Wild Has League-Best 7 Players Picked for Top Prospects Tournament
November 3, 2010 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
WENATCHEE, Wash. - TheNorth American Hockey League (NAHL) announced today the 20-man rosters for nextmonth's Top Prospects Tournament. The Wild had a league-best seven playersselected for the tournament, which will take place at the Iorio Ice Arena inWalpole, Mass., from Dec. 5-7.
The four teams competing at this year's Top ProspectsTournament will be named after prominent league alumni. All seven of the Wild'stournament selections will play for Team Legwand, named after NashvillePredators forward David Legwand, who played for the NAHL's CompuwareAmbassadors. The other teams are named after: Ryan Miller, Brian Rafalski andDoug Weight.
"It is very exciting for the entire Wild organization," saidthird-year head coach Paul Baxter,who along with Fairbanks taskmaster Josh Hauge, will coach Team Legwand. "Wehave been very blessed to have many, many fine young men and hockey players inour program."
Five of the Wild's selections are forwards. Eliot Grauer (Mukioteo, Wash.) and Evan Schmidbauer (Surrey, BC), wereselected for the tournament after being named to the NHL Central ScoutingBureau's "Players to Watch" list for 2011 draft-eligible players in October.Grauer leads the Wild with 13 points (8G, 5A) and is a team-best plus-8 on theseason. Schmidbauer has six points (3G, 3A) and is plus-5.
The other three Wild forwards selected for the tournament - Shawn Pauly (Bellingham, Wash.), Ben Carey (Centennial, Colo.) and Blake Saylor (Centennial, Colo.) - areall committed to Division I Air Force. Pauly is tied for fourth on the teamwith 10 points (4G, 6A) and is plus-4. Carey (4G, 5A) and Saylor (3G, 2A) havenine and five points, respectively.
Defensemen GeoffFerguson (Hanwell, NB) and EricJohnson (Madison, Wis.), both Division I recruits, were also picked toparticipate in the Top Prospects Tournament. Committed to Dartmouth College,Ferguson has recorded three assists in 13 games this season and is plus-5.Johnson, who recently committed to the University of Notre Dame, has one assistin 10 games with the Wild this season and is plus-2. In 2009-10, Johnsonrecorded seven points (2G, 5A) in 29 regular-season games and was plus-7. Hescored two goals and was plus-3 in eight NAHL playoff games last season.
"Participating in any showcase event is great for thoseselected," Baxter said. "The tournament is a great opportunity for colleges andthe NHL to see some great prospects [and] it is fun to watch."
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