Rebels Gone Wild

Sometimes, as a broadcaster, you get lucky.



Prior to last night’s game at the Enmax Centrium between the Rebels and Regina Pats, Cam Moon and I were saying “How cool would it be if Paul Charles came to the game tonight?  He’d be a PERFECT intermission guest.”



Most of you probably don’t know who Paul Charles is… he is a scout with the Minnesota Wild.  And, as we’ve all seen, there’s no shortage of Rebels-Wild activity to chat about these days.



Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, Paul walked into the media lounge while Mooner and I were still chatting.  Perfect.



Paul is a big reason why Minnesota drafted Mathew Dumba 7th overall in last year’s NHL Entry Draft.  Before that, he was a big advocate for drafting Darcy Kuemper, which the Wild did in the sixth round (161st overall) of the 2009 draft.



That particular selection is turning out to be quite a steal for the Wild, and Charles couldn’t be happier.

Wild Camp Looms For Dumba

It looks like the Minnesota Wild will have their 2012 first round draft pick attending their training camp.

Red Deer Rebels Owner / President / GM / Head Coach Brent Sutter fully expects to lose the services of Mathew Dumba for a few days while he skates with the teams that selected him 7th overall last June.

“Matty will be leaving for sure,” Sutter confirmed before Monday’s practice at the Enmax Centrium. “There’s a good possibility Matty could be leaving before the weekend games [Friday at Saskatoon, Saturday at Prince Albert]. He’ll be gone for a few days and then he’ll be back again.”

A Wild Birthday Milestone For Dumba

Courtesy:  Minnesota Star Tribune

Time to dust off the keyboard and do a bit of blogging for the first time in what seems like way too much time off.

As Mathew Dumba today celebrates his 18th birthday, I figured it would be a good idea to catch up with the star Red Deer Rebels defenceman. 

From playing at the World U-18's (becoming the first blueliner to lead the tournament in scoring), to being selected 7th overall by Minnesota at the NHL Entry Draft, to skating at the Wild's summer development camp and signing his entry level contract... "off-season" hasn't been a part of Dumba's vocabulary.

Draft Talk With Dumba And Bartosak

Two months ago when I booked my trip to Vegas I apparently overlooked the fact that I would be in 'Sin City' while the NHL Entry Draft takes place in Pittsburgh.

But that didn't stop me from putting in a couple of phone calls late last week to the two Red Deer Rebels who are likely to be selected this weekend.

It's a foregone conclusion that Mathew Dumba will have his name called in the first round of the draft on Friday night.  Depending on who's draft board you are looking at,  Dumba is ranked as high as 6th (Bob McKenzie, TSN) to 18th (Shane Malloy, The Art of Scouting) and everywhere in between.  NHL Central Scouting has him ranked 11th among North American skaters.

Dumba Discusses Draft, Team Canada

Ok... so he didn't so much discuss it with me as he did politely comment on it and move on.

But either way, Mathew Dumba doesn't seem too concerned about his final ranking from NHL Central Scouting for this June's entry draft. A ranking which saw him fall from 7th among North American based skaters to 11th.

"Anything can happen at a draft," Dumba said over the phone from the Czech Republic. "It's a team's perspective and if a team wants you that's what they're gonna do."

Fair enough. We'll see how things unfold when the first round of the draft takes place in Pittsburgh on June 22nd.

In the meantime, Dumba has more pressing issues to worry about as he and the rest of Team Canada get set for their first round robin game at the World U-18 Hockey Championship (tomorrow, 8am Alberta time vs. Denmark).

"It's tough playing these other teams because a lot of them have been together year-round," he said in reference to Canada's two pre-tournament games (5-3 win over Germany, 5-4 OT win over Czech Rep.) "We just come together on short notice and have to play our best hockey. There's definitely a learning curve with that. Guys weren't always in the right places and little things like that. Little details which we've worked on this week."

It should come as no surprise that Team Canada has taken on a style of play we've come to expect from a Jesse Wallin coached hockey club.

"We're gonna be a very hard working team. Hard-nosed, gritty, greasy team that's gonna go out there and battle the whole time. We've got some big strong forwards that will go to the net. And on defence we've got guys who can skate and move the puck. It's pretty fun."

I also asked Mat if any of his teammates had asked him about what to expect in having Wallin as their coach. Dumba says they found that out for themselves rather quickly.

"It was our first game versus Germany. We didn't play the best period and he came in [to the dressing room] and was 'real firm.'

Yup. Sounds familiar.

Anyhoo... it should be made official today that Dumba will wear the "C" for Team Canada starting tomorrow. After that we'll 'see' what happens throughout the tournament, the NHL Entry Draft, and beyond.

TG