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Callahan an agitator by choice
By Sarah Lindenau - RedWingsCentral.com / September 10, 2009Mitchell Callahan is happy to be called an irritant.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound right-winger racked up 188 penalty minutes with the Kelowna Rockets last season, third most in the Western Hockey League. He will use just about any tactic he can think of to get an opponent off his game and is willing to drop the gloves with anyone.
"I guess that is kind of my role to get under people's skin and agitate them so they might take a penalty," Callahan said. "I have been getting under people's skin my whole life so it wasn't too hard to do it (on the ice)."
Callahan, who is missing both his front teeth after taking a puck to the mouth during a pick-up game this summer, was at his agitating best in Wednesday night's 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers at the annual prospects tournament in Traverse City.
The 18-year-old dropped the gloves early in the first against 6-foot-1, 215-pound defenseman Mike Berube. Later in the game he came close to fighting 6-foot-2, 192-pound Tomas Kundratek.
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| Mitchell Callahan dropped the gloves in Wednesday night's game at the annual prospects tournament. More photos from Wednesday » |
"The Rangers came out flying," Callahan said. "I was trying to set the tempo a little bit and trying to get our team going. I just wanted to create some energy."
Callahan hasn't always been an agitator. One of the better hockey players from California - he hails from Whittier - it wasn't until he went north and made the Rockets as a walk-on that he started the transformation.
"I had always been a goal-scorer back home," Callahan said. "When I made the (Rockets), they asked me to play a third/fourth line energy role."
Callahan can also be counted on to chip in the odd goal. Last season he had 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points in 70 games in a limited role.
"I try to bring a little bit of skill and hockey sense into my agitating," Callahan said. "I am not the greatest at it but I have been working at it."
The Red Wings liked the potential they saw in Callahan when they drafted him in the sixth round (180th overall) in June's draft.
"I was very excited to be drafted since I was never on the central scouting list and on nobody's radar," he said. "When I heard it was Detroit, I was very honored especially (because it is) such a storied franchise."
Callahan is a raw project who needs to work on rounding out his game and adding muscle to his frame to have a chance at playing at the next level.
"Hopefully down the road I get to play in a Wings uniform at Joe Louis Arena." Callahan said. "Right now I am just trying to work on bulking up and (improving) my skills so that I can be a better energy guy."
McCOLLUM READY TO GO: Thomas McCollum is ready to turn the page on his junior career, particularly his showing at the world junior championship last December. The 19-year-old goalie allowed four goals on 18 shots in the United States' quarter-final loss to Slovakia and shouldered much of the criticism.
"I put a little too much pressure on myself and I was trying to do too much," McCollum said. "I was thinking what I was going to do with the puck before I was making saves. When you start doing that then you let shots in that you should probably have."
The 6-foot-2, 204-pounder returned to form after the trade to Brampton and posted a 1.94 goals-against average and .929 save percentage in 23 games.
"I can't change what happened at the world juniors," McCollum said. "I just use it as motivation and that helped me to finish the season strong."
McCollum, who signed a three-year entry-level contract last October, is hoping a strong prospects tournament and main camp will help him make a case for a roster spot in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
After stopping 24 of 28 shots earlier in the week and securing the Red Wings' only win of the tournament against the Atlanta Thrashers, he'll get another chance to start in the 5th place game against the Dallas Stars.
Competition for the two Grand Rapids spots is expected to be hotly contested by McCollum, Jordan Pearce and Daniel Larsson.
"I am trying to not really think about it the competition too much," McCollum said. "I want to go and play hard every day and work on the things (goalie coach) Jim Bedard talked to me about like playing a little farther out in the crease and staying patient."
NOTES
- Despite third-period goals from Jan Mursak, Brent Raedeke and Brian Lashoff, the Red Wings couldn't come back from a 4-0 deficit and lost 4-3 to the Rangers. Tryout Chris Whitley suffered the loss in goal, making 24 saves. The Red Wings play the Dallas Stars in Thursday afternoon's fifth-place game. The Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild will play for the championship.
- The joke around Centre Ice Arena is that the Red Wings are a very gracious host but can never win their own tournament. This is the 12th year Detroit has hosted the tournament and it is still looking for its first title.
- Turnovers and penalties have been the Red Wings' downfall.
- Tomas Tatar leads the Red Wings in scoring with three goals and two assists in three games. Jan Mursak is next with a goal and three helpers. Francis Pare has a team-high plus-5 and Brent Raedeke is tops with 12 shots on goal.
- The Red Wings scratched Gleason Fournier for the third straight game with a shoulder injury. The other scratches were Willie Coetzee and Jordan Pearce.
- The defense pairing of Sebastien Piche and Travis Ehrhardt had a difficult outing creating a couple of turnovers and not clicking as a unit.
- Johan Ryno was moved up to the top unit with Tatar and Emmerton early in the game, but later returned to a line with Dick Axelsson and Brent Raedeke.
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The next wave
RWC's top 10 prospects (2009-10 preliminary)
| 01 | F | Tomas Tatar » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 02 | D | Jakub Kindl » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 03 | D | Brendan Smith » | Wisconsin (NCAA) |
| 04 | F | Gustav Nyquist » | Maine (NCAA) |
| 05 | F | Jan Mursak » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 06 | G | Thomas McCollum » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 07 | F | Joakim Andersson » | Frolunda (SEL) |
| 08 | F | Mattias Ritola » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 09 | F | Landon Ferraro » | Red Deer (WHL) |
| 10 | D | Brian Lashoff » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |