Chris Osgood gracefully runs from station to station, hitting the Creekside Park ground and bouncing up like he’s 26. His time, monitored closely by personal trainer Rhonda Catt, is the fastest among a small group of pro hockey players.

Osgood will actually be 36 when he begins his 16th NHL season with the Detroit Red Wings. He credits Catt – his summer handler for more than 10 years – with prolonging a career he never thought would go this far.

“I feel like I’m in shape, but I get a little more sore than I used to get,” said Osgood, who owns three Stanley Cup rings. “I don’t back off, I just have to fight through it. You don’t recover quite as quick as you used when you’re in your 20s, but Rhonda does a lot of different stuff. We stretch a lot more than we ever did before so she seems to do the right things with each specific guy, at his age or his fitness level, or what he wants for his position, so she’s really evolved her fitness training which is great for us.”

Catt, whose summer dryland group includes Eric Godard, Steve Kelly and Stacy Roest, isn’t surprised by Osgood’s fitness level.

“Goalies, they’re in a power position,” she said. “They got to move quick. They’re very agile. He’s a very good athlete. I don’t know why he gets razzed through the year. The media gives him crap. He’s a good guy and he’s a good athlete. I don’t think he gets the respect because he’s just low-key, and he’s quiet, He’s Ozzie.”

Catt, who says training either makes or breaks an athlete as they strive to get bigger, faster and stronger, tweaks the summer programs every year.

“It doesn’t get tougher. It’s a lot of fun. They still talk as much as they always do, that’s the only thing that doesn’t change. They always work very, very hard.

“It’s really a lot of preventative and that preventative work kind of changes every year as well. I’m finding, obviously, we have to put a little more focus on that as people age, but they’re in really good condition. Injuries that happen during the year are things that you can’t control, getting hit by a puck or breaking a finger. We’ve been fortunate in that guys are coming back with major injuries.”

She figures some athletes don’t realize how they can be better prepared.

“It’s not always how much weight you’re lifting, it’s really how can you prevent injuries, how can you prevent what’s down the road if it’s going to happen.”

The Wizard of Oz, meanwhile, had a few months at his Vernon summer home to digest last season.

“It was good,” said Osgood, who heads back to Detroit this week. “The regular season wasn’t great, especially the first half which was terrible. The second half and the playoffs was great. Obviously, it was disappointing we didn’t win, but saying that, we fought through a lot of things, a lot of injuries and we played a tough, tough series every series and it didn’t happen for us. It was definitely exciting, a lot of fun to play in. At the moment, it’s real disappointing when you lose, but when you look at it, we achieved a lot.”

Osgood, a Medicine Hat Tiger alumni, was for the second straight postseason, considered for the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP.

“It was good. I like playing in the playoffs. I think the older you get, the more forward you look to playoffs. In the regular season, you need to play well, but it’s long and it draws out so when the playoffs start, especially in Detroit, that’s when it’s fun and you wanna play.

“For us, you look back, it’s disappointing when you’re up 3-2 and you lose, even 2-0 and you lose, but at the same time, we got beat by a team that played real well.”

Godard, who had a fabulous 24 hours with the Stanley Cup last Sunday, isn’t far behind Osgood in training.

“You always got to keep up to him,” laughed Godard. “This helps me going into camp feeling good when I hit the ice. After this, I know I will feel comfortable when I get to camp and be able to step on the ice and compete. Since I started working with Rhonda, it’s the best I’ve played and the most I’ve improved in my career.

“My footwork is getting quicker, and this helps maintain it. Every year, they say the game’s getting faster and faster so it’s good to have the good, quick fundamentals.”

The 29-year-old right winger, who has 12 points and 652 penalty minutes in 271 NHL games, knows the Penguins will compete for glory again next year. He gets a charge out of spending quality time with superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

“Guys with skill like that, you watch him in games, but I get to see them everyday in practice when they’re trying new things. You can see how the game comes to them in different ways. They can see the ice completely different, and they know the game so well.

“I get paired up with them. Before, they’d make the pass backdoor, I’d kind of fluff it like I didn’t care. Those guys are holding you accountable, telling you to make sure you put that thing in, a couple of the old guys like (Sergei) Gonchar. They’re good, their attitude towards the game, and their leadership.”