Wheeler with the hat as the Bruins roll...

I listened to this game on my XM radio on my trip back from Duluth yesterday and I have to say that I am shocked on Blake Wheeler's play so far, because he wasn't all that dominating of a player in the WCHA. As a Bruins fan I was skeptical of his signing by the Bruins. That being said he is like second on the Bruins in goals.

Bickel vs Lessard

Holy cow, former Gopher hack Stu Bickel has really found his niche in the AHL, racking up penalty minutes. I think Bickel is in the right organization for that role being a member of the Ducks. They play a brand of hockey that would make the Broad Street Bullies proud and it is very entertaining to watch.

In this case I think Stu Bickel reacted the way he should have, Bickel responded appropriately to a very questionable hit by Francis Lessard, who was also suspended by the AHL for his elbow on Bickel.

The Bickel Line

Bickel through 9 games with the Iowa Chops has played in 9 games scoring 0-0-0 -1 (+/-) with 32 minutes in penalties.

Update on Nate Hagemo...

I was wondering what had happened to Nate Hagemo after getting an invite to a rookie camp in Carolina this summer. Here is an update on Former Minnesota Gopher hockey star Nate Hagemo. Hagemo in in camp with the Florida Everblades on a two week tryout. Also, on the team is former
Michigan State A.J. Thelen is also on the team. I really hope that this works out for Hagemo...

After battling addiction, prospective Blades defenseman happy to be back on ice.
By ANGELA BUSCH

ESTERO — Many of the players in Florida Everblades training camp have experienced ebbs and flows of stardom — from notoriety to anonymity — from the first round of the NHL draft to a long bus ride in hockey purgatory.

They’ve all been up and down. But it’s hard to find a Blades player who has been much higher, or lower, than Nate Hagemo.
----------snip----------
Truth is, Hagemo’s not even a Blade yet. He’s trying out over the next two weeks, trying to earn a roster spot by proving himself on the ice.

He just wants on the team. Three years after being selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the NHL draft — less than four months removed from his latest arrest — Hagemo, 21, doesn’t really care about the headlines or the stardom anymore.

He just wants to play hockey again.
The Edina, Minn., native was once a part of a proud tradition of gopher state hockey. He won a high school state championship with the Academy of Holy Angels as a sophomore in 2002, then spent the next two seasons at the U.S. National Under-18 Team development site in Ann Arbor, Mich., with Blades defenseman A.J. Thelen, who’s also from Minnesota.

“We’ve been skating and playing against each other since we were 10, 11 years old,” Thelen said of Hagemo. “Especially that year in Ann Arbor, we were always going against each other. We could relate to each other.”

“Whenever we played together, it made me pick up my game,” Hagemo said. “I always looked at (Thelen), and he made me want to get better.”

In 2004, the Minnesota Wild made Thelen the 12th overall selection in the NHL draft. A year later, Hagemo was picked 58th overall by Carolina.

Thelen headed to powerhouse Michigan State, while Hagemo picked perennial Frozen Four contender Minnesota. The hometown hockey heroes were on their way.
----------snip----------
The January arrest was Hagemo’s third run-in with the police since quitting Gophers hockey in 2006 due to complications from his shoulder injury and the addiction that was starting to interfere with his life.

That same year, he was arrested on suspicion of attempting to burglarize a house. In 2007, he was ticketed for refusing to take a blood-alcohol test after a traffic accident and for careless driving, with a revoked license.

Looking at Hagemo now, quiet with his teammates at Germain Arena, you’d never guess his past troubles. He’s one of the youngest players at Blades training camp and could almost be everyone else’s kid brother.

But Hagemo’s not just a wide-eyed hockey recruit anymore. Through his addiction, Hagemo saw places — including jail — he never thought he’d go. He knew he had to get help.

After his arrest in January, Hagemo enrolled in a 30-day treatment program in Minnesota. He says he has been sober since then and has just been focusing on getting back to hockey.

<- Read the whole article here ->

Blake Wheelers on the Bruins opening night roster?

Michael McMahon has an interesting article on the Bruins Media day. It appears the Boston Bruins are exited to have former Golden Gopher Blake Wheeler on their teams. It also sounds like the Bruins front office staff have some tough decisions to make before the regular season begins but it also appears that Wheeler has a chance to join former Gopher Phil Kessel on the Bruins roster to start the season.

Claude Julien: On Blake Wheeler.

On the camp that Blake Wheeler has had: “I don’t think I had seen him play before we signed him. He’s a fifth overall pick, and you need to give credit to Peter and the front office for being able to get us this type of guy.

General Manager Peter Chiarelli: On Blake Wheeler

On the camp that rookie Blake Wheeler has had: “He’s a big guy, and a big body. He has a lot of skill, he’s shown that. We have some important decisions to make in the next couple of days. With the cap the way it is now, performance bonuses count in your cap, it’s a hard number. Before, the performance bonuses went beyond the cap. When you have guys like Tuuka Rask and Blake Wheeler, they were high draft picks and they have a lot of performance bonuses built into their contracts. That makes it a different decision than we would have had to make before.”

According the Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald the Bruins might actually deal the overpaid over rated Peter Schaefer if Wheeler makes the Bruins.

Chiarelli said there’s a good chance he’ll make a trade in the coming days, and no doubt he has been trying to deal Schaefer ($2.1 million). Barring that, though, if the team decides that rookie Blake Wheeler has made the club, it seems likely Schaefer will have to be waived and sent down to Providence. . . .

Is Kessel the next Alexander Daigle?

Here is an interesting article on former Gopher Phil Kessel. I know from reading the message boards and blogs last season there are a few Boston Bruin's fans that are getting impatient with Phil Kessel. I wish the fans would give this kid a break, While Kessel is an amazing talent, lets be realistic playing in the NHL level is a whole different ball game. Playing in the NHL is a lot different than playing in Juniors or college. Think about this, realistically speaking Kessel could be entering his his senior year of college with the Golden Gophers if he wasn't playing in the NHL.

It's the next nine months, Phil Kessel’s career is on the line.

It was once believed that Kessel would be one of the greatest American-born hockey players to ever play. He shattered the scoring records for the National Developmental program as a 17 and 18-year-old sniper, netting 104 goals in two seasons. There were even hockey analysts during the 2005 NHL entry draft that said if Kessel and Sidney Crosby were in the same draft, they would have selected Kessel over Sid the kid.

Kessel is entering his third season as an NHL player. In his first 152 games, the speedy forward has 30 goals and 36 assists. The goal scoring just hasn’t been there.

In this, the last year of his original three-year rookie deal, it’s make it or break it time. After this season, he’ll either be known as one of the more prolific scorers in the NHL, or he’ll be known as a guy with tremendous hype, that was never able to put it together.

In other words, he could be just like Alexander Daigle.

Kessel hasn’t has the easiest of times in the NHL. His rookie season was marred with a 12-game absence while he recovered from testicular cancer. Last season, he branded as a soft player, something that had in fact followed him throughout his career. It forced head coach Claude Julien to bench Kessel for three games in the playoffs against Montreal last April.

Once inserted back into the lineup in Game 6, Kessel was a different player. He looked like the ferocious scorer that he was as a teenager. It’s the player he has to be if he wants to stick around in the top-six rotation of an NHL club.

(READ the rest of the story here)

Golf cart knocks E.J. out for the season.

The Blues got some bad news on former Gopher hockey star Eric Johnson's knee injury, he is done for the season and is going to need surgery to fix it. Makes one wounder if the NHL GM will ban using golf carts?

Blues' Johnson out with torn knee ligaments
ST. LOUIS (AP) -Blues defenseman Erik Johnson, the No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft, tore two ligaments in his right knee during a recent golf outing and is expected to miss the entire season but recover fully.

"In our business you get a few curveballs," team president John Davidson said Tuesday night before St. Louis played Dallas in a preseason game. "This is a pretty good curveball."

Johnson, 20, was injured during a team golf outing on Sept. 16 when his right foot got caught between the accelerator and the brake of his golf cart. The Blues had to wait for swelling in the knee to go down before a diagnosis could be made.

Two surgeons determined that Johnson tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in the knee that will require an operation to fix.

Davidson said the swelling in Johnson's knee must subside before surgery will take place. Davidson said Johnson isn't expected to play this season, but would have a "100 percent" recovery.

Last season as a rookie, Johnson played in 69 games and recorded 33 points on five goals and 28 assists. He is considered the centerpiece of the team's youth movement.

"To say Erik is distraught would be using a kind word," Davidson said. "He feels responsible, but we told him we're still with him. He's still going to be a big part of our team."

The Blues will explore options inside and outside the organization for defensive help, including giving 2008 top pick Alex Pietrangelo a look. Pietrangelo, the No. 4 pick overall, was in the lineup Tuesday night.

"We still have our same goals," Davidson said. "We're going to get up tomorrow and think about winning. You have to be able to adapt."

Links to the story:

St. Louis Blues defenceman Erik Johnson out with torn knee ligaments.

Johnson will be out the entire season...

Top five reasons Blake Wheeler will make the Bruins

Mike McMahon gives five reasons why he thinks Wheeler will make the Bruins. Personally I don't have anything against Wheeler, I am sure he is a nice guy but I don't see him scoring a lot of goals or getting a lot of playing time for the Bruins. The Bruins coach Claude Julien is a task master and will not put up for soft play or lack of defensive focus. This is the same guy that benched Phil Kessel for three games during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

1. He can score

The Gophers were terrible last season (by their standards), and Wheeler still managed to put together respectable numbers. His 35 points led the way, and he played a role in 32 percent of the team’s goals. Wheeler has scored everywhere he’s been. His 15 goals likely would have been higher last season if he had anyone playing around him (remember, Kyle Okposo left in mid-season in a move that generated a lot of discussion). Nobody on the team had more than 20 assists expect, you guessed it, Wheeler.

2. He can skate

For a big kid (6-foot-4, 219 pounds), Wheeler can wheel. One of the more impressive aspects to Wheeler’s game is his ability to puck handle while moving his feet at top speed. He skates like a player who is 5-foot-10. He creates space for himself and makes plays for the guys on his line when he isn’t carrying the puck.

3. Versatility

This is in line with his skating, but Wheeler can play a variety of roles. He was an impressive forechecker with the Gophers — again, something you don’t normally see with a guy his size. He can also play both sides of special teams. He’s a melting pot of styles, and can fill a variety of roles.

4. Thin wings

Outside of Michael Ryder, Phil Kessel and Chuck Kobasew, the B’s don’t have another scoring right winger. Kessel can bounce between center and both wings, which leaves Kobasew and Ryder as the only two natural scoring right side wingers on the team. Others who have played at RW in camp thus far — Petteri Nokelainen, Martin Karsums, Jordan Knackstedt, Byron Bitz, and Shawn Thornton — Wheeler would be a better third-line fit than any of those players. That would leave Thornton on the fourth line.

5. He’s a big-game performer

Wheeler is at his best when the pressure is at its highest. In 2007, he practically carried the Gophers through their playoff run. In the Final-Five tournament, he potted a hat trick in a 4-2 win over Wisconsin, and then scored the game-winner in overtime to beat North Dakota 3-2 in the championship game. You might remember, that goal was showcased on ESPN …

Golf More Dangerous Than Hockey...

You can't make this stuff up, this is kind of funny because I have done it many times myself when I am golfing, but I have never injured myself doing it...

By Brad Lee
Erik Johnson injured his knee this week on the golf course. We wish we were making this up. They don’t know how bad it is, but he’s out for at least the first three days of training camp. On the Blues’ Web site, the only explanation was a non-hockey-related injury. In a call with reporters earlier today, team president John Davidson gave a rather odd explanation for how the former No. 1-overall draft pick was injured.

This is what John Davidson had to say on EJ's freak accident.

“This is a hard one to believe, but it’s the God’s honest truth . . . he was playing golf and he pulled the golf cart up to where his ball was. And he took his left leg and put it on the ground and the right leg, he sort of reached back and put it on the brake. A lot of us do it . . . I do it all the time myself. As he pushed the brake, he missed a little bit, his leg got caught under there and he slipped and that wrenched his knee.”

Former Gopher Erik Johnson out with knee injury.

Former one and done Gopher hockey player Eric Johnson will miss some time with a knee injury.

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues defenseman Erik Johnson will miss the first three days of training camp because of a knee injury.

Team president John Davidson said Thursday that Johnson hurt his right knee in a non-hockey-related incident.

Johnson will be re-evaluated over the weekend and his status will be updated before Tuesday's preseason game with the Dallas Stars.

Johnson was the Blues' first overall pick in 2006.

Ex-Gopher Ballard gets paid.

The Hockey News blog had a nice blurb on ex-Gophers and Lake of Woods Bears hockey star Keith Ballard’s and the fat contract extension that he recently signed. Ballard is set to be paid 25.2 million dollars over 6 years, that contract put him in the top echelon of former WCHA players. This season Ballard will make a messily 2.5 million this season, the last year of a contract that he signed when he in Phoenix.

Keith Ballard will stand tall on Florida's blueline
By Adam Proteau
• I still believe the Florida Panthers will be life-and-death to make the playoffs this season, but I’m also of the opinion the acquisition of burgeoning defenseman Keith Ballard (in the deal that sent Olli Jokinen to Phoenix) is going to pay handsome dividends for the franchise for years to come. Six years, at least.

The 25-year-old Ballard was a favorite of Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky, which tells you how desperate Phoenix was to beef up their veteran ranks for their own run at the post-season. Although it’s true his offensive numbers have fallen every year since his rookie campaign of 2005-06, Ballard is almost guaranteed to set new career offensive bests now that he’ll be on the Panthers’ first power play unit.