It seems Sisca is gone.. change your offseason plans!

[hitek]

Well reports are that Matt Sisca has signed a contract to play in Sweden, or so his agent said in writing (an email) according to Tony Saxon's Blog.

http://guelphmercury.blogs.com/storm/


For me it would seem the lure of a pay cheque has exceed the desire to take a shot at a memorial cup in the case of Matt.
That is not unusual at all, as it seem after spending what I am sure for a 20 year old, is a lifetime in minor hockey
making next to zip, it is nice to get a real pay cheque. But the lure of that pay cheque verses playing a final year in junior
when most look back is a mistake.

Those who could have turned pro, but waited will tell you they are glad they did. Wether that is Gary Roberts, who chose
to stay one more year, came to Guelph as an OA and won a stanely cup, or guys in more recent times, like Brandon Buck
or Mike McLean, both of which could have turned pro, but came back as an OA.

So for Matt, I really wished and not just for me as a fan, but for his development, I wished he had come back and
played one more year. When the storm make a real run at the memorial cup this year, I fear he is going to be looking
across the pond (from Sweden) and thinking, it would have been nice to have given it one more shot.


Oh well, Matt it was awesome to have had you in Guelph. Your arrival immediately turned the face off fortunes
of the team, and team up beside the likes of Beck, you proved you could put the puck in the net if you had
line mates that could get you the puck.

Sad day in Storm land for me, although I wish you nothing but the very best Matt. You can leave
Guelph knowing that for most of us, you gave us everything you had, and it was a joy to watch you play !
We just selfishly would have liked 1 more year !! LOL


Tim

[marcusd777]

Or maybe he hasn't signed anything yet... sounds like some communication issues may be at play, as Sisca says he has an offfer, but hasn't signed, according to the latest update on Saxon's blog.

It would be a great loss to the Storm's hopes for this season, IMO. Especially if Brooks keeps Carroll around instead, and uses him as he did last year.

[Winterstorm]

"I wished he had come back and
played one more year. When the storm make a real run at the memorial cup this year"


Sisca made the right move without question. Why would a 20year old want to stay around and play against 16,17,18 year olds. It doesn't make sense. Besides, who says the Storm will make "a real run at the memorial"? I remember at the beginning of last year on this Forum people saying "storm this and storm that". You thought they were the greatest team on earth and then look what happened. Just got into the playoffs, barely. Again I say this team is going nowhere fast.

[Kaz Kazman]

A serious run at the memorial cup? Not a chance of that happenning though I do think the team will be improved over what it was last year. But to suggest that this team is memorial cup contenders or could be with trades and what-not is absurd. We have no depth down the middle, no depth at the blueline, no depth in goal. Those are all musts if you want to be taken as a team that might have enough to contend. Rumours of Clifford coming over in a trade or Palmeira giving up on school are just that, rumours. We have signed none of our 2010/2011 draft picks as of yet, made no deals to move up in the import draft, enticed no one from previous draft years to report.
We will be better than last year ( hard to be worse ) but with only Latta, Holland, and Beck as proven go to guys and a blue line that scares nobody where does this crazy notion of the Storm being a contender come from. Fron this fan's point of view the team would be better served by keeping all the 2nd round picks that they have accumulated for the next two draft years and do a serious revamp of their team. Draft the players that will report and stop wasting picks on wonder kids that make us wonder why they won't come.
Lastly, look only 20 minutes to the west and you will find a team that has most of its ducks in a row. Kitchener had a great platoff run and served notice for this coming season. Saginaw has signed some players that will help, the Soo should be an improved squad and London and Erie give the Storm fits. Where does that put us is 6th, an improvement over last year.

[Kaz Kazman]

SISCA IS GONE, and that is directly from a team source. When pressed further the reaction is that the decision was not good for the team's aspiration to contend as Sisca was being looked upon as a probable 75 to 85 point producer in his over-age season. That being said, the source felt that had Sisca played to that level it may have put him in a far better situation than the current one that he has accepted. However, all what could have been is now spectulative at best, what is, is a team with only 3 bona-fide goal scorers and a whole lot of players trying to find their way. Time to set new direction, plot a new course, trade 1 or all of big 3 and start all over. (see Peterborough with Spooner, Pumpel, Watson etc) We were not that loaded with older players that this has got to be our year.

[PeterJMoss]

IMO the Storm (and really Brooks) have no choice but to go for it this year. They dont have the players in the system for next year or likely the year after to be a top team... you've got three strong players now... might as well blow your wad and deal like crazy to land some defensemen. I don't think Brooks can keep his job with another year or two of mediocrity... they are better off going crazy this year and then bottoming out next year and landing some top guys in the draft instead of floating around the middle year after year.

[Kaz Kazman]

Blow the wad on this year? Well you need at least 2 defensmen; 2 sure fire forwards that can score; maybe a physical/duke em up player. Now who is going to hand all of that to our team, I mean all the other 19 clubs have got design's on the playoffs if not the mem cup so why does anybody think help is only a trade away. I digress, 5 or 6 trades away. I say stay with largely last years squad plus 1 or 2 picks from '09 and 2 or 3 picks from '10 and see how things play out till Christmas. Than you either go for it from there or you cut bait and trade for tomorrow.

[hitek]

Hi Kaz -

It is up on the swedish teams website, as confirmed on Saxon's blog as well

In terms of a memorial cup contender.. different topic...

Short version, we better be or we miss yet another cycle. I agree on paper right now we have lots of holes, but look at
the ohl team rosters in the west. We have no more holes than anyone. The winner of the west, if Mississauga wins the
east and they should, is in the mem cup. So we are closer than you think. That being said, Sisca gone is a step
back for sure.

[Molson Muscle]

Sisca leaving isn't as much of a step back as most might think. If Brooks is able to expand on the rumoured trade with Barrie bringing in a Burmistrov, I didn't see Sisca having a place on this team. What we miss is the opportunity to use him to bring in other assets which hurts. Brooks will have other chances to fill the loss of Sisca. It is all a matter of what they are willing to do to make this team a contender for the coming season.

[stormchaser]

The loss of Sisca certainly underlines how shortsighted the Saginaw trade turned out to be. Certainly the trade was made with good intentions. However, the Spifires were going to be tough to beat last year. When McCollum was traded the previous spring, Coach/GM jason Brooks outlined that the trade was for building for a later run. I have no difficulty with that and think that this was a good trade. What was given up was a game breaker goaltender who could have helped the Storm win one or two rounds of the playoffs. So the season was unofficially written off for future success. Then in early June 2009 Brooks went and traded half of the gains from the Brampton trade (Josh Shalla, and a second round pick) for Matt Hoyle and Adam Comrie. Well, Josh Shalla had a good year with Saginaw, went undrafted yesterday in the NHL draft and is probably around for two years for the Spirit. A second round draft pick is always a good asset either for your team or for acquiring others. The Hoyle experiment went badly as has been discussed extensively before. Comrie was an up and down defensemen, excelling in the end but now departed for Florida in the pros. So we have nothing to show for next year in the trade and by the way Saginaw finished ahead of the Storm in the standings. Oh, yeah, Guelph finished a spot lower in the standings and won one more game in the playoffs. Not quite the return on the trade that one might have thought.