Thursday, October 11, 2007

Breaking Down the 07-08 Wolverines: Shawn Hunwick

The first of the goalies numerically is #31, freshman Shawn Hunwick.

Last Season: Hunwick played for the Alpena IceDiggers of the NAHL and posted a 17-9-2 record with a 3.06 GAA and a .904 save percentage. He was speaking with schools such as Northern Michigan and Holy Cross before he was injured during a rapid-fire drill. After the injury, the teams he was talking to backed off due to his history of concussions. He was all set to go to Adrian College--a Division III school--until Steve Jakiel left school.

Hunwick also won a state championship with Victory Honda a couple of years ago, and put up outstanding numbers in the process. He's also yet another Wolverine who has previously played for Detroit Honeybaked.

Expectations: I expect him to be the third goalie, but with Hogan's illness and Sauer's problem with not stopping the puck, the goalie position has been listed as wide open. Unfortunately, Shawn came down with an illness before the Blue/White game and didn't get into the Western Ontario game, so he hasn't had a chance to show what he can do in game action.

He'll be the backup until Hogan is well again, but I don't expect him to see a lot of playing time.

It is fair to point out that, despite lesser competition, he did have the best save percentage last year out of all three of our goalies.

Level of Necessity: 3 out of 10.

Probably a higher rating than your typical third-goalie would normally get because there's so much of an unknown at that position. I don't expect him to play, but if the other two falter and he shows something in practice, you never know what can happen.

If nothing else, maybe shooting on a shorter goalie (Hunwick is 5'7") in practice will help them better prepare for Jeff Lerg.

Other Stuff: Jack Johnson had his first career NHL point tonight.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

this really is an amazing blog that you have. Your detailed accounts of the Michigan players have certainly not gone unnoticed in my household as we prepare for the season. Keep up the good work!

Packer487 said...

I appreciate the compliment! Thanks for reading