Gino Mangiafridda is a 23-year-old who on June 19, 2012 was involved in a motorcycle accident with a vehicle. He was thrown about 100 feet and sustained a traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. He was initially taken to Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, underwent emergency surgery to repair cervical spine fractures with instrumentation of C5-C7. He was then transferred to NY Presbyterian-Columbia on 6/24 for continued intensive neurological care. He was essentially comatose for almost 3 months. But the story doesn’t end there.

Voorhees, NJ -- The Philadelphia Flyers opened up camp to 3,000 anxious spectators. they simply couldn’t fit any more people in the building and the one guy who was all of the sudden under a bigger microscope was 18-year-old center, Scott Laughton.

Teams are literally scrambling to get all the necessary camp items done like physicals etc while still trying to maintain meaningful practices. As an example the Flyers had a two hour practice today. Considering the season starts next Saturday there isn’t a lot of time to set lines and figure out chemistry.

Coaches will revert back to the systems they know. Players won’t be learning too many new wrinkles, if any, to start because there just isn’t enough time to do that.

When the Anaheim Ducks drafted this Pittsburgh native they knew they were getting a solid goalie with the 39th overall pick in 2011. He had a track record winning a gold medal with the U-18 team that winter, plus he was voted the best goaltender in that tournament with a .926 save percentage.

NHL Fastrack by http://www.blueorangegames.com is a real gem. It’s a simple game that has a scaled down NHL rink with some pucks and a goal with a rubber band. The goal is to bend the rubber band, shoot the puck and get your five pucks through the hole until you’ve scored them all and they have 10 on their side.

Here is a video us playing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ieIM8RhZw&list=UUJxvD2r2DVJXjc8LEpd33tw...

We played one period but the goal is to play three periods so limber up your fingers and get ready to play.