Shots From the Point

The first two bits found via Buzzing the Net this morning:

``There's actually a lot of people from China, from Hong Kong and locally in Vancouver who are following him now,'' said his father, Charles, looking remarkably fresh after driving six hours from Vancouver to watch his son at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

``I've seen a lot of Facebook pages, articles, blogs about him . . . it's good. Hopefully this encourages more Chinese to play hockey as well. It's very exciting.''

A swift-skating, five-foot-11, 196-pound defenceman, Yuen is likely headed back to the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans where head coach Jim Hiller hopes to increase his workload and lean on the 18-year-old for leadership.

Yes, Yuen's career arrow is definitely aiming skyward.

``I'm like every kid who dreams of playing in the NHL,'' Yuen said Monday. ``This is another step toward that goal.

``I'd love it if one day I could be a role model for Chinese Canadians. Most of them come over and they don't speak too much English. It's hard for them to immerse themselves in a game they don't understand. But there is a growing interest in the Chinese community, especially in places like Vancouver and Winnipeg where there are big communities.

``Hopefully there will be a couple guys who are of Asian descent playing at the highest level and that will inspire other Chinese Canadians to participate in hockey. There was nobody like that for me growing up, hopefully I can grow into that role model.'' (Winnipeg Free Press)

----------

Patrick Holland admitted his childhood sins Monday night after collecting two garbage goals on behalf of the baby Calgary Flames.

"Uhh, I grew up as an Oilers fan," the Tri-City Americans left-winger said. "It's kind of not something I share too often.''

Flames supporters will no doubt forgive the Lethbridge product for the early error of his ways - especially if he beats the odds and makes it to the NHL. Not many seventhrounders do.

Fresh off attending the Team Canada world junior summer development camp, Holland led the way for the Flames prospects in a 4-3 overtime loss to the baby Vancouver Canucks. The line of Holland-Max Reinhart-Sven Baertschi hemmed in the West Coasters all night long with scoring chance after scoring chance on Karel St. Laurent.

Neither of Holland's strikes will hit the highlight reels - not that he cares.

"I'll take anything," he said. "They both just kind of chipped over the goalie. Our line had good battle.

"We got to the net." (Calgary Herald)

----------

This is from the other day over at On the Forecheck with tidbits from The Goalie Guild:

"Pickard has to carve his own path, but Nashville will side with Rinne long term since he’s already established. I think some of Pickard’s flaws are his complacency and mobility. He’s a bigger goalie that relies on his size to get body parts behind pucks. It’s the polar opposite of Rinne, who tries to go out and stop everything. Pickard likes to let pucks hit him and then react from there. He’s still capable of being a "franchise" goalie because Pickard has awesome durability and technique. When the foundation is there, anything is possible over the course of two or three seasons. So it’s impossible to judge their ability’s ceiling or floor. It really just depends on each and every game they play. I like his confidence level and his mental toughness but he needs to speed up his footwork if he wants to be effective in the NHL." (The Goalie Guild)

During the 2010-2011 season, Pickard went through an extremely rough patch, going months without a win for Milwaukee, and getting sent down to the ECHL for a while to sort things out.

The development path for goaltenders is often long and unpredictable, which is why it's risky to use a high draft pick on one as the Preds did here. While his horrid 2010-2011 season is concerning, what's even more important is how he responds to that adversity going forward as he faces a 3-way battle for what are likely two roster spots in Milwaukee. We'll get a good look at how he handles that pressure over the next couple weeks. (On the Forecheck)

----------

Drinnan notes the Winterhawks had to cancel a pre-season game because they are short of players, with 15 at NHL camps.  Nestled in his piece is also this:

The Winterhawks played in a preseason tournament in Kennewick, Wash., on the weekend and were able to dress only 16 skaters. According to a press release, they “lost one player to injury over the weekend and a second to a waiver claim from another team.”

The player the Winterhawks lost on waivers? It was F Lukas Walter, 18, who was claimed by the Tri-City Americans. He had one goal in three exhibition games with Portland.  (Taking Note)

----------

Guy Flaming over at The Pipeline Show has an interesting piece on what happens to WHL-ers after they're done.  He looks specifically at the Edmonton Oil Kings, but it's applicable to all teams I think, as far as the route(s) players take after their time in the Dub.

The mission of the Major Junior system is to produce professional hockey players with the promise that if it doesn't work out, players will be taken care of in terms of their education. Out west, players receive a year's worth of scholarship money (tuition and books) for every season they played in the WHL. We're told that dressing for a single game qualifies as "a season" thus entitling said player to a full year of covered education costs even if action in the league was minimal.

Again, the educational package is the safety net for the CHL player; getting a pro contract by 20/21-years-of-age is the primary goal of playing major junior. Therefore, in my mind, those who scrutinize the CHL for low university graduation rates should take into account the number of players who accomplished their main objective - pro hockey - and consider those as success stories too.

In order to give a fair assessment of the Major Junior system from both the hockey and academic perspective, I thought it might prove interesting to check up on one of the weaker teams the WHL has seen in the last decade. A bad team would give me a roster of players with a good mix of potential on and off the ice. (read the rest, it's very interesting, at Coming Down the Pipe!)