Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Will Nic Kerdiles wear the colours of the Kelowna Rockets?

The waiting game begins for the Kelowna Rockets. Will 18 year-old Nic Kerdiles be arriving in the Okanagan in the next week to ten days?
Who knows?
The Anaheim Ducks 2nd round pick in this summers draft has been suspended by the NCAA and the Wisconsin Badgers, the team Kerdiles was expected to play with this season, is appealing the decision. If the NCAA stands firm, you would think the Ducks prospect would be headed to Kelowna rather than sit out an entire year of hockey. Why are the Kelowna Rockets in such a position to acquire a marquee player like Kerdiles? Director of Player Personnel Lorne Frey shook the dice back in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft by selecting the California resident in the 8th round, just ahead of Damon Severson. Severson, a 2nd round pick of New Jersey, was taken in the 9th round that year.
What would it mean to land a player like Kerdiles? Without question he would be on the Rockets top line and would chew up huge minutes. He would add depth to a forward core which lost 20 year-old J.T Barnett in the season opener and was forced to move d-man Myles Bell to the forward position with great success.
The Rockets are no strangers to landing NCAA talent. Chuck Kobasew left Boston College to score 41 goals in 2001-2002 while Duncan Keith bolted from Michigan State after Christmas and was part of a WHL championship team in 2003.     
Is Nic Kerdiles the next player to join that list?
Tick-tock. The waiting game begins.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

hey Regan, looks like we should know whether Kerdiles will be coming to Kelowna on Oct 18th:
http://host.madison.com/sports/blog/badgers-hockey-kerdiles-appeal-to-be-heard-oct/article_534fe474-13e9-11e2-9c59-001a4bcf887a.html