Monday, October 22, 2012

A Break for the Badgers

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After the past couple of years most people just assumed that Nic Kerdiles was going to jump ship and join the Kelowna Rockets instead of serving his 10 game suspension at the University of Wisconsin for an NCAA violation.

Those folks might have been stunned today then when the freshman forward decided to stay with the Badgers.


 The Hockey Writers have more details here.  It's interesting that the Rockets have now lost out on a player for a second straight year; they were unlucky with a certain Latvian last season. Remember this quote from Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton?
"His agents think (Dubuque) is where he should be playing and he's very loyal to that program but I know as soon as he's drafted, the NHL team's not going to want him in Dubuque and they're not going to want him going to the University of Vermont either. We'll have a real good opportunity to have hm here for sure next year and potentially after Christmas this year. When the Latvian team plays in the World Juniors, we'll be very aggressive again there." 
Photo: Jana Chytilova
Girgensons bypassed both Kelowna and Vermont after signing with Buffalo and is now playing for Rochester of the American Hockey League.

As for Kerdiles, Hamilton wasn't outspoken, stating he wanted to stay out of it completely until a decision was made. The Anaheim Ducks 2nd rounder would have pushed the Rockets up the ladder in the Western Conference.  They're still a talented club and we'll get a closer look at them this Saturday when they take on the Oil Kings in Edmonton

1 comment:

Mike Carlson said...

It is always good to remain in school. All he needs to do now is work and refine his skills and try to concentrate on the plays and not get affected with it.