Ducklings abound at WJCs.

Emerson Etem and Kyle Palmieri will team up for the first time since Ducks training camp, as both made the final roster for Team USA at the World Junior championships.

 

Etem and Palmieri both had strong showings in two pre-tournament exhibitions for the U.S. –an overtime loss to Rensselaer on Sunday and a shootout loss to the Czech Republic on Tuesday. Palmieri was a lock to make the team after he scored both regulation goals Tuesday night. Etem scored a goal Sunday and had several more scoring chances against the Czechs, though he couldn’t convert.

 

Two more Ducks prospects are slated to compete in the WJCs.

 

Defenseman Sami Vatanen, a fourth-round draft pick in 2009, will captain Team Finland. He’ll probably play a lot, too. The 19-year-old leads the SM-Liiga – the top Finnish league – in plus-minus rating. Vatanen also has 21 points in 32 games, averaging over 22 minutes a game for the league-leading team, JYP Jyvskyl.

 

Igor Bobkov, a third-round pick in 2009, could be the top goalie for Team Russia. The 6-foot-6 19-year-old has struggled in his first season in North America. He’s been relegated to backup duties with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, going 1-4 with a 4.63 goals-against average and .857 save percentage.

 

Check out tomorrow’s editions for a full feature on Etem, a native of Long Beach.

Long Beach native Etem, Palmieri on first WJC roster.

Ducks prospects Emerson Etem and Kyle Palmieri were among 29 players named to the preliminary U.S. National Junior Team roster Tuesday.

Etem, a Long Beach native, leads the Western Hockey League with four short-handed goals. He has 18 goals (eighth in the league) and 31 points in 28 games for the Medicine Hat Tigers, as well as a team-high plus-21 rating. The 19-year-old was drafted 29th overall by the Ducks in the most recent Entry Draft. Etem led all WHL rookies in 2009-10 with 37 goals.

Palmieri represented Team USA at last year’s WJCs, too. He made the leap from the University of Notre Dame to the professional ranks this season and made his NHL debut Nov. 3. The 19-year-old right wing scored his first goal that night for the Ducks but was returned to Syracuse of the American Hockey League after going scoreless in his next nine games. Palmieri has nine goals and 13 points in 17 games for the Crunch this season.

Both Etem and Palmieri were drafted with picks the Ducks acquired via the Chris Pronger trade.

The 2011 U.S.
National Junior Team will compete at the IIHF World Junior Championship from Dec. 26, 2010 to January 5,
2011, in Buffalo and Niagara, NY.

Ducks trim training camp roster by 12.

A total of 12 players were cut from the Ducks’ training camp roster today: Nick Bonino, Rob Bordson, Mat Clark, Nicolas Deschamps, Joe DiPenta, Brandon McMillan, Mark Mitera and Kyle Palmieri were assigned to American Hockey League affiliate Syracuse. Emerson Etem (Medicine Hat/WHL), Peter Holland (Guelph/OHL), Devante Smith-Pelly (Mississauga/OHL) and Scott Valentine (Oshawa/OHL) were assigned to their respective junior teams.

None of the assignments were unexpected. DiPenta, who had already signed an AHL contract, was in camp on a pro tryout but not expected to make the NHL team.

Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said he was impressed with the Long Beach native Etem, a first-round draft pick in June and Smith-Pelly, a second-round pick.

Continue reading “Ducks trim training camp roster by 12.” »

Phoenix 4, Ducks 1.

Bobby Ryan took his first turn at center this preseason, and Emerson Etem and Cam Fowler made their debuts against NHL competition — which might be the main reasons for the 12,382 in attendance at Honda Center to hold on to their ticket stubs from this night.

Ryan scored the Ducks’ lone goal midway through the second period, giving Fowler his first assist on an NHL scoresheet. Phoenix dominated otherwise, outshooting the Ducks 40-21 and killing off eight of nine power plays. Former Duck Andrew Ebbett, Kyle Turris, Brett MacLean and Viktor Tikhonov did the damage for the Coyotes, with Curtis McElhinney (22 shots/20 saves) and J.P. Levasseur (20 shots/18 saves) splitting the bill evenly.

Ryan won just one of his first 8 faceoffs and finished 8 for 20 in the circle. A Ducks power play that had just three days to coalesce didn’t fare much better than a penalty kill that allowed two goals in five man-advantage shifts for the Coyotes.

The Sharks invade Honda Center tomorrow night. The San Mercury News reports that Antero Niittymaki is likely to start between the pipes. No word from this end on who Randy Carlyle will trot out.

Ducks 4, Vancouver 2.

The Ducks went out winners at the Young Stars tournament in Penticton, B.C., topping the Vancouver Canucks’ rookies 4-2.

After two straight losses in which they were outmuscled for net position and looked lost on special teams, the kids turned it around in a major way. A pair of power-play goals, by Rob Bordson and Cam Fowler, staked the Ducks to a 2-0 lead through two periods.

In the third, Vancouver came back to tie the game at 2 against goaltender Timo Pielmeier, who lost the tournament opener Sunday. But center Maxime Macenauer, who spent all of last season with ECHL affiliate Bakersfield, scored the game-winner with less than three minutes to play. Kyle Palmieri’s empty-net goal provided the final score.

The Ducks led in the shot column, 33-18, and Pielmeier needed only 16 saves for the win. Russian goalie Igor Bobkov was on the bench for the first time in the tournament, but the Ducks’ third-round 2009 draft pick did not appear in the game.

Some of the rookie camp participants will take part in the Ducks’ main camp, which begins Saturday in Anaheim.
Continue reading “Ducks 4, Vancouver 2.” »

Etem, Fowler and Palmieri invited to US junior camp.

Ducks prospects Cam Fowler, Emerson Etem and Kyle Palmieri have been invited to take part in the 2010 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp, July 30 through Aug. 7 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

A total of 44 players were invited to the camp, which will serve as an audition for U.S. National Junior Team that
will take part in the IIHF World
Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2010-Jan. 5, 2011, in Buffalo.


Both Fowler and Palmieri were members of last year’s USA World Junior
team, which took home the gold medal after defeating Canada 6-5 in
overtime.

Transition time begins for Etem.

There may come a time when Emerson Etem is critiqued and lauded just like any other Ducks player by the denizens at Honda Center. He probably can’t wait for the moment.

Two weeks ago the 18-year-old from Long Beach was not received like any other Duck, not even like any other first-round draft pick, at the annual entry draft. His cheering section numbered in the triple digits, larger than anyone else’s, and his booing section at Staples Center (Kings fans, most likely) was still larger. You could say it comes with the territory – a clich that works on a few levels in Etem’s case.

Thursday, he was standing on the bridge between the past and the future.
Continue reading “Transition time begins for Etem.” »

Conditioning camp roster announced.

The Ducks have invited 31 prospects to the team’s annual prospect summer conditioning camp from July 5-11 at Anaheim Ice. The camp will include both on-ice and off-ice workouts, as well as three scrimmages open to the public on Tuesday, July 6, Thursday, July 8 and Saturday, July 10, with each beginning at 6 p.m.

The camp roster includes 2010 draft picks Cam Fowler, Emerson Etem, Devante Smith-Pelly, Tim Heed, Kevin Lind, Chris Wagner and Brett Perlini, as well as many other recent draftees.

According to the official release from the team,

The seven-day camp focuses on both the on- and off-ice development of the organization’s top young prospects. In addition to on-ice scrimmage sessions, each player will participate in strength and conditioning drills that allow coaches and management to closely evaluate the progress of each athlete. Along with daily weight and aerobic training, each player will also receive a personally tailored nutritional recommendation and be tested for strength thresholds, range of movement and aerobic capacity.

The complete roster:
Continue reading “Conditioning camp roster announced.” »