GDI's First Prospect Camp in Sweden

GDI President Dan Blackburn traveled to Skara, Sweden to help new RM Torleif Lundstein and Martin Desner put on their first GDI week-long camp. Germany RM Ben Weichart met up with the fellow Euros to help out and lend his own personal expertise in how to best run the rigorous schedule a GDI camp demands.

Among the attendees were four DEL goalies from Germany and 2 German National team goalies, who helped to make this camp a success. Perhaps, though, the Swedes/Germans were not as devoted to their training in the off-season as they would be ideally, as Blackburn joked they had to take "a spa day" in the middle of the week to recuperate from the intense level of physical activity.

An interesting thing to note is that the Goalie Monkey has a store in Sweden that will soon be featuring GDI gear. You can see the new GDI pads in the picture above, featuring Jimmy Blomqvist, who was certainly the best-equipped goalie in the camp (and we think his choice of fiery red, silver and white was pretty spectacular too!) Additionally, the new gear sizing suite is up on the GDI website. Changes to the previous sizing suite mean that you can customize your EVO2 gear as well as send your order directly to your local dealer via email or fax. Check it out!

GDI Convention, Day 2--RMs Go Country

The RMs met at Dallas's Asian fusion restaurant, Bengal Coast

After a day spent at GDI Headquarters and on ice, the RMs made progress in developing key new techniques that will be debuted at this summer’s camps. They even tested out a new puck-shooting machine, which was crafted by GDI Scandinavia’s Torleif Lundsten.

A long day of business left the RMs hungry and in need of entertainment, so after having dinner at Bengal Coast, the group headed out to Dallas’s country dance saloon, Cowboys Red River. Several RMs were spotted two-stepping around Cowboys’ circular, race-track style dance floor. Other brave souls tried their luck at the mechanical bull:

RM Torleif Lundsten of GDI Scandinavia stayed on for an impressive 35 seconds... then crumbled to the ground

As anyone in the hockey world knows, everything is a competition, and this was no different. RMs competed to see who could flail around on the bull longest… and there are whispers that Torlief won the competition (prize is yet to be determined).

The convention continues today at GDI Headquarters, where gear and apparel will be among the topics of conversation.