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first liners PROFILES OF PRIME TIME PLAYERS • PRESENTED BY RBC Blum's Blossoming NHL Career Has Californians Dreaming By JUSTIN FELISKO J onathon Blum had never seen anything like it. There were fan zones and roller hockey rinks scattered outside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles as the anticipation for the NHL' 2012 Western Conference Finals continued to percolate. s "They were setting up little roller rinks out front of the Staples Center, and kids are out there rolling around playing hockey, and it's 90 degrees out- side," said the Santa Margarita, Calif., native. A couple hours later, Blum stood inside the Staples Center as the Kings faithful cheered as their team took a step toward its Stanley Cup goal with a 2-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. "The California fans were loud and crazy," he recalled. "California is really taking an interest in hockey, and it was really cool to see that." Things since Blum became the first native Californian to be selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft when the Nashville sure have changed YOUTH STAR Predators selected him with the 23rd overall pick in 2007. Now in his fourth year with Nashville, another nontradi- tional hockey market, Blum hopes to some day hoist Lord Stanley's Cup in Music City. For now he will continue to hone his skills farther to the north, in Milwaukee, the home of the Predator's AHL affiliate. "This is pretty much my third full season in Milwaukee, and I have definitely learned a lot," Blum said. "The league has gotten better and better, and this year with the lockout going on the level is even better." Blum was in line to earn a spot on with the Preds blue-line crew prior to the NHL lock- out after appearing in 56 com- bined games over the last two years and producing six goals and nine assists. The 6-foot-1 blueliner admitted that living through the lockout has been frustrating, but has tried to look at the positives of playing in the AHL, which features more than 100 players that were penciled into NHL rosters this season. "In the minors, obviously you THOMAS EGGLESTON AGE: 7 | Massena, N. Y. Even at such a young age, 7-year-old Thomas Eggleston has already been bitten by the hockey bug. After a successful season in the Mosquito division of Massena Minor Hockey, Thomas is making the successful transition into the Mite division. In addition to his love of hockey, Thomas also plays baseball, lacrosse and soccer. He is an excellent student and volunteers at the local community center, helping out with stocking shelves of canned foods, planting a garden, and also taking out the trash. Thomas hopes to one day follow in the footsteps of his cousin Matt Hatch, who plays Div. I hockey at Union College. want to develop and win at the same time," he said. "You defi- nitely take advantage of playing 25-30 minutes a night down here, and in the NHL obviously you won't play as much." Blum is an offensively gifted defenseman who is equally adept at running the power play or igniting an offensive rush. He has been able to pick the brains of NHL stalwart defensemen Ryan Suter, now with the Minnesota Wild, and Shea Weber during his stints in Nashville. JONATHON BLUM #7 "Those two guys are definite- ly the best," Blum said. "When they're playing together they just made the game seem so easy. They were going against teams' best lines every night, and just shutting them down. "When I first got called up I was talking to Ryan Suter and he said, 'You have to bring your game every game and you're fighting for your job. Just do what you do best, and that's why they called you up.' " After learning the game as a member of the California Wave Blum appeared on the radar of NHL scouts as a member of triple-A the Western Hockey League. He was named the Canadian Hockey the Vancouver Giants of Defenseman of the Year and went on to become the Giants' all-time defensive scoring lead- er (204 points), in a league he never knew existed as a kid. "It was all new. I was 16 years League's 2009 program, POSITION: Defense SHOOTS: Right HEIGHT: 6-foot-1 WEIGHT: 190 pounds BIRTH DATE: Jan. 30, 1989 HOMETOWN: Santa Margarita, Calif. DRAFTED: Selected by Nashville in the 1st round (23rd overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft USA HOCKEY EXPERIENCE: Captained Team USA at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship. Also a member of the 2008 U.S. National Junior Team. Played for the silver-medal winning U.S. U-18 Team at the 2006 Junior World Cup. Juniors were. Then two years later you're playing in those events." Before old," Blum said. "I didn't know what the Memorial Cup was. I didn't know what the World 14 DECEMBER.2012 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM young California boy would run off to go surfing at Huntington Beach with his teammates after a Saturday morning hockey game, never dreaming about playing in the NHL or rep- resenting his country on the international stage. "I never wanted to play in the NHL or win a Stanley Cup as a kid," Blum said. "I just did it because I had fun. Those were the best times in my life, having sleepovers and going surfing with your teammates." However, now that Blum has begun to blaze a trail to the top, a new generation of Californian kids can see the reality of pos- sibly one day playing at the ultimate level of the game. Junior hockey the PHOTOS BY Getty Images