Chuck Schwartz

Still working on confirmation. Although I have no reason not to trust you. Edit: Star Tribune confirms it's Omaha.

Is that a guess, or a fact?

Thanks. St. Cloud fans are delusional if they think that this is a clean hit. I'm sensing a trend with Mr. Marvin.

TV, yes. Video, not that I know of.

Is there a YouTube video of this Oshie appearance?

No, the final seed went to Bemidji, they were #16. Ohio State got the last at large bid.

Tanabe was from North Dakota too until he moved to White Bear in Bantams.

They don't lack depth up front, in fact they are pretty deep, after all they are third in the conference in scoring. What they lack, is high end scorers that they can count on producing night after night. So in that sense, yes, Geoffrion will hurt. Although Turnbull, who will be playing tonight can score but Geoffrion plays a ton of minutes in every situation so that will hurt.

Right now no, I usually just wait until 60 minutes puts it up on game day. I'm too lazy to find it.

It all depends on the rink that you are in. Every rink has different sight lines. Some are better, some are worse.

The games will be televised all over Wisconsin on My Network TV. There will also be a free web-stream live during the game which is the feed that they show on the jumbo tron. They dub in the radio announcers. They don't shut off the radio announcers mics in between commercials so sometimes it's kind of funny to hear what they are saying to each other when they think they are off the air.

He had 41 points last season (20-21-41) and has 51 points this season (26-25-51).

No...I didn't miss that part. Every first year player has to sign a two way contract. Sidney Crosby signed a 2 way contract. Pat Kane signed a two way contract. How that is relevant to your argument I have no idea. No team wants to take an 18 year old and stick them in the AHL. NO TEAM. Any team out there would rather have a kid playing college hockey than being 18 in the AHL. It simply does not happen, and I don't see it happening any time soon. Once in a while, you will get a kid like Turris who was pulled out of college WAY to early and is way too over his head in the NHL sent down half way through the season, but there is no way they would pull him out of college specifically to play in the AHL. If they were that disappointed in his development, maybe...but even then they would probably convince him to sign with the CHL team that owns his rights.

Yeah...I'm sure the NHL and USA hockey are conspiring to get more players to go straight to the NHL. I'm sure that's exactly what the NHL want's is a ton of 18 year old rookies getting beat up night after night. How many American 18 year olds have played in the NHL lately? 1? 2? This is not REALLY BAD for college hockey. If anything, it helps college hockey. Kid's that are weighing their options between Major Junior and NTDP may be persuaded more to the NTDP now that they don't have to play in the NAHL. I think you will see a lot more high end kids who had been turning down the program now giving it a stronger look.

No, they aren't the same, but top end kids in each of those leagues are pretty interchangeable. Overall the quality of the leagues is so similar that I don't think it matters. USHL is probably a bit ahead of both of those leagues in terms of overall talent. Canadian kids are forced to play in their hometown leagues so the talent level in each league is going to vary depending on the quality of players in that age level. Most years the BCHL is slightly above the AJHL but It's hard to judge. The Canadian leagues are usually a lot more high scoring than the USHL or NAHL. USHL>BCHL/AJHL>NAHL/OJHL

It sounds as if it's broken in 2 places. Lets hope the damage is limited to that.

Good luck Derrick. Everyone in Eau Claire is rooting for you.

Yeah, maybe your right. I think I'll pass on the video for now. Like someone said, looking at that picture, you have to worry about coming back EVER, from something like that. Your in this guys prayers Derrick.

Any video on the LaPoint hit? I saw the picture, ugh that's terrible. My heart is in the pit of my stomach right now.

Wisconsin has a spot open for him for next season (most likely). At this point last season they had 3 defensemen committed to play for them in the fall of 2009. (Wiercoich, Pryor, and Schultz) Wiercoich obviously left to pursue his career at Denver a year earlier. Pryor couldn't be admitted to school. Schultz is still on track and they picked up John Ramage from the NTDP. So while they don't have to fill another spot, they were planning on using it for a defenseman. If Dylan Olsen wants to come, you let him come. McBain (second round) has virtually inked his deal, McDonagh (first round) is close, and Jake Gardiner (first round), Brendan Smith (first round), and Cody Goloubef (second round) could go at any time. Wisconsin has room.

Wisconsin is a strong player for Olsen. In fact, I'd like to say it's at least 50/50 he goes there.

What?

This is the point I've been trying to get across. It doesn't matter if your NHL ready or not. Are you going to tell me, that if an NHL franchise offers you the rookie maximum contract, your not going to take it even though you know your going to be in the AHL? If you get that max contract, you jump at it. It's all about maximizing your value. I cannot preach how important that is. Look at guys like Bickel, Piskula, etc. guys who won't spend more than a handful of games in the NHL. Guess what, they came out early because they got max contracts and you have no idea if that offer is going to be out there after the next season. You get injured, have a down year, that could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Whats wrong with being a middle of the road NHL'er?

Those USHL Central scouting lists...well...lets just say the Red Wings scouting department doesnt put it together. They could use some work but its a good base.