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Tipped Off
08-13-2007, 06:58 PM
T-BIRDS ADD SENATORS TOP DRAFT CHOICE FROM 2007 NHL DRAFT
Center Jim O'Brien was taken 29th overall by Ottawa

Seattle, August 13, 2007 - Seattle Thunderbirds General Manager Russ Farwell today announced that Jim O'Brien, the Ottawa Senators first round pick, 29th overall, in the 2007 NHL Draft, has committed to join the T-Birds for the 2007-08 Season.

"O'Brien is a perfect fit for us this year," said Farwell "with this addition we are adding a front-line forward to our team."

O'Brien is an 18-year-old from Maplewood, Minnesota, who played at the University of Minnesota last year as a freshman and will be leaving that program to join the T-Birds.
O'Brien, a right-handed shot at 6'2" and 190-pounds, played 43 games with UM last season and registered seven goals and eight assists for 15 points with 51 penalty minutes.

NHL Central Scouting had O'Brien ranked 20th in their mid-term rankings and 38th in their final rankings of 2007 NHL Draft eligible players.

The NHL Central Scouting Report had this to say about O'Brien: "A skilled forward - good on-ice awareness and handles the puck well - has a god work ethic and a good wrist shot - often comes up with the puck in traffic and along the boards."

In the Senators press release announcing his selection in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, O'Brien had the following to say: "I'm a player that needs to keep working on my game," O'Brien told the Canadian Press, who compared him to Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks, after being chosen on Friday night, "I need to get bigger, stronger and faster."

With the addition of O'Brien, the T-Birds now have three players on the 2007-08 roster who were selected in the first round of the NHL Draft. Thomas Hickey was taken fourth overall in the 2007 NHL Draft by the Los Angeles Kings and Riku Helenius was taken 15th overall in the 2006 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

T-Birds Training Camp starts August 27th. The T- Birds will hold training camp scrimmages on August 27th, 28th and 29th at Kent Valley Ice Centre in Kent. All scrimmages start at 7:10pm and are open to the public free of charge.

Season tickets are currently on sale for 2007-08 at KeyArena. Fans purchasing 2007-08 season tickets will have the highest seating priority for the 2008-09 season as the Thunderbirds open the new Kent Events Center. Priority can be established right now by calling 206-448-PUCK (7825) or for more information go to www.seattlethunderbirds.com.

Dwight Schrute
08-14-2007, 03:08 AM
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=216088&hubname=nhl

wow looks like the t-birds are getting some unexpected quality players coming in. im thinking the finnish goalie is the big coup though. could very well be the top whl goalie this season