Old Hippy wrote:

The USHL leans more toward the younger players, with not a lot of 20 year olds making the teams. They are there, but the roster spots are harder to come by.

With the exception of goalies, and both leagues tend to favor older goalies for the most part.

masquedman wrote:

St. Lou wrote: Hey, our Bandits were superior to all in the NAHL the last two years, but that doesn't mean they would have been able to do that in the USHL. In fact, a .500 record in the USHL probably would have been surprising, I don't think anyone is saying they would have been USHL Champs, but I would think the Bandits would have finished better than .500 in the USHL the last two years. Maybe not challenging for the top but certainly in the upper half. We will never know for sure but an interesting debate. Based upon the number of players moved on to colleges one has to beleive that those Bandits could play in the USHL. St. Lou wrote: plus we had about a dozen 20 year olds on our squad and in the USHL they only allow 4. Umm...actually 5 on 07 and 6 last year. St. Lou wrote: I think the fact that Coach Coop went to the USHL and several of the Bandits younger players went there as well should tell us all we need to know. Bandits won't be dominant this year, but still looking forward to it. It tells me that Cooper got a better deal and because of his success was able to move up the coaching ladder. It also says to me that there were USHL caliber players on last years team. Whether or not the Bandits will be dominant this year is still left to be seen with only 4 returning players...but last years squad only had 5. Good luck to the Bandits!

You made me look it up, Bandits had EIGHT 20 year olds, still twice as many as the USHL allows. And the point I am making is the USHL is far the superior league. Thats OK, I still love my Bandits games, and will enjoy them as long as they are still here.

fangers wrote:

Old Hippy wrote: The USHL leans more toward the younger players, with not a lot of 20 year olds making the teams. They are there, but the roster spots are harder to come by. With the exception of goalies, and both leagues tend to favor older goalies for the most part.

Sounds like a goalie dad who's son got cut somewhere.... Many young goalies in both leagues, just need to be able to stop the puck.

St. Lou wrote:

fangers wrote: Old Hippy wrote: The USHL leans more toward the younger players, with not a lot of 20 year olds making the teams. They are there, but the roster spots are harder to come by. With the exception of goalies, and both leagues tend to favor older goalies for the most part. Sounds like a goalie dad who's son got cut somewhere.... Many young goalies in both leagues, just need to be able to stop the puck.

Yes, a goalie dad. My son's first year attempting to play juniors so time will tell. I suggest you check the rosters and look at the ages - I have - and while there are some younger goalies, the majority getting bulk of the games are older.

fangers wrote:

St. Lou wrote: fangers wrote: Old Hippy wrote: The USHL leans more toward the younger players, with not a lot of 20 year olds making the teams. They are there, but the roster spots are harder to come by. With the exception of goalies, and both leagues tend to favor older goalies for the most part. Sounds like a goalie dad who's son got cut somewhere.... Many young goalies in both leagues, just need to be able to stop the puck. Yes, a goalie dad. My son's first year attempting to play juniors so time will tell. I suggest you check the rosters and look at the ages - I have - and while there are some younger goalies, the majority getting bulk of the games are older.

Age has nothing to do with it, its all about stopping the puck! You think a coach will say "this kid is better but because he is younger I will take the older goalie"? Just stop the puck!

St. Lou wrote:

Age has nothing to do with it, its all about stopping the puck! You think a coach will say "this kid is better but because he is younger I will take the older goalie"? Just stop the puck!

Obviously, if there is any discernible difference, a coach will go with the better goalie, age notwithstanding. But with all other things being fairly equal, coaches tend to go with older - in theory more experienced, mature - over younger. I've seen it happen, have heard what coaches have said - and most not involving my son, so you can forget the idea that I'm biased by anything that may or may not have happened to my son.

Here is the breakdown of ages for the #1 goalies for each USHL team last year (if the backup goalie was within 10 games of the starter, I counted both):

87's - 2
88's - 6
89's - 5
90's - 2

It appears that it is pretty tough to get a starting spot in the USHL if you are one of the 20 year olds, or one of the 16-17 year olds. That is pretty true of skaters as well.

fangers wrote:

St. Lou wrote: Age has nothing to do with it, its all about stopping the puck! You think a coach will say "this kid is better but because he is younger I will take the older goalie"? Just stop the puck! Obviously, if there is any discernible difference, a coach will go with the better goalie, age notwithstanding. But with all other things being fairly equal, coaches tend to go with older - in theory more experienced, mature - over younger. I've seen it happen, have heard what coaches have said - and most not involving my son, so you can forget the idea that I'm biased by anything that may or may not have happened to my son.

Are you kidding me? The coach will definitely go with the younger kid if they are pretty much equal every time. More potential, and possibility of keeping him longer. You make no sense, and I seem to have hit a nerve with your kid being involved. Sorry to see he wasn't picked up, but don't be a fool and think it was his age. The coaches want to win and pick the best goalies, age is just an excuse.

St. Lou wrote:

Are you kidding me? The coach will definitely go with the younger kid if they are pretty much equal every time. More potential, and possibility of keeping him longer. You make no sense, and I seem to have hit a nerve with your kid being involved. Sorry to see he wasn't picked up, but don't be a fool and think it was his age. The coaches want to win and pick the best goalies, age is just an excuse.

You sure are quick to jump to conlcusions, aren't you? Not sure if you've had a player go thru this process or not, but you seem to ignore facts. And no nerve hit at all - there are still 2 main camps that he's attending so his fate is not yet known, and I won't be making excuses if he doesn't get a spot. Those who know me from other boards know I'm realistic.

But here are the numbers, look at them and tell me again age doens't matter for the most part:

Team Name BY GP W L GAA %
Alaska Avalanche Sidor, Dusan 1987 35 12 18 4.35 0.895
Alaska Avalanche Corey, Nathan 1988 27 4 17 4.69 0.881

Alexandria Blizzard Leets, Ryan 1989 34 14 12 3.75 0.882
Alexandria Blizzard Woodring, Dylan 10 6 3 2.87 0.912
Alexandria Blizzard Beggs, Matt 1988 6 0 5 5.04 0.855
Alexandria Blizzard Heath, RJ 1990 5 1 3 4.78 0.869
Alexandria Blizzard Desjardins, Brendan 1988 2 1 0 5.75 0.788

Alprena Ice Diggers Graves, Nick 1988 33 18 8 2.77 0.905
Alprena Ice Diggers Pellegrino, Nathanial 1988 28 12 9 2.93 0.901
Alprena Ice Diggers Pason, Dan 1989 10 2 5 3.15 0.903
Alprena Ice Diggers Ferraro, Matt 1988 1 0 1 4 0.867

Bismark Kremer, Jake 1988 46 16 23 3.38 0.906
Bismark Grogan, Matt 8 0 4 3.69 0.904
Bismark Reilly, Mike 1987 7 2 2 4.05 0.883
Bismark Hillman, Mike 1988 3 0 1 5.75 0.583

Fairbanks Ice Dogs Reichard, Cody 1987 44 28 14 2.02 0.934
Fairbanks Ice Dogs Copeland, RJ 1989 7 3 0 3.23 0.884
Fairbanks Ice Dogs Fuller, TJ 1989 3 2 0 1.65 0.932

Fargo-Morehead Jets Okland, Elliot 1987 35 12 19 3.06 0.911
Fargo-Morehead Jets Buegler, Adam 1988 8 6 0 1.75 0.934
Fargo-Morehead Jets Zacharias, Scott 1989 7 2 1 4.63 0.882
Fargo-Morehead Jets Dawson, Joe 1988 6 1 5 4.07 0.862

Kenai River Madej, Steven 1988 30 7 19 4.14 0.884
Kenai River Wichorek, Matt 22 3 14 4.17 0.884
Kenai River Alvarez, Spencer 1988 4 0 3 4.16 0.896

Mahoning Valley Bartus, Garrett 1989 32 20 8 2.82 0.91
Mahoning Valley Tibbett, Jordan 1990 18 8 9 3.44 0.897
Mahoning Valley Lee, Mark 1987 2 2 0 2.31 0.906

Marquette Christian, Beau 1988 32 10 15 3.76 0.894
Marquette Brooker, Matt 1989 27 15 9 3.48 0.899
Marquette Tadazak, Robert

North Iowa Outlaws Moss, Robby 1987 36 25 5 1.91 0.94
North Iowa Outlaws Maginnis, Austin 1988 11 4 5 2.83 0.914
North Iowa Outlaws Beggs, Matt 1988 6 4 2 2.34 0.927
North Iowa Outlaws Raneau, Zak 1988 4 2 0 3.67 0.889
North Iowa Outlaws Johnson, Randy 1 0 1 15 0.615

Southern Minnesota Express Pederson, Scott 1988 33 16 12 3.55 0.899
Southern Minnesota Express Hansen, Zach 8 4 1 2.76 0.915
Southern Minnesota Express Hardy, Nathan 1988 5 1 0 5.14 0.841

Springfield Blues Cook, Phil 1988 37 18 14 2.95 0.898
Springfield Blues Sila, Ales 1987 17 5 7 3.83 0.882
Springfield Blues Tinkham, Garret 1988 3 1 2 3.67 0.859

St. Louis Bandits Heeter, Cal 1988 29 21 5 2.51 0.916
St. Louis Bandits Johnson, Mike 1989 26 21 3 2.56 0.909
St. Louis Bandits Larson, Jeff 1 1 0 12 0.75

Texas Tornado Callaghan, Thomas 1988 43 17 23 3.01 0.906
Texas Tornado Zacharias, Scott 1989 12 2 7 3.4 0.911
Texas Tornado Guggenburger, Mark 1989 3 0 3 4.03 0.889
Texas Tornado Pombo, Matt 3 0 0 3.14 0.897
Texas Tornado Shively, Stefan 1988 2 0 0 4.82 0.852
Texas Tornado Brown, Adam 1 1 0 3.69 0.892

Topeka Merriam, Bryce 1988 38 21 11 2.2 0.902
Topeka Rocker, Lyle 1988 14 12 0 2.17 0.883
Topeka Mosher, Mike 1989 1 0 0 21.69 0.75

Traverse City Stephenson, Brandon 1988 26 8 12 3.26 0.889
Traverse City Paliafito, Chris 1989 23 9 6 2.94 0.901
Traverse City Williams, Miles 1987 6 4 1 2.67 0.896
Traverse City Kniss, Dallas 1989 1 0 0 6.58 0.846

USA Maxwell, Brandon 1991 20 7 10 3.57 0.886
USA Murray, Adam 1991 12 5 6 4.49 0.861
USA Clemente, Micheal 1990 11 6 5 2.55 0.904
USA Maricic, Nick 1990 7 5 1 0.98 0.962
USA Cannata, Joe 1990 3 1 1 2.89 0.9

Wichita Falls Jarboe, Mike 1988 40 27 10 2.68 0.914
Wichita Falls Graveline, Phillip 1989 7 6 0 3.45 0.886
Wichita Falls McMahon, Kyle 1989 6 3 2 3.61 0.899
Wichita Falls Emery, Peter 1990 2 2 0 2 0.917
Wichita Falls Kirkhuff, Miles 1989 1 0 0 7.58 0.857



Here is the average games played by age group:

'87 - 22.75
'88 - 19.15
'89 - 12.5
'90 - 7.67
'91 - 16.0 (Team USA)

Andrew Hamburg did not make the team in Lincoln, so it looks like he is returning to St. Louis.

Wonder why he did not make it. Must be personal. He will go to College in 09.

troll wrote:

Wonder why he did not make it. Must be personal. He will go to College in 09.

Why would it be personal?

tnado wrote:

troll wrote: Wonder why he did not make it. Must be personal. He will go to College in 09. Why would it be personal?

Maybe his decision to play with his brother, I am just speculating. He is a good player.

No mention of Kyle O'Kane and Ben Miller heading off to Western Michigan?

Kyle going this year, Miller heading next year.

Congrats to both. Go Broncos. Go Kyle.

Anyone hear who will replace Regg Simon after he split on the team?

Haven't heard who was replacing him but heard he was headed to Alaska.

troll wrote:

Anyone hear who will replace Regg Simon after he split on the team?

former Blues Jeff Brown...new Bandits coach

http://stlbandits.com/index.php

why did Simon leave?

akbikerboy wrote:

why did Simon leave?

Took the assistant coaching job with Alaska-Fairbanks, I believe.

Good news for the Bandits.