Commodore on Ice

Over the years Commodore club newsletters have reported on Commodore sightings in movies, TV
shows and other such locations. Taking a new approach, we plan to keep you up to date on
Commodore on Ice. 

Mike Commodore was a defenseman with North Dakota State, winner of the 2000 NCAA ice hockey
championship. He was a second-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey
League in 1999. 

Having graduated in June of 2000, he started the 00-01 season with the minor league Albany River Rats, and
was called up to New Jersey just before Christmas, scoring his first NHL goal on Christmas Eve eve.
This reporter saw highlights of the game, and Mike was doing a pretty good job banging into opposing
players. 


August 2006 Update: Mike was traded to the Calgary Flames, where he played in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2003-04, when the team lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning. For the 2005-06 season, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, again playing for the cup. This time his team defeated the Edmonton Oilers, with a significant contribution from Mike. There is absolutely no question now about his skill and size - he's 6'5 and weighs 240 pounds, and is known for his abundant wild red hair.


March 2008 Update: On February 11 Mike was traded to the Ottawa Senators, and again will appear in the playoffs, though hockey analysts don't give the Sens much of a chance to win the cup (they did compete last year and lost in the final to the Anaheim Ducks - without a Commodore connection). It's a tradition in hockey for the players to start a beard at the beginning of the playoffs, and The Hockey News, with tongue firmly in cheek, reported on the trade as follows: "Most people assume that Ottawa traded for Cory Stillman to give the team the secondary scoring it lacked, but the truth is what the Sens really wanted was the beard. That is, the big, red bushy beard that adorns defenseman Mike Commodroe at the most critical time of the season."


(Here's the full text of our earlier report on Mike just after the 1999 entry draft):

Biggest Commodore Yet

There's a new Commodore around, and it's a big one. Even so, it gets some bad mouthing from the
press.

Mike Commodore, who entered the world in Canada in 1979 (around the same time and same country
as Commodore the computer company), was a second round draft pick in the National Hockey
League's yearly draft.

Despite a hefty weight of 225 pounds and 6'4" height, The Hockey News wrote, "Realistically,
Commodore's skill and speed game needs upgrading."

Oh well, what's new?