No games today, which presents me with the excellent opportunity to select my fantasy hockey team for the Hockeybuzz Super League!
My first year I went with a collection of "Almost Millionaires" which consisted of players making a base salary of under a million dollars (with the exception of goaltenders...I had plenty of money to spend on them!). It worked out well for me as players like Crosby and Ovechkin, etc. were still on their rookie contracts and I was able to be competitive.
Last year, the HBSL switched the salaries to the players cap hit rather than their base salary, which made it more like reality since it is a salary cap league, but also made it a lot more difficult to figure out who actually qualified as an "Almost Millionaire". So, I scrapped that idea and just went for the win...which I did quite well, leading my bracket the ENTIRE season...until someone beat me on the very last week allowing someone else to take my spot as #1 and advance to the playoffs while I was left wondering what in the heck just happened. I was rather irked.
In any case, this year, I'm again going in a different direction. I'm obviously a big supporter of college hockey and a few weeks ago, Eklund suggested I field a team of just former college hockey players. At first I was a little hesitant, but then I did some research and I'm more than confident in my ability to ice a team of "College Hockey Studs" that can be competitive with the best of them.
There is someone missing from the player options in the HBSL and as soon as that is fixed, I will post my roster for Week One, so you can all tell me the guys I over looked, blah blah...for now, I'm going to tell you a little bit about a college free agent signing that no one seems to be talking about.
Benn Ferriero (pronounced ferry-o) is a Massachusetts native who spent the last four years at Boston College as a point-per-game player helping the Eagles earn a National Championship in 2008. He was drafted by Phoenix in the 7th round in 2006, but after exhausting his college eligibility, he became a free agent in August when he and the Coyotes didn't come to an agreement on a contract. He eventually signed with San Jose because he thought it would be the best situation for him. After a surprisingly stellar rookie camp and subsequent training camp and preseason appearances that saw him earning significant playing time including on the power play, Ferriero has earned the opportunity to play alongside NHL superstars Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley.
There are other college players who have made the jump this season, but none has done so as quietly as Ferriero and he's perfectly fine with that. Fully aware that he could be sent to Worcester at anytime he isn't worried about what anyone outside the Sharks organization is or is not saying about him and is instead focusing on improving his game and displaying the strong work ethic, skating ability and two-way play that has gotten him this far as he looks to solidify his spot in San Jose.
Thursday night, he made his NHL debut in Colorado's Pepsi Center, which has proven to be a rather important building in his hockey career as that's the same arena in which he won the NCAA National Championship. Last night, he scored his first goal against the Anaheim Ducks.
The folks in San Jose are high on his potential, but the fact remains that his NHL career is only two-games in and he's got a lot more work to do...but, so far so good!
(Edit: browsing through my clippings today, Kevin Dupont from the Boston Globe provides you with a few more details...
Again, an Eagle lands)
Till next time!
Julie
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