Re: Bemidji State: Fire Tom Serratorre!
Wow. Surprised to see this thread........
greenmachine. As was stated earlier, the Beavers are not going to out recruit the Minnesotas, Wisconsins and North Dakotas of the college hockey world. That is a fact and BSU knows it. Should they invest the time and energy on a kid they know they have no chance of getting?
And with the shakeup of the leagues coming up, it will be interesting to see how the WCHA holds up against the NCHC and Big10 out west. Bemidji State is a school that is going to be a little tougher to get hockey players to come to just based on location. It is the same way with the general student population at Bemidji State.
As for the recruits who didn't want to play juniors before starting their college career, what dream world are they living in? Don Lucia at Minnesota is on record the last year or two stating that even the U of Mn needs to go after players that have two years, or in essence, at least 120 junior games, under their belt. Heck, even D-III schools are going after junior players rather than high school players. An 18 year old freshman at a D-I college hockey program is going to have to be **** special to be able to play against 21 year old freshmen that are at North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College and the Minnesota schools. A player who played 25 games his senior year at a Minnesota High School is going to be at a SEVERE disadvantage when it comes to playing D-I college hockey. Are there exceptions, yes, but they are few and far between. But by the time that 18 year freshman becomes a senior, he has only played up to 120 college games (on average) over his first three years. Compare that with a 22 year old who came in as a 21 year old freshman, he has 40 college games under his belt, plus 120 junior games for a total of 160 games. He also has the benefit of two years of development and growing into his body as the junior level.
Serratore's track record is just fine in my book as I feel the Beavers have done very well with the hand they have been dealt. Joining the CHA in 1999-2000, the league did not get an auto bid to the NCAAs until 2003. So basically in ten years of tournament eligibility, the Beavers have four NCAA tournament berths, with a Final Four in 2009 and an at large bid in 2010. There are a TON of schools out there that would love to have that track record over the last 10 years. The Beavers also have one WCHA Final Five berth and a Final Five victory in their three years in the WCHA. I am sure there are a few WCHA schools that would like to say that for the last three years (UNO anyone!).
BSU has landed some very nice players. Andrew Murray, Matt Read to name a couple. Cory Ward looks like he could be one that has an upside. I have heard good things about Phil Brewer as well. Brandon Harms who is coming in next year looks to be a stud, but then again, junior numbers don't always compare well when moving onto the college game. With the nature of the college game the way it is, 100 point scorers don't grow on trees and it takes a special player to reach that level. 70+ points in a college career gets you a pretty good player.
