Blues get close look at prospects

ST. LOUIS — Keeping tabs on top prospects in the Frozen Four will be a snap this year for the St. Louis Blues.

The NCAA hockey championships are being contested in their own arena, the Scottrade Center, on April 5 and 7. That’ll provide a snapshot for the franchise and its fans of the progress being made by North Dakota forward T.J. Oshie and Maine goalie Ben Bishop.

A third prospect, Michigan State center Ryan Turek, was a fourth-round pick this year.

“We kind of got lucky,” team president John Davidson said. “It’s an opportunity to see them up close and personal.

“It’s got to be thrilling for the kids, too, knowing they’ve been drafted by the Blues.”

A third prospect, Minnesota defenseman Erik Johnson, nearly made it before his team was eliminated by North Dakota in overtime of the West Regional final. Johnson was the top overall pick in last year’s draft and had been considering signing with the franchise in time to play the last few games of this season before electing Tuesday to stay in school.

“He hasn’t made a decision and there’s no sense in rushing into it,” Davidson said. “That was the idea, to get him acclimated, but it’s got to be the right time and the right decision.

“He’s not made his mind up yet whether to leave college.”

Oshie and Bishop both are sophomores. Oshie was a first-round pick and the 24th overall selection in 2005 and the 6-7 Bishop, who played high school hockey in St. Louis, was a third-rounder and the 85th overall pick the same year.

Oshie is North Dakota’s second-leading scorer with 16 goals and 28 assists in 41 games, along with a plus-10 rating. He had three goals and an assist to help eliminate Michigan in the West.

“He’s an exciting player to watch and he plays with kind of an unbridled enthusiasm,” coach Dave Raskot said. “I don’t think it would matter if he’s playing in front of 18,000 or a backyard rink, he just loves to play the game.

“That’s the type of energy he brings to the rink every day.”

Bishop allowed two goals on 70 shots last weekend to propel Maine to the Frozen Four. He’s 21-8-2 and appears to have shaken off a nagging groin injury that hampered him for about two months.

“I wouldn’t have said that before the regional,” coach Tim Whitehead said. “He was pushed to the edge and he’s sore, but he’s a happy man.”

Undoubtedly there will be more pressure on Bishop, who starred at Chaminade High School in suburban St. Louis.

“It puts a little more weight on his shoulders and responsibility to deal with more media interest,” Whitehead said. “On the positive side he’s going home.

“He’s a great kid and I think he’ll handle it well.”

Raskot said he’ll discuss the Blues connection with Oshie but “not at great length.” He believes Oshie’s experience should help him cope with whatever extra tension the situation creates.

“These guys, not only T.J. but many others that are going to be involved in the Frozen Four to a certain degree have been under a microscope for a number of years,” Whitehead said. “We’ll deal with it upfront and I don’t see it having much effect on T.J.’s play.”

Maine (23-14-2) plays Michigan State (24-13-3) and North Dakota (24-13-5) plays Boston College (28-11-1) in the semifinals April 5 with the championship game on April 7. The Frozen Four has a 10-day gap between games to avoid the buzz surrounding the Final Four and to give schools and fans more time to organize travel arrangements.

The field features three No. 3 seeds and a No. 2 in a season marked by parity, although it has two of the hottest teams. Boston College enters with a 12-game winning streak and North Dakota, in the Frozen Four for the third straight year, is 15-2-4 in its last 21 games.