Wall Street Journal Article Mentions Jon Foster

(above) Former DU star Jon Foster still wears his DU helmet while playing roller hockey in Manhattan

From: Wall Street Journal
by Joshua Robinson

Every weekend, the home of the Manhattan Roller Hockey League, where teams of padded, charging men on roller blades face off in New York City's only roller blade league.

Jon Foster earned his Frozen Four undershirt by actually playing in the Frozen Four. He was there on his way to a pair of national titles as a left wing for the University of Denver. He still wears his Division I-sanctioned college helmet [read entire article].

Jon Foster To Sign With Knoxville Ice Bears

(above) Jon Foster won two National Championships at DU

From: Our Sports

DU Alum Jon Foster, a 5-10, 195-pound forward from Suffern, NY will be joining the Knoxville Ice Bears for the 2008-2009 season.

Foster helped the University of Denver capture back-to-back Division I NCAA National Championships. He had career bests with 21 goals and 29 points in 43 games during his 2004-2005 senior year. Foster earned many accolades while he played for the University of Denver. His 21 goals tied him for fourth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and 10th in the nation. He was named rookie of the week and player of the week through out his college career. In four seasons at Denver, Foster had 44 goals, 44 assists, and 102 penalty minutes in 155 career games.

Foster left his senior year of high school to play in the United States Hockey League (USHL) for the Dubuque Fighting Saints. There he made the USHL all-star game and was named to the ALL-Rookie team. He scored 26 goals in 54 games.

Although this is Jon's first year in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), he is not a stranger to professional hockey. He played one year in the Central Hockey League (CHL) as a rookie for the Corpus Christi Rayz and the Lubbock Cotton Kings. He scored 17 goals and had 14 assists. After a year with the CHL, Foster moved to the (ECHL) and signed with the Wheeling Nailers, after being invited to camp with the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL). Foster scored 12 goals and had 15 assists while with Wheeling.

Ice Bears head coach Scott Hillman is more than excited to have Jon Foster join the Bears this season.

"To say we are very excited to announce Jon Foster has signed with our club would be an understatement. This is huge for the Ice Bears organization! Jon will be entering his fourth season of professional hockey, and he knows what it takes to win championships. He played along side players like Gabe Gauthier (LA Kings, NHL), Paul Stastny (Colorado Avalanche, NHL), Matt Carle (San Jose Sharks, NHL), Luke Fulghum (Providence Bruins, AHL) and JD Corbin (Lake Erie Monsters, AHL). You do not put up great numbers like Jon did in Division I hockey and get invited to an AHL camp by accident. He is an incredible talent for this level. We expect Jon to be a huge contributor in the 2008-2009 season for the Ice Bears, and he is very excited to team up with Swider and Vitek to make a real impact in the SPHL," commented Coach Hillman.

The Knoxville Ice Bears will resume play in October. The defending SPHL champions will play 30 regular season home games at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. For more information on game dates, season tickets and promotional activities, please visit www.knoxvilleicebears.com.

DU Hockey Alums In The Pros - 2007

The Official "Mustards Last Stand" Pioneer Professional All-Hot Dog Team

Thanks to our resident Pionologist & LetsGoDU Statistician "Duper" (who can frequently be found working at Mustard's...Don't forget to ask for your LetsGoDU 10% Discount) we have updated statistics on all of the guys that we know of currently playing professional hockey all over the world. There are four alums currently playing in the NHL.

2006 Edition Of Pioneers In The Pros

Goaltenders

Team - League - GP - W - L - OT - GAA - S%

Wade Dubielewicz - NY Islanders - NHL - 3 - 1 - 1 - 5.08 - .836
Dubie was shelled in his first appearance, things have gotten better since.

Adam Berkhoel - Grand Rapids Griffins - AHL - 10 - 3 - 6 - 1 - 3.76 - .879
Berky splits time with 2004 NC game opponent Jimmy Howard

Glenn Fisher - Stockton Thunder - ECHL - 9 - 4 - 3 - 1 - 3.23 - .903
2 shutouts

Sinuhe Wallinheimo - JYP - sm-liiga (Finland) .923 S%
sm-liiga has changed their site, and, not reading Finnish, the only solid stat I can find is S% He is generally a top league goalie, but for a crappy team.


Skaters

Team - League - G - A - P - +/- - PM

Paul Stastny - Colorado Avalanche - NHL - 9 - 14 - 23 - +2 - 10 - 1pp - 2gw
Leads team in points and assists

Matt Carle - San Jose Sharks - NHL - 1 - 5 - 6 - -3 - 4 - 1pp
Carle just got a 4 yr extension

Matt Pettinger - Washington Capitals - NHL - 1 - 2 - 3 - -2 - 17 - 1pp - 1gw

Ryan Caldwell - San Antonio Rampage - AHL - 1 - 3 - 4 - +6 - 23 - 1sh
In 2 games with the NHL Phoenix Coyotes, Caldwell had 2 PM in about 12 minutes on ice.

Kevin Doell - Chicago Wolves - AHL - 1 - 4 - 5 - +4 - 26

Mark Rycroft - Lake Erie Monsters - AHL - 0 - 5 - 5 - E - 9

Gabe Gauthier - Manchester Monarchs - AHL - 7 - 16 - 23 - -1 - 21 - 6pp
Gabe is 3rd in the league in points

Aaron MacKenzie - Peoria Rivermen - AHL - 0 - 2 - 2 - -3 - 8

Brett Skinner - Providence Bruins - AHL - 1 - 7 - 8 - E - 8

Gavin Morgan - Rockford Ice Hogs - AHL - 0 - 2 - 2 - -2 - 7

Connor James - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins - AHL - 4 - 5 - 9 - +3 - 10

Ryan Dingle - Portland Pirates - AHL - 0 - 2 - 2 - -1 - 4 - 7 games
Augusta Lynx - ECHL - 2 - 8 - 10 - -7 - 10 - 1pp - 9 games
Dingle currently plays for Augusta

Adrian Veideman - Augusta Lynx - ECHL - 2 - 7 - 9 - -4 - 20

Kevin Ulanski - Elmira Jackals - ECHL - 4 - 8 - 12 - +2 - 10 - 2pp - 1sh

Luke Fulghum - Elmira Jackals - ECHL - 6 - 5 - 11 - -2 - 0 - 2pp - 1sh - 8 games
Stockton Thunder - ECHL - 1 - 1 - 2 - -1 0 - 1 pp - 5 games
Fulghum currently plays for Elmira

J. D. Corbin - Johnstown Chiefs - ECHL - 1 - 7 - 8 - -9 - 10 - 1pp

Geoff Paukovich - Stockton Thunder - ECHL - 4 - 3 - 7 - +1 - 12 - 1sh

Jon Foster - Wheeling Nailers - ECHL - 0 - 0 - 0 - -7 - 8

Erik Adams - Colorado Eagles - CHL - Has not played this season

James Patterson - Huntsville Havoc - SPHL - 5 - 5 - 10 - -1 - 2 - 4pp - 1gw

Jussi Halme - Tappara - sm-liiga - 0 - 2 - 2 - -5 - 14

Antti Laaksonen - Fribourg-Gotteron (Swi) - 8 - 6 - 14 - 28PM

An interesting note; While Duper can't seem to find him this year, Lukas Dora played in England last season.

Puck Swami's list of DU's most notable athletes all-time

What Happened to DU's Senior Class...

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(Left) Gabe Gauthier has led the Pioneers to two National Championships

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Yesterday, Coach Gwozdecky was asked during Ask the Coach...

Danielle (Boulder): Most of the national championship team from last year returns for the 2005-2006 season... team's leading scorer, WCHA Rookie of the Year, Frozen Four MVP...With all this returning talent, how is it that you began the season ranked number one and have gradually slipped to 15 in the national polls?

Coach Gwozdecky: Through our last two National Championship runs, we have had the great luxury of a good sized senior class. These seniors have been strong, skilled and had valuable experience. We are challenged this year with having only one senior who has been a regular in our lineup over the last three years. As a result, we have asked many of our younger and more inexperienced players to assume roles of primary responsibility that they are slowly getting comfortable with.

I thought this was a very candid answer, so I went back to Heisenberg's site and did a little research to see what was going on at DU in 2001, during the Letter of Intent signing periods. This was a very pivotal moment in DU's Hockey History. The Pioneers had their last losing season under Coach Gwozdecky in 1999-2000 and may not have been on the radar of the top college hockey "blue chippers." Down the road in Colorado Springs, Don Lucia was in the process of moving on to Minnesota and Scott Owens was taking over the reins at CC.

During the "Early LOI" period (March-May, 2001), DU signed Brett Skinner and Ryan Dingle. (During this period DU also signed Jon Foster, Kevin Ulanski and Nick Larson, who were "late signees" coming to DU in the following Spring). Skinner was a huge prize for the coaching staff. He was a Canadian defenseman who played for Des Moines in the USHL. At 6'1" 170 lbs. he might have been on the "skinny" side, but Heisenberg had him listed as the #2 recruit in the USHL and the #1 defenseman. During his DU playing career he improved unbelievably and eventually became an All-American his Junior season. As we all know, he signed with the Vancouver Canucks a year early. The other signee, Ryan Dingle from Steamboat Springs ended up deferring his college admission at DU for two seasons, but has been a fantastic addition for the Pioneers. So if you were to grade DU's recruiting signees in the Fall of 2001 you would have to give the coaches an "A" or perhaps an "A+", when you factor in the contributions made by Foster, Ulanski and Larson during the Championship runs. There were some real "finds" there.

During the Fall Signing Period of 2001 DU inked commitments from Gabe Gauthier, Scott Drewicki, and Glenn Fisher. Gabe Gauthier was a another huge signing for the DU coaching staff. Gauthier was a Californian playing for the Chilliwack Chiefs along with Jeff Tambellini, who ended up being a superstar with Michigan. Tambellini racked up 129 points for Michigan in just three seasons, but like Skinner signed a professional contract a year early. Tambellini was considered to be the #1 recruit out of British Columbia and Gauthier #2.

Gauthier narrowed his choices down to Boston University and DU. Gabe's father was so sure that he was heading to Boston, that he loaded up on BU Hockey shirts on a recruiting visit. Gabe had played some prep hockey out East, so he was familiar with the area. Something must have happened on his visit to Denver, however, because Gabe choose the Pioneers in a bit of a surprise at the time. One GWG against Maine, two National Championships and over 100 career points later and Gauthier is a shoo-in for the DU Hall of Fame.

Glenn Fisher was signed during the 2001 Fall signing period as well. He was always slated to come to DU a year after Gauthier. Fisher was a prize recruit considered by Inside College Hockey to be the #1 incoming goaltender. The Scott Drewicki signing can only be descibed as a "bust." He was a sought after prospect from Alberta, and was ranked by Heisenberg as the #2 defenseman and #13 prospect overall. When DU signs a player out of Canada, big things are expected. In a season and a half at DU he saw limited duty with the Pioneers appearing in 28 games and notching up two assists. He quit the team during the middle of first Championship season and transferred to Merrimack. The irony was that as soon as he quit in his sophmore season, DU had a rash of injuries and he would have seen more playing time. Add to the fact that he walked out on two National Championships and perhaps a key role this season. Hard to say what kind of a grade you would give the Fall Signees. Skinner is one of the top Power Play defensemen in DU history and he played a pivotal role in two Championships. Perhaps a "B," but it sure would be handy to have a few more Seniors on the roster right now.

Ted O'Leary was a Late Signee in the Spring of 2002. He has played in two National Championship games, is the Assistant Captain this season and as we all know is a three time WCHA All-Academic Team selection. You have to love what he has contributed to the Pioneers over his career. The coaches frequently point to his leadership and hard work to motivate the younger guys. Ted has two rings and the respect of every Pioneer fan.

So there you have it. The 2001 recuits who played a pivotal role in delivering two National Championships to the Pioneers. Today the Pioneers only have two Seniors on the Roster and with the big CC series this weekend, perhaps the entire season hangs in the balance. A split or better and the Pioneers can improve their RPI postion towards an NCAA bid. Against all odds, DU's two lonely Seniors are going to have to lead the way for DU to return to Milwaukee.