A Star is Born?
It looks like Matt Niskanen will be skating with the big club for the foreseeable future. Monday, the Dallas Stars activated young defenseman Niklas Grossman from the injured list and sent veteran Nolan Baumgartner to the minors. Niskanen, who notched his first two NHL points with a pair of assists in Friday's 4-1 win over Boston and has a plus/minus of +2 through three games this season, was kept on the roster.
Niskanen, though just 20 and one year removed from college hockey with the UMD Bulldogs, evidently has impressed so far this season. Here's what his defensive linemate Philippe Boucher had to say about the Mountain Iron native:
"I think the first thing you notice is he has the tools. He has good vision. He skates well. He has good hands. But I think you also see how calm he is. He doesn't let many things get to him."
His coach, Dave Tippett, said Monday, "Niskanen played himself into this position, so we'll go from here."
Niskanen will likely continue to play regularly while Grossman, 22, a bruising prospect, works himself back into game shape. It's likely Niskanen could be a healthy scratch as the seventh defenseman in some games, but he doesn't see it as a problem.
"It's a different word here, so just being here, I think, is a good thing."
I expected Niskanen to become a regular in an NHL lineup at some point in the next two years, but just not this soon. It's a tribute to Nisky's skill, attitude and work ethic.
Dusty is trusty, not musty or rusty
Remember Dusty Rychart? He was a standout basketball player and All-State first team selection at Grand Rapids High School, graduating in 1997. He walked on at the University of Minnesota, earning a scholarship as a redshirt freshman and had his coming-out party on national television in the wake of the Gophers' academic scandal.
Rychart won an NIT Championship with the Gophers and was named to the All-Big Ten Team his junior and senior seasons.
After college, he tried out for the NBA (playing in the Timberwolves' summer league) but was overlooked as too slow and too small. The same things were said of him coming out of high school.
So Rychart expanded his horizons, travelling to the other side of the globe to fulfill his basketball dreams. In 2002, he signed with the Victoria Giants in Australia's National Basketball League. When the Giants disbanded, Rychart joined the Adelaide 36ers, where he was team MVP in 2005.
Rychart joined the Brisbane Bullets in 2006 and helped them win the league championship. On Brisbane's website, one can vote for their favorite player. And you guessed it, the Minnesotan is the most popular on the team with nearly 25-percent of the vote.
Rychart's team is off to a hot start again this season, having won each of its first four games. It's always nice to see northern Minnesota natives succeeding, whether it's on the hardwood, diamond, gridiron or ice.
Random thoughts
Ding, dong, the witch is dead! Once again, the $200 million payroll of the New York Yankees fails to bring home a World Series title. I feel soooooooo bad for them. Someone get A-Rod a tissue.
How 'bout dem Cowboys? I don't know how Dallas pulled out that win last night after one of the ugliest performances I've ever seen out of a quarterback this side of Rex Grossman. Give Tony Romo credit though. He shook off his awful first three-and-a-half quarters performance to lead them back and win it. There is no way the Bills should have lost that game, but I guess that's just what bad teams do.
Speaking of the Cowboys, the hype for their clash with the Patriots this Sunday is going to be insane. Do you realize that this will be the just the fifth time in NFL history that two unbeaten teams with records of at least 5-0 will meet? Wow, that says a lot about how hard it is to stay unblemished in the NFL. I'm looking forward to Randy Moss forever establishing himself as way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way better than Terrell Owens. (Did you see T.O. last night? How many drops? The game-tying two-pointer slipped through his fingers. You think the Freak would have choked like that?) I'll join the hype on this game later this week.
As Bill Simmons of ESPN.com wrote lately, save Friday Night Lights! Watch it on ABC at 8 p.m. Fridays. It's an excellent show that hasn't quite had the ratings yet to assure its survival. I didn't watch much of any TV last year, so I missed the first season, but I bought it on DVD the other day at Target, and it might be my new favorite show. The premiere of the second season was the past Friday, and I'm hooked. It's not just a show about football. It's about a community with meaningful, memorable characters that exude raw emotion not seen on many other shows today. It's well worth watching.
I should probably just quit writing about football. I went a mediocre 7-7 on my picks last week. Hope nobody took my advice to heart and now wants to break my kneecaps – the hip is enough already. And that great fantasy team I have in Flaimer's league? Yeah, I jinxed them. Uh-huh. They went in the tank this week. I will now run into oncoming traffic…
Until next time…
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