NHL hockey Michigan alum

Steven Kampfer will be making his NHL debut for the Boston Bruins tonight. I allways like seeing former Michigan players make it to the NHL.

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/bruins/post/_/id/3111/kampfer-gets-call-from-hunwick

Aaron Ward has retired from the NHL.

Ward was an excellent defenseman for Michigan from 1990-93 and was drafted 5th overall by the former Winnepeg Jets in 1991 but traded to Detroit in 1993 (for Paul Ysebaert, anyone remember him?).  He won Cups with the Wings in '97 and '98, then was traded to Carolina in 2001, with whom he won a Cup in 2006.  He then went on to play for the Rangers, Bruins, Hurricaines again, then Anaheim for a few games last season.  He had a 44-107-151 line in 839 NHL games (Wikipedia).  Ward was yet another of the many players Michigan sent to the NHL who enjoyed long, productive careers, and one of a few who went on to play for the Red Wings.  Congratulations to him on a great career and his retirement--may it include many an alumni game appearance.

Happy trails to former Michigan star defenseman Mike Van Ryn, who's retired from the NHL due to mounting injuries and will begin a new career as an assistant coach in the OHL (Niagara IceDogs). 

Van Ryn was drafted in the first round, 26th overall by the Devils, but signed with St. Louis as a loophole free agent after a good, but short, UM career.  He was traded to Florida, then Toronto, where a knee injury ultimately cut his career short.

A sad end to the pro career of a popular hockey alum, but hopefully the beginning of something greater as a coach.

Washington-Montreal box score

Michigan hockey alum Michael Cammalleri's scored two goals for Montreal (less than two minutes apart) in the first period in a must-win for the Canadiens. That puts him up to four goals in the first round, along with four assists, making him the most successful Michigan alum in the playoffs right now

Mike Cammalleri scored a hat trick tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, giving him a league-leading 11 goals in January. He passed Jarome Iginla as Calgary's goal-leader with 25 goals.

Cammalleri probably should have gone to the All-Star game instead of Iginla, where he would have joined Komisarek (who was probably lucky to be there due to time lost to injury).