Can you say Norris?

January 18th, 1990 might be a day in history that no one outside of Blues fans may ever remember. It was on this day, 21 years ago that a young man named Alex Pietrangelo was born. Little did blues fans know this son of Canada would one day rise through the ranks of amateur hockey as one of today’s brightest young defensive stars in the NHL.  It seems to be evident from a young age that Pietro would develop a passion for hockey and live and breathe every moment of his life to want to be the best that he could. Alex started his career playing for the Richmond Hill Stars of the OHMA where he played one season. The next year Pietro moved on to play with the Vaughan Kings of the GTHL where he spent 3 years. In the year 2000 Pietro and his team mates of the Toronto Pro Hockey Development team participated in the Brick Super Novice Tournament in Edmonton Alberta Canada. It was there that Alex played along side the likes of Steven Stamkos, Phillip McRae, and Michael Del Zotto. Toronto ended the tournament loosing to the Vancouver Pacific Vipers in the final on a goal by Jordan Eberle. Alex also went on to win the Ontario Pee Wee AAA Championship in 2003 with his team the Vaughan Kings. For the next three seasons 2003/2004-2005/2006 Alex played for the Toronto Junior Canadiens AAA club where his team won the Ontario Bantam Championship in 2005 on a game winning goal by Pietro against goal tender Markham Waxers in the final. Pietro was starting to turn some heads in Canada specifically in Ontario. he was drafted 3rd over all in 2006 OHL Priority Draft by the Mississauga IceDogs. In his rookie season with the IceDogs Alex netted nearly a ppg ending his first season in the OHL with 53 points in 59 games. That off-season the IceDogs were relocated to Niagara and Pietro went along for the ride. That fall in September Alex caught fire and was named the CHL player of the week scoring 3 goals and snatching up 4 helpers in two games. By that december TSN had recognized Pietro as one skater to keep your eye on ranking him 3rd overall amongst eligible skaters for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.It was said that International Scounting Services described Pietro as a ” tremendous specimen in terms of size and skills.” ISS had Pietro ranked 5th overall at their midseason draft rankings with him finishing at 6th upon completion of their final draft analysis. Alex finished his second season in the OHL with 53 points in 60 games solidifying himself as an upper first round draft pick. On June 20th, 2008 the St. Louis Blues selected Alex 4th over all in the first round of the draft. During his media interview, Alex talked about how happy and excited he was to be going to an organization like the Blues. A team that  was up and coming and looking to add players to help grow the team into a winning franchise. Blues fans at the time knew they were getting a young kid who had a ceiling higher then any defenseman they had had in the fold for quite some time. Coming to blues camp that September Alex worked very hard impressing the coaching staff and earning him a spot on the opening night roster with the big club. Pietroangelo played in his first career NHL game on October 10th 2008. Three days later he was welcomed to the big league when  hit from behind by Toronto’s Ryan Hollweg sent Pietro to a brief stint on the DL. Alex went on to play ion 8 NHL games that season before being opted back to his OHL team. That spring Pietro was signed to an AHL try out contract with the Peoria Rivermen on April 10th, 2009. ( The Blues AHL affiliate/ farm team) after the IceDogs season came to and end.  In the fall of 2009 Pietro started the year again with the big club only playing in 9 games by december of 09. He was then loaned to Team Canada to play in the world U20 Junior Championships. During that time his OHL team the Niagara IceDogs traded his rights to the Barrie Colts of the OHL. After the World Junior Championships he was returned to the OHL by the blues and played the remaining half of the OHL regular season. In those 25 games Pietro was able to amass 29 points. During that years OHL playoffs with the Barrie Colts Alex tacked on another 14 points in 17 games. Due to the length of the OHL playoff run for the Colts Alex was not eligible to be signed to an AHL contract to finish out the AHL season as he had done in the previously the year before.  In the fall of 2010, Alex Pietrangelo had seasoned himself well for a life in the NHL. The Blues organization had taken its time with Pietro’s development and it was about to become very evident that they had made the right choice with his path to the NHL. From the time the first puck dropped at Scott Trade Center for the beginning of the 2010-2011 NHL season it was very apparent to all blues fans that this kid was not just a kid anymore. At 6′ 3” and some where on the order of 210 pounds the right handed two way defenseman was shining like a bright star in the night sky. Each game that passed by seemed to show case his calm almost possessed like demeanor in his own end while under pressure from the opposition. With a very strong vision on the ice Alex made passes and plays that got the attention of one such Darren Pang. On countless nights as the blues season went up and down on the roller coaster of emotions you could hear the former net minder rant and rave about Pietro’s abilities to see the ice and take care of business defensively. “OOOHHHHH ALEX GAVE EM THE OL NINE  O HEARTS RIGHT THERE.” Panger would shout as Alex put on a slick move to get the puck moved out of the zone and off to one of his team mates for a scoring chance. By the end of the season it was very apparent that the entire NHL knew what the Blues had in their stables in Alex Pietrangelo. More then once it was said around the league that Pietro is a rising super star and a Norris Trophy is a very likely goal for him in the near future. Although Alex was not eligible for rookie of the year because of an NHL rule on consecutive years and games played he most certainly could have taken that honor. With 11 goals and 32 assists good for 43 points on the year he would have been a solid choice for the Rookie of the Year award. Pietro also was a team 3rd best in TOI/G at 22:00 minutes per game average only behind traded team mates Eric Brewer(22:14) and Eric Johnson(22:07). Alex also had 161 shots and was a +18 which was good for first on the team as Defense.  As the blues season ended Alex went on to represent his country at the 2011 IIHF Worlds Hockey Championships in Bratislava Slovakia. Team Canada went on to loose to Russia in the quarter finals 2-1. Alex scored 2 goals and had 3 assists in the tournament which was good enough to rank him first on his team in scoring for defenseman and second overall in the Tourney. Alex was selected by the directorate of the IIHF as the best defenseman of the tournament.  When the sharp scraping sounds of skates on the ice find their way back to the practice facility at the STL Mills you can bet you will see many blues fans sporting the number 27 on their back. It may take a few years to get there… But I can almost promise you this…. Come one day in the near future there will be a Norris Trophy with Alex Pietrangelo’s name written all over it!