BORDSON MAKES MOST OF OPPORTUNITY
Dec 30, 2015By Tom Witosky |Follow @toskyAHLWild
When Rob Bordson got a call from the Iowa Wild recently, he agreed quickly to sign a professional tryout contract. After two months of playing on the East Coast, the 27-year-old Duluth MN native was ready to get back to the Midwest.
“I like the “Minnesota” nice you get from people,” Bordson said. “It is pretty easy going so far here in Des Moines and I lived in Cedar Rapids as well. It just is different out East.”
In addition, the opportunity to play for the Wild has given Bordson a chance to continue his career at a critical moment.
“It is obviously a great opportunity because it is a fresh start with a new organization that I have not played for previously,” Bordson said. “So I am looking at it as a chance for me to turn some heads and play for a contract for the end of this year and into next year.”
Bordson’s season began this year in the ECHL where he scored nine goals, had nine assists in nine games for the Adirondack Thunder. That earned him a 10-game shot with the Providence Bruins where he compiled five points, but wasn’t offered a contract.
“I went back to Adirondack for a week, but then talked to my agent who told me that Iowa was interested and might have something for me,” he said. “I got the call the next day and in the middle of that afternoon I was flying to Rockford so it happened pretty fast.”
The former University of Minnesota-Duluth standout turned heads almost immediately in Des Moines with a goal during his first home game at Wells Fargo Arena. Ironically, it was the fifth goal scored by Bordson at Wells Fargo Arena in the last five games he has played in the arena. Last season, Bordson scored four goals against the Wild while playing for the Chicago Wolves.
“A couple of guys brought it up to me,” Bordson said. “It is just one of things that happens. I had a couple of good games here when I was with Chicago and it continued into here when I popped one in early in my first game. I just like playing in this building.”
But Bordson said that all the arenas and rinks in the AHL are a bit different, but nothing dramatic.
“Some are smaller rinks, some have lower ceilings or faster ice,” he said. “But at the end of the day, pro hockey players have played hundreds of games and whole lot of different rinks. The fact is that when the puck drops it is just another hockey game. “
Bordson said Wells Fargo has a good reputation throughout the league.
“No one complains about it,” he said. “It’s got good ice and they do have good glass and good boards here. Overall, it is pretty good.”
Brent Flahr, the Iowa Wild’s general manager, said that Bordson’s availability came at the right moment given the numerous injuries to Iowa’s front line that has created problems in the Wild’s ability to score. So far, he added, Bordson has played well.
“We know about him because he is a Minnesota kid,” Flahr said. “He is the type of kid who is really hungry to get his chance here and hopefully find a role in the American League level. So far, he has come here and performed. “
This isn’t the first time that Bordson has had to prove himself. After one season with the USHL Cedar Rapids Roughriders and three seasons where he played with Minnesota Wild forward Justin Fontaine, Bordson struggled to get much attention from pro scouts. But that changed when he played for the Trenton Titans of the ECHL and became a scoring machine – netting 17 goals and adding 34 assists in just 38 matches. That performance got the Philadelphia Flyers to sign him and assign him to Adirondack where he played 175 AHL games.
By signing with the Wild, Bordson is now playing for the organization he followed growing up even though Mark Messier and Joe Thornton got his admiration as young player.
“It was always a dream of mine,” he said. “When I was growing up I always wanted to be a professional hockey player. As I grew-up, I loved hockey so much that it was just about all I could think of. “
He also knows that this season could be critical as he begins to hear the clock ticking on his career. It’s not that he is old, he said, but he is a veteran now.
“I am 27 so I am not really old, but in terms of hockey after six seasons as a pro I am getting up there,” he acknowledged. “Each year I have gotten better, but you have to get better each year because this is a hard league to play in.”
Plus, he is no mood to give up his career just yet.
“It is a developmental league but there are a lot of older guys who have a presence on each team,” Bordson said. “I am viewing it as a fresh opportunity not as a last chance because it is not. I am just trying to stay with this team and this organization and run with it.”