Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch verbally committed to Wisconsin this winter, but this week, switched his commitment by signing a letter of intent with Denver.
Wisconsin has many, some might say too many, defenseman committed to their team for the next couple of seasons, and Wiercioch would have had to wait to 2009 to join the Badgers. But Denver had a spot on their blueline open up when David Carle's hockey career was sadly cut short, and Wiercioch, who was a second round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators in this year's draft, was anxious to play college hockey next season, and jumped at the opportunity.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
21 comments:
Never like to see guys reneg on a verbal like that but good luck to him.
The big question is how many players will Eaves recruit to replace him?
And where do put the over/under?
I would say over/under is two.
My guess is over with three new recruits.
But what about the "Gentleman's Agreement"?
Let's see all the rightous people on this blog start rippin this kid for his choice to dis the Badgers. Don't hold back. When kids do this and go to the CHL they are villified. Who is going to be first?
Denver lost Gregoire to North Dakota, so they're all square now. Wisconsin just has to steal a Sioux recruit and everything is right again. Oh, except between UMD and Minnesota regarding Dorr.
Eaves "high risk,high reward" recruiting system will cost him players along the way. Having to delay players to make room for other more recent recruits is a losing proposition for some. Montpetit,Smith,Erstad,and Schultz must be taking a hard look at their delays and what it may mean to their futures. Lee, an unlikely delay as well and could easily be headed to CHL. Hickey would have been forced to go somewhere else had Eaves not juggled things to get him to Wisc. this year as the Wild was not ready to sign him but didn't want to lose his rights.
agree montpetit,Smith, Erstad and Hickey all committed before Murray,Stepan,Gardner and others only to be delayed because they were told they weren't ready. Hate to be an early recruit of Wisc. when they are always bringing in more recent ones and delay others.Hickey had to force his way in and it will be interesting to see who was forced out to bring him in.
I think Lee will officially sign with Harvard shortly.
"Let's see all the rightous people on this blog start rippin this kid for his choice to dis the Badgers. Don't hold back. When kids do this and go to the CHL they are villified."
Wiercioch already snubbed Portland(WHL) a year and a half ago so its all good.
eaves should just go choke another kid in grand forks for no reason then he will have even 1 less players to play and then he wont have a problem, what a tool he is..no wonder his kids told him to F off when he wanted them to play for him...........
rr,
the player contacted Gwoz, the agreement says coaches won't contact players who've verballed, not the other way around.
If a kid wants to change his mind, he's allowed to do so.
Verbal commitments are just that--seems like happenstance both in Denver and Madison made it work for this kid. I don't see a problem--WI will be fine.
From the ICE HOUSE blog>
"Eaves had one more thing to say about the situation.
"It's interesting from the perspective that if we pulled the scholarship, we could come under great scrutiny," he said. "And yet if a young man does that, then we just have to bite our upper lip right now. That's the way of the world right now recruiting."
Very true. The only real punishment to players who de-commit comes from fans with memories."
This recruiting dilema is being created by programs ie coaches like Eaves. He is over-recruiting and then expecting kids to delay both their education and their hockey careers to fit his desires. Also, isn't he known for getting rid of players to move others in? Hard to feel sorry for a coach who has created the situation and then feels some consequences. Remember his comments to York? "high risk, high reward" recruiting has been promoted by him, so for him to call for the student/athlete to be penalized and not the programs creating these situations is laughable. How many student/athletes has he counted on ("pushed") to quietly leave over his tenure? Just a consequence of his actions. Let's see if he changes his recruiting strategies.
"agree montpetit,Smith, Erstad and Hickey all committed before Murray,Stepan,Gardner and others only to be delayed because they were told they weren't ready."
After the horrible seasons that Smith and Erstad put up do you really think that they were really surprised that they were pushed to 09. Both player have a lot of talent, but neither cam close to exhibiting that talent on a consistant basis during the season.
10:13: Yes I'm aware that players are able to contact coaches and that they are well within their rights to change their minds. I have no problem with that. That is the nature of a verbal agreement. There is no contractual obligation, either way.
But you seem to be under the impression that there is a written rule somewhere stating the parameters of the "Gentleman's Agreement". It doesn't exist. It is merely an understanding between coaches. It may mean different things to different coaches.
The ones that are most adversely affected by the "Gentleman's Ageement" are the players that committ early and may not be fully aware of all of their options and opportunities. Unless they proactively go out and seek the information (after verbally committing) they may not really know if some other school may be a better opportunity. While seeking this additional information may ultimately be good for their own situation, it may may damage their standing with the coach they have verballed to (if he finds out). Puts the kid into a potentially no win situation. Or else opens up the door to a new one.
I just think that there really isn't any reason to continue recognizing the "Gentleman's Agreement". It's ultimate outcome is that early commits end up with much less information to base an informed decision than someone that waits and gathers more information.
Kids change their minds all of the time. Good luck to Wiercioch in Denver. I hope it is a good fit for him. Same goes for the decisions by Gregoire and Dorr as well.
The reality is that it's not only kids that change their minds. The coaches change their minds all of the time. I've said it befor and I will say it again - NCAA coaches, and posters on these boards, hold these kids to a higher standard than they hold themselves!
Imagine if you were offered a job and promised the world only to find out that the situation has changed completely before you even started your new job. That penthouse office you were offered isn't available because they found someone better since they spoke to you. Sorry! We can offer you that mailroom job and that's it. Take it or leave it. If you leave it your called all kinds of names and your boss gets to say you bailed on your commitment. If you take it you have quite possibly done irreperable damage to your carreer.
Nice spot to be in. Lose Lose! Imaqgine being a 16 or 17 year old kid and having to deal with this.
Coaches make so many promises knowing full well they can't keep them. Someone will be dissapointed.
They over recruit and wait and see who develops. It's a business and as such hard decisions are made. Why is that when a kid makes a tough decision he's lambasted but when a coach decides to leave a program he's moving on to better things.
Give these kids a break.
""How many student/athletes has he counted on ("pushed") to quietly leave over his tenure? Just a consequence of his actions. Let's see if he changes his recruiting strategies.""
Please give some examples??
Eaves comments seem a tad hypocritical when you consider he has had at least one past player (Robbie Earl) renege on a verbal commitment to another team in order to join the Badgers.
I'm a huge Badger and Eaves fan, but he is wrong to a certain degree. That being once a player signs a L.O.I. there really is no going back without penalties, same as the scholarship offer.
There is just wayyy too many early verbal committments. And this happens in every sport. I think the problem is that kids are verbaling way too early and
have to sign way too late. In my opinion the NCAA should revise the outdated handbook and have a new "early" signing period somewhere in the players Junior year. It would save a lot of grief for coaches and some players.
In all, I'm disappointed, but I can totally see Wiercioch's decision. How many 2nd round picks wait another year to go to college? Also based on the fact that Ottawa knowing he wouldn't be going to Wisconsin for another year wanted him to play a higher level of competition than the USHL so they initially wanted him to go to the WHL. He didn't want to go to the WHL so he looked into Denver's situation. No fault in there, with a lot of these players the big clubs call the shots, but I wished he would of went to a different conference!!
Nate Hardy, goalie, formerly of Hermantown High's 29-0-2 state championship season, has committed to SCSU for the upcoming season.
Eaves got what he deserved with Wiercioch. The players who go there get to play for a psycho. The ones on the commitment list are nervous - and many are bailing. Minnesota and USHL players know a commitment from Eaves is golden, right up until he sees a player he likes better. I don't have a very high opinion of how he treats players.
Post a Comment