As far as saying that Bandurski hadn't improved dramatically, last year was
my first year watching the Red, so I didn't know how he was previously.  I
noticed that he had some weaknesses, and toward the latter part of the
season I trusted Skazyk more.  I just think that McCutcheon should not have
used Elliott as much when he knew he had two able veterans (although able
may be up in the air).  Sure he does need to play some games in order to
get the experience of playing in the league, but, at least for the first
part of the season, Elliott was the starter in a sort of Richter-Healy type
combination.
 
>Any college player has a "right" to quit his team if he doesn't believe
>he's being given enough credit as an individual, or if he has philosophical
>disagreements with his coach, but that sort of choice doesn't get a lot of
>my respect.  There's a reason that it's called a hockey TEAM.
 
I think that's a good argument for why Jiri Kloboucek shouldn't have quit.
But Bandurski knew as well as anyone else that you can't reasonably keep
three goalies on a roster.  When you're only playing two games a week,
there is no way to rotate the three so that each can stay in game form.
Even if there was a true rotation, someone would always have two weeks
between starts.  Bandurski realized that he wouldn't be playing....let
alone even dressing for road trips.  As much as I respect the team player,
I think Bandurski made the only decision he could.  When you're taking
classes, why put in that kind of time commitment when you won't even be
able to contribute to the team effort?
 
On a totally different note, senior Christian Felli has only four more
games (barring playoffs) to score his first collegiate goal.
 
-Mike