San Antonio Rampage | CollegeHockeyPlayers

24Feb

Blair Riley(5) Bridgeport Sound Tigers

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Undrafted 2nd year left wing Blair Riley(5) was rewarded with an AHL spc by Bridgeport Sound Tigers for his consistent hard work up front on what has turned into winning push for the team as the Calder Cup Playoffs near.

Initially signed to a pto back in November of last year on call-up from Chicago Express, the ECHL team he inked with to start 2011/2012, he’s played 31 games and has a goal and a pair of assists but more importantly he’s fitting into a mix that works for the team.

He played 8 AHL games last season with San Antonio Rampage and Peoria Rivermen and scored one goal and got 2 assists. He’s already got career highs in games played but goals and assists will likely soon follow.

In 15 games this season with the Express, he had 7 goals (including the first ever in team history) and 9 assists, so scoring will be expected of him as he gets even more games under his belt.

He played 59 games with Las Vegas Wranglers in his rookie season and put up 20 goals and 20 assists.

22Feb

Matt Watkins(14) Phoenix Coyotes

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3rd year wing Matt Watkins(14) was originally drafted by Dallas Stars in the 5th round of 2005 (#160 overall) but signed his entry level deal with Phoenix Coyotes, where he’s been the entire time progressively putting up points for their AHL affiliates, San Antonio Rampage in his first couple of seasons and this year with Portland Pirates.

At only 5’10” 180 lbs. he’s a relatively small guy (and looks it out there at times) but so are a lot of their prospects. Regardless, he’s next in line for a shot at the show. He’s quietly 6th in team scoring this season with 9 goals and 18 assists, heading toward a career year for points.

He wears the assistant captain “A” this season for Portland.

21Feb

Michael Stone(28) Phoenix Coyotes

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The injury bug bites Phoenix Coyotes and once again they look to recall a defenseman from AHL affiliate Portland Pirates.

This time 2nd year 2007 3rd round pick (#69 overall) Michael Stone(28) gets his turn.

In 51 games with the Pirates, he already has career highs in goals, assists and points with 9 + 13 for 22 totals and a healthy +5 plus/minus.

At 6’3″ 208 lbs., he’s a big blue liner but could use an extra 20 pounds of muscle to be a real imposing figure out there.

He’s in his second year of his 3-year entry deal but should probably be looked at for more of a long-term signing with his play improving greatly and should add to the Coyotes push towards the playoffs.

In his first NHL game, a 2-1 win in OT, he logged 11:31 ice time and was even out there through 14 shifts.

09Feb

Evan Oberg(27) Tampa Bay Lightning

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With a rash of injuries Tampa Bay Lightning has been suffering through this season, call-ups from their AHL affiliate Norfolk Admirals are plentiful, but no one player has seen more time in airports and on airplanes so far than 3rd year, undrafted defenseman Evan Oberg(27).

It honestly seems like he’s been recalled a dozen times in the first half of the season, but in actuality it’s more like 7 or 8 times. He’s played a whopping 1:21 minutes in the one NHL game he did skate in.

Seeing that this is the last season of his 3-year entry level deal he originally signed with Vancouver Canucks, some insiders are looking at him as potential trade bait. He was picked up this season in a minor league deal with Florida Panthers that brought the Lightning a pair of defensive prospects for their system.

He only skated in 5 games in the big league with no points to his credit and has already been returned once again to the minors with no appearance.

03Feb

Jon Matsumoto(10) San Antonio Rampage

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Originally a Philadelphia Flyers‘ 3rd round pick in the 2006 draft (#79 overall) center Jon Matsumoto(10) was a team prospect for the first three years of his pro career and had two 60+ point AHL seasons with the Phantoms before being traded at the end of his 3-year entry level contract to Carolina Hurricanes 2010 for what amounted to a bag of rocks, a 7th round draft selection.

He played with their AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers for a season and a half (including 13 games, scoring 2 goals last season with the Hurricanes) before being recently dished to Florida Panthers for another up-and-coming forward that was primarily playing with San Antonio Rampage.

In 46 AHL games he has 17 goals and 24 assists, which puts in on pace for his third 60 point season. At 6′ 185 lbs. he isn’t the biggest forward but he plays that style and has to ramp it up to the next level.

27Jan

Sean Sullivan(37) San Antonio Rampage

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After only a year and a half in Worcester signed to a pair of one-year, two-way contracts with San Jose Sharks, fan-favorite, 5th year defenseman Sean Sullivan(37) uproots from Central MA and moves himself back to South Texas, where he played the first two-and-a-half seasons of his pro career with San Antonio Rampage. He’ll return to a team he holds many defensive records with.

He was originally a 9th round pick of Phoenix Coyotes in 2003 (#272 overall) but has yet to appear in an NHL game. Soon he will hit a landmark 300 AHL games played.

He’s a sort of small-ish 6′ 190 lbs. player but is accountable in his defensive zone (he’s a +10 plus/minus this season) and has steadily been putting up some offensive numbers.

The trade with Florida Panthers that brings him back to the South will likely give him his first playing time in the NHL.

01Jan

Jon DiSalvatore(14) Houston Aeros

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Houston Aeros‘ captain and 9 year veteran left winger, Jon DiSalvatore(14) earned his first NHL call-up since the 2005-2006 season when he was with St. Louis Blues.

This was only his sixth ever game in the big league. He skated a total of 14:27 including time on the power play and had 2 shots on net and 2 penalty minutes. He was reassigned back to the Aeros the next day.

In 635 AHL games he has 188 goals and 269 assists. He has scored 20 or more goals in all of his previous 8 pro seasons and looks to be on his way to a 9th consecutive 20 goal campaign as he already has 10 in 33 games.

He was originally a 4th round pick in the 2000 draft by San Jose Sharks (#104 overall).

25Dec

Matt Pope (27)

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For a few moments it looked like 4th year, undrafted forward Matt Pope(27) was making some waves and there might have been some under the breath mutterings of him being someone to look at in Vancouver Canucks‘ prospect system.

His 2nd full pro season was spent with their AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose but he was signed to a two-way NHL contract.

That came about after he signed a pto with the Moose at the end of his rookie season and joined the team for their Calder Cup run (12 games, 3 goals, 3 assists).

In that season with Manitoba he didn’t exactly live up to expectations and fell off the depth chart quickly.

From there he played a season with San Antonio Rampage but that came up short and going into his 4th pro season signed a deal a month before training camp with South Carolina Stingrays.

They just so happen to be the ECHL affiliate of Hershey Bears and on two call-ups he’s starting to gain some traction scoring 3 goals and 2 assists in 10 games.

24Dec

Stu Bickel(4) New York Rangers

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Sometimes there’s a player that might not look like much in the AHL. He’s undrafted and almost completely falling under the radar. But then out of nowhere, that player gets his shot to play in the NHL. And he explodes.

4th year defenseman Stu Bickell(4) fits that description perfectly.

In 27 games with Connecticut Whale this season, he has a goal and 3 assists.

After his first three games with New York Rangers, he has four assists and a 3 game point streak going. He’s also a +4 plus/minus and has one fighting major and two roughing penalties to his credit.

Who knew? Obviously Rangers’ scouts did because they traded for him with Anaheim Ducks last season and re-signed him to a one-year, two-way contract.

He did have a strong training camp and accompanied the team to Europe to start the season but didn’t appear in any games before getting reassigned.

21Dec

Igor Gongalsky(22) Gwinnett Gladiators

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After starting the season on a pto with Portand Pirates, the team he spent most of last season with, 5th year undrafted wing Igor Gongalsky(22) was released and signed an ECHL contract with their affiliate Gwinnett Gladiators.

In 13 AHL games he only registered an assist, but in 5 games with Gwinnett he already has a goal and a pair of helpers.

He’s played most of his pro career in AA hockey (almost 200 games with four different teams) but he’s really a player on the cusp of the higher league.

Maybe he’s just a bit of a late bloomer considering he’s only 25 years old.

12/21: Gongalsky signs a pto with Rochester Americans.