#terry ruskowski

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Terry Ruskowski

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The Mallards have relieved Terry Ruskowski of his duties as coach/GM; asst. coach Phil Axtell named interim coach.

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The Quad City Mallards have relieved Terry Ruskowski of his duties as the team’s head coach and general manager and have named assistant coach Phil Axtell interim head coach, the Mallards announced today.

“We appreciate and thank Terry for the fine work he has done for the Mallards since taking over as head coach and general manager under difficult circumstances four years ago,” said Mallards president Bob McNamara. “Our ownership and our entire organization are committed to bringing another championship to the Quad Cities and we feel this decision, while difficult, was one we needed to make to continue moving in that direction.”

Axtell takes over as interim head coach after serving as a Mallards assistant coach for the last two years. The team will begin its search for a full-time head coach immediately.

A press conference will be held today at 1:00 p.m. in iWireless Center conference room A with McNamara and Axtell.

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Mallards open 2016 training camp

MOLINE, IL - On Wednesday October 5, hockey will return to the iWireless Center. The only session that day will start at 10 AM, and only 20 players are on the roster currently. Of those 20, seven of them are at the Iowa Wild training camp. What that means for the team, I'm not sure. I don't expect all 20 of the faces we'll see on Wednesday to be the same 20 we'll see on Opening Night October 14, but we'll just focus on them for now.

The Mallards either have 12 forwards, six defensemen, and two goalies, or 11 forwards and seven defensemen after the late return of swing player Kyle Follmer after his attempt at a season in Europe. The roster is full of young talent, but that young talent has yet to be tested by a coach as skilled and experienced as Terry Ruskowski. The average age of the Mallards is 24.5 years old (not including Ruskowski or Axtell, of course). Eight of the players on the team are fresh out of the college or juniors ranks; only half of the forwards are experienced.

Why is the roster so thin? Shouldn't there be more players for Coach Ruskowski to cut? You're probably wondering. Not if there'll be lots of players assigned to the Mallards like Ruskowski had said. At the press conference on September 13, Ruskowski said that Iowa would be assigning between three and five forwards to the Mallards; he didn't mention being sent any defensemen, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

Before the Traverse City 2016 Prospects Championship, I tweeted the names of the five forwards I expect to see in a Mallards sweater this season. I'm fairly confident in the names, but I could be wrong about it. Maybe my picks are the obvious ones and I don't have as good a hockey sense as I think I do. But I think before October 14 we'll see Adam Gilmour, Nick Saracino, Parker Bowles, Chase Lang, and Mario Lucia at the iWireless Center. I know, I know, Lang played 11 games in Iowa at the end of last season after finishing his juniors career. Well, Raphael Bussieres played the entirety of the 2013-2014 season with Iowa before being assigned to the Alaska Aces and then the Mallards. (Okay, maybe Bussieres isn't the best example.) But the other four were all sent to Iowa within the first seven days of camp, so they're still a possibility to be assigned to the Mallards. Since Lucia played nine games for Iowa after finishing at Notre Dame, Lang could still be assigned.

In a September 30 article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Michael Russo wrote that Alex Stalock will be Iowa's number one goalie, with Steve Michalek serving as his back-up. He then reported that Adam Vay will be assigned to the Mallards. This creates an odd-man out situation for the Mallards. Does Ruskowski keep rookie Tanner Milliron and let C.J. Motte go to develop Milliron as a franchise goalie rather than a Minnesota system goalie? Does Ruskowski keep Motte since he's currently at the Iowa camp? Will Derek Lalonde ask Ruskowski to keep Motte, the AHL-experienced goalie in the QC incase he needs to be called up as well? I don't know; I'm not privy to those two coaches' minds. While it would be nice to be able to use a spot on the reserve list to keep a third goalie, I doubt Ruskowski would do that. The only other option would be to have Milliron be in Peoria and called up whenever Vay is called up, but Peoria already has two goalies. While I'm sure Peoria has another goalie on speed-dial for when Shannon Szabados gets called to Team Canada practices and such-nots, I doubt it's Milliron.

Even though training camp starts in three days, only thirteen players are available as of this writing. Motte, Andrew Panzarella, Jace Coyle, Sam Warning, Jack Nevins, Chris Francis, and Michael Parks are all in Des Moines. I doubt Lalonde would call up any of the players who are on a Mallards contract before our camp has even begun; Minnesota has yet to finish camp and therefore isn't done assigning players to Iowa yet.

In related news, the Chicago Wolves opened their training camp today, and several familiar names appeared on the roster. Former Mallards forwards Joe Perry, Ryan Tesink, Collin Valcourt, and Zach Pochiro are in Hoffman Estates, as well as former Mallards defenseman Austin Coldwell. Goalie Niklas Lundstrom is also on the roster; he was cut from the Mallards roster before opening night after Iowa assigned Michalek and Brody Hoffman. Last month, I had predicted Coldwell receiving a letter if he returned; since the Missouri Mavericks are now affiliates of the St Louis Blues (the parent team of the Chicago Wolves), I don't see Coldwell returning.

Even though the Mallards have a full roster right now, I think this training camp will see more roster moves than the average camp.

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Poor Defense Costs Game

A different Quad City Mallards team got off the bus in Indy on Saturday than got on the bus in Moline on Friday night. A defense that didn’t play the systems spelled disaster for the Illinois team on Saturday, and nearly cost Friday’s game.

The Mallards beat the Wichita Thunder 4-2 on Friday in a back-and-forth game. After the Mallards took an early lead, the game was tied by Branden Martell. Wichita then took a 2-1 lead. Wichita had been dominating physically for much of the first period, having possession of the puck for long spans even without having the shots on net to back it up. In fact, Wichita scored their second goal of the night on only their fourth shot.

The Mallards then came back strong in the third period to score two goals within ten minutes, one being scored by defenseman Mike Monfredo. A far different Mallards teams was on the ice for the third period that night.

The next night the Mallards lost 5-2 to the Indy Fuel. The two teams now share first place in the Midwest Division with the Cincinnati Cyclones, all three teams having 11 points.

Throughout the game the Mallards defense was out of position, never playing good defense.

“Brutal. Just brutal,” Coach Terry Ruskowski told the Dispatch-Argus. “Our defense should be in front of their forwards. So what did our defense do? We played behind them all night. That's frustrating because that's not how we're supposed to do it.“

There is currently a problem with the Mallards not playing the systems that Coach Ruskowski is teaching. Ruskowski is quoted several times as saying the players need to follow the systems, get to the net for rebound goals, and follow the systems. When Monfredo says, “You want to get those dirty goals in the dirty areas, like Terry stresses all of the time,” it’s obvious that the third-year Mallards coach is not steering the team wrong now.

When the Mallards play the systems, they’re a dominating physical team that does well and scores a lot. But when they forget the systems and play for themselves, no points are earned for the team.

The Mallards are currently 4-1-1-2 with 11 points.

The Mallards next see action at home on 11 November against the Alaska Aces. Puck drop is at 6:35, as all Wednesday home games begin half an hour earlier than Friday or Saturday games.

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#WhoRidesMetro - Quad City Mallards coach Terry Ruskowski does

You and three friends can win free tickets and food to an upcoming Mallards game in three steps.

Take a group selfie

tag three friends

and post it to twitter, facebook, or instagram with #whoridesmetro