After reading one of Russo's articles about the USA Olympic roster selection yesterday I realized that he had left out Zach Parise's college "UND" after mentioning a few area players and where they had gone to school. I was going to make a blog post about it but decided against it because I like Russo's work; I doubt that Russo would do it maliciously.
Parise, a Minneapolis native, former Shattuck-St. Mary's player and current Devils star, will be one of the Americans' go-to scorers. He finished third in the NHL last season with 45 goals, and he's scored 42 points this season and leads the league with a plus-21.
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Besides Parise and Langen- brunner, six other Olympians have Minnesota ties: Devils defenseman Paul Martin is a former Gopher and Elk River High standout; St. Louis defenseman Erik Johnson hails from Bloomington and is a former Gopher; St. Louis winger David Backes is a former Spring Lake Park High and Minnesota State, Mankato standout; Tampa Bay winger Ryan Malone played at St. Cloud State and lives in Plymouth; Toronto's Kessel is a former Gopher, and Los Angeles defenseman Jack Johnson played at Shattuck-St. Mary's. [Russo's Rants]
Apparently one of our fellow Sioux fans noticed the slight (it was probably unintended) and took issue with it because here is what Russo put in one of his blog posts today. You have to love Russo's humor.
Lemaire nuggets; Burns traveling; Gushing about the Devils, and hatred of the Sioux
As usual, Lou Lamoriello's put together another great room with guys like former UND star Zach Parise (labeling it that because a reader today accused me of hating UND, and in actuality that we at the Star Tribune have a "policy" of not naming UND when a player played there. Being the longtime Minnesotan that I am, he's right. I have an immense hatred for the Fighting Sioux. It keeps me up at night. I have a dartboard with Jonathan Toews' face on it), two of my favorite players that I've ever covered, Brian Rolston and Rob Niedermayer, Brodeur, Jamie Langenbrunner, etc., etc, etc. I'll write a lot about Rolston for tomorrow.
[Russo's Rants]
It's pretty obvious he only named Minnesota-related teams. Note he doesn't say where Kessel went to high school or where JMFJ went to college.
ReplyDeleteI kind of thought that too as I read the article yesterday. His article today was funny.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't know JMFJ's full name though!!! He always forgets the MF. :)
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