After a day off Thursday, Vancouver Canucks had a spirited practice on Friday With his team riding high after Wednesday's season opening 8-1 dismantling of the Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet gave his players the day off on Thursday. Perhaps it was a reward for a job well done. Maybe it was in an effort to shake the flu bug that has been following the team since training camp. Whatever the case, the Canucks had Thursday to themselves but it was back to work Friday. It's interesting to note that Tocchet has given his players plenty of freedom over the last week as the Canucks took last Saturday off and again on Monday. That may sound counterintuitive at this stage for a coach that is trying to drill down on the systems he wants his team to play this season. But Tocchet explained that it's far more a question of quality over quantity when it comes to practice. So he pushed the pace on Friday with the team working primarily on five-on-five drills before flying out to Edmonton for Saturday's rematch with the Oilers. And Tocchet liked the attention to detail he saw from his Canucks on Friday. That's a far cry from what he witnessed from the group when he took over last January. "I told the guys I wanted to make sure we got a lot of five on five play -- almost like a scrimmage-type atmosphere," he said. "I wanted the guys thinking and competing. It doesn’t have to be long. I think we were like 45 minutes today. I think when you don’t skate, you’ve got to make sure you don’t waste these practices. Last year, some times, I thought we gave practices away and I think now they’re starting to understand you can’t waste a practice." The Canucks open a 12-day five game road trip on Saturday. After Edmonton, they will visit Philadelphia, both Tampa and Florida and finish in Nashville. Usually a trip of this length would include a set of back to back games, but this one does not. And that should give Tocchet and his coaching staff additional practice days out on the road.
