Well, this could have been predicted. Mike Vannelli, who quit hockey after being assigned to the ECHL Wheeling Nailers at the beginning of the 2007-08 season, has developed the itch to play again. He's over in Germany right now as an insurance player for the Dusseldorf EG Metro Stars in the DEL.
I was reading an article about how the Las Vegas Wranglers could be sold, and it mentioned that they had suited up a pharmaceutical salesman this year. I thought, I wonder how our favorite medical device salesman is doing? So I Googled him.
Vannelli signed with the German team at the very end of January, but has only played in one game so far. The team is coached by Canadian Lance Nethery, and also features former Gophers Chris Harrington and Evan Kaufmann. Vannelli said he had been training on the ice every day, and I think he said he's been coaching high school.
He told a German newspaper that he came to Germany because if he stayed in North America, he'd have to swtich between teams, and he didn't want to do that. Read: he'd be sent to the ECHL.
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Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
HF on Atlanta-trained Landon Ferraro
Former Thrasher Ray Ferraro's son Landon is eligible for the 2009 draft, and quite highly rated in fact. Hockey's Future did a feature on Landon, and I made sure we asked him about the time he spent playing travel hockey in Atlanta while his dad was playing here. Those were his formative years.
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..."In Atlanta I was a bit older so I could actually figure some stuff out. Just seeing where my hockey league [in Atlanta] started from and the fanbase for the Thrashers to where it ended when we left in ’02, it grew tremendously.”
Ferraro began playing competitive hockey while based in Georgia but explained that in order to get enough teams into one league, the boundaries were extremely stretched.
“My league was the whole south-east of the United States,” he smiled, “So I was playing and every other weekend we were on the road and we’d go to Tennessee or North and South Carolina or Florida.”Another former Thrasher has a son eligible for this draft -- Bjorn Krupp, who also learned to play hockey in Atlanta. He is considered a long shot in the draft though. He has his father's size, but perhaps not his skill.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Desbiens a hot commodity
From the Winnipeg Free Press
It goes on to say that more than one NHL team is interested in signing him for next year.
Good for him, though I would say that he improved his stock on his own by improving his skating and commitment level, it's not like the Moose discovered someone that no one else knew about. This turnaround is mostly effort, which was entirely under Desbiens' own control.
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MILWAUKEE -- Last week there was Oscar buzz, but this week in the hockey world there is Dezzy buzz.
Dezzy, as the Manitoba Moose refer to right-winger Guillaume Desbiens, is hot among NHL scouts these days and likely the next in a growing line of Craig Heisinger reclamation projects.
Desbiens was cut adrift by the Atlanta Thrashers last summer and was unsure if his hockey career was over when the Moose came calling with a second chance.
It goes on to say that more than one NHL team is interested in signing him for next year.
Good for him, though I would say that he improved his stock on his own by improving his skating and commitment level, it's not like the Moose discovered someone that no one else knew about. This turnaround is mostly effort, which was entirely under Desbiens' own control.
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Friday, February 20, 2009
On vanRiemsdyk
There's been some speculation that James vanRiemsdyk could be traded to Atlanta.
I met vanRiemsdyk at the 2007 draft and chatted briefly with him. I made sure to ask him about the spelling of his last name, and he confirmed that it is all one word, small "van." I've been militant about that spelling ever since. If I see thread titles on HFBoards that have it wrong, I change them. I noticed that the Flyers official page has it wrong though, so it's an uphill battle.
Impressions of him? I thought he was an odd bird. That sums it up well. Kind of in the Chad Denny vein, if you've met him.
Anyway, the reason for this post. My sources are hearing that the Flyers are really worried that they made a huge mistake in taking vanRiemsdyk so high and want to trade him now while he still has some value. Sounds a lot like the Angelo Esposito situation, doesn't it?
Sounds like he'll probably be traded, but whether that's to Atlanta or not, we'll see.
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I met vanRiemsdyk at the 2007 draft and chatted briefly with him. I made sure to ask him about the spelling of his last name, and he confirmed that it is all one word, small "van." I've been militant about that spelling ever since. If I see thread titles on HFBoards that have it wrong, I change them. I noticed that the Flyers official page has it wrong though, so it's an uphill battle.
Impressions of him? I thought he was an odd bird. That sums it up well. Kind of in the Chad Denny vein, if you've met him.
Anyway, the reason for this post. My sources are hearing that the Flyers are really worried that they made a huge mistake in taking vanRiemsdyk so high and want to trade him now while he still has some value. Sounds a lot like the Angelo Esposito situation, doesn't it?
Sounds like he'll probably be traded, but whether that's to Atlanta or not, we'll see.
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Sunday, February 15, 2009
Former Georgia Tech goalie Rice backs up Gladiators
This has some local interest, so I'll post it.
Normally when the Gladiators are short a goalie, they call on Curtis Ryser, a former UGA goalie who lives in Duluth. Ryser was out of town this weekend though, so the Gladiators had an emergency backup to their emergency backup.
Coach Jeff Pyle called up a guy he knows from a local men's league and asked for a referral for a goalie. He was given Nick Rice's name. Rice played for Georgia Tech a few years ago, for their club hockey team (Div 3).
Rice did a fine job opening and closing the door tonight. Easy money.
Normally when the Gladiators are short a goalie, they call on Curtis Ryser, a former UGA goalie who lives in Duluth. Ryser was out of town this weekend though, so the Gladiators had an emergency backup to their emergency backup.
Coach Jeff Pyle called up a guy he knows from a local men's league and asked for a referral for a goalie. He was given Nick Rice's name. Rice played for Georgia Tech a few years ago, for their club hockey team (Div 3).
Rice did a fine job opening and closing the door tonight. Easy money.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Jared Ross at Philips photos
Jared Ross has two ties to Atlanta -- he grew up in Alabama and played for the University of Alabama-Huntsville, the closest DI school to the city. Ross also played for a while for Thrashers affiliates before being traded to the AHL Phantoms. The Thrashers had indicated to Ross that he could work himself up to an NHL contract, but that never materialized.
He has played eight games for the Flyers this year.
Ross defended by Boris Valabik.
The advantage of being 5'7 is that you can get really low on a faceoff. Reeeeally low.
Interestingly, the other player out of UAH who is doing well in the pro game, Scott Munroe, is also in the Philly system. Someone from that organization was keeping an eye on this cohort.
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He has played eight games for the Flyers this year.
Ross defended by Boris Valabik.
The advantage of being 5'7 is that you can get really low on a faceoff. Reeeeally low.Interestingly, the other player out of UAH who is doing well in the pro game, Scott Munroe, is also in the Philly system. Someone from that organization was keeping an eye on this cohort.
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Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Thrashers have talked to three '09 Guelph prospects
Taylor Beck told me that he, Peter Holland and Michael Latta were taken out to lunch after practice by someone from the Thrashers early in the year. All three are rated highly for the 2009 draft (Holland a bit overrated).
It wasn't hard to determine based on description and that the rep was based in Toronto, that it was Dan Marr who took them out. This kind of thing isn't unusual at all, as it's the team's philosophy to talk to top guys early in their draft year. But that's not to say that the team has taken guys out from every team either. A couple other OHL players I talked to who are rated pretty highly said they haven't had any personal contact with NHL teams yet.
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It wasn't hard to determine based on description and that the rep was based in Toronto, that it was Dan Marr who took them out. This kind of thing isn't unusual at all, as it's the team's philosophy to talk to top guys early in their draft year. But that's not to say that the team has taken guys out from every team either. A couple other OHL players I talked to who are rated pretty highly said they haven't had any personal contact with NHL teams yet.
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