My First NHL Camp: Isaac Ratcliffe

Throughout Development Camp, Flyers 2nd round pick, Isaac Ratcliffe, will be keeping a personal blog for PhiladelphiaFlyers.com. Follow along with Isaac during the week as he experiences his first NHL Camp:
FIRST ENTRY: Welcome to the Show
Hey Flyers fans,
It's my first camp here and hope you enjoy reading these throughout the week. It's been hectic since being drafted, but I got into town on Wednesday here. I flew in from Ontario and I saw a few guys at the airport who I've met before and have had the pleasure of playing against in Guelph so having that familiarity right off the start was big.
We came directly to the rink when landing in Philly and then walked back to the hotel after we dropped our gear off. When we were at the rink we got a tour and checked this place out. The new gym, the lounge and some of the other parts here are great and I really got a feel of what the rest of the week would be like.

I'm rooming with Matt Strome. We're good friends. I've played with him and against, and we've known each other for a long time now so having a friend come along with me at the beginning of this journey is nice. Even a guy like Morgan Frost, who I've also known for a while, it just kind of helps to have something like that to lean on when maybe you're sitting alone at a certain point and don't know too many faces in the room. Having those guys with me at the end of the day, and having Strome starting off in the morning is definitely good for me.
Before we turned in for the night, we also had a meeting the first day. General Manager Ron Hextall told us that this is a learning experience for us. We're not being evaluated here. We've already been evaluated for the last couple years when they've been watching us so we're here for a reason and it's to get to know what it's going to be like at the next level and realize the work effort we need to put in for the next couple years.

To me, that's a great feeling because you're not too antsy coming in here knowing you're not being evaluated all of a sudden a week after you've been drafted. Going out on the ice, you're not as nervous because you know you're there to learn. You're going to make mistakes and they understand that, so having that comfort level allows us to open our game up to new things.
After a day of physicals and doing some fun media stuff with the team, the on-ice start of camp was awesome because now it really hit me that it's all starting to kick into gear and it's getting real.
That's all for today. We have another full day of practice on and off the ice tomorrow with meetings, so I'll fill everyone in on what went on later.
Thanks for reading!
-Isaac