Villneauve Gets The Boot; Bears' Bright Future Fading Fast

[sicknasty7722]

I thought this topic needed its own thread.

Confirmed reports that junior Tony Villneauve and senior Ben Desmidt have been kicked out of the White Bear Lake High School Hockey program.

Desmidt is a two year varsity returner, lacking in size but plays very physically and played on White Bear's second line.
Villneauve, which may be a familiar name to many, was on his second year of varsity after a great sophmore season and playing in the Elite League this year.

Apparently, Villneauve, Desmidt, and Lennartson paintballed one of their teammates house, Swanson (Desmidt former line mate), and got caught for it. Earlier this week, all three of them were told they were to sit Saturday's game against Park Cottage Grove because of tardies in school. Now, just Wednesday, they broke into their locker room to get their skates for outside skating. As soon as they were caught, they were told they were off the team.

What does the Bear's future look like with two first and second liners out? Villneuave would've been one of their leading scorers this year had he played in all the games. Where is the scoring going to come from with Tony "the bad boy" Villneauve out? How will they finish off the season? Is there any prospective JV players that would be pulled up to make an impact?

Anyone else think Sager's decision to give them the boot was a little harsh?

[ACTUALFORMERPLAYER]

I thought this topic needed its own thread.

Confirmed reports that junior Tony Villneauve and senior Ben Desmidt have been kicked out of the White Bear Lake High School Hockey program.

Desmidt is a two year varsity returner, lacking in size but plays very physically and played on White Bear's second line.
Villneauve, which may be a familiar name to many, was on his second year of varsity after a great sophmore season and playing in the Elite League this year.

Apparently, Villneauve, Desmidt, and Lennartson paintballed one of their teammates house, Swanson (Desmidt former line mate), and got caught for it. Earlier this week, all three of them were told they were to sit Saturday's game against Park Cottage Grove because of tardies in school. Now, just Wednesday, they broke into their locker room to get their skates for outside skating. As soon as they were caught, they were told they were off the team.

What does the Bear's future look like with two first and second liners out? Villneuave would've been one of their leading scorers this year had he played in all the games. Where is the scoring going to come from with Tony "the bad boy" Villneauve out? How will they finish off the season? Is there any prospective JV players that would be pulled up to make an impact?

Anyone else think Sager's decision to give them the boot was a little harsh?

sicknasty is your last name Swanson?

[rbk101]

I don't really think that that this will affect the team as much as some would think. They team played Duluth East with out the three... and won the game. This years team will have to work harder and work as team. It is just sad when kids make bad decisions like this.

[O-townClown]

Apparently, Villneauve, Desmidt, and Lennartson paintballed one of their teammates house, Swanson (Desmidt former line mate), and got caught for it. Earlier this week, all three of them were told they were to sit Saturday's game against Park Cottage Grove because of tardies in school. Now, just Wednesday, they broke into their locker room to get their skates for outside skating. As soon as they were caught, they were told they were off the team.

1. Minor offense - a HS prank
2. Minor offense - disciplined for it (punishment fit crime)
3. ??? "broke into" but only to take their own skates

There has to be more to the story. Off the team for good?

Too bad these kids aren't playing basketball for Memphis. Until someone is sentenced to lethal injection there's always a chance they'll come back to the Tigers.

If your story is true, fair, and balanced this seems EXTREMELY heavy-handed.

[GR3343]

Not being familiar with the players or their past, I will offer an opinion. Mind you, it's ONLY an opinion. I'm of the belief that if a player is well aware of the rules and consequences of breaking those rules - whatever they may be - then that player is liable for his actions. If a player is a repeat offender, then perhaps he\they got what they deserved. Life for a coach is too short as it is and it shouldn't be made harder by players breaking rules consistently. If the dismissed players were repeat offenders or of questionable character, then I applaude the coach for letting them go. Far too many would keep players just to get the "W". Hats off to a coach who stood his ground.

[HockeyHigh]

But really, the paintballing incident is a little over the top, but if they got kicked off for trying to reclaim their skates to skate outdoors, and did no other harm, assuming the act wasn't attempted to be stopped before they'd done it, I think the punishment is way too heavy in this case. WBL was having a great season so far also.

[Can't Never Tried]

Not being familiar with the players or their past, I will offer an opinion. Mind you, it's ONLY an opinion. I'm of the belief that if a player is well aware of the rules and consequences of breaking those rules - whatever they may be - then that player is liable for his actions. If a player is a repeat offender, then perhaps he\they got what they deserved. Life for a coach is too short as it is and it shouldn't be made harder by players breaking rules consistently. If the dismissed players were repeat offenders or of questionable character, then I applaude the coach for letting them go. Far too many would keep players just to get the "W". Hats off to a coach who stood his ground.

Have to agree here.
And let's not forget that these HS players are role models for their community youth.
Like it or not they are responsible to set an example, and it should be a positive one, if it's not then to bad, they get what they get, and in this case it was the boot (if true).
To have the talent to be at the top of a program like WBL, and piss it away like that is a real shame.
It makes me think of players that have not had to work their tail off to get where they are, but were blessed with natural talent and took it for granted.
I don't know these players either, or even if this story is fact, but I've heard of similar incidents thru the years, so if it's true or not in this case really doesn't matter as much as the point.

[24Boarding]

... And let's not forget that these HS players are role models for their community youth.

I wonder whose prior examples they are modeling? In all fairness, it is a tough age and smart decisions are not always made. That said, there seems to be a trend with this specific program.

[Can't Never Tried]

... And let's not forget that these HS players are expected to be role models for their community youth.

I wonder whose prior examples they are modeling? In all fairness, it is a tough age and smart decisions are not always made. That said, there seems to be a trend with this specific program.

I added what I should have said.
Following poor examples is no excuse IMO.
So it would seem that this is the end of that logic??

[tuffpucker]

I am all for punishments. To kick him off the team is way over the top. If the facts are correct I think a 2 week suspension is more than enough.

[Orange and Black]

Paintballing a house = Dumb, Paintballing a cops house while another cop lives down the street now thats just plain stupid. I don't feel bad for any of these kids.

[wxbxl04]

you'd think paintballing a teammate's house would be considered worse than breaking into the locker room to get their skates

[greenway1969]

It does not surprise me that Villneauve has been dropped from the team. You can bet that he has done other things that have resulted in warning after warning. Don't be so naive to believe that these were the only incidents he has been involved in. The kid is a talented hockey player, but he appears to have a very poor attitude. He consistently took bad penalties. This is a good indication of how undisciplined and unwilling he is to listen to the coaches. He has let the entire team down with his bad behavior. I have a lot of sympathy for his remaining teammates and the coach. Maybe this will help him realize that he needs to change. I hope he does and can return to hockey a better player and person because of it.

[pioneers]

Let's remember something here. Both of these incidents are actually crimes. Vadalism and Burglary are both illegal. Just because you are trying to get at your own property, it is not right to commit a crime to do so. (See O.J. Simpson.) I think the school did the proper thing. It is time to start sending a message that just because you are good at sports is no excuse to be commiting crimes.

[carpenterguy]

Breaking and entering is a crime. There is no defense!

[ChrisK]

In the Moorhead game Villneauve took a dumb penalty in the first period and Sager benched him for the rest of the period. Villneauve took another penalty later in the game and that behavior in a nutshell is probably why he's off the team. At some point a coach has to say enough is enough. Sager has taken criticism on this board for his handling of players in the past who messed up but in this case it seems like he's done the right thing.

And is there something in the WBL water that produces talented but difficult kids? Last year Sager had to deal with Jake Hansen who had the talent to take over a game but could also do things like allegedly swearing at the coaches that left him sitting on the bench for a period as he did in last year's Schwann's Cup. And weren't two other kids kicked off the team two years ago? I would argue that there can be a connection between talent and temperament but it seems like WBL has had more than their share of problems. Maybe the issues are with the way Sager and the WBL staff handle these kids but it could also be that these problems start earlier and Sager, et al, have to deal with the aftermath.

In a backhanded way, Villneauve probably did his team a favor by screwing up so early in the season, they have a lot of time left to figure out how to pick up the slack. And from what I saw of Villneauve he's a good player, I do hope he matures and doesn't throw away that talent.

[wbmd]

I commend Tim Sager for dropping these players from the team.

It shows that he is not going to put up with trouble makers on his team any longer. It should also make future players think twice before doing bad things.

[tomASS]

I have no problem with how the coach decided to act and treat the players in this case.

I understand "yutes" this age are going to make bad decisions, sounds like a constant challenging of the rules to see how far they could be pushed or how much the coach would tolerate.

Not being a paintballer, I'm assuming the ammunition contains water soluble paint? Still is vandalism and would be a pain to get off this time of year.

I know as a parent, I would have taken action before the coach did.

Playing hockey for your community and HS is a privilege and not a right. As stated before, the players should have known what guidelines they were expected to follow.

Actions have consequences

[saintpaulhockey]

villaneuve is a punk. that's all there is to this. he thinks hes better than he is and acts like a star when in reality he is nothing but a little @#%$. He threw some serious racial slurs out last year and wasn't even punished. Throw the moron is jail.

[Dino]

Addition by subtraction for the Bears !

[pistol]

I have a couple of houses you can paintball if you use high quality latex stain.

[BIAFP]

I have a couple of trailer houses you can paintball if you use low quality latex.

cool

[tuffpucker]

I think alot of you have played against TV and are glad he is gone for the reason that you fear his bone crushing hits.

[rbk28]

I think alot of you have played against TV and are glad he is gone for the reason that you fear his bone crushing hits.

yea im shakin in my skates...since he weighs what..150lbs

[rbk28]

well the players mention are really off the roster already

http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/schoolactpag ... school=485