Postcards from Summer Development Camp, Day 1
By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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| In March and April, when the Washington Capitals were engaged in a torrid, must-win-every-night, city-consuming adventure-run to a Southeast division title, 20-year-old Oskar Osala was four thousand miles and seven hours’ worth of time zones away, in his native Finland . . . glued to every minute of it.
“I had channels that I could watch the games, I was really amazed at how good they played,” Osala said Monday afternoon, after his first on-ice session at the Capitals’ 2008 Development Camp. “It was such great hockey, so great to watch. I saw a few playoffs games yes, but the end of the regular season more.
“I was — how do you say?”
“Rock the Red?” his blogger inquisitor offered.
“Yes,” the easygoing left winger replied with a smile.
“I hope I will one day . . . I can be a part of that team, they play such great hockey. It’s really nice to watch, very exciting, hard working hockey.”
[OFB reader, we're running out of space with this first postcard from Camp Kettler, so we're gonna send you a second one pronto.] |
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| The Vaasa, Finland, native was the Capitals’ fourth-round choice, 97th overall, in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He played for Mississauga in the OHL from 2005-07, totaling 87 points (39 goals, 48 assists) in 122 games over two seasons. But it was at the 2007 World Junior Championships that Osala may have enjoyed his breakthrough development experience. He shared the 2007 tournament lead with five goals (and eight points in six games total) for Finland.
Osala left North America for Finland for the 2007-08 season. Skating as a 19-year-old for the Espoo Blues of the SM-liiga, Finland’s top professional hockey league and, along with the Swedish Elite League and the former Russian Super League, widely regarded as one of the top professional leagues in the world, all Osala accomplished was being named Rookie of the Year in the 14-team league.
Returned to North America this month, he quickly made a big impression in the opening moments of this summer’s development camp. He was among the first skaters Monday morning, and a veteran reporter who took in the session approached OFB early in the afternoon and claimed that Osala was a standout in the drills. [Looks like a 3rd card needed. We'll be better with other postcards, but who doesn't like getting mail?] |
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| Osala was asked by a reporter Monday if he was surprised at being named Rookie of the Year in Finland’s top pro league.
“If you’d asked me that before the year yes, but now after the year, I had a pretty strong year, I led the rookies in pretty much every category throughout the year.”
Osala’s decision to return to Finland not only offered him superb competition but allowed him to finish his schooling. Now, though, he’s where he wants to be — and where he wants to remain.
“I’m really excited. This has been my dream since I was a little kid. I will do everything — work as hard as I can to make the Caps, but if not, I will do everything in my power to help Hershey be a successful team next year.”
[Hey, it's only been one day, but we're really having a blast at summer camp. Love, OFB]
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24 Comments
pppppsssstttt…the postmark on the card is for the Rosslyn area…Kettler’s in zip code 22203…sorry, I spent most of my day proof reading a 40 page brochure today, can’t help myself…Love the postcard idea though!!!
We know the zipcode for Kettler, but we mailed the postcard on the way back from camp.
(Look, don’t rain on my parade, it took forever to get that far)
Gus is right — I looked everywhere for a mailbox in Ballston, and came up empty. But it’s not like we mailed you our postcard from Hawaii from Dulles.
That’s very creative! Awesome!
As a PO Box holder in Clarendon, I’m very proud of the 22210 moniker! Well done OFB.
Actually, the zip code is a big deal. If you got that wrong then maybe you also wrote Osala when it should have been Godfrey. All I am saying is that your goal is to report accurate facts, correct? Well then be as accurate as possible and when people call you out on mistakes, don’t act like jerks. Just say you are wrong and try to fix it.
@Big Deal,
I assume you mail every post card from the exact location the postcard was procured? I suppose you never purchase your postcards and write them out at your hotel and ask the front desk to mail them?
Thank you for your input. We enjoyed your email as well.
See you at the rink.
Dude, it is SO a big deal. Your last name isn’t really Gustafsson, so you obviously can’t be trusted. And with all the traffic this blog generates, it can’t possibly be frozen. No credibility whatsoever, man. How could you get something so vitally important so terribly wrong?
Ha! Good point, “Maruk”.
And, shhhh! Don’t tell anyone that it isn’t a real postmark, stamp, or postcard.
Wow, the zip code could be letters and it wouldn’t matter. I’m pretty sure this blog is about hockey not the postal service (please god let me never run across a blog about the USPS). I think the post cards were a great idea and a cool way to post about the day. The only thing I would say is that you should post more pictures if you have them.
To change the subject for a second, I have a question for all you life time hockey fans. What is the point of the development camp? It doesn’t seem like this is a camp to see who will make the team, so is it simply to let the coaches get to know the players a bit more and see where they are skill wise? Will the stand outs from this camp be asked to join the rest of the team when they report for camp early in the fall? And I guess lastly, how and when is it decided who will play in Washington, Hersey and South Carolina?
Sorry for the long question, thanks for any feed back people are willing to give.
Oskar also told us that he’d put on about 5 pounds over last season — not a big leap in physical development by any measure. And while he’s not bulky big by any stretch, he seems to play bigger than his in-street clothes physique would indicate. In some respects his stature reminds me of Viktor Kozlov. When you see Viktor in t-shirt and shorts in a dressing room, you don’t notice anything in the way of the North American fixation with weight training, but he’s obviously in elite condition, and he’s hardly weak on the puck. I think Caps’ fans are really going to enjoy monitoring his development this year and going forward.
Cool feature guys. Looking forward to the next postcard.
I love getting postcards! Especially when they say more than “Wish you were here!”. Keep those cards and letters commin’!
Thanks for sending the postcards. I’m looking forward to attending Camp on Wednesday.
Thank you thank you thank you for the devo camp updates. Those of us who are thousands of miles away with no chance of possibly attending in person greatly appreciate it.
Has Osala’s projected top end potential changed since he’s been drafted?
Dev. camp is about bringing in the most recent couple of draft picks and getting them up to speed in areas from proper way to train/nutrition and well as drills that are run by professionals.
For us draftniks and fans it is news for a bit during the off season as well as away to maybe lay some eyes on some prospects and how they are developing.
Awesome job with the postcards guys. You got ninja blogging skills.
Good grief. I only meant to tease the OFB crew. It’s five silly numbers that really only mean anything to the post office. Anyway, as I said earlier, I love the postcard idea!!! Keep sending them (from whatever the hell zipcode you want)
A shout out to usiel — thank you for your sage synopsis of development camp. I’m not sure the Capitals’ coaching staff could have described it better.
Burgh - Last night I actually went back through my 2006 THN Draft Preview and didn’t find Osala profiled in it; I’d thought he might have cracked THN’s Hot 100 List, for some reason. Still, for some reason I seem to recall him being reasonably well regarded as a pick in his draft — a legit third or early fourth rounder. I also recall that when the Caps made the pick a few DraftGeeks at HF suggested it was a strong and value one. I think when a 4th rounder does what he did at the WJC in ‘07, and follows it up with his ‘07-08 in the top Finnish league, you have to be excited. I know that some Hershey Bears’ folks are excited to get him up there this season.
I took in the camp this morning and was trying to figure out which goalie was Varlamov. One keeper had a blue facemask and another had one that was more white. I thought Varlamov was the one with the mostly white dome. There was another keeper with a red facemask but he was much smaller, so I didn’t think he could be Varly. Any insight?
b.orr- your instincts are correct. More to come on that soon.
As of yesterday, b.orr4, Varlamov was in a red, white, and blue mask that bore a Yaroslav (but in Russian, I believe) ID along one jawline and a Caps’ logo on the other. We may be able to snap a decent photo of it later today.
Thanks for the confirmation. What threw me off was that he had something written in English on the back of his facemask. I think it said “Never Give Up Hope” or something to that effect.
Love the postcards! Have to work or I’d be there too…keep up the great work.
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