Chicago Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson was visibly displeased following Tuesday's 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins and implied that the next practice would be a spirited one that would include the dreaded battle drills.
"They don’t like that, but if you don’t do it in a game, you have to do it in practice," Richardson said. "That’s just the way it is. That’s the work ethic in any sport, really."
Richardson stayed true to his word.
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After an off day on Wednesday, the Blackhawks returned to practice at Fifth Third Arena on Thursday and it was, by far, the most grueling practice of the season, which lasted almost an hour.
"It was the best practice, I thought," Connor Bedard said. "It was a lot of fun. We're competing but we're having fun. That's like a game: you've got to battle hard, so it's good we got that in today."
Nick Foligno, who's one of the leaders in the locker room, appreciated the intensity level.
"That's the standard that we need to get to and understand in this room," Foligno said. "Luke shouldn't have to say it, but I know we're a younger team. It's got to almost be second nature here that that's just the bare minimum.
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"That kind of a practice, that should be nonstop all year long as far as I'm concerned, as far as the way we compete. If you played like that in a practice and compete against each other like that, it should carry over to when you actually don't like the guys on the other side."
Let's just say the message was received by everyone, including the rookies, which was evident when Bedard and Wyatt Kaiser were involved in a feisty net-front battle drill in the early stages of practice. You had to love seeing it.
"I just like to play like that, hard," Kaiser said. "It's fun, that was a fun practice. Just playing hockey.
"I don't know if it matters — it doesn't matter if Connor is out there or not, it's every guy you're going as hard as you can against them. It's everybody. You try to make each other better. Everybody wants to win. The competitiveness comes out and the pace picks up a little bit."
Bedard's NHL career is just beginning, but he took Richardson's comments to heart.
"For sure," Bedard said. "I think he's right. He's a great coach and we all have so much respect for him, so whenever he talks, we listen. Whatever he sees is usually what's right. Him saying that, we've got to get motivation from that a little bit."
Richardson admittedly got what he wanted from the players out of the practice. Now he's looking for it to translate to Friday's contest in Vegas.
"It was a really good practice," Richardson said. "I thought we got up and down the ice well, the compete level was high and the guys enjoyed it. They were cheering each other on and razzing each other. It’s just like a game and that’s what we wanted to try and emulate today."
Asked whether he expects more of that moving forward, Richardson replied: "I think they should expect more of that in our game. And we’ll be happy as coaches if we see that."