Second-Guessing

So, things have changed.

Brady Hjelle has left tUMD to go back to juniors. Chris Stafne has been dismissed from the team due to allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. I'll probably post a bit more about both incidents (or not, I am lazy), but I'm going to take another crack at lines and pairings. You can see the first attempt here.

Centre
Jack Connolly (Jr)
Travis Oleksuk (Jr)
Danny DeLisle (So)
Max Tardy (Fr)

Left Wing
Mike Connolly (Jr)
Kyle Schmidt (Sr)
Cody Danberg (Sr)
Jake Hendrickson (So)

Right Wing
Justin Fontaine (Sr)
David Grun (Jr)
Mike Seidel (So)
Keegan Flaherty (So)
Joe Basaraba (Fr)
J.T. Brown (Fr)

Left Defence
Dylan Olsen (So)
Scott Kishel (Jr)
Wade Bergman (So)
Drew Olson (So)
Trent Palm (rs-Sr)
Luke McManus (Fr)

Right Defence
Brady Lamb (Jr)
Mike Montgomery (Sr)
Chad Huttel (Sr)
Chase Ryan (rs-Sr)
Justin Faulk (Fr)

Goalie
Kenny Reiter (Jr)
Aaron Crandall (So)

I still want to move Flaherty to centre. The glut of right-wingers still requires a move. Centres are Jack Connolly, Travis Oleksuk, Danny DeLisle, Keegan Flaherty and Max Tardy. Left wingers are Mike Connolly, Kyle Schmidt, Cody Danberg and Jake Hendrickson. Right wingers are Justin Fontaine, David Grun, Mike Seidel, Joe Basaraba and J.T. Brown.

What sort of sucks now is that there is not a full practice line for the 5th liners. I wonder if a defenceman could play up? Although unless that's going to happen in games there's no reason for it to happen in practice. I wonder if anyone would be amenable to reverse-Montgomerying?

Defensive changes are the same as I previously made. Left defencemen are Dylan Olsen, Scott Kishel, Wade Bergman, Drew Olson and Luke McManus. Right defencemen are Brady Lamb, Mike Montgomery, Chad Huttel, Trent Palm and Justin Faulk.

Goalies are Kenny Reiter and Aaron Crandall. No word on a new goalie. Stay healthy, guys!

Lines? Lines. ((c) Bruce Ciskie)

Top line: Mike Connolly – Jack Connolly – Justin Fontaine
Nothing has caused me to change this.

Second line: Kyle Schmidt – Travis Oleksuk – Mike Seidel
I'm still fighting with this idea. I know it's probably my own bias, but I'm keeping this line here. There's no doubt about Smitty and Ole, but Seidel... I don't know how long he'll stay in this spot. HOWEVER, Sandy likes to make guys pay their dues, so I'm keeping this line together.

Third line: Cody Danberg – Danny DeLisle – David Grun
Gonna keep Murderer's Row intact, certainly.

Fourth line: Jake Hendrickson – Flaherty – J.T. Brown
Yes, I am keeping J.T. in over third-rounder Basaraba. J.T. is almost two years older than Joe, and he has experience playing against older players (at first, I mean, this past year he was one of the older players), and Joe has played at a high level, but against other people his age and younger.

Et al: Tardy, Basaraba

Top defensive pairing: Dylan Olsen – Mike Montgomery

Second pairing: Wade Bergman – Brady Lamb

Third pairing: Scott Kishel – Justin Faulk

Fourth pairing: Drew Olson – Chad Huttel

Fifth pairing: Luke McManus – Trent Palm

I kind of want to make some changes here, but I don't see where. Unless some guys switch from L to R, then there's no one I can move up. And I really really really want to move Faulk up.

Starting goalie: Kenny Reiter

Backup: Aaron Crandall

Ok, so it looks like I didn't change anything. But, whatever. I probably won't make another list unless something changes, but I think next I'll try to take a stab at special teams.