Sput
04-13-2007, 01:42 PM
from the NEW www.princegeorgecitizen.com
Marquee matchup
Setoguchi, Mueller lead their teams
by JIM SWANSON
Citizen staff
The similarities in the resumes of Devin Setoguchi and Peter Mueller are striking.
Setoguchi, the star winger for the Prince George Cougars, is a right-hand shot who plays the point on the power play. He’s a first-round NHL draft choice, taken eighth overall in 2005 by San Jose, and stands six-foot tall, weighing 195 pounds.
Mueller, the feature centre for the Everett Silvertips, shoots right and quarterbacks the power play from the blueline. A first rounder, the Phoenix Coyotes took him eighth overall one year after Setoguchi was drafted. He’s six-two and 200 pounds, marginally bigger than his Cougars counterpart.
As of Thursday, they were tied for the WHL lead in playoff scoring with 14 points, and they're teams are tied in their WHL Western Conference semifinal series 2-2, with Game 5 to be played in Everett on Saturday.
One other thing in common – Setoguchi and Mueller both have a healthy respect for one another.
“People are making this series out to be me against Mueller, but this is about the teams,” said Setoguchi, who signed his first NHL contract last April.
“There’s a comparison that pushes us both, I’m sure. It’s not head-to-head, but it can be about pride. He’s a great hockey player and it’s great to be able to play against someone like him. You think about it, he’s a year younger than I am, so he’s doing great things. He’s so good, has so much poise with the puck, and it’s scary for our league if he’s back next year. For me, it’s skating and power, and for him it’s about vision and being able to look guys off and work the puck east to west. We’re different players.
“It’s hard not to watch him on the ice because he’s got the puck so much.”
You can be sure Mueller takes note of how Setoguchi works, too.
“He’s a great player and any great player you can pick up things from watching them,” said Mueller, who has yet to ink his first NHL deal.
“Every time they have the puck it seems like No. 18 is rushing with it. People are going to judge us because we both went eighth overall, but it’s a team game.”
Everett head coach Kevin Constantine, a former head man in San Jose, knows a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in the NHL. Both will be there soon, he said.
“Setoguchi has an unbelievable shot and he doesn’t need a lot of opportunities to put pucks in the net,” said Constantine.
“Peter can shoot too, but he likes to carry the puck more. Both are very good players.”
The two have never met, and maybe that’s a passport issue. Setoguchi is from Taber, Alta., while Mueller hails from Bloomington, Minn.
But the similarities do come to an end. Though they both pile up the points, their style of play couldn’t be more different.
One is a bull in a china shop. The other is a ballroom dancer.
“Seto’s more of a straight-forward guy with speed and power, he’ll go through people, where Mueller is a guy who will pick you apart if you’re not careful,” said Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck.
“He’ll look for the soft areas, the back door guys, but Seto will go straight at you and let it rip and create opportunities from that. Both guys are dynamic in different ways and it’s been interesting to see the contrast.
“Mueller slows the game down and finds that guy – he’s a lot like Wayne Gretzky in that regard, but like Gretzky he can also beat you with his shot.”
Fitting, then, that Gretzky’s Coyotes drafted Mueller. Because he’s loyal to the Sharks, Setoguchi replaces the Gretzky comparison with a San Jose angle.
“I’m thinking he’s more like Joe Thornton in how he handles the puck and dishes to other guys,” said Setoguchi.
“(Mueller) has that skill to be able to hold on to that puck that extra second while the defender goes down, and then dishes off. That’s something you don’t practice, you just are born with it.”
As the playoffs go on, the one who plays for the team that advances to the third round will contend for the playoff scoring title. That’s what makes this series so enjoyable – offence, pure offence, something foreign to hockey in the day of trap-and-clutch systems.
“Something they both have in common -- they’re both fun to watch when they’re on the ice, that’s for sure,” said Schoneck.
Marquee matchup
Setoguchi, Mueller lead their teams
by JIM SWANSON
Citizen staff
The similarities in the resumes of Devin Setoguchi and Peter Mueller are striking.
Setoguchi, the star winger for the Prince George Cougars, is a right-hand shot who plays the point on the power play. He’s a first-round NHL draft choice, taken eighth overall in 2005 by San Jose, and stands six-foot tall, weighing 195 pounds.
Mueller, the feature centre for the Everett Silvertips, shoots right and quarterbacks the power play from the blueline. A first rounder, the Phoenix Coyotes took him eighth overall one year after Setoguchi was drafted. He’s six-two and 200 pounds, marginally bigger than his Cougars counterpart.
As of Thursday, they were tied for the WHL lead in playoff scoring with 14 points, and they're teams are tied in their WHL Western Conference semifinal series 2-2, with Game 5 to be played in Everett on Saturday.
One other thing in common – Setoguchi and Mueller both have a healthy respect for one another.
“People are making this series out to be me against Mueller, but this is about the teams,” said Setoguchi, who signed his first NHL contract last April.
“There’s a comparison that pushes us both, I’m sure. It’s not head-to-head, but it can be about pride. He’s a great hockey player and it’s great to be able to play against someone like him. You think about it, he’s a year younger than I am, so he’s doing great things. He’s so good, has so much poise with the puck, and it’s scary for our league if he’s back next year. For me, it’s skating and power, and for him it’s about vision and being able to look guys off and work the puck east to west. We’re different players.
“It’s hard not to watch him on the ice because he’s got the puck so much.”
You can be sure Mueller takes note of how Setoguchi works, too.
“He’s a great player and any great player you can pick up things from watching them,” said Mueller, who has yet to ink his first NHL deal.
“Every time they have the puck it seems like No. 18 is rushing with it. People are going to judge us because we both went eighth overall, but it’s a team game.”
Everett head coach Kevin Constantine, a former head man in San Jose, knows a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in the NHL. Both will be there soon, he said.
“Setoguchi has an unbelievable shot and he doesn’t need a lot of opportunities to put pucks in the net,” said Constantine.
“Peter can shoot too, but he likes to carry the puck more. Both are very good players.”
The two have never met, and maybe that’s a passport issue. Setoguchi is from Taber, Alta., while Mueller hails from Bloomington, Minn.
But the similarities do come to an end. Though they both pile up the points, their style of play couldn’t be more different.
One is a bull in a china shop. The other is a ballroom dancer.
“Seto’s more of a straight-forward guy with speed and power, he’ll go through people, where Mueller is a guy who will pick you apart if you’re not careful,” said Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck.
“He’ll look for the soft areas, the back door guys, but Seto will go straight at you and let it rip and create opportunities from that. Both guys are dynamic in different ways and it’s been interesting to see the contrast.
“Mueller slows the game down and finds that guy – he’s a lot like Wayne Gretzky in that regard, but like Gretzky he can also beat you with his shot.”
Fitting, then, that Gretzky’s Coyotes drafted Mueller. Because he’s loyal to the Sharks, Setoguchi replaces the Gretzky comparison with a San Jose angle.
“I’m thinking he’s more like Joe Thornton in how he handles the puck and dishes to other guys,” said Setoguchi.
“(Mueller) has that skill to be able to hold on to that puck that extra second while the defender goes down, and then dishes off. That’s something you don’t practice, you just are born with it.”
As the playoffs go on, the one who plays for the team that advances to the third round will contend for the playoff scoring title. That’s what makes this series so enjoyable – offence, pure offence, something foreign to hockey in the day of trap-and-clutch systems.
“Something they both have in common -- they’re both fun to watch when they’re on the ice, that’s for sure,” said Schoneck.