Friday, July 5, 2013

From Cradle to Cup: The Story of the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks, Part 5

From Cradle to Cup will be a series running throughout July 2013 looking back at players on the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks roster for their Stanley Cup-winning campaign. Part 5 looks at enforcer forward Brandon Bollig. 

Brandon Bollig was born on January 31st, 1987, in St. Charles, Missouri. He began his playing career in the United States Hockey League at the age of nineteen, playing with the Lincoln Stars in the 2005-2006 season. During the season, he recorded eight goals, eight assists, and 175 penalty minutes. Bollig remained in Lincoln for the next two seasons, and over those years he had twenty-nine goals, twenty-eight assists, and 418 penalty minutes in 115 games. Over all three seasons with the Stars, Bollig appeared in twenty-six postseason games, while potting four goals, dishing eight assists, and serving sixty-four penalty minutes. Bollig attended college after his three years with the Lincoln Stars, and played college hockey with St. Lawrence University. Between 2008 and 2010 at St. Lawrence, Bollig played in seventy-eight games, posting thirteen goals and twenty-five assists, as well as a toned-down penalty minute total of 134. On April 3rd, 2010, Bollig was signed as a free agent by the Chicago Blackhawks, who then assigned him to the American Hockey League to play with the Rockford IceHogs. In three games to close out the season in Rockford, Bollig had a goal, an assist, and seven penalty minutes. Bollig played a full season with the IceHogs in 2010-2011, appearing in fifty-five games and scoring just four goals, while supplying 115 penalty minutes. Bollig also played most of the 2011-2012 season in Rockford, where he had three goals and six assists in fifty-three games, while being punished to the tune of 163 penalty minutes before being called up to the NHL to play with the Blackhawks after their trade of previous enforcer John Scott to the New York Rangers at the end of February. He did not record a point in eighteen regular season games, having only fifty-eight penalty minutes to his credit, but he appeared in four more postseason games, where he scored his first goal at the NHL level against the Phoenix Coyotes. Bollig was returned to the AHL for the beginning of the 2012-2013 campaign, as the NHL locked out the players, and in thirty-five games with Rockford, he had five goals, four assists, and 157 penalty minutes. Bollig then played twenty-five more games at the NHL level during the shortened season, going pointless but still posting a nasty fifty-one penalty minutes. He also made five postseason appearances, again without a point and this time only a minor, two-minute penalty during those games. Due to his playing in over half of the regular season games, Bollig will be able to have his name on the Stanley Cup after the Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins to cap off the shortened season.

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