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Broncos Add a Defenseman From British Columbia

Found towards the bottom of the article was this:

Quote:Hockey: Western Michigan coach Andy Murray announced the addition of defenseman Kale Bennett to the team for the 2016-17 season. Bennett joins the Broncos after three seasons in the British Columbia Hockey League, where he had 15 goals and 49 assists. He is the son of Ray Bennett, an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues.

So that gives them 9 defensemen for the season. That should be fun if you are the 3 guys that don't play or dress every night. The 6 guys we had last year are all returning. I know you have to have extras with injuries, but I am sure they were all told they were going to play. Probably a good thing, Ghafari de-committed, then it would have been 10 guys.

(07-21-2016 09:06 AM)DudeReally Wrote:  Probably a good thing, Ghafari de-committed, then it would have been 10 guys.

No and no. Ghafari is a highly regarded prospect that could have been a top-4 D immediately. Had he not de-committed I seriously doubt they would have added a 10th guy just for the hell of it.

And, carrying 8 or 9 D on the roster in college is pretty much standard fair. It's not like they can call up a minor league guy if there's a rash of injuries.

(07-21-2016 10:50 AM)moe24 Wrote:  

(07-21-2016 09:06 AM)DudeReally Wrote:  Probably a good thing, Ghafari de-committed, then it would have been 10 guys.

No and no. Ghafari is a highly regarded prospect that could have been a top-4 D immediately. Had he not de-committed I seriously doubt they would have added a 10th guy just for the hell of it.

And, carrying 8 or 9 D on the roster in college is pretty much standard fair. It's not like they can call up a minor league guy if there's a rash of injuries.

So why de-commit? He had been committed to WMU since he was 14-15 years old. And yes, with the addition of the latest guy, who is a friend of AM's son, they would have carried 10 d-men.

And true, in College Hockey, you cannot call up players, but the expectations are very clear when you have that many extra in other programs. Not so at WMU. They are all told they are going to play right away or they can earn time. No guy really gets a chance to earn time with the Broncos. When they don't, the attitudes change.

The entire College hockey scene is tough to navigate ... with so many pre-professional leagues out there... including the OHL... its got to be extremely difficult to recruit... these kids are given so many directions... and so many opportunities to make money early... not great money... but money... and thats got to be hard to turn down... I just saw an article about Allison that indicated that he's really looking at being a better player through his time at WMU vs making instant cash.... because he understands that long term big dollars has more to do with being a better hockey player... its just hard to find these kind of kids in the college hockey arena...

(07-21-2016 06:56 PM)flushtheherd Wrote:  The entire College hockey scene is tough to navigate ... with so many pre-professional leagues out there... including the OHL... its got to be extremely difficult to recruit... these kids are given so many directions... and so many opportunities to make money early... not great money... but money... and thats got to be hard to turn down... I just saw an article about Allison that indicated that he's really looking at being a better player through his time at WMU vs making instant cash.... because he understands that long term big dollars has more to do with being a better hockey player... its just hard to find these kind of kids in the college hockey arena...

This is the article I refer to...

http://www.csnphilly.com/philadelphia-fl...n-michigan

Hopefully Allison sticks it out at WMU and he can grow as a player. Two things, the cash is hard to turn down. Many kids say they can always go back to college, but you only have so many years to play the game. As far as development, have we really seen much development of players at WMU. Who have we seen really develop under Murray's watch? The NHL drafted players I have seen, seem to go the other way in terms of progress.

(07-22-2016 08:44 AM)DudeReally Wrote:  Hopefully Allison sticks it out at WMU and he can grow as a player. Two things, the cash is hard to turn down. Many kids say they can always go back to college, but you only have so many years to play the game. As far as development, have we really seen much development of players at WMU. Who have we seen really develop under Murray's watch? The NHL drafted players I have seen, seem to go the other way in terms of progress.

Iacopelli had a sub par freshman year, but is only a freshman. Muir didn't get better this year and struggled a lot offensively like the rest of the team except Molino. McKee has definetly improved since freshman year putting up four points. It's hard to watch McKee play and see him putting up any amount of decent points as a forward. Hargrove got a lot better under Murray for two years. Balisy was with him a while and got better. Haar didn't improve. Olson showed promising signs last season. Expect Allison to come in as a freshman and put up no less than 15 points on a line with dries at center.

(07-23-2016 04:44 AM)JSB3 Wrote:  

(07-22-2016 08:44 AM)DudeReally Wrote:  Hopefully Allison sticks it out at WMU and he can grow as a player. Two things, the cash is hard to turn down. Many kids say they can always go back to college, but you only have so many years to play the game. As far as development, have we really seen much development of players at WMU. Who have we seen really develop under Murray's watch? The NHL drafted players I have seen, seem to go the other way in terms of progress.

Iacopelli had a sub par freshman year, but is only a freshman. Muir didn't get better this year and struggled a lot offensively like the rest of the team except Molino. McKee has definetly improved since freshman year putting up four points. It's hard to watch McKee play and see him putting up any amount of decent points as a forward. Hargrove got a lot better under Murray for two years. Balisy was with him a while and got better. Haar didn't improve. Olson showed promising signs last season. Expect Allison to come in as a freshman and put up no less than 15 points on a line with dries at center.

So you named 2 guys in 5 seasons of Andy Murray that have improved. How many guys careers went the other way? Olson we shall see what happens this year between the pipes. You have a Olson coming off an injury with 1 season to play and Murray is notorious for pushing them out of the net for the younger guys. Blacker is supposed to be the future and Gorsuch played well in a few games.