AHL | CollegeHockeyPlayers

07Oct

Kyle Rank(35) Knoxville Ice Bears

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Undrafted 2nd year goalie Kyle Rank(35) got himself a nice training camp invite from Connecticut Whale coming all the way up from the single A SPHL Knoxville Ice Bears.

He got a period and a half of playing time in the team’s 3rd preseason game making 13 saves on 14 shots but unfortunately the lone goal happened to be the 2-1 game-winner.

The 25-year net minder turned pro opting out of the final year of his NCAA Atlantic Hockey Association college career and signed a deal with the Ice Bears. The 5’11” goaltender ended up posting a handy 9-4-4 record with a 2.54 GAA and .925 SV% and backstopped them into the semi-finals.

If he has another season like his rookie year, he could easily find himself climbing up a rung. With his one exhibition appearance, he’s put himself on the radar for a call-up.

06Oct

Tony Lucia(12) Gwinnett Gladiators

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3rd year left wing Tony Lucia(12) signs a one-year ECHL contract to join Gwinnett Gladiators for the 2012/2013 season.

Originally a San Jose Sharks‘ 6th round pick in the 2005 draft (#193 overall), he wasn’t given a qualifying offer by the team after his 2-year entry level contract was up.

He spent his entire rookie season in the AHL with Worcester Sharks dealing with post concussion syndrome, limiting him to only a pair of games; and that even bled over to his 2nd season, although he did manage to appear in 46 games and scored a healthy 8 goals and 19 assists, while being a very accountable +8 plus/minus.

There’s was talk of Portland Pirates signing the 6′ 190 lbs. forward to an AHL deal as he was the only tryout player invited to their camp, but instead he inks with their ECHL affiliate and is probably on the short list for a recall.

05Oct

Jamie Tardif (9)

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6th year right wing Jamie Tardif(9) got the 2nd campaign of his tw0-way deal with Boston Bruins off to a productive start in AHL preseason.

He scored the first two goals, including the game-winner for Providence en route to a 4-1 win.

The 27-year old has appeared in 376 AHL regular season games posting 93 goals and 91 assists.

Originally a Calgary Flames‘ 4th round pick in the 2003 draft (#112 overall), he never signed with the team despite showing some impressive scoring skills in juniors.

The 6’ 207 lbs. forward started his pro career modestly, signing an ECHL deal with Toledo Storm but managed to skate for 3 different AHL teams in his rookie year on call-up.

From there, one of his suitors, Grand Rapid Griffins saw enough promise to sign him up for his full sophomore season.

Doing well in his first full run in the AHL, Detroit Red Wings offered him a 2-year entry level deal and he stuck with the Griffins for what amounted to 4 + years.

Although he has yet to appear in an NHL game, he possesses the ability to light the lamp and plays a gritty game, so there’s a small window he still has the ability to crawl through.

We’ll see if changing to number 9 from his long-standing 25 will give his game a psychological boost.

The pic is right after he flipped the puck up and in for his goal.

04Oct

Brad Larsen (coach) Springfield Falcons

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12-year, double drafted (Ottawa Senators 1995 & Colorado Avalanche 1997) defenseman Brad Larsen head coached his first (preseason) game for Springfield Falcons after being named to the position back in May of this year.

He served as the team’s assistant coach for the last couple of seasons after wrapping up his pro skating career with 55 games for Portland Pirates in 2010. The then 32-year old connected for 13 goals and 14 assists and equaled an AHL career high +9 plus/minus.

The 6′ 200 lbs. blue liner appeared in 294 NHL games (19 goals, 29 assists) with Colorado Avalanche and Atlanta Thrashers, the only two teams he played for.

In the AHL, he skated in 384 games scoring 96 goals and 120 assists.

He lost the preseason opener 4-1; get the L out of the way before it starts counting. To be fair, their opponent Providence Bruins had more A-lister on the squad, while the Falcons fielded more of a training camp tryout lineup.

03Oct

Alex Hudson(12) Ontario Reign

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Undrafted “2nd year” center Alex Hudson(12) has to be smiling with the new deal for the 2012/2013 he signed: one-year with the seemingly ECHL stacked Ontario Reign. More than good, which it should be judging by the talent it’s signed in the offseason, but almost undoubtedly this will be a fun team to play with.

The 6′ 209 lbs. forward scored 2 goals and 7 assists through 20 games in his pre-rookie campaign with Bakersfield Condors and gained an AHL call-up to Manchester Monarchs, where he skated in 15 contests but failed to register a point.

He was actually a mid-season signing after getting kicked off the University Of Nebraska in the fourth and final year of his college career for team violations. No where to turn except ink a professional contract to play.

The 25-year old, in his first full campaign (rookie season), definitely has the potential to land himself in the 15 goal and 30 assist scoring territory. We’ll know more when they hit the ice.

02Oct

Kenndal McArdle(22) Norfolk Admirals

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6th year left wing Kenndal McArdle(22) was a former Florida Panthers‘ 1st round pick in the 2005 draft (#20 overall) but has yet to realize his potential, putting it lightly.

At 5’11” 190 lbs. he really doesn’t have that much size up front yet he definitely can be a pest to play against.

He’s never had what you’d call a stellar goal scoring season in the AHL, where he’s mostly been relegated to, aside from the 42 NHL games he’s appeared in with the Panthers and last season with Winnipeg Jets one year removed.

His totals are minimal at one goal and a pair of assists.

In 54 games last season split with St. John’s IceCaps to start before being loaned to Portland Pirates, he scored 10 goals and 8 assists, while amassing 98 minutes in penalties.

He was also part of that magical Vancouver Giants‘ team that won the Memorial Cup in 2007.

The still young 25-year old signed a try-out deal to play with Norfolk Admirals in 2012/2013. There’s no time like the present for this player to start answering the bell.

30Sep

Adam Courchaine(1) Greenville Road Warriors

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3rd year undrafted goalie Adam Courchaine(1) signs a one-year deal with Greenville Road Warriors for 2012/2013.

He was in Boston Bruins‘ system for the first couple of seasons of his pro career (one year slide on his 3-year entry level contract) but only appeared in 4 AHL games with Providence (3 of those in late 2012) through that time.

The 6’3″ 185 lbs. backstop skated mostly on reassignment in the ECHL with Alaska Aces, where he appeared in 62 games amassing a 36 – 17 – 7 record that included hoisting the Kelly Cup in 2011, his official rookie season. He only played in one postseason game but was very much a key part of the championship run.

At only 23-years old he still has time to grow into his game.

29Sep

Kory Nagy(21) Trenton Titans

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New Jersey Devils‘ 5th round pick in the 2008 draft (#142 overall) left wing Kory Nagy(21) signed a 3-year entry level deal to start his pro career and ended up bouncing between their AHL and ECHL affiliates.

In his final season of the contract he skated the full year with Albany Devils playing in a career high 53 contests, scoring 4 goals and 4 assists but was not qualified an offer to stay with the organization.

For 2012/2013 he decided to stay in familiar territory, inking with Trenton Titans.

With the signing, the somewhat small-ish looking 5’11” 195 lbs., 22-year old forward will have the ability to be called up to any team in the higher league.

28Sep

Russ Sinkewich(32) Alaska Aces

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5th year, undrafted big guy (6’3″ 202 lbs.) defenseman Russ Sinkewich(32) signed on for a third season with Alaska Aces of the ECHL.

His time with the team last year was limited to only 23 regular season games as he was recalled on two separate occasions: first by Abbotsford Heat for 21 games, then Bridgeport Sound Tigers rang him up in late February and signed him to an spc out of the gate. He only skated in 8 AHL games but was also watching from the cheap seats for a lot of that call-up.

The 27-year old may spend the duration of 2012/2013 with one ECHL team, like he did with Johnstown Chiefs in his sophomore campaign, mainly due to the glut of players occupying the higher league.

He has skated AHL games in each of his pro seasons including 10 games for Lake Erie Monsters and Milwaukee Admirals after leaving his college team early in his final year. He eventually signed to a two-way AHL/ECHL deal with the latter for his 2nd season.

27Sep

Anthony Camara (51)

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Boston Bruins‘ 3rd round pick in the 2011 draft (#81 overall) left wing Anthony Camara(51) scored a hat trick to start what will likely be his last season in juniors with Barrie Colts of the OHL.

Although he’s mostly known as a good amount of size (6’1″ 192 lbs.), causing havoc while he’ on the ice type of a player, he did finish last year with a nicely done 16 goals and 17 assists in 66 games and helped his team even more in the postseason with 5 points in 13 contests.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see him eclipse the 20/20 club this season.

As seen in a couple of prospect camps, he’s the type of player that gained notice by always skating hard and putting himself in the middle of every situation.

He just turned 19 years old and wears the inverse of his number in juniors at B’s camp.

He needs to be signed and would be a nice addition to their AHL Providence Bruins.