Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!
Rich: I'm interested in what can you tell us about this year's CC squad? Key losses, Players to watch, d-corps, Goalie Thanks
Most people have been picking CC for a mid-pack finish in the WCHA this year. That's primarily due to the losses of 4 seniors - Bill Sweatt (2nd round NHL pick of the Blackhawks, 15g 18a), Mike Testwuide (21g 10a), Nate Prosser (solid D, 4g 24a), and Kris Fredheim (stay at home D, 4g 12a). They also graduated a number of very solid role players and penalty killers. As a result, they're a very young team - I think they will only dress 3 seniors and 4-5 juniors for most games. Those are the negatives.
They also have a lot going for them. They return their top goalie, Joe Howe. He was very good as a freshman, although his numbers did drop off late in the year. They return a lot of guys who put up solid if not spectacular numbers last season, so they should be able to put together 3 lines that will all be capable of scoring. The 4th liners will have enough experience that they'll be solid if not high scoring.
The forwards in general are on the small side, although they are not as small as in the past and there are a couple of 6'2" - 6'3" guys who will play. They are young but highly skilled. The three forwards I'd suggest keeping an eye on are Tyler Johnson (senior, 5'9", top returning goal scorer), Rylan Schwartz (sophomore, 5'10", top returning scorer), and brother Jaden Schwartz (Freshman, 5'10" top NHL draft pick last year among all college players - 14th overall IIRC). The lines might look something like they did last Sunday:
J. Schwartz - R. Schwartz - Hamburg
Jaden is supposed to have a spectacular hockey IQ and great vision. He has broken all kinds of offensive records everywhere he's played, and as I said before was a mid-first round NHL pick. For a guy who's 5'10" that's impressive. Rylan is his older brother, and was one of the most creative forwards on the team last year. Hamburg is a big guy who had trouble cracking the lineup as a freshman last year, but when he did all he did was score goals. Rylan and Jaden need a finisher and some size, so he fits well.
Hall - Dineen - Johnson
Tim Hall is a very small junior forward who won the team's most improved player award last year. He's a bit of a fireplug and I expect him to pick up his scoring this year. Nick Dineen has been a solid defensive forward his first 2 years, but I expect him to also pick up his scoring. He's mostly been played put in against the opposing teams' top lines and as a penalty killer, but he still scored 7 goals last season as a sophomore. He scored a lot in the USHL, so I expect he'll continue to improve that part of his game. Tyler Johnson is a senior, and I think has the best skill set of any player on the team. His only problems are vision and hockey IQ. He is the top returning goal scorer. This is CC's oldest line, and I think they'll be very hard to play against. I expect that they'll be matched up against Polacek's line.
Schultz - Skalbeck - Rapuzzi
Schultz was one of the scoring leaders on the team until he went down with an injury midway through the season. I expect a lot from his senior year if he can stay healthy. I doubt Skalbeck, a freshman straight out of high school, will actually center this line. I haven't seen him play yet. I'd guess that Winkler will play in this role, possibly. Rapuzzi played on CC's top line last year as a freshman, and had 9g 6a. I'm interested to see how he does without some of those top senior forwards. He's a very smart player.
I don't know much about the guys who played on the 4th line Sunday since I didn't see the game, and I expect that some upperclassmen may fill in there instead of the freshmen who got ice time during the exhibition games.
On defense, the pairs were:
Lowery-McDermott
Lowery is a senior, and I think he's played most games all 4 years at CC. He's solid all-around. McDermott is a very highly touted offensive defenseman. I think he was a USHL all-star, and comes in with very good press.
Guentzel-Boivin
Guentzel will be a Junior, and I'm in the minority in that I dislike how he plays. He's an offensive defensemen with undeniable skills, but I think he gives up a lot with poor decision making. Mike Boivin was a freshman last year, and played in about 1/2 the games. I thought he was a solid all-around player, but the seniors who graduated on defense played a huge number of minutes. That meant there wasn't a lot of ice time to go around for the freshmen. I think that his low number of minutes last year was due to that more than any deficiencies on his part.
Marciano-Bidwill
I think Marciano played for the U-18 team, then the Omaha Lancers in the USHL, then had a very solid freshman season. He's a stay at home defenseman and although he (like Boivin and Bidwell) didn't get a lot of minutes last year he is far better and more seasoned than you'd expect from a guy who only dressed for 30 games as a freshman. Bidwell didn't play last year, but I think that was due to injury. I don't recall all that much about him.
I'd expect to see Doug Leaverton also - he played 30 games as a freshman last year, and is another solid stay at home defenseman.
I like CC's defense, but there is no question that other than Guentzel and Lowery they haven't seen many minutes against the opposition's top players. They all looked very good when the played, but their minutes were more often against 3rd and 4th line guys.
In general, CC is a very fast, creative, high tempo team. They're young and highly skilled. The lines and defensive pairs will probably change, and lots of the players will be put into new roles this season. The graduating seniors were almost all on the Pk units, so I'm worried about Pk this year. Many seniors were also on the PP, but there is so much talent on the team that I think the PP will be fine.
