18 Year Olds!

This year has been a great year for 18 year olds. Joey Logano got to start his first season in Sprint Cup this year. Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly got to start their NHL career the same year they got drafted.

Joey (Sliced Bread) Logano was supposed to be in Nationwide this season but because Tony Stewart left JGR, Joey got the call to take his place and to start his career a year earlier than he had planned. Joey's rookie season in Sprint Cup was mostly a learning year for him. He had his ups and his downs. He got his first Sprint Cup win in a rain-shortened race in New Hampshire. He had a roller coaster ride of a crash at Dover when he rolled 8 times. He raced some of the best drivers in the world such as Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and his teammate, Kyle Busch. He even got to host Monday Night RAW with Kyle Busch and stand face to face with a wrestler that was 4x his size. He has 9 top tens, and 7 finishes of 30th or worse. Overall, Joey was pretty satisfied with his first season and sits in 19th spot in the standings with one race to go. Joey hasn't won it yet but he has a pretty safe lead over Scott Speed in Rookie-of-the-Year standings.

Matt (Dutchy) Duchene was drafted 3rd overall in the 2009 Entry Draft. He has played every game this season with the Avs. So far, everyone is impressed with the 18 year old. Duchene has played all 23 games of the regular season with the Avs. After those 23 games, Matt has 3 goals and 7 assists for 10 points. He has 43 shots on goal and has set up goals for some of the games greatest, like Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny. Duchene started out the season centering a line with Marek Svatos on his right and Darcy Tucker on his left. Recently, he has been centering a line with Milan Hejduk on his right and Tucker on his left. Even his teammates are impressed with how he has been playing.

Ryan (Snook) O'Reilly was drafted 33rd overall in the 2009 Entry Draft. He to has played every game this season with the Avs. He has also impressed everyone so far. After the 23 games the Avs have played so far, O'Reilly has scored 4 goals and has 11 assists for 15 points. He has 36 shots on goal so far and has also set up some of the greats such as Marek Svatos and Milan Hejduk. O'Reilly started out the season centering a line with Chris Stewart on his right and Cody McLeod on his left. Recently, he has been playing with Marek Svatos on his right and Cody McLeod on his left. Every game O'Reilly impresses everyone even more.

This year has been a great year for rookies. From hockey to Nascar, the young guys are definitely stepping it up. It's great to see these kids having such great success at such a young age. Plus, I am able to relate to them since I am close in age. They all talk a lot like I do so it's always fun listening to them talk. I hope that Sliced bread, Dutchy and Snook all keep having success, cause it sure is fun to see them doing amazing things at a young age.