The Hockey

So yesterday was the 2007 NHL Draft. Most of you probably knew nothing about it, partly because it was shown on the Versus channel, mostly because no one cares about the Hockey anymore.

The main story from the draft was that it was the first ever time Americans went 1-2, Patrick Kane to the Blackhawks and James vanRiemsdyk to the Flyers. Like you, i have never heard of either of these people.

Going third in the draft was a 17-year old kid by the name of Kyle Turris to our own Phoenix Coyotes. Again, like you, i had never heard of this kid. But, unlike you, i took some time and did some research on the kid. That way, if for some reason you decide to care about the Hockey again, you will at least be edumacated.

Turris, born August 14th, 1989, hails from New Westminster, British Columbia. (That's in Canada). At 6'0'' and 170lbs, he has played the last two years for the Burnaby Express, an amateur hockey league in Canada. His rookie year he helped them to the Championship, tallying 46 points in 32 games. He also helped Canada West to the title in the inaugural World Junior A Challenge. As a Sophomore back in league play, he tallied 121 points in 53 games, a fantastic 2.28 points a game. This led to him being named the Canadian Junior A Player of The Year.

(As a side note, if you understood next to nothing of the previous paragraph, rest assured you are probably not alone...)

Considered the top Center in the draft, Turris was speculated by many to be a possible top pick, but teams had been backing off of him lately because he has committed to play the Hockey at the U. of Wisconsin. The Coyotes, however, had Turris number 1 on their board all along, even sparking a rumor they had traded with the Blackhawks for the #1 pick shortly before the draft. In the end, their man fell fell to them anyway. One curious fact about Turris was that he is the only right-hander taken in the top five picks.

And that, folks, is about all i can tell you about the Coyote's new draft pick. All told, i think that's more information than just about all of you will ever need. And so ends posts about the Hockey for, in all likelihood, a long time. Sorry, it's just not that interesting...

-Thanks to ESPN, NHL.com, and Wikipedia.