Drewiske, Kings visit Xcel New Year’s Eve to face the Wild

• Davis Drewiske

Davis Drewiske

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Former Hudson High School and University of Wisconsin standout Davis Drewiske will be close to home when his Los Angeles Kings visit St. Paul to take on the Minnesota Wild on New Year’s Eve at Xcel Energy Center.

Drewiske signed with the Kings as an unrestricted free agent on April 1, 2008, and played in 17 games for the team last season before making the opening day roster this year. The defenseman has appeared in 33 of the Kings’ 38 games in 2009 and currently has one goal and six assists, including an assist in the Kings’ latest game, a 3-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday night in Arizona.

He scored his first career NHL goal against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 6, and signed a three-year contract extension with the Kings on Oct. 23.

A 6-foot, 2-inch, 222-pound defenseman, he recorded three points (all assists) and 18 penalty minutes in 17 games with the Kings last season. He also played in 61 games with the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League in 2008-09. With the Monarchs, he ranked second among all team defensemen with 14 points (1 goal, 13 assists and was named Manchester’s American Specialty/AHL Man of the Year for his contributions to the community and to charitable organizations.

Drewiske, a 2003 graduate of Hudson High School, earned multiple all-conference honors in football, hockey and baseball and all-state honors in hockey and baseball during his high school career. He was a member of the Raiders’ 2001 WIAA State Championship hockey team and was named Wisconsin’s Mr. Hockey in 2003.

His athletic career was nearly derailed when he suffered a broken neck his junior year while playing for the Raider hockey team in the championship game of the Duluth Holiday Tournament. He spent several days in intensive care, and after painful spinal fusion surgery, wore a halo brace for five months.

After 10 months of physical therapy, Drewiske rejoined the Raider football team halfway through his senior season. He went on to play hockey and baseball, picking up Wisconsin’s Mr. Hockey award over the winter and earning all-conference honors in baseball that spring.

He was team captain of the Raider football and hockey teams as a junior and senior and captain of the baseball team as a senior.

After high school he played a year of junior hockey with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League, where he led the team in scoring by a defenseman.

He went to play four years at the University of Wisconsin, where he was a member of the Badgers’ 2005-06 national championship team and team captain as a senior in 2007-08.

The Kings are currently in third place in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference with a record of 22-13-3.

Tags: sports, hockey, pros, nhl