Robbie Czarnik Quits Team; Jack Campbell Opts for OHL Instead of U-M

By Sean · Monday, November 23, 2009 · 7:16 PM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

As if this season hasn’t already been rough enough for the hockey program, it got more bad news today in the form of Robbie Czarnik quitting the team and goalie recruit Jack Campbell deciding to sign with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires instead of coming to Michigan.

Czarnik is going to immediately start playing for the Plymouth Whalers, another OHL team.  He is going to stay in school to get his degree, but he is leaving the team because he isn’t happy.

“I wasn’t happy there and want to be happy again,” Czarnik said. “I don’t think I got as much better as I should have.”

While Czarnik didn’t progress as he thought he should have on the ice, he said he was doing well academically.

“I’m going to take spring and summer classes,” he said. “I’m going to finish and get my degree.”

“We could have been 10-2, and I would have had the same feelings,” he said. “It was strictly on how I feel.”

There is no official word on Campbell yet, but between the fact that he did not sign a letter of intent and all of the chatter out there, it is pretty obvious that he is going to sign with the Windsor Spitfires.  This is a huge loss, because Campbell was set to come to Michigan next year and eventually become Michigan’s star goalie.  With the way Bryan Hogan has been playing lately, his arrival couldn’t happen soon enough.  Although goaltending is not the sole reason why Michigan is a 5-7 team, it is a contributing factor.  Even with Hogan’s poor play, though, he is Michigan’s only real option at goalie right now.  Next year he is a senior, and it’s not like Michigan has an exceptionally-talented goalie on the roster waiting to take over, so, uh, crap.

If you are looking for some good news, I will mention that after choking away Friday’s game against lowly Bowling Green, Michigan won 4-1 on Saturday in Toledo.  I made it to Yost for the third period of Friday’s matchup after watching the basketball game, and I immediately regretted the decision of rushing over for the last 20 minutes of action .  Bowling Green scored 3 goals in the first 6 minutes of the period, and that was basically the game.  Michigan was up 2-1 going into the final period, and it ended up losing 4-2.  The Wolverines did put together a late surge and had some decent scoring chances, but more often than not they didn’t even get the puck on the net on those scoring chances.  I’m certainly glad the team got a win on Saturday, because the losing streak was up to 5 games.  With Minnesota and Wisconsin coming to Yost on Friday and Saturday, respectively, it was important for Michigan to head into the College Hockey Showcase on a positive note.

If you are still looking for some more good news, I will point out that while Jack Campbell did not sign his LOI to Michigan, recruits Jacob Fallon, Luke Moffatt, Kevin Clare, Jon Merrill, and Mac Bennett did just that.  Obviously Campbell was the one player out of the class I didn’t want to lose, but thankfully he was the only one of the 2010 commits who didn’t sign.