Chuck Schwartz

scoring fest

who was on the ice?

I'll be in Madison for the weekend series (although I will be cheering for the Badgers...and LaPoint), I also plan on going to the cities for that series and getting standing row (if anyone else is doing this get in the stadium EARLY for a spot to stand) and am also considering going to the Duluth series but that's also the same weekend as the Wisconsin State hockey tourney so we'll see.

I haven't seen enough of every player to produce a quality list on my own. What I do know is this, LaPoint is ranked behind Jeff Petry (Des Moines, USHL), Nick Petrecki (Omaha, USHL), Colby Cohen (Lincoln, USHL), and Shane Sims (Des Moines, USHL). All of those players are ranked in the top 8, while LaPoint is #15. I can understand being ranked behind Petry possibly because he was the USHL defenseman of the year and like LaPoint was a first team all USHL defenseman. But I guess I just don't understand behind the other guys that he was better than last season. Add to that behing behind guys like Bryan Brutlag coming straight from Holy Angels, and Brian Rufenach, who? As for points, there is really no way to throw a number out there as an expectation. And the whole thing with Lee and expectations is so stupid. This kind of reminds me of the draft a couple of years ago. Some publications had him going at the end of the first round some had him going in the third round. He ended up early 4th I believe when Florida traded up for him. Obviously disappointed he used it as motivation and went out and put up 49 points in 59 games and was the second best defenseman in a league that people said he would have a tough time adjusting too because he was too tall and lanky. He's been used to this his entire life, but he always proves doubters wrong. I expect him to use this as motivation for this season, not that he needed any.

These rankings are a joke. LaPoint that low is pathetic journalism I don't care who they say voted on it. Do you guys remember the forward rankings a few years ago? Toews was ranked as like the 9th best incoming freshman forward. That's credibility for you.

I'm embarrassed that you still can't spell LaPoint.

To be fair I'd guess that he would be here in 2009 still.

I don't know AZ. Derrick is already one year out of high school since he played last year in the USHL. Skill wise he could step in the the NHL right now it's just a matter of being physically mature to handle the rigors of the NHL grind.

I'll see if I can find more on him. His goalie from last year is a co-worker of mine.

I'll take North Dakota's overall class over Minnesota's in a heartbeat.

Regardless if it did or didn't, the rule that was in place before was you had to sit out a half of a season. You think that these kids are going to sit out a half season to transfer to Edina? Probably not.

Well the kids they got actually are from the Edina school district. One played private school for St. Thomas and one for private school Benilde St. Margarets. If it was a straight transfer they would have to sit out a year of hockey but since they are in the Edina school district it doesnt matter.

LaPoint is a first team all USHL defenseman and is a year removed from high school. He'll be in the lineup.

In my opinion the smart thing to do would be to keep the pairings the same as last season as someone mentioned and add LaPoint with Chorney. I think the defensemen got very comfortable with each other. Like previously mentioned, LaPoint has a ton of similar characteristics as Lee did. (Other than being LH and not having first round pressure) As for the powerplay...I expect LaPoint to be an immediate contributer. He ran the point for 4 years in high school on the PP as well as a rookie in the USHL. 34 of his 49 points last season came on the Power Play. He is a lock to at least be on one of the top 2 power plays. I see him in a similar situation McBain was in last season for Wisconsin. By the way, the difference in hand thing is over-rated.

Any one with an idea on if Gleason is staying with Edina for his senior year? If so they are stacked with recent transfers.

Brett Bruneteau as already mentioned and Justin Johnson the forward from Eau Claire North (WI) (Where LaPoint played HS) who has taken visits to Nodak will also be on the team.

No...Mark Heatley is a legacy player. Matt Jones is not. He suits up night in and night out...was a NTDP member...hardly a legacy only type kid.

Not sure on any of your questions...sorry... Although Mankato loves to give full rides to kids early...Novotny would be the perfect case for this.

Looks like Stepan Novotny is a Mankato lean.

Obviously you didn't read the link i sent you about UK. The NCAA does care about it. It would be more legal if Sioux Yeah Yeah was an assistant coach. Because assistant coaches are able to recruit.

It's the NCAA...a lot of stuff they do doesn't make sense. But no...it's not even something thats funny to joke around about.

Because if you really did this...the NCAA will look into your personal situation. Find out if you went to school there, or are a booster. Find out that you are really a North Dakota fan and then North Dakota gets in trouble. Is that something you want?

You would be breaking this...

"In July, UK self-reported secondary violations in the recruitment of Huntington (W.Va.) forward Patrick Patterson. The school reported between 20 and 25 fans had posted messages on Patterson's MySpace page." http://news.nky.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?...05130424/-1/SPT

Exactly...when I used to have a blog I wanted to interview a couple of Wisconsin recruits who had already committed. You should have seen the hoops I had to jump through with the people at Wisconsin and the Big Ten and NCAA. Before I made the mistake of doing this without permission I contacted the right people at Wisconsin first to find out what I should be doing. They needed everything but my mothers maiden name and my jock size basically to find out if I could do these interviews or not. If you are a classified as a booster you better not have any contact with any recruits what so ever. I am not a Wisconsin booster, I have never donated money or even personally paid money to the University of Wisconsin for any tickets. Here is an example of one of the e-mails with the people at Wisconsin. "I discussed your blog site with the Big Ten and we concluded that as long as you are not recruiting, soliciting, or encouraging a prospect to attend Wisconsin, it is permissible for you to contact a prospect for newsworthy interview purposes. For example, you can interview a prospect and ask general questions, but during the interview you cannot talk about how great Wisconsin's hockey team is, the playing opportunities at Wisconsin, or otherwise try to recruit the prospect to Wisconsin. " So please DON'T CONTACT RECRUITS.