7/9/2010 - MEN'S ICE HOCKEY Read among Minnesota Wild Development Camp Invitees

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ST. PAUL, Minn. --  Bemidji State University All-America forward Matt Read (Ilderton, Ontario) is not taking the summer of 2010 lightly.  The senior is using his final collegiate off-season to prepare for a future in ice hockey’s professional ranks.  Read has been included on the Minnesota Wild Development Camp set for St. Paul, Minn. next week.

Read is one of 37 skaters invited to the camp, which is slated to began July 13 and conclude with scrimmages open to season ticket holders on July 17 and the general public July 18 at the Xcel Energy Center.  

The idea of the camp is to provide players with intensive instruction from professional personnel and have an experience that indoctrinates them into pro hockey without the worry of making a cut.

For Read, who also participated in the New York Rangers’ camp June 28-July3 with former teammate Chris McKelvie, it is chance to keep his legs under him and lace up his skates along side of some of the best young hockey talent from around the world.

Under the direction of Houston Aeros Head Coach Mike Yeo and the Wild’s Director of Player Development Brad Bombardir, the group will spend three days on the ice practicing, before the 11:00 a.m. scrimmages on Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s camp not only includes a few of the Wild’s 2010 draft class such as Brett Bulmer, Johan Larsson and Jason Zucker, it also features seven players with NHL experience like: Cody Almond, Colton Gillies, Petr Kalus, Casey Wellman, Justin Falk, Maxim Noreau and Nate Prosser and 10 non-roster players.

Last year, Minnesota signed three college free agents, including University of Miami’s (Ohio) Jarod Palmer, who attended the Wild’s 2009 Development Camp.

Read, a two-time First-Team All-CHA selection, paced the Beavers in scoring for the third consecutive season in 2009-10 racking up 19-22=41 points, to sit alone atop the Beavers’ Division I-era single-season scoring list.  In addition to finishing second on the team in goals (19), which included a team-leading four game-winners, and assists (22), his 2-11=13 points on the power-play trailed only teammate Brad Hunt (So., Ridge Meadows, British Columbia).

With at least 40 points in each of the last two seasons, Read became the first BSU player since Bernie Adlys (1993-96) to post back-to-back 40-point campaigns.

Read eclipsed the 100-point mark for his career in just his 102nd game as a Beaver, becoming the second-fastest BSU Division I-era player to crack 100 career points.

Last season, Read scored in 24 of the Beavers’ 37 outings. He posted a career-best 2-2=4 points in the second game of the season to account for the first of his team-leading 13 multi-point efforts.  Read assembled two scoring streaks of at least five consecutive games matching a career-best six games from Feb. 19 to Mar. 6 during which he scored a goal in four straight.  

Read has seen time in each of BSU’s games since stepping on campus in the fall of 2007.  Playing 110 consecutive contests, he has accumulated 43-65=108 points to share the 38th spot on BSU all-time scoring list.  

Since joining the Beaver Hockey program, the native of Ilderton, Ontario has led BSU to three consecutive CHA regular season titles, a CHA Tournament championship (2008), back-to-back berths into the NCAA Tournament (2009, 2010) and the program’s first appearance in the Frozen Four (2009).   

Read and the rest of the Bemidji State men’s ice hockey team officially open the 35-game 2010-11 campaign October 15 when the Beavers host Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) foe University of North Dakota to open play at BSU’s new $65 million hockey home, the Bemidji Regional Event Center.

Bemidji State, which finished 23-10-4 overall and 14-3-1 in CHA play to garner its third consecutive conference regular-season crown, wrapped up the 2009-10 campaign with a loss to University of Michigan in the Midwest Regional semifinal, marking the team’s fourth trip to the NCAA Division I Tournament since 2005.

In addition to Read, Head Coach Tom Serratore, who is entering his 10th season at the helm of the Beaver hockey program, returns 21 players from his 2009-10 NCAA tournament roster including: First-Team All-CHA defender Hunt; First-Team All-conference goaltender Dan Bakala (Jr., Calgary, Alberta) and 2010 CHA Rookie of the Year Jordan George (So., F, Madison, Wis.).

--bsu--