The year in pictures

On a cold rainy summer day I was fooling around with my Picasa Web Album and I decided to come up with a compilation of photos from the past year in hockey blogging. Credit must go out to the various sports photographers from the Grand Forks Herald, Amy from Lets Go Mavs and Heather from Win Twins. Also, I must give a plug to Marty and Garlynn. The recruit pictures of Finehage and Blood are professionally done by Kori a friend of Jake's Place, lastly from personal collection of unprofessionally taken pictures.

Sioux recruit Danny Kristo

Here is an interesting article on Sioux recruit Danny Kristo who is coming to UND in the fall of 2009. The article talks about Kristo being drafted by the Montreal Canadians and how the Les Habs are becoming a destination for players born and bred in the Gopher state of Minnesota. I can just imagine the Minnesota fans saying Montreal Minnesota's Pride on ice, LOL. Personally, I am really excited about Danny Kristo coming to the University of North Dakota and playing for the Fighting Sioux (or what ever name they come up with for the University of North Dakota Hockey team). Kristo is part of an incoming class of very talented and highly regarded recruits.

Les Habitants: America's Team on Draft Day
Last Friday night, the Montreal Canadians -- excuse me, les Canadiens de Montréal -- used their first pick in the NHL's annual Entry Draft to select Edina, Minnesota's Danny Kristo. It was a largely unremarkable pick, except for the fact that it was the third consecutive year in which the Habs drafted a Minnesotan with their initial selection (last year they nabbed St. Paul's Ryan McDonagh 12th overall and in 2006 they snagged Minneapolis-born David Fischer with the 20th pick).

"Just a coincidence," according to director of player personnel Trevor Timmins.

It's probably also a coincidence that the Kristo pick marked the sixth time this decade that Montreal has called an American-born player's name as their first pick (Ron Hainsey, Mike Komisarek and Christopher Higgins, drafted between 2000 and 2002, round out the Yankee half-dozen), and that the Habs took Americans with three of their five picks in this year's draft and with five of their nine picks last year (including first-rounders McDonagh and Max Pacioretty).

Coincidences aside, it's clear that the Habs aren't afraid to go south of the border for help of late (much to the chagrin of some of their fans and members of the local media). Upon being drafted last year, Pacioretty noted that it "seems like the Canadiens have a lot of confidence in U.S.-born players." Apparently so -- the "Bleu, Blanc et Rouge" has hardly (if ever) looked as red, white and blue as it might in the near future.

Here is what Danny Kristo had to say on committing to the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Yeah you got to love a kid that is a big fan of T.J. Oshie, you're are not alone kid, many of us are big fans of the Oshie.

When asked about committing to the Fighting Sioux, Kristo’s face lit up. “I am finishing up my junior year in high school, so I still have one more year. But I am definitely going to go there.” Kristo also considered staying in his home state and playing for the University of Minnesota, but after visiting both schools chose North Dakota. Although he seemed very sincere in being willing to give Minnesota a real look, Kristo did admit that “I just always wanted to play for the Fighting Sioux. My idol growing up played there and I always wanted to be like him.”

The fact that Oshie has now signed a professional contract and will not return to North Dakota did nothing to lessen Kristo’s resolve to attend North Dakota. When asked what did he want to work on prior to getting to college, the winger answered, “in the off-season, I am going to work in the weight room, putting on a couple of pounds. On the ice, I want to get more explosive, work on my shot and on my skating — you can never be too good of a skater.”

The Return of Melrose place: Wes Walz is going too.

I have to admit that I am really excited about Barry Melrose being the next coach of the Tampa Bay Lighting. Also, former Wild defensive star/specialist Wes Walz is also going to be behind the Tampa Bay Lighting bench as Barry Melrose's assistant coach along with former Yotes assistant Rick Tocchet. While I loved listening to Melrose a analyst for ESPN I think Barry will bring a lot of excitement behind the bench in Tampa Bay.

Melrose leaves booth to become Lightning coachBy FRED GOODALL,Associated Press
Posted: 2008-06-24 17:19:18
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - When the Tampa Bay Lightning called, Barry Melrose was eager to listen. Out of coaching for 13 years, he missed the passion and competition of the NHL. Countless hours of watching games as a television analyst intensified his desire to return to the bench, and it didn't hurt that he'd be able to work with talent like Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Stamkos.

"They approached me. I couldn't wait to say yes," Melrose said Tuesday after the Lightning's new owners made the league's worst-kept secret official: the former Los Angeles Kings coach was the choice to replace John Tortorella.

"Watching successful teams, and watching teams that work and watching teams that don't work, it just reinforced what I believe in and how I coached, and the way we're going to play here. You don't win by accident. You don't lose by accident. There are reasons certain teams win all the time, and there's a reason certain teams lose all the time."

Melrose estimates he watched about 90 percent of Tampa Bay's games on TV last season. What he saw was a team that lost its zest under the hard-driving Tortorella, who led the club to its only Stanley Cup title four years ago.

The Lightning not only missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002, they finished last in the NHL with a league-worst 31-42-9 record.

"I think what happened here is just a group that lost their passion in the second part of the season. That's why you win," Melrose said. "You out-work other teams, you out-want other teams. When you lose that fire and lose that passion, it's very hard to compete in the NHL."

Tortorella helped transform a perennial last-place team into a champion. But his demanding, in-your-face style wore on players, especially younger ones who new owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie believe can benefit by playing for Melrose.

"When you talk to people in the league, the talent is here," Koules said, adding that he's banking on Melrose being someone who can get everyone on the team "pulling in the same direction."

Two of Melrose's assistants will be Rick Tocchet and Wes Walz. The Lightning are pursuing a third.

A major priority next season will be improving defensively.

Is Kessel on the trading block?

It appears that Phil Kessel might be on the trading block in Boston. The Bruins are rumored to be in the running for Marian Hossa and they would need to trade some salary to get Hossa.

The Bruins owe right wing Glen Murray $4.15 million and goalie Manny Fernandez $4.3 million this coming season while less-expensive players like forwards P.J. Axelsson and Phil Kessel [stats] are rumored to be on the trading block, which could also open valuable cap space.

"We do have some commitments out there, contractual commitments that put us at cap number that we can’t go after a $10 million (a year) player," Chiarelli added. "In that sense, if we decided to go after a $10 million player, we’d be in trouble."

A new cap figure for all NHL teams is expected to be announced shortly. The signing period for signing unrestricted free agents, such as Hossa, begins July 1 and teams like the Bruins are attempting to clear cap space in order to sign them.

"I’m not feeling squeezed but we’d have to move some money around to go after a really, really marquee player," Chiarelli said.

Former WCHA players get big deals.

Recently the WCHA has been known for developing some great NHL talent; Jonathan Toews, Matt Carle, Zach Parise, Paul Martin, Ryan Malone, Matt Greene, Mike Commodore, Travis Zajac, Danny Heatley, Phil Kessel and Erik Johnson, Matt Cullen, Paul Stastny, Jason Blake just to name a few (please do not feel slighted if I forgot a player from your favorite team college hockey team). Recently two WCHA alumni players Mark Stuart (C.C. Tigers) and Ryan Sutter (Wisconsin Badgers) got really nice deals for their respective NHL clubs.

Defenseman Mark Stuart re-signed Tuesday with the Boston Bruins for two years and $2.6 million US.

Stuart, 24, was slated to become a restricted free agent on July 1.

He will make $1.1 million US next season and $1.5 million US in 2009-10.

Stuart was paid $942,400 US last season, when he posted four goals and four assists for eight points with a plus-2 rating in 82 games.

The Rochester, Minn., native has compiled five goals and 11 points with a plus-8 rating in 114 NHL games since he was drafted 21st overall by Boston in 2003.

Recenly Ryan Suter got one of the sweeter deals when he signed with the Nashville Predators for 14 million dollars, wow...

The Nashville Predators made a big commitment to former Badger and former first round selection Ryan Suter today with a 14 million dollar deal. The deal is for 4 seasons.

"We have a great core to build on and to be one of the best in the National Hockey League," Predators general manager David Poile said. "Usually, when you have the best defense, I think that gives you a real good chance to compete for the prize, and that's ultimately what we want to do. That's why we're here today, and that's why we've taken another step in signing one of our core players in Ryan Suter."

Suter had a career high 31 points last season for the Predators. In his one and only season at Wisconsin he had 19 points in 39 games to go along with 93 penalty minutes.

Oh yeah they almost forgot: charges against Oshie dropped

The Grand Forks Herald, WDAZ and a certain sports writer in Fargo that writes for he Forum couldn't rush fast enough to get the news out that Fighting Sioux forward T.J. Oshie and Mike Radja from UNH were cited for disorderly conduct on the weekend of December 30th 2007. The media was falling all over themselves trying to get this story out in the news paper and on the evening news. It was disgusting how these young men were tarred and feathered before this case ever went to trial. One could say that the media has egg on their face.

Fast forward to present day. I will be the first to admit that it's a legitimate news story when one the area's sports star is caught doing something wrong, however, it's also a news story when the charges against the accused are dropped. Seriously folks why did the press take it's time finally getting the news out? I knew about this story a month ago and the paper is just deciding to let us know one month later that the charges against T.J. Oshie were dismissed. Oh yeah; the charges against UNH star Mike Radja were dismissed as well on June 9th, 2008. To add injury to insult the Grand Forks Herald buried the story on page 6 of section A, I guess they felt it wasn't worthy of being a front page news story. Disgusting!

Disorderly conduct charge against Oshie dismissed
Herald Staff Report
Published Tuesday, June 24, 2008
A misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct against former UND hockey player T.J. Oshie was dismissed last month, according to court documents.

Oshie and Mike Radja, a hockey player from New Hampshire, were arrested in the early morning hours of Dec. 30 and charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly urinating in an elevator in a building at 100 N. Third St. in downtown Grand Forks, according to court documents. The two were part of a group of people trapped in the elevator.

The charge against Oshie was dismissed May 23, as part of a “compromise,” according to the court file. According to the North Dakota Century Code, a misdemeanor charge can be resolved through compromise if the injured person — in this case, the property owner — has legal remedy through a civil action, or if they say they’ve been compensated for whatever injury was incurred. A compromise isn’t possible under statute if the offense was against a judge or a law

enforcement officer, if it was committed with the intent to commit a felony or if it’s a case of domestic violence.

The charge against Radja was dismissed June 9, according to court records.

Oshie, who signed a three-year deal with the St. Louis Blues in May, was one of 10 Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalists as a UND junior and was named a first-team All-American by the American Hockey Coaches Association.

Linkorama: draft postmortem.

The draft is over and we are now completely in the summer mode. Now we can concentrate on rumor innuendo and really bad golf shots.

Lets Go DU had this interesting tid bit on the Bruins first round draft choice.

Maguire added that Colborne, who will attend the University of Denver this fall, is at least three years away from making the NHL. Draft guru Bob McKenzie, another of the TSN cognoscenti, categorized Colborne as "a home run or a strikeout," and added that Colborne's speech and mannerisms are very reminiscent of Thornton.

By the view of Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli, Colborne is likely a couple of years away from cracking the lineup, but he and his staff are impressed by the big kid's hard shot and ability to put the puck in the net.

"I think the comparison to Joe is fair, in a sense," noted Chiarelli, commenting a few minutes after selecting Colborne. "He's big and rangy, like Joe. But Joe is more of a passer, and this kid is a pretty good finisher . . . he really snaps off a hard wrist shot, with a really impressive release."

Chiarelli said he tried to move up in the draft, with an eye on acquiring one of the top handful of picks, but his talks were all but finished by Thursday night. His target all along, said Chiarelli, was Colborne.

Great a Joe Thornton Reference we all know how that worked out for Boston, they liked him so much that the traded him to the Sharks. Even with the Thornton comparision I am very happy that Joe is a member of the Boston Bruins and they can take him as soon as they would like. :)

The College Hockey Recruit Exchange says that no uncommitted players were drafted in this years entry draft.

Though five ranked North American players from the Final CSS Rankings were college eligible yet uncommitted, none were drafted. Anders Lee was the highest ranked skater on that list, but the fact that he hasn't committed to a college yet may have scared away some NHL clubs who may be under the impression that Lee would rather pursue a carreer in football.

It wold appear that the future Wisconsin Badgers defenseman had a really good draft.

Remarkably, four Wisconsin defensemen were taken in the top 43 picks of the draft — Jake Gardiner, the only first rounder at No. 17 overall, Cody Goloubef (No. 37), Patrick Wiercioch (42) and Justin Schultz (43). Of those, only Goloubef played for the Badgers last year.

So you can bet your bottom dollar that it's going to continue being really fun to watch the Fighting Sioux play the Badgers, defensive systems, defensive systems. Shall we say that the Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves is a defensive guru and with Bill Howard starts from the goaltender out.

Lucia is such a bad coach that Garth Snow picks another Gopher recruit?

The move of the weekend from the 2008 NHL entry level draft that has me and others scratching their head is the fact that Islanders malcontent Garth Snow would actually have the audacity to take another Gopher recruit or player, especially after he had bad mouthed Gophers Coach Donny Lucia and said that Kyle Okposo wasn't developing under tDon's tutalidge. Ok, so now we are to believe that Snow isn't worried about Ness being on Lucia's team? Why the Change of heart? Could Garth Snow be talking about of both sides of his mouth?

I have seen some speculation on fan messages boards and on the internet that Snow just might be covering for Kyle Okposo who (from everything I heard and read, even Lou Nanne said that he expected Kyle to sign with the Islanders during the summer) wanted to sign last summer but the Islanders brass told him to stay in school. Seems as if Kyle never really wanted to remain in school anyways and should have just said so instead of allowing his coach to get bashed in the media. There is an unwritten rule in life to not burning any bridges.

OTTAWA — When the New York Islanders signed Kyle Okposo out of the University of Minnesota in the middle of the school year in December, Islanders General Manager Garth Snow justified the controversial move by criticizing the Gophers' program and specifically coach Don Lucia.

"Quite frankly, we weren't happy with the program there," Snow told the Star Tribune. "They have a responsibility to coach, to make Kyle a better player, and they were not doing that. ... We entrusted the coach there to turn him into a better hockey player, and it wasn't happening."

He added, "Whether it was Kyle or another player, until things change in that program we'd probably make the same decision."

Fast forward to the entry draft on Saturday: apparently Garth has had a change of heart.

Well, in Saturday's second round of the NHL draft, the Islanders took Gophers incoming freshman and Minnesota's Mr. Hockey, Roseau's Aaron Ness, with the 40th pick.

But Snow changed his tune Saturday, saying he blasted the Gophers because in a Star Tribune article the day before, "there were three people that took shots against our organization, against Kyle, and I wasn't going to sit idly by.

"Every situation is different. We're happy we got a good hockey player, and we support [Ness] getting his degree at the University of Minnesota."

Still, Ness said how long he stays at the university depends largely on the Islanders' wishes.

"Whenever they feel I'm ready and I feel I'm ready, let's get it going," Ness said. "I'll take this as it comes. As of now, I'm going to the U next year."

Reminded of Snow's thoughts of the Gophers and asked if that could affect his long-term stay at Minnesota, Ness said: "Yeah, I guess, maybe. I'll talk about it with them in the future."

By phone from the Twin Cities on Saturday, Lucia said he wasn't concerned the Islanders took Ness.

"They drafted a great kid, a great player, a world-class player," Lucia said. "I think Aaron has a great set of parents. They know and he knows there's growth to do as a player. It'll take time. So we look forward to having him at Minnesota.

"Whether it was the Islanders or anybody else, it was a smart pick. It's old news as far as I'm concerned."

Friday was a long day for Ness. He had to sit through the three-hour first round only not to hear his name.

"It was a little disappointing, just because of all the hype and stuff," Ness said. "But the bottom line is it's what you do after the draft. This is another step to hopefully getting there one day."
<-Read the rest of the story here->

Here is a little perspective.

I saw this comment posted on siouxsports.com and It got me thinking about something. While Ryan Duncan had a down year by his own standards he still had a better three season strech points wise than say a Blake Wheeler who according to the Boston Globe will sign an entry level deal on the first of July with the Boston Bruins. So what does Blake have that Duncan doesn't? Personally I would say 10 inches in height and the benefits of being drafted in the first round. Other than that nothing. As far as offensive creativity goes Ducan has a heck of lot more than an under achiever like Wheeler, however, like the writer says he is no Gerbe. Seriously folks, not many are like Nathan Gerbe.

Duncan didn't always play with Oshie and Toews at UND either. Lastly, there will be another Toews in the Fighting Sioux line up come fall so maybe just maybe there will version of the Toews, Duncan, ________...

WCHA-Fan said: The numbers are a big thing for teams. Yea Duncan is short, listed at 5'6" and just under 160lbs. But Nathan Gerbe is 5'5" and about 165lbs. The difference between those two is speed. Gerbe is a very quick player where as Duncan isn't the fastest guy out there and thats something that Duncan if he improved there would help him if he were to pursue an NHL deal next year.

As it sets up right now the Sioux are better with him because he will be a leader and most likely wearing the "C" next year. However, he won't have Oshie anymore, and his numbers did suffer without Toews last year. For the Sioux's sake I hope he has a good year next year. He was an asset to the Sioux, like you said, he did do a lot of time on the PK. Like I said in an earlier post, this season coming up will be a telling sign of how good Duncan is. I think a lot of NHL critics and even in the WCHA are going to look to him this year to put up numbers for this team. I said before that Duncan may have been the benefactor of having Oshie and Toews with him. This will be Duncan's "prove it" year. No Toews, No Oshie, lets see how he does. I don't think he will have a problem being a leader on the team, most likely wearing the "C" next year. Oshie and Toews proved how good they were, now its Duncan's turn.

Sioux recruits and where they were drafted.

According to the Grand Forks Herald; here is where the future Fighting Sioux were
selected.

Kristo went later in the second (No. 56) to Montreal.

Toews went in the third (No. 66) to the Islanders and Fienhage in the same round (No. 81) to Buffalo.

Sioux forward recruit Brett Hextall, who was not ranked by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau, went 159th in the 6th round to the Phoenix Coyotes.

UND defensemen recruits Andrew MacWilliam 188th to the (Toronto Maple Leafs)
and Joe Gleason (Chicago Blackhawks) went 192nd respectively in the seventh round.

Check out Zack Parise on NHL Network online and Draft rankings

I found this this clip on the NHL channel while I was looking at some draft information. I really miss this kid's days of playing for Sioux. Forner Sioux start Zach Parise was always a good interview so this is clip is no different some good stuff. On a final note, Zach is right goalies are head cases.

North American Top-30 Ranked Skaters - FINAL
10 Wilson, Colin Boston University C 34 12 22 34 20 Read
23 Gardiner, Jake Minnetonka D 25 16 27 43 18
27 Ness, Aaron Roseau High D 25 23 37 60 12
28 Colborne, Joe Camrose C 55 33 57 90 48

Interesting blog on Blake Wheeler

Check out this blog post from Gerry Bourdeau on Blake going to the Bruins. I have to admit that has a Briuns fan I am not as excited about this pick up as other Bruins fans. I guess I have seen the kid play in college and he just didn't stick out as being the type of player worthy of a first round draft choice. Just for the record I felt that Kyle Okposso was worthy of a first round pick.

According to the Boston Globe (and this site), the Boston Bruins have agreed to terms with Blake Wheeler, a solid power-forward prospect with lots of size, skating ability and an interesting name which lends itself out nicely to puns. Wheel we see him in the NHL next year? There are no guarantees of that, but Bruin fans have to be happy about getting this 6’4”, 5th overall draftee (selected by Phoenix in 2004) who turns 22 in August. The best thing about this, other than the possibility that I’ll get to call someone a wheelman in this blog next year, is that it cost the Bruins nothing player-wise to acquire this young talent. Low risk and high reward: how can you go wrong with that? You can’t, is what I’m trying to say, in case you didn’t piece that together.

In any case, the Bruins must wait until July 1 to officially sign Flex Wheeler (look at that, a weight lifting reference – and you thought all I could do was sci-fi) even though he does not have a previous contract. In case Blake Wheeler has second thoughts about joining the Bruins, I would like to remind him that the number 18 appears to be free. This should be enticing for several reasons. Firstly, it is the inverse of fellow ex-Gopher, Phi Kessel’s number. Secondly, and more importantly, it could give him a cool nickname like “18 Wheeler” or even “Big Rig” and he could use that in all kinds of situations, even away from the rink.

Peter Chiarelli said he wanted to improve the forward core of this team by getting some bigger players. With Carl Soderberg agreeing to come over to North America next season, the acquisition of Matt Marquardt, and now this acquisition, it would seem Peter Chiarelli is well on the way to achieving his goal.

Tiger Wuss? Hardly...

There was a lot said about Tiger Woods saying that no one watches hockey. Nothing like telling everyone what is on your mind or how you feel about something.

JULIUS MASON: Mr. Woods, Julius Mason here. We're joined by about 75 of your closest friends and I think off the top of their head they have one burning question for you, Detroit or Pittsburgh tonight? In the Stanley Cup finals. (Laughter.)

TIGER WOODS: That's pretty good. I don't really care, let's talk about the Dodgers. (Laughter.)

JULIUS MASON: Politically correct as always and that's what we ?

TIGER WOODS: I don't think anybody really watches hockey any more. (Laughter.)

While I was disappointed with Tiger Woods for making those silly statements about hockey, I do believe Tiger is a world class athlete has earned the right to speak out. For most of us Tiger Woods is a role model and based on that fact I did expect maybe just a little more from him. Come on Tiger the Dodgers suck and are just about as bad as the Kings in my opinion.

Personally I have a lot of respect for Tiger Woods whether he makes these silly comment or not. Face it; there is no denying the fact Tiger is the best golfers to ever lace up a pair of golf shoes, Tiger is the Wayne Greztky of golf. Bum knee or not he is one of the best athletes in the game of golf right now, the game of golf will suffer because of his absence. Few if any other golfers come even close to being as talented or as athletic as Tiger. Yes golfers are athletes. Very few of are probably even worthy of carrying his bag on the course.

Tiger will probably go down as one of the best the game of golf will ever know. In my opinion, no one can match Tiger's metal toughness or talent on the golf course. Not Phil, Sergio Ernie or Jack. That being said it was a mistake for Tiger to disrespect the game of hockey. Maybe we should send the Boggey man over the boards after him. Not!

Of course then ex-Boston Bruin Mike Milbury then responded by calling Tiger a Wuss.

You know what? I'm gonna change the name now. It's gonna be Tiger Wuss. Here's a guy that took about three months to get over a simple arthroscopic surgery. You look at [Pens forward] Ryan Malone. His face exploded with a slap shot last night - he's back out in 10 minutes!

"Keep your yap shut, Tiger, or I'll send a couple of wingers down there - [Pens forward] Gary Roberts - to tidy you up a little bit, meat head."

Now we find out that Tiger Woods was hurt more than he lead on. Tiger Woods announced today that he is done for the rest of the 2008 season.

Woods explained why today when he revealed he will have season-ending surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left knee that he injured 10 months ago.

He also suffered a double stress fracture of his left tibia two weeks before the U.S. Open, ignoring doctors' advice to take six weeks off to let it heal. And he still won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, going 91 holes over five days on a knee that was getting worse.

"Now, it is clear that the right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee," Woods said on his Web site.

Sioux recruits and their draft rankings

The NHL draft is on the 20th and 21st of June. Here is some info on the Sioux recruits and their draft rankings from TSN and NHL.com.

39. DANNY KRISTO
Comparable: Maxim Afinogenov

From TSN: One of the better skates in the draft, scouts like the young American's effort and rate him as a solid second-rounder.

From NHL Central Scouting: Danny is a strong kid, but not a very big, physical kid. He has very quick feet and he's very smart. He's clever with the puck, he can set people up and he can finish. Sometimes he can take himself away from his best assets - thinking and skating and using his hands – and he tries to knock big guys down and he physically can't, but he's got that bite to his game.

NHL.COM RANKINGS

Cory Fienhage North American Skater. Final Ranking: 36 Mid-term Ranking: 61 Eastview High,High-MN

Danny Kristo North American Skater. Final Ranking: 37 Mid-term Ranking: 40 USA U-18,USDP

David Toews North American Skater. Final Ranking: 79 Mid-term Ranking: 71

Here is the Central Scouting Releases Final Rankings

36. Cory Fienhage D Eastview (Minn.) H.S. North Dakota
37. Danny Kristo F U.S. NTDP North Dakota
79. David Toews F Shattuck St. Mary's (Minn) North Dakota
147. Andrew MacWilliam D Camrose (AJHL) North Dakota
178. Joe Gleason D Edina (Minn.) H.S. North Dakota

Wheeler is going to the Bruins.

The Bruins have won the Blake Wheeler sweepstakes and will sign him to a professional contract on the 1st of July. Yeah OK, good for Blake Wheeler. Personally I am happy for Blake but I don't ever see him playing in a Claude Julien system. If Brandon Bochenski isn't good enough to play for the Bruins how in the heck is Wheeler going to make the line up on a regular basis? Coach Julien is a task member that has no patience for players that don't work hard and give 100 percent on each shift. Just for the record Blake Wheeler wasn't half the player Brandon Bochenski was in college.

Blake Wheeler, the highly-sought winger from the University of Minnesota, has advised his agent to finalize terms of a contract with the Bruins, a two-year deal that won’t be made official until July 1, in keeping with NHL bylaws that govern the movement and signing of unrestricted free agents.

"More than 20 NHL teams were interested in Blake, and this was a very tough decision,’’ said Wellesley-based agent Matt Keator, who also represents Boston captain Zdeno Chara. "And ultimately it came down to a few things for Blake, but mostly that he was comfortable with where the Bruins were headed as an organization — how this year they brought along kids like David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Mark Stuart. They’ve done a good job of developing kids, and he wants to continue along that line.’’

Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli, reached via email, wrote that he was pleased that Wheelers chose the Bruins. "Of course, ‘’ added Chiarelli, "we can’t sign him until July 1, but we look forward to getting him in the mix. Any time you can get a young player of Blake’s caliber with that blend of size and skill, you are very fortunate.’’

Wheeler, 21 years old and 6 feet 4 inches, 220 pounds, was drafted No. 5 overall by the Coyotes in 2004 and long has been considered a potential power forward in the NHL. Just over a month ago, in the wake of his junior season with the Golden Gophers, he announced that he would turn pro and intended to exercise the right to be a free agent if he could not come to contract terms with the Coyotes.

Only in rare instances do college players become free agents. But Wheeler, because he played a year of junior hockey before joining UMinn, was eligible to exercise his right to become UFA prior to July 1, because four years had lapsed since his draft day. Once officially a free agent as of June 8, he began to field bids from around the league, and just last week cut down to four teams — believed to be the Bruins, Canadiens, Rangers, and either the Devils or Wild.
<-Read the rest of the story here ->

Whew...

For the two people that haven't seen this; it appears that both our players are going no where and a case of the Halifax Mooseheads having them on their roster because they are both draft choices. Also the article posted on the Hockey News is wrong as well.

From BES: Both Malone and Cichy are draft picks of the Mooseheads, so apparently, by default they are putting them on the camp roster. Neither will be attending.

Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, June 16 12:17 PM

Update on Mike Cichy

Herald beat writer Brad Elliott Schlossman is reporting that Mike Cichy is still coming to UND in 2009. Sounds like the Halifax Moose might have a case of wishful thinking.

Q&A with Mike Cichy

Despite being the youngest player on his team, Mike Cichy led Tri-City in scoring with 16 goals, 29 assists and 45 points during his USHL rookie season. The 5-foot-11, 193-pound forward from New Hartford, Conn., scored two power-play goals, two shorthanded goals and a pair of game-winning goals.

He will come to UND in 2009.

Q. The Halifax Mooseheads have you on their training camp roster and another report says you are going there next season. Is that the case?
MIKE CICHY: No, I'm not going there. I think that is a bit of wishful thinking on their part. I already talked to Cary Eades, too, and told him that.

Did the Sioux lose a couple of recruits?

According to a few things that were posted on siouxsports.com this morning it appears that UND could have lost three recruits in one week. Starting with the Garrett Clarke Saga which was covered extensively to now hearing about these two new developments.

Mike Cichy, C, Tri-City Storm (USHL)
One of the best college-commits in the US, Cichy instead will be heading to the QMJHL for 2009-10. A dazzling puck-handler and playmaker, he could have an offensive explosion like Edmonton's Sam Gagner experienced. Doesn't turn 18 until after the draft.

Here is a roster that has Brad Malone on the Mooseheads, Halifax of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.


<----Update---->
Both Malone and Cichy are listed on the Moose Heads roster. I am sure we will soon find out if UND is losing both these palyers. Apparently it isn't a big deal for a player to be on a training camp roster and recently happned with a Gopher recruit Sam Lofquist ended up being on the OHL team London Knights roster last fall.

Ex-Gopher Ryan Potulny sign deal with Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers signed another ex-college hockey player yesterday as Ryan Potulny signed a one year contract. Edmonton has a roster that contains numerous ex-college hockey players on their roster this past season. Potulny joins Shawn Horcoff, Dustin Penner, Dwayne Roloson, Matt Greene, Andrew Cogliano, Tom Gilberton the Edmonton roster. Marty Reasoner, Curtiss Glencross were also on the roster this past season but are free agents and remains unsigned.

Edmonton Oilers Press Release--The Edmonton Oilers have signed centre Ryan Potulny to a one-year contract.

The 6’0”, 180 pound native of Grand Forks, North Dakota was acquired by the Oilers on June 6th from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Danny Syvret.

Potulny split the 2007-08 season between Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers’ American Hockey League affiliate. In his second full season as a professional, the 23-year-old forward scored one assist in seven NHL games with the Flyers and registered 21 goals and 26 assists for 47 points in 58 games for the Phantoms.

Because of the GOP Convention the Wild to hold training camp in Grand Forks, ND

Brad Elliott Schlossman from the Grand Forks Herald is reporting that the Minnesota Wild will be holding training camp at the REA. I believe this is a good thing and hopefully we will be able to attend some of the training camp activities.