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What a difference a year makes for diverse 2015 NHL draft class: Part 2

28 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Andong Song, Bokondji Imama, Buffalo Sabres, Ethan Bear, Evander Kane, Rochester Americans, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals

The brain trust of the Buffalo Sabres has lots of talent down on the farm with the AHL Rochester Americans who’ll soon join  Jack Eichel and sniper Evander Kane in terrorizing NHL goaltenders.

Forwards Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste, and Evan Rodrigues are biding their time and getting better with the Americans. If they don’t make the Sabres roster in 2016-17, they’ll have company in Rochester: WHL Kelowna Rockets defenseman Devante Stephens.

Kelowna builds defensemen – Nashville Predators’ Shea Weber, Chicago Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith and Washington Capitals 2013 second round draft pick Madison Bowey.

Kelowna Rockets defenseman Devante Stephens hopes to be part of the Buffalo Sabres rebuilding process after the team drafted him in 2015 (Photo by Marissa Baecker/Kelowna Rockets).

Kelowna Rockets defenseman Devante Stephens hopes to be part of the Buffalo Sabres rebuilding process after the team drafted him in 2015 (Photo by Marissa Baecker/Kelowna Rockets).

The Sabres think they have another Kelowna defensive stud in Stephens, who was chosen in the fifth round with the 122nd overall pick. He scored 2 goals and 9 assists in 72 regular season games for the Rockets in 2015-16.

Edmonton feels it got a steal of the 2015 draft when the team selected Seattle Thunderbirds  defenseman Ethan Bear in the fifth round with the 124th pick. The 19-year-old high-scoring  Ochapowace First Nation member tallied 19 goals and 46 assists in 69 regular season games.

He’s maintained his scoring touch in the WHL playoffs with 3 goals and 8 assists in 11 games. In March, he was named a WHL Western Conference first-team all-star. If all goes well, the Oilers in the not-too-distant-future will have a defensive lineup that includes Bear, Caleb Jones and 2013 first-round pick Darnell Nurse.

Seattle Thunderbirds' D-man Ethan Bear hopes to patrol the Edmonton Oilers blue line someday (Photo/Brian Liesse/Seattle Thunderbirds).

Seattle Thunderbirds’ D-man Ethan Bear hopes to patrol the Edmonton Oilers blue line someday (Photo/Brian Liesse/Seattle Thunderbirds).

If all goes as defenseman Andong “Misha” Song and about a billion other folks in China hope, he’ll be patrolling the blue line for his country in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Song became the NHL’s first draft pick born in China when the New York Islanders chose him in the 172nd over pick in the sixth round in 2015.

New York Islanders draftee Andong Song wants to play in the NHL - and in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing (Photo/David Fricke/Phillips Academy).

New York Islanders draftee Andong Song wants to play in the NHL – and in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing (Photo/David Fricke/Phillips Academy).

He skated for Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., where he had 1 goal and 7 assists in 27 games in 2015-16. Song is doing for hockey in China what Yao Ming did for basketball – helping trigger interest in a sport that many in the country previously hadn’t watched or played.

“When Misha Song got drafted, it just blew up,” Wei Zhong, a friend of Song’s who plays hockey for Hinsdale Central High School in Illinois told The New York Times in January. “He inspired all these kids to start playing , and some of my friends who were with hockey before to dust off their skates and start playing again.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning went for toughness when it drafted Bokondji Imama in 2015.

The Tampa Bay Lightning went for toughness when it drafted Bokondji Imama in 2015.

Bokondji Imama, who was chosen by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the sixth round with the 180th overall pick in 2015, is poised to punch and hit his way to the NHL.

The Montreal-born son of immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Imama, 19, is one of the most-feared enforcers in the QMJHL and hardest body checkers. He had 7 goals, 12 assists and 86 penalty minutes in 48 games for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

He would have had more PIMs but he was suspended 15 games by the QMJHL in December for leaving the bench to defend a 15-year-old teammate who was being roughed up by a 20-year-old  member of the Halifax Mooseheads.

Though the league punished Imama, Sea Dogs management praiseed him for his actions.

“As an organization, we fully support Boko through this difficult situation,” Sea Dogs General Manager Darrell Young said in a statement in December. “He sacrificed himself to come to the aid of a young teammate. Once again, he proved to be the ultimate teammate and team comes first with us. Boko will be a big loss for our hockey club. He is a valuable member of our team both on and off the ice.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sabres’ Evan Rodrigues scores first NHL goal; kids score NHL college scholarships

10 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Buffalo Sabres, Christopher Gibson, Ed Snider, Evan Rodrigues, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Hockey is for Everyone, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Rochester Americans

Lots of congratulations to go around for last week’s hockey exploits.

Sabres forward Evan Rodrigues gets his first NHL goal in his second game.

Sabres forward Evan Rodrigues gets his first NHL goal in his second game.

First, congrats to Buffalo Sabres forward Evan Rodrigues. We profiled him earlier in the National Hockey League season as part of a look at the talented players of color on the Rochester Americans, the Sabres American Hockey League farm team.

The Sabres called Rodrigues up and the former Boston University standout responded by scoring his first NHL goal Saturday in his second game in the bigs.

The tally came against the New York Islanders and rookie goaltender Christopher Gibson, another player of color who earned plaudits last week when he backstopped a 4-3 comeback overtime victory against the Washington Capitals in his first NHL start.

Gibson was unable to pull off a second miracle Saturday and he lost to the Sabres 4-3 in overtime.

Nothing like a first @NHL goal. E-Rod will get that puck.https://t.co/WxnJoYzRGG

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 10, 2016

1st @NHL goal and a huge smile to go with the puck. Congrats, @evanr17! pic.twitter.com/45JcWvQ0vU

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 10, 2016

Hockey high-fives also go to Akeem Adesiji, Prasanthan Aruchunan, Katherine Baker, and Ava Olsen, the 2016 recipients of  NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund academic scholarships.

The NHL and TMCF have partnered to award scholarships to academically-eligible participants of the league’s Hockey is for Everyone initiative since 2012.

“These outstanding young people are skating toward a bright future,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “While Hockey is for Everyone programs provide the structure, discipline and life lessons that our sport teaches so well, each of our scholarship winners was committed to proving the path to higher education can be paved with ice.”

Columbus Ice Hockey Club's Akeem Adesiji, one of four 2016 NHL/Thurgood Marshall Fund scholarship recipients.

Columbus Ice Hockey Club’s Akeem Adesiji, one of four 2016 NHL/Thurgood Marshall Fund scholarship recipients.

Hockey is For Everyone programs are nonprofit organizations across North America that provide youth of all backgrounds the chance to play hockey at little or no cost and serve as a means to encourage them to stay in school.

In addition, program participants learn essential life skills through the core values of hockey: commitment, perseverance, and teamwork.

Katherine Baker of Washington's Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club wants to own her own ice arena someday.

Katherine Baker of Washington’s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club wants to own her own ice arena someday.

Adesiji was a center for the Columbus Ice Hockey Club and has been playing the sport since he was eight years old. He intends to study environmental science. Founded in 1999, Columbus Ice serves more than 3,000 youth hockey players each year.

Aruchunan played right wing for the Hockey Education Reaching Out Society (HEROS) at Toronto’s Jane-Finch Chapter. The program focuses on high-risk communities in Toronto by making hockey accessible to youths in neighborhoods troubled by gangs or drugs.

Aruchunan wants to attend the University of Waterloo and major in mechanical engineering.

Prasanthan Aruchunan hopes the NHL/TMCF scholarship will help him launch a career in mechanical engineering.

Prasanthan Aruchunan hopes the NHL/TMCF scholarship will help him launch a career in mechanical engineering.

“It’s a gift and I have to take advantage of it,” he told NHL.com of the scholarship. “I want to show other kids in my community you can be successful, and I want to be a role model for them. I come from a community where money is an issue for almost everyone. I want to inspire kids in the next generation.”

Baker was a defenseman for  Washington D.C.’s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club. Founded in 1976 by Neal Henderson. it’s the nation’s oldest minority youth hockey program. She started playing hockey at nine years old and aspires to own an arena someday so more kids to play hockey.

Snider Hockey's Ava Olsen loves to play hockey and hopes to cover the game someday as a journalist.

Snider Hockey’s Ava Olsen loves to play hockey and hopes to cover the game someday as a journalist.

Olsen was a center for Philadelphia’s Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. She began playing hockey at 13 and she plans to major in business or marketing in hopes of working in the sports industry as a hockey journalist.

Snider Hockey, created in 2005 by Philadelphia Flyers founder Ed Snider, serves thousands of Philadelphia-area youth by providing full equipment, ice time, and coaching at no cost to their families. Snider has called the foundation his legacy.

 

 

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