I Ranger

Not sure if this has been mentioned before or not but it looks like Charlie Pelnik isn't a commit anymore. Not a big surprise by any means. Another tale of an extremely early commit that didn't work out.

He's always been a guy I've wondered about whether or not we are interested in.

Zach Parise was the best college player I have seen live with my own eyes. I know lots of people always say Toews but I'm sorry from day one as a freshman Parise was the best player on the ice. It took Toews a while to adjust to the college game as a young (17 years old) freshman whereas Parise took the college game by storm from day 1. I think many people judge Toews based on what he is now which is one of, if not the best player in the world. For my money in college, I will take Parise.

He and Ausmus were alternating most weekends one playing Friday and the other Saturday but towards the end of the year Ausmus was dinged and Thompson made the most of his opportunity and ran with it. I am not saying Thompson wouldn't have played at all if it wasn't for the injury by any means as like I said they were rotating most of the season. I think Thompson may have come the farthest from start to finish as any freshman I have ever seen. He looked lost at the beginning of the year and even in the game against the US National Development Team. He made huge strides and I am hoping he can make another big jump this year.

We had 8 d-men on the roster last year and will so again this year. Don't forget about Panzarella. I agree though that injuries are the great equalizer. Thompson doesn't get his chance to run with the 6th d spot last year without Ausmus getting dinged up a bit.

Any rumors on the recruiting front? Been pretty slow around here. I seem to recall in previous years that a few commitments usually come right after the U16 and U17 championships which just finished this past weekend.

Sounds like Garrett Wait from Edina had a breakout week at the festival. I wonder if there is any interest in him? Or will he take the Edina route to Notre Dame like quite a few have recently?

I would like to see a line of Pattyn-St.Clair-Gaarder as a third line that can grind it out and be able to play against other teams top lines as a shut down line. I think we have missed having a solid experienced shut-down line recently that can eat up minutes against other teams top lines and conserve our top two scoring lines energy.

If that is the case, I agree with not making an offer. I never wanted them to offer him unless they got him for under market value anyway. I think someone is going to way overpay for him and be stuck with a bad long-term contract.

Niskanen was back in Virginia a couple weeks back and said he would like to play in Minnesota and would be willing to take less money to do so but money talks and I can see him taking the biggest offer as well.

And pounded BC in the NCAA's that year as well. The one time BC actually had to get on a plane.

I'm thinking the Gersich acceleration might just be the reason we haven't heard as of yet.

He should actually be lined up to play quite a bit I would imagine right away. We will lose Mattson and Panzarella for sure and probably Schmaltz. This would leave us with 5 D returning and Chartrand and himself coming in for sure. I think he would be pegged for that 6th D spot. If it was this coming year, than yes I don't think he would see much icetime. Shaw, Evers and Pelnik are also possibilities but I see them playing another year of juniors.

I believe it was actually the year prior to that when Porter wore the C and Fabian, Kaip and Toews wore the A's.

You could put one of these (*) by Pelnik as well.

I heard a while back after Spirko left that they wanted to get away from the European recruits(not like we've had many as Spirko is the only one I recall) even though Spirko was a good player here. I believe he got homesick and left after only two seasons. I am not sure exactly why but I would guess clearinghouse issues and other difficulties.

I really would like to know how much his knee injury and surgery causing him to miss almost all his true freshman year set him back. I think it has had a major effect. I had a friend who played at a hockey east school and they played against Rocco and the USDT and he said Rocco was far and away the best player on the ice as a 17 year old. He didn't live up to expectations here but I wish him the best going forward.

Ideas like this would never pass because even the top schools would be against this because they would lose 2-3 games per year (if they finished 1st). College hockey is all about games which is why the Alaska schools get teams up to their tourney's because those are exempt games meaning teams that play up there can get 2 more games on their schedule. I don't think any coach would want a bye into the conference tourney for winning the league they would rather have the additional games.

When I was in Duluth for the Sioux-Dogs series, I went to the 7AA semi game between Rapids and East and saw Berry and Dane at the game and was wondering who they were looking at. I guess I know the answer now. That was the only time I saw Mattson and wasn't overly impressed. He definitely has great size and potential but has a ways to go in my opinion before being ready for college hockey which I guess you could say that about most kids finishing their sophomore year of high school.

I can agree from an offensive and skill perspective from the back-end but he has a long ways to go in the D-zone to be NHL ready in my opinion. He still can be taken off the puck quite easily and has trouble getting others off the puck. Another year and another 10-15 pounds would help tremendously.

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I think you may see a line of Pattyn-Gaarder-St Clair as a shutdown grinder type line. I think a big key is we need to find someone to play with Rocco. Obviously, Pattyn will be moving back to his more comfortable grinder shutdown type role. Reuniting Caggulia with Rocco might be best and keeping Johnson with them could be good. I just think Rocco was put in a tough spot this year being moved to center and really having to carry a line on his shoulders. Luke will be a good college player but he wasn't a top two line guy this year and really didn't have the feet quite yet to play with Rocco but we had to make due with the options we had.

Game day! No softies by Zane and get one early on Wilcox. Put bodies in front of him and make his life miserable. GO SIOUX!

Actually third line. Kristo-Nelson-Davidson were the third line with Mario-Rowney-Rodwell the fourth.

I agree for the most part other than Rodwell was a regular in the lineup that year as a freshman playing with Mario and Rowney on the fourth line once the team was fully healthy.