A handful of Powassan Voodoos players traveled to Orillia this week to train with a professional skating coach and meet a Stanley Cup champion.
Michael Silveri, Nathan McLeod, Jeremy St. Pierre, Josh Ibbitson along with Voodoos prospects Andrew DeMarco and Thomas Farrell spent over an hour working with former Olympic Skater Neil Carpenter.
The group met up and watched Carpenter do his one-on-one skating with Clifford and then did their training session at the Rotary arena in Orillia.
The session was coordinated by Voodoos co-owner Dan Rivet.
Voodoos forward Nathan McLeod was impressed with the skating session.
“A lot of it was getting your body over your feet and keeping your shoulders parallel with the ground, keeping your shoulders up and keeping your body up instead of just moving your feet around, it gives you a lot more balance and quicker turns,” said the 2013-14 Great North Midget League scoring leader with the Midget AAA Trappers.
Voodoos defenceman Josh Ibbitson was excited to be train like a professional.
“It was really cool and to know that’s somebody you watch and I try to learn from in the NHL, to see him win Stanley Cups and it’s cool to meet him and it’s cool to learn from someone who taught him to skate.”
Carpenter sees some skating potential in the group.
“They all had positive attitudes and they were all willing to listen and to learn something. They gave me lots of opportunity to help them improve by trying to position their body over top of their skates and get their feet underneath them and know where to go with the moves and I did see some improvement out there but there is a lot of work.”
LA Kings forward Kyle Clifford stuck around after his ice session to chat with players and Voodoos co-owner Dan Rivet. The two-time Stanley Cup champion says Carpenter has helped take his skating to another level.
“Neil has done wonders for me, the timing, the push has got a lot more powerful, it’s gotten quicker and I think the overall balance has improved as well,” said Clifford who is in his second summer training with Carpenter.
