Friday, April 25, 2008

Nelson Makes it Official / Now THAT is Overtime....

Levi Nelson has officially signed on with the Boston Bruins meaning his chances of being back with the Broncos next year are very slim. The two parties came to a verbal agreement a couple weeks ago. Until Levi officially signed the deal, I wasn't going to report anything.

Here's the release:

Boston Bruins General Manger Peter Chiarelli announced Wednesday that the club has signed goaltender Kevin Regan and center Levi Nelson to entry-level contracts. Per team policy, terms of the deals will not be disclosed.

Regan, a 6'2", 190-pound goaltender has played his last four seasons at the University of New Hampshire. The Boston Bruins drafted him with the 277th pick in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Draft.

The 23-year old assistant captain and South Boston native finished the 2007-08 season as UNH's career leader with 70 wins, 3,235 saves and a .928 save percentage in 112 collegiate games. He is the only goaltender in UNH history to capture back-to-back 20-win campaigns.

The Bruins drafted Nelson with their sixth round pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft (158th overall). He has played the last four seasons with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, appearing in 198 games with 65 goals, 87 assists and 340 penalty minutes. During the 2007-08 regular season with Swift Current, Nelson notched 25 goals, 31 assists, a +23 plus/minus and 152 penalty minutes in 67 games. He has recently added seven goals and eight assists in 12 postseason games.

In 2006-07, Nelson appeared in one regular season game and four postseason games for the Providence Bruins (American Hockey League), tallying one playoff goal. He posted 18-34-52 totals in 2006-07 regular season action for Swift Current.

The 6'0" 19-year old center is from Calgary, Alberta.

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I'll have more later, until then, check out this story out of the American Hockey League last night...

Phantoms win longest game in AHL history

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... The Philadelphia Phantoms have defeated the Albany River Rats, 3-2, at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., in the longest game in the 72-year history of the American Hockey League.

Ryan Potulny's goal at 2:58 of the fifth overtime period gave the Phantoms the win and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven East Division semifinal series. Game 6 is Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.

The winning goal was scored at 12:39 a.m. EDT on Friday morning, five hours and 38 minutes after the game began.

Philadelphia took an incredible 101 shots on goal in the game, and Albany’s Michael Leighton, who won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Award as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender during the 2007-08 regular season, made 98 saves, believed to be an AHL record. The Phantoms’ Scott Munroe stopped 65 of 67 shots to earn the win.

Albany’s Kiel McLeod netted a pair of goals in regulation, both coming in the second period to give the River Rats 1-0 and 2-1 advantages.

But the Phantoms’ Jared Ross responded to tie the score on both occasions, including a tally at 15:13 of the third period to send the contest to overtime.

It remained deadlocked at 2-2 for more than three hours of real time before Potulny finally ended it in the fifth extra session.

The marathon surpassed the previous longest game, a 2003 Calder Cup Final game between Hamilton and Houston that went 14:56 into a fourth overtime. It was also longer than all but three NHL games ever played.


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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Jon, you follow this team as closely as anyone really. Got a question for you.
I am having a problem thinking of any forward prospects we have outside of Magnus. I know we possibly have Ferber in net, as well as Ketting (i believe). There is also Martin, Ernst, Greyeyes on the blueline that will compete. I know there are others, but they pop into my head right away. But the only forward that really sticks out is Magnus.
Can you help me out, and maybe other fans by blogging some talent to expect in training camp (even though i know its early)

Jon Keen said...

You're right it is tough to think of any off the top of your head presently. You did a pretty good job. I will blog about it in the future but here's a few to look at:

- Dane Muench - small, speedy forward who played "AAA" midget in Saskatoon. He's not committed yet though

- Rodger Craig - forward who played "AAA" in Red Deer. Big kid. Not sure where he stands on the WHL route

- Dillon Wagner - 1991 Alberta forward who the Broncos brought in during the playoffs to get a feel for things. Played for Team Pacific at the U17 world championships in Ontario. Hard working 16 year old getting some attention in the AJHL

- Jarryd Ten Vaanholt - forward from West Vancouver who played "AAA" for the Vancouver NW Giants.

So there's four others besides Magnus who the Broncos have on the radar

Anonymous said...

Jon, where's that post on ticket prices on promised? I was looking forward to the transcript with Moberg.

Jon Keen said...

I'll get to it on Monday. I promise.