Ward working with new body

Cam Ward - Hurricane drops weight, gains energy

RALEIGH -- There was no getting fat and happy for Cam Ward this summer. The three-year, $8 million contract that the Carolina Hurricanes awarded Ward after an up-and-down season came with a caveat to work on his conditioning and come back in top shape. So Ward rarely strayed far from the Triangle this summer and spent much of his time consulting with a nutritionist, running arena stairs and riding an exercise bicycle.

The 23-year-old goalie has shed more than 20 pounds and is eager to erase the memories of last season. Ward's physical transformation drew double-takes from teammates as they trickled back into town for informal group workouts, and it has fueled his confidence in a bounce-back performance.

"I feel a lot more quicker, and it's funny, because you joke around when you see guys working out with 20-pound vests," Ward said. "Basically, I just took one of those 20-pound vests off my body."

For much of his two earlier years in the NHL, Ward played at or near 200 pounds. Stepping on the scale last week, Ward weighed in at 176 pounds, and he's hoping to maintain his weight at 180.

The extra 20 pounds did not hinder him in 2006, when Ward became the fourth rookie goaltender to claim the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player during Carolina's Stanley Cup run. That came after playing a backup role much of the 2005-06 season, however.

Ward was asked to shoulder a much heavier load in his first season as Carolina's No. 1 goaltender and posted a 2006-07 record of 30-21-6. Among NHL leaders, he ranked 31st in the league in goals against (2.93 a game) and 34th in save percentage (.897).

The Hurricanes attributed some of those numbers to the lingering effects from a short offseason and the young goalie's transition to full-time starter and did not hesitate to reward him with the lucrative new deal in June.

"He deserves a lot of credit. He was asked to play a lot of games last year, and basically it was his first full year as a No. 1 goalie," Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said. "In order to be able to do that, you really have to be in top shape, and so that was one of the things that he was asked to do in the offseason, to really work hard on his conditioning, and he has.

"He is in the best condition he's been in his career."

For the first two weeks of his offseason regimen, Ward spent most of his time overhauling his diet under the guidance of a nutritionist and Hurricanes trainer Pete Friesen. Ward swore off the bread, pasta and other carbohydrates that frequently filled his daily menu and instead loaded up on a high-protein diet.

"You get caught up during the season eating too much pasta," Ward said of the team meal staple. "I got caught up [also] with the routine of having it the night before a game. Of course, you have it the day of. ... Of course, you look at our schedule, that's almost every day. So I definitely was eating too much of it."

He would log in for an hour or two of cardio workouts on a treadmill or exercise bicycle in the morning and then wait until the air cooled -- albeit just a few degrees this blast furnace of a summer -- to run outside in the early evening.

"You run outside down here, you're going to lose weight," Ward said.

Ward returned to the ice two weeks ago, practicing with Carolina's younger prospects at a conditioning camp. He continues to work out with his teammates at the RecZone, two weeks out from the Sept. 13 team physicals that signal the formal start of training camp.

Watching Ward step off wearily the ice Tuesday, Friesen acknowledged that this coming season will mark a crossroads in Ward's development. And the trainer anticipates Ward is set to reap the rewards from a tough summer.

Certainly it will be an adjustment, learning to feel comfortable playing with 20 pounds less bulk, Friesen said.

"It's sort of like you've got a new body out there," Friesen said. "But we're pretty much running an NHL practice. He's getting the best hand-eye coordination type stuff right now because these are almost all NHL guys out on the ice, and he's facing NHL shots for three weeks [before camp even starts]."

It's enough to leave the Ward confident that the odds of losing steam this season are slim.