Saturday, March 28, 2009

Schiestel eyeing the pros

On Friday the St. Catharines Standard ran a story on Drew Schiestel as he wraps up his OHL career with the Niagara IceDogs. IceDogs head coach Mario Cicchillo has been more than pleased with Schiestel’s play in the playoffs. “He’s shown why he’s a high draft pick in the NHL and he’s become a real good leader,” he said. “He came in here as a young kid and he’s become a young man. “Our organization should be proud of him because he’s going to have a real good career.” Schiestel was a plus-two heading into Thursday’s game before he was done in by turnovers by teammates and being on the ice for an empty-net goal. The 2005 IceDogs third-round pick was a team-worst minus-29 during the regular season, but that was an unfair representation of his play. “People can look at it and think what they want, but from the amount of minutes I’ve played, and when you’re missing key guys with injuries and being at world juniors, and with two rookie goalies at the start of the year, that’s tough,” he said. “And those empty-net goals will kill your plus-minus.”