EDMONTON, AB - Practice days have become somewhat of an anomaly for Oilers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock since arriving in Edmonton.
Back-to-back sessions have helped the bench boss further mold the team's structure while improving overall communication amongst the players. This has been an opportunity that has been few and far between due to the team's demanding schedule (14 games in 26 days) since Nov. 23.
A few weeks into his tenure, Hitchcock commented on how the team was executing at a "60 percent clip" and that he looked forward to practice days to work on the finer details.
"The last two days have really helped us," said Hitchcock following Friday's practice at Rogers Place. "Some of the drills were the same from back-to-back practices. I thought we got better at talking on the ice and we got more automatic in our game. I think any time we could do what we have done in the last two days is going to do nothing but benefit us.
Now, we just have to make sure we find the energy to play the game."
Added forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: "Since he's been here, we really haven't practiced much at all. Just morning skates. The past couple of days have been good for us and him."
BLOG: Hitchcock seizing opportunity to teach
"I thought we got better at talking on the ice and we got more automatic in our game. Now, we just have to make sure we find the energy to play the game," said Oilers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock.
