Image via WikipediaIt sounds like Chay Genoway made quite the impression this past week at the Minnesota Wild development camp. It would be awesome to see a player like Chay Genoway make it to the NHL. Minnesota Wild --- At 5-foot-9, 177 pounds, Chay Genoway doesn’t look like your prototypical NHL defensemen.The last paragraph caught my attention because of what has transpired this past week at the University of North Dakota; as most college hockey fans know the Fighting Sioux had a commitment from J.T. Miller, who was drafted in the first round of the NHL draft by the New York Rangers, to play at UND... Then for some unknown reason J.T. Miller decides with less than a month and a half before the school year is about to start that he would rather play for the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL. If one of Miller's concerns is player development, playing at UND wouldn't hinder his development.
But looks are often deceiving.
At the Minnesota Wild Development Camp, the recent free agent signee out of the University of North Dakota is doing what he can to show that height is just a number, and strength knows no limits.
Genoway’s off-ice strength testing has been as impressive as his coast-to-coast goal in Saturday’s scrimmage. Word has it that after piling up the most consecutive pushups among the prospects, he immediately started his pull ups and tallied the highest number of those.
“He is quite strong physically,” said Kirk Olson, the Wild’s recently hired strength and conditioning coach, whose first order of business was working out the prospects this week. “He has a low center of gravity and is hard to knock off his feet.”
If anyone knows size isn’t always relative to strength, it’s Genoway. The former UND captain is showing that he arrived at camp ready to make a run at a professional career.
“I’ve been doing the normal summer time stuff, like lifting weights and conditioning,” Genoway said. “But I also tried to get on the ice more than usual this summer so it wouldn’t be too strenuous on things like the groin or hip-flexors, like the ice can be when you jump right to it.”
In his first camp, at 23 years old, Genoway was one of the elder statesmen. His development as a player is advanced compared to his younger counterparts, and he knows the importance of making a good first impression.
Maybe this is a stretch, but I think one could make the inference that Chay's development at UND helped him made an impression on the Minnesota Wild management, the Wild coaching staff and the fans of the Minnesota Wild that attended the Wild Development Camp.
