New Recruit - Evan Salmela

Looks like we got a real good one!
From the recruits site
Evan Salmela-LD (1/24/03) Springfield (NAHL) 5'11 170 6-13-83 CORNELL
Some info on him, seems to be a goal scoring defenseman.
[www.chicagofreeze.com]
[www.pittsburghpost-gazette.com]
[www.nahl.com]
Hope these links work.

And since the links work, here's one more
[www.chicagofreeze.com]
and I promise I'll stop now.

Wow, that's terrific - good to see they're working on getting strong defensemen to replace the defensive trio of Murray, Bell, and McRae.

What I like is that they beat out a big swinger in Michigan State for him. Hopefully, he will take over Murray's spot on the powerplay with Cook or Pegoraro on the other point.

Now if Mike could recruit the NAHL's Anthony Zancanaro and Carmen Posteraro and put 'em on a line with Dan Pegoraro...then I'd really feel good about next year.

Might not make Adam Wodon's day, though.

Al DeFlorio wrote:

Now if Mike could recruit the NAHL's Anthony Zancanaro and Carmen Posteraro and put 'em on a line with Dan Pegoraro...then I'd really feel good about next year.

Doesn't BU have a mite sized player named Zancanaro?

Yep, Brad.

"HEY BRAD!! You're not a player, you're a midget. . .you're not a midget, you're a dwarf. . .you're not a dwarf, you're a munchkin. . .you're not a munchkin, YOU JUST SUCK!"

)

A team with food poisoning issues gets a guy with a name close to Salmanella. I guess that works.

This is truly good news. We'll see if Schafer permits him to continue to be the risk-taking offensive defenseman he appears to have become.

What's up with O'Byrne? Hooboy, I'd love to snatch one from Maine and one from Michigan State in this class.

Salmela is a good, old-school Finnish name. Wonder if he's a cloaked import, like Doug.

When did the rumors start the LeNeveu might not come back next year? Better question is where did the rumor start, on campus or amongst this board?

Feels like it's starting right here and now.

Nah, last year's April Fool's Day edition of the Sun said that Murray and Lenny signed professional contracts. If it was said after his freshman year (which is was), it'll be said every year. Let's just hope it doesn't come true for another two and a half years.

> What's up with O'Byrne?

Presumably he's visiting campus this weekend, or at any rate very soon. It would indeed be sweet to land him as well. Why rebuild when you can reload?

One of the other threads today is spreading the idea like it is April 1 today. We could rename it the paranoid doomsday scenerio thread.

Yale gets the Freeze's goalie. Should see lotsa ice time next year in New Haven.

[www.chicagofreeze.com]

Geez...there's a 'tender in that league named Zaniboni. Can we get him, too?

In 1876, Cornell was the first university in the United States to award a DVM degree to Daniel E. Salmon, who had been a member of the university's first entering class and received the BVSc degree in 1872. Dr. Salmon became the founding chief of the US Bureau of Animal Industry and is best known today for identifying the infectious pathogen Salmonella and pioneering the fight against contagious diseases.

Fill me in on O'Byrne?

O'Byrne is one of this year's most sought-after recruits, and he has allegedly narrowed it down to Maine or Cornell.

What position? What team does he play for?

He's mentioned both

here: [elf.hockey.cornell.edu]

and here: [elf.hockey.cornell.edu]

and I'm sure there's more information at [www.nanaimoclippers.com] (man, what ugly uni's/colors).

Right...I heard from a BU parent, who's other son I coach in HS, that fans chanted "kill the midget" at him....

Sounds like he might be able to "do the ice" when he's not playing.

[q]Right...I heard from a BU parent, who's other son I coach in HS, that fans chanted "kill the midget" at him....[/q]

Absolutely accurate

And since this thread is about recruiting - pissing off parents is nothing to be proud of....

Thats true but in this case, the parents' son is already playing for BU, so pissing them off is kinda moot.

Well, Adam asked him about next year in an on air interview last week I think. He gave your typical cliched athlete's answer - that he's only concerned with this year right now and that he'd have to consult with his family, the coaches, the people he trusts, etc. before making a decision. It means he's keeping his options open. I would've liked to hear "I'm going to stay four years at Cornell", but then again it's not like that would be a guarantee either.

This should not be construed as a rumor saying that he is leaving. Simply reporting the situation, which is pretty obvious anyway.

Not to mention the guy's got to be pretty thin-skinned if he lets stuff like that bother him. At least it's more creative than singsonging some guy's name three times and yelling "YOU SUCK!"

So, prompted by the posts, we went to see Evan and the Freeze play Saturday night against the Springfield [MO] Spirits. I haven't watched much hockey for years, so I'm not a really good judge of talent, but Evan looked pretty respectable to me.

He didn't come off as the enforcer. He did take some good slap shots and wrist shots. He had an assist on a very pretty play. From just beyond his own blue line he passed straight forward to the left wing near the other blue line. The let wing took it in and passed across ice to the right wing (or maybe center) streaking in who put it away. Evan's rotation was messed up a bit, as his partner drew a 10 minute misconduct in the second period. He was moving back and forth from left to right defense through that stretch when he was on the ice.

The Freeze goalie, on his way to Yale, looked good, stopping 20+ shots and letting one through, a nasty slap shot that got past his right (stick hand) shoulder.

The arena has a banner for each Freeze alumnus who has moved on to better things. You can see most of the list on their web site. As I scanned the sheets, a "Cornell" jumped out at me. Turns out our assistant coach, Brent Brekke was with the Freeze '97-'99 as assistant coach and director of player personnel (recruiter).
[cornellbigred.ocsn.com]

BTW, Cornell recruit Byron Bitz was a +7 in two games this past weekend.

Oh, and Ryan O'Byrne went to Nepean High School in 1998 -- IIRC, that was star Cornell defenseman Dan Ratushny's hometown and high school.

And Cornell recruit Mark McCutcheon had 4 goals and 5 assists during his three games this weekend. Two weeks removed from being the league's offensive player of the week, he is currently 5th in the EJHL in goal scoring with 16 in 22 games.

When/how would we know when this O'Byrne guy decides between us and Main!?!?

Dude, would you like to buy a vowel?

Another connection - Evan played last year for the Green Bay Gamblers, Bâby's old junior a team.

I'm sure whoever sees O'Bryne's decision first will post it right here.