THANK YOU KESSEL!!

Happy New Year to everyone. Our Boston Bruins will be helping to take us into the new year tonight as they visit old friend Michael Ryder down in Dallas. 8 o'clock start time so it's little later than usual. However, the reason for this blog is to bring your attention to another hockey event that is currently going on up in Canada. The World Juniors tournament which brings together the top amateur hockey prospects from around the world is underway. Most of these teams from Canada, USA, Czech, Russia etc. are comprised of players who are already properties of NHL teams.

I have already made it clear how happy I am with our current Bruins team as well as how the Bruins management has put them in great position for the future. The B's who won the CUP last year and are currently 1st in the Eastern Conference again this year have a roster full of youth. 18 of their 24 players are under the age of 30 and 12 of those 24 are 26 years old or younger. So exactly half, yes half, are 26 years old or younger, mmmm that tastes gooood..

BUT, get a load of this!! As I mentioned, the World Junior Tournament is underway up in Canada and so far the two top teams are Canada and Russia, both are undefeated with 3 wins. So here is a little desert for you Bruins fans, helping to lead those teams are Bruins 1st round draft pick last year (9th overall, THANK YOU KESSEL), Dougie Hamilton, who has 1 goal and 1 assist and is a +4, not to bad for the young DEFENSEMAN (second youngest player on the team). I cannot wait to have him playing next to big Z. Helping to lead Russia to their 3-0 start is Alexander Khokhlachev otherwise known as "KoKo". KoKo has 3 goals in 3 games, oh and he is 3 months younger than Dougie!! Koko, was the Bruins 2nd rd pick (40th overall) but more on this part later.

Oh and that isn't it, the Bruins also had Jared Knight and Ryan Spooner invited to the Canadian tryout (Spooner probably would have made it but is sick with Mono) and Brian Ferlin is on the USA team but has not had much playing time. So what does all this mean?

The Bruins aren't going anywhere! Dougie Hamilton is the prize of the bunch, THANK YOU KESSEL, he recently signed his entry level contract with the Bruins which means we can probably expect to see him in Boston to start next season, he will have just turned 19 so obviously things arent set in stone but it's fair to say Dougie has done nothing but improve after last years draft. KoKo, well he may take a few more years to make it to Boston, he is a small guy 5'10'' at best but don't tell him that. He does a great job of blending his Russian puck handling skills with the physicality of the North American game. A lot of times NHL teams shy away from Russian prospects because they often decide to stay in Russia longer than prospects from other countries, however KoKo has already left Russia and currently plays in the OHL which is the top Junior League in Canada. Regardless, teams decided it was risk and KoKo slipped to the Bruins all the way into the 2nd round, according to scouts if it wasn't for the fact that he was a Russian player he should have been a top 15 pick! MMMM that tastes gooood..

So hold on Bruins fans, and for those of you haven't already it might be time to secure your seat on the bandwagon before they are all gone. Whether it is this year, next year or 5 years down the road the Bruins are going to give you something to cheer about.

P.S. The reason for my "Thank You Kessel Chant", the Bruins acquired the pick that allowed them to draft Tyler Seguin in the Phil Kessel trade but in addition to that they also received the pick that we used to draft Dougie Hamilton as well as Jared Knight. So again, THANK YOU KESSEL!!

Posted in: DD,NHL