Former CEC Standout Vichorek Signs NHL Contract

Mar 11

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – For about a month now various professional hockey teams have been quietly scouting former Cloquet-Esko-Carlton defenseman Taylor Vichorek, who is a freshman at Hamline University in St. Paul. Despite not finding a spot on a Division I roster, the 6’10” 260lb player from Moose Lake has found his way into professional hockey after signing a contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning organization on Wednesday.

“We had to get the paper work into the organization by 3 pm because that is when rosters are frozen,” said Vichorek’s father Mark. “The Lightning sent the Assistant General Manager, Tom Kurvers, to see Taylor play a number of times and decided to offer him a contract.”

With his size, many wonder if Vichorek is being signed mainly to be an enforcer, but that is not necessarily the case.

“They plan to work him in both at forward and on defense and they say they think he has potential as a player and not just a tough guy,” explained Mark Vichorek. “He is heading right now as we speak to Norfolk, Virginia to play in the American Hockey League for the Norfolk Admirals.”

The AHL is considered the Triple “A” in hockey for professional minor leagues and players regularly are called up to play in the National Hockey League from the AHL.

The road to professional hockey has been an interesting one for the younger Vichorek. After leaving CEC he played in the North American Junior Hockey league for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs for a year. He then moved to the Alexandria Blizzard for two years before playing for Hamline this past season. It is not often that a player goes from the DIII level to professional hockey.

“Because Taylor grew 9 inches in one year in high school it slowed his development a bit and he’d be the first to tell you that,” said the elder Vichorek in a radio interview on WKLK this morning. “It takes a while for big guys to catch up to their bodies and he was overlooked because of that from a lot of the DI schools in college and this is a bit of vindication for him and maybe some validation that he is a good player.”

Vichorek played his high school hockey in Cloquet for CEC head coach Dave Esse, who played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin-Superior and who also has had a run of stellar defenseman as the coach at CEC. Meanwhile, Vichorek’s father also played a decade of professional hockey after graduating from Lake Superior State.

“He is on a plane to Norfolk right now,” explained Mark. “It was a wild day for him yesterday and he is excited about the opportunity.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com