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Wednesday, September 29, 1999

Time to sharpen skills, lift game up a notch

By Mark Button
Caller-Times

For some, it's all about getting back their timing. For others, it's a chance to tweak their game, maybe add a new wrinkle.
   Others come with something to prove.
   The IceRays opened training camp for the 1999-2000 Western Professional Hockey League season Tuesday morning and many players - even returning veterans - seemed to have different agendas for the two-week camp.
   "The two weeks help me sharpen my skills," said IceRays forward Mike Tomlinson, who recorded 45 points while anchoring the team's penalty-killing unit. "I don't have my game timing right now. I'm not worried about making the team, but I need to get my timing back."
   Nine-year veteran Dave Shute, one of the fastest skaters in the WPHL, heads into training camp eager to adjust his game.
   Shute was disappointed with his goal total last year (22) and said he wants to use the next two weeks to try and find more ways to score.
   "I'm going to try to look up more when I get the puck," Shute said. "I'm going to look for more give-and-go situations instead of just getting the puck and flying up the ice trying to do it all by myself."
   Shute, who played a regular shift throughout last season, said that in minor-league hockey, no job is absolutely safe.
   "Just because I'm 28 and I've been playing professionally for eight years doesn't mean I have a job locked up," he said. "I want to come in every day, play hard, bring a good attitude and make sure no one takes my job."
   IceRays coach Taylor Hall primarily used Roger Lewis - the fan's choice for unsung hero of the team last season - as a defensive forward on the checking line last year.
   Lewis wants to be more of scoring threat this season and plans to use training camp as his proving grounds.
   "I proved I can do what (Hall) wanted me to do," Lewis said. "Now I want to prove that I can play an offensive role as well."
   And then there's Brad Wingfield, the aggressive forward who suffered a spiral fracture of his right tibia and shattered his right fibula when he crashed into the metal-piped frame of a goal in Lake Charles late in the second half of last season.
   Wingfield came to camp in great physical shape - he's added seven pounds of muscle while trimming his body fat from 17 to 13 percent - but he needs to test his leg.
   "I have to get my intensity up and I have to get off to a good start," he said. "I haven't played in a game since Feb. 26. So I'm going to use these two weeks to get in game shape."
   IceCubes
   A Valk makes Whoopee: Phil Valk was released by the IHL's Houston Aeros last week but signed to play in the Central Hockey League with the Macon Whoopee. Valk will join fellow former IceRays goalie Scott Barber in Macon.
   A BQ hanging in: Bob Quinnell made it past another cut Monday as he continues his quest to make the IHL's Long Beach Ice Dogs roster. Quinnell said the team should make final cuts by Friday.
   Camp started: Sept. 28
   Camp ends: Oct. 8
   Exhibition games: Oct. 3 and 5, against Lake Charles
   Season begins: Oct. 13, a home game against Austin.



Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com.

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