Bye Bye Patrick Wiercioch

Yesterday, Gandalf posted that Patrick Wiercioch was on the Hot List again. Today, Patrick Wiercioch signed a LOI with Denver. Oops.

As you know, David Carle's hockey career is over due to a congenital heart disease, and therefore Denver has an opening on it's roster. Apparently, Wiercioch saw an opportunity and went for it. Based on the article, it sounds like Wiercioch wanted to start his college career this year rather than next year, and he would have had to wait 'til next year to play for the Badgers. It also sounds like he expects Denver to be able to offer more ice-time. Which may or may not be the case -- you can argue that Wisconsin's blue-line is deep and that the competition for ice-time will be tough, but you can also argue that Wisconsin would be unlikely to sit Wiercioch very much. (I don't think Wisconsin wants a repeat of the Nigel Williams situation, and heck, if the didn't sit Brendan Smith last year before he got injured, I can't imagine they'd sit Wiercioch even if he struggled.)

I'm not hugely surprised that Wiercioch has gone to Denver. IIRC, Denver recruited him pretty heavily. I'm disappointed that he backed out of his verbal commitment, but I suppose the draw of playing a large role in Denver starting this year was just to much. And, with all the discussion among WCHA coaches about their "gentleman's agreement", I do wonder who initiated contact at this time -- Gwoz, or Wiercioch?

Props to DPlaya (who apparently wants to erase all record of Wiercioch from his blog) on HIW for breaking the story.