Sample Story

In telling everyone to check out my story in today's Times for Coach Ruskowski's thoughts on recently-signed defenseman Tomas Sample, I forgot about the fact that you have to be a subscriber to view our stories online now.

If you are a subscriber to either the print or online version, you can check the story out here.

If not, you can read Ruskowski's quotes here...


On Sample's style:

"He's very simple, very effective... he doesn't get nervous when he has the puck; he's very calm, cool and collected. I like that a lot, and I'm very excited, very happy to sign him."

On the years off:

I read once that after playing for a certain amount of years, it's actually good to take a year off. There's a lot of wear and tear... hockey is very tough on the body. So now I know his body is in good condition, he just needs to get his mind ready. He's working very hard to get back in playing shape and get the rink rust off."

On Sample's tough side:

"He doesn't take any crap from anybody. He's not going to go looking for it, but he's a very team-oriented guy and will back up his teammates and stand up for himself. Sometimes, it's not whether you win or lose a fight, but just that you show up and let your teammates know you're there to help and protect them. That shows our opponent that if they give anyone on our team trouble, they're going to have to deal with some of our guys. He's willing to stand up for guys... players like that make us more of a team, and that's something we were lacking last year."

On all the young d-men:

"If I can bring in a bunch of young guys with talent, I have no problem with (a lot of rookies). It's not going to be a sprint; it's a marathon. So if we can get stronger as the year goes on, that's what I want."


As you may recall, Sample is the second rookie defenseman to be signed by the Bucks this offseason, following Drew Kivell. The only other d-man signed so far was Cody Hamilton, who will only be in his second professional season.

Obviously, though, this is a league full of young players, and the rookie guys are signing up for a chance to come to training camp, not a locked-down spot on the roster. We'll see what happens.

In other offseason transaction news, former Buck Matt Summers was re-signed by the Mississippi RiverKings today.

You can see the full list of offseason trades and signings on the CHL Web site... which seems to be not working right now. I'll post that link as soon as it is.

And, if you care about NHL free agency, the TSN tracker is one of the best places to follow that. Twitter is also incredibly helpful if you know who to follow... and who to ignore.

Speaking of Twitter, I've been meaning to mention that the CHL has one, as do the Bucks.... oh, and so does the LMT sports department.