Yuku free message boards

Fri, 16-May-03 2:57 AM

For the old timers.

Jason Cohen posted link to this article in his Hockeyblog.

West Texas news and sports/June 3, 1997
Hockey: Outlaws ``cause a ruckus'' with first draft

By SCHUYLER DIXON
Sports Editor

The Outlaws are at it already.

Shootin' up the Western Professional Hockey League. Shootin' up the Permian Basin.

Just generally causing a ruckus.

The San Angelo Outlaws professional hockey team went about its business just like everybody else for the first three rounds of the inaugural WPHL expansion draft Monday in Phoenix.

But the fourth pick was what everybody was talking about after the draft was over. Actually, they were trying to figure it out.

With their final pick, the Outlaws selected defenseman Jeff Triano of Amarillo, even with the common knowledge that Triano has already signed with Odessa as an assistant coach.

The Outlaws know Triano will never play for them, but they think Triano might play for Odessa while also serving as assistant coach. This way, according to San Angelo director of hockey operations Skeeter Moore, the Outlaws will be in line for compensation if Triano takes the ice.

Call it strategy. Call it a ploy.

Call it the berth of a yet another rivalry for the Concho Valley and the Permian Basin.

``We've gotten a lot of reaction,'' Moore said Monday night. ``A lot of reaction from Odessa; a lot of reaction from other teams. `Why did we do that? What was our reasoning? Why did we waste a pick?'

``It wasn't anything personal. On the rink, we felt like it was a strategic move that might pay off in the end. It was by all means not a personal move toward Odessa.''

The question remains whether Odessa will take it personally. Joe Clark, Odessa's coach and director of operations, could not be reached Monday night.

``I hope not,'' Moore said when asked if Odessa would take it personally. ``There was a lot of reasoning behind it. If they were not concerned with this guy playing, then they should have no problem with us taking him. But if in the back of their mind they were planning on using him as a player, then they're not happy.

``In that case, they were playing a gambling game. They should have taken him with the first pick they had. They were playing a deck of cards in the draft game that nobody would take him, and I feel that we made a smart move.''

For those who think the Outlaws wasted a bullet, Moore says there are plenty more.

``We had nothing to lose,'' Moore said. ``Either we get him or we get another player, which is a dime a dozen.''