HockeySpy.com

J U N I O R     S U R V E I L L A N C E - December 7, 2006 Bobby Ryan Can’t quite get a handle on this guy. Here’s a first round NHLer who can’t make the U.S. World Junior team roster this year, after already being part of the squad last year. It’s possible that hockey politics may be at play here. Being an American, Ryan was originally going to play hockey for the U.S. national development program. Along came the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL. They were able to convince Ryan to change his plans and abandon the U.S. program. Ryan had a solid rookie year and eventually ended up being drafted by the Anaheim Ducks. Since then a lot of things have gone wrong. Ryan was a member of the American World Junior team last Christmas. The team had a decent showing but Ryan did not. He spent a lot of time on their fourth line and seemed to struggle with the higher tempo. For the second year in a row Ryan attended the Ducks NHL camp but was sent back to the OHL to work on his game. His team was expected to be a contender and Ryan was expected to compete for the OHL scoring title. As of today the Attack stand 7th in their conference and Ryan stands 14th in league scoring. Two weeks ago the Attack removed the C from Ryan’s sweater (as well as stripping the A’s off several of his teammates). The details on why this was done are not clear. And this week the American World Junior roster was announced and Ryan was not included. Was this simply because this year’s tournament is being played on an Olympic sized ice surface? Some feel Ryan’s skating is suspect and would be exposed on this large surface. Others feel his superb puck handling would make him a force with all that extra room. Perhaps Ryan was cut based on his weak performance in the tournament last year. Which would be unusual. For the most part this is a 19 year-old tournament and younger players are given the benefit of the doubt the first time round. Maybe, just maybe, this is payback time for U.S. Hockey. After all Ryan did commit to their program before making a last minute u-turn to join the OHL. Politics has always played a huge role in hockey, and the U.S. program has had more than it’s share of controversy when it comes to selecting their roster. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when Anaheim GM Brian Burke found out Ryan would not be part of the team. Send your story to hockspy@hotmail.com and we will pass them on to our readers in a future installment of Junior Hockey Surveillance.

All written content is property of HockeySpy.com Email any questions, corrections, documents or feedback to our webmaster. © 2006-2007