Hunter Bishop - Habs

[ultrawhiteness]

i wasn't really looking that hard, but it seems to me that this has really flown under the radar. i haven't seen much buzz in the media, and considering that it's Montreal, that surprised me a little bit.

Bishop played in Vernon for the BCHL Vipers the year before my brother got there. my old man described him as "unbelievable" when he saw him play while visiting the team to get Adam signed up. to put that in prospective, when I asked him about Beau Bennett, the 18 year old Penticton Vee projected by some to be a possible late 1st rounder this summer, his response was "meh, he's okay".

here's an article from the Vernon Morning Star.

aside from having one of the all-time coolest names i've heard, the kid is supposed to have an unreal work ethic and dedication to off-ice training. his competiveness was legendary among Vernon fans. his stats aren't eye-popping in college, but i know for a fact that there is so much politics in the NCAA when it comes to coach's favourites that it can be misleading just looking at the numbers.

anyway, just a name that i'd heard before and one i will be keeping an eye on while he plays for the Bulldogs.

[ccsitdown]

I saw him play a couple of games in Vernon when I was back there from Christmas the other year, if I remember right it was the season that he had come back from a short stint in the NCAA. My Auntie (season tickets to the Vipers) is my insider on all things BCHL as I rarely get to an A game in Vancouver, anyways, she explained that he hadn't been playing much in college and was back to finish the year. The Vipers won both games handily and Bishop was their best player, although I remember Kyle St Denis standing out as well (he is with Kelowna in the Dub now, and had some good pro tryouts last year..) I remember they won very handily as every time the Vipers scored they played a long chunk of some rock anthem, I think it was likely ACDC, and while it was cool at first, I think they scored five or six and it got really old.

Anyways. like always I am slow to get too excited over someone standing out in the A. There are a lot of great players in the A that just can't translate it to a much higher level of competition. For every Bozak or Turris there is a McNeely, Kozek or Mulock.

Hah, sorry, I guess I have nothing much to add. Worth watching, sure, and I won't let the A designation let me ignore players, but I take the numbers with a grain of salt.

PS Turris looked REALLY good in Junior B playing his callup with the Grandview Steelers of the PIJHL. If only I would have guessed...

[ultrawhiteness]

thanks for the story!

i've only been to one game personally, and that was this year. they have a section that always gets filled up by Aussie expats (i can only assume they're all lifties and instructors at the local hill, lol) who apparently just go nuts after every goal. you can even read about them in the game articles.

another guy from that level to watch is Joey Laleggia. really undersized dman, but pretty skilled i guess. over PPG and quite a bit ahead of the next best dman. 17 years old and draft eligible. if i was a team i'd take a flyer with a late pick.