Game On Magazine 2017 Game On Magazine - Regular Season Edition | Page 10

D ’ A R C Y B A I N P H Y S I O T H E R A P Y P L AY E R O F T H E M O N T H
6
JOEL
EDMUNDSON
HEI GHT 6’4 | WEIGHT 215 | AGE 24
GOALS 6 | ASSISTS 6 | POINTS 12
EDMUNDSON QUIET, BUT
ONE OF NHL’S BEST
He grew up in Brandon, played his
minor hockey there and in 2008, was
selected by the Moose Jaw Warriors
in the sixth round of the WHL Bantam
draft. He played two full years of
Triple A Midget with the Brandon
Wheat Kings before going to Moose
Jaw at age 17.
46
Was the 46th player selected in the
2011 National Hockey League entry
draft out of the WHL’s Kamloops
Blazers. He was the 16th pick of the
second round.
33
Was ranked 33rd by the NHL’s Central
Scouting Bureau despite playing only
71 games in the WHL.
From Brandon, Manitoba
Make no mistake, Brandon’s Joel Edmundson
has paid his dues. The 24-year-old defenseman
with the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues,
played three years in the Western Hockey League
and two more in the American Hockey league
before finally getting a full time job in St. Louis.
Everything Edmundson has accomplished has come
with hard work, attention to detail and a quiet, stay-at-
home manner that has made him the quintessential
defensive defenseman in an era when flash and
scoring seems to define the value of a D-Man.
This season, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound
Edmundson has been playing mostly with
6-foot-6, 230-pound Colton Parayko in
the Top 6 of a huge defensive unit that
incudes Jay Bouwmeester (6-foot-4, 205),
Alex Pietrangelo (6-foot-3, 210), Robert
Bortuzzo (6-foot-4, 215) and Carl Gunnarson
(6-foot-2, 200). The Blues are in the race
for first in the Central Division and a lot of
that has to do with the defensive unit.
This season, Edmundson has been
averaging 20 minutes a game in ice time and
has six goals and 12 points through the first
41 games (more than every other NHL season
combined). He’s a fixture now and clearly one
of the best players ever to come out of Brandon.
Just four years ago, that would have been a
stretch, but Edmundson has earned his success.
BY SCOTT TAYLOR
Photo by Jeff Miller
1 0 | G AME ON | R EGU L A R SEASON ED ITION 2018