"Asked about fun so far this summer, Kevin Lalande just kind of looks at his inquisitor.

Slouched and sweating in his stall at the Pengrowth Saddledome on Friday afternoon, Lalande gently reminds the notepad-toter that just last month he'd been still playing hockey.

Meaningful hockey. Championship hockey.

Then, after the Las Vegas Wranglers closed out their campaign June 5 -- they lost Game 6 of the ECHL final to the home-ice Cincinnati Cyclones -- the netminder had taken a week to decompress.

Then he'd taken nearly a week to drive home to Ottawa.

Then he'd taken a week to visit near-forgotten friends and family.

Meaning that leading up to the Calgary Flames' professional development camp, there hadn't been a whole bunch of time to burn.

"So you know what? Here I am -- already," says Lalande. "It's mid-July and I feel like the season just ended, and we're already going back at it. But it's always a good sign when you're playing that late in the season. I tried to take as much as I could from our run in Vegas and carry it to here.

"Getting that experience is priceless." What that experience buys you this week, however, is a practice jersey -- No. 38 in Lalande's case -- and participation in dozens of drills, while blocking thousands of pucks. For campers, this is a non-negotiable six-day block of toil.

"It's been fun, it's been hard -- that's what these camps are for," says Lalande. "It's good to shake the rust off, see some pucks, get familiarized with the organization . . . so we're one step ahead come September." Ah, September.

That month, the Flames' youngsters reconvene, with much more on the line.

Because the goaltending ranks are stacked.

Look at it this way. Last winter, a total of four goalies -- Curtis McElhinney, Brent Krahn, Matt Keetley and Lalande -- stopped pucks for the Quad City Flames of the American Hockey League. Now Krahn, an unrestricted free agent, is gone. Now McElhinney, freshly re-signed, is assured of backup work in Calgary. But Leland Irving -- a 2006 first-round hotshot -- is raring to turn pro.

Lalande, however, does take comfort in knowing that he grew last year.

Not only as a netminder, but as a grown-up."