COLLINGWOOD, ONT.—Team building comes with a lot of good laughs — and some sweat and grit too.

The Leafs discovered their three-day getaway to Collingwood, Ont. — while loaded with golf and paintball outings — required some time at a local cross fit gym owned by one of their own, ex-NHLer Scott Thornton.

“There was a lot of Olympic lifts and explosive movements, and stuff to get your cardio up,” said Nazem Kadri as the Leafs exited CrossFit Indestri, Thornton’s gym at the rear of an industrial building near the Blue Mountain ski hills.

The players have been all smiles since they arrived here Monday night after their pre-season game in Detroit. For the most part, they’ve spent time with each other in meetings and group sessions designed to let the players speak about subjects that aren’t necessarily brought up at the rink.

They haven’t been on the ice since that game in Detroit, although that will change Thursday with a full-out practice at a local rink. There was a visit to the Wasaga Beach Paintball Adventure field Tuesday, followed by downtime together and a team dinner.

But a day or so of fun, away from the rink, has been the focus of the getaway. Paintball, for instance, presented some rather unique opportunities.

“Would I take the shot (at head coach Randy Carlyle) in paintball . . . yeah, I would for sure,” said Nazem Kadri, laughing.

“Fortunately for him, he was on my team.”

Kadri was also laughing when he said captain Dion Phaneuf “plays a fair bit in the summertime, so he’s pretty good at (paintball) . . . but Phil (Kessel) was hiding behind a couple of guys.”

That kind of activity was part of a plan by Carlyle and his coaching staff back in July when they were mapping out pre-season team strategies. With seven games in nine nights during the pre-season, and then a break of three days before the final tune up game Friday, Carlyle looked to Collingwood for a team getaway.

Part of that, though, was a visit to Thornton’s CrossFit gym, which has a certain pumping iron, dungeon feel to it.

CrossFit has rocketed in popularity, with world championship competitions and routines for the casually interested person. While hockey players have not flocked to CrossFit gyms, they do mirror the sports training methods.

“Oh yeah, it’s very similar to what I do in the off-season,” said Kadri, as the Leafs performed weighted sled pushes, chin ups, medicine ball wall routines and kettle weight lifts — all exercises almost every hockey player uses in off-season training.

“I tried a gym similar to this one when I was younger. There’s a great atmosphere in these gyms, real old school training. I really feel like I can build my strength up in a gym like this.”

Joffrey Lupul said he spends the bulk of his summer training to build muscle and strength. But when August comes around, he’s skating more seriously and turning to CrossFit exercises and gyms to train cardio and legs.

“When August comes, I do more circuit training like in here and it keeps my heart rate up,” Lupul said. “August is when I get more into CrossFit training.”

Thornton, the No. 3 overall draft pick by the Leafs in 1989 and veteran of 16 NHL seasons, has embraced the CrossFit lifestyle and is also a noted triathlete.

When Carlyle and his coaching staff were looking for an off-ice workout in Collingwood, the connection was a natural one.

“When I retired, I got into CrossFit and just fell in love with it,” Thornton said. “I couldn’t find a CrossFit gym at first so I started a small one out of my garage and had maybe 20 members. Four years later, here we are, moved into this place with 300 members, its just a lot of fun.”

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Carlyle and the Leafs moved to the golf course Wednesday afternoon before more dinners and player chats. With at least nine new faces still in camp, the focus right now is on learning about each player and his family background.

It will be back to the business of trimming the roster Friday, when the Leafs play their final pre-season game. With 28 players still in camp, and several injuries giving three young players making strong cases for an NHL job, Carlyle still has a difficult choice process ahead of him to reach the 23-man season-opening roster limit.

Meanwhile, Toronto’s Cody Franson (knee) and David Booth (fractured foot) were at the CrossFit gym Wednesday. Booth remains in a cast and crutches and will be out at least four weeks. Franson is trying to gain more mobility in his swollen knee, but the process remains a slow one.

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