Bryce Christianson signed on today as an emergency back-up goaltender for the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL thereby foregoing any eligibility. This had been rumored widely here so I'm not thinking this comes as a big surprise to regular readers. The main reason for the post is instead just to reprint the comment from Todd Christiason (Bryce's dad) in the comment section of the new recruit post below. It's a simple testament to his character and a quality reflection back on the program:
"Its a very humble beginning for Bryce but he would like to thank everyone including the fans and blueliners who cheered him on for 21/2 years...He had huge expectations after his Sophmore year here and tried his best for the program. His goal is try to make the highest Professional League possible and to carry on the rich tradition of Alaskans in pro hockey...He will have his work cut out for him.. As his Dad and an Alum its a very tough day for our family but we are excited for Bryce... we want to thank everyone associated with the program.. yours in hockey.....Todd Christianson"
Thanks again Todd for choosing my blog to make that graceful statement. We (and I'm speaking for everyone that reads here) wish him success. We appreciate his past efforts as well. He's got excellent athleticism so I'm betting on that to carry him forward. And on a personal note, I hope to keep running into you at the Sully next season and beyond.
12 comments:
I've been a Seawolf hockey fan for only a couple of years and have seen others leave the program - McCabe, Moir, Daychief, Aiken, Bales to name a few. They all had their reasons to leave and as fans we can only support their decision and wish them the best in what they choose to do.
Go get 'em, Bryce, and enjoy your new career as a pro! Best of luck to you. Looking forward to following you in the ECHL.
I hope that one of the remaining Alaskan players would take #49 next year. We've had a #49 on the team for quite a while now and I think it's a worthwhile tradition for a local guy to wear that number.
Nick Haddad, Brad Gorman, Scott Warner and Tyler Currier should all consider it and have some sort of contest to decide who gets it.
Please guys, someone take #49.
Good luck Bryce! We'll miss you.
Beagle called up to Washington Today to face Pittsburgh.
And the Game is on Versus tonight
Best of luck Bryce! We all wish you well. You really helped this team coming in at mid-season. You won't be forgotten!
To watch the Washington - Pittsburgh game online click on this link at 3:30PM AST (7:30PM EST).
Although we would like to see all Seawolves finish their
schooling, sometimes it's just not in the cards. We would
like to thank Bryce for playing at UAA. We thoroughly enjoyed watching you play and WOW, you've got some
great mobility which we're sure will help your career whereever it may be.
We agree with Donald, someone needs to represent Alaska by wearing the #49. A suggestion, have the last
person wearing it pick the next one to wear it , if they would
want to that is.
All the best to you Bryce, we'll look forward to watching you play again.
Go Seawolves!!!!!!!!!
I heard today that Stockton decided to keep Bryce and he flew down this morning with the team to California to finish the series with the Aces. The Coach told him they liked what they have seen so far and to "Be ready". Bryce commented on how Professional the Coach and Organization was and how incredibly positive the Coach was to his team even after they lost the first game to the Aces. "Everything is Positive"..I would fully expect at some time there will be a Goalie under an NHL contract to eventually take his spot as things get further down the line.. He says the main difference is everybody has there head up and can really shoot and pick corners at this level. A couple guys have absolute Cannons and there is no time to move or react..Bryce labled it a "Big Adjustment".
Bryce dropped as a pro! Great Decision by his daddy!
http://echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action=show_news&cat=1&id=22006
Too bad for Bryce, but really - is anyone surprised by this news? Maybe he can start fresh at the beginning of next season and impress a team enough to get a try out.
wow, that really is a
shame. Hopefully he will get a chance to play somewhere, we certainly hope so. It's really too bad he didn't stay at UAA, he may have had a good chance at being the number one goalie. But then we really don't know for sure what was going on behind closed doors unless we were there. We can only speculate. We wish the best for you Bryce and we are still sad that you didn't choose to stay in school.
GO SeaWolves...
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