A couple of non-Badger items

Forgive me as I stray outside of Badger-related hockey news. (Or if you're not inclined to forgive me, go head and simply scroll past this post, as I won't be personally offended.)

• Last winter, Mickey Renaud, the 19-year-old captain of the Windsor Spitfires (OHL), mysteriously passed away while at home. It now appears that his death was caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the same disease that has ended David Carle's hockey career. Speaking of David Carle, the LetsGoDu blog has found a nice feature on youtube, as well as a previous article by the same reporter who did the feature.


• Mr 60's former neighbor, Dan Bylsma, has been named head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Mr 60 is a bit younger than Bylsma, so they didn't really know each other. But it's still pretty cool that he grew up next-door (or across the street, I always forget).

I like Dan Bylsma, because in addition to being an extremely nice person, he seems to be quite committed to the growth and quality of youth hockey, especially in ensuring that youth players have good experiences. He started his IT PAYS Initiative to improve the atmosphere of youth hockey, and he started and funds a charitable trust fund to help defray the costs of participating in hockey.

His website is pretty interesting (to me, anyway) -- he has a lot of Q&A's and newsletters for kids and parents (although the newsletters are stopped in 2005), and there's a link to his IT PAYS Initiative. The website also has a link to the summer hockey camp that he runs in the Grand Rapids, MI area with his wife Mary Beth, a certified personal trainer.

Playing Catch-up

Since I've been AWOL for a couple of weeks, I thought I should do a little link-o-rama to post the random items that have escaped our attention here on the blog.

I have a number of links from HIW, which just goes to show that if you haven't been reading that blog, you probably should be.

• As you may be aware, Rene Bourque has been traded to the Flames. Regarding the acquisition, Flames GM Darryl Sutter said, "Rene is a young player with size who will play in our top nine forwards. He will be an important part of the remaking of our left side along with other young players already under contract."

• Blake Geoffrion has been making adjustments to his workout regimen and has been doing a lot of little extra things.

  "The biggest thing was that I got back in the weight room and got in the best shape I could,'' Geoffrion said. "There were a lot of little things, too — eating a lot healthier, working out hard and going in with a positive attitude at the beginning of a new year.''

  "I did all the extra little workouts after practice — putting pucks in from (close range) and putting shots upstairs,'' said Geoffrion, elected by teammates as one of Wisconsin's captains for the coming year. "I was always one of the shooters in goalie practice. All those things can be kind of annoying to do, but they really pay off and I really saw that this year.''
  

  I'm impressed by Geoffrion's attitude and work ethic, and I'm excited to see his game further elevated to another level this upcoming season.

• Mike Davies is now apparently off of goaltender Charlie Effinger's family Christmas list. Back home in St. Louis, Davies played in the Blues Future Stars scrimmage at the Scottrade Center, and he scored a goal off a face-off just after Effinger entered the game in the 2nd period. Davies reportedly had another nice scoring chance later in that period.

• Here's another nice article about Justin Schultz. (In case you missed it, Gandalf had recently posted this article about Schultz, and I had previously posted a nice little feature on him.)

• Derek Stepan participated in the NY Rangers Prospects Camp, and you can find video footage on Rangers NHL TV.

• The Daily Telegram has a nice article on Dave McNab and the Anaheim Ducks, asking the question "when did University of Wisconsin become an unofficial farm team of the Ducks?". McNab, a longtime assistant manager for the Ducks, was a goaltender for the Badgers 1973-78.

And here are some links that we haven't yet mentioned from Capobianco's blog:

• Curtis Joseph has been picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Says GM Cliff Fletcher, "Curtis will bring great character to the locker-room. We're going to have a lot of young players in there next year. His leadership will be invaluable.''


• Kyle Turris participated in the Coyotes camp, and you can watch an interview with KT on Coyotes NHL TV.

I also have some links from the LetsGoDU blog. This is not strictly related to Badger Hockey, but LetsGoDU has been doing a nice job following the David Carle story.

• David Carle story at ESPN.com
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy often misdiagnosed
• David Carle: News, Notes & Articles