Bonsignore Bears Down With Bulldogs

Bonsignore Bears Down With Bulldogs
By Tricia McMillan, AHL Correspondent

If there's one thing scouts and general managers love to do, it's compare prospects to star players. Scouts have long been comparing Edmonton Oilers prospect Jason Bonsignore to Mario Lemieux, since besides being a smooth-skating, playmaking center with a knack around the net, Bonsignore also has Lemieux-type size (6'4", 210), plus the looks and personality to be a marquee player.
But while being compared to an established, well-known star is certainly complimentary, not every young player is wild about the idea. Even though Mario Lemieux was his childhood hero, Bonsignore isn't sure he should be compared to Lemieux.
"[The Lemieux comparison]'s a little bit ridiculous, he's the greatest player ever in my mind, so I think that's pretty ludicrous to compare anybody to him," he explains. "Especially when I was 15, 16, and people are saying that, it makes it pretty hard for you to go out and play."
Bonsignore, 20, first learned to skate when he was two years old and by age four he was playing organized hockey. After playing in every available league in the Rochester and Buffalo areas - and starting to be described in Lemieux terms - he joined the Ontario Hockey League. While many American players go the college route, Bonsignore was more than ready to go to juniors.
"I wanted to play immediately against the top level. If I had gone to college I would have to have waited until I was 18 to move away from home and find better competition," says Bonsignore.
The jumpstart to his development worked, as not only was Bonsignore tapped for the U.S. juniors team two years in a row, he was also invited to try out with the U.S. Olympic team during its exhibition tour, an opportunity he made the most of.
"You get to travel to a lot of places you normally wouldn't see if it wasn't for hockey and I got to play with and against a lot of top name players and it was a great experience," says Bonsignore. Only 17 at the time of the Olympic tour, he also notes he had the chance to play against older, more experienced players which helped in his development.
His performance on the international level paid off as he was the fourth overall pick by the Oilers in the 1994 draft: "Being picked fourth overall was pretty exciting," he says.
Meanwhile in the OHL, Bonsignore had become a traveling man. Originally drafted by Newmarket, he was traded to Niagara Falls, a trade he welcomed. But he was traded again, this time to Sudbury, and this time it wasn't his idea.
"You grow fond of the people and the cities. I was real close to the family I lived with and had a lot of fun playing in Niagara Falls and didn't want to leave, but it was the best thing for me because we weren't doing very well in Niagara Falls," he says.
Bonsignore struggled when he first came to Sudbury and didn't return to his usual form until the season was nearly over. Edmonton only played him in one game during the 94-95 season, but he scored a goal in that game, and the Oilers kept him in the NHL at the start of the 1995-96 season. But when Bonsignore wasn't getting sufficient playing time - and had only two points in 20 games - he was returned to Sudbury. While he again produced in juniors, a late season promotion to Edmonton's then-AHL affiliate Cape Breton to finish the season wasn't as successful with five points in 14 games.
Edmonton sent Bonsignore back to the AHL, this time to Hamilton, to begin the 96-97 season. Given Hamilton's proximity to Rochester, Bonsignore isn't adverse to this idea: he expects a lot of family and friends at the games and maybe a home-cooked meal or two. Hamilton's excitement over the return of a team to the area, as demonstrated on opening night, isn't lost on him either.
"It was exciting, it was a good crowd, unfortunately we didn't win," he says. (Hamilton lost their opener to Albany, 3-2).
Still, Edmonton sent him to Hamilton for a reason, to improve his play in his own end of the ice.
"They wanted to see me play a lot and improve my defensive zone coverage and just be consistent."
And Bonsignore says that's the benefit of the AHL: "It's important, there are guys who...need to go to the minors and play and it's an excellent opportunity for them to go down and play 30 minutes a game and improve on all the different things."
Bonsignore's ready to play 30 minutes a game and intends to be back in the NHL before long. And, perhaps, play against Mario Lemieux.