According to their twitter, Pontus Johansson suffered a separated shoulder in practice and will miss significant time due to the injury. The Muskies welcome back Brett Patterson, though.
It sounded like Pontus was starting to play really well and using his size to his advantage. Tough break, but hopefully inserting Patterson in the lineup for Pontus doesn't hurt the team chemistry they have going right now.
I'm anxious to get back up there next month for a couple of games against Muskegon (who I have yet to see play in their USHL tenure) and the Stampede. Hasn't been as easy as I originally planned to get up there for games (just 1 regular season game in 3 years) but I'm glad there are plenty of options in the Omaha area. Always fun heading to Lincoln for a game or two, even if it is just to talk to Yeti as much as possible on everything hockey!
The Muskies stood pat at the deadline, which wasn't really a surprise as they only had 1 more trade they could make. I wouldn't have been opposed to seeing them add a Minnesota HS kid like many other teams, but Sioux City generally doesn't get a ton of players from Minnesota.
Lastly, a good read on former Musketeer, Max Pacioretty.
http://sports.yahoo....alcOttyWO57vLYF
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Posted 08 February 2012 - 09:41 PM
Not really a update on Musketeers but to add to the above story by Ryan.
Pontus was at the Musketeers Booster Club meeting tonight and was bummed about his shoulder. There were also 4 other players there. I also personally hope the chemistry does take a turn the other way from what it has been the last 2 weeks.
To add to the story about Pacioretty from the Sioux City Journal:
http://siouxcityjour...b43b10c5e5.html
SIOUX CITY -- The plan, at least some of you may recall, was for Sam Gagner to play a couple seasons with the Sioux City Musketeers and then earn himself a college hockey scholarship.
Dave Gagner, his father, always regretted that his own hockey career, which included 15 seasons in the National Hockey League, somehow kept him from getting that college degree.
The elder Gagner did just fine without the sheepskin, making an impressive segue from professional sports to a successful business that has been installing hockey rinks of all sizes and designs ever since Dave and professional engineer Brendan Lenko founded the business in March of 2000.
However, in June of 2005, when his gifted son, checked in for his first camp with the Musketeers, still two months shy of his 16th birthday, Dad was remembering how the years he might have spent in college got used up playing junior hockey in Canada, working his way toward the NHL.
Sam, he thought, might just as well invest those years in an American college program. And, when he finished there, if the NHL wanted him, as nearly everyone was certain they would, he would had that precious education.
The Gagner family even decided on a school, making a verbal commitment to the University of Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Sam, as a 16-year-old high school junior, played beyond his years to the surprise of no one, totaling 46 points on 11 goals and 35 assists to rank second in scoring for the 2005-06 Musketeers of Coach Dave Siciliano.
That's where that original plan went into the wastebasket, though. And, it's not so difficult now to understand why.
Instead of a second year in the United States Hockey League, young Gagner went back to his native Toronto and hooked on with the London Knights of the formidable Ontario Hockey League.
And, while the Knights dominated the 2006-07 OHL with a 50-14-4 record, Gagner, the center, teamed with right winger Patrick Kane and left winger Sergei Kostitsyn from Belarus to form an incredible line that accounted for a whopping 394 points.
Kane, the No. 1 NHL draft pick that year (2007), totaled 145 points on 62 goals and 83 assists. Kostitsyn added 131 points with 40 goals and 91 assists. Meanwhile, Gagner tacked on 118 points on 35 goals and 83 assists, getting picked fourth in that same '07 draft.
Those years when Sam Gagner was supposed to be playing college hockey in Madison? He spent all four of them with the Edmonton Oilers, where as a fifth-year NHL veteran at the tender age of 22 he made a little history last week, becoming the first player in 23 years to collect eight points in an NHL game.
Four goals and four assists in last Thursday's 8-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, Kane's team for five seasons, made the former Musketeer just the 11th skater in NHL history to score eight or more points in a game. It was the first eight-point performance since Pittsburgh Penguins great Mario Lemieux collected eight on Dec. 31, 1988.
Although Gagner was still two points shy of Darryl Sittler's league record 10 points for Toronto on Feb. 7, 1976 (six goals, four assists), he did equal Edmonton's club record shared previously by defenseman Paul Coffey and the "Great One,'' Wayne Gretzky.
Even though he followed up with two goals and an assist in the first period of a shootout win over the New York Rangers just two nights later, Gagner's modest season scoring totals are now at 11 goals and 22 assists, tied for 86th in NHL.
Maybe that doesn't add up to any all-star teams, but Gagner has helped a very young Edmonton team go 4-0-1 over its last five games -- not bad for a club whose 47 points (21-26-5 record) still ranks only 28th in the 30-team league.
Sam has gotten hot, incidentally, ever since he was promoted to the Oilers' No. 1 line in place of talented rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, slowed by a shoulder injury. No doubt the fans in Edmonton are ecstatic that four of their top guns are all 22 years old or younger.
Yes, indeed, while Gagner is only 22, current linemates Eberle and Hall are 21 and 20, respectively, while the injured Nugent-Hopkins is a mere 18.
This probably still isn't as big as the No. 1 all-time Musketeers alumni story, Ruslan Fedotenko's winning goal in the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Still, another big headline for a former Sioux City skater proved to be a valuable reminder of how big the Musketeers and the entire USHL have become on the world hockey stage.
According to the USHL website, no less than 20 former Musketeers are under contract to NHL teams. The league has 17 of the 20 names boldfaced, which is supposed to mean they're all "active players,'' but that would be more accurate if it intended to indicate players who've seen action in the NHL in the last year or so.
By my reckoning, at any rate, 15 of the 20 ex-Musketeers on the list have made it to hockey's "Show.'' Although the USHL says defenseman David Hale and goalie John Grahame are "active,'' both are officially retired. Hale, who played two seasons here, the last in 1999-2000, announced his retirement after seven NHL seasons on Oct. 15. The 36-year-old Grahame, who minded the Muskies' nets in 1993-94, logged his last of eight seasons last winter with Colorado.
Near as I can tell, though, Gagner is one of seven former Sioux City skaters on current NHL rosters. Fedotenko, the Ukrainian from Kiev, is in his 11th season, now suiting up with the Rangers. Defensive Rotislav Klesla, a native of the Czech Republic who was the first player ever drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets, is a 10th-year man, now with Phoenix after nine seasons with the Jackets.
Other NHL actives are Calgary defenseman Chris Butler and Montreal left winger Max Pacioretty, each in their fourth seasons; San Jose left winger Tim Kennedy, a star on Michigan State's 2007 NCAA champs; and Boston defenseman Steven Kampfer.
Incidentally, Kampfer, who played four seasons for Michigan in his hometown of Ann Arbor, logged 38 games as a rookie for Boston's Stanley Cup champions. A minimum of 41 games are required to have your name engraved on the Cup, but the Bruins at least tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to petition the NHL to include Kampfer.
Several more ex-Musketeers are still active in the 30-team American Hockey League, eligible for call-ups to the NHL. Then, we have right winger John Zeiler, who played four years with the L.A. Kings, playing in Germany on the same Augsburg Panthers team with defenseman Justin Fletcher.
Pontus was at the Musketeers Booster Club meeting tonight and was bummed about his shoulder. There were also 4 other players there. I also personally hope the chemistry does take a turn the other way from what it has been the last 2 weeks.
To add to the story about Pacioretty from the Sioux City Journal:
http://siouxcityjour...b43b10c5e5.html
SIOUX CITY -- The plan, at least some of you may recall, was for Sam Gagner to play a couple seasons with the Sioux City Musketeers and then earn himself a college hockey scholarship.
Dave Gagner, his father, always regretted that his own hockey career, which included 15 seasons in the National Hockey League, somehow kept him from getting that college degree.
The elder Gagner did just fine without the sheepskin, making an impressive segue from professional sports to a successful business that has been installing hockey rinks of all sizes and designs ever since Dave and professional engineer Brendan Lenko founded the business in March of 2000.
However, in June of 2005, when his gifted son, checked in for his first camp with the Musketeers, still two months shy of his 16th birthday, Dad was remembering how the years he might have spent in college got used up playing junior hockey in Canada, working his way toward the NHL.
Sam, he thought, might just as well invest those years in an American college program. And, when he finished there, if the NHL wanted him, as nearly everyone was certain they would, he would had that precious education.
The Gagner family even decided on a school, making a verbal commitment to the University of Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Sam, as a 16-year-old high school junior, played beyond his years to the surprise of no one, totaling 46 points on 11 goals and 35 assists to rank second in scoring for the 2005-06 Musketeers of Coach Dave Siciliano.
That's where that original plan went into the wastebasket, though. And, it's not so difficult now to understand why.
Instead of a second year in the United States Hockey League, young Gagner went back to his native Toronto and hooked on with the London Knights of the formidable Ontario Hockey League.
And, while the Knights dominated the 2006-07 OHL with a 50-14-4 record, Gagner, the center, teamed with right winger Patrick Kane and left winger Sergei Kostitsyn from Belarus to form an incredible line that accounted for a whopping 394 points.
Kane, the No. 1 NHL draft pick that year (2007), totaled 145 points on 62 goals and 83 assists. Kostitsyn added 131 points with 40 goals and 91 assists. Meanwhile, Gagner tacked on 118 points on 35 goals and 83 assists, getting picked fourth in that same '07 draft.
Those years when Sam Gagner was supposed to be playing college hockey in Madison? He spent all four of them with the Edmonton Oilers, where as a fifth-year NHL veteran at the tender age of 22 he made a little history last week, becoming the first player in 23 years to collect eight points in an NHL game.
Four goals and four assists in last Thursday's 8-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, Kane's team for five seasons, made the former Musketeer just the 11th skater in NHL history to score eight or more points in a game. It was the first eight-point performance since Pittsburgh Penguins great Mario Lemieux collected eight on Dec. 31, 1988.
Although Gagner was still two points shy of Darryl Sittler's league record 10 points for Toronto on Feb. 7, 1976 (six goals, four assists), he did equal Edmonton's club record shared previously by defenseman Paul Coffey and the "Great One,'' Wayne Gretzky.
Even though he followed up with two goals and an assist in the first period of a shootout win over the New York Rangers just two nights later, Gagner's modest season scoring totals are now at 11 goals and 22 assists, tied for 86th in NHL.
Maybe that doesn't add up to any all-star teams, but Gagner has helped a very young Edmonton team go 4-0-1 over its last five games -- not bad for a club whose 47 points (21-26-5 record) still ranks only 28th in the 30-team league.
Sam has gotten hot, incidentally, ever since he was promoted to the Oilers' No. 1 line in place of talented rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, slowed by a shoulder injury. No doubt the fans in Edmonton are ecstatic that four of their top guns are all 22 years old or younger.
Yes, indeed, while Gagner is only 22, current linemates Eberle and Hall are 21 and 20, respectively, while the injured Nugent-Hopkins is a mere 18.
This probably still isn't as big as the No. 1 all-time Musketeers alumni story, Ruslan Fedotenko's winning goal in the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Still, another big headline for a former Sioux City skater proved to be a valuable reminder of how big the Musketeers and the entire USHL have become on the world hockey stage.
According to the USHL website, no less than 20 former Musketeers are under contract to NHL teams. The league has 17 of the 20 names boldfaced, which is supposed to mean they're all "active players,'' but that would be more accurate if it intended to indicate players who've seen action in the NHL in the last year or so.
By my reckoning, at any rate, 15 of the 20 ex-Musketeers on the list have made it to hockey's "Show.'' Although the USHL says defenseman David Hale and goalie John Grahame are "active,'' both are officially retired. Hale, who played two seasons here, the last in 1999-2000, announced his retirement after seven NHL seasons on Oct. 15. The 36-year-old Grahame, who minded the Muskies' nets in 1993-94, logged his last of eight seasons last winter with Colorado.
Near as I can tell, though, Gagner is one of seven former Sioux City skaters on current NHL rosters. Fedotenko, the Ukrainian from Kiev, is in his 11th season, now suiting up with the Rangers. Defensive Rotislav Klesla, a native of the Czech Republic who was the first player ever drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets, is a 10th-year man, now with Phoenix after nine seasons with the Jackets.
Other NHL actives are Calgary defenseman Chris Butler and Montreal left winger Max Pacioretty, each in their fourth seasons; San Jose left winger Tim Kennedy, a star on Michigan State's 2007 NCAA champs; and Boston defenseman Steven Kampfer.
Incidentally, Kampfer, who played four seasons for Michigan in his hometown of Ann Arbor, logged 38 games as a rookie for Boston's Stanley Cup champions. A minimum of 41 games are required to have your name engraved on the Cup, but the Bruins at least tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to petition the NHL to include Kampfer.
Several more ex-Musketeers are still active in the 30-team American Hockey League, eligible for call-ups to the NHL. Then, we have right winger John Zeiler, who played four years with the L.A. Kings, playing in Germany on the same Augsburg Panthers team with defenseman Justin Fletcher.
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Posted 09 February 2012 - 05:45 AM
Ryan, on 08 February 2012 - 06:04 PM, said:
According to their twitter, Pontus Johansson suffered a separated shoulder in practice and will miss significant time due to the injury. The Muskies welcome back Brett Patterson, though.
It sounded like Pontus was starting to play really well and using his size to his advantage. Tough break, but hopefully inserting Patterson in the lineup for Pontus doesn't hurt the team chemistry they have going right now.
I'm anxious to get back up there next month for a couple of games against Muskegon (who I have yet to see play in their USHL tenure) and the Stampede. Hasn't been as easy as I originally planned to get up there for games (just 1 regular season game in 3 years) but I'm glad there are plenty of options in the Omaha area. Always fun heading to Lincoln for a game or two, even if it is just to talk to Yeti as much as possible on everything hockey!
The Muskies stood pat at the deadline, which wasn't really a surprise as they only had 1 more trade they could make. I wouldn't have been opposed to seeing them add a Minnesota HS kid like many other teams, but Sioux City generally doesn't get a ton of players from Minnesota.
Lastly, a good read on former Musketeer, Max Pacioretty.
http://sports.yahoo....alcOttyWO57vLYF
It sounded like Pontus was starting to play really well and using his size to his advantage. Tough break, but hopefully inserting Patterson in the lineup for Pontus doesn't hurt the team chemistry they have going right now.
I'm anxious to get back up there next month for a couple of games against Muskegon (who I have yet to see play in their USHL tenure) and the Stampede. Hasn't been as easy as I originally planned to get up there for games (just 1 regular season game in 3 years) but I'm glad there are plenty of options in the Omaha area. Always fun heading to Lincoln for a game or two, even if it is just to talk to Yeti as much as possible on everything hockey!
The Muskies stood pat at the deadline, which wasn't really a surprise as they only had 1 more trade they could make. I wouldn't have been opposed to seeing them add a Minnesota HS kid like many other teams, but Sioux City generally doesn't get a ton of players from Minnesota.
Lastly, a good read on former Musketeer, Max Pacioretty.
http://sports.yahoo....alcOttyWO57vLYF
That is a tough loss as Johansson was leading the club in + -, at +7.....
Why has Patterson been out of the lineup? Always nice to welcome back a point a game guy.
That game v Muskegon may be a good one. I'm really looking forward to seeing if they can build off of that big win shorthanded v the Steel.
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RIP Huckleberry. 1995-2009.... Thanks for 14 unforgettable years Huck. You will forever be loved and missed.
Blackhawks Rock
RIP Huckleberry. 1995-2009.... Thanks for 14 unforgettable years Huck. You will forever be loved and missed.
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Posted 09 February 2012 - 10:51 AM
Mr Ricochet, on 09 February 2012 - 05:45 AM, said:
Ryan, on 08 February 2012 - 06:04 PM, said:
According to their twitter, Pontus Johansson suffered a separated shoulder in practice and will miss significant time due to the injury. The Muskies welcome back Brett Patterson, though.
It sounded like Pontus was starting to play really well and using his size to his advantage. Tough break, but hopefully inserting Patterson in the lineup for Pontus doesn't hurt the team chemistry they have going right now.
I'm anxious to get back up there next month for a couple of games against Muskegon (who I have yet to see play in their USHL tenure) and the Stampede. Hasn't been as easy as I originally planned to get up there for games (just 1 regular season game in 3 years) but I'm glad there are plenty of options in the Omaha area. Always fun heading to Lincoln for a game or two, even if it is just to talk to Yeti as much as possible on everything hockey!
The Muskies stood pat at the deadline, which wasn't really a surprise as they only had 1 more trade they could make. I wouldn't have been opposed to seeing them add a Minnesota HS kid like many other teams, but Sioux City generally doesn't get a ton of players from Minnesota.
Lastly, a good read on former Musketeer, Max Pacioretty.
http://sports.yahoo....alcOttyWO57vLYF
It sounded like Pontus was starting to play really well and using his size to his advantage. Tough break, but hopefully inserting Patterson in the lineup for Pontus doesn't hurt the team chemistry they have going right now.
I'm anxious to get back up there next month for a couple of games against Muskegon (who I have yet to see play in their USHL tenure) and the Stampede. Hasn't been as easy as I originally planned to get up there for games (just 1 regular season game in 3 years) but I'm glad there are plenty of options in the Omaha area. Always fun heading to Lincoln for a game or two, even if it is just to talk to Yeti as much as possible on everything hockey!
The Muskies stood pat at the deadline, which wasn't really a surprise as they only had 1 more trade they could make. I wouldn't have been opposed to seeing them add a Minnesota HS kid like many other teams, but Sioux City generally doesn't get a ton of players from Minnesota.
Lastly, a good read on former Musketeer, Max Pacioretty.
http://sports.yahoo....alcOttyWO57vLYF
That is a tough loss as Johansson was leading the club in + -, at +7.....
Why has Patterson been out of the lineup? Always nice to welcome back a point a game guy.
That game v Muskegon may be a good one. I'm really looking forward to seeing if they can build off of that big win shorthanded v the Steel.
He took a hit up high to the head, I believe, on NYE from Jared Hanson in the closing stages of the game.
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Posted 10 February 2012 - 10:49 AM
I saw Pontus Johanssen last night and it didn't look good. His arm is totally immobilized and it'll be at least a month before he can get back.
Damn shame because he has been playing his best hockey of the season. While some people may get frustrated with his reluctance to play physical with that big body, his ability to protect and control the puck down low is 2nd to none and is what the Musketeers will miss the most. Fortunately they get one of the best set up men in the league back tonite in Brett Patterson.
Also on the injury front, it looks like Dane Cooper will be on the shelf for a while as he was limping around in an immobilization boot last night.
Should be a great game this evening as the Blackhawks & Musketeers have played 2 close games this year with end to end action.
Damn shame because he has been playing his best hockey of the season. While some people may get frustrated with his reluctance to play physical with that big body, his ability to protect and control the puck down low is 2nd to none and is what the Musketeers will miss the most. Fortunately they get one of the best set up men in the league back tonite in Brett Patterson.
Also on the injury front, it looks like Dane Cooper will be on the shelf for a while as he was limping around in an immobilization boot last night.
Should be a great game this evening as the Blackhawks & Musketeers have played 2 close games this year with end to end action.
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Posted 10 February 2012 - 11:27 AM
SC twitter feed is reporting that Kyle Crisculo is also hurting and will be a game time decision tonight.
Big loss if Kyle fails to play.
Musketeer players dropping like flies this week when it looked like the would have an intact line up since the first month of the season.
Big loss if Kyle fails to play.
Musketeer players dropping like flies this week when it looked like the would have an intact line up since the first month of the season.
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