What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

"The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Mogerfan said:
The new roster is up.
http://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-hockey/2010-11/roster

The newbies are:
5. Perreault
8. Sternberg
9. Jean
11. Campbell
14. Radke
19. Lain
22. Shkreli
27. Bruneteau
30. Kalpalka
31. Ravn
Click to expand...

The roster is getting a little large for my liking.

Despite his listing as a D, I think Hobbins will principally play forward this season unless he and the coaches have agreed that D is where he wants to play.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Bill said:
The roster is getting a little large for my liking.
Click to expand...

27. yeah that is a big number for a roster. I see 5 walk-ons, which seems higher than usual. I'm assuming Wall, Cooper, Shkreli, Pobur and Ravn are walk-ons (though I think a couple of them are excellent students who might get academic money of some kind).

I wonder if Palumbo sold Shkreli to Roque as a kid that should have been recruited, but wasn't due to his injuries. Maybe he was somebody worth taking a chance on even if it made the roster bigger than usual.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

I Like the that there will be competition at each position throughout the season.....a bad game or two and someone is ready to take your playing time.

Should make for some intensity in preseason, and with a young team, hopefully all year. No opportunity for players to coast...and coverage for injuries.

I hate when guys get "entitled" or feel they have a position no matter how they perform. Prove it at practice, in the classroom, and on game nights.

COMPETE BOYS!

I would be interested in your position Bill regarding roster size. What do you see as a drawback?
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

3dognight said:
I Like the that there will be competition at each position throughout the season.....a bad game or two and someone is ready to take your playing time.

Should make for some intensity in preseason, and with a young team, hopefully all year. No opportunity for players to coast...and coverage for injuries.

I hate when guys get "entitled" or feel they have a position no matter how they perform. Prove it at practice, in the classroom, and on game nights.

COMPETE BOYS!

I would be interested in your position Bill regarding roster size. What do you see as a drawback?
Click to expand...

Personally I like a roster size of 25. That still gives you enough for 4 pair of D, 4 forward lines, 3 goalies, and normally a couple of extra forwards.

The main drawback I see with a larger roster is that the available scholarships will usually have to be split more ways (and at least in some cases smaller) amounts. So if you're trying to attract some higher end player, you may not have enough scholarship money to offer depending upon how much is already tied up between a lot of other guys. It's a fine line, but I like the idea of being able to offer a bigger portion of a scholarship to maybe convince a high end guy to go with your program. To be sure, the Lakers have never been a program with a ton of high end guys, even in their glory years, but they did have a few. I think the larger roster size reduces the coach's flexibility in terms of what they can offer a recruit in any given season. Maybe not every year, but certainly some of them. And it doesn't necessarily even have to be a high end recruit. It might just be a kid the coaches really want who's maybe flying under the radar, and maybe one or two other schools also want him. Additionally, while I think competition for playing time is good, and a large roster encourages that, I'm not so sure that having a lot of guys sitting out each game is all that conducive for morale.

To the extent that a team has walk-ons, that reduces this perceived (from my perspective) problem, at least some of the time. I'm not sure how many walk-ons the Lakers have on this season's roster. I know Pobur came in as a recruited walk-on a couple of years ago. He's a bright kid and he may be getting other financial assistance, or he might be getting scholarship money now. Ravn may be in the same category this year. Cooper is a local kid and probably not getting much if any scholarship money. But generally someone going out for a team as a walk-on hopes to impress the coaches and play well enough to eventually get at least a portion of a scholarship.

A large roster does give you more insurance against injuries, but I like a roster size of about 25.
 
Last edited:
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

I see your points Bill......I would hope that the roster size would stabilize after some initial competition. This season I think the Lakers needed a major infusion of young talent in several positions, it certainly does tie up the dollars however.

it is seldom that you see an incoming group of 10 in the CCHA, and if these guys can "click" it would limit what is needed in the next couple of seasons.

Nice to see Scofield on the roster!
 
Last edited:
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

I wonder what the story is with Kraft he seemed very raw last year when he did get in to games. But he sure seemed to hustle and work hard.

Saturday the 18th is meet the 2010-2011 Lakers 5 - 8 pm it sounds like it will be lots of fun.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

I am bad with names...someone who was a student asst at LSSU in the past and had worked in minor hockey since.

Lakers will be sporting a great 3rd jersey....the throwback gold with Lakers down the front, one shoulder has the current logo and the other has BUD in honor of Cooper.

Inglis gets a tryout with Frank @Quad City!
 
Last edited:
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Laker4Life said:
Looks like Laker recruits Ainsworth and Marble are off to a good start with the Traverse City Northstars; http://nahltraverse.pointstreaksites.com/view/nahltraverse/news/news_15846
Click to expand...

Marble has yet to prove himself at the junior level. This season is his chance. With the Lakers having recruited Kapalka and Ravn as freshmen this season, Marble will be behind them as the #3 goalie when/if he does come to LSSU. He needs to show he can play at that level, which he has yet to do. Hopefully Ainsworth is working on getting stronger; from what I heard, he has the talent but needs more strength.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Couple of weeks and the coaches and media poll for the CCHA comes out. Any predictions on the Lakers in those polls . My guess is 9th and 10th but hoping they get picked higher this year.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

sm2pk said:
Couple of weeks and the coaches and media poll for the CCHA comes out. Any predictions on the Lakers in those polls . My guess is 9th and 10th but hoping they get picked higher this year.
Click to expand...
I can't see them getting picked higher than the bottom 3-4 positions until they show on ice that they deserve to be picked higher, which means they need to start finishing higher in the standings at the end of each season.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Bill said:
I can't see them getting picked higher than the bottom 3-4 positions until they show on ice that they deserve to be picked higher, which means they need to start finishing higher in the standings at the end of each season.
Click to expand...

I also think they look at the recruiting class that is coming in and determine the talent of the class and if that incoming talent is good enough to make a difference on the previous year. It would be nice to see how many other teams went after the recruits the Lakers recruited and who were those teams.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

sm2pk said:
I also think they look at the recruiting class that is coming in and determine the talent of the class and if that incoming talent is good enough to make a difference on the previous year. It would be nice to see how many other teams went after the recruits the Lakers recruited and who were those teams.
Click to expand...
I agree that they also look at recruiting classes when making pre-season predictions, but the Lakers typically don't bring in blue-chippers so I don't see them getting any boost from that. I suspect a lot of schools would have liked to have Colin Campbell, but the Lakers were lucky to get on him early and get a commitment from him before he really became a top notch Junior A player.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Bill said:
I agree that they also look at recruiting classes when making pre-season predictions, but the Lakers typically don't bring in blue-chippers so I don't see them getting any boost from that. I suspect a lot of schools would have liked to have Colin Campbell, but the Lakers were lucky to get on him early and get a commitment from him before he really became a top notch Junior A player.
Click to expand...
Bill,
I agree with you on Campbell being selected/offered before he 'matured' as a player in Jrs. I see Coach Blashill has recently signed 3-4 kids out of the USHL for his program at WMU. I still don't understand why LSSU doesn't recruit more kids out of the USHL. No disrespect to WMU but LSSU is certainly on par with them as far as hockey goes. They have always gotten more guys out of the U.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Laker4Life said:
Bill,
I agree with you on Campbell being selected/offered before he 'matured' as a player in Jrs. I see Coach Blashill has recently signed 3-4 kids out of the USHL for his program at WMU. I still don't understand why LSSU doesn't recruit more kids out of the USHL. No disrespect to WMU but LSSU is certainly on par with them as far as hockey goes. They have always gotten more guys out of the U.
Click to expand...

The Lakers don't have a very big recruiting budget. I think their USHL recruiting philosophy is to not spend a lot of money chasing guys they probably don't have much chance of getting. They will go after first or second line USHL players if they think they have a decent shot at getting them. They won't generally go after 3rd and 4th line USHL players just to say they have more USHL guys on the team. And just having a lot of USHL players on your team doesn't guarantee success; e.g. WMU and BG in recent years. The Lakers were interested in a USHL starting goalie early last season but the guy started playing inconsistently and I think they cooled to him, and he eventually committed elsewhere (not at one of the big name programs). They subsequently picked up Kapalka and Ravn as goalie recruits.
 
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

Well the Penn State announcement is coming today. They will be a nice addition to the national scene. With it will come the speculation on CCHA / Big Ten Conference etc. 2012-13 will be the debut season.

I am sort of surprised they are considering entry as an independent, but in any new relationship I think the CCHA will be fine. Starman on USCHO thinks they will be independent until a new arena is built so they can do a lot of road games and $$$$$$$. 1200 seats at home will not pay the bills. they will seek a conference affiliation in 2014-15, when the new arena comes on line.

1) The Big Ten starts a conference; a six team conference will be solid but will need many other dates throughout the season. I see CCHA teams will fit the bill for MSU / UM and even OSU so we will still have cross league play. It will impact the finals at the Joe but the event has never grown into that venue anyway. All remaining CCHA teams would be more competitive within the conference.

2) PSU joins the CCHA; Makes the CCHA a power conference and really divides the haves & have nots from a resource perspective. Not sure what scenario I am pulling for, but in any case LSSU will maintain visits from Big Ten schools.

CCHA TV time may be affected as BTN will televise big ten hockey...will FSN stay with a ccha package without their two favorite teams? let the discussions begin (again)!
 
Last edited:
Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey

3dognight said:
Well the Penn State announcement is coming today. They will be a nice addition to the national scene. With it will come the speculation on CCHA / Big Ten Conference etc. 2012-13 will be the debut season.

I am sort of surprised they are considering entry as an independent, but in any new relationship I think the CCHA will be fine. Starman on USCHO thinks they will be independent until a new arena is built so they can do a lot of road games and $$$$$$$. 1200 seats at home will not pay the bills. they will seek a conference affiliation in 2014-15, when the new arena comes on line.

1) The Big Ten starts a conference; a six team conference will be solid but will need many other dates throughout the season. I see CCHA teams will fit the bill for MSU / UM and even OSU so we will still have cross league play. It will impact the finals at the Joe but the event has never grown into that venue anyway. All remaining CCHA teams would be more competitive within the conference.

2) PSU joins the CCHA; Makes the CCHA a power conference and really divides the haves & have nots from a resource perspective. Not sure what scenario I am pulling for, but in any case LSSU will maintain visits from Big Ten schools.

CCHA TV time may be affected as BTN will televise big ten hockey...will FSN stay with a ccha package without their two favorite teams? let the discussions begin (again)!
Click to expand...

First, a caveat. I haven't been reading all the various Big Ten Hockey Conference or Penn State Hockey threads.

It may be too early to expect to see a full blown Big Ten conference. There will still only be 6 Big Ten schools with Div 1 hockey programs. Are Minnesota and Wisconsin willing to leave the WCHA? The WCHA has a long history and a lot of close rivalries, involving Minn and Wisc with other WCHA schools. Are Michigan and Michigan State willing to leave the CCHA for that matter?

Even if a Big Ten conference did form, with only 6 teams that makes for only 20 games a season of conference play. That leaves a lot of room for inter-league games with the WCHA, CCHA and other conferences. So I don't necessarily think CCHA and WCHA TV contracts would be impacted greatly, at least not for the regular season. There would still be a lot of room for TV match-ups with traditional rivalries between the Big Ten, WCHA and CCHA teams assuming they would continue to be scheduled.

If a Big Ten conference forms, I would like to see the CCHA finals moved from Detroit to Grand Rapids. It would make more sense from a venue and school size perspective.

I still have heartburn with the CCHA not admitting UAH. I still think that admitting UAH would be the right move. Something needs to be done to get UAH into a conference. Yes, if a Big Ten conference forms UAH still might be admitted to the CCHA, but there really isn't any good reason not to admit them now. If Penn State joins the CCHA vice a Big Ten conference forming, that doesn't address the problem of finding UAH a home. It will be tough to survive for long as a Div 1 independent.

Another possibility is that Penn State could join the CCHA or another conference, no formal Big Ten conference forms, and there could be enough inter-league games scheduled between the 6 Big Ten schools such that they could have an informal Big Ten trophy awarded each season based upon results of playing each other, but with the WCHA and CCHA remaining intact (with Penn State perhaps in the CCHA), and with no NCAA tournament implications. This would likely mean some schedule adjustments within the WCHA and CCHA to allow all the Big Ten schools to play each other during the season. The downside with that is it creates even more scheduling imbalances than now exist. But it is something that could be looked at.

And then of course it could be that all this speculation about a Big Ten conference is just that, speculation, and aside from Penn State joining a conference (CCHA?, Hockey East?), we may not see a true Big Ten hockey conference for quite some time, if ever.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top