Wednesday with the Rats

Today was media day for the Albany River Rats, a chance for writers and photographers (and even some out of work types) to meet with team personnel -- players, coaches, executives -- and talk about the upcoming season.

Optimism abounds at this time of year for every team, but the Rats have reason to be excited. Much of it revolves around highly touted youngsters such as forwards Brandon Sutter, Zach Boychuk, Drayson Bowman and Chris Terry, defenseman Jamie McBain and goaltender Mike Murphy.

"This is a group of kids that everybody's excited about," veteran forward Pat Dwyer said. "They're great hockey players, which means they're going to be able to adjust to the (pro) game. I believe the learning curve will be small with them, so it's exciting to get it under way and see what these kids can do."

Sutter comes from one of hockey's storied families, and spent most of his rookie season last year with the Carolina Hurricanes. Boychuk, Bowman and Terry are junior scoring stars who combined for 234 points (114g, 120a) in 158 games. McBain made his pro debut last spring after leaving the University of Wisconsin a year early, and Murphy is one of the most decorated goalies in junior hockey history.

"From a skill standpoint it's night and day from what we had last year. Just watching the guys move around the power play, it's just nice to see," head coach Jeff Daniels said. "At the same time, it's young guys. As we learned last year, some guys will adapt right away and some guys will take some time to adapt. From a skill standpoint, I'm happy with what we have. With us being young I think we have a good core group of veteran guys that can help these guys out.

"I'm excited about what we have on paper and I'm excited with how the guys look on the ice. I'm sure every team is saying that right now. It will be interesting to see how these guys adapt once the competiton does get tougher. Some of them will not miss a beat and lead the way and some guys will take some time."

Boychuk is featured in an upcoming issue of The Hockey News previewing the AHL season as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate. Bowman is also listed among the leading contenders.

Already, Boychuk is drawing comparisons to another smaller, skilled forward who came through Albany, New Jersey Devils star Zach Parise. They play a similar style (and will wear the same No. 11), though Boychuk is more mature physically than Parise was his rookie year. To me, there have only been three players of their caliber to play for Albany, the other being Steve Sullivan.

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Where Boychuk and Sutter, first-round draft picks in 2008 and 2007, respectively, have gotten much of the attention, don't overlook Bowman as a breakout star.

A third-round pick in 2007, Bowman has the kind of hands that make scouts drool. He does things around the net that make you have to look twice at the replay just to make sure they actually happened.

"He's a good player," Daniels said. "He's got a quick release shot. He can make plays. He's got good size. He got off to a little bit of a tough start from an injury standpoint. He missed the game the other night and is trying to get back on track and get his timing going.

"Obviously everybody wants to be a goal-scorer and unfortunately not everyone has the talent to do it. It doesn't mean you can't get to the next level because it takes all types, but it's nice to see these kids in practice with the kinds of goals they score."

Bowman raised turned heads in his first camp with the Canes two years ago, but raised some eyebrows, particularly among veterans, last fall when he openly said he felt he deserved to make the NHL club.

Instead, he was shipped back to juniors where he had 47 goals (and 83 points) in 62 games, becoming the first Spokane player in 15 years with back-to-back 40-goal seasons.

"At first when I got sent down, I was like, 'Another year of this,' " Bowman said. "But throughout the year I really learned how to play a complete game and added a few dimensions to my game that I was missing even before. Now looking back at it all, it did a lot of good for me in terms of being a more complete player. You don't always see that when it happens to you right away."

Bowman missed the second of Albany's back-to-back preseason games against the Adirondack Phantoms with a minor injury, but Daniels said he'd be good to go for the regular-season opener Saturday night at home against Manchester.

"I'm just going to be focused on going out and doing the best I can and hopefully developing into a player," Bowman said. "Most of the guys here were exactly like I was in juniors. They put up points and dominated at that level, so the game here is just one more step up. You have less time to get your shot off and less time to make decisions. It's going to be all about that and handling bigger, stronger players. But it's still the same game, so you just have to go out and do the things that got you here in the first place and hope it works out."

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Daniels will name his team captain and alternates at practice on Thursday. Dwyer wore the 'C' last season, with Mike Angelidis as one of his alternates. Other veteran candidates are Brett Carson, Zack Fitzgerald, Steve Goertzen and Bryan Rodney ..... Albany's games will be broadcast on WROW 590 AM this season. Jon Scherzer returns to do play-by-play, and don't be surprised to hear yours truly with the occasional color commentary ..... Only five of the 23 players on the current roster are American-born: McBain (Edina, Minn.), Fitzgerald (Two Harbors, Minn.), Bowman (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Sutter (Huntington, N.Y.) and Dwyer (Great Falls, Mont.).

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Without Trevor Gillies, one of the AHL's most feared enforcers who is in camp with Rochester, the Rats will be relying on team toughness this season.

"That's going to be our concept," Daniels said. "I think we've got a lot of guys that can look after their teammates. We might not have a true heavyweight and obviously Gilly will be missed, but I think from the (preseason) games they showed when there was a scrum, it wasn't about the fighting. It was about the guys in there together and sticking together."

Albany re-signed undersized but over-eager forward Brad Herauf to help fill Gillies' role, and forwards Mike Angelidis and Nicolas Blanchard figure to have their share of scraps. One player to watch who should quickly become a fan favorite is Goertzen.

Listed at 6-foot-1 and 216 pounds, the 25-year-old Goertzen comes to Albany from the Phoenix Coyotes organization, where he played the last season and a half. He has 67 NHL games (46 Columbus, 16 Phoenix) and 303 AHL games (224 Syracuse, 79 San Antonio) to his credit.

"The main thing for myself is just to make sure I play the way that I play and that's a very physical game; create energy and get in on the forecheck and things of that nature," Goertzen said. "I guess I haven't always been known for scoring a lot of goals, but at the same time chipping in when I can, mainly focusing on my defense. I pride myself on my penalty killing and just doing the little things and being a good teammate.

"I think when I was younger, you do anything to get into the league. You find a way to do that and that kind of fell my way. Not always being the most skilled guy; you've got to find a way every single night to be effective. I think that led me to playing a really physical game every night and being solid defensively. If you're not going to be scoring every night, you've got to be doing something. That kind of led me down that road and I enjoy it."

Goertzen, who played junior hockey with new Rats defenseman Zach Fitzgerald, also enjoyed his time in the NHL in Phoenix under former head coach Wayne Gretzky.

"He was great. He gave me an opportunity to play in all kinds of situations that I wouldn't normally play and it just gave me confidence," Goertzen said. "The first few times I met him, I didn't even know what to say. I felt like an idiot. You're like, 'That's Gretzky,' just like a little kid and then I'd go home and tell my buddies. Once you get used to that it's like anything else.

"He was on the ice for practice and every once in a while I'd want him to join in or something. There's one or two times where he'd be the passer. It's just cool to be around somebody like that. I'm from Edmonton and he's a god in hockey anyway but in Edmonton especially. I was at his retirement ceremony game. It was so cool to meet him and just a great experience. It's something I can always say, that I played for Gretzky."

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On the current 23-man roster, there are 17 players who spent all or part of last season with Albany. Of those, 10 are survivors of the accident where the Rats team bus flipped on its side on an icy Massachusetts highway early on the morning of Feb. 19.

"I think that's part of the excitement going into this opening weekend is to turn the page and get last year behind us and get our minds refocused on a new season and hopefully sweep all that out," Dwyer said.

"Obviously we all want to turn the page," goaltender Justin Peters said. "At the same time, you've got guys like Casey Borer who's still having surgery from the accident. It's tough to turn a page like that, but I think once we get out on the ice it'll be good for everyone. It's something we're moving on from but at the same time it's something that you can't forget because we realize how lucky we are."

Peters had his goalie mask crushed in the accident, and talked having a reminder from the accident incorporated into the paint job of his new lid. Ultimately, he chose not to have it done.

"You talk about moving on, and that's the reason that I didn't put it on because it's something we are trying to move on from," he said. "We definitely realize how thankful we are to be OK from it. We just have that bond with the guys that went through it, because it's something we'll share forever. We're trying to move on, but it's tough."