University of Minnesota Athletics
Wheeler Among Nine Former Gophers in NHL
10/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Nine former University of Minnesota men’s hockey players will open the 2008-09 season on National Hockey League rosters, including the team’s leading scorer from last year, Blake Wheeler (video: Wheeler beats North Dakota), who will play for the Boston Bruins against the Minnesota Wild in its season opener on Saturday.
Wheeler, who totaled 15 goals and 20 assists for the Gophers last season, left school after his junior year and signed with the Boston Bruins in June. Wheeler made the Bruins’ 22-man roster and could make his debut Thurs., Oct. 8 at Colorado in a game televised live on Versus at 9 p.m. Central time. The Bruins will also be the Minnesota Wild’s first opponent on Sat., Oct. 10 as Wheeler returns to the Xcel Energy Center where he scored a dramatic overtime goal in the 2007 WCHA Final Five title game and was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.
The other eight former Gophers are all NHL veterans, including Wheeler’s teammate Phil Kessel (video: Kessel's first career goal), who is beginning his third season in Boston. Kyle Okposo (video: goal vs. Minnesota State), who played in Minnesota’s first 18 games of 2007-08 before departing for the New York Islanders, is back on the Islanders’ roster this season. He played in the Islanders’ last nine games last year and scored two goals.
One former Gopher has already found his way onto an NHL scoresheet this year as Alex Goligoski (video: Goligoski scores against MSU) scored his first career goal in his fourth game with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He tallied a power play goal with two seconds left in Pittsburgh’s 3-1 loss to Ottawa last Sunday in Stockholm, Sweden. Goligoski appeared in three games with the Penguins last season. Jeff Taffe also played in the Penguins' 4-3 overtime win over Ottawa last Saturday to begin his sixth season in the NHL, but has since been released. He played 45 games for Pittsburgh in 2007-08.
Keith Ballard has joined the Florida Panthers this season after playing his first three seasons with the Phoenix Coyotes. Thomas Vanek (video: Vanek scores GWG) is back with the Buffalo Sabres for the fourth straight year following his 2007-08 season when he posted 36 goals and 28 assists for 64 points in all 82 games. Paul Martin is in his fifth season with the New Jersey Devils and Jordan Leopold begins his third season with the Colorado Avalanche in his sixth NHL campaign.
A 10th former Gopher, Erik Johnson, played in 69 games as a rookie with the St. Louis Blues last season, but will miss the entire 2008-09 season with a knee injury.
