Friday, May 18, 2007

Scared

So I wasn't really worried about Bryan Hogan getting drafted by Erie in the OHL draft when it happened. Now I am.

Bob Miller has reported an unconfirmed situation where Matt Hunwick's younger brother, Shawn, has decommited from D-3 Adrian College to play for the Wolverines next year (more as a replacement for Mayhew than a replacement for Sauer as starter). Some high-quality facebook stalking confirmed that it does appear he's Michigan-bound.

But, with Sauer and Steve Jakiel already on the roster, Baby Hunwick would make 3 and Hogan would make 4. Which is probably one too many. Which means the rumblings about Hogan not appearing in a Michigan jersey next year may in fact be true. Unfortunately.

Bob had also mentioned awhile back that there were rumors that Hogan would hang out for another year in juniors before enrolling at Michigan (which doesn't make sense to me), but I guess that would still be an option as well (rather than him just going the OHL route). The addition of Hunwick is adding some smoke to the fire that Hogan won't be coming.

Quick info about Hunwick: He split-time for Alpena in the NAHL last year and posted a 17-9-1 record with a 3.04 GAA and a .904 save percentage. He didn't start any of their playoff games, as they were swept out in 3 straight.

Personally, I'm still hoping that Hogan is coming and can get back to last year's form to contend for the starting gig. It appears less likely with today's development, however. Then again, it's also possible that this is more of a "I'm probably not making the NHL, so I might as well go get a great education at Michigan rather than play for a D-3 school, and maybe I can play some in practice" decision rather than a "They need a 3rd goalie for a year or two since Hogan isn't coming, so why not?" decision. Either way, best of luck at Michigan to Shawn.

Update: Another possibility. MHNet posted that someone on Mlive said they heard that Jakiel is leaving. Granted it's Mlive, but it wouldn't be the most shocking thing in the world. With one (shaky) goalie in front of him, Jakiel started one game last year. Seems reasonable that if Hogan is still coming, the playing time would go down to 0 next year. Basically, no one knows at this point. The Wolverine hopes to know more early next week.

In other news, Andrew Ebbett has signed a one-year entry level contract with the Anaheim Ducks. Congrats to Ebby. Hopefully he'll get called up and can cancel out some of the suckiness that Chris Kunitz brings.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hogan, and hunwick are in, jakiel has left school

Anonymous said...

go to the soure and find out from a party involved

colin said...

My first thought was that it would be Jakiel that was leaving, actually. But, honestly, I'm not convinced that Hogan is going to improve our situation at goalie whatsoever. If Jakiel is leaving, all the better for potential recruits next year. I think I'd say the same thing if it's Hogan unless he was just bored.