The Copper & Blue, an Edmonton Oilers community

On his style of play: "My style of play is probably power forward – scoring goals, playmaking, taking the puck to the net and protecting the puck – just trying to make things happen. Hopefully some day they’ll want me to come up and I can play on the big club and stay there for a while. I’ll just keep playing hard and we’ll see what happens."

On turning pro after next season: "That’s kind of what I wanted to do, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes and what Edmonton wants."

The most likely candidate to leave [the University of North Dakota] was VandeVelde – a 6-foot-2, 205-pound power forward. But today, VandeVelde announced he’s returning to UND for his senior year....

VandeVelde is coming off of a strong season in which he had 18 goals and 35 points – both figures ranked second on the team. He was UND’s best face-off guy and will be penciled in as the top-line center. Despite playing with a separated shoulder at the end of the season, VandeVelde was still dominant. He scored two goals in the NCAA regional loss to New Hampshire on highly skilled plays.