Here we are with the new and improved BotD! Today's boy is Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche. He is a big favorite of Chucker Megan and I have to admit that I have taken quite a liking to the boy.
Matt is a young Canadian lad who hails from Haliburton, Ontario; which also happens to be the hometown of Canucks prospect Cody Hodgson as well as retired players Ron Stackhouse and Bernie Nicholls.
After playing two seasons with the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League, he was drafted third in the 2009 draft by the Avs. It was a dream come true for our boy because despite growing up in a Ontario tourist town, Matt was a Avs fanboy from the word go, especially for his idol Joe Sakic.
It didn't take long before the powers that be in Denver decided to keep him on the roster for the 2009-10 season after scoring an assist and a goal in his first month with the team. And since then, he's been a steady force centering his line; and last night, he scored his 100th career point which made him the youngest 100 point scorer in franchise history.
Anyway, I think Matty is going to have a wonderful career and I'll be watching him this weekend in the All-Star game.
And here are a few shots of the BotD...
A screencap from a post-draft interview showing his bedroom, and the clip of that interview. The bedroom shot is about the 5:00 mark...
Posing in his sweater from the CHL Top Prospects Game...
Draft night photoshoot where he's trying so hard to control the squee...
So it's Monday again and I'm not too thrilled about it; other than Lisa and I are only working three days this week because I am heading east for the holiday weekend. Yes, it's true, we'll be blogging from the same time zone for the weekend; and I have a feeling we might need bail money at least once. Woot!
Just gonna be a quick update today since the real world is taking precedence this morning.
USA Hockey has announced the assistants for Vancouver and they are John Tortorella, formerly coach of the Rangers and Scott Gordon of the Islanders. I was surprised by Scott Gordon; but I'm gonna go with Burkie's decisions.
The draft went pretty much as planned; but a few surprises did come up and one of my boys was one of them. Cameron Abney, who wasn't even drafted in the bantam draft, was picked by KLowe and the boys in Edmonton; and as much as I love Cam, this one sort of blew me away. We did have another boy picked and that was Byron Froese who was selected by the Blackhawks in round 4. I think his play will work well there; and he'll have a friend there too in former Tip Kyle Beach. Two more of the boys are rumored to have invites to NHL camps, which is so great since I was sure they would have been drafted. Byron's linemates Kellan Tochkin and Tyler Maxwell are supposedly going to the Canucks and Kings rookie camps respectively; and I'm so proud of all four of the guys. And Lisa is very excited about BabyParm, aka Landon Ferraro, being selected by the Wings. She's a Wings fan and we both really like his dad Ray.
And I'm really hoping that my favorite Dutchman that is still playing, Jay Bouwmeester, won't be signing in Calgary; but if he does, one good thing that would come from that would be my Vancouver boys play the Flames several times a season more than the Panthers do. Oh, and I'm not happy about Pronger leaving the Ducks; but at I am very happy about getting Joffrey Lupul back as well as Luca Sbisa into the fold.
Anyway, I have to get something done with my actual job; so here is today's boy of the day. He is the captain of the Phoenix Coyotes and is a big favorite of the staff here at CaP. We call him the Doaner... Shane Doan!
Yes, it's true... it's here. Draft Day is one of the most exciting and anticipated days on the NHL calendar up there with the trade deadline and the last day of the regular season. It's watching to see if the so called experts are correct on their picks, which teams actually pick what they actually need rather than picking some guy so their division rival can't get him; and you get to see lots of nice boys all dressed up.
The biggest mystery of the night will be who the NY Islanders will select: John Tavares, the Canadian sniper forward who has been playing for the London Knights of the OHL or the very tall blond and Swedish defensman Victor Hedman, late of the Swedish hockey factory Modo. Who goes third could be a number of different boys, but from what I've read it could be Matt Duchene who plays with the Brampton Batallion, which is the club babyCanuck Cody Hodgson played with this last season; and I've also heard Evander Kane from the Vancouver Giants or Luke Schenn's brother Brayden who plays for the Brandon Wheat Kings. I haven't seen Matt, but I've seen a little of Brayden and a lot of Evander; and I think that in a couple of years they'll be good solid players for whoever picks them.
The Silvertips are going to be waiting with baited breath to see if any of the boys will be picked and if they're picked by who. One boy that should be drafted is Byron Froese from Manitoba. He was a rookie this last season who was placed on a line with two other rookies, Kellan Tochkin and Tyler Maxwell who also might be picked; and they went bananas for an offense that at times needed that spark. He got a notice by Team Canada and was invited to play at the U-18 World Championships; and did a wonderful job including a hat trick. Three other Tips, Cameron Abney and Shane Harper and goaltender Thomas Heemskerk, also have a chance of being selected; but who knows. Surprises do happen though... ask Dan Gendur. He wasn't even near the radar, but after a great season two years ago, he was selected by the Canucks at the very end of the 7th round; and after a very good first half with the Victoria Salmon Kings and a cup of coffee with the Moose, our pal Danny was selected to participate in the ECHL All Star game. So, stay tuned! :)
Funny video from Puck Daddy...
TSN is passing a rumor of a trade between Boston and the Leafs that has me saying BUH!? "Sources tell TSN the Bruins have offered restricted free agent forward Phil Kessel to Toronto in exchange for the Leaf defenceman and Toronto's No. 7 pick in the draft." Really? Are the PoohBears really that needy for defense that they're willing to give up Phil? Yikes!
But that is it for now from me... I'll be watching the replay of the first 10 or so picks during the replay on NHL Network tonight since it starts at 4pm my time; and hoping for my local boys in the morning.
Before I go though, we have the Boy of the Day; or actually Boys of the Day. As suggested by our good pal Lisa R., the last year we had the same kind of 1 vs. 2 battle was Alex Ovechkin and Geno Malkin in 2004...
Greetings and salutations from the Pacific Northwest! It's NHL Draft Eve, and I'm sure that the Le Centre de Bell is buzzing with excitement already and has been for days. I wish that Lisa and I could be up there this weekend; but I'm sure we'll be keeping track of things down here. We might even see a few of the Tips boys go in the later rounds or at least I hope we will.
We went to the draft two years ago in Columbus and had a ball; well other than the seats in the upper bowl of Nationwide Arena are built for the ass width of a 5 year old. From seeing Rick Nash outside signing autographs to watching Harold Snepts walk right in front of us to getting to see all of the NHL awards up close and personal. It was all so surreal, especially when Cam Neely called our pal Zach Hamill's name; then Dave Nonis picking another of our pals Taylor Ellington. There wasn't the huge group of Tips fans cheering for him like the year before in Vancouver, but hopefully you could hear those two voices screaming from the left side of the upper bowl.
Yesterday Team Canada's Executive Director, aka the handsome Stevie Y, announced the Canadian men's Olympic hockey coaches. The head coach is Mike Babcock whose assistant coaches will be Lindy Ruff, Jacques Lemaire and Ken Hitchcock. Hopefully Team USA's assistants will be announced soon; and they'll include Mike Sullivan, Dan Bylsma and Tommy Fitzgerald for the hottie factor. Oh, and because I think they're pretty good coaches too. :)
All is well here in Hooterville now that we have a head coach and the assistant coaches will not be changing; so the crew will start getting ready for training camp in August.
And to round up today's entry and in keeping with the Draft theme, I give you for Boy of the Day someone who was not only a first round pick, but was the first overall pick in 2002 Draft and that is Mr. Rick Nash...
Good morning campers! Is this thing on? Anyway... it's another beautiful day in the neighbourhood and it's been made even better with the very strong rumour that Craig Hartsburg, lastly of the Ottawa Senators, has been offered a two year contract with my beloved Everett Silvertips. And I just got an email from Rob Ramsburgh of the Silvertips through Facebook for a press conference to announce the new head coach! Stay tuned for more news and maybe some pictures too! *squees and jumps for joy*
If this becomes true, I think this will be a good thing. As tough as things were with the big boys, I think that with the young guys he should do well. Prior to his stint with the Senators, Hartsburg spent five seasons as head coach of the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. And he was also assistant coach for Team Canada in 2006 at the World Juniors where they won and then won two more junior gold medals as head coach in 2007 and 2008. So, with his experience with juniors and our boys having another year under their belts, I think this season might just be a little happier than the last one.
And this is a good way to start this week, as it's Draft Week, so we'll be having some of our thoughts about some of the boys and where we think they might go. The Tips have a chance to have a few boys picked, but this season will probably break the first round streak so we'll just be watching for the fun on Friday night and we'll celebrate on Saturday somewheres around rounds 3 and 4. :)
We also wanted to introduce a new segment here at Chuck a Puck and it's called Boy of the Day. Since Lisa and I are connoisseurs of a large number of boys, we'd like to share some of our favorites with our three readers.
Today, we beg to put before you the handsome boy that we began to love quite a while ago when he was an Edmonton Oiler. He's tall, slim and has the most beautiful grey eyes; as well as being a bad ass defenseman who can decapitate with his elbow. He's been a bit banged up the last few years; but I'm hoping this next season he can stay unbroken so he can play for another gold medal as part of Team Canada. So, without further ado, here is the captain of the Saint Louis Blues, Mr. Eric Brewer.
Drop us a line atpuckchuck at gmail dot com and someone will get back to you as soon as we get around to it.... enjoy some hold music while you wait. la, la, la la, la.
