McKeen's Q&A w/ Craig Smith

Chuck is doing a fine job keeping the blog going while I vacation and 60 takes a break from her whirlwind tour of the Midwest Regional and Frozen Four (good of an excuse as any).

The other day over on USCHO, sagissor posted a McKeen's Q&A w/ 2009 Badger recruit Craig Smith. Definately a great read so take the time and check it out.

I won't cut and paste the whole thing here, it's long. In that same interview, they state the Craig must be in contention of USA Hockey Junior POY, and I think he deserves it. Somehow Andrew Miller was named USHL POY even though his team was far from the playoffs. The last Badger recruit to be named USA Hockey Junior POY was Joe Pavelski, good company should he be so honored.

Craig is an ideal player to jump into the Eaves system, he is a two way player, and wants to be a two way player. Michael Davies and Josh Turnbull should take notes. During the one chance I was able to see him play, I was impressed. He plays in all situations, and uses his body exceptionally well for positioning. I'm not sure how much PK time he'll see. Wisconsin has a pantheon of PK stars: Geoffrion and Street, Bomhbach and Stepan, Grotting and Bendickson, Thurber and Murray, etc. He was a key part of Waterloo's PP though, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him gain some time there. We need a more reliable second PP unit.

All in all, I'm pretty excited about Craig Smith coming in, and our blog should continue to hype him and his "classmates" (Derek Lee, Tyler Barnes, Keegan Meuer, Justin Schultz, John Ramage and Brett Bennett) as the season nears. The off season is never dull w/ recruiting news and soon we can debate the 2009/10 schedule.