Cunneyworth Hire Has Thorburn Excited

Chris Thorburn was over at Philips Arena this morning for the Children'sHealthcare Of Atlanta Rehab Summer Games (more on that later this week) andwhile he was there I asked him about Randy Cunneyworth, our new assistant coachwho just so happened to coach Thorburn for three years in Rochester. You cancount Thorburn among his fans and just one of many people who thoughtCunneyworth had a good shot at making the jump to the.nhl this year. Here's whatThorburn had to say about his former coach:"He taught me a lot. I was coming into pro hockey and I was pretty muchblinded by the game. I needed to learn a lot about myself and the game and hewas there for me giving me guidance. I think he's going to be great for ourteam. He knows the game, he's intense, and I think players are going to be ableto relate to him. He's really easy to talk to. I'm excited about having him downhere and I'm sure he'll bring the kind of success that he in had with theRochester Americans with him. He just has a way of getting through to theplayers and getting them to perform for him. He'll probably do the same thinghere. Guys will respect him. He's played at this level and he knows what ittakes to win."Eric Boulton actually played with and for Cunneyworth back in 1999-2000 inRochester. Boulton was a young player and Cunneyworth was a player/assistantcoach winding up his playing career. Boulton piled up 276 PIM that season- hissecond highest season total.On a side note, I've come to acquire a small collection of Score hockey cardsfrom the 1990 season (way back when there were 21 teams in the.nhl- and 16 of them made the playoffs!). Every week or so I'm given a new pack by someone here inthe office, and lo and behold, last Friday I got a Randy Cunneyworth HartfordWhalers card. Is it just me or did the Whalers have one of the best.nhl uniformsof all time? Great colors, and the logo had everything- a 'W' for the team, an'H' for the city, and a whale's tail. AwesomeIn other news, I'm glad to see wesigned Matt Siddall. Not many ninth round draft picks pan out but Siddall isin good company. Mark Streit went eight spots ahead of him in 2004 and ifSiddall ends up suiting up for the Thrashers he'll be the fifth player from theninth round of the 2004 draft to make it to the.nhl. You may or may not recallthat Siddall was one of my two workout partners (along with Myles Stoesz)went Iwent into the gym during prospect camp. He has decent size, loves to hit,and he's not a stranger to picking up some points. He's probably best suited tobeing an energy/checking line player and it's hard to project where those guysend up. When you're looking at an offensive player you can gauge whether he hasthe speed, vision and skill to do what he does at a higher level. Checkers, onthe other hand, can go awfully far based on hard work and the ability to becoached. Siddall will likely be competing for a spot in Chicago this fall wherehis personality and work ethic should endear him to Wolves fans.Source