AnchorsAway
Registered User
Re: LSSU Laker Hockey
Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT sticking up for Roque with this post.. I unequivocally feel that he should indeed be fired after this season, he has not got the job done, end of story.....
However, the development (or lack thereof) of the Lakers argument is about 6 in one half dozen in the other....Cassiani is a perfect example of a player who comes in has a great first year and then has dropped off the map, Chad Nehring had a slow first 2 years, had a big year last year and this year has returned to the offensive shadows, Inglis never panned out, and although early in their career, Lain and Campbell haven't done anything to speak of....however for nearly every one of those cases, there is a counter argument that shows development is happening: Like Cassiani, Rick Schofield had a great first year and has done nothing but improve his game and become the focal point of the team both on and off the ice..Like Nehring, Acton had a slow first 2 years then had a bigger year last year and although he had a few week slump that broke this past weekend, has improved on his contributions...like Lain and Campbell, Jean came in with expectations and is in the top 5 in team in scoring....Matt Cowie has steadily improved over his 4 years and has become a very dependable defenseman, a far cry from his freshmen year form...after sitting out a year, McParland got his feet under him last year and has already scored more this year than he did last amid turning into a very dynamic player with the puck..Kevin Kapalka was expected to do nothing more than be a fill-in back up but early on in the season BMW went down and as a freshmen thrust into arguably the top offensively talented conference in the country, has responded by being one of the best goaltenders in the CCHA...as i said before this is not meant to stick up for Roque because i certainly am not saying that, but what i am willing to say (as i have said before) is that Lake State being such a small school in a small town, it offers little in comparison to the other schools it is recruiting against, so we are forced to try to get a few big name players and then scour north america to try and find the high risk/reward player who MIGHT someday turn out to be a diamond in the rough....this is nothing new, Doug Weight is an example of a sought after, big name downstate kid from a metro area that we were able to steal from the "big boys" while Jim Dowd was a high school player in New Jersey who recieved but 1 offer, LSSU. The difference is these days our "big name recruits" are coming fewer and farther between and a double negative of circumstances regarding the "diamonds in the rough" search: 1. hockey has grown in popularity and more schools are putting their attention in their hockey program so kids like Jim Dowd are getting 5-10 offers nowadays as opposed to flying so far under the radar like they did back in the day and 2. the program has reduced funding from the glory days so scouring North America for the under the radar kids isn't as fiscally easy as it used to be, we simply cant afford the trips and travel...employing the diamonods in the rough philosophy is a risky endeavor even with sufficient funding to fly all over hell's half acre looking for kids..when you cant and are reduced to making phone calls instead of personal visits, the already slim chances of success decrease exponentially...when you take all of this into consideration it's actually somewhat surprising that we even managed to land kids like Schofield, Acton, Perkovich, Gysbers, Jakaitis, etc.
Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT sticking up for Roque with this post.. I unequivocally feel that he should indeed be fired after this season, he has not got the job done, end of story.....
However, the development (or lack thereof) of the Lakers argument is about 6 in one half dozen in the other....Cassiani is a perfect example of a player who comes in has a great first year and then has dropped off the map, Chad Nehring had a slow first 2 years, had a big year last year and this year has returned to the offensive shadows, Inglis never panned out, and although early in their career, Lain and Campbell haven't done anything to speak of....however for nearly every one of those cases, there is a counter argument that shows development is happening: Like Cassiani, Rick Schofield had a great first year and has done nothing but improve his game and become the focal point of the team both on and off the ice..Like Nehring, Acton had a slow first 2 years then had a bigger year last year and although he had a few week slump that broke this past weekend, has improved on his contributions...like Lain and Campbell, Jean came in with expectations and is in the top 5 in team in scoring....Matt Cowie has steadily improved over his 4 years and has become a very dependable defenseman, a far cry from his freshmen year form...after sitting out a year, McParland got his feet under him last year and has already scored more this year than he did last amid turning into a very dynamic player with the puck..Kevin Kapalka was expected to do nothing more than be a fill-in back up but early on in the season BMW went down and as a freshmen thrust into arguably the top offensively talented conference in the country, has responded by being one of the best goaltenders in the CCHA...as i said before this is not meant to stick up for Roque because i certainly am not saying that, but what i am willing to say (as i have said before) is that Lake State being such a small school in a small town, it offers little in comparison to the other schools it is recruiting against, so we are forced to try to get a few big name players and then scour north america to try and find the high risk/reward player who MIGHT someday turn out to be a diamond in the rough....this is nothing new, Doug Weight is an example of a sought after, big name downstate kid from a metro area that we were able to steal from the "big boys" while Jim Dowd was a high school player in New Jersey who recieved but 1 offer, LSSU. The difference is these days our "big name recruits" are coming fewer and farther between and a double negative of circumstances regarding the "diamonds in the rough" search: 1. hockey has grown in popularity and more schools are putting their attention in their hockey program so kids like Jim Dowd are getting 5-10 offers nowadays as opposed to flying so far under the radar like they did back in the day and 2. the program has reduced funding from the glory days so scouring North America for the under the radar kids isn't as fiscally easy as it used to be, we simply cant afford the trips and travel...employing the diamonods in the rough philosophy is a risky endeavor even with sufficient funding to fly all over hell's half acre looking for kids..when you cant and are reduced to making phone calls instead of personal visits, the already slim chances of success decrease exponentially...when you take all of this into consideration it's actually somewhat surprising that we even managed to land kids like Schofield, Acton, Perkovich, Gysbers, Jakaitis, etc.
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