Scanlon Signing

I just spoke to Coach Ruskowski about the signing of rookie defenseman Derek Scanlon, and, as expected, the fact that the kid was coached by former Bucks captain Brent Cullaton last season definitely didn't hurt his chances of signing with the team.

Ruskowski says he likes what he's heard about Scanlon, likes what he saw from him when he got to see him skate and likes his attitude and what he's pushed himself to accomplish over the summer.

Scanlon was an all-star in the Western States Hockey League last season and put up some impressive stats while serving as an alternate captain for the Boulder Jr. Bison.

As we know because of Cullaton's delay in reporting to the Bucks for the playoffs, the Jr. Bison did very well in their inaugural season, and Scanlon was a big part of that success.

Scanlon scored 18 goals - not bad for a defenseman - and had a team-leading 38 assists for 56 points on the season while accruing 132 penalty minutes.

The WSHL posted a little brief about Scanlon's signing, and though it has yet to be mentioned on the Jr. Bison website, I imagine it will be eventually.

You'll be able to read more about Scanlon, and Ruskowski's thoughts on him, in my story in tomorrow's paper.

On another note, I asked Ruskowski if he could talk about whether or not he had been after Justin Quenneville now that the forward has retired to become the assistant coach of the Northern American Hockey League's Corpus Christi IceRays, and he said that question will have to be answered at a later date because the Central Hockey League had asked coaches and general managers not to talk to former CHL IceRays players until everything about their free agency was finalized.

Speaking of the Quenneville retirement, sorry I didn't mention it sooner, but you can read more about that in several posts on Greg Rajan's blog and in his story for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.