Birkholz to start WHL career next week

Forward Josh Birkholz, who left the Gophers hockey program on July 27, will be lacing up his skates on Thursday of next week.

That's the day his new team, the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League, start skating at training camp. Players report a day earlier, camp ends on Aug. 29 with a scrimmage. Then the Silvertips host a six-team tournament, called the Holidy Inn Preseason Classic, Sept. 4-6.

Their regular season starts Sept. 24.

Shortly after the Silvertips signed Birkholz, Doug Soetaert, the team's vice president and general manager talked about him. "Obviously we look for Josh to come in and be a top six forward for us during the coming year," Soetaert said.

"We develop these players. They all have aspirations to move on to the NHL as fast as they can. If they are here one year, that's great. If two, so be it. But that's our sole purpose, to develop players as fast as we can."

Birkholz will be on a team with only two other Americans. Eighteen of his teammates on the major junior hockey team are Canadians, two are Finns.

"With Josh, he wants to continue his education online at the University of Minnesota and we respect all that," Soetaert said. "But he will have the opportunity to play a lot and develop to a high level."

Soetaert said NHL scouts know what they are doing. "[Birkholz] is a player who shoots extremely well, has good hands and is able to score goals," Soetaert said. "Right now he has lost his identity but we will help him try to find that."

As a freshman at Minnesota, Birkholz had five goals and one assist in 36 games. He played primarily left wing -- and sometimes right wing -- on the third and fourth lines. He was a plus-3 player.

The Silvertips list him as a right wing; Birkholz shoots right-handed. He is 6-1, 190 on their roster -- or eight pounds heavier than a year ago.

Birkholz left the U under circumstances a bit mysterious. He was going to start his sophomore season serving a suspension for violating terms. Neither coach Don Lucia nor Birkholz would comment more on the issue.

Birkholz did say the suspension was not the reason he was leaving the program, adding that he would have had to sit out less than half the regular season.

Birkholz said he was contemplating a change since the end of the 2009-10 season. And Soetaert said Chris McAlpine, the family's adviser, talked to him about Birkholz at the NHL draft in late June.

Birkholz visited Everett, Wash., the weekend before he left the Gophers, Soetaert said, adding: "He met myself and talked to [coach] Craig Hartsburg and it went from there."

Hartsburg, of course, was a former defenseman for the Minnesota North Stars.

Birkholz had one very memorable game at the U. He had two big-time goals on Dec. 5 at Minnesota State Mankato. On one, he made a nifty move in the slot, on another he fired a rocket from one of the circles past the goalie. He also hurt his shoulder in that game.