Flames Get Down & Dirty In Practice Session

from Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun, Tossing the puck towards the faceoff dot like a lion tamer would hurl raw meat, Brent Sutter ordered two of his most ferocious beasts to do battle. With players lined up along the centre ice circle to provide a makeshift cage, Dion Phaneuf and Brian McGrattan were summoned to the middle where they collided with considerable force. With instructions to simply fight for the puck, the two scraped and clawed while Sutter barked at them three times to “battle.” Following a series of violent cross-checks to one another’s backs, their 30-second war had ended with McGrattan doubled over in exhaustion and Phaneuf checking his beak for blood. Without hesitation another puck was hurled into the circle for another two teammates to clash over.... After squandering leads in consecutive home losses, Sutter followed up a day off with the type of practice yesterday that was, quite frankly, three or four years overdue for the Flames. read on