The ‘Yoopers United’ will battle the Red Wings Alumni team on September 17th in Marquette

Here’s a story that slipped under the radar over the last couple of days: a team of amateur hockey players has assembled in the Upper Peninsula, representing the United Way of Marquette, and the “Yoopers United” will be battling the Red Wings Alumni team on Saturday, September 17th.

The Marquette Mining Journal’s Travis Nelson explains:

With the hockey game against the Detroit Red Wings Alumni team now less than two months away, the United Way of Marquette County hosted a Team Launch Event at Blackrocks Brewery on Monday evening.

While the evening consisted of members of the team and the community joining up for a couple of cold beers, the hype is being built for when the Red Wings Alumni team comes to play inside of the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday, Sept. 17.

Along with the chance to purchase beverages, there were also door prizes and an introduction of the players in attendance at the event.

The Yoopers United team has 22 players, with 10 in attendance for the event. All of the players are fundraising money for the game, and the two who earn the most will get to fill the two open spots on the Red Wings roster and play with them. With all of the fundraising and this event that was held, September’s game will be here for before we know it.

“Tonight’s (Monday) event is great because it launches the team and the event out publicly,” United Way Executive Director Andrew Rickauer said. “This lets people meet who the players are, and what’s going on. It’s going to be a big event for the community, and it really brings everyone together. Bringing everyone together and also helping out the community.”

Continued

Kulfan profiles Shai Buium

Red Wings prospect and University of Denver defenseman Shai Buium is all of 19 years old, and, last week, the 6’3,” 209-pound defenseman looked like something between a gazelle and a giraffe on the ice. Likely a good 20 pounds short of his playing weight (if not a couple inches short), the Denver sophomore looks utterly elegant when he’s in motion, but when he’s stopped, he’s gangly and awkward.

Buium’s play, however, is quite smooth and improving, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a profile of Buium this afternoon, noting that Buium’s hockey education benefited from Denver’s journey to the NCAA Division 1 hockey championship this past spring:

Heading into his sophomore season, Buium is hoping to pass some of that experience and knowledge along.

“I want to be a role model for the freshmen,” he said. “We have two incoming defensemen and I want to show them the way and hopefully pick up a bigger role and try to do the same thing (win a title). It’s hard to win, (but) we’ll try to do that again.”

What made the recent Red Wings development camp special for Buium was the ability to work with Niklas Kronwall, the former Wings star who coached the defensemen in camp.

“Working with Niklas Kronwall is pretty awesome,” Buium said. “He’s obviously an NHL legend. He teaches you a lot of things. I’m just trying to work them into my game, like learning how to walk the blue line, playing defense. I was pretty intimidated at first, but he’s a really good guy and pretty easy to talk to. He communicates well with us. It’s pretty surreal because he’s an NHL legend.”

Overall, the development camp was a good way to get comfortable with the Wings’ program, along with getting ready for the upcoming hockey season.

“It’s really an educational camp,” said Buium, who is familiar with the Detroit area given his younger brother is in the Plymouth Township-based United States National Team Development Program (brother and mother live in Novi). “Met a lot of different guys I bonded with, so it’s real good.”

Continued; Buium gets lost in the shuffle with the Red Wings’ numerous Swedish stars-in-the-making, but he’s a real gem of a prospect himself.

Video: Darren McCarty says, ‘Retire #91!’

There remain certain members of the Red Wings hierarchy who do not believe that Sergei Fedorov’s #91 should be retired due to his acrimonious departure for the Anaheim Ducks in 2003. At present, the CSKA Moscow coach is OK with his number not being retired, but the Woodward Sports Network’s Darren McCarty feels otherwise:

Grand Rapids Griffins to open 2022-2023 season at home vs. San Diego on October 14

The AHL’s 2022-2023 schedule is coming out tomorrow, and, in advance thereof, the AHL’s teams were allowed to post the dates of their home openers:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Duff profiles Jonatan Berggren

Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren had a big season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, and the 5’11,” 194-pound center/wing, who’s 22 years old as of last Saturday, is profiled by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff this evening:

His first season in North American couldn’t have gone much better for Jonatan Berggren. Performing for Detroit’s top farm club the Grand Rapids Griffins, Berggren finished 12th in the American League scoring race with 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points. That established a new Griffins’ record for points by a rookie. Berggren was the AHL’s second-highest rookie scorer, trailing only Buffalo Sabres JJ Peterka (28 goals, 68 points).

He ended the season with an 11-game point streak. Berggren registered points in 15 of his last 18 games. In those 15 games,  Berggren boasted 10 multi-point games.

“We’re very pleased with the season that Jonatan had,” Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman said. “As an adjustment coming to play in the American Hockey Legue versus the Swedish Elite League that he played in, there’s areas of his game that we asked him to focus on and try to improve on and he did that.

“We’re very happy with his progress.”

Continued; as Duff suggests, Berggren may not make the Red Wings’ roster out of training camp, but he’s a fine prospect who should slot into the second line in the not-too-distant future.

Summer (fun)draising

I received a tremendous amount of support from TMR readers over the course of the summer development camp, and I’m truly grateful for that.

As we turn the calendar to late July, however, I’m facing the stark realities of plain old having bills to pay this month as Aunt Annie and I struggle to make ends meet.

While I was dealing with my depressive episode, we tried to make ends meet, but without the blog’s modest contribution to the budget, we were a couple hundred dollars underwater every month. I was able to take on some debt in order to squeeze out an unexpected seven-month recovery process, but we’re really tight right now.

Continue reading Summer (fun)draising

Tweet of note: NTDP single-game tix on sale

Here’s a promotional FYI from the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth:

Single-game tickets for the 2022-23 Team USA season are on sale now! 👊

Be sure to check out our BRAND NEW premium seating option!

ALL INFO → https://t.co/csIuqqwSEB pic.twitter.com/P6fUg301hD— USA Hockey’s NTDP (@USAHockeyNTDP) July 20, 2022

A bit of praise for Ville Husso

The Hockey News’s Ian Kennedy examines the changes made to teams’ respective NHL creases this offseason, including the Red Wings’ trade for Ville Husso:

Detroit Red Wings – Ville Husso: Both Alex Nedeljkovic and Ville Husso have shown flashes of skill, but who will emerge as the No. 1? Nedeljkovic played 59 games last season for Detroit, but Husso enters with a better GAA and save percentage (albeit playing with a superior defensive team that made the playoffs) in 40 games. Last season when Thomas Greiss was in net, the Red Wings fared worse; with Husso, the team will have the goaltending to give Detroit a chance to win every night.

Continued; I’m fairly certain that Husso and Nedejlkovic will serve as a 1A/1B tandem over the course of the first half to two thirds of the 2022-2023 schedule, with a “favorite” emerging down the stretch.

A bit about coach Derek Lalonde’s ‘leeway’ from The Athletic’s Goldman

The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman discusses the respective NHL experience levels of each and every one of this summer’s head coaching hires, and here’s what she has to say about Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde:

Lalonde’s joining a team that’s further along in this [rebuilding] process than [Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke] Richardson. He has an obvious connection to Steve Yzerman who was general manager when he joined Tampa Bay. There’s the pedigree of winning back-to-back Stanley Cups as an assistant with that group that came after head coaching experience at lower development levels, including the USHL and AHL. Lalonde probably doesn’t have the leeway that Jeff Blashill did because the Red Wings’ priorities have shifted as they start pushing closer toward the playoff mix. Instead, there are clear goals like helping the team play consistently, improve defensively, and become a harder team to play against — all of which he seems to be a fit for. Now that this is his bench, their coach can build his identity and voice as a leader, hopefully bringing in some fresh ideas along the way. 

Continued (paywall)