By The Numbers

This weekend has the Denver Pioneers raiding the confines of the DECC in an effort to revenge their early elimination from the final 5 last season by the Bulldogs. There was some coverage previously about the number of former Alberta Junior Hockey League Camrose Kodiaks in the Bulldog Line up to begin the season. Well this weekend you can add one more former bear that will hit the ice at the DECC, as Denver's T.J. Fast visits Duluth with his Pioneering entourage. Keeping with the theme of this blog, the canadian content will be well represented. The Pioneers sport no less than 8 crazy canucks on their roster, and if you add the 6 Canadians playing for Duluth, my math would bring that total to 14 for this weekends tilts.

The Pioneers have Cody Brookwell, T.J. Fast, Glenn Fisher, Matt Glasser, Julian Marcuzzi, Brock Trotter and Adrian Veideman all hailing from the great white north, while the Duluth contingent includes Mason Raymond, Matt McKnight, MacGregor Sharp, Travis Gawryletz, Logan Gorsalitz, and Bryan McGregor. Of this group no less than 7 got their training in the Alberta Junior Hockey League before taking the step up to the college ranks.

It will be interesting to see how Edmonton Oiler draft choice Matt Glasser performs. He showed alot of promise a couple of years ago when he was drafted but had a disappointing season last year for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons. The talk in the trade papers suggested that he was struggling with a shoulder injury. Not sure if this speedster had surgery in the off season but time will tell if he can rebound from his oh so average year of last season.

First Time Here

Well, after the kid made the UMD Bulldog roster I came across a number of bloggers. Heck I didnt know what a blog was until I discovered this. What I did notice however, is that there are a number of talented Canadian hockey players plying their trade in the grand ole U S of A. So I thought well if anyone can become a "blogger" I might as well take a shot at it.

There has been a bit of coverage surrounding the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog Hockey team and the fact that they currently have 7, count e , seven, canadians on their squad. What is even more surprising is that 4 of those players were all recruited from the same hockey program out of Alberta.

Yup, for the opening game of the season all four fellows dressed for the marroon and gold. Team Captain Matt McKnight played for the Camrose Kodiaks when they went to the National Championship in 2003. Lining up with him this season are bulldog sophmores Mason Raymond (NHL draft choice #51) and McGregor Sharp, who coincidently played for the Camrose Kodiaks when they played for the National Championship in 2005. Throw in Bulldog rookie Logan Gorsalitz who played for the Kodiaks in both the 2003, and 2005 national championships and you have what I affectionately refer to as the "Kodiak Connection". Onc can conclude that it is no coincidence that the Kodiaks have been ranked the Number 1 Jr. A hockey club in the nation for the third week running and sport a record of 14 wins against 2 losses.

The four boys recently received some coverage in the Edmonton Journal, for my yankie bretheren that is the Capital City of Alberta and sports about a million inhabitants, however sportswriter Richard Wright failed to mention any kudos for McGregor Sharp who in the first week of WCHA action won offensive player honours.

Chris Heisenberg, has identified no less than 5 Camrose Kodiaks in his 2007 potential list. Eric Kroshus, Mike Connolly, Chris Barton, Evan Oberg, and Karl Stollery, are all hoping that the Kodiak connection garners them some interest in the NCAA ranks.

Rumour has it that the braintrust of the Bulldog organization are currently courting a couple other Kodiaks for next season. Now wouldnt that be something if we could ice an entire line that formerly played for the Camrose Kodiaks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. In fact the interest in this Junior A hockey club from the Duluth organization is so strong that Head Coach Boris Rybalka has been quoted as saying that he is the farm team for Duluth. Well heres hoping all that National Championship experience works its magic down in Minnesota.