Feature Story

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Off He Goes

By Ryan Stanzel, State of Hockey

Bringing a teenager into the fold is nothing new for the Minnesota Wild – Marian Gaborik, Nick Schultz, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Brent Burns all debuted in the NHL before their 20th birthday.

However, with the exception of Gaborik, the others came to the Wild as necessity to fill out the team’s roster more than anything else. Because the fledgling Wild did not have a fully developed system in their formative years, players like Bouchard and Burns each spent time with the Wild in the year they were drafted. However, Burns, Bouchard and Mikko Koivu all played major roles with the team’s minor league affiliate in Houston during the lockout, before earning major minutes over the last three seasons.

On Oct. 10, 2007, against the Edmonton Oilers, James Sheppard became the fifth teenager in franchise history to suit up for the Wild and the hockey operations staff isn’t at all worried that he’s going to be overwhelmed in his first NHL season.

In fact, they’re convinced he’ll do just fine. After waiting for his immigration paperwork to clear, Sheppard was thrown right into the fire – out of necessity mostly. Because of an early-season injury to Dominic Moore, the Halifax, Nova Scotia native has seen plenty of game action in the early going and while he hasn’t lit up the scoreboard, he certainly hasn’t looked out of place either.

The 6-2, 210 pound center was expected to play only 40-50 games this season. It will be a similar rookie year to the ones Brent Burns and Pierre-Marc Bouchard experienced. It won’t be the game action and ice time that will matter but the practice with the big club that will make all the difference and help steer Sheppard’s development in the right direction.

In fact, if not for a back injury sustained during training camp last season, Sheppard may have even made the Wild in 2006-07 as an 18-year-old. Instead, he returned to Cape Breton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and put up huge numbers – 33 goals and 63 assists in 56 games despite missing the first 12 games of the regular season because of the back injury. Sheppard finished last season strong as well.

Over the final month of the regular season, Sheppard tallied 27 points in the last 15 games and in the postseason it was Sheppard who carried his Cape Breton squad deep into the postseason with 20 points in 16 games. For his efforts, he was named a QMJHL Second-Team All-Star.

Clearly, there was nothing left to prove in Sheppard’s junior hockey career.

For the Wild, it would have been so easy to send Sheppard back to Cape Breton for another year of tearing up the QMJHL had the Wild felt so inclined. In fact, both Petr Kalus, received from the Bruins in the Manny Fernandez trade last summer and 2005 first round pick Benoit Pouliot looked just about ready to contribute at the NHL level as well. The tricky part was keeping all of them within the Wild’s grasp.

Because Sheppard is still just 19, he either had to be up with big club in Minnesota or sent back to his junior hockey club. In other words, the Houston Aeros were not an option for Sheppard’s development. The decision was made to sign the Wild’s 2006 first round pick rather than send him back to Cape Breton where the team felt he had nothing left to learn and felt the experience of another year would just stagnate his development.

“We’re pleased with James’ development since we drafted him in the summer of 2006 and we feel that his development will be best served by being on our club,” general manager Doug Risebrough said about signing Sheppard.

What’s perhaps most amazing is that Sheppard is developing, not on a club that is rebuilding and full of young players, but a team that has serious playoff aspirations and went through the season’s first three weeks unbeaten in regulation. In fact, Sheppard has earned quality third-period minutes under Jacques Lemaire’s tutelage, a testament to what the head coach and the organization as a whole thinks of him.

“It’s been an experience in itself, especially being with a team like Minnesota,” Sheppard said. “We’ve got an unreal team, and getting all these wins, it gives me the experience of what it takes to be a winner. Being around all these great players in games and practices, I think I’m just learning a lot.”

Another treat for Sheppard was having his mom, Wendy, not only able to see his NHL debut, but to have her on his first road trip as well, thanks to the Wild’s Mother/Son trip in mid-October to Phoenix, Anaheim and Los Angeles.

“It was cool and she enjoyed it quite a bit,” James Sheppard said. “It was a first for both of us. It made it easier on the both of us. She made a lot of friends, and it was good for me to get my first road trip under my belt, to get used to the NHL on the road as well as at home.”

Wendy Sheppard did have to go back to Nova Scotia, but her son isn’t alone in the Twin Cities. Like Bouchard and Burns before him, Sheppard will live with a billet family – much like he did in Cape Breton. And it’s a family very familiar with Wild fans – that of Darby Hendrickson.

“They’ve got a great family, with kids,” Sheppard said. “The kids are great to be around, and when I need the rest, I have the downstairs for privacy. It’s going to be great this year.”

In fact, Sheppard is likely to receive some great advice from Hendrickson. After all it was Hendrickson who became the first Minnesota boy to lace up his skates and play for the Wild. A role that certainly came with a ton of pressure.

“Darby’s good because he can kind of work with you,” he added. “He gives me advice here and there, but he knows I have to go through the process and learn the experience. They make sure I put my hockey first and worry about everything else after that.”

Sheppard has also received great advice from players such as Bouchard and Burns. Guys who went through the same thing that he is going through now.

“They’ve helped me with a lot of different things, bank accounts, managing money, getting adjusted to playing here,” Sheppard said. “I know I won’t play every game, and they didn’t either, but they worked hard when they were young and it obviously worked out for them. I appreciate the advice, and I think they know what they’re talking about.”

Hopefully, Bouchard’s and Burns’ play will rub off on Sheppard as well. Both players grew into roles with bigger responsibility as they matured on the ice and now make up a huge part of what the Minnesota Wild are about.

For now, however, Sheppard is just enjoying life as a NHL hockey player. He says it’s a joy to play in the league, no matter how much he plays, and he owes it all to his family.

“It was all my family,” he said. “They were always behind me. My mother and father always wanted me to get an education, and I worked hard in school, but they said if this is what you want to do, do it.” Sheppard says. “My mother, father, sister and grandmother, all of them. My grandmother was one of biggest hockey fans you’ll ever meet. She was the loudest at the rink all the time.”

Now Sheppard is playing at the rinks he only dreamed about skating on as a kid growing up. He might be starstruck by the guys he’s playing against but, you know, he sure looks like he fits right in.

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