LA Kings prospect report - checking in with Nick Shore

Shore at Kings Camp, July 2011 (photo: Ikiri)

Nick Shore has scored 13 goals for the Denver Pioneers this season.   And in the 11 games he's found the back of the net (there were two multi-goal games), his team has won all 11.

"I guess we need to do a little more of that then," he jokingly said when we talked last night.

The WCHA Tournament - better known as the Final Five - begins later this afternoon, with DU set to take on Michigan Tech in their opening game. Asked if winning that match-up was as simple as making sure he scored then, Shore was quick to look at the bigger picture.

"As a team, if we just have a good effort and play the way we can, I think we'll have a pretty good chance of winning."

Their determination was certainly tested last weekend when tournament play began. In a best-of-three series vs. Wisconsin, they dropped the opening game 1-0 and then took the next two. Things came right down to the wire though, as the last game needed overtime to decide the outcome.

"Nothing came easy that entire series," Shore noted. "But, I thought we did a pretty good job of bouncing back."

He also played a big factor in the series. While the score sheets show that he had two goals, the first one on Saturday was into an empty net. The big goal came on Sunday, with his team trailing.

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.

LA Kings prospects featured in three TV games tonight

Until the AHL or the Canadian junior leagues can find a way to get more air time on the NHL Network, college hockey broadcasts are your best best to regularly check out some of the Kings prospects on television.  Tonight, viewers are treated to a triple header...

Joel Lowry - The Kings 2011 fourth round draft pick made his debut last weekend for Cornell University and picked up an assist. Tonight, he and his teammates will play longtime rival Yale, who went 17-1-1 at home last season and they come in tonight as the the 9th ranked team in the country. Earlier today, Lowry was interviewed for Cornell's 'Freshman Friday' series (link). That game starts at 4:30 pm PST on CBS Sports Network (DirecTV channel 613).

Derek Forbort - North Dakota's 6-foot-4 defenseman was the Kings first round selection in 2010, back when the draft was held in Los Angeles. The Fighting Sioux, Matt Greene's alma mater, are usually one of the top team's in the country. However, they're off to a rough start, including a split at home last weekend vs. St. Cloud State (and fellow Kings prospect Kevin Gravel). Tonight they're in Minnesota at 5:30pm PST to play Minnesota. The Gophers feature one of the best young American born hockey players in the game today, center Nick Bjugstad (who was drafted 19th in 2010, the slot the Kings traded out of to move up four spots and nab Forbort). Fifth-ranked Minnesota vs #15 North Dakota will be on Fox Sports North, DirecTV channel 668.

Nick Shore - LA's third round selection this past June is a freshman at the University of Denver (currently ranked 8th), who will be home tonight to host 14th ranked Minnesota-Duluth. Shore, like Forbort and Bjugstad above, is expected to be part of Team USA's World Junior Championship team later this winter. Tonight's game from Colorado can be seen on ROOT Sports, DirecTV channel 683 at 6:30 pm PST.

MayorsManor interviews with Shore and Forbort are linked below.

The Mayor
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RELATED ARTICLES:

Exclusive:  Nick Shore talks about his experience at Team USA's summer camp

Interview with Derek Forbort

LA Kings weekly prospect report - November 2, 2011

LA Kings prospects on TV later this afternoon

Shore and Forbort at Kings camp (photo: C. Ikiri)

There's no denying the growing impact of U.S. college hockey on the NHL.

And the LA Kings have been ahead of the curve in recent years, with a plethora of former student athletes on their roster.

Heck, on defense Drew Doughty is the odd man out, as everybody else went the college route - Matt Greene (North Dakota), Jack Johnson (Michigan), Alec Martinez (Miami-Ohio), Willie Mitchell (Clarkson) and Rob Scuderi (Boston College).

The Kings have been stocking up on those type of players at the NHL Draft as well, with five of their 11 selections over the past two years already committed to going the NCAA route.

Later this afternoon, the top two prospects from that pool will be featured on television.

Defenseman Derek Forbort - the Kings first round pick from 2010 - and his North Dakota teammates will host the University of Maine 5:30 pm PST on Fox College Sports (channel 617 on DirecTV). Forbort is coming off a big weekend last week, having scored the first goal of his NCAA career. For those unfamiliar with him, he was also a member of the Team USA's squad that won a bronze medal at last winter's World Junior Championship (WJC). North Dakota are ranked sixth in the country, Maine is #16.

Today's big college hockey match-up will start an hour earlier on the CBS Sports Network (channel 613 on DirecTV), when #3-ranked Denver travels to #1-ranked Boston College. The Kings third round pick at last June's draft, Nick Shore, is one of the top centers for the Denver team. Earlier this summer, he attended the Team USA evaluation camp for the 2012 WJC and spoke exclusively with MayorsManor about his experience in an article linked below.

Next weekend, Forbort and team travel to Wisconsin to take on Michael Mersch (2011 Kings draft pick) and the Badgers. Then, the following weekend, they'll be home to play Kevin Gravel (Kings 2010 selection) and St. Cloud State.

At the end of February, North Dakota will play at Denver, in one of the most anticipated regular season games of the season. Can Forbort and the Sioux defense shut down Shore and the Pioneer offense? Ah come on, there's plenty of hockey to play between now and then.

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/MayorNHL
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor 

RELATED ARTICLES:

Exclusive - Nick Shore on Team USA WJC camp experience

Exclusive - Michael Mersh on experience at Team USA evaluation camp

Guest author - defenseman Kevin Gravel's Team USA camp journal

Interview with Kings' college prospect Derek Forbort

Forbort defeats Gravel via round two knockout

Date Night with your Los Angeles Kings

What started as an innocent conversation with Kings prospect Jake Muzzin quickly spawned an idea for an article.

Life as an NHL prospect probably isn't as glamorous as it may seem at times. Over the last two weeks, guys from all across North America have been housed out of a hotel in El Segundo, CA (which, for those of you reading this article out of state, let's just say - it's not Hollywood).

By day, they've been been working hard on and off the ice, under the tutelage of head coach Terry Murray and his entire staff. By night, well - they're starting to go a little stir crazy in their 20x20 rooms.

During out little chat, Muzzin encouraged me to go see 'Moneyball.' He says it very good, especially the work by Brad Pitt. On the other hand, he strongly does not recommend 'Drive,' saying it was too slow.

After practice today, Ray Kaunisto was already looking ahead - revealing he plans on taking Brandon Kozun out for 'date night' later this evening.

To get some varied perspectives from around the room, here are comments from a few of the other Kings prospects...

Tyler Toffoli - "We saw 'Contagion,' I wouldn't recommend it. It was really slow." (Jordan Nolan started laughing in the background and shaking his head side to side. He didn't approve of the flick either.)

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.

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/MayorNHL
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor

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.

Tweeting the night away with LA Kings Campers

Forbort, Dowd, Kaunisto via @RayK71

Tweet, tweet!

I know, I know - you prefer facebook.

For everybody else out there who likes to follow the action and conversations that take place in no more than 140-character sound bites, good news...

Of the 35 guys scheduled to attend this year's Development Camp, many of them are on twitter. And several of them have already started commenting about the experience.

Here's a partial list of campers on twitter, with I'm sure more to come in the next few days:

@JimmyDowder26
Nic Dowd — F, seventh round 2009, St. Cloud State (NCAA)

@Durepos23
Pierre Durepos — D, free agent, Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)

@derekforbort4
Derek Forbort — D, first round 2010, University of North Dakota (NCAA)

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?

LA Kings Draft Update: Round Three - center Nick Shore

Finally some love for Team USA.

In recent years, Team Canada camps for the World Junior Championships have been like mini-Kings camps. Los Angeles has had more prospects there than any other NHL franchise - with names like Thomas Hickey, Brayden Schenn, Kyle Clifford, etc.

On the flip side, Derek Forbort - the Kings first round selection at last summer's draft - has been the lone guy over on the Team USA side.

That's about to change.

Dealer Dean was up to his old tricks again, just moments after making the 80th pick in this year's draft, Lombardi packaged his sixth round pick this year (#170 overall) and next year's third rounder to nab Nick Shore at #82.

Shore, a center from the University of Denver, was ranked #56 by NHL Central Scouting, so he was a pretty attractive pick when he was still sitting there. During his just completed freshman season he had 18 points in 28 games. Scouts rave about his hockey smarts and say he is strong defensively - both things coach Terry Murray values highly.  His skating is said to need serious improvement though.

Forbort's North Dakota Fighting Sioux downed Shore's Denver Pioneers 6-1 in this year's NCAA playoffs, advancing to the Frozen Four.

Both players, along with fellow Kings prospect Kevin Gravel (St Could State), have been invited to participate in the upcoming USA Hockey evaluation camp for next year's World Junior tournament.

Also of note, Lombardi has been known as a big WHL guy - however, he's been taking a lot of NCAA players lately.

For a look back at the Kings other draft picks today, start here.

Or skip ahead to their next selections from rounds four through seven click here.

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/MayorNHL
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor

RELATED ARTICLES:

Interview with Kings 2010 first round pick Derek Forbort

Brayden Schenn's last major interview as a member of the LA Kings

Kyle Clifford explains his nickname

Interview with Thomas Hickey - Kings former number one draft pick, top prospect