Road to camp a lot smoother for Flyers prospect van Riemsdyk

For James van Riemsdyk, working out last summer felt like a job.

It wasn't the strenuous early morning workouts with Flyers trainer Jim McCrossin that took a toll on him. It was the commute.

Van Riemsdyk would wake up at 6 a.m. and drive 84 miles from his home in Middletown, N.J., to the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J., to have McCrossin push his body to the limit for a few hours. Then he would get back in his car and drive 84 miles back home.

Five days a week, that 168-mile haul would take a toll on anyone.

This summer - only 3 months after the Flyers persuaded him to leave the University of New Hampshire after two seasons - van Riemsdyk decided to cut out the commute.

He now lives with Phantoms defensemen Danny Syvret and Mike Ratchuk in Old City.

"It's perfect. It's about 20 minutes, right across the bridge," van Riemsdyk, a winger, said yesterday at the Skate Zone after the first on-ice day of the Flyers' annual rookie conditioning camp.

The drive might have changed, but van Riemsdyk still puts himself through the same brutal workouts. He has added 8 pounds to his skinny, 6-3 frame this summer alone, and is up to 210 pounds, 20 more than when he was drafted second overall by the Flyers in 2007.

"Basically, it's the same program," van Riemsdyk explained. "The drills have been ratcheted up a little bit. I get here around 8 o'clock in the morning and leave around 11. It's a pretty grueling summer.

"I feel so much more confident out there. I am in much better shape, I've been taking advantage of Jimmy McCrossin's training. It's helped me become a better athlete and better conditioned."

Once out of the weight room and on the ice, van Riemsdyk knows he still has a lot of things to work on this summer if he wants to have a shot at making the roster out of training camp in September.

This is van Riemsdyk's third rookie camp.

"I've been working on a lot of little things, like keeping my head up when I shoot," he said. "I think I am a smart player out there. I'm a bigger guy and I need to take advantage of my size. I need to try to be a good, well-rounded player and be good at all of the little things."

He scored on his first shot in yesterday's scrimmage.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren expressed interest in having "JVR," as he is sometimes called by friends and fans, turn pro last summer. After a disappointing year with UNH this past season - 17 goals and 23 assists in 36 games - that call was amplified once the Wildcats' season ended in March.

Once he inked his 3-year entry-level deal in early April, van Riemsdyk suited up for the Phantoms' final 11 games. He didn't exactly stand out. The U.S. national development team product chipped in with only one goal and one assist and was held scoreless in four playoff contests.

But it was a learning experience.

"My first stretch was four games in 5 nights," van Riemsdyk said. "In college, you're used to two games a weekend. If you have a bad game, you have to wait a week. The best part about the pros is that if you have a bad game, you're out there a couple nights later.

"I think the biggest change for me was the positioning of players. Guys are a lot smarter out there. They always seem to know what they are doing before they get the puck. They are a step ahead."

Positioning is only one of the things van Riemsdyk hopes to prove he mastered during his taste of professional hockey.

"I've set my goals high," he said. "I would like to start the year with the Flyers; that's been my goal since the beginning of the summer. I know that I need to make the most of my opportunity at training camp.

"They basically told me, if I prove that I belong [on the Flyers] that I will be there. It's a good situation to know that if you're ready, the spot will be there.

"It has helped fuel the fire for my summer training." *