If you haven't seen this hatchet job, check it out. Apparently, Benjamin Massey of Copper and Blue doesn't think very highly of former UND defenseman Dillon Simpson. Meh! I guess they're entitled to their opinion. Free country, Canada and the USA.
Also, the staff at Copper and Blue seems to think that Simpson is an average player and nothing to get excited about. Whatever... In my opinion, Simpson was a very good hybrid defenseman that played well in his four season with UND. Simpson is a smart player that sees the ice well and looks to make the smart play, so maybe that can be interpreted as boring or average. Simpson also led the NCAA in blocked shots last season. Simpson was also one of the more consistent players in the NCHC last season.
Dillon Simpson is what I like to call "a chunk of hockey player." He isn't very big. He isn't very fast. He isn't very truculent. He doesn't generate much offense. He plays at a respectable level. He's gotten some results, but not many. After four years at the University of North Dakota, Simpson looks like a refined version of the player that went in. He even majored in "managerial finance and corporate accounting", just so we know that there's nothing to get excited about.In my three season of covering the UND hockey team, Simpson is one of the nicest guys that you will ever meet. I also think he was one of the more consistent players to play defense at UND in the last 5-10 years. Just for the record Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal has a much better description of Simpson's play.
Our favourite average college defenseman/managerial financier and corporate accountant is starting his professional hockey career this season, having agreed to a three-year deal back in April. Good for him. He seems likely to play in Oklahoma City, a town just as interesting as everything else in this article. With hard work and good luck he'll have a career as a sort of Sven Butenschön, bouncing up and down between the A and the N, more in the former than the latter, before opening a used car dealership in Sherwood Park, retiring at 45 years old, and spending the rest of his days as a beloved local character deeply involved with charity and his community.
North Dakota will lose Dillon Simpson to graduation, and there is no doubt that his absence will leave a definite void. The senior captain appeared in 156 games in the North Dakota sweater, potting 16 goals and notching 59 assists. He led the nation in blocked shots this season (109 in 42 games) and was recently named to the All-College Hockey News first team. There is no way that UND can replace that type of leadership with just one player.
