Cody Almond

One guy I’ve been impressed with since he first set foot on Aeros ice is Wild prospect Cody Almond.

He hasn’t gotten much attention because he’s shown up only once on the score sheet (before last night), but I’m telling you, the kid has the goods.

It took me a few years before I understood, or at least created my own understanding, of what “hockey sense” is, but watching Almond for a few games clarified it for me.

He just does the little things right. Every game, at least twice, I say to my colleagues on press row, “Did you see that? Did you see what Almond did there?” Just a handful of games into his pro career (because of a broken wrist early in the season), he’s showing a level of sophistication above and beyond your average rookie.

And last night in the Aeros 6-2 victory over Milwaukee, he finally put that together with the offensive skill he showed in junior and earned his first pro goal and an added assist. I had to send a “stop the presses” email to my editor, as the article was set to run today and Almond had tripled his points!

But if you’d been watching him closely like I have, you knew it was coming. So I talked to coach Kevin Constantine about him and his assessment was pretty glowing. He, too, knew it was coming.

The best part of writing this story was the look on Almond’s face when I told him that KC was very happy with his progress and promised he’d play in the NHL. Now, that’s a fun message to deliver.

Anyway, without further ado, click here to read the piece at Pro Hockey News.

Here are some cool pics of him from this week’s games in the mid-west, courtesy of Chris Jerina:

All Photos by Chris Jerina