LA Kings prospects on TV tonight, plus other notes

It's Friday, so it's time for some college hockey. Three Kings' prospects will be featured on TV tonight...

- First up, Derek Forbort and the University of North Dakota will be at Minnesota-Duluth (ranked third in the nation). That game can be seen on CBS College Sports at 5 pm PST (DirecTV 614). Forbort, who was injured while playing for Team USA at the recent World Junior tournament, returned to action two weeks ago. On the season, he has one goal and four assists in 20 games played - although the former first round pick is primarily a stay-at-home defenseman.

- Two hours later, NBC Sports Network (DirecTV 603) will air Nick Shore and the University of Denver hosting number-one ranked Minnesota. Selected by the Kings in the third round of last June's NHL Draft, Shore was shut out last weekend after picking up three goals and seven assists in his previous 10 games. Overall, he has 24 points (7 goals, 17 assists) in 28 games played. Note: game two of the weekend series can be seen tomorrow night on a few of the FOX Sports regional channels.

- Wisconsin has the weekend off. They'll be at Denver next weekend, which will be the third weekend in a row Badgers sophomore Michael Mersch faces off with a fellow Kings prospect.  Taken by the Kings in the fourth round last June, Mersch has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 28 games.

Big week for five of the LA Kings college prospects

As noted several times here on MayorsManor over the last few seasons, there has been a slow migration around the NHL away from relying so heavily on Canadian junior prospects. Conversely, we've seen a substantial increase in American-born players being taken in the first and second rounds of the NHL Draft.

The Kings are right near the top when it comes to U.S. players currently on the team and/or in the pipeline. With the big club, you have Jack Johnson, Matt Greene, Rob Scuderi, Dustin Brown, Trevor Lewis and many others - plus, Jonathan Quick in net.

And the team has a slew of players currently enrolled at major U.S. colleges, including 2010 first round pick Derek Forbort.

Last week, five of the college prospects made some news...

- Forbort was expected to be a major part of Team USA's defensive core at the World Junior Championship. Instead, he was injured along the boards early in the tournament (believed to be his knee) and didn't play in the team's final few games. He returned to the University of North Dakota last week. However, he did not play in either of their games over the weekend. So, we'll need to monitor the situation going forward.

- Kevin Gravel (fifth round 2010) has been coming on strong. He was named to the above mentioned USA squad and scored the game winning goal for them in their final game vs. Switzerland. The win ended an otherwise disappointing tourney for the Americans, who finished seventh overall.

WJC 2012: Kings prospects face-off on TV today at noon

The 2012 World Junior Championship is underway in Alberta, Canada. The top tournament for under-20 year old hockey players kicked off Monday with wins by Team USA and Canada.

Today, both teams are back in action again - with the U.S. facing Finland and Canada squaring off with the Czech Republic.

Of note, the US/Finland game will feature three LA Kings prospects. In the red, white and blue will be the Kings two tallest defensive prospects - Derek Forbort (6-foot-5, from the University of North Dakota, first round selection at the 2010 NHL Draft) and Kevin Gravel (6-foot-4, from St. Cloud State University, fifth round 2010 NHL Draft).

They could be shooting pucks at Christopher Gibson (2011 draft pick out of the QMJHL), as Team Finland hasn't announced their starter yet. He was in goal on Monday for all eight of Canada's goals. It wasn't pretty. In fact, it was so bad the announcers were using expressions like 'post traumatic stress disorder' and 'under siege' when talking about Gibson's day.

Three LA Kings prospects featured in two TV games today

The World Junior Championship kicks off today in Alberta, Canada. For those unfamiliar, it's the top tournament on the planet featuring under-20 year old hockey players. Last year, Russia came back from a several goal deficit in the third period to top Canada for the gold medal. And Team USA defeated Sweden 4-2 for the bronze medal.

While many of the Kings current roster has participated in past tournaments - including Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Mike Richards - it was some of their top prospects who won gold, silver and bronze medals at the WJC.

Brayden Schenn of Team Canada was traded to Philadelphia over the summer for Richards. Maxim Kitsyn is back home playing in Russia. Yet, Derek Forbort of Team USA has returned for a second year.

Here's a quick overview of the three LA Kings prospects in this year's tournament...

USA - Derek Forbort, defenseman, University of North Dakota, first round selection 2010 NHL Draft

USA - Kevin Gravel, defenseman, St. Cloud St. University, fifth round selection 2010 NHL Draft

Finland - Christopher Gibson, Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL), second round selection 2011 NHL Draft

Four LA Kings prospects make preliminary WJC rosters

Later this week we'll have a full prospect report posted, including a look at what's going on out east with the Manchester Monarchs.

For now, here's the big news of the day...

Team Finland and the USA have submitted their preliminary rosters for the upcoming World Junior Championships (Canada's was released last week).

This is the top tournament in the world for the 'under-20' aged hockey players and many of the games will be televised in the U.S. on the NHL Network.

Four LA Kings prospects have made the lists...

USA - Derek Forbort, defenseman, University of North Dakota, first round selection 2010 NHL Draft

USA - Kevin Gravel, defenseman, St. Cloud St. University, fifth round selection 2010 NHL Draft

Finland - Christopher Gibson, Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL), second round selection 2011 NHL Draft

Canada - Tyler Toffoli, Ottawa 67's (OHL), second round selection 2010 NHL Draft

For Team USA, a total roster of 30 players was announced. They will hold a pre-tourney camp from December 17-23 and their final 22-player roster will be known December 22.

Meanwhile, Canada put out a roster of 41 players, who will start their camp this Saturday in Calgary. Toffoli, who was the leading goal scorer in all of junior hockey last year, was a surprise omission from last year's team and he'll be looking to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again.

Los Angeles Kings Prospect Report - November 10, 2011

It's been another busy week for the LA Kings prospects. This time around, we have an almost broken foot, some expanding facial hair, a Russian invasion and much more. Take a look...

Manchester Monarchs

It was another rough weekend for the Monarchs, as they went 1-2 in their back-to-back-to-back games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The lone victory came on Saturday in a 2-1 win, with goalie Martin Jones in net and Brandon Kozun picking up a goal. Sunday's loss came via the shootout, so they still picked up a point.

Then, last night, Linden Vey (last year's WHL scoring champion) picked up his third goal of the season late in the game and gave the Monarchs a win in the rematch with Portland.

Left wing Ray Kaunisto, who sat out a pair of games over the weekend after fearing he broke his foot while blocking a shot on Friday night (no break, just swelling), was back in the line-up last night ans scored his second goal of the season.

Brett Hextall, a Phoenix Coyotes draft pick and son of Kings asst GM Ron Hextall, scored for the Portland Pirates in both games against the Monarchs this week (an interview with him can be found at the bottom of this article).

- Other notes: Goalie Jeff Zatkoff was in goal last night for the win, it was his second victory of the season...Grinder Jordan Nolan continues to play well, he now has seven points in 14 games - he was also suspended for two games this week, due to an elbowing incident on November 4...Andrei Loktionov leads all forwards with 14 points (3goals, 11 assists) and Jake Muzzin is tops among defensemen with eight points (3G, 5A) in 13 games played.

Los Angeles Kings Prospect Report - November 2, 2011

So, what's been going on with the LA Kings prospects since we checked in last week? Let's take a look around North America at the various levels of hockey...and as an added bonus, this week's report includes some quotes from a goaltender selected at the 2009 NHL Draft and a defenseman taken in 2010.

Manchester Monarchs

Things continue to be a struggle for the guys in the American Hockey League right now. They went 1-2 in their three games last week and only scored a single goal in the two losses.

- Martin Jones was in net for both losses...Jordan Nolan continues to have a fine season thus far, picking up another goal and an assist (six points total through 11 games played...Linden Vey, who was on MayorsManor last week after scoring his first goal as a professional, netted another one in last Saturday's win...Robbie Czarnik, who's been in Manchester all season, finally made his debut on Saturday - and picked up an assist for his efforts...goalie Jeff Zatkoff also picked up an assist in that game, something Jones had done a few games prior...Brandon Kozun, who is off to a slower start than expected, picked up the lone goal (his second of the season) in Sunday's loss...Andrei Loktionov still leads the team in points (three goals, nine assists) and has a plus-5 rating.

- Starting tomorrow night, the Monarchs will play one of those Manchester specials - a three-fer - with games back-to-back-to-back, Friday through Sunday.

Exclusive: Nick Shore on Team USA WJC camp experience

Nick Shore - LA Kings prospect
(photo by Cikiri)

Like it has been for some of you, summer has been filled with plenty of camping for many of the Los Angeles Kings top prospects.

First, there was the Kings Development Camp in early July. Then, a few of the elite were selected to attend evaluation camps for various countries preparing to participate in this winter's World Junior Championship.

Last week, Tyler Toffoli checked in from Team Canada's camp. And over the last few days, we heard from Kevin Gravel and Michael Mersch.

Next up is Nick Shore, a college player (University of Denver Pioneers) selected by LA in the third round of this year's draft.

Last summer, he was invited by Team USA to their summer camp as well. However, he didn't make the team that went on to the tournament this past January.

He arrived back home in Colorado yesterday and shared the following thoughts on his second go around at evaluation camp...

- Overall impression: "I thought I had a really good camp. Obviously, it was my second year there, so I felt a little more comfortable and more prepared. In the games that I played, I think I played pretty well too. So, now I'm focused on having a big first half to the season and hopefully I'll get invited to the (selection) camp in December."

- Changes to the structure of camp: "Last year, there wasn't necessarily workouts, but it was definitely a much more rigorous warm-up and cool down. We didn't have as much of that this year, so I think it made it a little bit easier."

- On his interactions with the coaches: "The way it worked was coach Dean Blais wasn't around as much during the first part of camp. We had our own coaches and stuff like that (note: the group of 40+ campers was split into two groups for the first few days, team blue and team white). So, we didn't interact much. But, yeah, some of the coaches were pretty funny and they were fun to be around."

- On Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma, who helped out during the early part of camp: "Any time there is an NHL coach there, you have to listen to everything he has to say. The main thing with him was the way he approached the game. He did everything in a very professional manner and I think even though this was a camp in the middle of summer, he was still very professional in all aspects. I think that really transferred over to my game and the rest of guys in camp."

Guest Author: D-man Kevin Gravel's USA camp journal

Kevin Gravel (photo: Cikiri)

Since the inception of MayorsManor, all articles and updates have been written by me. Sure, we've done countless interviews with players, coaches and other hockey people - yet, the content was always prepared by me.

We've also had the Kings' Jim Fox serve as our unofficial playoff reporter the last few seasons, providing his thoughts from the road when the team was away from Staples Center.

And yes, we've had guys like Jake Muzzin and Andrei Loktionov serve as as our Manchester correspondents, feeding us the latest Monarchs news.

Today, however, we enter a new phase at MayorsManor. For the first time ever, we have a guest author.

Kevin Gravel, selected by the Kings at the 2010 NHL Draft, has been on the site several times over the last year. This time is different though. He was kind enough to offer his perspective on what he experienced at this week's Team USA evaluation camp for the upcoming World Junior tournament.

In his own words, here's Gravel...

"Any time you get a chance to put on the USA jersey it is an opportunity you don’t take for granted. I've been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to represent my country in a few prior tournaments and I was looking forward to having a chance to do that again. When I finally got out to Lake Placid for the evaluation camp I was ready to get everything going.

The morning of the first day, we had our only practice - and it was a pretty tough practice. However, it allowed us get our feet wet for the games that were about to follow.

The first game two games of the camp we played inter-squad scrimmages. I was on Team Blue with Nick Shore, which put us up against (fellow Kings prospects) Derek Forbort and Michael Mersch.

Exclusive: Michael Mersch on Team USA camp experience

Michael Mersch at camp (photo by Cikiri)

Playing for your country is something every hockey player takes very seriously. It's a true honor.

To play on an international stage is a process also. And for the top under-20 year old Americans, the first step towards wearing that jersey at the upcoming World Junior Championships is taking place right now.

USA Hockey's week-long summer evaluation camp began last Saturday. After a few scrimmages and then some split-squad games with Finland and Sweden, the roster was trimmed from 44 invitees down to 28.

Still in camp are Los Angeles Kings prospects Derek Forbort (2010 first round draft pick and a member of last year's WJC bronze medal winning U.S. team) and Nick Shore (2011 third round draft pick).

As reported Tuesday, defenseman Kevin Gravel (2010, fifth round) and Michael Mersch (2011, fourth round) were two of the players not asked to stay for the second half of camp.

Mersch, a former member of the U.S. National Development Program, was kind enough though to check in with us when he returned home yesterday. Here are some thoughts on his experience...

- On the overall experience of being in historic Lake Placid, NY: "There were a lot of good players at the camp and it was great to be on the ice skating with them. I felt pretty good about my play out there. Obviously, things didn't work out. But, I gained some confidence, knowing I can play with the best players in the nation. So, it was a good time overall. Going there and playing for the USA, with all that history and tradition there, being able to skate on that ice, it's very exciting. History brings a lot of motivation."

Forbort, Shore stay - Gravel, Mersch cut at USA WJC camp

The Los Angeles Kings were privileged enough to have four prospects attend this year's Team USA World Junior Championship evaluation camp.

That's quite the step up from the quality and depth they've had in recent years with American-born prospects.

Unfortunately, today was cut down day and only half of the crop will be staying.

Defenseman Kevin Gravel (a fifth round draft pick in 2010 and student-athlete at St. Cloud State State University) and recently selected forward Michael Mersch (2011 fourth round draft pick, who plays at the University of Wisconsin) were not included once the roster was trimmed from the initial 44, down to 29.

Sticking around for the international portion of camp are defenseman Derek Forbort (2010 first rounder, University of North Dakota) and center Nick Shore (2011 third round, Denver University).

The remaining team will now play three games - one against Finland (Thursday) and two against Sweden (tomorrow and Saturday). All of them can be viewed for free via a live stream provided by Fast Hockey on facebook.

The 'final' camp roster can be found here.

For the record, this is not necessarily the final roster that will take the ice when the tournament begins just after Christmas. USA Hockey will host a 'selection camp' in early December and any of the players cut today could be invited back to that camp to go through the process again, pending their play over the early part of next season. So, there's still hope.

Within the next few days, Gravel and Mersch are expected to stop by MayorsManor with full reports of their experience at camp.

In the meantime, here's the original article talking about the Kings history with Team USA and down below there are links to several previous MM articles on all four of the American-born Kings prospects.

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RELATED ARTICLES:

Post-season interview with Derek Forbort - includes NCAA playoff preview

DevCamp 2011: Pre-camp interview with Kevin Gravel

DevCamp 2011: Pre-camp interview with Michael Mersch

Wisconsin asst coach Gary Shuchuk talks LA Kings 2011 draft pick M. Mersch

LA Kings Draft update: round three - center Nick Shore

More camping for Kings' Forbort, Gravel, Mersch and Shore

How did this happen?

Over the last ten years, the Los Angeles Kings have had only two pure prospects represent Team USA at the World Junior Championships - defenseman Derek Forbort (last January) and forward Trevor Lewis (2007).

Yes, Dustin Brown played for the U.S. in 2002 and 2003. However, he hadn't been drafted by the Kings yet. You may also recall Patrick O'Sullivan skating in the WJC in 2003, 2004 and 2005 - yet, he didn't become a member of the Kings until a June 2006 trade with Minnesota.

About the only other marginal credit you could assign to the Kings would be Jack Johnson. An important note though would be that Johnson played for America in the 2006 WJC while a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. Thus, he was pretty much a given for the 2007 team by the time the Kings traded for him, just a little over three months before the tournament began.

Up in Canada though, the Kings have practically dominated the World Junior summer evaluation camp rosters the last few seasons - with names like Thomas Hickey, Colten Teubert, Tyler Toffoli, Linden Vey, Brandon Kozun, Brayden Schenn, Kyle Clifford, Wayne Simmonds, Jonathan Bernier and many more.

And now the Kings - finally - have a big time presence at the Team USA evaluation camp for next winter's World Junior tournament.

When the roster came out in early June, the Kings were already ahead of the curve - having a pair of defensemen included in Forbort and Kevin Gravel (both 2010 draft picks). Then, a few weeks later, they drafted Nick Shore and Michael Mersch.

Kings Dev Camp: Detailed Black v White scrimmage notes

Throughout the day today at Kings Development Camp I tweeted various notes from the scrimmage and quotes from several players.

For those who like a little more detail, below is a semi-thorough recap. Special thanks and a major stick tap to Scott Coffman of The Fourth Period for the assist here:

First Period Highlights

Team Black started Martin Jones in net and Team White went with Matej Machovsky (camp invitee from Brampton, OHL)...Team Black also includes Tyler Toffoli, Linden Vey, Michael Schumacher, Derek Forbort, Andrew Campbell and Nic Deslauriers...Team White also includes Jordan Weal, Ray Kaunisto, Brandon Kozun, Nic Dowd, Nick Shore, Jake Muzzin and Kevin Gravel.

Michael Kantor rocks Gravel, who skates back to the bench very slowly...Team Black is on the board first when Toffoli scores...it looked like a missed play by defenseman Alex Roach, allowing Toffoli to bang home a jam play...minutes later Machovsky makes a big save on a breakaway against Toffoli, don't think Toffoli got the shot he wanted...half way through the first period and it's all Team Black, very little offensive pressure from Team White.

DevCamp 2011: pre-camp comments from Kevin Gravel

For those who follow the Los Angeles Kings prospects, especially the defensemen, you're probably familiar with names like Derek Forbort, Thomas Hickey and Viatcheslav Voynov.

Yet, start to remember the name Kevin Gravel.

The 6-foot-4 blueliner recently wrapped up his freshman season at St. Cloud State University, where he won William Radovich Award for the most improved player.

He's also been invited to Team USA's evaluation camp next month for the upcoming World Junior Championship. Several other Kings prospects will be there with him and being selected for the team that will compete at next winter's tournament would certainly raise his profile.

First things first though. He'll be in LA for Development Camp on Monday and I recently spoke with him...

MM: What have you been up to since the season ended?

KG: Well, we had spring workouts until school ended. Then, I headed home for a little over a month and now I'm back in St. Cloud working out with the guys that are here and getting ready for Development Camp in LA.

MM: Now that you've had some time to process everything, what was the high of the season and the low? Any regrets?

KG: There aren't really any regrets. Obviously, it would have been nice to go further, maybe live up to some of the expectations we had. But, by the end of the year we were a very good hockey team that could beat anyone in the country. My 'high' of the season would have been the little stretch where we had a six game winning streak. We also had a real good stretch towards the end of the season against North Dakota, Denver and Wisconsin too. That really had us feeling good. Unfortunately, we just couldn't keep it going.

MM: Speaking of those schools, the Kings already had Forbort (UND), who we've spoken about previously, and they just drafted Nick Shore (Denver) and Michael Mersch (Wisconsin). Any memories from playing those two guys this year?

Los Angeles Kings 2011 Development Camp Roster Notes

As previously announced, the Kings are getting ready to hold their annual summer development camp at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, CA - with sessions open to the public on July 11 and 12. Most of the players are scheduled to arrive on the 8th.

Last year 40 players were in camp, including five goalies.

So, who's coming this year?

While the full roster is expected to be announced shortly, here are some confirmed participants, four of the tryout players and a few miscellaneous notes.

Confirmed Draft Picks

JF Berube - 2009 fourth round, Montreal (QMJHL)
Nic Deslauriers - 2009 third round, Gatineau (QMJHL)
Derek Forbort - 2010 first round pick, North Dakota (NCAA)
Kevin Gravel - 2010 fifth round pick, St Cloud State (NCAA)
Brandon Kozun - 2009 sixth round pick, Calgary (WHL)
Michael Mersch - 2011 fourth round pick, Wisconsin (NCAA)
Tyler Toffoli - 2010 second round pick, Ottawa (OHL)
Michael Schumacher - 2011 seventh round pick, Sweden
Jordan Weal - 2010 third round pick, Regina (WHL)

Invited Guests

Each year a number of guys are invited to attend camp on a tryout basis. So far, the following players have accepted and are scheduled to be in camp:

Wisconsin coach on LA Prospects Forbort, Gravel & Shore

Earlier this week, Wisconsin assistant coach - and former LA King grinder - Gary Shuchuk joined us to talk about the Kings fourth round selection in this year's draft, Michael Mersch.

Shuchuk, now an assistant coach at Wisconsin (NCAA), helped oversee Mersch's development during his just completed freshman season. Among the comments he shared was his belief that the 6-foot-1 prospect is patterned after somebody like Brendan Shanahan. Not bad.

Today, Shuchuk joins us again - this time to talk about three other Kings prospects that his Badgers played recently...

MM: You guys played Denver at the beginning of the season and the Kings just drafted Nick Shore in the third round. Any memories of him when the two schools met up?

GS: He's a good player. He's another big forward, a potential power guy. I think he has a lot of upside. He's probably a better skater than Michael (Mersch) right now. He's a smooth skater with a lot of power and a good shot. He plays hard, goes in the corners, not afraid to muck it up. He's good.

LA Kings Prospect Report - notes on Forbort, Gravel

The Kings top pick from last summer's draft, defenseman Derek Forbort, has been invited to this summer's Team USA evaluation camp.

The sessions, held each August by Canada, the U.S. and other countries are the first step to assembling rosters for next winter's World Junior Championship - which will be played in Western Canada, starting the day after Christmas.

At the 2011 WJC, Brayden Schenn and Canada were denied gold by Team Russia (which featured Kings prospect Maxim Kitsyn). Meanwhile, Forbort and Team USA picked up a bronze medal.

Set to attend this year's camp with Forbort are several names that may also be familiar to MayorsManor readers, including - Kevin Gravel (also a Kings prospect), 2010 NHL first rounders Nick Bjugstad (Florida), Charlie Coyle (San Jose) and Emerson Etem (Anaheim), plus Matt Nieto (Long Beach native, currently at Boston University and 2011 NHL Draft eligible).

Gravel was a freshman this year at St. Cloud state.  He played in 36 games, scoring six points (one goal, five assists).  Forbort, also a freshman, reached the NCAA Frozen Four with North Dakota.  However, they lost in the semi-finals to Michigan (yes, Jack Johnson was happy...Matt Greene was not).  During the regular season Forbort played in 38 games, picking up 15 assists (no goals).

The camp will be held in Lake Placid, N.Y. and overseen by coach Dean Blais, who returns to Team USA after guiding the 2010 squad to WJC gold. Former King, turned Stanley Cup winning coach, Dan Bylsma of the Pittsburgh Penguins will also serve as part of the camp's coaching staff.

Which NHL team will have the most prospects? That's the Chicago Blackhawks, with three. The Kings are tied with three other teams, each having two prospects at the camp.

To read more about last summer's camp, click here - see what Bjugstad and Coyle shared on MayorsManor (including their thoughts on Forbort's performance).

Meanwhile, Forbort and Gravel, both Kings prospects - and two huge defensmen - squared off several times this season...something we chronicled here.

Kyle Clifford and JF Berube filed reports from Team Canada's camp last summer too - those interviews can be found here (KC) and here (JFB).  See what they had to say about fellow Kings prospects like Schenn, Tyler Toffoli, Nic Deslauriers and many more.

Finally, if you missed the previous interview with Nieto, who just may get selected in the first round later this month, check it out here.

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Prospect Update and DVR Alert

Let's take a quick trip around the North American rinks and see what's going on with some of the Kings prospects...

NCAA / College Hockey

- Derek Forbort (D, 2010 first round pick), fresh off winning the bronze medal with Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Buffalo on Wednesday, returns to the line-up tonight for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. They're game with Robert Morris University will be televised nationally on FCS (DirecTV channel 617) at 5:30pm PST (replayed tomorrow morning on the NHL Network).  Saturday night's game will be on channel  623.

- Kevin Gravel (D, 2010 fifth round) is having a tough freshman year at St Cloud State, as his team is near the bottom of their conference (WCHA). However, next month they'll get a rematch with Forbort and the Sioux on home ice, after dropping a pair at UND this past November. In 18 games played he has two assists and is a minus-6.

Forbort def. Gravel via Round Two Knockout

For all the talk surrounding the importance of drafting junior hockey players, outside of Drew Doughty, every other defenseman currently on the Kings roster is a former college hockey player - Jack Johnson (Michigan), Peter Harrold and Rob Scuderi (Boston College), Davis Drewiske (Wisconsin), Willie Mitchell (Clarkson Univeristy), Alec Martinez (Miami-Ohio) and Matt Greene (North Dakota).

And don't think for a minute those guys forget their college pride once they make the NHL. A few weeks ago Drewiske shared this story with me when talking about last year's BC vs. Wisconsin NCAA Championship Final, "I had a little bet with Scuderi and Harrold on the Championship game. I said if UW won, they each had to spend a day wearing my letter jacket from Wisconsin - which is just hideous, an ugly thing. If BC won, they had their senior sweaters, you know maroon and gold. Obviously, BC won the Championship game 5-0. So, I had to spend a day - I think we were in Vancouver - with the BC colors on, which didn't feel right at all."

Forbort vs Gravel - Round One Results

While it isn't uncommon for two Kings prospects to play each other in junior hockey, it doesn't happen nearly as often at the NCAA level.

Yet, with the Kings loading up on former college hockey players right now, especially on defense - Matt Greene, Rob Scuderi, Jack Johnson, Peter Harrold, Davis Drewiske, etc. - it could become a little more frequent.

Last night was one such occasion, as two potential future additions to the Kings' blue line faced off against each other for the first time. Derek Forbort (first round pick 2010) and the North Dakota Fighting Sioux were hosting the St. Cloud State Huskies and Kevin Gravel (fifth round 2010).

UND entered the weekend ranked #7 in the nation, while SCSU has remained unranked this year.

Prior to the game, Gravel told me "I think this weekend is going to be a good weekend for us. We've been inconsistent at times this season and there's no better team to turn the season around than against North Dakota. We'll be ready to go tonight."