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ESTERO — Five new players arrived in Estero on Tuesday for Everblades training camp: forwards Danick Bouchard, Justin Bowers, Andrew Fournier, Jacob Micflikier and Ross Carlson, plus goalie David Shantz.

Those additions brought the total at Germain Arena to 20 players. The Blades are still waiting for signed forwards Ryan Lang and Mark Lee and defenseman Aaron Brocklehurst to be sent down from AHL training camps.

Florida has just two days left of training camp before its first preseason game against the Phoenix Roadrunners on Friday night at Germain Arena. Phoenix is coached by former Blades player Brad Church, and the Roadrunners are expected to arrive in Estero on Wednesday night.

First-year Blades head coach Malcolm Cameron said after Tuesday morning's practice that he felt a little "behind."

"Usually we've had four days of camp by now," Cameron said, referring to the fact that he has always started his training camp the first Friday in October in the past.

This season, AHL training camps started later, which pushed back the date ECHL camps could start. All five players who arrived in Estero today came down from AHL training camps. Lang, Lee and Brocklehurst are still at AHL camps and are expected sometime within the next couple weeks.

"What are you gonna do?" Cameron said, shaking his head. "We've just gotta do what we can with what we have."

The intense coach appears to be making up for lost time with increasingly fast-paced, high-speed practices. But practice too was stalled on Tuesday morning.

Because of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's speech at Germain Arena on Monday, the ice was a little soft and had to be resurfaced midway through the morning practice. The arena was also unusually warm, as the facility readjusted for the upcoming hockey season.

Nevertheless, players were sweating heavily and appeared exhausted at the end of practice. Tuesday was the first day that Cameron introduced the systems he plans to run this season: including an intricate forecheck, which Cameron ran the last two years in Texas.

"You saw guys that could pick it up right away and guys that couldn't," Cameron said. "We can't expect miracles on the first day of systems ... it's definitely more difficult for the college players and even the major-junior players."

Comprehension of systems is just another way for Cameron to separate between players who will make the Blades regular-season roster and those that won't. The coach expects to cut at least three players if all the expected signees and affiliated players arrive from AHL camps. The Blades are also still waiting on defenseman Jonathan Paiement, forward Yannick Tifu and forward Riley Emmerson -- Paiement and Tifu are on AHL contracts with Albany, and Emmerson has an NHL deal with the Minnesota Wild.