May 5, 2003

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MADISON, Wisc. ­ Seven Western Collegiate Hockey Association alumni are still in the hunt for Stanley Cup rings for 2002-03, as the National Hockey League's post-season championship continues Monday (May 5) night with three games.

Six of those eight alums are playing in the Minnesota Wild vs Vancouver Canucks quarterfinal series, led by the Canucks three games to one. Three WCHA alums are playing for the Wild in forward Darby Hendrickson (University of Minnesota), forward Antti Laaksonen (University of Denver) and defenseman Brad Bombardir (University of North Dakota, while three more are playing for the Canucks in forward Trent Klatt (University of Minnesota), forward Jarkko Ruutu (Michigan Tech University) and defenseman Murray Baron (University of North Dakota). Bombardir won his first Stanley Cup ring with New Jersey in 2000.

Also seeking his second Stanley Cup championship ring is New Jersey defenseman Brian Rafalski (University of Wisconsin), who was also a member of the Devils' 2000 championship team. New Jersey has advanced to their conference final after eliminating Tampa Bay, four games to one, this past weekend.

During the course of the 2002-03 National Hockey League regular season, a total of 58 WCHA alums skated in the world's top professional league ­ including two of the NHL's top 25 scorers in forwards Dany Heatley and Brett Hull ­ while a 11 made their NHL debuts. That list expanded 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 WCHA alum in the 2002-03 NHL 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 was the 2002-03 WCHA Player of the Year and also won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as the top Division 1 collegiate player.

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