John Kirby Article

Here's an article from the Austin Daily Herald about new Express defenseman John Kirby:
http://www.austindailyherald.com/news/2009/jun/15/austins-john-kirby-looking-make-splash-hockey-care/

For those fans new to the Express organization, John's older brother Tim played two seasons on the blueline for the Express. Tim's performance led to a Division 1 commitment with the Air Force Academy. John was first introduced to Express fans at tryout camp in the summer of 2008, as an underclassman out of Austin High School. After spending last season with the Russell Stover AAA program in Kansas City, John signed a tender with the Express for the upcoming season.

I'll do a full player profile of John in the next few weeks.



Tidbits:

- Former Express defenseman Anthony Orange is back in the NAHL with the St Louis Bandits. Anthony played a few games at the beginning of last year with the Express, and then spent some time at Illinois State. Anthony was a good kid, and one of the strongest guys on the team last year. We should get to see him play against the Express on day 2 of the Showcase.

- Former Mahoning Valley Phantoms radio announcer Paul Teeple, who is a sporadic contributor to the blog, is taking over the announcer position with the Bismarck Bobcats. You might remember some lively discussion last season about the relative strength amongst the four NAHL divisions. It will be interesting to hear Paul's opinion now that he is in the Central Division. Welcome to the upper midwest Paul.

- Keep an eye out for the newly redesigned Owatonna Express website, which should be launching in the next week. I have heard it will be very cool, and it just might include an opinion column written by a certain guy you might be familiar with.



The dog days of summer are quickly ticking away, and hockey season is on the horizon. Less than one month from today, our favorite junior hockey team will be settling into their billet houses, and getting down to business on the ice. Only 43 days until the regular season opener in Albert Lea.


See you at the rink.


--BK