LA prospect Michael Mersch on Wisconsin's big weekend

Mersch celebrates his first goal of the season

LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi had a plan five years ago and it was simple. Stock the team's farm system with goalies first, then defenseman and eventually get to the forwards.

And over the last few drafts he's picked up quite a few potential power forwards, including Michael Mersch - now a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin.

This weekend, he and his Badger teammates hosted the nation's fifth-ranked North Dakota Fighting Sioux - a team that includes the Kings first round draft pick from 2010, defenseman Derek Forbort.

The two prospects had spent some time together over the summer, both at Development Camp with the Kings (in July) and an evaluation camp for Team USA the following month.

However, the two weren't very friendly this weekend. "We actually didn't even get a chance to talk," said Mersch. "We were both focused on the games. They're a huge rival and we both just wanted to help our teams out."

Mersch certainly did his part. He scored a goal in Friday's opening contest - a game Wisconsin won 5-3.

"We had a power play carry over from the first period and I slid off back door, the puck came across the crease and I just whacked it home," was how Mersch described his contribution in the second period.

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

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.

Interview with Kings college prospect, dman Derek Forbort

 Standing 6'5" and a freshman at the University of North Dakota, Derek Forbort is still years away from seeing time on the blue line in Los Angeles.

Still, when he goes from being the Kings number one draft pick in June 2010 to the team's highest rated defensive prospect eight months later (according to The Hockey News), people take notice.

He was a member of the Team USA squad that won a bronze medal at the recent World Junior Championships and later this afternoon his Fighting Sioux team will enter the NCAA tournament as the number one seed in their regional.

As part of our 'prospect playoff preview' series this week, Forbort made another visit to MayorsManor...

MM: The recent Hockey News 'Future Watch' edition listed you at #49 among all NHL prospects, covering all the teams in the league. That also placed you as the highest rated defenseman among the 10 Kings prospects. Did you see it and does that mean anything to you?

Interview: Catching Up with Derek Forbort

A few months ago prospect Derek Forbort stopped by to talk about being drafted by the Kings (first round, 2010) and adjusting to life as a freshman at the University of North Dakota.

Fresh off of winning a bronze medal last week at the 2011 World Junior Championships, he's back again. In the interview below we reflect on his experience at the WJC, talk about this weekend's big match-up vs. Minnesota and look ahead to the second half of the NCAA season...

MM: So much has been written about the games themselves, how about we start away from the rink - what did you guys do on the off days in Buffalo (at the WJC)?

DF: We went to a couple movies. We saw 'The Little Fockers' on Christmas Day, which is a pretty brutal movie. We hung out at the hotel a lot really. Not much else. There wasn't really a lot going on in Buffalo.

MM: Besides the high of winning the bronze medal, what were some of the other highlights for you personally?

DF: I played with a lot of the guys last year (in the US National Program), so it was a lot of fun getting back together with the boys, seeing what they've been doing lately and so on.

MM: On the flip side, I would assume losing to Canada in the semi-finals was the low...

DF: Oh, definitely!

MM: Is it something that eats at you or do you just file it away in the back of your brain?

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."