Goalies

[Crosscheck]

Besides Roik who is probably number one, which other goalies are in camp and do they have NLL exjperience?

[stormwarning2002]

Hmmmmmmm, you know Crosscheck that is a good question, I'll have to contact my people and see what is going on. My educated guess is that there are some goalies in camp, but most likely without NLL experience.

[WingsNut423566]

I heard that the Storm, have former Wings backup Andy Piazza in camp.

[Crosscheck]

Didn't Piazza retire. If so, it was a short retirement. Given Roik's habit of getting into the heat of the action when the going gets rough, it will make sense to have a good second goalie on the team.

[Tom Wersderfer]

The only reason Andy Piazza retired was because he was traded to the NY
Saints by the Wings and he only wanted to play for the Wings at the time so
he decided not to play at all.

Maybe his desire to play got stronger and he decided to play for someone other than the Wings.

I'd like to see him return to the nets even if it isn't for the Wings. I enjoyed
seeing him play.

[stormwarning2002]

If its actually true that Piazza is in camp, I would love to see him back up Roik (no offense, but Roik is dynamic) However, in case Roik happens to get into some trouble, Piazza would definately be a great fill in. I have not seen Piazza actually play, but I have heard some good things about Andy, so we'll see what happens.

[Balls]

Piazza is at camp along with Derk General and Matt Wye.

[WingsNut423566]

The only reason Andy Piazza retired was because he was traded to the NY
Saints by the Wings and he only wanted to play for the Wings at the time so
he decided not to play at all.

Tom,

Piazza was NEVER traded by the Wings, he was exposed by the Wings in the expansion draft when the original Columbus Landsharks came into the league and then taken by Columbus in the expansion draft, then traded to New York. Where he sat out last season.

[wamper23]

That is 'Bud' Wye, or Mike not Matt. He played 2001 for the Brooklin Merchants in the OLA Senior B series. Prior to that played for Brooklin Redmen and in 1997 led Whitby Warriors to the Minto Cup and won the McConaghe Medal as most valuable player in the series.

Good luck Bud.

[stormwarning2002]

Hey Wamper, do you think that Bud would be a good fit for NJ? Would he be productive in case my buddy Matt goes overboard? I'm curious to find out more about Bud. Thank you in advance.

[laxdaddio]

In my view, Roik is highly overrated. Not only does he expose his team to penalties when he goes berserk, he also tends to allow his emotions affect his play.

The incident that exposed Roik's character to me occurred when he was suspended by the OLA for 8 games for hitting an opposing player with his mask during a fiight while playing for the Orillia Kings. After that game, as a goaltender, he was leading the OLA Junior A league in penalty minutes! Following his suspension, he jumped ship in the middle of the season, leaving his teammates and the team that had spent a lot of time, effort and money to get him from St. Cathearines and to house him and find him a job in Orillia, to go out west and play for Burnaby.

My two cents - cut Roik loose and go with Wye backed up by Derek General.

[dougm]

why not derek? the man got thrown into the fire when chugger went down a few years back and handled himself admirably. of all the backups that have yet to get a shot, like piazza & miller, nothing wrong with giving derek a shot.

[wamper23]

Sad to say but Bud Wye has left camp and gone down to California so one less Merchant to play in the NLL. I guess Jaret Bilich was cut too.

[torrrock]

Wamper, looks like Columbus picked up Bilich.