Hey there, Thatcher Demko here. I’ve been asked to blog during Canucks Prospects Development Camp, so that’s what I’m going to do.

We spent the weekend in Whistler bonding, there were 22 or so of us and it was a great time. It was intimidating going in because I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t know who to gravitate towards in the first few hours. It didn’t take long to get know everyone; they’re all really accepting, regardless of country or language, so we’ve meshed well together.

Saturday was a busy day and it began with a nutrition lesson before we got into some fitness testing. The nutrition stuff was great, obviously it’s something that’s really important and they drilled that home. It’s something I was looking into more of late and it’s definitely a side of hockey you have to focus on to get to the next level.

The fitness portion of the day started with a shuttle test, which had us running lines. It was timed and we did it three times, so we were competing against ourselves and let me tell you, it was awful. By your third set it’s pretty much just all mental, afterwards it feels like you’re trying to breathe underwater.

Canuchs head coach Willie Desjardins was up all weekend as well and he talked to us about what it takes to make it as pro hockey players. That’s pretty special, you don’t expect the coach to come to development camp, that speaks to the level of commitment the Canucks have as an organization, they’re really focused on every players, regardless of where they rank in the system.

The afternoon was a blast. We were split into teams and we took part in a scavenger hunt; I was on Team 1 with Bo Horvat, Dane Fox, MacKenze Stewart – we had the look of a dream team, but finished fourth out of five teams. Fail! We had to run around Whistler village and take photos with different landmarks and things, we got 16 of the 23 and the winning team had 21. Talk about hustle. Congrats to Beattie, Liberati and McEneny!

The day ended with a gondola ride up to the peak 2 peak (that pic is Fox, Forsling, myself and Cederholm on the way up), which took us across to Whistler mountain where we had dinner. It was all incredible and no one dropped their phones taking pictures on the gondola – also incredible. We walked around Whistler a bit after that before calling it a night.

What a day!

We’re white water rafting on Sunday – I can’t wait – but I’m trying to blog everyday, so check back Monday for more.

Oh and if you have any questions, let me know!

Thatcher