Left winger Jadran Beljo, announced in April as a top recruit and "the type of quality player and person that the Tommies are looking for," has had a change of heart and will pursue a job in the ECHL next season.Full Daily Gleaner Story
Tommies' coach Mike Eagles said he called Beljo Tuesday night to urge the 22-year-old sniper to consider course selections. That's when Beljo told him he had changed his mind.
ECHL protected list
oh yippie!! (sarcasm)
ReplyDelete~Tommies Video Guy~
ps. This is going to open a huge debate. oh great
Not really a debate, more like...nah nah nah nah nah nah..We Told You SO. This is why you can't announce top recruits early. It's like a fisherman bragging about catching a giant fish before he gets it over the side of the boat. This one wiggled off the hook!!
ReplyDeleteTO MR ANONYMOUS:
ReplyDeleteThis is NOT the time for sarcasm or comments and those of Mr."A" above are just non-productive.
I believe that the recruitment of Beljo was extensive and relentless and did include what should have been a generous offer but "shit" happens in the recruiting game and this has been one of those events,there are more fish in the ocean and "Full Steam" ahead would be my advice......there are many things at work with something like this and these young mens dreams die hard,it could have been worse but there is still time to recruit another of his quality,so hold your naive shots about this event to yourself Mr Anonomyous,it's neither productive or fair to the situation.
STU FAN
In speaking with Mike Eagles yesterday, he said it's happened before...kids they thought they had locked up changed their minds. In announcing early, he was simply trying to appease the fan base and give them some hope that this kid was coming and could be one to build around. The boy was registered in school. He had options, and he picked the other one.
ReplyDeleteIt's happened at UNB too. I went down to the hockey school a couple of years ago to interview a kid named Seth Leonard who was allegedly the second coming of Christ on ice. He changed his mind too. It happens.
There were no mistakes made here. The boy simply changed his mind.
It happens everywhere in the league, I'm sure it will happen to Dal as well as they have announced quite a few recruits early as well. (although not at the calibre of Beljo. And it has happened a ton of times at UNB in the past. Stuff happens, plans change, pro money is offered, players find a girlfriend. The point was directed more at Stu Video guy and the group who have been talking how STU is doing great in the off season and spouting off constantly how they're going to dominate..WE CAN'T MEASURE. Until About Christmas we can't say what teams did a good job in the off season. Until then go to the beach..read a book..have a beer with a UNB friend (they do actually like you) and let the teams decide it on the ice come fall.
ReplyDeleteI would like to wade in with a few comments,coming from an individual who recruited a few for the Tommies in years gone by.
ReplyDeleteRecruiting is an art form and not really a science which can and has many twists and turns and what has just happened with Mike Eagles has also happened to others,including myself.
You sell and advise the prospects as fully as you can and try to anticipate the different choices that will come before these prospects but in the final anayisis the young fellow will make,what he believes to be,the best decision for himself;lets be thankful that he gave FULL advance warning of his decision whilst there is time to go to the next one on the list.
I know personally that Mike and his recruiters have identified and are on the trail of those who will enhance the program.
Not to be too hard on those various contributers,I also know that it stems from a deep loyalty to the Tommies.
Bill Hunt's comments are right on,it has happened elsewhere and before all that one can do is "go to the next one on the list and get him.
It may feel like a dark day in Mudville but ir's always darkest before the dawn and I am sure that there are better days ahead. Amen.
BARRY COLLRIN,Arts 68.
As some of the posts have indicated, recruiting is an imperfect science. Players still harbour hopes of making the big show. You gotta feel for Eagles in that Beljo was a perfect candidate to play CIS hockey: he was coming off an injury that put him out all last season, you had to figure his pro prospects were minimal at best and why not get an education and rehab your hockey future. Trouble is, you get these shady hockey operators who promise the kid: hey, come with us and you'll get to play pro hockey. First sign of trouble, though, or if he's not ready to go, they're just as liable to dump the guy and suddenly, he's got no options. The guy you guestion here is Beljo because he hasn't thought this out. Maybe he's not a good student and the education component wasn't much of a lure in the first place. As for announcing recruits early, there's a lesson to be learned: until they're at camp in September and are registered and in class, there are absolutely no guarantees. Heck, how many times have we seen recruits from one school end up at another school in the same conference. I really believe the CIS would be wise in obligating a recruit to sign a note of commitment, at least to prevent from going to another school.
ReplyDeleteRecruiting for CIS = marketing. The more you have to sell, the better you can be.
ReplyDeleteSTU's trump card used to be the Friends of STU alumni - STU annually brought in top notch OHL players and the Friends of STU played a huge role through their in-kind support.
But that network has disappeared or gone into hiding, and combined with a below average facility, a below average program over the last number of years and a few years of successive below average recruiting crops, STU has a big hole to climb out of.
STU will be fine with or without this guy.We had not even seen him play, he may have turned out not to be as good as everyone thought he was.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion for whatever it is worth[to me worth alot], it is better he leaves now before he starts instead of like Bowers and leaves after a couple of years.
I am sure there is someone else out there.
OIlSlick
to the guy who directed his point as me. I am an optimist by heart and what i saw at the end of last season with the quality recruits we had (with Beljo at the time) why wouldnt I be happy with the direction the team is going. Just because we arent UNB dosent mean we cant be happy with the Tommies. I never said they would dominate the league. And i like drinking with UNB people as well haha.
ReplyDelete~Tommies Video Guy~
who is Barry Cullrin and when did he coach the tommies??the 70's??
ReplyDeleteGood shot at the pros, hope it works out. Hey, who's to say he won't be back in a year or two? Think about it. Andricopoulos went to the ECHL first, and then came here. It's not like it can't happen.
ReplyDeleteThis is a blow to the recruiting so far this year. However, we don't know what else Eagles has coming down the pipe.
To answer the question posed by one of the posts about Barry Collrin, he was the eyes and ears for former STU coach Al MacAdam in Ontario. For the past several years, Barry has made his way around to the various major junior venues in Ontario, talked to hundreds of youngsters about the merits of going the university route, and more specifically, the STU Tommies. He remains a faithful Tommies' supporter and still does some scoring for them. He also is a huge fan of the AUS and how can you not love that. Barry is one of the truly good guys who really cares about the level and is a resource that Mike Eagles and the STU brass would be wise in cultivating once again. He brought his share of talent into the program when MacAdam was at the helm, and still has a loyalty to the Tommies cause. As for coaches in the 70s, seems to me that Bob Mabie did it for a while and then there was a spell in which the Tommies left the conference. Larry Wood was hired as the first fulltime coach in the team's history when they opted back in the AUS. MacAdam took over in the late 80's and carried that through until he got the job in St. John's, Nfld. and the Tommies job went to Derryl Smith.
ReplyDelete