Boychuk Debuts with AHL's River Rats

I guess it didn't take long for Zach Boychuk to get into the swing of things with his new team.

The now former Lethbridge Hurricane notched an assist with the AHL's Albany River Rats Friday night. Zach wore number 15 with the "Rats". Congrats to him. He sure will be missed in Lethbridge that's for sure. A talent no question! He'll make a fine NHLer in the very near future. The Carolina product just finished his stint with the Canes' of the WHL just over a week ago and seems to be making an impact with the NHL team's affiliate club.

Speaking of former Hurricanes, Luca Sbisa was called up to the Philadelphia Flyers the other day and played his first NHL playoff game Friday night in a 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh. Sbisa had one minor penalty in the game and no points. He had just under 6 minutes of ice time. It's pretty obvious what the Flyers think of the 19 year old. I really do think his return to Lethbridge this season was a good thing for Luca. It helped him get better as a player, helped out the Hurricanes as well (Sbisa scored the series winning goal for the Canes' against Saskatoon), and in the long run will be a big benefit to Philly.

Congrats to both Sbisa and Boychuk! Best of luck in the big leagues!

Post-Season Review with Canes' GM Coming Soon

Early next week, likely Monday I'll be posting a 12 minute interview with Hurricanes GM Roy Stasiuk to cover a number of topics ranging from his thoughts about this past season, an outlook to September, the upcoming WHL Bantam draft at the end of April, which Hurricanes players will be coming back and which ones won't and a few other things as well so stay tuned for that.

The WHL's Conference finals start this weekend with Calgary hosting Brandon and Kelowna at Vancouver. As much as most people have thought the league final would be between the Hitmen and Giants, which is still very much possible, I get a feeling the Wheat Kings and Rockets are going to give those two teams all they can handle. Call me a bit biased being in the Eastern Conference, but I find the Hitmen/Wheaties match-up quite intriguing. Two teams going head-to-head that are so far a perfect 8 and 0 in the post-season. Something will give on that stat Friday. Both clubs are very well rested too.

Good luck to the final four! It should be fun!
Pat

Sbisa Recalled by NHL's Flyers

I was doing a little browsing over the internet today and came across this artical by Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Daily News.......
Pat

With the Eastern Conference quarterfinals starting a day earlier than expected, the Flyers' management spent yesterday working on the full postseason roster. For general manager Paul Holmgren, that meant reviewing NHL call-up rules and juggling the lineup of the Phantoms, who begin postseason play Thursday against Hershey at home. What they settled on was calling up defenseman Luca Sbisa and forward Jared Ross and sending Andreas Nodl back to the Phantoms. According to coach John Stevens, switching Nodl for Ross will give the Flyers more depth at center.

"When we had [Ross] up earlier in the year, he did a good job for us and gave us another guy through the middle," Stevens said. "So Nodl is going to go down and we're going to move [Darroll] Powe to the right side." As planned, 19-year-old rookie defenseman Sbisa was recalled. He played 39 games with the Flyers this season before being sent back to junior hockey. He has been back with the Phantoms since his junior team was eliminated from the playoffs last week and already played two games. Whether he plays when the series begins tomorrow in Pittsburgh will depend on the health of fellow defenseman Ryan Parent.

Parent suffered a groin pull against Florida last Tuesday and missed two of the final three games, including the final game Sunday at home against the Rangers. Holmgren said Parent is improving and is probable to start the series, but until they know for sure, Sbisa is up on an emergency condition.

"Because [Parent] hasn't played we can recall Luca on an emergency condition, which isn't using a regular recall, and then there are some other things we're mulling over and we'll decide that today or tomorrow morning," Holmgren said. "Luca will stay with the Flyers. If everybody is healthy he will be a depth guy initially." There was some concern about Sbisa having lost weight from playing junior hockey. He was skating up to 30 minutes a game and came back lighter.
"He only lost about 9 pounds, but he had a hectic schedule there at the end and then he traveled and we put him in a couple of [Phantoms] games right away," Holmgren said. "He just needs a couple of days to recover.

Two Canes' in Final CSS Rankings

Lethbridge, AB - The Lethbridge Hurricanes are proud to announce 91-born forward Carter Ashton and 91-born defenseman Brennan Yadlowski have both been ranked in the NHL Central Scouting Service's Final Rankings for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft to be held this June. Ashton, the Hurricanes 1st round pick (7th overall) in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft has been ranked 12th among North American skaters while Yadlowski has been ranked 70th.

Ashton, finished his injury shortened rookie season in 2007-2008 with nine points (5G, 4A) in 40 WHL games. He then had a breakout 2008-2009 season leading the Hurricanes with 30 goals and 10 power play goals this season. He was the recipient of the Hurricanes Top Draft Prospect Award, the Hurricanes Three Stars Award and co-winner of the Hurricanes Community Relations Award. Ashton also participated in the 2009 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in Oshawa, Ontario.

Yadlowski had a solid rookie campaign in 07-08 and logged good minutes as a rookie defenseman in the WHL. He was a fifth round pick and the first defenseman chosen by the Hurricanes in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft (97th overall). In 2008-2009, Yadlowski was a consistent contributor to a developing Hurricanes defense and has improved his rank from 153rd in the CSS Mid Term rankings to 70th. Yadlowski is now a two time winner of the Hurricanes Scholastic Player of the Year award (07-08, 08-09) as well as the Hurricanes Most Improved player award. (07-08, 08-09)

Both Ashton and Yadlowski hail from excellent hockey lineage as Ashton is the son of former NHL journeyman Brent Ashton who played for nine different NHL teams during his 15 year pro career. Yadlowski's father, Warren Yadlowski, is a former Edmonton Oilers draft pick, and WHL Calgary Wrangler. Ironically, the Wranglers would eventually move to Lethbridge to become the present day Hurricanes. Brennan's younger brother Austin is a WHL prospect drafted by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft.

Both players have seen success in the Hockey Canada "Program of Excellence" as both Yadlowski and Ashton competed in the 2008 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in London, ON as members of Team Pacific and Team Western respectively. Ashton walked away with a bronze medal as a member of Team Western. Most recently, Ashton was selected as a member of the National Men's Under-18 Team at the 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament in Piestany, Slovakia and Breclav, Czech Republic. Ashton scored the game winning goal in the final to give Team Canada their fourth gold medal in their last five years at this tournament.