Just Filling The Void

I've been mostly trying to hold my water with regard to the 06-07 Seawolves roster this off season. I'd mentioned that Shea Hamilton was rumored to be leaving. It's also been rumored that Eric Walsky would be leaving. I'd been trying to be patient until we saw what the roster looked like at the beginning of the school year. Speculation and rumor isn't anything that interests me. And frankly the roster at the beginning of the season almost never looks like you'd have expected when the previous season ended. It's that way at pretty much every D-1 school. But because others seem to be endlessly buzzed by speculation and rumor I figured it was as good a reason as any to write something.

Happily, when I surfed over to the UAA Hockey homepage and clicked on the roster link; I found that it was recently updated. I feel like this entry might even be legitimate now and not just some inane attempt to fill the week long void. So as expected and to confirm all those rumors; Walsky and Hamilton are both not listed. Walsky appears to be transferring to the University of Minnesota and I'm fairly certain Hamilton is transferring to North Dakota. I guess Minnesota wins the "bag-a-disenchanted-Hill-recruit" contest. Both guys sit out next season before we'll see them in opposition uniforms. My point is that Walsky is likely to put up some nice numbers as a Gopher. As a junior my guess would be he'll earn perhaps as many as 35 assists. His potential goal output is harder to gauge. The general agreement is that Walsky can stick handle in a phonebooth. There were plenty of times during last season that Walsky owned the ice during his shifts. Paired up with a couple of goal scorers (and they ALWAYS have those in Mariucciland) he should flourish (unless the assertions that he's just a puck hog are true). I think Hamilton is a hit/miss prospect wherever he ends up. I like his gritty style and attitude; but it was his overly liberal misuse of those positives that made him as much of a hindrance as a helper to the team. He took a lot of unnecessary penalties. If he matures (and a year of school and only practice could be just the ticket) and then plays his part (fills whatever role Hakstol tells him to) as Junior then perhaps he could pop in 15 goals as a Senior.

Now that I've talked too long about a couple of guys that aren't Seawolves I should give equal time to the group that is. I'm happy they updated the roster just because I like to see what numbers the new kids end up with. The first thing I notice is that Erik Felde and Shane Lovdahl are both going to wear #20. OK? Hmmmm ... dunno what to make of that. Erik wore #20 for Vernon in the BC. Shane wore #20 last year for UAA. Hmmmm ... the season before last they were teammates on the USHL Champion Cedar Rapids squad. I can't seem to find a roster with numbers from that team but I'd assume only one of them wore #20. Hmmm ... are they gonna arm wrestle for it before the season starts? Who will get the apparently coveted #20. Stay tuned. Josh Lunden ends up with one of my favorite UAA numbers #21 (his same number as with Chilliwack). I'll have to constantly judge next season whether or not I think Josh will live up to the legacy of Brian Kraft's number. Big shoes to fill; I promise to not judge too harshly. Paul Crowder will be #11 and his number last year with Burnaby was #20. What? He doesn't get to arm wrestle for #20? Trevor Hunt goes from #24 at Chilliwack to #42 at UAA. I can't think of any previous #42's at UAA. At least he didn't want #20 eh? Ken Selby will wear Joey Hayse's #8 after wearing #27 for Dauphin last year. And lastly Kevin Clark will wear the #9 jersey as he did in Winnipeg last year.

Having a roster published is nice to see. Imagining what might be good lines is an excellent process if you want to kill some time. Not me though. I'm staying away from speculating about lines this season. I swear. But an all-freshman line of Clark-Lunden-Selby would be the CLS-line ... the CLOSE line ... get it? If those guys play together then remember who thought that up first.