Basaraba grabbed 69th by Panthers

Wednesday, 30 June 2010 - 1:16pm
By Dan Falloon,, Staff writer

If Joe Basaraba has his way, he’ll soon be headed to the land of sand, surf and sun.
The former Muskie was taken in the third round, 69th overall, by the Florida Panthers at the NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles over the weekend, hearing his name called on Saturday.

“It feels great,” enthused Basaraba, 18. “It’s been a dream of mine to play in the NHL all my life.
“Getting drafted here is a great opportunity for me to follow my dream.”
Basaraba spent last season with the Shattuck-St. Mary’s Sabres, a prep school that has groomed NHL stars Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Zach Parise. Basaraba finished tied for seventh in team scoring with 46 points, comprised of 24 goals and 22 assists.
After hearing 68 names called before his, Basaraba rejoiced when his was the next one mentioned.
“It was pretty unbelievable,” he recalled. “I went there with high hopes of being drafted.
“I was just sitting there waiting and then when I finally heard my name, being able to celebrate with my family was pretty special.
“Going on to meet the team was a lot of fun.”
While the historical success rate for third-round selections hasn’t been encouraging—only a handful of the 30-odd selections ever grace professional ice—stars have emerged from the third-round.
Some recent success stories include Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang (62nd overall in 2005), Detroit’s Johan Franzen (97th overall in 2004) and Columbus’ Steve Mason, taken in Basaraba’s identical 69th spot in 2006. Other past third-rounders include current Dallas Star Brad Richards (64th overall by Tampa Bay in 1998), Montreal’s Brian Gionta (82nd overall by New Jersey in 1998), Boston’s Zdeno Chara (56th overall by the New York Islanders in 1996) and perhaps one of the biggest steals in the history of the draft, Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom, who was taken 53rd overall in 1991.
Basaraba hopes to set himself up for a similar story as he progresses.
“I really had no idea where I’d be going. I know that I was ranked [54th among North American skaters] and whatnot,” admitted Basaraba. “I was just hoping to get drafted, hoping to get an opportunity to have a tryout with a team someday, and when Florida came around and called my name, I was just happy I was getting an opportunity.”
Basaraba added that Florida had been in contact with him prior to the draft, and snapped him up while he was still available.
“They interviewed me back in May, but I didn’t really have any idea of who [would take me] or when I’d be going.
“They said they liked my play and come this past weekend, they drafted me and said they were happy to have me.”
Basaraba has already familiarized himself with the Florida brass, spending time with head coach Peter DeBoer and general manager Dale Tallon, among others.
“They said they were happy to have me and I’m looking forward to meeting them more in the future,” he noted.
The Panthers aren’t in Basaraba’s immediate plans, as he is gearing up to attend University of Minnesota-Duluth in the fall.
At this point, Basaraba realizes that his getting drafted is based not only but skill, but potential as well, and there is still work to be done to reach professional-league readiness.
“I think it’s just up to me personally to get better and keep training, and my own hard work and whatever I do is going to reveal when I’m ready to play in the NHL with them,” said Basaraba.
“It’s all dependent on how I do in the next couple years at Duluth and how hard I work.”
Florida is a team in transition at this point, with new G.M. Tallon making some big changes since being named to the position on May 17.
Tallon has already made a pair of trades that should impact the roster next season, acquiring forwards Michael Grabner and Steve Bernier from Vancouver, as well as defenceman Dennis Wideman from Boston. On the way out were defenceman Keith Ballard and prospect Viktor Oreskovich to Vancouver and forwards Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell to Boston.
But Tallon, who helped lay the groundwork for Chicago’s Stanley Cup-winning team this year before being dismissed from the team last July, appears to again trying to use the draft to rebuild a fledgling franchise, which hasn’t qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2000.
That’s where Basaraba comes in, as he was already Florida’s seventh selection in the draft in the 69th slot.
“Florida’s going to be a great spot for me. They’re a real up-and-coming team. They’ve got a new G.M. there, and they’ve got a lot of draft picks there and I think in the near future they’re going to be a real high-end, contending team,” gushed Basaraba.
“I’m really excited to be there in the sunshine, and it’s going to be fun.”
Basaraba noted that he has never been to Miami before, but with the draft hosted in Los Angeles, he at least has one hot-spot crossed off of his list.
“Los Angeles is a pretty cool place. They put on a good show for the draft. They were really accommodating and it was a cool city,” he reasoned.
On the happy occasion Basaraba also remembered where he came from, thanking the town and the minor hockey association for playing an integral role in fostering his love of the game.
“It’s been great how supportive Fort Frances is to me, and how much they supported me all the way through, and now getting drafted, I just want to say thanks for everything. It’s much appreciated,” he lauded.
“I grew up in minor hockey here and it’s been all great experiences. I loved it.”  

Former Muskie Joe Basaraba picked in the NHL Draft 

By Marlene Deschamps

West End Weekly

The only hockey player from Northwestern Ontario picked in the NHL Draft held over the past weekend,  as Joe Basaraba. 18 year old Joe played at Shattuck-St. Mary’s Sabres prep school in Fairbault, Minnesota for two seasons and is set to play this fall for the University of Minnesota-Duluth. During his stint with St. Mary’s Sabres, he scored 24 goals and added 22 assists in 52 games and sat seventh in team scoring. He was listed 54^th overall among North American skaters in the final NHL Central Scouting rankings released this past spring. He was drafted in the third round by the Florida Panthers.

Joe played in the Fort Frances minor system and for the Fort Frances High School Muskies. Joe was quite excited to be drafted as his whole family was in Los Angels for the event. He said it was great to share the moment with his family. He said although he will be playing for the University of Minnesota-Duluth, he now has the opportunity to play for the Panthers in the future. Joe mentioned it had always been a dream to play in the NHL during this past year it finally sunk in that it could become a reality. He added that the minor hockey program in Fort Frances with it’s great coaches and support speaks well to keeping you prepared to keep playing the game you love.

Over the summer, Joe plans on doing some training to jump into the college level of playing hockey and joking added he would also enjoy being with family and friends and playing golf and, of course, going fishing. Congrats to Joe and congrats to the hockey system at all levels that help local hockey players go from dreaming to realization of playing in the big leagues.

Florida Panthers Select Joe Basaraba in the 2010 NHL Draft. 

Florida then traded their fourth second round pick (59th) to Minnesota for the 69th and 99th selections Saturday.
With the third round pick (69th overall), Florida selected right winger Joe Basaraba.
"I had no idea where I would end up," said Basaraba. "I just came in here with hopes to being drafted to a NHL team to hopefully some day put on a jersey and step on the ice."
Basaraba, who is off to play for Minnesota Duluth, played in 52 games for one of the best prep high schools in the country, Shattuck-St. Mary's in Minnesota. There the 6'2, 200 lb player picked up 22 goals and 24 assists.
"I think it was great, great for me," said Basaraba of playing at the school that has produced players such as Sidney Crosby, Zach Parise, Kyle Okposo and the Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Toews. "Great opportunity to follow in the footsteps of such as guys that have gone through there before and led on to have great NHL careers. For me it's a great stepping stone."

Basaraba taken 69th by Panthers

Monday, 28 June 2010 - 3:39pm

Fort Frances Times Staff

Sunny locales are a recurring theme early in Joe Basaraba’s professional hockey career.
The 18-year-old Fort Frances product was taken in the third round, 69th overall, by the Florida Panthers in the NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Basaraba scored 24 goals and 22 assists in 52 games for Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a prep school in Fairbault, Mn. last season, good for seventh in team scoring.
The former Muskie will suit up for the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the fall.
Basaraba was ranked 54th among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings released in the spring.

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Panthers take Fort Frances player in third round
Chronicle Journal TBay

By Staff
Sunday, June 27, 2010

Joe Basaraba of Fort Frances was the lone player from Northwestern Ontario to be taken in the NHL entry draft, which completed its second to seventh rounds in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Basaraba was chosen 69th overall in the third round by the Florida Panthers. The 18-year-old played at Shattuck-St. Mary‘s Sabres prep school in Fairbault, Minn., the past two seasons and is set to play for the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the fall.
Basaraba, who also played in the Fort Frances minor system and the town‘s Muskies high school team, scored 24 goals and added 22 assists in 52 games with the Sabres to sit seventh in team scoring. Basaraba was listed 54th overall among North American skaters in the final NHL Central Scouting rankings released this spring.

Wednesday, 21 April 2010 - 2:18pm

By Dan Falloon

Joe Basaraba has seen NHL scouts milling around his games with the Shattuck-St. Mary’s Sabres this past season, but he hasn’t been letting the big-league buzz get to him.
“Some teams have been showing interest. I’ve been getting phone calls and e-mails, stuff like that,” noted Basaraba, who will turn 18 next month.

“You just try to be yourself, have fun with it, enjoy it all, and keep working hard,” he stressed.
“It’s just a good opportunity, it’s motivational,” added Basaraba. “You have guys looking at you.
“You want to do your best and show them what you have.”
Because he was able to make the most of the extra attention, the next big date circled on Basaraba’s calendar is the NHL entry draft slated June 25-26 in Los Angeles.
He is going in as the 54th-ranked North American skater, down from his rating of 39th at the mid-term evaluation, which was released in early January.
“Me and my family will head down to L.A. for the draft, so hopefully things work out for the best, and I can’t wait,” he enthused.
“It’s going to be an exciting time.”
Basaraba is not heading into the draft with hopes of being taken by any particular team, explaining he’s honoured just for the chance to pull a professional sweater over his head at the Staples Center in late June.
“I’m just going in and hopefully [getting] drafted,” he remarked. “I’ve done what I can to show what I can do on the ice, and hopefully I get an opportunity to get drafted and make it to that league someday.”
Basaraba finished tied for seventh on the Sabres, based in Faribault, Mn., with 46 points while his 24 goals ranked fourth on the team.
He explained he tries to play a well-rounded game, using his 6’2”, 190-pound frame to his advantage while also possessing a soft touch around the net.
“I’m a bigger guy. I’m long, lanky,” he noted. “I like to play physical. I’ve got good hands.
“I like to play in all ends of the rink and I’m responsible among my teammates for being a leader,” he added.
“This year, especially, being a senior and everything.”
Basaraba wasn’t the only Sabre vying for the scouts’ attention this season as three of his teammates ended up on NHL Central Scouting’s year-end list.
Two of those—Jason Clark and James Polk—were his linemates at various points over the season. Jimmy Mullin, the Sabres’ leading scorer, also made the list.
Basaraba kicked off the season on a line with Clark (ranked 81st) and J.P. LaFontaine before being shuffled onto a line with Polk (rated 200th) and Daniel Elsner.
Mullin, meanwhile, ended up ranked 165th.
“When you come to Shattuck, you’re always bound to play with some good players on your line,” Basaraba said.
“There are always going to be some strong players, and that’s why we have such strong teams because we can bring such strong players together and really bond together to make one good team,” he reasoned.
“It’s great when you can have guys like that on your line to make plays and give you chances,” he continued.
“It makes the game a lot more fun.”
The Shattuck-St. Mary’s program is a prestigious one. NHL stars Sidney Crosby, Zach Parise, and Jonathan Toews all attended the school.
Basaraba was grateful he had the chance to return to the Sabres for a final season, and savoured having another shot at suiting up with the players who he had built a bond with the year before.
“I don’t know about one particular highlight, but just being in my senior year at Shattuck with all my friends and teammates [was a highlight],” he remarked.
“Just having the opportunity to come back here for one last year is just a highlight.”
The Sabres finished 45-12-4 in a year that they started with seven new players, including two rookies in goal.
“We started off the year with brand-new faces,” Basaraba noted. “We had a good team, made a good run for it.
“It was just a great learning experience.”
The Sabres won their first three games at the USA U-18 Tier I Nationals in Woodbridge, Ill. from April 7-11 before bowing out 4-2 to Kansas-based Russell Stover in the quarter-finals.
The loss was the Sabres’ second-straight defeat in the quarter-finals, and cost the team a shot at a third championship in four years.
“At nationals, I thought we played well, we just came up short,” Basaraba said. “We just couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the net, but we were still playing well.
“But I guess that’s just what happens sometimes. You can’t always win them all.”
Basaraba said regardless of what happens at the NHL entry draft, he’s committed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth for the 2010/11 season.
“I’ll try to earn a spot, try to play if things go well there,” he noted.
He acknowledged he’s looking forward to playing for the Bulldogs, given he’s excited to be moving closer to home, but admitted he’s had an eye on the team for years.
“They’re close to town, I’ve always watched them play,” he reasoned. “I like the town, it’s a beautiful town. The people are great.
“It’s just the atmosphere that Duluth brings, being a northern Minnesota team with a great hockey atmosphere,” he added.
“It just helps a player want to strive to get better and try to move onto that next level.”

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Basaraba commits to UMD

By editorial Wednesday, 10 December 2008 - 2:17pm.

By Mitch Calvert, Staff writer

Joe Basaraba must be enjoying his time at Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Faribault, Mn. because he’s likely to be spending several more winters in Minnesota after committing to the University of Minnesota Duluth for his freshman year in 2010.
“UMD was a great fit for me—the town, the school, the coaching staff, and the new arena in 2010. I’m really looking forward to that,” the ex-Muskie told the Duluth News Tribune last week.

Basaraba, 16, was taken 22nd overall in the Ontario Hockey League draft this past spring after his second season with the Muskies, but opted to go the school route and instead enrolled at Shattuck-St.Mary’s this fall.
He currently has 15 points in 26 games with the school’s prep team.
“I think it’s been a bit of an adjustment getting used to a different style of play for him, a faster pace, but he’s doing fine and coming along a pattern that a lot of our good players have gone through in their time here,” Shattuck boys’ prep team coach Tom Ward said in a phone interview.
“We’ve got high hopes for him,” Ward added. “He comes to the rink and works hard with a smile on his face, and we think he has a chance to be a real good player.”
Ward felt Basaraba made a wise move opting for UMD.
“His sister [Kate] goes to school there, and it’s in the Western League, so it’s easy for his folks to get around to games if that’s what they like to do,” he noted. “It’s a great place to go to school and a good [hockey] program, and he’ll get a chance to earn his ice time there.”
Ward added Basaraba fits a similar profile to that of Shattuck-St. Mary’s alumnus Drew Stafford, who now plays for the Buffalo Sabres, but obviously has some work to do to reach that level.
“He’s a long, lanky player with a similar skill set to Drew, but he’s got a lot of work to do to become a first-rounder,” Ward remarked.
With just four returning players, Shattuck-St. Mary’s has struggled with consistency at times this season but still sported a 15-6-6 record going into the weekend.
“Some nights we’ve looked like [the] Montreal [Canadiens] and other nights we’ve looked like a PeeWee team, so we’ve been inconsistent, but we’re coming along and we’ll be fine,” Ward said.

“With so few returning players, we’ve kind of had to re-invent the wheel, but it’s coming.”

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Jason Clark, Joe Basaraba, and Kirill Gotovets are hockey players from Shattuck-St. Mary's School. The school is known for its high turnout of top-notch hockey players. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, five of the athletes who participated in the final match between USA and Canada had training from Shattuck-St. Mary's. (MPR Photo/Alex Kolyer)

From Olympic to amateur rinks, Shattuck-St. Mary's means hockey

by Elizabeth Baier, Minnesota Public Radio

March 19, 2010

Faribault, Minn. — It's just after school inside the hockey arena at Shattuck-St. Mary's High School in Faribault, and 20 young men huddle around coach Tom Ward. Their blue and yellow practice jerseys are drenched in sweat -- and they're only halfway through practice.

The players have been off for a two-week spring break. Ward knows they'll have to practice hard if they want to win the USA Hockey National Championship in a few weeks.

Ward told his players they'll have very few face-offs during practice as he wants them to keep their pace going and move their feet.

"You're getting back to playing, thinking hockey, not just rolling," he said. "I want some interaction with the puck. So it's a scrimmage. If the pace is high, everything great, we'll scrimmage less. If it's lousy, we'll just pick them up and spray the board. So let's get everything out of it. Team concepts, conditioning, game situation, everything."

Hockey is serious business at the elite boarding school, a powerhouse that produced National Hockey League giants, among them Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils and the Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby.

The school combines rigorous college-level courses with top-notch athletic training. Though it has a relatively low profile in Minnesota, the school is well known in national hockey circles and internationally. ESPN called Shattuck-St. Mary the "Hogwarts of Hockey," and Sports Illustrated said "the school is to hockey what Harvard is to law."

Five players in the Olympic gold medal hockey game between the United States and Canada last month played at Shattuck-St. Mary's -- inlcuding Parise and Crosby, who scored the winning goal for Team Canada.

Guan Wang

"It was great to watch those boys play," Ward said. "Three out of the five goals were scored by Shattuck kids."

The school has had a hockey program since 1925. But it didn't become a powerhouse until 1996, when Parise's father, former Minnesota North Stars Coach J.P. Parise, was hired to resurrect the program.

John Sumner, the school's associate director of alumni affairs, said fewer than 200 students attended Shattuck-St. Mary then, and the hockey program drew so few that at one point there were only two players. So the school embarked on a campaign to attract more soccer and hockey players, said Sumner, who has been there 38 years and worked with the hockey program in the late 1980s.

"A lot of it had to do with, how we increase our enrollment? How do we make our school more attractive to more students? That type of thing," he said. "And to do that we really couldn't function under the aegis of the state high school league."

Coach Tom Ward

To recruit students, the school opted out of the Minnesota State High School League in 1996. Today, it's the only 18-and-under USA Hockey-registered team in the state.

Before that year, the school had never competed in a state tournament. But in Parise's first year as coach, the school made it to its first National Championship tournament. Three years later, in 1999, it won its first Tier 1 Boys U18 National Championship title.

"We're a bit more well-known outside the borders of the state of Minnesota than we are in state, except for the hockey people. The real hardcore hockey people know who we are, and that's OK," Ward said. "That's just fine with us. We're just a school in the middle of the cornfields down here."

The school has a slew of other regional and national titles, both for its men's and women's teams. Now that the program has taken off, Ward doesn't have to recruit as much because students come to him.

Practice

"We're a completely different animal from anybody else in the state of Minnesota," he said. "We have a longer playing season. We play from the first week of September until the middle of April as a group."

The school's eight hockey teams, which have 17 coaches, play between 50 and 70 games a season. A regular high school team in Minnesota plays about 25 games. Ward says the longer season is part of what draws kids to the school.

"They're hungry to play a little bit longer season, more emphasis on hockey," he said. "We skate every day, and so hockey is definitely a big part of the fabric of our school."

Ward is proud of the reputation Shattuck-St. Mary's has built for itself as a hockey factory. This year, three of his players have been drafted by the NHL, including 18-year-old Kirill Gotovets, an international student from Belarus. The Tampa Bay Lightning chose Gotovets, a defenseman.

"I always wanted to play in North America," Gotovets said. "I always was good in school, so I decided to go here because I heard it was the best place to go if you want to be good at hockey and good academically."

Team huddle

Gotovets and many of the other players on his team will end up on elite college teams, and some will make it to the NHL. Gotovets plans to go to Cornell University in the fall.

Joe Basaraba, a 17-year-old from Canada, plans to skate for the University of Minnesota, Duluth. But he's not thinking of college yet. He and his teammates are focused on the USA National Championship next month.

"You're expected to be big, so you step up," Basaraba said. "You want to be the best player. You want to be the best team that shows up, so I think it's pretty much what [we've got] to do. We've got big shoes to fill."

Being the best is exactly what Shattuck-St. Mary's players want to do at the tournament in Chicago. The women's teams also compete in the national tournament in Green Bay.

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OHL Draft 2008

Congratulations to Joe Basaraba.  He was selected 22nd overall in the Ontario Hockey League priority draft Saturday May 3, 2008.  Joe was the highest Northwestern Ontario born player in the draft.  Joe who turned 16 years of age the day before the draft was chosen by the Erie Otters.

Joe a six foot two inch centre, played for the Fort Frances Muskies this year.  He scored eight goals and had 10 assists while leading the muskies to their fifth-straight Norwossa championship and a trip to the All Ontario championships.

http://www.ottershockey.com/team/future-otters/future-players/joe-basaraba/

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/no-average-joe/1297593320