Adjusting to the Altitude

The Colorado Avalanche 2023-24 Training Camp is in the books. Held at Family Sports Center, a roster of 60 players joined head coach Jared Bednar and the coaching staff from September 21st – September 23rd, 2023. The team was split into two groups for separate sessions over the course of the three days.

Players worked with coaching staff and teammates on drills, mini scrimmages, and the infamous skate-back test. “You just got to get back into game shape, it happens pretty quick," defenseman Kurtis MacDermid said when asked about the test. "You just got to do your best and do your work over the summer and hopefully the transition of getting back up to speed isn’t so long."

"I could feel it in the lungs a little bit, but it was nice just to get up and down the sheet a little bit. It was definitely tough but nice to get it out of the way,” said forward Ross Colton on his first day of training camp.

"We have to go through it to sustain the conditioning over the season,” said Tomas Tatar on the skate test at the end of practice.

Jonathan Drouin came to Colorado at the end of August in an effort to help with the transition to the high altitude. “The first couple days weren’t bad, but day five to day eight or nine were the hardest, but now I’m starting to feel pretty normal."

"It’s fun. That’s why I wanted to come early. See the arena. See the staff. See the new players. To start camp feeling really comfortable with the group. It’s a really fun group," Jonathan Drouin said.

"It's good bonding," says Ryan Johansen "to really exert yourselves to that level and having all of your brothers doing it with you on the ice." Listen to the rest of his media availability here.

The Avalanche will take on the Minnesota Wild in their first preseason game tomorrow at Ball Arena at 1:00 PM. The game can be seen on Altitude TV and heard on Altitude Radio.