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pontcanna
05-30-2012, 12:02 AM
Nelson ready to be put to the test

BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMESCOLONIST.COM MAY 29, 2012 10:01 PM

Whoa, Nelly, who could have expected this?

Missing on pro scouting radars a year ago, Logan Nelson has dramatically stormed into view. So much so the Victoria Royals forward is among the top 105 draft-eligible players invited to this week’s NHL Scouting Combine in Toronto.

“I couldn’t have imagined this at this time last year,” said Nelson, whose sessions at the combine begin today and run through Saturday.

“Coming to Victoria turned out good for me and I hope to do something with it,” added the six-foot-one centre, from his home in Rogers, Minnesota, before departing for Toronto.

Of the invitees, 78 are North American-based skaters and 10 goalies, and 14 are European skaters and three goalies.

TSN will broadcast a one-hour special from the combine Friday at 4:30 p.m. Although Nelson is unlikely to be featured in the TSN broadcast with top-rated prospects such as forwards Nail Yakupov of the Sarnia Sting and Filip Forsberg of Sweden or defenceman Ryan Murray of the Everett Silvertips, the Royals stalwart has done well just to be there alongside them.

There was nothing in Nelson’s 2010-11 season — six goals and nine points with Des Moines of the USHL — that would have even remotely suggested his breakout 2011-12 Western Hockey League rookie campaign with Victoria in which he recorded 23 goals and 62 points and additionally played with a physical dimension that impressed scouts.

There was something about the all-rounder — Nelson also played football, lacrosse, baseball and ran track — that intrigued the Royals’ U.S. scout enough to make him a late-summer signing last year. And now the pro scouts are equally as piqued.

The rise up the scouting rankings has been somewhat dizzying, considering from where Nelson started — which was nowhere. He first hit the charts at 108 on Central Scouting’s mid-season report and then climbed to 73rd on the final rankings for the 2012 NHL draft.

And now the pro teams want to know a little more about Nelson as he is set to undergo a barrage of on- and off-ice tests and interviews in Toronto as NHL teams give the top draft prospect the once-over.

Nelson has been working out with a group of Minnesota-based juniors such as Royals teammate Ben Walker and also NHL, AHL, ECHL and European pros in Edina under Kevin Ziegler, considered one of the best hockey trainers and current strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I’ve been training hard and it’s been going well,” said Nelson.

“I’m in my best shape.”

The physical aspect, however, is only one part of the combine. The personality and psychological tests are the other.

“I will answer to the best of my ability and just be myself,” said Nelson.

“They don’t want the fake you. They want the real you.”

Asked if he followed the recent Memorial Cup major junior championship tournament won by host Shawinigan, Nelson said he tried but there was no coverage of it Minnesota.

“Our training group in Edina, of course, talked about it but the average person down here [U.S.] has no idea what it is,” he said.

Forward Steven Hodges of Delta, the other Royals player ranked for the 2012 draft at No. 85 North American skater, did not receive a combine invite.

The NHL draft is June 22-23 in Pittsburgh.

Regardless of being selected or not, Nelson and Hodges are both expected to return to play in Victoria next season.

ICE CHIPS: They come and they go. Graduating Royals forward Robin Soudek, one of the team’s two allowable European imports last season, has signed a pro contract with HC Mountfield Ceske Budejovice of the Czech Extraliga. The club, which operates in the top Czech league, plays in the 6,421-seat Budvar Arena. Soudek had 29 goals and 59 points in 69 games for Victoria as an overage 20-year-old.

rednex50
06-04-2012, 11:41 AM
It baffles me that Robin didn't get a pro deal here in North America.

The kid could fight (not the best, but willing), great hands (27 goals), unselfish (30 assists), had a bad +/- on bad defensive teams, blocked shots, was a catalist for the team that was going thru a serious rebuild

I know he wanted to play Pro, and preferred to play here in North America...so I am really shocked. Would have loved to see him in Abbotsford with Howse and Horak. Calgary I know is tight on contract spots...but would have looked soooo good there.

the Royal Flush
06-04-2012, 03:53 PM
He is not NHL material. Europe will do him good.