Kessel Impressing Teammates at Minnesota:
The Pittsburgh Penguins have Sidney Crosby. The University of Minnesota has Phil Kessel.
Crosby has drawn comparisons to countrymen Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, while many consider Kessel the top American prospect since Mike Modano.
"He's the real deal," Gophers teammate Gino Guyer said. "He gets up and down the ice, he's a good playmaker and he has a really heavy shot."
The Gophers won an intense recruiting battle for Kessel, who chose Minnesota over Wisconsin, located in his hometown of Madison.
That really makes it all the sweeter for Gopher puck fans, doesn't it?
The 6-foot, 190-pound forward played the last two seasons with USA Hockey's National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich.
He led the Under-18 team in goals (52), assists (46) and points (98) last season on his way to breaking the team record for goals in a season.
In two seasons with the bantams in Madison before he left for Ann Arbor, Kessel scored 289 goals in 157 games.
That's what you call Talent with a capital T.
Lucia has been hesitant to heap praise on a freshman, but one of the things that drew Kessel to Minnesota is the fact that he's one of a handful of stellar freshmen in this class. He joins goalie Jeff Frazee and forwards Blake Wheeler and Ryan Stoa as perhaps the best recruiting class in the nation.
To paraphrase Bob Johnson: It's a great year for hockey. Gopher hockey, that is.
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