Sioux in the Pros: Training Camp News

NHL training camp rosters are getting whittled down with the regular season just a week away, and several former Sioux are engaged in opening day roster spot battles. Among the camp rookies, Jason Gregoire, Matt Frattin, and Brad Malone have survived their teams' cuts thus far.

Brad Malone was impressive at the Colorado Avalanche training camp, and he's in the running for a job as Colorado's fourth line center. With his size and skill set, it's also within the realm of possibility that he could earn a spot on the wing if Av centerman Jay McClement is awarded the fourth line job.

Matt Frattin, who is averaging a point per game in five preseason contests (2 G, 3A), has virtually locked up the third line left wing spot for the Toronto Maple Leafs. As camp began, Frattin, Nazem Kadri, and Joe Colborne were all expected to compete for the position that was widely considered to be open for the taking. Colborne started slow and was inconsistent prior to being cut from camp, but both Kadri and Frattin were performing well and running neck and neck until Kadri suffered a knee injury that could keep him out of the lineup for up to a month. Frattin has impressed the Toronto staff, and he is looking forward to taking advantage of his opportunity by striking while the iron is hot.

Ryan Johnson may also benefit from an injury in his quest to make the Detroit Red Wing roster and defenseman Matt Smaby is experiencing a similar situation in Anaheim.

Among those who have been reassigned to minor league training camps, defenseman Joe Finley looks to shake off the injury bug and find a home in the Buffalo Sabres organization. After the Phoenix Coyotes assigned Brett Hextall to the Portland Pirate training camp, GM Don Maloney had some good things to say about the former Sioux forward (Click the quote for the full article):


"I think it's a fact of life that your first-round pick gets more time to show what he can do vs. a later-round pick. A good example for us might be (sixth-round pick) Brett Hextall, whose had a terrific camp; he's very good. We were really happy with him, and arguably, he could still be there, but we think he's a first-year pro, and we have a couple other guys, we're still waiting to see a little bit more from."

Evan Trupp, who recently signed with the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL), is participating in the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals training camp, while Derrick LaPoint is attending Syracuse Crunch training camp (AHL) on a tryout invitation.

Other former Sioux news:

• New Jersey Devils centerman Travis Zajac says he won't rush his comeback from an Achilles tendon injury.
• Zajac's Devils teammate Zach Parise comments on the upcoming season.
• There's been more discussion on the likelihood of TJ Oshie having a breakout season for the St Louis Blues.
• A Chicago Blackhawk blogger offers up some interesting statistical insight on the importance of playing alongside Jonathan Toews.
• Toews had the opportunity to play alongside his brother David this preseason, and though David has been assigned to the Rockford Ice Hog training camp, there's been a lot of good stuff published on their relationship. More on that in this video and this article.
• Jonathan Toews is also part of the heavy Sioux presence in the Shattuck-St Mary's pipeline to the pros.

Sioux Recruits 2011-12

I've posted a new link to a list of committed Sioux recruits and their 2011-12 stats. The list, found on the Future page, will be updated regularly throughout the season.

Sioux in the Pros 2011-12

I've got a new link to a list of former Fighting Sioux playing professionally in 2011-12 on the Past page. The statistics will be updated regularly (should be automatic, but we'll see how that goes...) and player transactions will be reflected in the list as they occur. I should have a list for Sioux recruits posted on the Future page by the end of the week as well.

NHL Training Camp Links & 2012 NHL Draft Prelim. Rankings

• Chris Vendevelde has been impressive at Edmonton Oiler training camp.
• TJ Oshie's approach to this season may be just what the St Louis Blues franchise needed.
• The Toews brothers comment briefly about their experience playing with one another.
• Once again, Brian Lee has a fight for playing time on his hands in Ottawa.
• The Portland Press Herald has a nice article on Brett Hextall adding to his family legacy.
• Toward the bottom of this Buffalo training camp notebook entry, Drew Stafford comments on the upcoming season.
• Jordan Schmaltz appears on this (very) preliminary 2012 NHL Draft ranking. Never mind the bit about him playing in Windsor-he'll be in Grand Forks next fall.
• The Western College Hockey Blog published their ballot for the WCHA preseaon poll. It's hard to believe DU's Jason Zucker isn't a first teamer, but then again, whose place would he take?

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Mike Brophy writes in his column at sportsnet.ca that Matt Frattin is taking advantage of his chances:

Matt Frattin has taken advantage of every opportunity he has been given to make the Maple Leafs. A finalist for the Hobey Baker Award with the University of North Dakota last season when he scored 36 goals and 60 points in 44 games the 23-year-old right winger looked like a man playing with boys at the team's rookie camp in Oshawa last week. He stood out in the weekend scrimmages and was flying again in the first pre-season game against the Senators. Frattin's greatest attribute in Game 1 was his drive to the net.

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Ryan Johnson welcomes the challenge of attending Detroit Red Wing training camp as a tryout attendee. Red Wing head coach Mike Babcock had a couple snippets about Johnson's performance thus far:

"I thought Huds, (Fabian) Brunnstrom and (Ryan) Johnson were a good line (previously), so I stayed with that. It had nothing to do with Patty, I just wanted to look at something else.'' 


"(Jan) Mursak was all over the puck, hounded hard. (Brendan) Smith was a good player today. Nyquist is a real good hockey player. Ryan Johnson and Brunnstrom have done a real nice job for themselves.''

Sunday Evening Links & Welcome To Twitter

• We're now on Twitter, so if you care to follow you can do so @SiouxTradition. Much thanks go out to our first (and thus far, only...) follower, @seerickson92.
• Zach Parise is prepared to face contract questions throughout the season, but he doesn't feel it will affect the New Jersey Devils' season.
• Parise would also welcome the Devils' captaincy if it were offered, but he understands the organizations' concerns of not wanting to have a one & done captain situation on their hands.
• Brett Hextall and the Phoenix Coyotes are hoping his strong rookie camp extends into main camp.
• Hextall also discusses how his father helped get his career to where it is.
• The Brothers Toews are enjoying Blackhawk training camp together.
• Jonathan Toews is heading into the season wanting nothing more than to win another Stanley Cup.
• If you want to catch some of the former Sioux skate in the preseason, check out the NHL Network's preseason game schedule.
• And to close, here's a brief interview with TJ Oshie following Day 1 of St Louis Blues camp:

Rookie Tourney Wrap, Who's Going Camping, Toews Getting Physical, Etc.

Rookie camp action wrapped up this week as NHL teams prepared for the start of their main training camps. Jason Gregoire and the Winnipeg Jets rookies closed out their Young Stars action with a 2-0 win over Vancouver. Gregoire finished with a goal and an assist over the course of the three game tournament, and he is heading into main camp with a shot to play for his hometown team.

The Phoenix Coyotes rookies dropped the second game of their two game set with the LA Kings by a score of 4-3. Brett Hextall scored a power play goal for the Coyotes, giving him three goals in the two games against Los Angeles, a franchise he is certainly familiar with. And as he embarks on his goal of making the Hextalls a four generation NHL family, he is playing the game in the family tradition.

Brad Malone wrapped up rookie camp with the Colorado Avalanche, and here's what one observer had to say:

Brad Malone: lovelovelove this kid, wasted no time getting physical in 1-on-1 drill, looking for contact immediately, picked a few corners and made Aitokallio look silly, worked with Mike Brennan for several minutes on deflections, tipping nearly every shot into the net or off the post (the shots were pretty soft, though)

And some more analysis on Malone's play.

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An interesting sidenote to the above stories of Gregoire and Hextall is the role college hockey has played. Gregoire stated that it wasn't until he was 15 that he became aware of the NCAA hockey option, and Brett was urged by his father Ron to take the college route so that he'd be prepared if his hockey career didn't work out. Last weekend, during a Q&A session at the FSC Breakfast/Sioux Fan Fast, Andrew MacWilliam commented that he too didn't hear much about the NCAA option until later on in the recruiting process.

MacWilliam commented that the Canadian major junior teams can come at you early and hard, doing whatever they can to make you ineligible for the college option. This is pretty significant considering that kids are 14-15 years of age during their CHL bantam draft year. I'm doing my best to paraphrase MacWilliam's comments from memory here, but he also stated that he knows of players that have exhausted their junior eligibility who won't be playing at the next level, and they are now less prepared to take on life after hockey because the educational aspect of the Canadian junior system is not as strong as it is in the NCAA.

It was some interesting commentary, and it certainly makes you wonder if the marketing arms of the NCAA and College Hockey, Inc. need to be pushing into Canada with more aggression in order to let families and kids know of the viability and benefits of the college choice. It goes without saying that college hockey most definitely isn't for everyone and that CHL hockey (of which, by the way, I am a fan of) also has an awful lot to offer, but the Canadian exposure to the college option appears to need strengthening. Of course, time will only tell if this past summer's rash of top US-born talent backing out of their collegiate commitments is a trend or a short term anomaly, but perhaps there will be more focus instead on retaining elite American talent.

Also interesting is if you look at the ten confirmed players who have committed to enrolling at North Dakota over the next few years, how many Canadians do you see? Stefan Matteau has dual citizenship, so do we count that as 1/2? There's really no point here, just a curious observation considering North Dakota's strong and proud tradition of Canadian-born players.

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It's post-Labor Day, so it's officially camping season. Here's a list of former Sioux players taking part in NHL training camps:

	Player	NHL Club
1	Jason Blake	Anaheim
2	Matt Smaby	Anaheim
3	Corey Fienhage	Buffalo
4	Drew Stafford	Buffalo
5	David Toews	Chicago
6	Jonathan Toews	Chicago
7	Brad Malone	Colorado
8	Mike Commodore	Detroit
9	Ryan Johnson	Detroit
10	Chris Vandevelde	Edmonton
11	Taylor Chorney	Edmonton
12	Matt Greene	LA Kings
13	Chay Genoway	Minnesota
14	Hunter Bishop	Montreal
15	Darcy Zajac	New Jersey
16	Travis Zajac (Injured)	New Jersey
17	Zach Parise	New Jersey
18	Brian Lee	Ottawa
19	Brett Hextall	Phoenix
20	Chris Porter	St Louis
21	TJ Oshie	St Louis
22	Matt Frattin	Toronto
23	Jason Gregoire	Winnipeg

24

Joe Finley

Buffalo

25     Michael Forney                Winnipeg

I don't think I missed anyone, but if I did let me know.

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The commitment to offseason training was rewarded yesterday as both TJ Oshie and Iron Man extraordinaire Chris Porter fared very well during the fitness testing at St Louis Blues camp. And here's a bit more on the conditioning testing.

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From the "For What It's Worth Department," Jason Blake's group won the Anaheim Ducks annual training camp kick-off golf tournament. Check out the sweet orange jackets awarded to the winners-The Master's has nothing on these things:

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Everyone knows Jonathan Toews is one of the best all-around hockey players in the world, but he appears to have spent some time this summer working on the physical side of his game:


Toews response to the hit can be found in this Sun-Times piece.

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The College Hockey Blog has released its WCHA Preview, which has North Dakota coming in second.

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Sioux commit Jordan Schmaltz is featured as one of the best players around yet to play in the NHL. If you don't want to go through the entire slideshow, the Schmaltz page is right here.

Trupp Signs

Evan Trupp has signed a deal to play for the Cincinatti Cyclones of the ECHL. Every member of last season's senior class will be playing professionally this upcoming season. Press Release

Rookie Tourney Updates, Miller Time, Parise Comments on Nickname, Etc.

NHL rookie camps and tourneys were in full swing this week, and a number of former Sioux players have fared well:

Matt Frattin appeared in two games for the Maple Leafs rookies, and Tuesday night he one-timed a beautiful powerplay goal against Ottawa. The Toronto Sun says Frattin had an impressive rookie camp. Below is a an interview with Frattin following Tuesday's game:



Other Rookie Camp Notes:

• Chay Genoway and the Minnesota Wild rookies placed fifth at the Traverse City tournament. He finished play with one goal and one assist in four games. 
• The Buffalo Sabres rookies defeated the New York Rangers to win the tournement, and Corey Fienhage claimed one assist in two games of action with the Sabres.
• Jason Gregoire and the Winnipeg Jets are 1-1 at the Young Stars tournament. Gregoire has one goal thus far, and if the Jets intend to send him to the AHL out of training camp, he's at least making that decision a hard one.
• Brett Hextall and the Phoenix Coyotes rookies rallied to defeat the LA Kings 8-7 last night. Hextall scored two of Phoenix's five third period goals with father Ron, the Kings assistant GM, taking in the action. Brett is looking to make the Hextalls a four generation NHL family.
• The Denver Post published a brief interview with Colorado Avalanche prospect Brad Malone.

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The ECHL's Gwinnett Gladiators recently acquired former Sioux Brad Miller via trade. Gwinnett's head coach had some good things to say about Miller, who is returning home to Georgia.

Other former Sioux news:

• Aaron Schneekloth has found a home with the Colorado Eagles, who will be joining the ECHL this year.
• Zach Parise did a Q&A with Puck Daddy, and he had something to say about the potential retirement of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
• Bleedin' Blue is speculating on potential St Louis Blues line combinations, and they like TJ Oshie on the second line. Meanwhile, the St Louis Post-Dispatch did a Q&A with Oshie.
• The Orange County Register is previewing the Anaheim Ducks upcoming season, and Jason Blake and Matt Smaby are in the mix.

Quick Monday Evening Links

• Travis Roche signed a contract extension with Bern of the National League A, Switzerland's top tier league. The extension will keep Roche in Bern through the 2013-14 season. He finished 15th in the league in scoring last season with 41 Pts (9G, 32 A) in 39 games.
• Here are a couple more features on Matt Frattin: TSN Blog and Toronto Star article.
• According to Bleedin' Blue, TJ Oshie is one of five Blues that could surprise this year.
• Ryan Johnson is entering the Detroit Red Wing training camp with only one goal in mind.
• If you want to catch Brett Hextall and the Phoenix Coyotes rookies take on their counterparts for the LA Kings, the two game set will be streamed live at LAKings.com. The rookie games are scheduled for Wednesday at 8:00 PM and Thursday at 4:00 PM.

Sioux NHL Links & Rookie Camp Updates

Here are some links pertaining to former Sioux as we head into NHL training camps:

• New Jersey Devil Zach Parise reiterates that his one-year deal does not signify that he's intent on leaving the Devils following the season.
• In a Fire & Ice post, Parise discusses the upcoming season, including more on this contract situation and returning from last season's knee injury that kept him out of the lineup almost all year.
• Fellow Devil Travis Zajac discusses the uncertainty involved in recovering from his Achilles tendon injury.
• Coming off his most productive offensive season, the Buffalo Sabres' Drew Stafford discusses a new component of his offseason regimen and the Sabre organization's busy summer.
• According to Senators Extra, Brian Lee isn't getting enough credit for his solid play down the stretch for the Ottawa Senators.
• Senshot proposes a new defensive pairing for the Senators, based on Lee's improved late season play.
• St Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong discusses his team heading into the upcoming season, including what he considers to be TJ Oshie's best offseason as a Blue. On a Blues sidenote, it's nice to see former MSU Maverick David Backes earn the Captainship for St Louis. I've always admired his play and it's nice to see him being rewarded.
• The Edmonton Journal's Cult of Hockey chronicles Chris Vandevelde's place among the Edmonton Oiler's young forwards. It was fun to watch the development of Vandevelde down the stretch last season as he started earning ice time in all situations.
• Jonathan Toews and Steven Stamkos comment on Toews defeating Stamkos in TSN's Franchise Faceoff final. They each also comment on why they should be picked first in a fantasy hockey draft. I love Toews' answer. The Q&A session was part of the NHL's two-day player media tour that took place last week. Zach Parise also took part.

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Chay Genoway scored a goal for the Minnesota Wild, but it wasn't enough as the Wild fell to the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 yesterday in each team's opener in the Traverse City rookie tournament. Corey Fienhage notched an assist for the Sabres. Buffalo's next game is today at 1:30 against Columbus while the Wild face Detroit this evening at 5:30.

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Matt Frattin and the Toronto Maple Leaf's rookies defeated David Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 yesterday in the Maple Leaf's rookie tournament. The game was streamed on the Leafs official website with a half hour delay, and the quality was pretty good. Frattin seemed to be pressing early but played well in the second and third periods. I also thought Toews had a solid game, though neither player ended up in the scoring column. Also, former Wisconsin Badger defenseman Jake Gardiner looked very sharp for the Leafs and his two goals certainly displayed his strong skating and puck protection skills. The Leafs play again tonight, but Frattin will not be in the lineup. The Blackhawks were back on the ice taking on Ottawa at 1:00 this afternoon.

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Yesterday marked the first practice at the Winnipeg Jets' rookie training camp. Jason Gregoire, who will be battling for a full time NHL gig, is appreciative of the fan support the Jets received for their first practice.