Jason W. Roy wrote:
 
> Discipline is always important...but I think far to many penalties are
> called in college hockey....The crash and bang players like Rasmusen and
> Botteril should have played major junior hockey because it is more suited
> to their style of play.....I beleive Botteril would have already a year
> or two under his belt with the Stars if he would have played in the
> CHL...Look at Jamie Lanngenbruner
 
This may be true of Rasmussen, but I don't think that Botterill would
have been better off in juniors.  Jason's problem was less a crash and
bang style of play than his ferocious temper.  Discipline was exactly
what he needed to learn to improve his play and I think he was much more
likely to learn this at Michigan than in either the juniors or the
minors.  Over the last year-and-a-half, he has dramatically cut down on
his misconduct penalties.
 
Beyond this, it has become clear that a large portion of Michigan's
senior class has stuck around all of this time for reasons beyond just
furthering their hockey careers.  Botterill isn't the only one that may
have cost himself some time on the pension plan, but I don't think any
of them regret their choice.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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