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K-Wings Adapt To Call Ups

November 25, 2009

By Mark C. McGlothlen
Special To WLKM.com

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - First it was Matt Jones.

Then David Sloane. Darryl Bootland, Will Colbert, Ryan Nie and Julien Ellis soon followed.

Rick Cleaver and Mathieu Curadeau joined the ranks a week later.

Eight K-Wing players called up to the American Hockey League in a two week span. Nie and Ellis have since returned leaving six players on call with the AHL. That would be enough to make anyone’s head spin.

Anyone that is, except for K-Wings head Coach Nick Bootland. Luckily for the K-Wings, Bootland planned ahead for these potential call-ups.

“We kept extra guys around on purpose,” Bootland said. “Because we had a hunch at what was going to happen.”

But even Bootland wasn’t prepared for the mass exodus of players that he was experiencing.

“I wasn’t expecting for the call-ups to happen all at once,” Bootland said. “I wasn’t expecting to lose so many guys over a span of two weeks.”

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