I chatted today with goalie Erik Ersberg, who missed the first two days of training camp with flu symptoms. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say, Ersberg is feeling better and hopes to build upon his strong play at the end of last season. Here, Ersberg talks about his work this summer and gives his thoughts on the upcoming season…

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Question: You got some good reviews for your work at Bill Ranford’s camp this summer. How was that experience?

ERSBERG: “It was fun and there was a lot going on, so it helped me. I used to get back on the ice in Sweden around August, so it’s a good start, to know you’re doing all the stuff right. I just have to keep on doing that stuff.”

Question: The success that you had at the end of last season, how much confidence did that give you?

ERSBERG: “It was a great experience. I always believed in myself and that I could play at this level, but to show people around here, too, that I could do it, was a great feeling. Good for your confidence, obviously.”

Question: The next thing would be proving you can do it over a long period of time. Have you thought about what that might take?

ERSBERG: “Yeah, I’ve just got to work hard and try to get better every day. I believe I have what it takes and I just have to show it, day out and day in. Time will tell, I guess.”

Question: With eight goalies here, how competitive is it among you guys to get noticed?

ERSBERG: “I guess it’s different. You can take it differently. Sure, there’s a lot of guys, but I can only focus on me and do what I do. I can’t look around and say, `What’s he doing over there?’ That’s not going to help me, so I’m just going to focus on my own stuff and hopefully that will be enough. There’s great competition, that’s for sure.”