More on Pelletier

I'm sure you don't need me to remind you how well recently re-signed goaltender Pier-Olivier Pelletier closed out his rookie season with the Bucks, but I'll give you a brief refresher anyway.

After going 0-4-1 in his first five starts with the Bucks, Pelletier did not endure a single regulation loss in the 12 games he played during the rest of the regular season.

In that span, he went 9-0-2 with one no-decision and improved his goals-against average to 2.88 while boosting his save percentage to .915.

During the playoffs, he started all seven of the Bucks' games, again posting a GAA of 2.88 while boasting an even more impressive save percentage of .920.

All three games that the Bucks won during their series against the Allen Americans were games in which Pelletier faced 35 or more shots.

These factors all played a part in Coach Ruskowski's decision to make Pelletier only the third goalie to re-sign with the Bucks in franchise history (joining 2003-04 CHL Rookie of the Year David Guerrera and Michael Dilorenzo).

Here's what Ruskowksi had to say about the signing:

"He started off without much game experience, and the team wasn’t playing very well in front of him. But when he got more chances to play, he made good of the opportunity and played very well. The more ice time he got, the better he played, and we relied on him a lot there at the end of the season and in the playoffs. We were depending on him, and he did a terrific job. He was a rock for us.

"Knowing how he played for us last season, I wanted to bring him back and go into recruiting knowing I have a good, solid goalie in the stables. If I can find another good goalie, I’ll have two, but now I’m looking for the best young kids I can find, and I wanted to know I had a goalie I can depend on already signed.

“I want to bring in another good goalie. Sometimes if a goalie thinks he has that No. 1 spot, he won’t work as hard, especially with the mental preparation. I don’t think we’ll have that problem with Pelly, but he could still use that challenge to keep driving him. It’s good for my confidence, too, knowing that I have someone else if anyone gets hurt. But if he plays the way he was playing for us, I don’t care if he’s a rookie or a veteran; I’ll ride him as long as I can."

Pelletier will be neither a rookie nor a veteran as he enters his second season of professional play, but he will enter this season knowing that being the No. 1 goalie is in his reach if he continues to play the way he did at the end of his first campaign.

You can read a bit more about the signing in my story that will run in tomorrow's paper, and I could not link the press release about the signing earlier, but you can read that here.

Bryan Benway also blogged about Pelletier's return.

On a slightly different - but related - note, Ruskowski said he is pursuing "three, maybe four" players who were Corpus Christi IceRays last season.

As expected, he didn't name names, though he did mention that he was interested in forward Ryan Garbutt before Garbutt had his rights traded to the Americans. Ruskowski also noted Garbutt is expected to pursue playing in the ECHL rather than in Allen.

Of the players who were on that team last season, who would you most like to see in a Bucks jersey when the 2009-10 campaign begins?

Ruskowski is obviously looking at talent level, but he also wants players who fit into his system; who do you think would meet those standards?

I'll continue to ask Ruskowski about that, and his other recruiting, as time passes, but for now, Pelletier is obviously the only signing the team is willing to confirm.