question

is grabner still eligible to play in the WHL next year?

i know he can play for moose next year, but can he also play for Spokane?

Yup he's got one year of eligibity left in the dub. Either dub or AHL for Grabner...

One more year would give him another year to rip it up and give him some confidence. However depending on how ready the Canucks scouting staff and the Moose feel he is for pro hockey he could make the jump now. If he's ready for pro hockey now (which I don't think he is quite yet) then he'll make the jump now. However another year in junior may be the best thing for him.

I didn't say anything about Grabner's potential. All I said was that I think he may not be ready for the AHL. I also said that he may be ready and making the jump to the Moose would be the best thing for him. I've followed Grabner all year and I would not call his season consistent. Sure he went through stretches where he lit it up but he also went through some slumps throughout the year. The decision will be left to the Canucks and the Moose.

I think Grabner is one of those guys that wants to get the NHL as fast as possible which he has stated before in several interviews. And in an offensive role I believe he could have success at the AHL level. However if he's going to be getting third or fourth line minutes with the Moose he would probably be better off playing another year in the dub.

One playoff series determines how good a player is???

Hmm..

BC's Schneider In Frozen Four Focus
by Nick Tarnoff/The Heights/Boston College

(CSTV U-WIRE) CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Solving a standout goaltender is a difficult art to master: It takes precision and a tremendous amount of effort for the opposing team, though his own teammates should have a better idea of how to sneak the puck by him in practice. To the frustration of many of his fellow Eagles, however, this is not the case for Boston College's Cory Schneider.

The BC junior prides himself on being close to perfect in practice and carrying that attitude and skill into games. His teammates struggle to score on him almost as much as opposing teams. But, when the other Eagles beat the first-round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, they make sure that he is well-aware.

"That's the funny thing; whenever we score on Cory, we're always celebrating and stuff, because he doesn't let in a lot in practice," joked teammate and close friend Mike Brennan.

Schneider responded: "All the guys let me know when they score on me. They don't let me get off the hook ever. It's very competitive. It's a fun little rivalry, but we all push each other."

It's not by accident that Schneider has become one of the elite goalies in college hockey. He works tirelessly to perfect his game, and makes himself not only a better hockey player, but a better athlete every day. And that is something that his teammates notice and respect in him.

"As a player, every day in practice, he comes to get better. He's focused. He's always taking extra shots, he works out after practice. He wants to be a player; he wants to be an athlete," Brennan said about Schneider's work ethic.

Schneider has a bright future, as he continues to progress and develop as a player, but he often opts to focus on the present — and the present is a good place to be right now, as the Eagles embark on their second consecutive trip to the Frozen Four in search of BC's third national championship.

Over the past three seasons, the junior has developed a penchant for coming up big when the team needs him the most: in the big games when the spotlight is shining the brightest. Schneider has played some of the best hockey of his Eagles career over the past six weeks, backstopping the squad to the nation's longest winning streak, which is now at 12 and counting. In that stretch, the junior goalie has posted a 1.60 goals-against average and .946 save percentage, collecting three shutouts in the process. He is making tough saves almost look routine and has certainly returned to the form that made him an All-American during the 2005-2006 campaign.

Schneider came to BC as a highly touted recruit, but his emergence on the Eagles squad came while sharing the spotlight. He spent his freshman year splitting time with since-graduated goalie Matti Kaltianen and adjusting to the change in tempo of the college game, a move he feels has helped in the long run.

"Coach kind of eased me into it. He didn't throw me against UNH and Maine the first few games," Schneider said. "Matti was there to kind of take those games and coach could put me in where he wanted to and kind of get in a nice rotation where they weren't counting on me every single night. I think that helps a lot as a freshman. It lets you get your feet wet and get used to the college game, and I think Matti really helped take a lot of pressure off my shoulders."

But late in the season, coach Jerry York decided to ride the young freshman in the playoffs and into the national tournament.

Schneider has proven that he can play at the highest level — and win at the highest level — having backstopped not only BC to Hockey East titles, but the U.S. under-18 national team to a gold medal in the 2003 world junior championships.

Schneider, though, struggled in his first run through the NCAAs freshman year, but felt that that experience helped him.

"I kind of got some exposure to it my freshman year in the Hockey East and the NCAA's and I think that helped a lot because I struggled a bit in the tournament my freshman year. When it's a big game, it's easy to get up for it, easy to get focused. You're nervous for a little bit, but once you see a few shots, you settle down. I think that the excitement and anticipation makes you more ready to go," he said.

Now, Brennan says, "He's a big-game goalie without a doubt. He comes up big whenever we need him in a huge, huge game, as you can see by this playoff run that we've had. I think it's his focus, his focus before games, during practice, he's always trying to get better."

Schneider and the Eagles battled through a rough stretch in the early portion of the season, dropping in the national polls from No. 1 to as low as No. 15. This year, BC has at times seemed in jeopardy of not making the NCAA Tournament, and part of the Eagle's struggles were between the pipes. On Oct. 20, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish came to Conte Forum and smoked the Eagles, 7-1. Schneider had one of his toughest outings of his career — though BC was able to recover, they couldn't gain any momentum or put together a winning streak longer than three games.

Inconsistency continued to plague the Eagles throughout the season, but when the Beanpot rolled around, the whole season turned for Jerry York's squad. Cory's early-season struggles, said York, could have stemmed from his previous success.

"I think we expect an awful lot of him," he said. "Our expectation is that he'd stop every single puck. I think he got into that framework during the year that, 'hey Coach, I have to be perfect, 1.000 percent save percentage, I'm a returning All-American.' He put a lot of pressure on himself."

York, who leads all active coaches in victories, explained how he helped his netminder, saying, "I just talked to him and told him to be athletic, relax a little bit Cory. It's almost like the golfer on the first tee, you're expecting him to hit it right down the middle all the time — and hey, Tiger doesn't hit it down the middle all the time."

"The whole year, the team was inconsistent in the first three quarters of the season," Schneider said. "But I think once they started playing well, I started playing well too. They started playing a little tighter D, and I started taking care of my own business. This streak here at the end has been huge, just to get back to where I know I can play and where I should have been playing the whole year."

And Schneider has been at the forefront of the turnaround. He has been lights-out recently and is certainly ready to carry the Eagles to a national title, the school's first since 2001. It is hardly surprising that Schneider's play has elevated at the same time as that of the entire squad. When he is at the top of his game, the rest of the team is able to play with the confidence that he will stop everything, and thus it allows the rest of the squad to take more chances and play in a more relaxed frame of mind.

"Having him back there gives you a lot of confidence," Brennan said. "But, at the same time, you can't get stuck in a complacent state of mind, which you can because he's so good and he's always back there when you need him and he comes up big for us."

And his teammates and the Eagles faithful hope that Schneider can come up big in the next two games.

"This year we're not just satisfied to be in the Frozen Four; we want more than that, so I think that's going to be a big driving force," Schneider said about the team's goal. "We want to finish out what we started here. For right now, I'm just focused on winning these two games."

breeze: Does all the QMJHL playoff teams have something like that going on? Or Cape Breton just wanted something fun to do?

grabner didnt prove that he is a first rounder at all.bad pick nonis

good excuse bud.but he should be smart and good enough,to find a way,how to break this wall,and score goal,and be outstanding,like u guys always talking about him.like i mean,he is not a good stickhandler at all,all he can is skate and shoot the puck.he is not at all a stickhandler,compare to simek and shirokov.and he is not a physical player,he cant stand up for himself,simek can,he showed that this year,that he can score,he can give passes for a scoring chance,can hit,can skate, and he has a plus,that he played pro back home,so he will do better then grabner in AHL in my opinion.

This may have been asked before, but I am curious if Grabner can join the Canucks or one of our affiliates now that his team has been bounced from the playoffs. With unlimited roster space in the playoffs I think (if we could) he should be brought up to be with the team and kind of get a feel of what the playoffs and what being a pro is all about. As for him playing a game in the playoffs that is obviously far-fetched but I wonder if he can be called up at all

Grabner can play for the Canucks yes, it wont happen though. If he began playing for the Moose, and he was called up we couldnt call up anyone else though, we only have 1 call-up left.

If he opts for pro this year, i think hell go to Victoria, the Moose roster is getting crowded, and the S-Kings sure as hell could use him, they actually have some good ECHL'ers he could play with as well, including a great ECHL set-up guy in F-P Guenette

Grabner can play for the Canucks yes, it wont happen though. If he began playing for the Moose, and he was called up we couldnt call up anyone else though, we only have 1 call-up left.

If he opts for pro this year, i think hell go to Victoria, the Moose roster is getting crowded, and the S-Kings sure as hell could use him, they actually have some good ECHL'ers he could play with as well, including a great ECHL set-up guy in F-P Guenette

Shirokov's great playoff-run over

Sergei Shirokov is the next of the European Canuck draftees whose team has been eliminated from the playoffs. Shirokov’s team, CSKA, lost the semifinal series vs. Kazan by 1-3 games after losing Game 4 yesterday evening, 1-2.

Shirokov certainly was not to blame as he collected a point in each of the four games and finished the series with two goals and two assists.

The speedy winger picked up at least one point in nine of CSKA’s twelve postseason contests and accumulated four goals and seven assists along with four PIM.
Besides two multiple-point games in a first round sweep over Togliatti, Shirokov put together a three-game point streak in the second round vs. Ufa and followed that up by a four-game point streak in the semifinal against Kazan.

good excuse bud.but he should be smart and good enough,to find a way,how to break this wall,and score goal,and be outstanding,like u guys always talking about him.like i mean,he is not a good stickhandler at all,all he can is skate and shoot the puck.he is not at all a stickhandler,compare to simek and shirokov.and he is not a physical player,he cant stand up for himself,simek can,he showed that this year,that he can score,he can give passes for a scoring chance,can hit,can skate, and he has a plus,that he played pro back home,so he will do better then grabner in AHL in my opinion.

First post on the new system....

I'm confused by it.

When does that start?

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/AHL/2007/...906137-sun.html

OMAHA, Neb. -- With goals being hard to come by lately, Scott Arniel continues to tinker with his lines in an effort to find balance.

Although the head coach of the Manitoba Moose reserved the right to change things again before tomorrow's game against the Omaha Knights, Arniel shuffled each of his units for practice.

Brad Moran was skating alongside Jason Jaffray and Jannik Hansen, Nathan Smith was between Lee Goren and Jesse Schultz, Marc Chouinard centred Brandon Reid and Mason Raymond and J.J. Hunter found himself with Mike Brown and captain Mike Keane.

A fifth unit featured Colby Genoway, who is nursing a minor knee injury, with Brendan Brooks and defenceman Patrick Coulombe.

"I don't want to be a one-line hockey team, where we can get shut down," said Arniel. "I want to see some different combinations, most times when you go deep in the playoffs you have to use different people in different situations. I wanted to mix the lines up a little bit. We'll get back to things here after this road trip."

Hiroshima doesn't know sh*t.

Grabner can dish out the hits.

Nice to see Hansen is still gonna get top-line minutes even though Moran got re-united with Jaff.

Oh he knows S*it, just looks at how much of the stuff he spews . . . .
I have not been following prospect very closely up until the start of this year and I am wondering if you think Hansen has any chance of making the Canucks next year, or does he still need another year of condition in the AHL.

GRABNER, RAHIMI COMING SOON: Forward Michael Grabner, the Vancouver Canucks first round selection (14th overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, and Swedish defenceman Daniel Rahimi, the Canucks' third rounder (82nd overall) in 2006, are expected to join the Moose next week.

Grabner, who had 39 goals and 55 points in 55 games with the Chiefs this season, managed only one assist in six post-season games but is known for his offensive upside.

Rahimi, who played for Bjorkloven in Sweden, is more of a stay-at-home defenceman that can play a physical game.

Both players need to sign amateur tryout offers before they report to Manitoba.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/Sports/Hockey/2...914661-sun.html

As for the Frozen Four...

Moose general manager Craig Heisinger plans to take in the action live and will be keeping a close eye on Boston College goalie Cory Schneider, the Canucks first round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Toxic follows alot closer than I do but, from what I'm gathering, Scott Arniel has been grooming Hansen as a third line two-way threat. He says, as posted by itzabreeze (I think), Hansen possesses fantastic speed, good open ice vision and the ability to "push teams back" due to that speed. Hansen almost made the team this year, as he was the final cut, and he had great chemistry on a line with Kesler and Burrows. He was sent down because we wanted him to get top-end minutes in order to develop in the North American pro game. We didn't want him getting fourth line NHL minutes. Hansen has played most of the year on a line with Mike Keane, a prototypical third liner with vast NHL experience, in order to learn the defensive side of the pro game and has been elevated to the top line after taking Arniel's scratching in stride and learning from it. I'd say his play in the playoffs will go a long way towards finding out if he's NHL ready for next year. My guess is yes, at some point during '07-'08 but, for what it's worth, I'm only going on others' info and a couple Moose games I've seen so take it with a grain of salt.

Looks like Vincent is getting closer to be a bust for the Nucks. He was released by Victoria and if Schneider turns pro after the Frozen Four the log jam ahead of him is thick
http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?ac...=1&id=10645

It already is a log jam, thats why i think hes been realeasd

Mac dogg with the moose and ellis for the fish.. they both have been playing too unreal to give vincent a turn

hes been more or less injured throughout the year.. i think he was put on IR

he had a really bad year.. all in all, i wouldn't be suprised if his career was over

although he still does have tonnes of potential...

anyone think that we could trade him at all?

edit: i'm not quite sure, but i think grabner had 1 assist during the entire series.. albiet the tips just suffocated him from what i heard

This thread is getting kinda dry the past week or so.