ANAHEIM — The most embarrassing moment for a first-year player at any team’s rookie party usually comes when the youngster has to stand up in front of the team and entertain the group.

Emerson Etem

Right Wing  – ANA

GOALS: 3 | ASST: 6 | PTS: 9 SOG: 38 | +/-: 6

For Emerson Etem, it happened when he broke bread with teammates at said dinner in cuisine-friendly Chicago and it was time to order.

“The guys were giving it to me because I ordered a club sandwich at a fancy steakhouse,” Etem said. “They were giving it to me.”

Etem did have to get up and tell a story, but he is hesitant to divulge details. His own story is good enough.

Etem, 20, is living a local-boy-makes-good existence with the Anaheim Ducks, who play their penultimate home game of the regular season Wednesday at Honda Center against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

A product of Long Beach – situated halfway between Anaheim and Los Angeles – Etem has given the Ducks speed on the wing and teamed with Andrew Cogliano for a potent combination up top on the penalty kill. He has contributed three goals and six assists while averaging 11:23 of ice time in 33 games.

“He brings so much energy to the team, and he brings that same consistent effort night in and night out, and that’s what makes him so useful and so special for us,” defenseman Cam Fowler said. “He can create so much with his speed, and I think he’s learned how to harness that in certain situations. He’s definitely an exciting player to watch.”

Coach Bruce Boudreau couldn’t keep Etem with the club out of training camp because of the team’s positional needs. He initially envisioned Etem spending a year in the American Hockey League then being a part-time NHL player in his second year. But that plan changed quickly.

“He’s accelerated the way he plays,” Boudreau said. “So he’s been a full-time guy.”

KEVIN’S TAKE

I’ve known Emerson since he was 13 years old, when I met him while working out at the Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach with TR Goodman. Just to give a little context, TR helped train Rob Blake, Chris Chelios, Anson Carter, Glen Murray and a whole bunch of other NHL guys.
Those guys went there every year, and I just went for the one summer to train there for something different. Anson had been going there for years, and we grew up together in Toronto. At any rate, Emerson is a young guy from Long Beach and he was taking the public transit an hour-and-a-half, an hour-and-20 minutes each way as a 13-year-old to come and work out with us.
When you’ve got a 13-year-old that has the presence of mind to recognize that has the opportunity to train with these NHL guys, I mean, that’s pretty amazing, right? This kid was 13 years old, and we’re talking hockey, not tennis. If you want to talk about dedication, someone that gets it, someone that is hungry to play in the League — we were all so impressed with him.
Sometimes guys who lived in Orange County would give him rides back toward his home so he could catch the bus from there to Long Beach and it would be a shorter commute than from Venice Beach.
That’s how impressive this guy was to me, and that’s how impressive he remains to me. He’s a smart young man, he handles himself well and his work ethic is obviously impeccable. As long as he stays on that path and remains with that mindset, I think he can play in this League for a long time.
– Kevin Weekes spent 11 seasons as an NHL goaltender for seven teams and now serves as an analyst for the NHL Network and contributor to NHL.com.

Etem made his NHL debut Jan. 29 and became the 13th player born and trained in Southern California to appear in the NHL. He roofed his first NHL goal past San Jose Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi off Daniel Winnik‘s feed to finish a pretty rush March 18 at Honda Center.

His father, Richard, was in the stands with some buddies enjoying the hometown moment. Etem admits he occasionally watches it on YouTube.

“I kind of want to relive the moment,” he said. “Before some of the games, I like to watch the play, watch what happened. It gives me a little bit of confidence. I’ve watched it a few times.”

Etem’s welcome-to-the-NHL moment was a simple shot on net in that first game when he skated down the left side and took Kyle Palmieri‘s soft pass.

“Just to get my first shot on net, I think, was, ‘Wow. I finally made it.’” Etem said. “I take it day-by-day still here, but that was a special moment.”

So far everything about Etem suggests he can thrive at this level, particularly with his speed. He was a 61-goal scorer last season with Medicine Hat in the Western Hockey League, the first WHL player in 10 years to reach that mark. But for now his skills are being channeled into providing energy and killing penalties.

How easily Etem has adopted his new role hasn’t gone unnoticed. Talk to those around him and what stands out most is Etem’s maturity and awareness of his place and role within the team.

“Sheldon Souray said the other day,” Boudreau said. “He pointed to Emerson and said, ‘There’s not too many like him anymore,’ meaning a young kid that comes up. He’s like a sponge and he does whatever you want him to do, no complaints. He’s not a prima donna or anything. He’s the real deal of a young man.”

That can be traced to Etem’s background. His parents were athletes, but neither played hockey. Richard rowed and played tennis at the U.S. Naval Academy, and his mother, Patricia, rowed on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team.

“She’s instilled a lot of character in me and obviously what she went through, being an Olympic athlete. I think that it kind of says it right there,” Etem said of Patricia. “The hard work she instilled in me, she was there at every practice. I think both my parents just did a great job of telling me to stay humble. I think they’re very humble people as well, so that kind of fed off each other and it helped me out quite a bit.”

Etem’s brother, Martin, got him started in hockey and Etem cut his teeth at Westminster Ice rink, about 20 minutes from Anaheim. He left home at 14 to play for Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Minnesota, beating a path from Southern California to the NHL. His 2010 draft year happened to be at Staples Center, where several other California players were selected.

For Richard and Patricia, who rarely got to see Etem play after he left home, landing in Anaheim was fortuitous. With his parents at all his home games, Etem is embracing the hometown hero role in a town that loves a good storyline.

“I feed off the fans’ energy,” he said. “If I make a good play and they give me a pretty good ovation, I love that kind of stuff. It makes me feel at home. It makes me feel at home that my friends and family are in the stands night in and night out. It’s definitely a good feeling.”

Rookie parties aside, Etem hasn’t had to do much carrying of bags. On the first day of his first training camp with Anaheim, veteran Todd Marchant symbolically had Etem lead the stretch because he was the youngest player. Other than collecting pucks after practice and waiting for the second elevator at the hotel, there aren’t too many rookie rituals taking place.

“We don’t do that stuff anymore, not in the NHL, anyway,” captain Ryan Getzlaf said with a laugh. “He’s a good kid. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. He likes to listen, and that contributes to his play on to the ice.”

It helps that Anaheim’s room features four players 36 or older and four 23 or younger. Etem cites 42-year-old Teemu Selanne as an influence and identifies with Fowler, who was drafted 12th in his year. And despite his ridiculed steakhouse order, the rookie party was a fun, light moment.

“You can gain confidence just off the ice,” he said. “It’s early on in the year, and when you have something like that I think the vets kind of get to know you a little bit better, and that’s where the inside jokes start and you start to feel comfortable with the older guys.”

Even in a Chicago steakhouse.

Thanks NHL.com

Shattuck-St. Mary’s Making Its Mark on International Women’s Hockey

Richard Wolowicz/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images

Next season, Gordie Stafford will round out his first decade as head coach of the Shattuck-St. Mary’s girls’ 19-and-under hockey program, having started in 2004-05. Fittingly, that milestone is all but bound to coincide with an increased presence of his quintessential graduates at the Olympics.

In 2010, the men’s gold-medal game between the United States and Canada featured five graduates of the SSM boys’ program in Sidney Crosby, Jack Johnson, Ryan Malone, Zach Parise and Jonathan Toews.

Assuming the U.S. reaches the title tilt at the 2014 women’s tournament in Sochi, the school may match its own feat with five holdovers from the freshly crowned 2013 Women’s World champions. At least four would be surprising if they are omitted from the Olympic scroll.

Brianna Decker and Amanda Kessel, Team USA’s co-scoring leaders in the tournament, put a stamp on their difference-making status in Tuesday night’s gold-medal bout.

Decker inserted a 1-1 equalizer at 2:43 of the middle frame after the Americans had trailed at the first intermission. Kessel later tallied the lone third-period strike to finalize an eventual 3-2 triumph over the host Canadians.

Together with 2010 Olympians Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux and Jen Schoullis, the talented tandem brought back old times. All five players in question were on Stafford’s 2006-07 Shattuck team that delivered the program’s third straight USA Hockey national championship, which emboldened the school’s revolutionary sway on the girls’ travel hockey landscape.

But that was merely the first step toward matching the success of the neighboring boys’ program, which has won eight U17 or U18 national titles since 1999 and produced handfuls of NHL players.

The Lamoureux twins took the next stride when they played for the U.S. at the 2006 Four Nations Cup, when they were still juniors at the Minnesota prep school.

From there, they did not disappoint as they made the first substantive splash by any Shattuck products on the NCAA women’s scene and, as mentioned, took a working break to partake in the Vancouver Olympics.

Nobody told Stafford to stop fostering world-class talent at that point. Or, at least, nobody worth listening to did.

On the contrary, the example of the top boys’ team taught that greed is good, in the way of both championships and elite alumni. Look no further than the NHL influx of Parise and Crosby in 2005-06, followed by Toews in 2007-08 and Derek Stepan in 2010-11, just to name a few.

In the intervening years between the Vancouver and Sochi Olympics of 2014, the Lamoureuxs have carried on with their development at the University of North Dakota.

Schoullis, one of their former SSM teammates throughout the three-peat that began Stafford’s reign, graduated from the University of Minnesota last year. She has generally skated under the comparative radar, but is a candidate to provide depth and boasts abundant winning experience on her transcript, including a recent Clarkson Cup victory with the CWHL’s Boston Blades.

Decker and Kessel, meanwhile, have emerged as piloting players at Wisconsin and Minnesota, respectively.

Decker’s sophomore surge with the Badgers, during which she led the nation with 12 game-winners, culminated in a 2011 NCAA title. She then became the first SSM alum to win the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best women’s Division I puckster in 2011-12.

Kessel promptly succeeded her in each department, helping the Gophers to last year’s national crown and then corralling the Kazmaier en route to a championship repeat last month. An undefeated Minnesota team began its NCAA tournament by terminating the Lamoureuxs’ UND career a week after North Dakota had cut off Decker’s senior season with the Badgers.

Only Kessel has any remaining collegiate eligibility, with her senior season still to come, meaning these players’ days of WCHA faction are over. And the immediate reunion of Shattuck’s quintessential quintet on one bench set a promising tone for more.

In the World Championship, Decker and Kessel topped Team USA’s scoring chart with eight points apiece. After Kendall Coyne, Jocelyne Lamoureux was next on the leaderboard with five assists while her sister logged four goals.

Decker, Kessel and Monique Lamoureux were the only three Americans with multiple goals in the tournament, combining to insert 12 of the team’s 17. Along with Jocelyne Lamoureux, they combined for 25 (i.e. a little more than half) of the Amerks’ 49 points.

Their alma mater’s prominent position as a world-class talent factory is officially theirs to lose at this point.

 

Thank you, Al- SSM Alum.

Girls Tier-I 16U: Two third-period goals propel Shattuck-St. Mary’s to title

8:00am                 Teal vs Orange

8:30am                 White vs Maroon

10:30am               Gold vs  Silver

12:00pm               Kelly vs Black

12:30pm               Navy vs Red

Go For The Gold: Zach Parise

 

BY JAMIE MACDONALD I FEB. 5, 2013

On his goals for a successful career: You want to meet a lot of             good people. You want to make good friends with your teammates,             people you’re going to keep in touch with. Along with winning – you want to win – being a local guy, playing with the Wild, how             cool it would be to win a championship. You’d love to get that out             of it, too.

The kid had a key. As hook-ups go, Zach Parise’s access to ice couldn’t have been better. This goes back a few years, well before he had inked a staggering NHL contract or made an indelible impact on the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team, to his high school days at Shattuck-St. Mary’s. At the time, his dad, one-time Minnesota North Stars forward J.P. Parise, himself a hard-working cult hero of sorts in Canadian hockey lore, was running the hockey program at the private school on an idyllic campus in Faribault, Minn.

Playing at Shattuck, where hockey is as much a way of life as anything and players were on the ice at least an hour every day, perhaps Parise didn’t need extra ice time. But to get to know him is to understand why he had the key to the on-campus rink.

And not just a key to the rink. The Zamboni, too. Yes, before Parise had his driver’s license, he was firing up the hulking ice-resurfacing machine so he could not only practice at regularly scheduled times, but also as the mood struck him and his teammates.

“Eventually, I learned how to drive the Zamboni so we could have good ice all the time,” Parise said, looking back recently. “The rink guys, we had a good relationship with them, and [if it was late] they would just go home for the night. They’d let us close down the rink by ourselves.”

Would you trust a teenager with the keys to your building? Storing heavy machinery? There aren’t many teens to whom one might comfortably hand over such a responsibility, but Parise has a certain knack for deserving what has come his way.

He is, simply, one of the hardest working players in hockey. And he’s been that way since his days at Shattuck.

“I think that’s that type of reputation my dad had, too, just being a hard-working player,” he said. “I inherited that from him. I never did see him play, but that’s what I hear was his best characteristic. And that’s what worked for me as a player.”

Parise also pairs that work ethic with an elite skill set. Both were on display when in 2002 he led the United States to its first-ever gold medal at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship (seven goals, including the tournament-winner, in eight games). And again in 2004 when he led the United States to its first-ever gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship (he was named tournament MVP).

And, of course, in Vancouver during the 2010 Games.

As part of the United States’ newest generation of outstanding young players, Parise starred throughout the tournament, tying for the team lead in points (eight) and goals (four), and leading Team USA with two game-winners in six games.

He also dramatically drew the United States within a goal of a gold medal in the Olympic final against Canada. With time running out and his team trailing, 2-1, in front of an appropriately partisan crowd, Parise tied the game at the 59:35 mark. He managed to get his stick on a loose puck in front of the net and hammered it home.

A combination of hard work and skill. Not unlike Parise himself. Right place, right time. Again. How does it keep happening for Parise?

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said, his voice as level-headed as it reads. “It’s just being prepared (for the moments). It’s just repetition. It’s being in the right spot. You look at certain guys and they just seem to always score in overtime in the playoffs. For whatever reason, they fight to have the puck on their stick at that time. I guess I picked the right spot at the time. And you’re prepared for that one shot, that you’re going to get the one chance. I don’t know; it’s a tough question to answer.”

After the goal against Canada, Parise exploded, shoulder-bumping the glass. The bench erupted in celebration. Parise was quickly mobbed along the boards.

“It’s one of those moments when you don’t even know (what happened),” he said. “You just see it go in. You don’t even know what you’re thinking at the time because you’re in there yelling with the group of guys on the ice, and you’re so excited.”

An extra session loomed. Pressure mounted.

“Going into the intermission, it started to sink in a little bit,” Parise recalled. “And you’re thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, we score one goal and we win the Olympics.’ Just those 15 minutes was such an intense thing, sitting back and realizing where we were. It was incredible.”

And while the United States settled for silver (Shattuck alum Sidney Crosby scored the OT game-winner for Canada), it remains a memory Parise holds dear.

“Every play, it was such a tight game, such a tight tournament, that every play could shift your chances of winning just like … that,” Parise said. “That was one of the few times when that’s in the back of your mind as a player.”

On anyone who knocked his game: Oh, I don’t care. I’ve learned             there are people who have their own opinions. I’ve heard the             whole, “He’s too small,” before I made it to the NHL. Again, I don’t             care. You know you’re not going to please everybody. That’s the             way life is. You’re not going to make everybody happy and you’re             wasting energy trying to. So, I try not to pay attention too much             attention to that.

This past offseason, Parise again found himself in the right place at the right time – coming off a fifth 30-goal season and an appearance in the Stanley Cup final, and heading into free agency.

His unique blend of effort and talent made him perhaps the biggest fish in the 2012 free agent pond. In early July, he signed one of hockey’s richest contracts, a 13-year deal with the Minnesota Wild.

He was asked if the money would change him, and he almost laughed.

“No,” he said. “I mean, not at all. I’m not walking around with that in my mind, that we just signed this big deal. That’s over. Now it’s about playing.”

Attendant drama aside, it was also one of the offseason’s feel-good stories. He was coming home, where his parents could watch him play, and he was doing so with fellow free agent and Midwesterner Ryan Suter, an elite defenseman with extensive Team USA experience who signed an identical contract.

“You look at all the really good teams, all the teams that win and they all have that top-tier, elite defenseman – a guy that can do what he does,” Parise said of Suter, whose father, Bob, played for the 1980 Miracle on Ice team. “And that’s important to a team. In my mind, I thought that would be a perfect match. You have the opportunity to play with that guy and it kind of made things a lot easier.”

Rivals in youth and prep hockey, friends since 2002, both will be counted on heavily in Minnesota and in USA Hockey’s future if the NHL sends its players to the Olympic Winter Games.

Though there are a lot of factors that go into the decision and a lot of hockey to be played before one takes place, Parise would likely be in the conversation to serve as Team USA’s captain.

With the Wild in 2013, he’s done nothing to diminish his standing among the country’s best players. Though the team has been playing .500 hockey through nine games, Parise scored the 200th goal of his career on Monday night. (He chased down a loose, bouncing puck, touched it once and fired it in for his sixth goal of the season.)

At 28, Parise has more than a few good years left on his pro hockey odometer, giving Team USA fans, hopefully, something to look forward to in Sochi and beyond. Parise points to continued success at the World Junior Championship, which the United States won again this past January, as a reason for optimism.

“You look at it, and, all of a sudden, we’ve won two of the last four World Juniors, where we were just trying to get a medal before,” he said. “Now you’re going in with the approach, ‘You know, we should win this thing.’ You could say it before – maybe it was realistic, maybe it wasn’t. But you can now put the U.S. right there with the Canadians and the Russians as the favorite all the time now.”

Naturally, expectations will grow for Olympic results going forward, should NHL players continue to play.

“Hopefully,” said Parise, “we can have another really good showing at the Olympics and really solidify that thought in everyone’s mind – that we can be one of the powers.”

Parise is part of that trajectory. In fact, he may be the key.

CC forward Hunter Fejes’ inspirational story

Details

Last Updated on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 16:23

The following is Hunter Fejes’ inspirational senior paper presented at Shattuck-St. Mary’s on March 15, 2012. Today, Fejes is a freshman forward at Colorado College.

By Hunter Fejes

Life. Life is full of ups and downs and many unexpected things along the way. I have always felt that everything happens for a reason. Nobody knows what is going to happen next. But all you can do is live life one day at a time and let it unfold as it goes. One day things could be going great and then within a blink of an eye, it could all change. In my life, things have been like a rollercoaster. I have had great moments and I have had low points as well.

On June 27 of 2004 my mom and I were driving down the road to my hockey practice one summer day when I was 10. It was just like any other day except I did not know that this day would change my life forever.

As we were driving, a guy in a truck cut in front of us and my mom instantly put on the breaks. She then honked the horn and the guy started to speed up and then he immediately put on his breaks. She then tried to swerve out of the way, trying to avoid hitting his truck. Immediately, we hit the side of the car and started to roll. We both were rushed to the hospital in very critical condition. After being unconscious for five days in the hospital, I woke up and I had no idea what was going on around me. I asked repeatedly about my mom, but my dad just told me to get better.

About a week later, I was released and on the ride home my dad told me that mom had passed. When I found out my mom had passed away, I had no idea what I was going to do next. It was a life-altering accident. My mother was my best friend, the one I always made jokes with and talked about things with. I knew nothing was ever going to be the same after that.

A few years went by and I was on a hockey trip with my Alaska team in Chicago for the Nike Bauer Tournament. I walked in the rink with my team and saw a booth with a sign on it that read, “Shattuck-St. Mary’s.” I was curious because I had heard exceptional things about SSM, so I went and talked to Coach J.P. Parise. We had a good talk and he gave me a school brochure. I took that brochure to my dad and said, “Dad this is where I want to go to school.”

That summer my dad and I went and visited Shattuck-St. Mary’s. Little did I know I was going to spend the next five years of my life there pursuing my academic and athletic interests.

During the summer of 2011, seven years after the auto accident that took my mother’s life, I myself was in a second accident that could have resulted in a similar outcome. My dad needed my help transporting empty fuel drums that were located just a few miles from our house. Due to the number of barrels we would need to drive separate vehicles in order to move them.

We met at the location and loaded both trucks with the empty barrels. My dad told me to start heading home as he would stay a few minutes longer to talk with a friend. So I did just that and began the drive home with the bed of my truck filled with these large white plastic fuel barrels. This was again one of those times where it never crossed my mind or occurred to me that an event could alter or change my life forever. Who thinks about those things? After all, I was just running a quick errand for my dad.

I turned onto the fast-moving road that led to my house and went down a hill. As I was driving, somebody in the oncoming lane of traffic was rear ended and pushed into my lane. In an instantaneous reaction, I swerved out of the way in order to avoid what would have inevitably been a fatal car collision. Fortunately, I avoided the on-coming car enough to spare the lives of those occupying that vehicle. Unfortunately, I was unable to avoid them completely and they smashed into the side of my truck, causing me to spin around and push me across the lane of traffic where my truck rolled eventually coming to a hault.

I landed upside down in a ditch with me strapped in by my seat belt. I then unbuckled my seat belt and kicked out the whole window, so I could crawl out. I had no scratches on my body. The police and everybody that was there told me it was a miracle that I did not get hurt.

As my dad was following my path home, he saw the accident and he did not know what to think. The car accident was on the same road as my accident seven years ago – almost 100 yards away. Even though I did not get hurt, I felt there was a “bigger” reason for my safety on this day. I could feel that someone was looking out for me or something. It made me look at life differently.

In my life, things have been like a rollercoaster. I think all of these moments in my life have happened for a reason. If my mom had never passed away, I am sure I would not be at Shattuck today. If I was not at Shattuck, my life would not be the same. I would not have had the opportunity to meet the people I have met here and formed the life-long relationships that I love. I also would not have been able to pursue my hockey dreams if I was not at Shattuck.

If it was not for the car accidents in my life, I would not look at life the same as I did before. In the end, wherever life takes you, live it to the fullest and cherish what you have because someone, somewhere around the world would give anything to have what you have.

Special thank you to Letsplayhockey.com for the article.