Wings well-represented at Warren Strelow goaltending camp

PLYMOUTH -- Some of the best coaches and players in American goaltending are in Michigan this week.
They're participating in the 11th annual Warren Strelow National Team Goaltending Camp at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich.

The Detroit Red Wings are well-represented with goaltending coach Jeff Salajko, goalie Jimmy Howard and prospect Keith Petruzzelli.

"I've worked for USA Hockey in various camps over the years and this is the first year we've added a pro segment, a pro division, ironically enough named Team Howard," Salajko said. "But we have 10 goalies that have played pro here. Connor Hellebuyck was slated to come out but he went to a camp out in BC last week and just got back. It's great having Jimmy here, just for these young kids to be able to see him and watch him work and do some of the same drills, to see how he handles himself and for some of these other guys, Charlie Lindgren of Montreal, some of these other guys that are pros, to see how they carry themselves. So it's great having them and just being able to watch them work for the week."
Often the hockey camps have all positions but the Warren Strelow camp is different because it's only goaltenders.

"You're bringing in the top goalies, not only in junior and college-age and pro but the big part of it that has always been has been the younger kids," Salajko said. "We've got kids here as young as 16, 17, 18, a lot of kids that are draft-eligible next season so it's great to be out here. We've got a lot of scouts out here, Las Vegas is here, Minnesota is here, Carolina is here. There are teams here. We're represented here this week, just watching these guys, getting an early look at them before they start their season, going into the USHL or whatever college teams."
Because Petruzzelli attends Quinnipiac University, he cannot take part in the prospect tournament in Traverse City so this was his first chance to meet Howard.
"He seems like a good guy, like to have fun, joking around with the guys in the locker room," Petruzzelli said. "Obviously he's a damn good goalie out on the ice, too."
Howard said he was looking forward to meeting the young Wings prospect.
"He seems like a great kid, he seems really eager to learn," Howard said. "Being out on the ice with him, I'm looking forward to working forward to working with him this week. It's always good to get out there with those younger guys with all that energy."
For Petruzzelli, he looks to Howard as someone whose path he can follow. Howard was also a college goaltender at the University of Maine.
"Just knowledge, experience. A guy like that has been through everything," Petruzzelli said. "He's seen it all. He's seen tough bounces, he's seen stuff like that. His knowledge, I'd love to pick his brain a little bit and see what advice he has for me."
Petruzzelli admits he was in need of advice going into his first year at Quinnipiac. He declared an early major of civil engineering but the demands of that plus Division 1 hockey proved to be too much too soon.
"I struggled with getting to class and balancing just the overall workload of classes and balancing it with a lot of hockey every day," Petruzzelli said. "I think I definitely bit off more than I could chew with the civil engineering major and it was a tough first semester. But thank God, I was able to get out of it and I'm business undeclared now. It's a lot for sure."
Petruzzelli said the academic struggles led to problems on the ice as well, but he was able to rebound in the second half of the season.
Four of his five victories came after Feb. 1.
"Definitely the second half of the year I picked it up," Petruzzelli said. "I was able to calm my movements down a lot. Just the overall stress. I was doing brutal in school first semester so I was stressed out with that. Obviously that takes a toll on your hockey, too, because you can't think about hockey. Getting my school taken care of first, I think that was a huge part of why I was able to have success in the second part of the season."
Quinnipiac added Ali Theodore, an academic support learning skills specialist, who helped Petruzzelli develop a plan to stay on track academically.
"She was awesome, she stayed on top of me with stuff, just a great resource to talk to about what's going on," Petruzzelli said. "I was doing a lot of strict study hours toward the end of the season, the second semester there. I was at the rink for 10 hours a week just doing schoolwork. I think just kind of structuring my schedule more where I'm not like, oh, I'll do it whenever. Where it's like I've got two hours of study and I'll do all my work. That's a huge thing for me."
Petruzzelli said he's had some good talks with Salajko, both before this camp and during it.
"It's his sophomore year this year so we want to see him get better in those departments and also on the ice," Salajko said. "We want to hear a little bit more positive feedback from him. Coming back from the world junior camp now, he played a real good game the one game and had a tough one against Canada. We'd love to see him nail down one of those three spots for Team USA. Whether that happens or not, his first half of the season will dictate that, if he gets invited back. All you want to see is these kids grow and mature and develop. He's got a three-year window now to do it."
Petruzzelli, whose older brother D.J. also plays for Quinnipiac, has already set some early goals for this coming season.
"I just really want to put together a good, solid year this year," Petruzzelli said. "I'd like to put some weight on obviously and just kind of take care of myself a lot better this year. Last year wasn't great obviously. I think if I can take care of myself and find that consistency, I think I'll be in a good spot next year."
One player who is already in a good but very different spot is Howard, who welcomed his third child and first daughter, Olivia, this past May.
Instagram from @jimmyhowardofficial: Rachel, James, Henry, and I are excited to announce that we have extended our family with this beautiful little princess Olivia Theresa born May 7th at 8:29am #blessed🙏 #princess
"Olivia is awesome," Howard said. "All she does is she smiles all day long. She brings a lot of warmth to my wife's and my heart. It's awesome waking up every single morning just seeing her smiling at us."
Howard was smiling when he heard that the Wings had signed Jonathan Bernier on the first day of free agency.
"As soon as we signed Jonathan, I reached out to him right away," Howard said. "I got his phone number from Cam Fowler actually. I just texted him and said I look forward to working with him and congratulations. I can't wait to officially meet him when we get to camp."
Salajko said he's looking forward to working with both players this season.
"I know Jimmy, his makeup and work ethic, and it seems that Bernier is that same mold," Salajko said. "I'm excited to have two guys that are going to push each other. Not saying that we didn't have that in the past, but not to this extent."
Salajko said Bernier was at the top of the Wings' list when they were looking for goalies and heard from everyone that he was a great professional.
It didn't take long for Bernier to prove those people right.
"We took him out to dinner when he was looking for houses a few weeks ago when he first came to town," Salajko said. "He was in the gym in the morning, 6:30 every day in the gym down in the arena. That was pretty impressive when he was there with his wife and his son and he's staying all the way out in Troy and he's driving downtown to get his workout in. I was pretty impressed by that. Jimmy and him, I know they'll get along and push each other. They're both great teammates and that's why guys like that can exist and (have) sustainability in this league for that long."
With the parity in the league right now, Salajko knows that the Wings will need both goalies to perform at a high level.
"Jonathan Bernier has shown that he has the potential to get hot," Salajko said. "Last year he won nine in a row for Colorado and I think he was the reason they got into the playoffs. I hope Jimmy can come out of the gates (hot).
"I hope we have the best 1-2 punch in the league. They're going to give us a chance to maybe fight for that playoff spot."