I spent a full 10 minutes trying to come up with a good metaphor to announce that Queen's had replaced departing OUA East MVP Ryan Gibb with Kingston Voyageurs goalie Mackenzie Ball - "the Ball's in his court" was the leader, until I realized this wasn't basketball.Either way, it was Queen's head coach Brett Gibson that made the announcement on CFRC-FM's weekly sports show, Offsides, so consider OOLF to have gotten the exclusive print scoop on the big news. A new goalie, of course, became necessary when Gibb left the team to go join the Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League.
But on last Friday's show, Gibson gave a bit more insight into the decision. Gibb apparently had no intentions to graduate, or play anything past a third year at Queen's. As well, Laredo had previously offered him a contract, and it was Queen's that he chose over the Bucks two years ago.
Like me, Gibson admitted surprise at Gibb's settling for a contract in such a low-level league as the CHL. But, while I was postulating that Gibb was most likely of ECHL quality (the league Gibson himself played in), the coach took it a step further and said he expected Gibb was skilled enough to compete in the American Hockey League.
Ball is a godsend for the team, considering how difficult Gibson said goalie recruitment is at this stage of the game. According to the coach, the Shannonville native already had a spot open for him at St. FX but was talked out of it to join the Gaels and compete for playing time with Brady Morrison.
Despite playing the backup to Matt Hache last year, Ball led the Vees in wins with a 17-3-1 record, a good 2.99 GAA and .896 save percentage. For his OPJHL career Ball is 23-6-1 with a 3.10 GAA and .899 sv%.
We did get to a few more things, such as the big recruiting class that Gibson's brought in this year, which could top 11 first year players. Though I couldn't get names as to the few remaining recruits that have yet to commit officially, we did discover that at least some of them are highly sought after CHL (Canadian, not Central) alumni.
Personally, I'm most excited about Weeks Crushers alum Danny Morgan, who joins the team after a campaign in which he scored 25 goals and 19 assists in 39 MJHL games. Prior to that he'd recorded a 22-41-63 season in 56 games. With the loss of Brady Olsen, and the team's neverending scoring drought through all of last season, natural scorers are exactly what the team needs.
The full interview with Gibson is below, and is chock-full of information I'm too lazy to continue typing:
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15 comments:
My first thought...
Ball takes on Queen's puck; or
Puck and Ball join forces for Queen's
but then again, I'm just a sports guy...
Gaels on the Ball
Ball a magnet for pucks?
Sager wins.
Duane, if the Gaels were on the ball, they'd be playing the wrong sport.
That forward Scott Kenway looks like a pretty good get for Queen's, a two-way player with some jam. He had 49 points (21G-28A) and 106 PIMs with the Olds Grizzlys, who were a solid 35-21-6 team in the AJHL, which is probably the second-best provincial Junior A league in the country.
Yep, and Gibson agrees that he's the highlight of the recruiting class.
Okay Sager...who's the best Jr A league...hmmm???
This one should be interesting...
Doesn't it just go West-East -- BCHL, the AJ and SJ tied for second, followed by the MJHL -- based on the number of players earning schollys and getting drafted directly out of those leagues by the NHL?
The Central Junior league in Eastern Ontario is pretty decent; it's hard to judge the Ontario league since it has about 10 decent teams and 25 who are glorified high school hockey.
Actually...I'd say the AJ is better the BCHL, while the SJ has slowly dipped to the point where the MJ seems to be able to compete with them on a regular basis...
I don't judge leagues on how many players are drafted or given scholarships, but on how they compete overall with other teams and other leagues.
The reason is two-fold:
1. Scholarships from NCAA schools along with those now being doled out by the CIS, are nearly a dime a dozen...From my most recent experience, there is no way the SJ can produce that many players that deserve to play NCAA Div 1 hockey. Most I know of that have gone, over the past three years, were great academically and decent players, but were practice or fourth liners at there school. They either waited it out for their chance three and four years down the line, or came back home to play in the CIS with literally no hope of making it to the show.
And 2. With the talent now picking and choosing where to play, based upon a number of reasons, the NHL draft is now forced to look at selecting players from leagues it would never have considered less than a decade ago. Take Camrose Kodiaks' Joe Colbourn for example. This player would likely be a star on nearly any WHL team in the league, and probably would have gone about where he did this year's draft if he had. However, his decision to play in the AJ was based on college aspirations, not the hope of making the big time. Therefore, him being picked doesn't make the league any better. All it shows is that he played there.
And the MJ...well, at least OCN is going downhill while the rest of the league speeds up the hill, making better hockey for everyone. Although, I'm sure Portage could still use a new barn.
A student that does not intend to graduate. Does that not contradict the culture that Queen's like to to foster.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bill Gates never graduated from Harvard and that didn't hurt its reputation.
(Ryan Gibb is not Bill Gates ... yet.)
Bill Gates went to Harvard with the intention of not graduating?
Too bad, "Gates" would have been a heck of a name for a Harvard goalie.
Did Tiger Woods go to Stanford with the intention of playing four years of golf and graduating before he went pro?
You had me with that one Neate, as I know little about Tiger. I had to look it up and came up with this.
"After high school, Tiger decided to go to Stanford University, he majored in accounting and business. In 1994, Tiger started his freshman year at Stanford University.
As a freshman at Stanford, Tiger took classes such as history, computers, golf, and a class in Portugese literature and as a sophmore, he took classes such as economics, African literature, and a class on race and ethnicity.
As a freshman, Tiger was receiving a lot of fan mail and hate mail. One night at Stanford Tiger got attacked by a stranger who managed to steal his watch and a gold chain.
While playing golf at Stanford, Tiger was getting very frustrated with the NCAA. He was mad because they suspended him from a few golf tournaments. They said it was because when he went to The Masters, he did not use the right brand of balls."
So he probaly did go to Stanford with the intention of graduating, and play in pro tournaments, such as the Masters, while he was there. But the NCAA gave him grief and I guess he did not need it,and the hate mail, and the mugging, and decided to spend all his time on the pro circut. Not in the minors either, but where the big money is.
I could keep this going all day... John McEnroe left Stanford after his sophomore year.
Rice and Vanderbilt are prestigious schools in the States and they've had plenty of baseball players turn pro after their junior seasons.
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