Mark Cullen represents MN in AHL All Star Classic

Mark Cullen, the younger brother of Carolina Hurricanes center Matt Cullen, is the lone Minnesotan playing in the AHL All-Star Classic. Cullen has 15 goals and 25 assists on the season in 47 games played. He is already one point ahead of last season when he scored 14 goals and had 25 assists.

He is playing this year for the Rockford IceHogs and has played for a different AHL team the past five seasons.

The Cullen's were born in Virginia but played in high school in Moorhead where their dad was considered one of the great hockey teachers in the state. Mark played at Colorado College while brother Matt starred at St. Cloud State.

Mark was signed to a one-year contract with Chicago this past summer but has yet to get called up. He last appeared in a NHL game in 2006-2007 for Philadelphia.

Dan Sexton is indeed a top rookie

Dan Sexton didn't start his season in the NHL but all indications are that he could be a valuable piece to a Ducks playoff run.

Sexton was back at it last night as he was the first Duck to get on the board tying the Flames at 1-1 in the first period. It was his eighth goal of the season and second in the last three games. He added his eighth assist of the season on Bobby Ryan's game-winning goal with 6:17 left in the third period.

Watch Sexton's Goal HERE

Watch Sexton Assist HERE

Langenbrunner Captain of Team USA, Parise Assistant

From the NewJerseyDevils.com.....

He already leads the Devils night in, night out, but Jamie Langenbrunner received another high honor on Monday when he was officially named the captain of Team USA’s 2010 Olympic team.

Zach Parise was named one of four alternate captains, joining former Devil Brian Rafalski, Dustin Brown and Ryan Suter.

“We’ve had some difficult decisions and some long discussions, and some vitriolic profanity-laced arguments through the selection process,” said Team USA general manager Brian Burke. “But the one thing we didn’t have any kind of a fight on was picking our captain.”

Langenbrunnner, 34, is headed to his second Olympic games. Currently the Devils' captain, he represented the U.S. as a 22-year-old at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, then donned the red, white and blue for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He has 585 points in 927 NHL games.

“To be picked is a great honor”, Langenbrunner said. “I’m not too worried about the leadership on this team at all. I think they have plenty of great leaders, and we’re all going to know our goal and our focus going forward. I’m looking forward to the challenge of going to Vancouver and winning a gold medal.”

The native of Cloquet, Minn., ranks second on the Devils in scoring with 40 points (13g-27a) and is currently riding a seven-game points streak (5g-6a).

“He’s serving (as captain) on an organization that’s respected throughout the League,” Burke said. “He’s been a model of consistency, of versatility, and he’s a guy that does just about everything well on an ice surface, and lots of things well in the dressing room. There were lots of tough decisions for Team USA going into this Olympic games, but picking our captain wasn’t one of them. It was easy to do.”

Langenbrunner brings experience to a U.S. team that has an average age of 26.5 years old. The 15-year vet won Stanley Cup titles with the Devils in 2003 and Dallas in 1999.

“He’s the ultimate professional,” Team USA head coach Ron Wilson said of Langenbrunner. “His experience in the Olympics and also the World Cup will really help get our team pulled together and headed in the right direction.”

Parise, 25, leads the Devils in scoring with 46 points (20g-26a). The fifth-year NHLer is serving in his first season as the team’s alternate captain. He has collected 299 points in 369 NHL games.

“I’m pretty honored and excited to be named one of the alternate captains,” said the Minneapolis native. “I think it’s a great selection with Jamie being the captain. Being in New Jersey and this being my first year with a letter on my jersey there, I’ve learned a lot from him being our captain and sitting next to him in the dressing room.”

Parise won gold with Team USA at the 2004 World Jr. Championship and will be making his first Olympic apperance.

Matt Niskanen scratched Monday

Matt Niskanen is the target of a lot of frustration down in Dallas. At first it was just among the team's die hards and bloggers and we didn't hear much from the coach. Then we saw some insightful quotes from the frustrated defenseman from Virginia, Minnesota. Now, it appears the coach Marc Crawford is ready to deliver a more public message to the former UMD Bulldog.

From the Dallasnews.com....

At the end of the day it's really up to Matt Niskanen," Crawford said of the 23-year-old defenseman, who has played 199 career regular-season games.

"He has to decide if he wants to play and play in a fashion that's going to make him successful out there."

Whether Crawford brings Niskanen back Tuesday in Philadelphia is yet to be seen. But he'll get his chance again. He's a valuable asset who has performed well in the past.

"He's capable of doing it," Crawford said. "We've seen this year that when he is on his game, he's much more assertive.

"The most important factor is that he believes he can do it, and that he does something about it."

Trade talk centers around center Matt Cullen

Matt Cullen might not be enjoying some of the team success he would like or is used to down in Carolina, but a lot of talk out there involving trades by playoff contenders looking for a veteran precense seems to be involving the former Moorhead Spud and St. Cloud State Husky. Cullen already has kissed one Stanley Cup and is the perfect playoff savvy center teams covet at this time of the year.

From the Toronto Sun...

As for the Hurricanes, the best option for Ottawa might be veteran centre Matt Cullen (8 goals, 19 assists in 44 games), who can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. A lot of teams are interested in veteran winger Ray Whitney (13 goals, 18 assists in 43 games), but he has a no-movement clause and he’s going to be able to pick his destination, likely to a contender.

And from Fox Sports' Lyle Richardson....

For now, only the Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers would be considered certain sellers as their chances of climbing back into the postseason race are pretty much non-existent.

Ignore Wild internet speculation of the Hurricanes shopping franchise players Eric Staal and Cam Ward as the players they’ll likely move are impending unrestricted free agent forwards Ray Whitney and Matt Cullen.

Blake Wheeler is Heating up---After selction of Team USA

Blake Wheeler was not someone who was really considered on the bubble for this year's Team USA, however, it is a team that Wheeler could end up in four years at the next Olympics. It is ironic though that Wheeler is producing at his best rate the past three games, his only three games since Team USA was announced. If he had been playing this well a month or two ago, who knows if it would have made the decision to keep him off the team more difficult.

Wheeler has four goals and three assists in his past three games bringing his total to 11 goals and 15 assists in 26 games. He is a minus 6 on the season, but in the past five games is a plus 4. Wheeler is one of those players for the Bruins that if he and members of his line produce at this clip they suddenly become a serious threat in the east.

The plus minus category is going to be an important thing for Wheeler to be viewed as a top player. Another component he could do better at is getting more shots on goal. In the three game stretch where he has four goals he only has six shots. It's a great shot percentage, but with that it would be nice to see him get more shots.

Some of Wheeler's success has been just deflecting pucks in front of the net, but the puck seems to be bouncing his way. Here are the Hightlights form his goals the past three games.

• A goal and an assist in 3-2 loss to New York Rangers Highlights HERE
• Two goals and an assist in 4-1 win over Ottawa. Highlights HERE
• A goal and assist in 5-2 loss to Chicago. Highlights HERE
  

Do NHL teams have reason to worry about Gopher development

In the 2007-2008 hockey season Kyle Okposo left the University of Minnesota midway through his sophomore year as the New York Islanders wanted to player a larger role in his rapid development and there was talk at the time that they didn't trust that he'd get the same kind of development while playing for the Gophers.

It's a difficult concept to gather what kind of development goes on at Minnesota, but the one thing that is clear is that the Gophers alumni excelled immediately as freshmen prior to their current NHL careers.

Every former Gopher player currently on a NHL roster got off to quick starts in their freshmen year. This is not good news for Gopher players and NHL teams that own their rights considering almost every member of the Gophers has been drafted, some quite high. Especially considering that only Jordan Schroeder and possibly Mike Hoeffel can be thought of top ten players in the WCHA.

Blake Wheeler and Ryan Potulny did not make the WCHA All-Rookie team See the list below for the Gophers in the NHL that did:

Jordan Leopold, D 1998-99 7 goals, 16 assists in 39 games
Paul Martin, D 2000-01 3 goals 17 assists in 38 games
Keith Ballard, D 2001-02 10 goals, 13 assists in 41 games
Thomas Vanek, F 2002-03 31 goals, 31 assists in 45 games
Alex Goligoski, D 2004-05 5 goals, 15 assists in 33 games
Phil Kessel, F 2005-06 18 goals, 31 assists 39 games
Erik Johnson, D 2006-07 4 Goals, 20 Assists in 40 games
Kyle Okposo, F 2006-07 19 goals, 21 assists in 40 games
Cade Fairchild, D 2007-2008 2 goals, 8 assists in 28 games
Jordan Schroeder, F 2008-2009 11 goals, 24 assists in 28 games

Wheeler only scored nine goals and added 14 assists his freshman year. He had 38 points in his sophomore season and 35 in his junior season. Wheeler had lofty expectations put on him his freshman season, but he had the luxury of being overshadowed by another freshman Phil Kessel who scored 18 goals and had 33 assists that season. Also carrying the scoring load that season was junior Ryan Potulny who had an amazing year with 38 goals and 25 assists. Danny Irmen also was a junior that year and scored 16 goals and had 22 assists.

Potulny only played in 15 games scoring six goals and eight assists. Prior to his 63 point junior season Potulny had 24 goals and 17 assists his junior season.

See below for all Gophers drafted in the first round:

MINNESOTA’S FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PICKS
Year Name Team Pick
1979 Mike Ramsey Buffalo 11
1985 Tom Chorske Montreal 16
1989 Doug Zmolek Minnesota 7
1996 Erik Rasmussen Buffalo 7
2000 Jeff Taffe St. Louis 30
2002 Keith Ballard Buffalo 11
2003 Thomas Vanek Buffalo 5
2004 Blake Wheeler Phoenix 5
2004 Kris Chucko Calgary 24
2006 Erik Johnson St. Louis 1
2006 Phil Kessel Boston 5
2006 Kyle Okposo NY Islanders 7
2006 David Fischer Montreal 20
2007 Patrick White Vancouver 25
2007 Jim O’Brien Ottawa 29
2009 Nick Leddy Minnesota 16
2009 Jordan Schroeder Vancouver 22

Corey Fienhage article in College Hockey News

College Hockey News ran a nice piece on Corey Fienhage. TheNorth Dakota sophomore defenseman from Eastview High School in Apple Valley was a 2008 third round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres. Fienhage was a always a nice player but was recruited and scouted so prominently because of what scouts saw as potential in his now 6'3" 215 pound frame.

With so many players expected to be on the fast track to the NHL Fienhage could be one of those players that play his entire college career and enter the pro ranks as a better player. He also played football in high school rather than specializing in just hockey making him one of the favorites of the Pulse.

From College Hockey News...

Over the past year, Corey has been facing a time of struggle and disappointment when it comes to his hockey career. In his first season with the Fighting Souix, Fienhage suited up for a mere 9 games and was a minus-4 in his debut season. Due to injuries, Corey has already played in 11 games for the 2009-10 season. Not having the opportunity to play in every game might have a negative effect on an athlete’s optimism, but that isn’t the case for this defenseman. Whether he’s on the bench at game time, or scratched for the night, Corey never stops working and more importantly, believing.

“I’m not going to give up just because something doesn’t go my way,” said Fienhage, “I just have to keep working hard at practice and take advantage of every opportunity.”

Read Full Article HERE

Jamie Langenbrunner has been in big situations before

It was no secret that Jamie Langenbrunner was going to be selected on this year's Olympic team for Team USA, but his succesful career sometimes falls under the radar. But everywhere he goes he has been a winner.

As a junior at Cloquet high school Langenbrunner was the top forward on a very talented team that made it to the state tournament. During that season he scored 27 goals and 62 assists in only 27 games. He didn't stick around his junior season and instead went to the OHL to play for Peterborough.

In northern Minnesota Langenbrunner was viewed as a good example of a player who improved greatly by forgoing his senior season and unfortunately may have led to more players doing it who weren't at Langenbrunner's caliber and would have been better served staying in high school. But it should be noted that he didn't leave a great situation either because Cloquet's 1992-1993 team was loaded with talented seniors and were all graduated leaving Langenbrunner with a lot of inexperienced players.

In a story posted on NHL it talks of Langenbrunner's success as a pro and his two Stanley Cups.

In 1999, when the Stars won their first Stanley Cup, Langenbrunner figured in scoring on 7 of the team's 16 game-winning goals. In 2003, the Devils captured their third Stanley Cup in nine years thanks to Langenbrunner, who led the League and matched a New Jersey record with 4 game-winning goals in a playoff season.

"I think I handle pressure well and I enjoy being in those situations and, fortunately, I've been in a lot of them," Langenbrunner said. "If you're afraid to be put in those situations or afraid of failure, you're going to fail. I don't think that way. I want to be counted on; I want to be out there if it means stopping the last goal or trying to score it.

"I look forward to those situations and I've been fortunate to be on teams where I had a chance to be successful. The biggest thing is not being afraid to succeed or afraid to fail; just go out there and do it."

At the age of 34 Langenbrunner is off to his best year production wise and could be on his way to his first 70 point season with 13 goals adn 22 assists in 40 games. Read the Full Article Here

Matt Niskanen trying to work through frustrations

First off, let me say that having a 7-month old son, holiday season and end of fiscal year for my job has left little time for this fun blog, but I'm really striving to me more consistent in 2010 with better overall content.

For now, here's a couple of quick web hits worth checking out.

Matt Niskanen has received a lot of flak recently from Dallas Stars bloggers critiquing him citing a drop in play. He too is frustrated.

From ESPN.com

It's frustrating," Niskanen said. "I'm not consistent and that's something I'm striving for in my game. I'm working on getting consistent with the good parts of my game and then improving the parts that need it. I know I have to have a tight gap, play good positionally and make sure my compete level is up all the time."


Niskanen said he's also trying to learn how to move on after making mistakes. At times this season, he's looked like a player lacking confidence.


"If I make a mistake or two early in the game, I have to forget about it," Niskanen said. "That's a challenge for young players like myself to put it behind me and move on. I'm working hard and I'll keep working hard."

Read Full Story HERE