WCHA¹s NHL Connection Continues to Grow
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April 8, 2003
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MADISON, Wisc. A total of 58 Western Collegiate Hockey Association alumni played in the National Hockey League during the just completed 2002-03 regular season including two of the NHL's top 25 scorers in forwards Dany Heatley and Brett Hull while a total of 11 made their NHL debuts. The list expands the WCHA's number of NHL players produced since the league's founding in 1951 to more than 330.
The Atlanta Thrashers' Dany Heatley (University of Wisconsin), who was the NHL's Rookie of the Year in 2001-02, was the top-scoring conference alum in the 2002-03 regular season with 41 goals, 48 assists and 89 points in 77 games played, ranking him 9th among all players. Ranking 21st overall in points was the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings' Brett Hull (University of Minnesota-Duluth), who completed the 82-game regular season with 37 goals, 39 assists and 76 points.
Also ranked highly in points produced were the St. Louis Blues' Scott Mellanby (UW), No. 70 with 26-31=57, the New York Islanders' Jason Blake (University of North Dakota), No. 76 with 25-30=55, the Colorado Avalanche's Steven Reinprecht (UW), No. 90 with 18-33=51, and the Islanders' Mark Parrish (St. Cloud State University), No. 102 with 23-25=48.
Also of note, the Chicago Blackhawks' Tyler Arnason (SCSU) was the NHL's second leading rookie scorer (behind Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg) in 2002-03 with 19-20=39 and was twice named the NHL Rookie of the Month, UND alum Dave Tippett was named the new head coach of the Dallas Stars and led them to a division title, and UW alum Tony Granato was named the new head coach of the Colorado Avalanche and led them to a division crown. Also, a total of 11 WCHA alums were listed as rookies in the NHL in 2002-03. They were SCSU's Tyler Arnason (Chicago), University of Minnesota's Jordan Leopold (Calgary), UND's Ryan Bayda (Carolina), SCSU's Duvie Westcott (Columbus), SCSU's Mark Hartigan (Atlanta), UM's Jeff Taffe (Phoenix), UND's Lee Goren (Boston), UND's Brad Defauw (Carolina), Colorado College's Paul Manning (Columbus), UMD's Jesse Fibiger (San Jose) and CC's Peter Sejna (St. Louis) who is one of three finalists for this year's Hobey Baker Memorial Award as the top Div. 1 collegiate player.
Following is the list of WCHA alums in the NHL in 2002-03, with final regular season statistics.
| RK | Player | Team | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | SHFT | S | SPCT | WCHA Team |
| 9 | DANY HEATLEY | ATL | 77 | 41 | 48 | 89 | -8 | 58 | 24.3 | 252 | 16.30 | Wisconsin |
| 21 | BRETT HULL | DET | 82 | 37 | 39 | 76 | 11 | 22 | 21.4 | 262 | 14.10 | Minnesota-Duluth |
| 70 | SCOTT MELLANBY | STL | 80 | 26 | 31 | 57 | 1 | 176 | 22.5 | 132 | 19.70 | Wisconsin |
| 76 | JASON BLAKE | NYI | 81 | 25 | 30 | 55 | 16 | 58 | 24.8 | 253 | 9.90 | North Dakota |
| 90 | STEVEN REINPRECHT | COL | 77 | 18 | 33 | 51 | -6 | 18 | 27.7 | 146 | 12.30 | Wisconsin |
| 102 | MARK PARRISH | NYI | 81 | 23 | 25 | 48 | -11 | 28 | 20.8 | 147 | 15.60 | St. Cloud State |
| 149 | BRIAN RAFALSKI | N.J | 79 | 3 | 37 | 40 | 18 | 14 | 26.4 | 178 | 1.70 | Wisconsin |
| 158 | TYLER ARNASON | CHI | 82 | 19 | 20 | 39 | 7 | 20 | 19.6 | 178 | 10.70 | St. Cloud State |
| 199 | MATT CULLEN | FLA | 80 | 13 | 20 | 33 | -8 | 34 | 21.1 | 131 | 9.90 | St. Cloud State |
| 215 | ANTTI LAAKSONEN | MIN | 82 | 15 | 16 | 31 | 4 | 26 | 25.0 | 106 | 14.20 | Denver |
| 224 | DALLAS DRAKE | STL | 80 | 20 | 10 | 30 | -7 | 66 | 22.2 | 113 | 17.70 | N. Michigan* |
| 239 | SEAN HILL | CAR | 82 | 5 | 24 | 29 | 4 | 141 | 30.0 | 188 | 2.70 | Wisconsin |
| 246 | TRENT KLATT | VAN | 82 | 16 | 13 | 29 | 10 | 8 | 18.0 | 127 | 12.60 | Minnesota |
| 264 | TONY HRKAC | ATL | 80 | 9 | 17 | 26 | -16 | 14 | 21.5 | 86 | 10.50 | North Dakota |
| 317 | ANDY SUTTON | ATL | 53 | 3 | 18 | 21 | -8 | 114 | 25.6 | 65 | 4.60 | Michigan Tech |
| 336 | CHRIS CHELIOS | DET | 66 | 2 | 17 | 19 | 4 | 78 | 26.2 | 92 | 2.20 | Wisconsin |
| 352 | RANDY MCKAY | MTL | 75 | 6 | 13 | 19 | -14 | 72 | 14.7 | 52 | 11.50 | Michigan Tech |
| 360 | BEN CLYMER | T.B | 65 | 6 | 12 | 18 | -2 | 57 | 19.1 | 103 | 5.80 | Minnesota |
| 381 | GREG JOHNSON | NSH | 38 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 7 | 22 | 23.2 | 55 | 14.50 | North Dakota |
| 382 | BRET HEDICAN | CAR | 72 | 3 | 14 | 17 | -24 | 75 | 30.3 | 113 | 2.70 | St. Cloud State |
| 393 | ERIK RASMUSSEN | L.A | 57 | 4 | 12 | 16 | -1 | 28 | 19.1 | 75 | 5.30 | Minnesota |
| 402 | JAMES PATRICK | BUF | 69 | 4 | 12 | 16 | -3 | 26 | 25.2 | 63 | 6.30 | North Dakota |
| 412 | BRAD BOMBARDIR | MIN | 58 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 31.4 | 55 | 1.80 | North Dakota |
| 416 | RYAN BAYDA | CAR | 25 | 4 | 10 | 14 | -5 | 16 | 22.6 | 49 | 8.20 | North Dakota |
| 418 | JORDAN LEOPOLD | CGY | 58 | 4 | 10 | 14 | -15 | 12 | 26.6 | 78 | 5.10 | Minnesota |
| 425 | LANDON WILSON | PHX | 31 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 1 | 26 | 17.1 | 92 | 6.50 | North Dakota |
| 437 | DAVID TANABE | CAR | 68 | 3 | 10 | 13 | -27 | 24 | 25.1 | 104 | 2.90 | Wisconsin |
| 460 | BRIAN SWANSON | EDM | 44 | 2 | 10 | 12 | -7 | 10 | 14.1 | 67 | 3.00 | Colorado College |
| 479 | PAUL RANHEIM | PHX | 68 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -8 | 16 | 18.3 | 71 | 4.20 | Wisconsin |
| 482 | SHJON PODEIN | STL | 68 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 28 | 18.5 | 52 | 7.70 | Minnesota-Duluth |
| 521 | CRAIG JOHNSON | L.A | 70 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -13 | 22 | 20.5 | 87 | 3.40 | Minnesota |
| 553 | RYAN JOHNSON | STL | 75 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -13 | 38 | 16.0 | 67 | 3.00 | North Dakota |
| 557 | MARK HARTIGAN | ATL | 23 | 5 | 2 | 7 | -8 | 6 | 15.3 | 25 | 20.00 | St. Cloud State |
| 559 | DUVIE WESTCOTT | CBJ | 39 | 0 | 7 | 7 | -3 | 77 | 26.1 | 27 | 0.00 | St. Cloud State |
| 567 | MURRAY BARON | VAN | 78 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 62 | 24.4 | 34 | 5.90 | North Dakota |
| 591 | DARBY HENDRICKSON | MIN | 28 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -3 | 8 | 25.6 | 34 | 2.90 | Minnesota |
| 643 | JEFF TAFFE | PHX | 20 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -4 | 4 | 15.1 | 18 | 16.70 | Minnesota |
| 648 | JARKKO RUUTU | VAN | 36 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -7 | 66 | 13.3 | 36 | 5.60 | Michigan Tech |
| 672 | ANDRE SAVAGE | PHI | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11.8 | 13 | 15.40 | Michigan Tech |
| 673 | LEE GOREN | BOS | 14 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 7 | 10.7 | 15 | 13.30 | North Dakota |
| 675 | BRAD DEFAUW | CAR | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | -2 | 2 | 19.0 | 19 | 15.80 | North Dakota |
| 691 | CHRIS MCALPINE | L.A | 21 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -4 | 24 | 17.4 | 15 | 0.00 | Minnesota |
| 720 | PETER SEJNA | STL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Colorado College | |||||
| 722 | GARRY VALK | CHI | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 15.0 | 9 | 0.00 | North Dakota |
| 738 | WYATT SMITH | NSH | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 17.2 | 8 | 12.50 | Minnesota |
| 745 | RYAN KRAFT | S.J | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11.4 | 1 | 0.00 | Minnesota |
| 763 | MIKE COMMODORE | CGY | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 16.3 | 5 | 0.00 | North Dakota |
| 783 | RICK MROZIK | CGY | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.5 | 2 | 0.00 | Minnesota-Duluth |
| 810 | MATT PETTINGER | WSH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 0 | 0.00 | Denver |
| 830 | CURTIS MURPHY | MIN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.0 | 0 | 0.00 | North Dakota |
| 832 | JESSE FIBIGER | S.J | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5 | 2 | 8.6 | 2 | 0.00 | Minnesota-Duluth |
| 840 | PAUL MANNING | CBJ | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 19.5 | 4 | 0.00 | Colorado College |
| 883 | DIXON WARD | NYR | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 12.1 | 7 | 0.00 | North Dakota |
| 887 | KEVIN DINEEN | CBJ | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 15.3 | 7 | 0.00 | Denver |
Goaltenders
| PLAYER | TEAM | GP | W-L-T | GAA | SVS | SV% | SO | GA | WCHA Team |
| ED BELFOUR | TOR | 62 | 37-20-5 | 2.26 | 1675 | .922 | 7 | 141 | North Dakota |
| CURTIS JOSEPH | DET | 61 | 34-19-6 | 2.49 | 1528 | .912 | 5 | 148 | Wisconsin |
| MIKE RICHTER | NYR | 13 | 5-6-1 | 2.94 | 295 | .897 | 0 | 34 | Wisconsin |
| DIETER KOCHAN | MIN | 1 | 0-1-0 | 5.00 | 23 | .821 | 0 | 5 | N.Michigan* |
* team no longer in WCHA
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