43
Paulides skates with Sharks prospects
By TOM WILLIAMS
YOUNGSTOWN
Forty-eight hours after the most grueling workout of his 18 years, Youngstown Phantoms defenseman Ben Paulides said participating in the San Jose Sharks’ development camp was one of the best experiences of his hockey career.
“Yesterday, everything felt pretty bad, everything was super sore,” said Paulides of the camp’s final day which featured a workout at Moffett Field, a nearby military base in Santa Clara, Calif.
“That was the hardest workout of my life,” said Paulides on Sunday. He was calling from his home in Los Gatos, a suburb of San Jose, after playing tennis to loosen his muscles. “It was designed to push us to our limit.”
After four days of skating and drills, the Sharks’ hopefuls spent Friday at the base working under the guidance of paratroopers. Drills included lifting and flipping tractor-trailer tires, carrying weights on stretchers and pulling all-terrain vehicles on ropes. Then the pro hockey hopefuls finished with a lengthy run.
“Everybody was pushed to the limit,” Paulides said. “My whole body was burning.”
Most of the 40 hockey players at the five-day development camp were draft picks of the Sharks, the National Hockey League’s best team during the 2009-10 regular season before being swept by the Chicaho Blackhawks in the Western Conference final.
Paulides, who will return to Ohio next month to prepare for the Phantoms’ second season, has not been drafted. He participated at the invitation of a friend — Roy Sommer, the coach of the Sharks’ American Hockey League team in Worcester, Mass.
“He invited me out to get extra ice time so I can get used to that level of play.” Paulides said.
Unlike the Phantoms’ tryout camp last month where competition was designed to select a team, the Sharks’ camp was all about getting experience for prospects hoping to make the sport a career.
“What a great experience for him,” said Phantoms coach Curtis Carr explaining that Paulides is the only Phantom to attend a NHL camp this summer.
“I’m just so happy for him to get this chance,” Carr said. “He worked extremely hard before he came back for our [June] tryout camp. He’s put in a lot of time and effort. He’s very disciplined.”
Paulides said there was no tryout pressure.
“Guys weren’t there to be evaluated, no one was trying to make a team,” Paulides said. “I learned in that week then in the past three years of playing. They share with you so much that if you just retain half of it you’re learning a ton.”
Paulides said Sharks coach Todd McLellan and General Manager Doug Wilson were watching when the camp opened last Monday.
Working with players from colleges, the Canadian junior majors and the USHL, Paulides admitted he “absolutely felt intimidated the first couple of days. But by Wednesday, I felt I had brought up my game up to that level.”
The Phantoms will regroup in late August at Boardman’s Ice Zone to prepare for their second USHL season.