Jay Cascalenda to UMD 05-06

[gopher10]

Just found out that former Hill-Murray defenseman Jay Cascalenda will be heading to UMD this upcoming season. Article is on the USHL and Indiana Ice website. Congrats to Jay, he is an extremely great athlete with exceptional speed in hockey. <p></p><i></i>

[umd26mn]

Too bad his commitment comes because of the loss (at least for the 05-06 season) of one of the more highly touted incoming freshman Jared Boll. <p></p><i></i>

[Observer85]

How are these two connected? Boll is a forward and Cascalenda is a defenseman. If Boll is ineligible, wouldn't his roster spot be filled by another forward? <p></p><i></i>

[hillhockey]

jay is perfectly capable of playing forward if he has to, but defense is his position, and i dont think he would be switching back and forth between the two positions like he did in high school. <p></p><i></i>

[umd26mn]

Barring multiple injuries, he won't see anytime at defense, so playing forward is likely his best and only option. <p></p><i></i>

[Hillfan]

Congrats to Jay on going to UMD. I have to say it was pretty sweet to watch his skills when he played over at Hill-Murray. He's one of the smoothest and fastest skaters I've watched in High School hockey. Good luck to him and hopefully I'll get to see him play this coming winter. <p></p><i></i>

[hillhockey]

no offense umd26mn, but it seems like you have something against jay... <p></p><i></i>

[umd26mn]

no offense taken.....I don't have anything against Jay as I don't know him personally. I'm just more realistic about the situation. Hopefully, he plays well enough to push some of the regular players, and who knows maybe he'll adjust better to the college game than some of the other freshman and get a bunch of playing time. <p></p><i></i>

[hillhockey]

okay, thanks for the clarification. are you still at umd? maybe youll get to watch some games and tell us how he performs at the college level. <p></p><i></i>

[Hillfan]

I know I'm looking forward to going to the Gopher/UMD meeting to see him. Heck if I could make it up to Duluth or somewhere like Mankato then I'd do that too! <p></p><i></i>

[outdoorrink]

Congratulations to the six Minnesota HS players selected to play in the 5 Nations Tournament in Switzerland, August 13-18.<br>Reid Ellingson, Kent Patterson, Ryan McDonagh, Mike Hoeffel, Jake Johnson, and Patrick White. <p></p><i></i>

[Hillfan]

I'll say that was random for this topic...<br><br>I'll make another for it. <p></p><i></i>

[umd26mn]

I don't and never have attended UMD. I'm from Duluth, but I go to school at UND. I still have season tickets for UMD and return home for about 3/4s of the games.<br><br>As far as Jay goes, the more I think about it the more I think that this is an ideal situation for a guy like him. Really, if you look at the roster, there are only 4 of 6 d-spots I'd say are locked up (Czech, Rosehill, Gawryletz, and Niskanen). While I do believe incoming freshman Jason Garrison and Josh Meyers will be given every opportunity to play, Sandelin does like to give his freshman d-men a night off every 5-7 games to get a different perspective (as he puts it). The one player that may be standing in Jay's way is Jim Jensen who played a year of college hockey before returning to the USHL last season.<br><br>Kind of off topic from Jay, but it also appears that Adam Davis of Lakeville is trying to walk-on at UMD as a forward. Don't know anything about him personally, but definate red-flags raised after he lost/gave up a scholarship to NMU, quit/went home from Sioux City. Anyone with any imput on Adam would be appreciated. Not really interested in the specifics of his situation with NMU or Sioux City, but more about him as a player. <p></p><i></i>