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It took just two days for Calgary Flames head coach Geoff Ward to use profanity to drive home a point during practice.

On Tuesday, the coach was irked by an offensive zone drill and launched into a brief soliloquy, demanding more focus.

“There’s a minimum standard of work that we want to adhere to,” Ward said on Wednesday.

“There’s a minimum standard of execution and we hold each other mutually accountable for both those standards. I just felt like so early in camp, things went a little bit awry with our execution and I just wanted to make sure we brought things back on track. It’s not something we do an awful lot, but once in a while we do use it to grab attention.”

In a 56-game NHL season where a slow start could prove fatal - and a team that could be embarking on its own version of The Last Dance - Ward is trying to instill good habits in the hope that they’ll pay off in the spring.

“The only way that I know to create good habits is to make sure that you keep doing things again and again and again and again the way that you want it done,” he said.

“For us, we’re going to keep harping on that from Day 1 right to the end of the season. And that’s a standard that we’ve committed to and it’s a standard that we’ll abide by for the rest of the year.”

Veteran forward Derek Ryan brushed the sequence off, calling it a teaching moment that was to be expected during any training camp.

“I think that’s kind of expected, honestly, at this stage in the game,” Ryan said on Wednesday. “I think it happened when we were working on our tracking or forechecking, whatever it was, and somebody had a misread or a missed assignment. Basically they’re just using that as a teaching opportunity, a teaching moment, whether it’s for the young guys or even the veteran guys to reinforce the ideas they’re trying to practice.”

That it took Ward two days to use profanity may have been an accomplishment in and of itself.

“I think I’ve seen it even earlier, within the first 10 minutes of Day 1, I’ve seen the coaches lose it pretty quickly,” Ryan said. “Making it to Day 2 is a success.”

Flames fans will get a look at those standards and habits on Thursday evening, when Team Iginla and Team McDonald face each other in their first intrasquad game.

 

SPARKS OFF THE FIRE

*With a new season of The Bachelor television program finally here, many of us diehards are wondering the same thing: Will they or won’t they end up together? No doubt that after a disappointing playoffs, Flames fans are asking themselves that very question - whether star forwards Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau will play together on a line this season. TSN’s Travis Yost has written extensively on this very topic.

“Ultimately, I think Ward has to roll with Gaudreau and Monahan to start the upcoming season, if only to test whether last year’s performance together was more statistical aberration than growing trend,” Yost predicted.

Early on in training camp, the answer appears to be ‘yes.’ Through the first three days, the two have been skating with newcomers Josh Leivo and Dominik Simon.

Similar to the TV show, it’s a question that’ll likely be asked many times in the coming months and we’ll all wait with bated breath until the spring to get the penultimate answer.

*The biggest surprise to many people may just be how big new Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom is. According to NHL.com, last season he was the sixth-tallest netminder to take the ice at 6-foot-6.

In fact, the minute Markstrom takes the ice on Jan. 14 in Winnipeg, he’ll be tied with Henrik Karlsson and Jon Gillies as the tallest goalies to ever see action for the Flames. He is also tied with Anders Nilsson as the tallest goalies in Vancouver Canucks history.

*Fresh off signing a one-year qualifying offer, defenceman Oliver Kylington is in Calgary but working through immigration issues. He’s not expected to return to the team before training camp ends. It’s a tough break for the 23-year-old who, according to Natural Stat Trick, played most often with Rasmus Andersson while primarily starting shifts in the offensive zone last season. He’s battling with Nikita Nesterov for a depth role on the Flames’ blueline.

*One thing we do know about Nesterov is that he’s honest. The Russian had a wager with Sean Monahan on the Canada-Russia semifinal game at the World Juniors in Edmonton. The day after Canada’s decisive 5-0 victory, the money was waiting for Monahan in his stall.

*Speaking of World Juniors, Matthew Tkachuk had a few wagers with teammates involving money. One such bet didn’t involve monetary currency, but rather pride…and…Twitter. The Flames’ alternate captain wouldn’t divulge any more details.