OffThePost.org

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=101430

Made his international debut with 2 goals and an assist vs. Mexico... in the men's tournament, at age 17. He was the top 1994 born scorer in the Czech U20 league with 40 points in 35 games, which actually makes him the top 1994 born player in the country. He actually wanted to compete for the Czechs internationally (he's lived there for a few years now) but I guess he either changed his mind or couldn't get the papers done in a reasonable time.

Meet Nathan Walker. He'll probably turn pro next year. He honestly could get drafted.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

Thanks for that, my wife will be thrilled, although we did think it might be our son in another dozen or so years

He scored again in Australia's 5-3 win over Belgium.

On Twitter, I follow 'the First Lady of Australian Ice Hockey', Sasky Stewart. She's quite young and is already on the board of commissioners for the AIHL, and actually interned for the Washington Capitals and worked for the Everett Silvertips of the WHL as well. She said he already looks like a solid WHL player, which certainly makes sense as Czech juniors come over to play major junior all the time. Though she later tweeted that she worries he won't make it as far as he deserves to... not sure if she meant because he plays for Australia internationally and won't get noticed, or because of something else.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

I always liked those Aussies.

What she probably meant subconsciously was that he won't be good enough for the pros, but is so far ahead of his countrymen that he seems like he could comparatively-speaking.

Call it the Hiroyuki Miura Effect.

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I assume she means he'll face the same prejudices that guys like Anze Kopitar faced merely for being from a non-traditional background (even if he's playing in an 'accepted' league -- so was Kopitar after all).

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You say potayto, I say potahto?

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Two different things -- you're talking about a guy simply looking better because his opponents suck, whereas I'm talking about a prejudice against players who are playing against decent competition, purely because of their birth certificate.

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Hounsy was right, we do need a sarcasm emoticon after all.

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Melbourne's top daily paper, The Age, has a feature on him today. I sent off a list of questions for a Puck Worlds interview. I don't know if he'll get back to me before or after the tournament... they've got two games in two days now to finish off.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/the-icem ... 1d7st.html

Amazing story, really. Kid spoke nothing but English, moved away from his family to the Czech Republic at age 13, and now speaks fluent Czech, as well as Slovak, and has picked up some Russian. In four years.

_________________
Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

http://www.eliteprospects.com/league.ph ... =&sort=u20

3rd in scoring in the Extraliga amongst teenagers, behind Thomas Hertl (a few months older than him, projected 1st rounder this year), and Petr Holik, who is two years older than him.

By playing in the Extraliga, he's already made it further than any previous Australian hockey player before him.

_________________
Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

He actually played in the Spengler Cup, and looked like he was Viktovice's most dynamic offensive player. Not an explosive skater, but good hands and and hockey sense. He's definitely on a lot of scout's radars now.

_________________
Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

http://www.coppernblue.com/2012/1/12/27 ... raft-radar

http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=56838

Ranked 21st by NHL Central Scouting in their Mid-Season Rankings. The past 4 21st ranked CSB players for Europe have all been picked, and there are some good players that came from that spot (Urbom in particular).

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb