Stars regroup after brawl

Archive: Sunday

February 5, 2012

Burggrabe is done; team deals Shields, acquires blueliner

BY JAMES COOK jcook@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Sun Feb 05, 2012, 07:14 AM EST

TRAVERSE CITY — The Traverse City North Stars are regrouping in the aftermath of a Jan. 22 brawl with Kalamazoo.

The team learned that defenseman Dean Burggrabe, whose injury was the precursor to the line brawl between the North Stars and K-Wings to start the third period that day, will not play again this season.

The team acquired a defenseman in a trade to help replace Burggrabe in the lineup. The Stars dealt forward Alec Shields to Wenatchee for conditional tenders and cash that was used to acquire blueliner J.D. Cotroneo from Des Moines.

Several players, along with North Stars coach Chad Fournier, were suspended following the brawl.

Fournier and Traverse City forward Lance Fredrickson are in the midst of 10-game bans. Forward Eric Rivard received a six-game penalty, defender Zack Dorer three and blueliner Robert Wiener one, which has already been served. Aside from Wiener, each has already served two games of those suspensions in last weekend's split with Port Huron.

Alexander Taulien's indefinite suspension will have another appeal heard in mid-April, but the North Stars will have to not only make the playoffs, but win a postseason series in order for the team to still be playing by then. Taulien slammed Kalamazoo forward Danny Hamburg to the ice and knocked him out with a punch that broke several teeth and resulted in a broken nose, a minor concussion and stitches. Hamburg played for the K-Wings in this weekend's series against Jamestown and did not miss a game due to an 11-day break in Kalamazoo's schedule.

Burggrabe's head injury — the result of back-to-back hits to the head by Kalamazoo's Trevor Boyd and Austin Hervey in the second period of the Jan. 22 contest — will not allow him to play this season. Boyd was suspended for five games and Hervey's nine-game suspension has been altered to an indefinite one as well, Stars general manager Anthony Palumbo said. Hervey's next appeal will be heard in mid-March, meaning he could be reinstated before the end of the regular season.

Last season, Cotroneo (6-0, 200) led Hill-Murray High School in Minnesota to a 21-3-1 record with five goals and 11 assists. He was originally a third-round pick by Waterloo in the 2009 USHL Futures Draft.

"He comes from an excellent high school program," Palumbo said. "Their high school program is one of the top three or four in the state of Minnesota every year. He's got a strong pedigree. We're expecting him to come and make an immediate impact."

Burggrabe won't be cleared to play by doctors this season, and it could be even longer than that until the 18-year-old can resume his playing career.

"The final tests came back and he had a pretty severe bruise to his brain," Palumbo said. "The swelling has to come down before he'll get cleared. There's just no timetable for that. It could be three months, it could be six months; you just don't know."

Boyd hit Burggrabe head-first into the boards, Palumbo said. When the puck came to a dazed Burggrabe as he slowly made his way to his feet, Hervey elbowed him in the head. Burggrabe left the rink strapped to a back board.

"It was probably a combination of those two (hits)," Palumbo said. "Nobody really knows, but it was basically part of that hitting sequence."

A Marquette native, Burggrabe had a goal and four points in 30 games for the North Stars.

Shields — who hadn't played in a game for TC since Oct. 9 — had five points in eight games this season after being one of the team's leading scorers last year with 51 points in 50 games. The team also released Swedish defenseman Andreas Rosenstam, who hadn't seen game action since Oct. 28 and was +3 in six games.

The North Stars (19-14-5) return to action Wednesday at Centre ICE Arena, when second-place Kalamazoo pays a visit.

"We just need to concentrate on winning games," Palumbo said. "We've got to concentrate on making the playoffs. And if we do make the playoffs, work hard to secure the best possible position in the standings."