Michi-gamer: Pride of the Mitten State (Week of Nov. 9, 2015)

Welcome to another season of MiHockey’s Michi-gamer! We take great pride in our homegrown talent. Whether they grew up in the Mitten or we welcomed them here for college or juniors, they are our own. They represent the best place in the world for hockey. Every morning, we pick one Michi-gamer from the previous night’s slate of games across all professional levels of hockey – one Michigan player who stood out above the rest.

NOVEMBER 10 – RYAN KESLER

It came in a game that the Anaheim Ducks ended up losing, but perhaps, it’s a sign of good things to come for Ryan Kesler. The Livonia native, one of the scoring leaders on a surprisingly-struggling Anaheim offense, finally found the back of the net for the first time in the 2015-16 season yesterday, redirecting a shot from the point in the first period of their game against Arizona. Kesler also picked up an assist on the night, despite his club losing 4-3. It will take some work, but hopefully Kesler can get back towards his expected 20-goal season.

See the goal here:

NOVEMBER 9 – TANNER KERO

Tanner Kero scored his first NHL goal Friday night, and while it won’t make the highlight reels, it was certainly impressive considering his age and NHL experience. In just his fifth game with the Blackhawks, Kero caught a pass from Artemi Panarin and showed tremendous patience in front of the net to wait out Cory Schneider before beating him with a quick backhand move. To park himself right in the ‘danger zone’ and wait multiple seconds before even attempting his shot on goal…well, we’re impressed with the Michigan Tech alum’s calm and collected approach to scoring his first NHL goal. Hopefully there are many more to come – Kero has now skated in six games and is logging well over 10 minutes of play per night.

Check out Kero’s goal here:

Michi-gamer features compiled by MiHockey’s @StefanKubus and @MichaelCaples. Click here to see last week’s picks.