For about 20 minutes Saturday morning, the newest member of the Missouri Mavericks stood outside of the Independence Events Center with more than 850 fans who were waiting to attend the first annual Mavericks Fan Fest.
“If they have this many people on a Saturday morning in August, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when the season starts,” Cole Ruwe, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound defenseman said.
Once he entered the Events Center, he was even more impressed.
“This facility is really nice,” he said, before a question-and-answer session and appearance at the autograph booth. “I did my homework. I read a lot online, I talked with some guys who played here and everyone said that if you’re going to play in the CHL (Central Hockey League), this is the place to play.”
Ruwe, 25, will be a CHL newcomer. Last year he played with the International Hockey League’s (IHL) Bloomington PrairieThunder (The IHL merged with the CHL this season).
In 71 games, he had 11 points on three goals and eight assists and contributed 87 penalty minutes. Prior to turning pro, the Pekin, Illinois, native played four seasons at Nichols College, where he had 20 goals and 77 assists in 110 games.
Ruwe competed in six games for the Wichita Thunder immediately following his senior year in 2009 and had a goal and 12 penalty minutes. He is the fourth defenseman signed by the Mavericks.
“Cole is another good-skating, young, physical defenseman with good size,” Mavericks coach Scott Hillman said. “This signing is another positive step as we look to build a blue line that will compete with the top offensive teams in the league.”
The Mavericks announced Ruwe’s signing Saturday morning at the Fan Fest, where a familiar face created quite a buzz from the Maverick faithful as the second-year team also announced the signing of forward Karl Sellan, The CHL’s Most Annoying Player for 2009-10 (he also won the award in 2008-09 with Arizona).
“It’s great to be back, so the fans can really see what I can do out on the ice,” said Sellan, who enters his second season with the Mavericks and fifth overall in the CHL.
The Montreal, Quebec, native battled injuries in his first season with Missouri and finished with 23 points in 43 games.
Before joining the Mavericks last season, Sellan played three years in Arizona where he helped the Sundogs claim a President’s Cup championship in 2008. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound forward has averaged over 20 goals in his first four seasons with a total of 85 goals. Overall, he has 147 points in 225 games.
