Sartell native gets chance to shine with the Ducks

ST. PAUL (AP) -- Most people would get caught up in the fairytale sense of it all.

A 21-year-old kid signs a million-dollar NHL contract, gets married to his sweetheart of several years from the town in which he played junior hockey and makes the roster of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim right out of training camp.

For Kurt Sauer -- a Sartell native -- it's all true.

To hear him talk about it, however, last Friday's game didn't seem much more important than one of those he played in for St. Cloud Apollo High School.

"I'm not a guy who wants to be on a roller-coaster ride," said Sauer, 22, who arrived at the St. Paul Hotel with his teammates Friday evening and met with a solitary reporter just off the lobby before he headed to the team meal. "I don't have any high highs, but I don't have any low lows, either. I try to stay consistent and have faith. I've been blessed that way that I don't get too carried away."

Sauer left St. Cloud as a high school senior to play in the United States Hockey League. A year later, he chose major junior over college and moved to Spokane, Wash., where he played three seasons in the Western Hockey League.

Last October, he became the first St. Cloud area born and raised player to appear in the NHL.