Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Roche invited to Avs camp; NTDP reunion in Ann Arbor


Ken Roche, one of 30 college hockey free agent on the INCH list posted here last week, has been invited to the Colorado Avs rookie camp in early September. Roche was a third-round draft choice of the New York Rangers in 2003 and had an amateur tryout with the Hartford Wolfpack last April. The invitation extends the Terrier-Avs connection which includes 2005 draft choice Brandon Yip, 2007 draft choices Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen, and the new head coach of Avs’ AHL Lake Erie affiliate, Joe Sacco.

The National Team Development Program (NTDP) celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend with a reunion event in Ann Arbor that includes an alumni game and a golf tournament. BU sophomores Brian Strait and Luke Popko are heading to Michigan for event. We’ll be checking to see which other Terrier alums participate.

Fifteen NTDP program participants have gone on to play for BU (or will this season). Let’s see if anyone can list them all. 2008 recruit David Warsofsky, just back from competing with team USA in Ivan Hlinka Memorial in Slovakia, who will become the 16th, suits up for the NTDP U18s next month. He’ll be coached by John Hynes, one of two former Terriers who have coached in the NTDP program; the other is former assists coach John Lilley.

The U18s' schedule kicks off in less than a month with a September 15 game against the USHL Chicago Steel. Hynes' squad will face 21 NCAA opponents, sixteen of them Division 1, including a Dec. 8 matchup with the Terriers at Agganis Arena.

Hynes, of course, also is head coach of the 2007 U.S. Junior National Team. He discussed the recent evaluation camp in a Hockeysfuture.com podcast. In addition to the comments from the RinkRat and NHL.com blogs we posted last week, our own source reports good performances by all four Terriers with Brian Strait and Colin Wilson the most likely to earn roster spots. Final decision won’t be made until early December, so first semester play will guide Hynes’ choices.

Mike Eruzione, forever USA hockey’s gold-medal captain, has been on the banquet circuit for 27 years and on the weight-loss commercial circuit one year. The former Terrier co-captain recently spoke at youth hockey fundraiser in Waterloo, Iowa, providing a nice break from all those politicians who have been traipsing through the Hawkeye state.

An online sidebar to Fluto Shinzawa’s Sunday hockey column in the Boston Globe listed some of the future NHL talent that will be freshmen in Hockey East and the ECAC this season. Four new Terriers, Cohen, Shattenkirk, Wilson and Nick Bonino, made the list.

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