Friday, January 26, 2007
Staff photo by Doug Jones
Drew Miller of the Portland Pirates already has played about the same number of games as a year ago at Michigan State, but that's part of being a pro hockey player, and he loves it.
PIRATES' WEEKEND
TODAY: Providence at Pirates, 7:05 p.m.
SATURDAY: Pirates at Lowell, 7:05 p.m.
If rink rat was in the dictionary, Drew Miller's picture would be with it.
Miller, a Portland Pirates forward, has spent most of his life around hockey rinks.
"Most of the time I was collecting pucks around the rinks, getting water bottles for my cousins and the older guys," Miller said. "That was my role as a young kid."
Because he's a pro rookie, Miller still has to pick up the pucks after practice sometimes. It's part of the price to pursue his dream of playing in the National Hockey League.
"I was born into it," he said. "Always hockey sticks around the house. Hockey was always on TV. It was always talked about. It was the way I was brought up."
Most of his childhood talk was about Michigan State hockey.
"For most of my childhood we lived close enough to East Lansing so we could go watch my cousins skate, watch the Spartans skate, and be around the locker rooms," Miller said.
"When my cousins were there, I would go into the Michigan State locker room after games, stealing tape and sticks and eating pizza with the guys."
Starting with his grandfather, Butch Miller, back in 1956, three generations of the Miller family have played for Michigan State.
Miller's older brother, Ryan, a top NHL goaltender, plays for the Buffalo Sabres. His cousins Kelly, Kevin and Kip Miller also played in the NHL.
"It runs through the whole family line," Portland Pirates Coach Kevin Dineen said. "I played against Kip and Kelly (Miller) for a number of years and played with Kevin (Miller) in Ottawa for a little while. The running theme through this family is their intelligence as hockey players.
"They all have a good feel for the game. They were exposed to it at a young age. They've been well-coached. They know how to listen and know how to execute things that someone wants them to do."
Miller has had good role models.
When he was young, Kevin and Kip Miller as well as his cousins, Curtis and Taylor Gemmel, played for Michigan State.
"It was just being around the rink watching the guys, creating that dream, that wish and that hope to be like them, to be able to skate like that and shoot the puck that hard," Miller said. "It kind of got me to be involved in hockey and to be really motivated with it."
Last May, after playing three seasons for the Spartans, Miller, 22, signed his first pro contract with the Anaheim Ducks, forgoing his final year of eligibility as a college player.
"Anaheim thought my development would be better to come into the pro level a year early," he said.
"I played 44 games last year (in college), and I've already played almost that many this year, and we're (only) halfway through the season."
Miller, who has six goals and 12 assists, has played 43 games this season. He's the only member of the Pirates to appear in every game.
"Getting extra games with better players at the pro level, and just getting used to the pro style of hockey, is a bonus kind of year for me," he said.
Miller hopes coming out early from college will help him reach the next level sooner.
"I could be going to college, practicing at 3 o'clock every day and playing two games on the weekend," he said. "Would I be ready to jump into the NHL next year? Probably not from there.
"This gives me a chance to maybe get that extra advantage, to maybe make the jump and play a couple of (NHL) games next year."
Turning pro has enabled Miller to focus solely on hockey, a true rink rat's dream.
"It's just a positive to come up and be around the coaches we have here, and around players who have been called up and just see how the whole thing works," he said.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:
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