Nic Kerdiles will be playing hockey again this weekend.
The U.S. of Hockey blog, written by Chris Peters, says the Wisconsin Badgers freshman will rejoin his old team, the under-18 U.S. development national team, for its games against the Gophers on Friday at Mariucci Arena and at the University of St. Thomas on Saturday.
The NCAA suspended Kerdiles for the entire season for violating amateur rules and, when the Badgers appealed, reduced his penalty to 10 games. He can't play for the Badgers until Nov. 30.
So he will not be with the Badgers at UMD this weekend. Instead, he will be with his old team playing in two exhibition games. Kerdiles led the under-18 team in scoring last season with 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points in 54 games.
He is a big kid, 6-2, 196. The Anaheim Ducks drafted him in the second round of the 2012 NHL draft. He is from Irvine, Calif.
The under-18 national team regularly picks up extra players if it has injuries as it does now.
The NCAA's suspension of Kerdiles must not apply to exhibition games. Interesting way for him to get some competition.
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