New Fly Guy

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Flyers made history last season with their worst team in four decades.

Last night at Nationwide Arena, they made history again, choosing Middletown, N.J., left winger James vanRiemsdyk with the second overall pick in the NHL draft.

Chicago took Buffalo-born right winger Patrick Kane at No. 1, making it the first time two American players had gone 1-2 in the draft and punctuating the dramatic rise of the U.S. national team development program.

"That is really amazing," a beaming vanRiemsdyk said. "It shows how American hockey continues to make strides. It's a big step for American hockey."

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound forward's next big step comes this fall when he enters the University of New Hampshire as a business major.

"There are some pretty big expectations of me, but I wanted to go in there, work hard, and do whatever I can to help them win," the 18-year-old said.

VanRiemsdyk is the prototype Flyers power forward. He is tall and growing, a physical presence in front of the net. He has good scoring ability and a nice blend of foreign and domestic experience via the national program.

"As he develops physically, he will help create offense," said Ron Rolston, who coached vanRiemsdyk in his junior and senior years on the under-18 team, which trained in Ann Arbor, Mich. "The way the Flyers play and with the mentality they want him to play with, he's a perfect fit for them."

When Rolston recruited him at age 15, he saw "raw potential." Over the last two summers, vanRiemsdyk added muscle, pounds and something else.

"He gained a lot of confidence in his physical strength out on the ice, and that carried over into this past year with the national team," Rolston said.

VanRiemsdyk scored 33 goals and had 63 points for the U-18 team. And he was a point-a-game player against Division I schools, including nationally ranked Boston College and Michigan.

"The kid showed he could play against the big schools and internationally," Rolston said.

VanRiemsdyk was instrumental in the U-18 team's winning the bronze medal in the IIHF World Junior Championship this spring and was voted to the all-tournament team. He credits his decision to join the national-team program for turning around his career.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said. "I had to convince my parents a little bit, but I was set on going once they offered me a scholarship. If it wasn't for that, I would have still been playing high school hockey in New Jersey."

General manager Paul Holmgren said he had vanRiemsdyk atop the Flyers' draft list, ahead of the 5-9 Kane.

"He's big, he can skate, he has good hands," Holmgren said. "I saw him a little bit last year. He just continued to get better for our staff as the year went on. I don't think he is done growing yet."

Jim Dowd is the only player in the NHL from New Jersey. Dowd played for the Brick Hockey Club. So did vanRiemsdyk.

"Growing up, I was a Rangers fan, but now I'm a Flyers fan," he said. "It's awesome. When I heard my name called, it's something I would never forget. I had a pretty strong feeling it was the Flyers by just how they talked to me."

Ron DeGregorio, the president of USA Hockey said, "This is a day for everyone involved in our sport to feel awfully good about how far we've come."

Loose pucks. Rounds 2 through 7 are today, beginning this morning. The Flyers have seven picks remaining. . . . Edmonton is trying to get the negotiating rights to Scott Gomez from New Jersey. Speculation here was that the Oilers then would flip those rights to the Flyers for defenseman Joni Pitkanen. . . . San Jose began clearing cap space to sign unrestricted free agent Chris Drury (Buffalo) yesterday by trading goalie Vesa Toskala and forward Mark Bell to Toronto. . . . The fire sale in Nashville continued as the Predators traded goalie Tomas Vokoun to Florida for three draft picks. . . . Villanova's Colby Cohen was not picked in the first round.