Re: LSSU Laker Hockey 2012-2013, Part 2
First of all, how great is it to see Oleksy not only get called up but also notch an assist in his first NHL game, Oleksy was far from a flashy player and to be honest I was surprised that he had stuck in the AHL, to see him work his tail off and make it to the pros is just awesome, it has been a long journey for him and should serve as an inspiration to all of the longshot prospects out there, what a great story.
Now for the Marble issue, I am bothered by this whole thing, we have three goalie all who will be seniors next year, the third of which our coach has basically made it clear will only see the ice come hell or high water. Marble has been the top goaltender in the NAHL and has been committed to the Lakers for three whole seasons now and he now has decommitted because he didn't want to redshirt.....If truly the only reason Marble decommitted was in fact the redshirt issue then I think this falls 100% on Jim Roque. Why have a player taking up the third goalie position that is the same graduating year as the top two goaltenders if you are never going to play him when you could give that spot to an incoming freshman who is playing at a high level in juniors so as to avoid having to bring in three goaltenders brand new to the program the year after next? Roque obviously has no use for Ravn and has done him no favors thus far so why does he all of the sudden decide to do the kid a favor and keep him around another year at the expense of the program? Bill had mentioned that 3rd goalies probably don't have much or any scholarship money going their way, but even if Ravn isn't getting a dime you would think that Roque would have had the foresight to maybe shift at least a small amount of scholarship money around if he let go of Ravn to entice Marble to stay on...all of the goalies involved have been 'in the fold" for several years now and I don't understand how something like this had not already been discussed/taken care of.....Now, if there are other reasons involved for Marble decommitting, such as wanting a better shot at immediate playing time, got an offer from a bigger school, etc. than I absolve Roque, but if not then this takes my confidence level in JR down substantially, because this appears to be a case of mismanaging a program, and certainly something a coach who has been around for most of a decade should have learned to handle by now.
