“I’ve long since retired, my son’s moved away, I called him up just the other day, I said I’d like to see you if you don’t mind, he said I’d love to, if I can find the time, you see the new job’s a hassle and the kids have the flu, but its sure been nice talkin’ to you, dad, its sure been nice talkin’ to you.” These are the lyrics of the classic folk song, “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin. The song does a terrific job of showing the life cycle of families, and how fast things really can come full circle. Perhaps its only fitting that today is Father’s Day that we talk about another full circle moment. It has been the long patient wait of a young man’s entire life. It is something that has been dreamed about, something that has consumed their waking thoughts countless times. This is a moment that quite literally will change their lives. Considering its a little past mid-June some may think I am talking about graduation. That certainly has life changing rammifications as graduates begin the next chapter of their lives. A new school (i.e. college, tech school), the military or a job could take them all across the country meeting new people along the way.
Yet for the best young 18-year old hockey players they await a different sort of ‘graduation’, the NHL Entry Draft. The culmination of all those extra practices, trips to the rink early in the morning or late at night, the summer days spent at hockey camp or just the thousands of miles racked up traveling to hockey tournaments seemingly every weekend in between. Those sacrifices for both player and especially their parents who felt the ‘pain’ by giving up countless amount of hours to get their sons to and from practice as well as shelling out thousands of dollars in hockey gear, cringing everytime they watched their son shatter a composite stick. With no offense to the hockey mom’s out there who often endure just as much as fathers do (more often than not more than the dad’s) in the course of a son’s hockey career but for some fathers it is a chance to see their hockey lives come full circle. For a rare few, those of former NHL’ers it is the chance to see their own son’s drafted into the league. This year will likely have a few NHL alums see their kids get selected like former Minnesota North Stars defenseman Mark Tinordi and his NHL hopeful son Jerred (Tinordi) or Jeff Beukeboom and his hopeful child Brock (Beukeboom). Or to add a Minnesota tangent to this, two young NHL hopefuls Nick Bjugstad (and his uncle, former NHL’er Scott Bjugstad) and Tyler Pitlick (and his uncle, former NHL’er Lance Pitlick) they too can see that NHL tradition stay in the family, albeit the extended form. Yet for most parents they’ll simply be happy to hear their son’s name and excited at the prospect their child is one step closer to a professional hockey career. Being drafted certainly does not guarantee a contract, let alone a life in pro hockey. Skills, strength and talent must continue to be honed for that to happen. However, how many people can say they were drafted by a professional sporting league of any kind, let alone the NHL.
For some, the allure of being drafted is something they would even try to fake as was the case in 2001, when a former Junior Varsity player at Apple Valley claimed to have been drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes. The story even made it onto KARE 11 News, with an interview with the lucky (and very surprised) draftee only to find out later it never happened at the station issued an apology the next night. Most parents of potential NHL draftees won’t have to worry about their kid being fooled by some huckster. Some confident youngsters may decide to fly down Los Angeles to hear their name spoken over the PA system at Staples Center while others will opt to have their own draft parties and wait either near a TV watching the coverage on NHL Network or in front of their home computer screen as was the case with Christian Hanson in 2005 as documented in a draft insider special shown on the network. In the aforementioned Hanson story, he felt the disappointment of not being selected. You may know of Christian Hanson’s father, Dave Hanson (St. Paul, MN-native) who was one of the ‘Hanson Brothers’ from the cult classic film Slap Shot. Yet the story did not end in complete disappointment as over the next four years Hanson continued to develop his skills and add muscle to his 6’4″ frame to being signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs. So yes, for some hockey players there is a possibility to make the NHL even if you are undrafted. The Minnesota Wild signed 3 college free agents this spring in California-native Casey Wellman, Fridley’s Jarod Palmer, Elk River’s Nate Prosser are other examples of this. Prosser even got his ‘cup of coffee’ in the the NHL by playing in the last 3 games of this season despite going undrafted. Virtually any given year the Stanley Cup features players that were never drafted, as was the case this year with the Chicago Blackhawks and Kris Versteeg. So the dream does not necessarily have to die, it all depends on what a kid does with their next few years in college hockey.
While it is no secret that Minnesota has a long-standing tradition of developing talent for the NHL, this year’s draft class will be no different. There is a good chance that at least two players who played in this spring’s state tournament will be drafted in the 1st round. These lucky young men will join such state tournament 1st round luminaries such as Erik Johnson, Blake Wheeler, Nick Leddy, Ryan McDonagh, and T.J. Oshie just to name a few. For other players, they may not have been originally from Minnesota, they came to the State of Hockey to perfect their game at the hockey factory that is Shattuck-St.Mary’s in Fairbault. That expands the list 1st rounders with Minnesota connections to such famous names as Sidney Crosby, 2010 Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Toews, Angelo Esposito and Zac Parise. While Wild fans will hope their their team has a tremendous draft, the presence of so many young players either from the state or developed in the state gives us plenty to be proud of on draft day on June 25th-26th.
So here is your list of kids with Minnesota connections most likely to have a chance to be selected in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. All of these are the final rankings by the NHL’s Central Scouting Service.
#8 – Emerson Etem ~ Medicine Hat Tigers (former Shattuck-St. Mary’s player)
#9 – Derek Forbort ~ U.S. National Development Program (Duluth, MN)
#13 – Nick Bjugstad ~ Blaine HS (Blaine, MN)
#18 – Tyler Pitlick ~ Minnesota State-Mankato (Lino Lakes, MN)
#25 – Brock Nelson ~ Warroad HS (Warroad, MN)
#37 – Mark Alt ~ Cretin Derham Hall HS (St. Paul, MN)
#47 – Justin Holl ~ Minnetonka HS (Minnetonka, MN)
#49 – Max Gardiner ~ Minnetonka HS (Minnetonka, MN)
#54 – Joe Basaraba ~ Shattuck-St. Mary’s
#56 – Justin Faulk ~ U.S. National Development Program (South St. Paul, MN)
#81 – Jason Clark ~ Shattuck-St. Mary’s
#104 – Max Gaede ~ Woodbury HS (Woodbury, MN)
#109 – Caleb Herbert ~ Bloomington Jefferson HS (Bloomington, MN)
#118 – Joe Faust ~ Bloomington Jefferson HS (Bloomington, MN)
#145 – Brett Stern ~ Centennial HS (Lino Lakes, MN)
#165 – James Mullin ~ Shattuck-St. Mary’s
#166 – Christian Isackson ~ St. Thomas Academy (St. Paul, MN)
#182 – Chris Casto ~ Hill Murray HS (Maplewood, MN)
#187 – Tyson Fulton ~ Breck HS (New Hope, MN)
#198 – Garrett Hendrickson ~ Virginia/Mt. Iron-Buhl HS (Virginia, MN)
#200 – James Polk ~ Shattuck-St. Mary’s
#205 – Andrew Prochno ~ Minnetonka HS (Minnetonka, MN)
#6G – Zane Gothberg ~ Thief River Falls HS (Thief River Falls, MN)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
