Friday, March 30, 2007

A Player For Every Occasion...Donnie Hallmark

Today, I will be featuring Sioux City Musketeer's forward Donnie Hallmark.

Hallmark's story is one of those up and down ones with a good ending.

Last season, Donnie was on an outstanding Des Moines Buccaneers team, that eventually went on to win the Clark Cup. This season though, has been a completely different story. Hallmark started the pre-season still a Buccaneer, but shortly after the completion of the Buc Bowl he was traded to the expansion Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets. Donnie was the lone veteran on the roster and before long, he wasn't the person he once was. He had to live in Cleveland and travel two hours for games in Columbus. Besides driving two hours for games, Hallmark also had to travel 45 minutes each morning for school. He was the only member of the team going to that school as well.

Ohio GM, Don Harkins, placed Donnie on illegal waivers, and Sioux City coach Dave Siciliano caught the Harkins mistake. Siciliano then traded for Hallmark, and he has changed again, this time for the better. The Sioux City Journal posted an article on him and how he was thrilled with being in Sioux City. Sioux City fans might remember Hallmark from earlier in the year when he was tossed from a game for taunting and arguing with the fans. Though the Musketeer fans may have seen him as an enemy then, he is a welcomed addition to the team. He brings some veteran leadership to go along with his grit and physical play.

In his Sioux City debut, the team was spanked by Waterloo at home. Following that game, Hallmark went on a three game point scoring streak. Currently, he has three goals and three assists for six points. With Ohio, Donnie appeared in 33 games and notched five points (1-4--5.) In his rookie campaign with Des Moines, Hallmark played 38 games and recorded 4 points (2-2--4.)

Hallmark has been a pleasant surprise for Sioux City and the fans will enjoy having him around for at least another year.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ryan, That is how stupid you are! get your facts straight before blabbing un true information, Ohio dealt Hallmark to Sioux City for a 4th round pick in the 2007 Draft, the same pick it gave up to aquire him, so they used his services all year and got their pick back, sounds smart to me. The GM did not make a mistake, it was probably that Hallmark did not fit into their future plans and they chose to moved him. I think Ohio has come on since Christmas and especially the last 6 weeks, and they have their 10 best players back next year plus they definitely had the best futures Draft of any Team.

Anonymous said...

g o o n

Anonymous said...

Oh yea, Ohio has REALLY came on since Christmas. I can see them climbing the standings now....
Heck, they might even win the Clark Cup!!

Come on, Ohio is an EMBARASSMENT to the USHL. Maybe if they didn't make a joke out of the attendance, people might take that organization a little more serious.

Anonymous said...

OHJBJ would be better off w/out Don Harkins and all his drama and temper tantrums.