Election Results

In 2001, the Ottawa Senators selected Kazakhstani-American forward, from Blaine; Minnesota, Brandon Bochenski, with their seventh round draft selection. Prior to the draft, Bochenski had a phenomenal season with the Lincoln Stars, of the USHL; recording 80 points in 55 games. The next for years would see Bochenski playing for the University of North Dakota, to develop his game and get him prepared for the NHL.

Speed up those four years, and Brandon Bochenski is now suiting up for the Senators AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. In that season he came up with 70 points in 75 games; not bad for an AHL rookie. Bochenski also made the AHL All-Rookie Team and made it to the AHL All Star Game.

It was not until the season after, that Bochenki got his first taste of NHL action. In 20 games with the Ottawa Senators, he recorded six goals and seven assists, with a total of thirteen points. Shortly thereafter, Bochenski was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, in a deal that sent center, Tyler Arnason, to the Senators. Bochenski played another 20 games that season with the Hawks, and recorded four points.

In the 2006-07 season, Bochenski experienced even more NHL play time. The forward started off the season playing mostly with the Chicago Blackhawks minor league affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals; recoding 66 points in 35 games. With the Blackhawks, he only managed to play ten games; coming up with only 2 points. However, later on in the season, Brandon Bochenski was involved in another trade that sent him to the Boston Bruins; in exchange for forward Kris Versteeg and a conditional 2008 fifth round pick. In total, Bochenski scored 22 points in 31 games for the Bruins.

Not only did Bochenski get NHL playing time that season, but he also got to play in the 2007 men's World Championship US team. He played in seven games and totaled five points throughout the tournament.

Brandon Bochenski ended up regressing the next year. In 20 games with the Boston Bruins, he recorded only 6 points; and not one of them were goals. After that, he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks; in exchange for defenseman Shane Hnidy and a 2008 sixth round pick. In twelve games for the Ducks, Bochenski came up with only four points. Right after that, he was traded again; this time to the Nashville Predators for a future consideration. In eight games for Nashville, Brandon Bochenski scored only three points.

That summer, Bochenski signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent. He only ended up playing in seven games with the team and recording one assists. Shortly after, he was assigned to the AHL where he played with the Norfolk Admirals. He actually had a great season with the squad, where he ended up with 53 points in 69 games.

Bochenski stayed with the Lightning organization for another year. He did play a lot more NHL games than the year prior; but still not enough to be considered a consistent NHL player. In 28 games with Tampa Bay, Brandon Bochenski recorded thirteen points in the 2009-10 season. In the AHL, however, he played a pretty good season with Norfolk, coming up with 40 points in 42 games.

After seeing considerate regression to his game, Brandon Bochenski decided to take his talents to the KHL, and play for Barys Astana, whom play for Bochenski's part-citizen country, Kahzakstan. He played eight seasons for the team and captained them for three seasons. During his play in Kazahkstan, he also played for their national team in multiple World Cups, World Championships, and an Olympic Game. Shortly after his KHL stint, Bochenski retired from professional hockey.

"Ailee, why is this article called Election Results, when nothing in this article has to do with elections or politics?" Well, an interesting event happened yesterday in North Dakota. Brandon Bochenski won the mayor election in the city of Grand Forks. Bochenski beat out long running incumbent mayor, Mike Brown, acquiring 49.62% of the vote.

Bochenski played at the University of North Dakota for four years, so it would make sense why Bochenski has a connection to the city. Bochenski is part of the Republican party; his campaign focuses on cutting taxes, growing the work force, and building the cities economy.

With the coronavirus being a serious issue at the moment, it will be interesting to see the tactics Bochenski uses; and the plans that he has in order to help out the city. Either way, this is definitely a milestone for hockey players everywhere; and it shows that people in sports can work in politics too.