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Training Camp Opens With "The Test" >

The Rangers opened camp today with Coach John Tortorella’s infamous endurance skating test.  There won’t be a puck on the ice until Sunday, but Tortorella considers this to be an important indicator of how players trained over the summer and to prepare them for the grueling road ahead.

Andrew Gross explains how the test works, “The groups are doing six, three-lap repetitions. The timing goes like this: Overall time, individual laps and comparison of early and later laps are all compiled to show what kind of shape the player is in.”

The players took the test in four different groups and there will be a timed distance run later.

The groups:

Group 1:
Sean Avery, Ruslan Fedotenko, Kris Newbury, Brandon Prust, Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, Erik Christensen, Mike Rupp, Steve Eminger, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Tommy Grant, Kale Kerbashian.

Group 2:
Brandon Dubinsky, Marian Gaborik, Carl Hagelin, Dylan McIlrath, Artem Anisimov, John Mitchell, Brad Richards, Derek Stepan, Ryan Bourque, Andre Deveaux, Wojtek Wolski, Mats Zuccarello, Tim Erixon, Jordan Hickmott, Chad Kolarik, Dale Weise.

Group 3:
Lee Baldwin, Tomas Kundratek, J.T. Miller, Pavel Valentenko, Sam Klassen, Jyri Niemi, Jared Nightingale, Samuel Noreau, Brendan Bell, Stu Bickel, Michael Del Zotto, Michael Sauer, Andreas Thuresson.

Group 4:
Peter Ceresnak, Blake Parlett, Christian Thomas, Jason Wilson, Tayler Jordan, Shane McColgan, Michael St. Croix, Collin Bowman, Chris McKelvie, Kelsey Tessier, Scott Tanski, Matt Rust, Andrew Yogan, Marty Biron, Chad Johnson, Henrik Lundqvist, Jason Missiaen, Scott Stajcer, Cameron Talbot.

Here’s a smattering of notes on how the players did today:

- Marian Gaborik, who returned to Slovakia for Pavol Demitra’s funeral, was not on the ice today. 

- Artem Anisimov was in Russia for funeral services as well and though he is back in North America, he didn’t skate today either.  It turns out that doctors discovered a knee issue during Anisimov's physical, but an MRI came up negative.  

- Blake Parlett and Mike Sauer also didn’t participate due to injuries.  Sauer has tendinitis behind his knee and groin.

- Mike Rupp said the test “lived up to expectations.”

- Tim Erixon made the test “look like a morning walk in the park.”

- Dan Girardi was the first Ranger on the ice this morning.

- “Somehow Ruslan Fedotenko maintains a smile & bangs on glass in front of reporters after having done first six laps of conditioning sprints” - @thenyrangers

- Wojtek Wolski admitted to totally overhauling his summer training regimen and was not pleased with his play last year.  The early results were positive, Wolski reportedly looked great today.  Tortorella said that Wolski will get a shot on the first line as will other players.  Tortorella believes Wolski took his end-of-year meeting "to heart."

- Derek Stepan is under the mindset that he still must earn his spot on the roster.

- As we saw at Traverse City, Carl Hagelin is really, really fast.

- Kale Kerbashian and Sean Avery had no problems with the test in Group 1.

- Brandon Dubinsky skated well.

- Stepan, Brad Richards and John Mitchell were winded.

- Richards doesn’t have a preference for a particular left wing but told Steve Zipay he’s had success with "big, up-and-down guys" in the past.

- Dubinsky also altered his training regimen to combat his leg injury and has cut back on running in favor of biking.

- Assistant GM Jim Schoenfeld told Bruce Berlet the Rangers plan to bring 30-32 players on their trip to Europe, so we could see cuts sooner than usual.

- John Tortorella is very eager to see Michael Del Zotto in camp. He wants MDZ to get his "swagger" back.

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