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duff88 · 09-14-2005, 09:27 AM

Chapter 9: NCAA commitment and USNDP Season 2

The trip to Michigan was great, we couldn’t wait to be back and see guys like Chris and Michael. Unfortunately, a lot of players left during the summer: Ryan Flynn, Billy Blasé, Trent Palm and Stephen Sperry decided to continue their career elsewhere in American Junior Hockey. Others left for the NCAA, even if they were all from the U18 team, were Nathan Gerbe, Jack Johnson, David Inman, Andreas Vlassopoulos, Brandon Gentille, Jack Skille, Ryan Stoa, Dan Fardig, Zach Jones, Zac Macvoy, Phil Kessell, Mark Mitera, Jason Lawrence, Jimmy Fraser, Jason Bailey, Justin Mercier and Jeff Frazee.

We were now used to it and training camp went by pretty quickly. With Flynn gone, he was one of our best friends on the team, we befriended with extremely skilled forward Peter Mueller. During camp, Mueller was our center as the coach thought Michael Carman would fit better as the team’s third line center. We did pretty well at camp, enough to be considered the first line on the team. Here’s a look at what the team will look like for the opening night as we’re going to play Mahoney Valley:

M.Safwat-Mueller-G.Safwat
Kane-O’Brien-Geoffrion
Popko-Carman-Atkinson
Sweatt-Squires-Schnell

Johnson-Cole
Ratchuk-McBain
Strait-Montgomery
Morin-Summers

Palmer
Bennett

Schnell and Cole were new players who were immediately promoted to the U18 teams due to great talent and lack of depth. Schnell was a big two-way forward who excelled defensively. He was a monster at 6’4 at the young age of 16. Cole was an unbelievably talented defenseman with all the tools to become a great NHLer; he was touted as a future top 10 pick in the 2007 entry draft.

Bennett had suffered a pretty serious mental issue in the summer following the death of his parents in a car accident and he lost his starter spot to Joe Palmer as he was completely lost on the ice and asked the coach to become the backup because he didn’t feel in shape enough to play every night, but that he could do an excellent job if he only played a game every two weeks.

As I said earlier, the camp went well and the season was already ready to start. I would be lying if I said that the season was something interesting to tell as it was pretty much similar to last year, except we were more dominant against NAHL team but we also play first division NCAA teams, which were more difficult to beat.

I don’t know if you guys will hate me for this, but I’m not going to describe the entire season like I did last year. We developed pretty well, we played great hockey, but there’s nothing to rave about so I’m just going to tell you some stats, results and stories.

First, we really noticed that we were becoming quite touted and NHL teams started to follow us. Marshall and I were even considered top 15 talents for the 2007 draft and the time of our NCAA commitment approached. Three colleges were front runners:

Minnesota was a great college and we would love to play with all the great players there, including Peter, Erik and Michael who had already committed to the Gophers. Michigan was another option, just to play in Ann Arbor again would be an unbelievable experience, to play for the Wolverines would just be awesome. North Dakota was also in the race as they offered everything we looked for, and they seemed the most interested in us.

I won’t let you in any suspense for this as we signed our National Letter of Intent in November; we were going to attend North Dakota! They even sent us jerseys: #24 M.Safwat and #48 G.Safwat; that looked awesome!

In late December, I suffered a Groin Strain which had me sidelined for more than a month. This was the first time in my career that I had such a long healing injury, and it was pretty painful to watch everyone play but not be able to help. I came back just in time, although not at 100%, for the 5 Nations Cup.

We won the 4 nations tournament in November in Finland and the 5 nations tournament in Russia in February, but our biggest objective this season was to win the IIHF U-18 World Championships which were going to be held in Halmstad, Sweden from April 7th to April 22nd.

So, excluding all the tournaments, here were our top scorer’s stats for the regular games against the NAHL, EJHL and NCAA teams:

Code:

#   NAME   GP   G   A   PTS
18   Mueller, Peter   44   42   34   76
28   Geoffrion, Blake   44   28   24   52
24   Safwat, Marshall   44   17   33   50
48   Safwat, Garrett   33   25   22   47
71   Kane, Patrick   44   15   23   38
15   O'Brien, James   44   21   17   38

We were 25-17-2 in those games and Bennett, even with his personal problems, was able to be 7-2-0 as backup to Joe Palmer who really excelled as the starter.

So we were now on our way to the last few games of the season, the last games with this great group of players. We were in a plane to Sweden and were going to play in the most important tournament so far in our career, the World U18 championships.

Chapter 10: Framgang i Sverige? should be posted on Sunday September 18th.

09-14-2005, 09:27 AM	#20
duff88 College Prospect Join Date: Aug 2005	Chapter 9: NCAA commitment and USNDP Season 2 The trip to Michigan was great, we couldn’t wait to be back and see guys like Chris and Michael. Unfortunately, a lot of players left during the summer: Ryan Flynn, Billy Blasé, Trent Palm and Stephen Sperry decided to continue their career elsewhere in American Junior Hockey. Others left for the NCAA, even if they were all from the U18 team, were Nathan Gerbe, Jack Johnson, David Inman, Andreas Vlassopoulos, Brandon Gentille, Jack Skille, Ryan Stoa, Dan Fardig, Zach Jones, Zac Macvoy, Phil Kessell, Mark Mitera, Jason Lawrence, Jimmy Fraser, Jason Bailey, Justin Mercier and Jeff Frazee. We were now used to it and training camp went by pretty quickly. With Flynn gone, he was one of our best friends on the team, we befriended with extremely skilled forward Peter Mueller. During camp, Mueller was our center as the coach thought Michael Carman would fit better as the team’s third line center. We did pretty well at camp, enough to be considered the first line on the team. Here’s a look at what the team will look like for the opening night as we’re going to play Mahoney Valley: M.Safwat-Mueller-G.Safwat Kane-O’Brien-Geoffrion Popko-Carman-Atkinson Sweatt-Squires-Schnell Johnson-Cole Ratchuk-McBain Strait-Montgomery Morin-Summers Palmer Bennett Schnell and Cole were new players who were immediately promoted to the U18 teams due to great talent and lack of depth. Schnell was a big two-way forward who excelled defensively. He was a monster at 6’4 at the young age of 16. Cole was an unbelievably talented defenseman with all the tools to become a great NHLer; he was touted as a future top 10 pick in the 2007 entry draft. Bennett had suffered a pretty serious mental issue in the summer following the death of his parents in a car accident and he lost his starter spot to Joe Palmer as he was completely lost on the ice and asked the coach to become the backup because he didn’t feel in shape enough to play every night, but that he could do an excellent job if he only played a game every two weeks. As I said earlier, the camp went well and the season was already ready to start. I would be lying if I said that the season was something interesting to tell as it was pretty much similar to last year, except we were more dominant against NAHL team but we also play first division NCAA teams, which were more difficult to beat. I don’t know if you guys will hate me for this, but I’m not going to describe the entire season like I did last year. We developed pretty well, we played great hockey, but there’s nothing to rave about so I’m just going to tell you some stats, results and stories. First, we really noticed that we were becoming quite touted and NHL teams started to follow us. Marshall and I were even considered top 15 talents for the 2007 draft and the time of our NCAA commitment approached. Three colleges were front runners: Minnesota was a great college and we would love to play with all the great players there, including Peter, Erik and Michael who had already committed to the Gophers. Michigan was another option, just to play in Ann Arbor again would be an unbelievable experience, to play for the Wolverines would just be awesome. North Dakota was also in the race as they offered everything we looked for, and they seemed the most interested in us. I won’t let you in any suspense for this as we signed our National Letter of Intent in November; we were going to attend North Dakota! They even sent us jerseys: #24 M.Safwat and #48 G.Safwat; that looked awesome! In late December, I suffered a Groin Strain which had me sidelined for more than a month. This was the first time in my career that I had such a long healing injury, and it was pretty painful to watch everyone play but not be able to help. I came back just in time, although not at 100%, for the 5 Nations Cup. We won the 4 nations tournament in November in Finland and the 5 nations tournament in Russia in February, but our biggest objective this season was to win the IIHF U-18 World Championships which were going to be held in Halmstad, Sweden from April 7th to April 22nd. So, excluding all the tournaments, here were our top scorer’s stats for the regular games against the NAHL, EJHL and NCAA teams: Code: # NAME GP G A PTS 18 Mueller, Peter 44 42 34 76 28 Geoffrion, Blake 44 28 24 52 24 Safwat, Marshall 44 17 33 50 48 Safwat, Garrett 33 25 22 47 71 Kane, Patrick 44 15 23 38 15 O'Brien, James 44 21 17 38 We were 25-17-2 in those games and Bennett, even with his personal problems, was able to be 7-2-0 as backup to Joe Palmer who really excelled as the starter. So we were now on our way to the last few games of the season, the last games with this great group of players. We were in a plane to Sweden and were going to play in the most important tournament so far in our career, the World U18 championships. Chapter 10: Framgang i Sverige? should be posted on Sunday September 18th.