Casey Mittelstadt is due to arrive in Chicago with his mom and two brothers Wednesday. Father Tom will pick them up at the airport for the beginning of the end of the much-hyped Eden Prairie star and future Gopher's journey toward being drafted in the NHL.
After Mittelstadt returned for his senior season with the Eagles to chase a state championship dream that just came up short, his accomplishments included becoming the third Eden Prairie player in nine years to be named Minnesota Mr. Hockey and being ranked third among North American skaters by the NHL's Central Scouting Service.
His name should be called Friday night in the first round at United Center.
"It'll be a bit of a relief," Mittelstadt said. "It's been a stressful year, not only for me, but for my whole family. But there's a lot of excitement, too, so I'm looking forward to it."
Tom Mittelstadt was a football and baseball player growing up. He played at St. Olaf. His kids call him, "D-3" … as in Division III. From the moment Tom put his oldest son on skates at age 3, Casey was a rink rat. There's nothing he likes doing more during the winter than skating with his buddies and brothers, John, 15, and Luke, 14, on their backyard rink.
"I don't remember any times I didn't love it," Casey said.
After scoring 106 points his first two years of high school, Mittelstadt began last fall with Green Bay of the USHL before leaving after 16 games to rejoin Eden Prairie. He dominated, scoring 22 goals and garnering 59 points in only 25 games. Unfortunately, he played through an injury throughout the state tournament that left him less than 100 percent.
"I don't know if 'regret' is the right word, but you do imagine what you could have done to help the team if I wasn't hurt," he said. "But you can't look back. I had a blast and now I'm ready to move on."
