FAN FAVORITE MELSON RETURNS TO THE GULLS - FOR THE WEEKEND - December 2003
It's not typical for a player to return to a team after retirement. It's even less likely to return to your former team - for the weekend. But, that's exactly what Husky fan favorite Taj Melson did this past weekend in San Diego for the ECHL San Diego Gulls. Finding themselves short on defense, former Husky and current Gulls coach Steve Martinson called on his former player to bail him out for the weekend while his ailing defensive corp got back to full strength. Melson, now 29, returned to suit up vs the Charlotte Checkers while taking a break from his pre-med studies at the University of MInnesota and played in 3 games. The former MVP of the 2001 West Coast Hockey League championship series who is 14th on the franchise all-time scoring chart then promptly hung up his skates - again after the weekend stint and returned to Minnesota. Prior to his December 8, 2003 release from the team he told the San Diego Union- Tribune "I'm pretty excited (about playing again). If I didn't want to go to med school I'd still be doing this." All in a weekend's work for the former SCSU ironman...
