The National Hockey League suspended Anaheim Ducks center Antoine Vermette 10 games Thursday for his two-handed slash of rookie linesman Shandor Alphonsoduring the Ducks’ Tuesday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
In addition to the 10-game ban, Vermette will forfeit $97,222.22 of his salary, based on his annual salary per NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Linesman Shandor Alphonso (Photo/Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
With 12:30 to go in the third period, Alphonso dropped the puck Tuesday night in St. Paul, Minnesota, for a neutral zone faceoff between Vermette and the Wild’s Mikko Koivu.
What happened next has the hockey world shaking its head.
Koivu won the draw and Vermette stayed still, then turned to Alphonso and gave him a two-handed slash across the back of his right leg. Vermette, 34, a veteran of 968 NHL games, was given a 10-minute misconduct for official abuse and ejected from the game.
Alphonso wasn’t injured. The Orange County Register reported that Vermette had been miffed that the puck was dropped when he wasn’t set for the draw.
Alphonso was promoted to full-time status this season, ending a two-year apprenticeship that had him officiating 40 NHL games and 40 American Hockey League contest. He joined veteran Jay Sharrers, his role model, and the NHL’s only other black on-ice official.
The league had to decide whether Vermette would receive a 20-game suspension for intentionally trying to injure an official or the 10-game ban for the use of physical force against an official without intent to injure.
Ducks Head Coach Randy Carlyle told The Register that Vermette’s action “wasn’t really a vicious or any type of malice thing.”
“He wasn’t trying to hurt anybody,’ the coach told the newspaper. “It was more of a tap to blow-the-whistle-type of thing. Because usually what happens, if they do drop tje puck unfairly, the linesman or the referee will blow the whistle and reset it.”
The Color of Hockey’s Lew Serviss wrote this article.
If the U.S. team at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship was a 1960s pop music group, it would probably be called Jordan and the Americans (Okay, I had to get some kind of Jay and the Americans reference in there before the end of the year).
Boston University forward Jordan Greenway continued his impressive play for Team USA at the tournament Saturday, by notching a goal and an assist and by generally wrecking havoc on Team Canada in the U.S.’s 3-1 victory at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.
Jordan Greenway has good hands and a long reach. Minnesota Wild pick good near net. 2-0 🇺🇸 https://t.co/iZgN61EJWH
Greenway, a 2015 Minnesota Wild second round draft pick, made his 6-foot-5, 230-pound presence felt at both ends of the ice and made life miserable for Team Canada’s goaltender with numerous close-range stuff-in attempts.
His play Saturday caught the attention of analysts on the NHL Networkand several folks on social media.
More from Chris Peters’ The United States of Hockeyblog: The way Greenway has developed over the last two years should give a lot of hope to Minnesota Wild fans. He played like the power forward he was brought onto this team to be, using his frame to get pucks to the net and make some plays. The move he made to score Team USA’s second goal showed his combination of power and finesse. You need guys like that to impose their will on a game and I thought we saw that more today from Greenway than any other time in the tournament.
Boston University forward Jordan Greenway made his presence felt in the United States’ 6-1 victory over Latvia in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship Monday night.
The 6-foot-5, 230-pound sophomore capped the U.S. squad’s night, scoring the team’s sixth goal against a scrappy but outgunned Latvia team. He led Team USA with seven shots on goal, most of them close to beleaguered Latvian goaltender Marek Mitens.
Team USA’s Erik Foley, left, and Jordan Greenway stand during the playing of U.S. national anthem during preliminary round action at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship. (Photo/ Matt Zambonin/HHOF-IIHF Images).
Greenway, the Minnesota Wild’s 2015 second-round draft pick, was named Team USA’s best player after the game for his offensive display and his intimidating physical play.
For those watching the world juniors – and it’s great viewing to see the next generation of NHL players – Greenway is easily found. He’s the man-mountain parked in front of the opposing net casting an imposing shadow over the goalie.
BU hockey Head Coach Dave Quinn has described Greenway, a Canton, N.Y. native, as a highly-skilled hockey player with the football body of “a five-star tight end at Alabama or Notre Dame.”
Greenway plays a game similar to Philadelphia Flyers high-scoring forward Wayne Simmonds: screen the goalie, try for tip-in shots, and fight for rebounds.
Greenway is making a name for himself at the IIHF tourney in Toronto and Montreal and in Boston. He’s BU’s second-leading scorer with 6 goals and 10 assists in 16 games.
Erik Foley, Jordan Greenway, and Caleb Jones received early Christmas presents Saturday – roster spots on the U.S. team that will compete in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.
With its final roster announcement, USA Hockey will skate one of the most diverse teams in the 10-nation tournament that begins Monday in Toronto and Montreal.
The three American players join Team Canada’sMathieu Joseph and Team Sweden’sOliver Kylington members of the diverse National Hockey League draft class of 2015 who will represent their countries in the tournament.
Providence College Friars forward Erik Foley in action for Team USA against Finland (Photo/Rena Laverty/USA Hockey).
Foley, a Winnipeg Jets third round draft pick, is a forward for Providence College Friars of Hockey East. A sophomore, Foley leads the team in scoring with 7 goals and 8 assists in 15 games.
Boston University’s Jordan Greenway earns spot on U.S. roster for IIHF world junior championship (Photo/Rena Laverty/USA Hockey).
Greenway, a Minnesota Wild second round draft pick, is a forward for Boston University of Hockey East. The sophomore is the Terriers’ second-leading scorer with 6 goals and 10 assists in 16 games.
Portland Winterhawks defenseman Caleb Jones will patrol the blue line for Team USA at IIHF world junior championship (Photo/Rena Laverty/USA Hockey).
Jones, an Edmonton Oilers fourth round draft pick, plays defense for the PortlandWinterhawks, a major junior team in the Western Hockey League. Jones, the younger brother of Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, is fifth on the Winterhawks in scoring with 3 goals and 28 assists in 32 games. He’s tenth in scoring among WHL defensemen.
Mathieu Joseph, right, will play for Canada at the world junior championship tournament in Montreal and Toronto (Photo/Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images)
Team Canada’s Joseph, a Tampa Bay Lightning fourth round selection, is a forward for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He’s the Sea Dogs’ second-leading scorer with 33 goals and 40 assists in 58 games.
And let’s not forget Sweden’s Kylington. When he isn’t wearing his country’s classy Three Crowns jersey, the Calgary Flames second round draft pick skates for the Stockton Heat, the Flames’ American Hockey League affiliate.
Kylingtonis ninth on the Heat in scoring – and second among defensemen – with 4 goals and 9 assists in 25 games. He appeared in one game for the Flames in 2015-16.
Kyle Bollers’ Twitter bio used to say that he was going to finish what his older brother started – a vow he made to become a professional hockey player after his talented sibling grew tired of the game and quit three years ago.
Now there’s a sibling rivalry going on to see who’ll reach the pros first, Kyle or older brother Cyril Bollers, Jr. They’re each taking distinctively different paths that they hope will lead to the same destination – the National Hockey League.
Kyle, 17, signed with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League over the weekend after he impressed coaches with his play after he essentially joined the Spirit’s summer team as a walk-on and later out-played and out-hustled Saginaw’s top draft picks in training camp.
“It’s a big jump from where I was last year, a big opportunity for me to show what I have,” Kyle told me recently. “It’s a big step.”
Forward Kyle Bollers begins the 2016-17 season with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit.
Meanwhile, his 20-year-old brother C.J. flew to Sweden over the weekend to resume his career playing for a team outside of Stockholm, stoked by a renewed sense of passion and a greater appreciation for the game.
“He did kind of finish what I started, he just signed with an OHL team. I never did – I had the opportunity, but I never did,” C.J. said of Kyle’s vow. “Now he just has to make it to the NHL before I do, which I’m not going to let him do. We’ve got a little brotherly bet going on to see who does. It will just raise the competition and raise our games a bit more.”
Kyle is rooting for his brother to reach the NHL first but warned that “if he doesn’t, then I’m coming for him.”
Kyle has been trying to leap-frog a lot of players ever since he was passed over twice by major junior hockey teams in league drafts. He played last season for Michigan’s Traverse City Hounds inthe U.S. Premier Hockey League, which gives young under-the-radar players a chance to showcase their skills for upper-level leagues and top NCAA hockey programs.
A left wing, Kyle finished fourth on the Hounds in scoring last season with 29 goals and 27 assists in 46 games as a 16-year-old rookie. He notched a goal and 2 assists in seven USPHL playoff games.
Kyle Bollers, left, finished fourth in scoring for the USPHL’s Traverse City Hounds last season with 56 points as a 16-year-old rookie (Photo/Jay Johnston/Game Day).
When his USPHL season ended, Kyle asked Spirit head scout Ian Meahgher if he could play on the OHL team’s summer squad.
“He eventually ended up being one of our top scorers and earned an invite to main camp,” Spirit General Manager Dave Drinkill said. “In camp, Kyle showed the skill and speed we were looking for when rounding out our forward group.”
Drinkill noted that “Very few players have come as far as Kyle has since being passed over in the OHL draft twice, and being able to earn a roster spot as a free agent invitee is quite the accomplishment.”
But he stressed that Kyle making the team isn’t a happy ending. It’s just a beginning.
“It’s one of those really feel-good stories but, like we told Kyle, ‘We’re not signing you just because it’s a feel-good story,'” he said. “‘We’re signing you because we think you have the ability to be a good hockey player down the road.'”
A lot of hockey people said the same about defenseman C.J. Bollers. The Guelph Storm liked him enough to take him in the ninth round with the 169th overall pick of the 2012 OHL draft.
After quitting the game three years ago, hockey is fun again for C.J. Bollers. He played in a showcase All-Star game in Toronto in June (Photo/AlexD’Addese/TEP Showcase)
But C.J. never signed with Guelph. A combination of hockey burnout and a bum collarbone took the joy out of the game. Instead of hockey, C.J. wanted to make a go of it in music or acting.
“After breaking my collarbone twice within six months, it kind of got into my head,” C.J. told me. “After that, I felt like I kind of plateaued because I wasn’t on teams I felt I should have been on. I was around the wrong people. They weren’t people with high aspirations in hockey. They were playing hockey to play minor hockey. I kind of developed that same mentality…I kind of felt bad for myself and then I couldn’t get out of that slump for a bit. I just dropped out of the game because I felt there was nothing left for me.”
Coach and hockey dad Cyril Bollers
The move was heartbreaking for his father, Cyril Bollers, head coach of the Toronto RedWings Bantam AAA team; an associate coach for the Jamaican Olympic Ice Hockey Federation; and director of player development at Skillz Black Aces.
“I think I cried for about two years straight,” the elder Bollers told me. “Couldn’t watch the OHL on TV because he should have been there. I couldn’t watch the NHL draft because he could have been there, or should have been there. I spent a lot of time just driving, thinking, and ending up different places that I don’t know how I got there.”
But what dad didn’t know was that his son was having second thoughts. After talking to a friend whose soccer career ended because of a devastating knee injury and watching former youth hockey buddies like New York Islanders prospect Josh Ho-Sang, MontrealCanadiens 2015 draftee Jeremiah Addison and Columbus Blue Jackets farmhand Dante Salituro climb the hockey ladder, C.J. realized he loved the game and missed it.
“Coaches always tell you that you don’t want to be the one who looks back and say ‘What if?'” he said. “Unfortunately, I was that person who had to look back at all my friends grow up, do well, and succeed. Now it’s just my turn to catch up with them and…surpass them.”
C.J. Bollers suited up for Team Jamaica in June as part of his hockey comeback. (Photo/Tim Bates/ OJHL Images).
After first telling his mother, C.J. told his father in May that he wanted to return to hockey. Dad’s reaction?
“I got on the phone and the next day he’s on the ice for three sessions,” the elder Bollers said.
C.J. has no illusions about the challenges ahead in shaking off three years of rust, living in a different country, and playing on larger European ice surfaces where skating skills are a must to survive.
“I know for a fact that if I put in the hard work, it will take me four or five years to maybe get to the NHL, and then from there maybe a bit more to get to Team Canada,” he said. “It took Joel Ward until he was 26 to get into the NHL.”
As for Kyle’s Twitter bio, he recently amended it to say “me and my brother are going to finish what we started.”
Anaheim Ducks’ new goalie coach Sudarshan Maharaj.
Sudarshan Maharaj, whose passion for hockey began when an NHL player who would later become his boss tossed him a puck at a game decades ago, is the new goalie coach for the Anaheim Ducks.
The team tapped Maharaj to replace former NHL netminder Dwayne Roloson, who stepped down from the coaching job earlier this summer.
A native of Trinidad, Maharaj has been with the Ducks organization since the 2013-14 season. He served as a goaltendting consultant working primarily with the San DiegoGulls, the Ducks’ American Hockey League farm team that relocated from Norfolk, Va., last season.
Under his tutelage, Gulls goaltenders posted a 39-23-8 record, a 2.87 goals-against average, a .906 save percentage, and a spot in the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs. John Gibson, one of Maharaj’s former Gulls netminders, is poised to be the Ducks top goaltender for the 2016-17 season.
Maharaj is a veteran coach. He was the New York Islanders goalie coach from 2003 to 2006 and goaltending consultant for the team from 2009 to 2012. He also helped develop that National Goaltending Training Program for Hockey Canada from 2005-07.
Maharaj attended Toronto’s York University and was a member of its 1984-85 championship hockey team. Afterwards, he played professionally in Sweden from 1985 to 1991. He enjoyed playing in Sweden, but living there wasn’t without its racial difficulties, including having his car set ablaze.
“One of the young lads didn’t particularly like the color of my skin, me being in the town, and who I was associating with and all that,” Maharaj told me last year. “So he decided to make a bonfire that night.”
Maharaj is one of hockey’s great six degrees of separation stories. His family moved from Trinidad to Toronto when he was about six years old. He went to his first National Hockey League game at the old Maple Leafs Gardens and stood by the low glass, wide-eyed as the Toronto Maple Leafs skated through their pregame warm-up.
Sudarshan Maharaj, left, gets promoted from the Ducks organization’s’ goaltending consultant to the full-time goalie coach for the NHL team.
As the Leafs left the ice, a player tossed him a puck – a moment that made Maharaj realize that hockey was the game for him.The Leafs player was Bruce Boudreau who became the Ducks’ head coach in 2011-12.
As goalie consultant for the organization, Maharaj helped evaluate, train, and educate goalies for the man who triggered his love for the game decades earlier.
“I told Bruce that story,” Maharaj told me last November. “He was shocked that I remembered. I said ‘Are you crazy? That’s a life-changing moment. It was one of my greatest experiences. My very first hockey game and a Toronto Maple Leafs player dropped a puck for me.’ To this day, if I ever see a young child in the stands I’ll always throw a puck.”
Alas, “Sudsie” and “Gabby” won’t be reunited in Anaheim. The Ducks dismissed Boudreau in April after the team lost a Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 7 for the fourth straight season. He’s now head coach of the Minnesota Wild.
You don’t have to look very hard to gauge the depth of diversity in the 2016 National Hockey LeagueDraft.
Players of color populate NHL Central Scouting’s list of talented skaters eligible for the June 24-25 draft at the First Niagara Center, home of the BuffaloSabres, from top to bottom.
Let’s start at the top with forward Auston Matthews, the draft’s presumptive first overall pick – unless the Toronto Maple Leafs shock the hockey world.
Auston Matthews is poised to go from Arizona to Zurich to the NHL Number One draft pick.
Matthews embodies hockey’s growing diversity – both racially and geographically. His mother, Ema, is from Mexico, and his father, Brian, from California.
Born and raised in Arizona, Matthews got hooked on hockey watching the NHL Arizona Coyotes play. He hails from a non-traditional market and will reach the NHL via an unconventionalroute for a North American teenager.
After playing two seasons for the USA HockeyNational Team DevelopmentProgram, Matthews skated for the ZSC Lions in Switzerland’s professional National League A in the 2015-16 season, reportedly earning $400,000.
He scored 24 goals and 22 assists in 46 regular season games for the Lions and tallied 3 assists for the Zurich-based team in four playoff games.
Matthews also suited up for United States at the International Ice Hockey Federation 2016 World Junior Championship in Helsinki, Finland in December and January. He tied for the tournament lead in goals with 7 and finished fourth overall in points with 11 in powering the U.S.to a Bronze Medal.
He’s currently playing for the U.S. at the IIHF World Championship in Russia and has 3 goals and 3 assists in seven games.
The 6-foot-2, 194-pound Matthews is a “trailblazer, in all forms of the word,” his agent, Pat Brisson, told USA Hockey Magazine. “He’s an 18-year-old who’s ready to play in the NHL.”
California-born and Arizona-raised, Auston Matthews represented the U.S. twice this season in international tournaments.
Givani Smith, a right wing for the Ontario Hockey League’sGuelph Storm, is ranked as the 54th-best North American skater by Central Scouting. He’s hoping to follow in the skates of his older brother, center Gemel Smith, who was drafted by the Dallas Stars in 2012 in the fourth round with the 104th overall pick.
Givani tallied 23 goals, 19 assists, and 146 penalty minutes in 65 games for Guelph in 2015-16. Gemel had 13 goals, 13 assists, and 24 penalty minutes in 65 games for the Texas Stars, Dallas’ American Hockey League farm team.
Big brother Gemel has offered some sage advice to Givani ahead of June’s draft: “Don’t believe the hype – good or bad.”
Guelph Storm forward Givani Smith looks to join older brother Gemel Smith in the pros (Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).
“Most of his advice has been ‘Don’t go on social media and read what people are writing about you,'” Givani told the website Hockey’s Future. “Play your game; and if you play a good game, you’ll be rewarded in the end…I have a Twitter account and I know what’s going on, but I try not to pay too much attention to it.”
Fans at OHL London Knights home playoff games weren’t showering a player with boos. They were chanting of “Puuu,” paying homage to Knights forward Cliff Pu, ranked the 75th-best North American skater by Central Scouting.
“At first, I didn’t know they were doing it,” Pu said of the special cheer to The Hockey News. “It’s pretty funny – and it’s better than them booing, so it’s all fun and games.”
The 6-foot-1, 188-pound Pu notched 12 goals, 19 assists, and 24 penalty minutes in 63 regular season games for the Knights. He became a beast in the OHL playoffs, tallying 8 goals and 5 assists in 18 games.
Size, speed, and desire are keys to London Knights’ Cliff Pu’s game – and path to the NHL (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).
“I like to use my speed and find my teammates,” Pu told The Hockey News. “But it’s all about the team and whatever I need to do, I’m down for it.”
Pu , whose parents came to Canada from China, gained a lot of attention in January by celebrating a goal in an unusual fashion in today’s game – with a handshake.
Peterborough Petes center Jonathan Angis North America’s 95th-best skater, according to Central Scouting, up from 137 in the mid-term rankings. A Canadian of Malaysian descent, he finished fourth on the Petes in scoring in 2015-16 with 21 goals and 28 assists in 68 games.
Jonathan Ang of the Peterborough Petes (Photo/ Aaron Bell/OHL Images).
Ang led the Petes in playoff scoring, tallying 3 goals and 6 assists in seven games with one playoff game-winning goal. In an OHL coach’s poll in March, Ang tied for second as the league’s best skater.
Like Ang, defenseman James “J.D.” Greenway has moved up in the draft rankings – from 128 at mid-term to 121 in Central Scouting’s final report.
J.D. Greenway wants to play in the NHL – after college.
The Potsdam, N.Y., native is hoping to continue the family draft tradition. His brother, Boston University left wing Jordan Greenway, was chosen by the Minnesota Wild last year in the second round with the 50th overall pick.
Like his brother, J.D. is going the NCAA Division I route before turning pro. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound D-man recently committed to play for the University of Wisconsin.
It looks like Yushiro Hirano’s decision last year to pay his own way to travel from hometown Sapporo, Japan to Youngstown, Ohio, is paying off. Hirano, a 20-year-old right wing for the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms is ranked as the 184th-best draft-eligible player in North America.
Hirano – whose first name is sometimes spelled Yushiroh – came to the U.S.to catch the eyes of professional scouts. The 6-foot, 200-pound winger scored 24 goals and 22 assists 54 regular season games in 2015-16.
“I hope to grow the game in Japan and make everybody proud,” Hirano told me last year in an email exchange. “I also want to play well enough to get to the professional ranks here in the United States.”
Yushiro Hirano’s decision to relocate from Japan to Ohio to play hockey might pay off at June’s NHL Draft (Photo/Bill Paterson).
Right wing Daniel Muzito-Bagenda is another import, from the land of Volvos and Saabs. The Swedish Muzito-Bagenda is a high-scoring forward for the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads and the 205th-ranked player in North America available for the draft.
He had 20 goals and 17 assists in 63 regular season games for the Steelheads and 6 goals and 4 assists in seven OHL playoff games.
A product of Sweden’s storied Modo hockey program, Mississauga Steelheads’ Daniel Muzito-Bagenda hopes to hear his name called at the NHL Draft (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).
One player who didn’t make Central Scouting’s cut but still could draw interest in later rounds is defenseman Jalen Smereckof the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. Born in Detroit, Smereck was the 299th overall pick of the 2013 OHL draft.
He signed with Oshawa in summer 2015 and was pressed into heavy minutes on the Generals’ blue line throughout the 2015-16 season. He responded by scoring 5 goals and 20 assists in 63 regular season games and 1 goal and 4 assists in five playoff contests.
“For a team that was certainly rebuilding, he was a stalwart on defense,” hockey blogger and researcher Margann Laurissa told me recently. “Jalen played in all situations for the Gennies and there is no reason why the Detroit native should not get consideration.”
Oshawa’s Jalen Smereck isn’t ranked by Central Scouting but some hockey folks think he has the skills to crash the NHL draft party Photo/(Ian Goodall/Goodall Media Inc.)
The hockey blog OHL Prospects wrote that Smereck made a pretty seamless transition into Oshawa’s Top 4 defense rotation.
“With his average size, the development of his offensive game will be key to him becoming a serious NHL prospect,” according to the blog which concludes that “he could be worth a look.”
It’s one thing to be a hockey coach and tell a young under-the-radar player on what he or she needs to do to grab the attention of NCAA and major junior hockey programs, it’s another thing bestowing that advice when the player in question is your kid.
Just ask Cyril Bollers.
Traverse City Hounds forward Kyle Bollers.
After his 16-year-old son,Kyle Bollers, was bypassed by Canadian major teams, the elder Bollers, who’s the director of player development for the Skillz Black Aces and has coached for Canadian hockey teams at the youth and junior levels, convened a family meeting to go over the options Kyle had to chase professional hockey-playing dream.
With skating for an Ontario Hockey League major junior team close to his suburban Toronto home out, Kyle’s family concluded the he’d have to leave home and play in a lower but nonetheless important league to catch the eyes of collegiate and major junior scouts.
So he packed his bags, grabbed his passport, and made the 436-mile, seven-hour trek from Toronto to Traverse City, Mich., to play for the Traverse City Hounds of the U.S. Premier Hockey League.
The youngest and only foreign-born player on the team, Kyle finished fourth on the Hounds in scoring with 29 goals and 27 assists in 46 regular season games.
He helped propel the Hounds to second place in the USPHL’s Eastern Conference Division with a 37-9 record with two overtime losses. The Hounds are currently battling the DetroitFighting Irish in the second round of the playoffs.
“Honestly, I never expected to do this well. This was a good step – a great decision that me and my family chose to send me down here,” Kyle told me recently. “Missing my mom, my dad, and my brothers and sisters, that’s been the hardest part. There are some days that I wish I could be home. But at the same time, I just think to myself ‘Why am I here, what’s, my goal, and what I do need to do to achieve that goal?’ And what I need to do is to be here.”
Kyle Bollers scored 29 goals in 46 regular season games for the USPHL Hounds (Photo/Jay Johnston/Game Day)
While Kyle may have been occasionally homesick, his parents confessed to being occasionally heart-sick about his absence. Still, father Cyril said move to Traverse City gives Kyle “an opportunity to be seen in the U.S., it gives him an opportunity to pursue his dream of playing college or major junior hockey, it gives him a brand new start, it gives him sense of independence being away from home as a 16-year-old.”
“It also gives him a sense of accomplishment of achieving and continuing to progress at a high level,” the elder Bollers said. “So for us, it’s a bitter sorrow because he is away from home. But he’s being productive in pursuing his hockey endeavors.”
The USPHL was founded in 2012 and it consists of 110 teams from 55 hockey organizations across 19 states. The teams skate in the Premier, Elite, Midwest, USP3, Under-18, Under-16 and Under-16 Futures divisions.
More than 350 USPHL players have gone on to play college or professional hockey. Center Jack Eichel went from the USPHL’s BostonJunior Bruins to a standout career at Boston University to being the Buffalo Sabres’ 2015 first-round draft pick and a top contender this season for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s best rookie.
Center Charlie Coyleadvanced from Massachusetts’ South Shore Kings to BU to being the San Jose Sharks’ 2010 first-round draft pick. Coyle is the Minnesota Wild’s leading scorer so far this season.
Kyle Bollers, left, hopes that success in the USPHL leads to playing NCAA or major junior hockey in the near-future.
Kyle is hoping the USPHL will put him on the same glide path. Lester Griffin, the Hounds’majority owner and general manager, thinks it’s only a matter of time .
“He’s got great hands, sees the ice real well. We’re working with him to help improve his puck movement, passing,” Griffin told me recently. “He’s got a lot of potential and next year, he should be playing up somewhere.”
This summer, Kyle will likely spend some quality time on-ice with his dad, who’s a coach for the Jamaica Ice Hockey Federation, an organization that’s trying to develop a team that would eventually represent the Caribbean island nation in the Winter Olympics.
Kyle, whose family is of West Indian heritage, has practiced and played in an exhibition game for Team Jamaica. He said he’s looking forward to donning the team’s snazzy yellow, black, and green jersey and skate in more exhibition matches this summer.
Defenseman Darnell Nursecame straight outta Bakersfield to score the first goal of his National Hockey League career Tuesday night.
Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse.
Nurse, the Edmonton Oilers’ 2013 first-round draft pick, was called up from the Bakersfield Condors – the Oil’s American Hockey League farm team in California – and inserted into the lineup in a 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.
He responded to the promotion by scoring on a slap shot at 3:38 of the third period that gave the Oilers a brief 3-2 lead. Defenseman Oscar Klefbom and left wing Benoit Pouliotassisted on the tally.
In 19:20 of ice time, Nurse fired two shots, had three hits and two blocked shots.
The Oilers assigned Nurse to start the 2015-16 hockey season in Bakersfield. There, he had no goals, one assist, and seven penalty minutes in six games for the Condors.
The former captain for the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Nurse helped power Team Canada to the Gold Medal at the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal.
He had one goal, no assists, and a plus-minus rating of +8 in seven tournament games and opponents didn’t score while he was on the ice. He was named one of Canada’s three best players in the tourney.
Nurse hails from an athletic family. His younger sister, Kia Nurse, is a point guard for the 2015 NCAA Division I champion University of Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball team and a member of the Canadian women’s national team. Older sister Tamika played basketball for the University of Oregon and Bowling Green State University.
Their father Richard Nurse, was a wide receiver for the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats; their mother Cathy was a basketball standout at Canada’s McMaster University.
When he was younger, Darnell Nurse spent time with his uncle, former PhiladelphiaEagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. A cousin, Sarah Nurse, plays hockey for the University of Wisconsin.
The 2015 NHL Draft will forever be considered one of the deepest drafts in league history in terms of talent. But it will also go down as one the richest drafts in terms of diversity.
Nine players of color were selected in the draft’s seven rounds. Yes, Connor McDavid had his name called by the Edmonton Oilers, and Jack Eichel’s by the Buffalo Sabres. But forward Jordan Greenwayalso got the call. So did Bokondji Imama, a two-fisted winger whose family hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ditto forward Andong Song, who carries the hockey aspirations of a nation on his New York Islanders jersey-clad shoulders. Here’s a look at some of the players chosen:
Jordan Greenway is wild about playing for Minnesota Wild – after attending college.
Greenway, a forward with the USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, was drafted in the second round by the Minnesota Wild, the 50th player selected overall.
The 6-foot-4 player from Potsdam, N.Y., tallied five goals and 15 assists in 23 games last season for the NTDP’s United States Hockey League entry and nine goals and 35 assists in 53 games for the U.S. National Under-18 squad.
“I’m fortunate enough just to be here in the draft,” Greenway 18, told reporters after donning a Wild jersey. “Being drafted here is great. Everyone dreams of being in the NHL Draft one day. It’s just unbelievable.”
Greenway won’t be a stranger in the Twin Cities. He played three seasons for Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a hockey power prep school about 57 miles south of St. Paul. But don’t look for Greenway in the NHL soon. He’s committed to playing hockey at Boston University this fall.
“I really like the city of Boston,” he said. “Playing college hockey or the (Ontario Hockey League) is a good route. For some people college hockey is a good route and for some people the OHL is a good route. I like school.”
Keegan Kolesar’s loss proved to be his gain at the draft. The Seattle Thunderbirds right wing was taken by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third round with the 69th overall pick.
Kolesar worked hard to shed about 20 pounds off his 2013-14 playing weight. At 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, Kolesar scored 19 goals and 19 assists in 64 games for Seattle. He also was a regular visitor to the penalty box with 85 minutes.
Keegan Kolesar (right) lost weight and put up the points for Seattle last season (Photo/Brian Liesse/Seattle Thunderbirds).
“The weight loss and dedication I put into training and nutrition really helped,” Kolesar told The Winnipeg Sun. “I’m a power forward in the truest sense. I think I’m one of the better forecheckers in the (Canadian Hockey League). I like to fight and I have a knack for the net and offensive instincts. I play well in all three zones.”
The Winnipeg Jets nabbed left wing Erik Foley in the third round with the 78th pick in the draft. Foley grew up a Boston Bruins fan in Mansfield, Mass., but is looking forward to starting a pro career with the Jets in “a real hockey hotbed.”
Erik Foley meets the press after being drafted by the Winnipeg Jets.
Foley scored 27 goals and 27 assists in 55 games last season with the USHL’s CedarRapids RoughRiders. “I’m a power forward,” he said. “I like to use my body, use my shot.”
Foley’s stock rose in the days leading to the draft. One USHL coach told The WinnipegSun that Foley was “probably the toughest player in the USHL to play against.”
Foley won’t be playing with Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien soon. He’ll be in Rhode Island playing for the Providence Friars, the reigning NCAA Frozen Four champs, this fall.
Right wing Mathieu Joseph had been to Florida only once before attending the draft. Now he may be calling the Sunshine State home after the Tampa Bay Lightning chose him in the fourth round, the 120th overall pick.
Mathieu Joseph was all smiles after being drafted by Tampa Bay Lightning.
A native of Chambly, Quebec, Joseph notched 21 goals and 21 assists in 59 games for the Saint Johns Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season.
“I’m kind of a power forward with a little bit of skill, so I can bring some offense but I can play on the penalty kill, too,” he said. “I’m more of a guy who’s hard to play against. I’m always a guy who’s going to forecheck and backcheck and I’m always intense, I think that’s pretty much the type of hockey (Tampa Bay) is playing.”
Caleb Jones came along to watch his big brother Seth Joneson draft day 2013 in Newark, N.J. The Jones family waited anxiously until the highly prized defenseman was taken fourth overall by the Nashville Predators.
Last weekend was Caleb’s turn. The sturdy 18-year-old defenseman from theNTDP was drafted in the fourth round by the Oilers, the 117th pick overall.
“This was a little less nerve-wracking,” Caleb said.
At 6 foot and 194 pounds, Caleb is the smaller of the hockey-playing sons of Popeye
Defenseman Caleb Jones hopes to join big brother Seth Jones in the NHL/.
Jones, the former NBA player, but he may be the grittier of the two. “I’m a two-way defenseman,” he said. “I play a physical game, aggressive in the corners”
He had 8 points in 25 games last season with the NTDP, but also 28 penalty minutes against opposition in the USHL.
As Seth Jones did, on the way to becoming one of the up-and-coming elite NHL defensemen, Caleb will go play for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League next season. His Big Brother Seth offered any advice?
“I didn’t have too much for him,” Seth told The Hockey Writers. “I’m not like some grizzled vet, but with the draft being this summer (for him), I just told him to take it one step at a time. It’s not about rankings or this and that. Just go play hockey. Play the way you know how to play and just don’t try to do too much. Just the little things.”
Another NHL draft, another stud defenseman drafted from the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. Blue-liner Devante Stephens was tabbed by the Sabres in the fifth round with the 122nd pick. He follows in the Kelowna skates of Madison Bowey, a Washington Capitals prospect, Nashville Predators D-man Shea Weber, and the Chicago Blackhawks’Duncan Keith.
Stephens had four goals and seven assists in 64 games for Kelowna. He had four assists in 17 WHL playoff games with the Rockets.
“He’s convinced he’ll be an NHL player,” Greg Royce, the Sabres director of amateur scouting, told The Olean Times Herald. “We’re convinced he’ll be an NHL player. I do believe he was a steal there.”
The Buffalo Sabres think they’ve found a jewel in Kelowna’s Devante Stephens (Photo: Marissa Baecker/Kelowna Rockets)
The Oilers added to its stockpile of young defensemen by taking Ethan Bear in the fifth round with the 124th player chosen overall.
Bear, 18, scored 13 goals and 25 assists for the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds last season. He also contributed a goal and an assist playing for Canada’s Under-18 team last season. The 5-foot-11 native of Regina, Sask., is Ochapowace First Nation.
Ethan Bear, left, joins a young Edmonton defensive corps that includes 2013 first-round pick Darnell Nurse (Photo/Brian Liesse/Seattle Thunderbirds)
“It’s amazing,” Bear said after the Oilers drafted him. “They’re a great organization. It’s been exciting this whole day, especially to get picked by Edmonton.”
Perhaps no sixth-round draft pick in NHL history has generated as much attention as defenseman Andong Song, who was taken by the Islanders over the weekend with the 172nd pick.
China’s Andong Song made hockey history at the 2015 NHL Draft.
Song is the first player in draft history born in China. He arrived at Sunrise’s BB&T Center with an entourage: His family and a television crew from China’s CCTV that followed his every move.
“Hopefully what I want to do is rally people behind me,” the 18-year-old Beijing-born player said. “Not focus on myself but do something good for Chinese hockey.”
Hockey in China could surely use a boost. A country with over 1.3 billion people, China has only 610 hockey players – 118 men, 308 juniors, 184 females – according to IIHF figures. The nation has only 58 indoor ice skating rinks and 43 outdoor facilities.
Song’s selection prompted the IIHF to put a list of Asian hockey milestones on its website. Song admits that he feels “a lot of pressure from people back home” to help put hockey on the map.
“Good pressure,” he added. “That’ll motivate me to become a better player and hopefully I’ll make them proud.”
A 6-foot, 165-pound blue-liner, Song played last season for New Jersey’s Lawrenceville School. He tallied 3 goals and 7 assists in 26 games. He’ll play next season for Philips Academy, a top prep school in Andover, Mass. He hopes to catch the attention of an NCAA Division I hockey school.
Song has international hockey experience. He twice played for China in the InternationalIce Hockey Federation’s Division B World Under-18 championship and captained the team that played in the 2015 tournament in Novi Sad, Serbia. He had two assists in five tourney games.
“When I started playing (in China) there weren’t a lot of people,” he said. “There wasn’t much support for the game. Last year when I went back, it had been eight years since I’d seen Chinese hockey and it was tremendous how far it’s grown. I’m sure they’ll keep trying to catch up to Europe and North America and Russia. There’s still a gap between them, but I’m sure if we focus on hockey we can catch up.”
Lightning draftee Bokondji Imama apparently has a game as tough as his name.
Bokondji Imama could one day have the most distinctive name in the NHL.
The Montreal native, a solid 6-foot-1, 214 pound left wing for the QMJHL’s St. John’s Sea Dogs, realized his dream when the Lightning selected him with the 180th overall pick in the sixth round.
Imama had three goals and six assists in 23 games for the Sea Dogs, but he also had 48 penalty minutes. According to the website hockeyfights.com, Imama had 15 in the 2014-15 regular season and two during the preseason.
Imama’s father, also named Bokondji, and mother were born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bokondji grew up as a typical kid in Montreal, playing hockey on outdoor rinks. But he loved all sports, and played rugged games with his father. The training turned him into a physical player.
“I’m a physical player who likes to stick up for his teammates,” he said, “but I can play the game, too.”
It’s conceivable that you might see Imama in the NHL someday protecting Lightning sniper Steven Stamkos and Tampa’s other young scorers.
The Color of Hockey’s Lew Serviss contributed mightily to this post.
