(Dayton GM Bill Corfield and an unidentified female companion attended a private prospect camp held in an undisclosed location at Hocking Hills State Park in Southern Ohio over the weekend of October 28th-30th. Here are Corfield's private notes, which we here at TSN have obtained via an arrangement we are not able to speak any further on. )
10/27/2017: First Impressions from Hocking Hills Prospect camp...
7:45pm: We arrived mid-evening at the camp site. Toured the Hocking Hills Hockey Haven,(HHHH), and am highly impressed. I've never seen a rink who's refrigeration system ran on rubber bands and well trained gerbals, but it's quite something to see. The ice is hard and fast and one quickly gets used to the smell of the gerbals litterally shitting themselves trying to keep the refrigeration units up and running.
8:30pm: Rink manager Dale "Ace" Rossetti welcomed us to his executive office, such as it is - I've nothing against efficient use of a glorified broom closet - and he gave us a summary of the weekend's events. The kids were already arriving and getting settled in their respective cottages. The rink had a light meal available for everyone (candied bacon over fettucine with a deer liver sauce and a spinach salad) and the ice was available for a late night skate so the kids could get to know each other a bit.
Mr. Rosetti explained that the camp participants had been carefully screened and selected from over 500 draft eligible players across North America and Europe. "You will be impressed, I promise you, Bill. This is the finest group I've ever seen under one roof for an event like this." Reviewing the roster of the invited players, I didn't recognize a single name, which I found puzzling. "Bill, everybody knows about those other kids that show up on the pre draft rankings from Central Scouting and ISS. These are kids that have taken uh, a different path and to our good fortune - and yours - they represent the next great wave of NHL superstars. You'll see..." said Rosetti.
10:00pm: After some additional conversation, my assistant and I retired to our room for the night. A very cozy setting, other than a few dozen flies - big ones, too - it was a comfortable night. We especially appreciated the complimentary Wild Turkey that was waiting for us as we shared a drink and the roaring fireplace. Clarification-The drink we shared was the remnants of a large slushie we'd pick up at a local Speedway in our way into town. The "Wild Turkey" I referred to above was LITERALLY a wild turkey native to the local nature preserve making a racket on our front porch. (***THE REST OF THIS PARTICULAR EVENING IS CLASSIFIED AND NOT RELEVANT TO THE PURPOSE OF OUR TRIP.***)
Part two comes tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment