I am not sure how many out there are interested in stuff like this, but
I am going to post an article I wrote on the three recent NHL draft
picks from the Black Bears. It appeared in The Maine Campus' Winter
Sports Preview edition. Anyway, I thought some out there would be
interested...
 
By Bill Stewart
Maine Campus staff
 
        Matt Yeats was at an airport in St. Cloud, Mn., while Matthias
Trattnig and Mike Morrison were tucked in bed when the news came down.
        Trattnig said he expected it to happen while Yeats and Morrison were
on the brink of losing hope. But as judgment day in June came to a
dramatic close, all three were corralled by the National Hockey League.
        Trattnig, Yeats and Morrison join the ranks of an exclusive group of
company from the University of Maine men's hockey collage of NHL draft
picks.
Trattnig, a sophomore from Graz, Austria, was drafted in the fourth
round by the Chicago Blackhawks.
        Morrison and Yeats each held their breaths before the Edmonton Oilers
and the Los Angeles Kings called their names.
Morrison was selected in the seventh round as Yeats followed him in the
ninth round.
        "It made for a good summer," Morrison said. "I thought I was close
after seeing my name on some NHL draft preview and I was just hoping
someone would pull the trigger."
        Morrison, a first-year goalie for the Black Bears who will push Alfie
Michaud for playing time this year, said he felt the nerves come draft
day  as he sat down to watch the first round.
        And when the round came and went, the former standout at Phillips
Exeter Academy decided to go out to the gym, grab something to eat and,
well, basically do anything to divert his attention.
        "I left because I couldn't stand it anymore," Morrison said. "When I
got back home it was like in the fifth or sixth round and nobody in my
house was jumping up or down."
        So what did he do?
        "I just went up to my bedroom and was disappointed," he said. "I was
bummed out and went to sleep. I was totally pouting about it. But then
at 8:45 p.m. Edmonton called and said they had drafted me five minutes
ago. It was awesome."
        While it was Edmonton breaking the news to Morrison, Yeats heard the
announcement from his mother after returning from an airport where he
was supposed to pick up a friend from a hockey camp he was attending in
St. Cloud.
        "I was stuck in an airport all night," Yeats said. "Finally I got back
to the campus [of St. Cloud State University] where I was told to call
my mom. So I did, and she broke the news."
Startled, Yeats wasn't convinced.
        "I didn't believe her at first and she had friends over celebrating,"
the freshman goalie from Innisfail, Alberta said. "Then, one of the
scouts called me the next morning."
        Yeats, who won't be eligible to play until the second semester, is one
of three talented Black Bears who could see a lot of action in goal
this year.
        Although Morrison and Yeats were overwhelmed when learning they were
drafted, Trattnig wasn't surprised.
        "I knew they would call me," the sophomore forward said. "I was ranked
as a second or third round draft choice so it worked out pretty much as
expected. I was definitely happy."
But not overly elated. Trattnig, on the same day he was drafted, had
just injured his knee so the NHL news produced almost a secondary
emotion.
        "I was bummed out," Trattnig said. "The news on Chicago drafting me
didn't bring me up or down."
        All three players said their respective NHL teams are encouraging them
to stay in school to help further develop their game.
        "They told me they would like me to stay here for a couple of years,"
Yeats said. "They had already drafted another goalie in the third round
so they wanted me to see what was going to happen."