Tagged: Asian League Ice Hockey

Wichita Thunder 6th year right wing Alex Bourret(22) was originally an Atlanta Thrashers‘ 1st round pick in the 2005 draft (#16 overall).

He started his pro career playing 168 AHL games with a few different teams, a couple of trades later.

By his fourth year, he seemed to burn out or something because he went off the pro map playing a couple of games in the LNAH, 16 in the Czech Elite League and even 16 in the Asian Hockey League but each of the last two seasons also kept a toe-hold in North American hockey with a couple of teams in the ECHL.

For 2011/2012 season, he signed with the Thunder of the Central Hockey League and tore it up with 57 points (20 goals, 37 assists) in 43 games and a mighty +20 plus/minus.

The 5’10” 205 lbs. 25-year old forward was called up for 6 games with Worcester Sharks this season and chipped in with 3 helpers. It was his first action in the A since 2009.

By all indications he should be playing in higher league. He helped Wichita to the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals but was injured and limited to 14 games (5 goals, 9 assists).


Undrafted center Michael Swift(16) comes off a disappointing 3rd pro season, being traded from Albany to Worcester in a minor league deal, as an unrestricted free agent. His signing options seemed somewhat limited with another team, which is surprising because just one year ago with Lowell Devils he looked to be breaking out and have good potential as a small-sized (5’9″) but skilled goal scorer.

What a difference a year makes. He skips the country and joins High 1 (along with Oren Eizenman) in the Asian League Ice Hockey for 2011/2012.

He’s still fairly young at age 24 and I would expect to see Swifty back in North America with another AHL team after a year or so away.