Jets Prospects Having Tough Time at Young Stars Tournament Sutter
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Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/nhl/jets-prospects-having-tough-time-at- young-stars-tournament-443522463.html Jets prospects having tough time at Young Stars tournament The Winnipeg Jets prospects aren’t earning any glowing toasts in Canadian wine country this weekend. Actually, that’s not entirely fair. The play of goaltenders Jamie Phillips and Mikhail Berdin has been something to savour at the Young Stars Classic hockey tournament in Penticton, B.C. Despite a sensational 35-save effort from Phillips, a 24-year-old puck-stopper from Caledonia, Ont., the Jets fell 3-0 to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night. It was the second loss in as many nights for the young Jets squad. On Friday, Berdin stopped 35 shots as Winnipeg dropped a 4-2 decision to the Vancouver Canucks prospects. Both netminders were late-round draft choices by the organization. Phillips was selected in the seventh round (190th overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft, played four years at Michigan Tech and then split the 2016-17 season between Tulsa of the ECHL and the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. Berdin, a 19-year-old who hails from Ufa, Russia, was taken in the sixth round (157th overall) in 2016 and spent last season with Sioux Falls of the USHL junior league. Winnipeg, which has been allowing a heap of scoring chances in its first two contests, gets a day off Sunday and then closes out the tournament Monday at 12:30 p.m. (CT) against the Calgary Flames. On Saturday night, Oilers’ goalie Stuart Skinner earned a 26-save shutout, while Luke Coleman, Chad Butcher and Joseph Gambardella (empty-netter) scored for the winners. Edmonton is 2-0 in the tournament. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/sutter-looks-to-forge-his-own-path-on- ice-443508523.html Sutter looks to forge his own path on ice By: Jason Bell A second-generation Sutter was on the ice with the Winnipeg Jets prospects Saturday morning. Brody Sutter, the son of four-time Stanley Cup winner Duane Sutter, was inked to an American Hockey League deal during the summer, arrived in the city from Calgary last week and is participating in the club’s "mini-camp" at the Iceplex this weekend. At 6-5, 203 pounds, he towers over each of his famous uncles and a few cousins who’ve played pro as well. But the 25-year-old former Carolina Hurricanes draft pick acknowledges neither his physical stature nor the significant weight his last name carries in hockey is enough to guarantee a meaningful pro career. In five seasons in the Hurricanes organization, he got into just a dozen NHL contests and didn’t register a point. Last season in Springfield of the AHL, the winger battled through three significant injuries and finished with just four goals and nine points in 19 games. Sutter has been through enough down times to know nothing is given to you in his profession of choice. He need only look to his cousin, Lukas, a second-round pick by the Jets in 2012 who couldn’t carve out a pro career and is now playing university hockey in Saskatchewan. "My dad always told me my name will only get me one look and then after that it’s up to me," Brody said. "Obviously, I’m aware of the accomplishments of my dad and my uncles have in the game and the respect they have. But I gotta forge my own path." And that path has led him to Winnipeg, a place his good buddy, centre Adam Lowry, calls his hockey home. Brody’s father was an assistant coach in Florida while Lowry’s dad, Dave, was helping the Panthers make it to the Stanley Cup finals against a Colorado squad that proved simply too powerful. The families have remained close ever since. "This summer, I trained in Calgary with Adam basically six days a week. We started power skating in July twice a week and then come August we were on the ice four or five times a week along with six days in the gym," Brody said. "It was a busy summer, but we both made a lot of progress and got a lot stronger." He said Lowry, heading into his fourth season as a Jets centre, talked up the organization — the big club and the AHL’s Manitoba Moose — and the community. "For the three years since he’s been here, he’s said nothing but good things about the city, so hearing him rave about it made it easier to sign here," Brody said. "My focus this year is being healthy and helping whatever team I’m on, but I’m anticipating it’ll be the Moose. Hockey’s a funny game and you never know what can happen. "That’s one thing that was enticing to me, playing here with the two teams and being seen. I think the more you watch me, the more you appreciate the type of player I am. Having someone in the building every night, I think, will bode well for me and puts a little added pressure on me to perform every night. That’s never a bad thing ." His last taste of NHL action came during the final stretch of the 2015-16 campaign that knocked the Hurricanes out of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. At times, the memories of those heady times are fresh in his mind, while other times... "It depends on the day," he said. "Some days it feels like it was yesterday and sometimes it feels like it was forever ago. I still think I’m capable of playing in the NHL. A lot of it comes down to opportunity and fit and being in the right place at the right time, to be completely honest. "It’s always good to get a fresh start. It was a pretty miserable year last year, but, hopefully, I can stay healthy and have a good bounce-back year here." Winnipeg Sun http://www.winnipegsun.com/2017/09/09/jets-skyler-mckenzie-not-short-on-motivation Jets' Skyler McKenzie not short on motivation BY KEN WIEBE, WINNIPEG SUN PENTICTON, B.C. - Skyler McKenzie knows the odds are stacked against him. This is not a new development for him or any other forward who officially checks in at 5-foot-8 and 158 pounds. “To get the strength those bigger guys have, it might be twice as hard but I’m up for the challenge,” said McKenzie, who suited up for the Winnipeg Jets prospects during the 2017 Young Stars Classic at the South Okanagan Events Centre on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers. McKenzie has heard the doubters and has found a way to quiet them at every level he’s played. Just last season, McKenzie piled up 42 goals and 84 points in 72 games for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. On the second day of the draft this past June, McKenzie was monitoring things on the Internet when he found out he was chosen in the seventh round, 190th overall by the Jets. “I was following online and my Internet cut out. I was at the lake with my parents,” said McKenzie. “But I got a call from my assistant coach in Portland and he told me that I’d been selected. It was the best feeling in the entire world, to be honest.” It’s also provided a little extra motivation for a guy who wasn’t lacking any to begin with. “Definitely. I have the mindset to come in here and be just as good as the first-rounders,” said McKenzie. “I have to push myself that much harder, but I want to be that top guy wherever I go.” There’s no doubt about McKenzie’s skill, but he’s far from a one-dimensional player. “To be a smaller player in the league, you have to have that feistiness to your game,” said McKenzie. “Otherwise, it’s hard to play at the next level if you’re not doing something extra.” When he was 15, McKenzie got a taste of the WHL with the Winterhawks and when he made the full-time jump the following season, he noticed a pair of similarly sized snipers enjoying success in Nic Petan and Chase De Leo — both of whom ended up drafted by the Jets. “I really look up to those guys and I’ve modelled my game after those guys since I was 15,” said McKenzie. “I learned from them, I watched them in practice every day and it helped me out big- time. Marty St. Louis was one of my biggest role models growing up. Brad Marchand, I love the way he plays. (Same with) Brendan Gallagher.” McKenzie was one of the most effective players for the Jets in Friday’s tournament opener against the Vancouver Canucks. “He’s got good vision,” said Manitoba Moose head coach Pascal Vincent, who felt McKenzie reminded him of Jets winger Mathieu Perreault. “You’re not a big guy, but you’re hard on the puck and hard to play against. He’s got some skills for sure, but what was really interesting was that his battle level was pretty high.” BERDIN WALL Speaking of players who impressed in Friday’s game for the Jets, goalie Mikhail Berdin was probably the best player on the ice for either team in a 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Berdin stopped 35-of-38 shots (the Canucks’ fourth goal was an empty-netter) and turned heads with his puck-handling ability, which included a brilliant saucer pass to the far blue line that sprung forward Cristiano DiGiacinto for a breakaway.