Friday, June 02, 2006

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.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Two #20's hmmmmm. I wonder what number the Tri City Americans have Felde wearing? Just curious. Have you heard anything of this nature. I really hope the rumor about him going major junior isn't true. Thoughts?

Donald Dunlop said...

Thoughts?
I "think" you're probably a pitiful waste of skin with nothing better to do than troll other people's blogs and posit amazingly ignorant questions. But that's just a guess ... What's really wrong with you? What sort of dysfunctional thought processes lead to your rumor-mongering and trolling?

Anonymous said...

Eric Felde, Major junior here he comes!!! You won't see him in a Wolves jersey.

Donald Dunlop said...

WooHoo. Is this Mr. or Mrs. Troll? Hey dumbass, the first name is spelled Erik. You haven't had an erection since the last time you received a dose of humiliation from me? There's lots of sleazy dominatrix's types in your hometown. In the future why don't you call one of them to insult and humiliate you instead? It would probably be more effecitve than depending on my "lame" insults to do the job.

Anonymous said...

Too bad the UAA website didn't update all of the info. They listed the incoming as freshmen, but didn't upgrade the rest to their correct classes (so, jr, sr).

Suze

Anonymous said...

I wonder why Tuton and Berry have not signed yet? The University can't list them until they have officially signed.

Suze

Donald Dunlop said...

Yes I'd think so. It should just be a matter of getting the signed letters in house.

Anonymous said...

Felde is going to play in the WHL next season. He will not be skating for the Seawolves next year.

Donald Dunlop said...

Well that settles that. Gee. Thanks for the link to the announcement.

Anonymous said...

felde will play that is if he doesnt pass his sat... thats all that is holding him back.... him and clark would be a deadly combo upfront. they have some of the info wrong on the website as well. clark played for winnipeg south even though it says dauphin and hes only 5'9 160, not 190 who the hell is 5'9 190???

Anonymous said...

I enjoy coming to DTP's blog. He is articulate and does a good job of writing. He is usually on the right track with his comments. Not like that dingbat Suze. Give me a break.She has no clue what she is talking about.This team is in trouble if Walsky,Hamilton and Felde(WHL) are not on campus in the fall. Being down in the lower 48 and seeing what other programs are doing 10th place is a lock. Even MTU has made commitments with the skating treadmill. 2 yrs. in a row in the basement.

Anonymous said...

So now I'm a dingbat? You are very articulate. At least I am not afraid to put my name on my posts. What are you afraid of?

Hams and Walsky had a total of SIX goals between them last year. Excuse me if I don't think the sun rises and sets on them.

Suze

Anonymous said...

As far as the website, they simply mixed up Clark and Selby (the last two players listed). Clark played for Winnipeg South and Selby played for Dauphin. I emailed them about the typo so hopefully they will change it soon.

Donald Dunlop said...

Walsky leaving = a negative
Hamilton leaving = not so much

Felde hasn't "gotten here" yet due to the fact that the season hasn't "gotten here" yet either. If he comes its a positive. If he doesn't come it isn't a negative since not being on the team yesterday is the same as not being on the team today. So if he comes he comes. If he doesn't he doesn't. It's called reality and I prefer it to "rumorland".

Their departures though enable the new Coach to put his players into those spots. If those guys weren't good fits for the program then best of luck to them finding a better fit. I just don't want to see ex-players having a 5 point night against UAA two or three years down the road.

So as I said in the entry. Walsky could bite UAA in the ass one day. Hamilton; not so much.

Anonymous said...

anyone know how clark will do??? he defintely can fill the shoes left by walsky and hamilton. what a punch clark and felde would be.. go uaa

Donald Dunlop said...

It's a difficult situation to "guess" how a freshman will perform in D-1. Clark has a helluva nice resume' and from his history I'd tend to believe he will be a stud. But perhaps not as a freshman. It depends. I would have thought Adam Corrin would get on the scoreboard more often last season but it didn't turn out that way. Clark's quality skill set should help him adapt more quickly than the typical D-1 recruit from Jr. A hockey. But that doesn't mean we should expect tons of production.

Felde is listed as a defenseman on the roster and I understand that is where he's mostly played. UAA needs a "quarterback" for it's power play. I'd think Felde will step into that role.

Anonymous said...

Erik wore number 8 and Shane wore number 10 when they played for Cedar Rapids.

Donald Dunlop said...

Thank you for the number info. I musta spent 20 minutes looking for info on USHL sites and the C.R. site but couldn't come up with it.

Anonymous said...

website mix up that still isnt fixed yet.... says clark is 190 which is very unrealistic. hes 160 on the winnipeg south blues website. they also have him shooting left even though he shoots right. they have updated the roster and its funny to see some guys switch numbers. beagle is now wearing 71. thats a little wierd

Donald Dunlop said...

Not the websites finest moments unfortunately. But I don't find any obvious errors now so I'd imagine it's all correct now.

71? How does Beagle arrive at that number ... 71?

8 x 9 - 1?
8+9 and then reverse the result?
Huh?

Well ... Beagle is the best #71 we've ever had.

Crazy superstitions and crazy numbers make hockey great. I'm glad to see that Shyiak doesn't seem to be so old school that he'd disallow weird numbers like some other D1 coaches.

Anonymous said...

I had to laugh about Lucia whining to the Star Trib about UAA not releasing Walsky. LOL. What does he expect? Does he release his transfers, or do they have to sit out a year?

Donald Dunlop said...

I don't know of ANY D-1 program that grants releases as a matter of policy. I'm sure there are some circumstances where such a release would be issued but I don't remember ever hearing of one. If I'm not mistaken a "release" means that the transferring player doesn't have to sit out a year. What school "releases" their players? NONE.

Here's a link to the Star Trib story --

http://www.startribune.com/512/story/484600.html

Did Lucia give Brent Borgen a "release" to play at SCSU?

Donald Dunlop said...

I looked up the "release" at NCAA.ORG. I don't see anything anywhere in the descriptions that would lead me to believe that a "release" even applies to D-1 Hockey.

And as far as I can tell Walsky is completely free to transfer. The only thing UAA could have possibly withheld was a letter giving "permission" for Lucia/Hill to contact Walsky.

So it's my impression that Lucia doesn't know the friggen difference between a "release" and a "permission to contact" letter.

Donald Dunlop said...

For anyone that wants to read it ...

http://www.ncaa.org/library/general/transfer_guide/2005-06/2005-06_transfer_guide.pdf

Anonymous said...

Hense the "contact".

Post a Comment