had the exact same schedule – goalie practice, stretching, workouts, scrimmage, lunch, and then back to the hotel. Rod Gilbert joined us on the ice – he was quite a character. I had the opportunity to talk to him for a while and found out that he was on Twitter. He tweeted a photo of us on the boat cruise. (click here for photo gallery of the cruise)
On Friday, after our last day of camp, I met with a few people in the Rangers organization for evaluations. It was a really good experience. The Rangers have a first class organization. My first NHL game was this past spring, Rangers vs. Capitals, Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. That was pretty awesome, just a great atmosphere and something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I grew up rooting for the Chicago Blackhawks, and will be going to their prospect camp next, so it’s pretty cool that I ‘m going to the camps of two teams that I have great ties to.
