Alums Doing Well

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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby Onyx Blackman on Wed May 21, 2014 10:57 pm

Brian Gibbons in the AHL playoffs with the kind of goal I've only ever seen in video games and Squirt hockey.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2014-05-21/brian-gibbons-goal-wilkes-barre-scranton-ahl-calder-cup-playoffs
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby b0mberMan on Thu May 22, 2014 6:35 am

Onyx Blackman {l Wrote}:Brian Gibbons in the AHL playoffs with the kind of goal I've only ever seen in video games and Squirt hockey.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2014-05-21/brian-gibbons-goal-wilkes-barre-scranton-ahl-calder-cup-playoffs

Dumoulin sighting there.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Thu May 22, 2014 7:03 am

A lot of familiar names on that team, Dumoulin & Gibbons obviously, Samuelson, Kobasew, & several other former HE players.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Thu May 22, 2014 10:08 pm

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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby Dick Rosenthal on Fri May 23, 2014 7:57 am

Kreider giveth and Lundqvist take it away. Un-fucking-believable. The Rangers hate prosperity, but that is why they are the Rangers. Completely outclassed the Canadiens and gave the game away because they couldn't hit the fucking ocean if they we shooting pucks off the bow of the boat and because Lundqvist played like shit. The scarred, long abused Ranger fan part of me thinks this starts a collapse and they lose in six, even while my head tells me there is no way that Montreal can win 3 of 5.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Fri May 23, 2014 8:14 am

Pretty sub par effort from Staal not tying Galchenyuk up either. MTL probably should've won game 2, but didn't and the Rangers probably should've won game 3 and didn't.

Words can't describe how much Kreider's return has helped them, especially Nash & Stepan. Stepan looked absolutely shot early in the Pens series.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Wed Jun 04, 2014 9:15 am

Article on Kreider in the post w quotes from York

http://nypost.com/2014/06/03/chris-krei ... e-rangers/

Chris Kreider was clutch long before joining the Rangers


By Zach Braziller

June 3, 2014 | 5:16pm

The origin of Chris Kreider’s postseason knack is believed to have begun in the spring of 2012, when he scored the game-winning goal of a Stanley Cup playoff game against the Senators before he even suited up in a regular-season NHL contest. It came just weeks after he signed with the Rangers.

But, really, it began years earlier, before the Boston product would help lead the Rangers to the Stanley Cup finals and emerge as a powerful two-way force.

It was in his days at hockey prep powerhouse Phillips Andover Academy and later Boston College — where he would win two NCAA titles and was the 2011 Beanpot Tournament MVP — his heroics truly started.

Even as a college underclassman, Kreider raised his game when the opportunity called for it.

“He had a capacity to play bigger the more important the games were,” legendary Boston College coach Jerry York said. “Whether it was the Beanpot or NCAA championships, freshman year during the World Junior Championships, his game was raised up a notch for those types of what he thought were important games — trophy games.”

Rangers teammate Ryan McDonagh saw that first hand, before he would become teammates with Kreider. They were on opposite sides of the 2010 NCAA final, and McDonagh’s Wisconsin team ended up on the short end of a 5-0 score. Kreider scored a goal and made his mark, as he almost always does on the biggest stages.

“He was a beast out there,” McDonagh recalled after practice on Sunday. “He was the same kind of guy then that he is now.”

Kreider’s value is obvious to the Rangers since he returned from a fractured left hand that cost him the final nine games of the regular season and the first 10 of the playoffs. Kreider, 23, has four goals and six assists in 10 playoff contests — seven of them Rangers wins — after he established himself as a focal point of the Blueshirts’ attack, producing 37 points, 17 goals and 20 assists, in 66 regular-season games.

“The same thing we saw at the prep school level we’re seeing now at the NHL level,” Phillips coach Dean Boylan said.

Kreider developed that edge in high school. He was the New England Prep Player of the Year as a junior, registering 56 points in 26 games. Kreider led Phillips Andover to the New England Prep semifinals, but the team fell short because he hit a few posts in the final minutes of a one-goal defeat, Boylan recalled, in a game Kreider thoroughly dominated.

What stuck with Boylan most, and what he still fondly recalls, was Kreider’s personality — an elite player without an ego. He never talked about statistics or individual accomplishments. It was all about the team, wins and losses, not goal-scoring records or personal feats. He was a mentor to younger players, illustrating leadership qualities with his actions.

“He worked for team success. It wasn’t about him — it was never about him,” Boylan said. “He just cared about winning and losses. He had this will to win. I see the same thing [today]. I saw it at Boston College and I see it now with the Rangers, an incredible desire to success for his teammates.”

True to form, Kreider has dismissed the credit he has received. He has avoided questions about himself and his production, steering them toward his teammates. When pressed about his own knack for coming up big when everything is on the line, he finally relented. Somewhat.

“It brings out everyone’s best,” Kreider said, smiling. “It’s fun. It’s why you play, compete to win trophies. This time of year it’s just exciting to come to the rink, continue to play hockey. It’s why you play hockey.”

Kreider wasn’t a phenom, playing a variety of sports growing up before gradually developing into an elite player. At Andover, Kreider began to find that quick first step, the one he has used to burn the Canadiens and Penguins.

York sees two different speeds at the collegiate level — college speed and NHL speed. Kreider had the latter.

“He’s got another gear from that. He had that extra gear, and you’re seeing that now in some of those Stanley Cup [playoff] games,” York said. “It’s hard to believe watching him he wasn’t in Sochi [for the Olympics]. He’s playing so good right now.”

Despite his advanced skill level, Kreider was Andover’s hardest worker and it was same at Boston College, according to teammates. He didn’t take days off in the weight room and took each shift like it was his last.

Boston College junior Johnny Gaudreau, the 2014 Hobey Baker award winner, given to the top college hockey player, said he learned a lot from the Rangers forward.

“It was really contagious, seeing him in the gym, how hard he worked,” Gaudreau said. “That’s one of the things I took from Chris.

“He was someone to look up to, to see how committed he was to the game. He was a good person to watch.”

The NHL season ended weeks ago in Boston, when the Bruins were ousted by the Canadiens in seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. But there are a segment of Boston hockey fans who tuned into the conference finals and a group that will watch the Stanley Cup finals, rooting for the hated guys in blue.

“Coming from Boston, we’re typically not Rangers fans,” Boylan said, with a laugh. “But we sure are now. No question about that.”

After all, it was back in Boston where Kreider first developed this habit of being at his best when the stakes were at their highest. The Rangers hope history repeats itself.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Fri Aug 01, 2014 8:35 pm

Nice article on Brown:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2143 ... toward-nhl

Carolina Hurricanes Prospect Patrick Brown Following Unusual Path Toward NHL
By Mark Jones , Featured Columnist Jul 29, 2014

In a Carolina Hurricanes prospect development camp laden with former high draft picks and major junior top scorers, 22-year-old Patrick Brown's resume and background hardly fit in.

Brown is only a few months removed from his college graduation, capping off a successful four-year hockey career at Boston College.

The majority of his 26 peers at last week's camp, meanwhile, never attended a day of college. Haydn Fleury, the seventh overall pick in last month's NHL draft, actually noted not having to attend school as his favorite part of "being in the NHL" in an interview Friday.

With that said, Brown has never followed the typical path of a promising NHL prospect anyway.

In 2010, Brown had just graduated from Cranbook-Kingswood in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he scored 48 points in 30 games during his senior year.

He cracked—barely—the Central Scouting Service rankings for North American skaters, labeled the No. 202 player out of 210 ranked players. He wasn't drafted, but that wasn't too surprising: Only one player ranked below No. 181 that year was eventually selected.

Brown went to Boston College, his dream university since childhood, expecting to play hockey but not expecting to be a star.

Indeed, he recorded just two points in 42 appearances during his freshman and sophomore years.

"Like most freshmen coming in, BC is an outstanding team and there is a lot of competition. I struggled at first finding my role," he told Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe this past February.

At last, last autumn, Brown's career began to expand beyond the ordinary. He was voted team captain for his 2013-14 senior campaign. According to Mike Cole of NESN, coach Jerry York said he was picked not because he was Boston College's best player, but because of his "work ethic" and "how respected he is."

Brown thrived in the leadership role, leading the Eagles to their second Frozen Four appearance in four years.

Off the ice, he posted a GPA of 3.0 or higher for the fourth consecutive year, earning him Distinguished Scholar status and a spot on the Hockey East Conference All-Academic team.

The most eye-catching aspect of his season, however, proved to be his offensive improvement. Brown exploded for 15 goals and 15 assists in 40 games, nearly tripling his previous career high (11 points in 2012-13).

The performance caught the eyes of even then-Hurricanes Vice President Ron Francis. On April 12, the 'Canes signed Brown to a two-year, $1.175 million entry-level contract. Francis spoke about Brown in the press release:

Patrick showed tremendous leadership and character while serving as Boston College’s captain this season. He has an excellent work ethic and made great strides during his college career. We look forward to his continued development as a professional.

Francis didn't end up having to look too far forward.

Brown's impressive performance at last week's development camp surely gave the new general manager all the visual justification he needed.

"I’m a hard-nosed, gritty, power forward. I block shots, play hard defense. All the things that some guys may not be as willing to do, I love doing all that stuff," Brown told Peter Koutroumpis of TriangleSportsNetwork.

At 207 pounds, Brown was heavier than all but two other prospects in attendance (Dennis Robertson and Brendan Woods) and his sturdy frame and physical aptitude played to his advantage.

Above all else, though, Brown's oft-referenced work ethic stood out most readily. He appeared eager to take on even the most tedious of drills and happy to help his teammates make good impressions of their own.

In Saturday's scrimmage, all three of the former first- or second-round picks at the camp (Fleury, Brock McGinn and Phil Di Giuseppe) were assigned to the White team, which seemed to have a significant skill advantage on paper.

Brown, however, scored the game's opening goal just 24 seconds in and helped lead the Red team to a 5-3 upset win.

His play was enough to make new 'Canes head coach Bill Peters take notice.

"I thought Brown had a really good week throughout, Monday through Saturday," Peters told Hurricanes.com's Michael Smith. "He’s a guy who opened some eyes, and now I can put a name to a face."

One way or another, against the odds, Brown—once an 18-year-old barely given a glance in his draft year, a 20-year-old on the fourth line for an American university team, a 21-year-old looking ahead to a potential post-graduation career in economics—will be playing professional hockey in 2014-15.

He'll likely earn an invitation to the Hurricanes' NHL training camp in September. Few will expect him to actually make the team, as most players of Brown's pedigree spend at least one bridge year in the AHL between the NCAA and NHL.

Expectations for Brown haven't proven very accurate in the past, though, and perhaps they'll again be shattered by the prospect who raises his own projected ceiling with every passing season.

"[Hockey] never came naturally to me," he told Marrapese-Burrell back in February.

"I do it just by working hard."
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby twballgame9 on Thu Aug 21, 2014 2:44 pm

Hayes is a Ranger
"We remind everyone that Boston College fired a perfectly good coach because he went on a job interview, and deserves all of this." Spencer Hall
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby b0mberMan on Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:11 am

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Hayes is a Ranger

Really happy about that. Though I hate the part of the fanbase that keeps thinking this signing is the equivalent of when they scooped up 39-year old Mat Gilroy as a FA after the NCAAs.

1) No, you just got a 1st round draft pick fall into your lap after 3 years of not having a pick in the 1st round.
2) Fuck Gilroy.

That is all.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby Dick Rosenthal on Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:26 pm

From what I'be observed the fan base is pretty psyched. As for Gilroy, he is cohabiting just like Chris Drury. Fucking BU guys just steal money from the Rangers.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Sat Sep 13, 2014 7:31 am



believe that was former uml goalie hellebuck in net as well

top 10 play on sportscenter
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby b0mberMan on Tue Sep 16, 2014 2:32 pm

I've started to enjoy watching for Gaudreau mentions on Twitter when he's playing. After you see Flames fans go nuts over something he does, wait for the vine to be posted, and then most of the time I end up thinking "oh yeah, I've seen him do that before."

I hope he tears it up and becomes a Ranger as soon as possible.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Wed Sep 24, 2014 5:02 pm

With Stepan going down for 4-6 weeks and Hayes starting out down the middle (which is interesting to say the least), only ups Hayes's chance of making the opening night roster.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby b0mberMan on Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:23 pm

claver2010 {l Wrote}:With Stepan going down for 4-6 weeks and Hayes starting out down the middle (which is interesting to say the least), only ups Hayes's chance of making the opening night roster.

JT Miller may have the inside traj to the 3rd line though. Is it worth giving Hayes 4th line minutes?
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Fri Sep 26, 2014 7:36 am

b0mberMan {l Wrote}:
claver2010 {l Wrote}:With Stepan going down for 4-6 weeks and Hayes starting out down the middle (which is interesting to say the least), only ups Hayes's chance of making the opening night roster.

JT Miller may have the inside traj to the 3rd line though. Is it worth giving Hayes 4th line minutes?


Hard to believe JT is only 21, seems like we've been hearing about him for a long time. Sounds like he's really taken the next step in the offseason and the quebecois is raving about him.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby b0mberMan on Fri Sep 26, 2014 3:32 pm

Alain has mentioned giving Hayes a look at wing, too, so maybe they are trying to get him out there regardless. He wasn't dominant in the pre season game, but reports were he was playing very well in the defensive zone, something that a guy like Miller hasn't really shown.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Tue Oct 07, 2014 2:56 pm

Patrick Brown made the opening night roster for the Canes, pretty impressive
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby TobaccoRoadEagle on Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:30 pm

claver2010 {l Wrote}:Patrick Brown made the opening night roster for the Canes, pretty impressive

until you realize the canes suck fat balls.

claver, are you coming to rolly friday night to try to go to the canes/islanders game? opening night is likely to be the beginning and end of excitement for redneck hockey this year... especially with skinner concussed.

i'm sure plenty of good seats will still be available and you can get a lay of the land for where to try and park for the game saturday
now in the street there is violence
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby DavidGordonsFoot on Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:46 pm

I think claver would rather catch a game at The Rent than go to an Icelanders game.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Tue Oct 07, 2014 4:43 pm

TobaccoRoadEagle {l Wrote}:
claver2010 {l Wrote}:Patrick Brown made the opening night roster for the Canes, pretty impressive

until you realize the canes suck fat balls.

claver, are you coming to rolly friday night to try to go to the canes/islanders game? opening night is likely to be the beginning and end of excitement for redneck hockey this year... especially with skinner concussed.

i'm sure plenty of good seats will still be available and you can get a lay of the land for where to try and park for the game saturday


i was more speaking of a walk on making the opening night roster 4 months removed from graduating but like endlessmike *********** you'll never learn

actually heading down friday night so i'll miss the fishsticks (and meeting wang's successful relative), apparently the canes games are fun but that might've died down now that the team blows chunks.

already grabbed a parking pass, will be in the trinity lot which apparently is right across the street from the nc state fair grounds...great precursor for the weekend

dgf, well at least it wouldn't be at the asbestos filled nassau mausoleum
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby DavidGordonsFoot on Tue Oct 07, 2014 4:59 pm

claver2010 {l Wrote}:dgf, well at least it wouldn't be at the asbestos filled nassau mausoleum

i attended many an icelanders game, baseball card conventions, and concerts i'm now too embarrassed to mention in uniondale during my youth. sure the mausoleum may have been slowly killing me, but there would be no electrical fires on nassau county's watch, i'll tell you that much. that place could survive a napalm strike.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby TobaccoRoadEagle on Tue Oct 07, 2014 6:07 pm

the canes game is opening night so the magic won't have worn off yet this year and it will likely be one of the more fun home games of the year.

the trinity lot is a pretty good find for a non-donor. it's still a pretty good walk to the stadium so you won't be able to go back and drink beers at halftime without missing some of the game. of course, it's also great-unwashed central so try not to get shot.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Fri Oct 10, 2014 7:38 am

i'll be on the lookout for carter finley hit squad. if he asks if i know the monocle man, i'll deny it.

anyway huge article on johnny: http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/hoc ... story.html

Johnson: Johnny Hockey era begins in Calgary with promise, intrigue
An in-depth look at Flames rookie Johnny Gaudreau, who has proven never to be underestimated
By GEORGE JOHNSON, Calgary Herald October 6, 2014


The Garden State, New Jersey, can count among its own any number of famous sons and daughters.

Hoboken, of course, has an exclusive claim on Ol’ Blue Eyes, the Chairman, Frank Sinatra. The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, is a Long Branch boy.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man ever to set foot on the moon, hails from Cedar Ridge. Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep is from Sunset, illusionist David Copperfield grew up in Metuchen.

From Monmouth Beach, BoSox manager John Farrell. Neptune City, Danny DeVito. Newark, Shaquille O’Neal.

And Carney’s Point, all 17 square miles of her, tucked into the western portion of the township of Salem? Well, Wikipedia lists two:

John Gaudreau, professional hockey player.

And . . .

“Bruce Willis,” replies Johnny Gaudreau. “Of course I knew that. I mean, in my time, he’s been in a lot of movies. A really famous person.

“I like him. I like his movies. I know my mom went to the same high school as him.

“It’s kinda cool to say you have the same hometown as Bruce Willis. Everybody knows Bruce Willis. Hopefully I can meet him someday.”

While Bruce is all biceps, flippant one-liners and body count, the other Carney’s notable goes about his feats of derring-do in an entirely different manner: This is the thinking man’s action hero.

And thing is, wee Johnny actually does all his own stunt work. No stunt doubles. No CGI. That’ll actually be him, in the flesh, swerving centimetres away from a Dwight King pancaking or sliding ethereally past a Kevin Bieksa root-canal elbow.

“Every day I’m here,” he’s saying this early afternoon after practice at the Scotiabank Saddledome, “is a like a present for me. You know, a gift I get to open. Not many people get the chance to be where I’m at today.

“It’s unique. Not something I take for granted.”



Johnny Gaudreau has been getting more rave reviews than Breaking Bad for a few years now. His Boston College boss, the legendary Jerry York, likens his vision to a great basketball point guard, a Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.

His new skipper, Bob Hartley, gushes over the way the kid can create space.

“He makes a move, or throws a fake, and two feet of space is suddenly five or 10 feet of space. This you cannot teach. This is something you’re born with.”

Born to play

Famously, he grew up a rink rat, hanging around the Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell, N.J., where his dad Guy was, and still is, hockey director. Guy Gaudreau was raised with the game in his blood, too, in Beebe Plain, Vt., on a 500-acre dairy farm that actually spilled over into Quebec.



“When he was two years old,” remembers pop Guy Gaudreau, “I’d bring him out and he’d just kinda putz around. I coached all the kids and they loved Skittles. Johnny was no different. So I’d tell the guy ‘Put a Skittle five feet in front of him.’ So he’d have to skate to it. He’d get there, bend over, pick it up and then skate to the next one. And the next.

“Skittles were his favourite. Skittles and Mountain Dew.”




Given the genetics at play, and the half-hour proximity to Philadelphia from Carney’s Point, Gaudreau quickly developed a fondness for the Flyers, with big John LeClair and pint-sized Daniel Briere (“Playing against him the other night,” he marvels of the Flames-Avalanche pre-season tilt at the ’Dome, “was . . . weird. I found myself doing a double-take. But it was a lot of fun”) particular favourites.

“My dad has always had the rink. Whenever I wanted ice, I had it. In the summers now, whenever, I can hop on the ice, bring some buddies. That’s pretty special.

“My dad has meant so much to my hockey. He coached me my first 12 or 13 years of hockey and taught me everything I know. When it came down to being a coach, he was a good coach. When it came to being a father, a dad, he put the hockey stuff aside. And that’s what helped me become a better player, I think. That separation.”



Guy Gaudreau tracks the substantive belief in the fulfilment of an NHL dream back to his son’s first season with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League.

Bigger than his britches

“With his size,” confesses dad, “I thought for sure he’d hit a wall there. But he played really, really well. He came out of his shell a bit. Challenged himself to be better.”

From his office at the University of Denver, where he now pilots the Pioneers, ex-NHLer Jim Montgomery, then Dubuque coach, fondly recalls his one season tutoring Gaudreau.

“He was 132 pounds then,” he laughs. “Johnny’s a monster right now compared to back then.”

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, Montgomery spent bits of six seasons in the employ of five NHL organizations, so he understands the unique demands of being a smaller man in a world of goliaths.

With merriment, he recalls Dubuque heading into Lincoln, Neb., for a game.

Pre-puck-drop, the opposing coach wandered over to where the Fighting Saints were limbering up, the players kicking a soccer ball around in the hallway. Wee Johnny was, as always, involved.

“After the game, the coach tells me about standing there and says: ‘I thought it was really nice, bringing your stick boy with you. Not many teams do that.’

“He didn’t realize until after Johnny had a goal and an assist during the game that it was the same kid.

“He was dead serious. And then he goes: ‘After that, I didn’t know what to do. Coach my team or just stand back and watch him because I became his biggest fan that night.’ ”



Johnny Gaudreau scored 78 goals in three seasons at Boston College — an NCAA career which culminated in an 80-point campaign last season (in 40 games), which netted him the Hobey Baker Award.

Since then, through his Hobey Baker-winning exploits at Boston College, the Johnny Hockey tag-line, Gaudreau’s fan-base has branched out, broadened substantially.

Given his size, comparisons are inevitable. Marty St. Louis was always a bigger body type; a shooter, not a table-setter. Brian Gionta? Some similarities, yes. Theo Fleury? No, not at all. The mindset, that ferocious in-your-face attitude that drove Fleury on, was his and his alone, trademarked and copyrighted. And heaven only help Gaudreau if he attempts to replicate the stubborn bounce-back-ability of, say, the tungsten-tough Joe Mullen. He’d snap like a dry twig.

Jim Montgomery, though, believes he has arrived at a pretty accurate stylistic comparison — Chicago sorcerer Patrick Kane. Both slippery, slick. Oozing subtlety along with sizzle.

“For a guy so small, Johnny has the uncanny ability of possessing the puck a lot, like Patrick Kane. All because he always throws you off balance and he reads opposing players feet and hips so well.

“Like the goal he scored the other night in Calgary (versus the Avs). He knows the timing on when to cut back, when to go the other way and shoot across the grain. He doesn’t shoot the puck the hardest but he sure knows where he’s puttin’ it.

“The other guy I compare him to is Pavel Datsyuk. Because he does things in a game you haven’t seen before. Whether it’s 1-on-1 or putting pucks into space.

“I remember watching him at the World Juniors the year the U.S. won gold. It was a 2-on-2, and he read that his teammate — Johnny had the puck — was going beat the defenceman by a stride, almost like a quarterback timing a pass downfield.

“And he flipped the puck over his own defenceman's head inside the blueline, landing it just past the red line and his teammate skated onto it and in on a breakaway.

“Not many people have that kind of timing, that kind of imagination.”

Calgary pride

Guy Gaudreau remembers his son’s joy the day the Flames selected him 104th overall in the 2011 draft.

“That, I think, gave him an extra gear. You could kinda see him thinking ‘Maybe I do have a shot.’ He was so excited to be drafted. People were saying sixth or seventh round. And Calgary took him higher. I remember him telling me ‘Dad, I want to prove to Calgary that I can play there and I’ll help them.’ ”

Which is why conjecture that the reason he held out on signing in Calgary was to flee the Flames left the Gaudreaus slightly mystified.

“Never once in our family did we ever, ever — not once — discuss that,” says the patriarch firmly. “Never. That’s not our family. I was born and brought up on the Canadian border. So I know hockey up there is life. I understand that. If someone offers you an NHL contact, you go play hockey. That’s how people think. But for us, his education came first, even if a lot of people didn’t believe it at the time. I think he understands how important that degree is to his mother and I.

“I don’t, but my wife reads all the blog stuff and she’s like ‘No, that’s not true!’ And I’m saying ‘Just stop it. You have no control over what people say.’ The only control we have is with our family.

“Calgary’s always where he wanted to be. I don’t know where the other stuff came from.”




For Johnny Gaudreau the time has come. The game finds itself in the midst of a seismic shifting back from an emphasis on hulking giants, placing more of a priority on skill, on speed, on nimbleness of thought.

For a dad who for so long never really considered hockey as a career for his boy, the meteoric rise, to find the summit within reach, is often hard to wrap his head around.

“The night he played his first NHL game, in Vancouver last year . . . that was special,” says Guy. “I mean, that’s your son out there playing against the Sedin brothers and you’re like ‘Oh my God …’ So much has been written and said. You read all these articles about him and it’s hard to believe it’s your son they’re talking about. It seems to be some other person.

“But then you get on the phone and talk to him and it’s still your son.”

All these years and all those Skittles ago, Gaudreau still lives by the credo that his dad taught him — skate from the waist down, play from the waist up. He’s still polite, still remembers with a lovely bit of awe the first time someone recognized him in public.

“Everybody,” says Jim Montgomery, “keeps asking ‘Can he do it?’ Well, my only answer to that is that he’s been doing it literally since he was 14 years old. He’s spent his whole life playing against people who are bigger and stronger.

“Now, yes, he’s in the best league in the world, playing against the best players, the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, coached by the best people who know how to defend.

“But I have no doubt that he’ll find a way. Why? Because he always has. He always does.”

The Johnny Gaudreau story has already begun taking Calgary by storm. And with any luck, it’s only started picking up steam.

A small man with a big talent. And if the stars align correctly, an even bigger future.

Exactly how big? Who would hazard a guess? Maybe big enough, even, that Bruce Willis, the other famous son from the Salem township of Carney’s Point, might be heard during some interview on some generic film set in Hollywood in the not too distant future, saying:

“It’s cool to say you have the same hometown as Johnny Gaudreau. Everybody knows Johnny Gaudreau.

“Hopefully I can meet him someday.”
Bush, George H W
Cosby, Bill
Disick, Scott
Flair, Ric
Griffin, Kathy
Khamenei, Ali
McCain, John
Pele
Soros, George
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claver2010
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby claver2010 on Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:12 pm

for some reason gif isn't embedding but johnny goes 1 on 4 to set up a teammate for a slam dunk

http://zippy.gfycat.com/EnchantedPartia ... eworm.webm
Bush, George H W
Cosby, Bill
Disick, Scott
Flair, Ric
Griffin, Kathy
Khamenei, Ali
McCain, John
Pele
Soros, George
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby TobaccoRoadEagle on Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:41 am

claver2010 {l Wrote}:for some reason gif isn't embedding but johnny goes 1 on 4 to set up a teammate for a slam dunk

http://zippy.gfycat.com/EnchantedPartia ... eworm.webm


Image

Image
now in the street there is violence
and, and a lots of work to be done
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and, and i can't blame all on the sun
good god we gonna rock down to electric avenue
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby Snooks Kelly on Tue Dec 23, 2014 3:25 pm

b0mberMan {l Wrote}:I've started to enjoy watching for Gaudreau mentions on Twitter when he's playing. After you see Flames fans go nuts over something he does, wait for the vine to be posted, and then most of the time I end up thinking "oh yeah, I've seen him do that before."

I hope he tears it up and becomes a Ranger as soon as possible.


Gaudreau with the hat trick in LA last night with Quick in goal.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby Endless Mike on Mon Jan 12, 2015 12:58 pm

Speaking of alums doing well, Matt Lombardi is apparently dating Nastia Liukin.

EDIT: Sorry, is this one better?
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Last edited by Endless Mike on Mon Jan 12, 2015 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby twballgame9 on Mon Jan 12, 2015 2:09 pm

Endless Mike {l Wrote}:Speaking of alums doing well, Matt Lombardi is apparently dating Nastia Liukin.

Image


Isn't this gif an ironic clap, similar to the Joker in the jail cell in the Dark Knight? Need a ruling from bomber, but I anyone dating Nastia Liukin should get a sincere standing O
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Re: Alums Doing Well

Postby b0mberMan on Mon Jan 12, 2015 2:23 pm

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:
Endless Mike {l Wrote}:Speaking of alums doing well, Matt Lombardi is apparently dating Nastia Liukin.

Image


Isn't this gif an ironic clap, similar to the Joker in the jail cell in the Dark Knight? Need a ruling from bomber, but I anyone dating Nastia Liukin should get a sincere standing O

I think it's a sarcastic clap.
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