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Message: [QUOTE="Powellfan, post: 3818944, member: 4819"] Good points made here. I would push back a little about the move to Savage being late. Prior to the Duke game, Phaup had some very good outings and looked like his old self, minus the Vermont game, but I think most people wrote that off as a bad day. I think thats where the calls for Savage started, but not sure. I don't think anyone quite expected the two most recent performances, and I think Desko and the staff wrote off the Duke game as bad luck with the violations. With no fall ball and no scrimmages, it was always going to be really hard to gauge how well the players were going to do with the new face-off rules, especially since it seems like different reffing crews are calling games differently. I see the desire to redshirt Savage since Desko had no reason to think that Phaup was his guy this year. There are a number of ways the face-off position plays out over the next couple of weeks, here's how I see it - Start Phaup against Albany and a few things could happen: 1) he does well and has a bounce back game but struggles in his higher profile matchups against ACC foes, 2) he does well and regains his confidence, is able to regain his prior form and does okay against the ACC 3) he still can't reclaim his mojo and the move to Savage is an obvious one. I have no idea which of these outcomes is most likely, and it must be hard for Desko, cause he probably doesn't know either. The coaches could decide Savage is the way to go and he needs as many reps as possible. It's really hard to know what you'll get from the freshman. Is it worth risking the Albany game for him to figure things out? Again, maybe Phaup shows he's still lost and you have no choice, but I still think he's the most sure thing out of the options in front of Desko. I have to imagine that if you make the move to Savage, you've lost Phaup for the season, that shot to his confience will be hard to come back from. My suggestion would be to start Phaup against Albany but rotate Savage in maybe every third or fourth face-off. Let Phaup know hes still the guy, but give the freshman some regular draws when the game is on the line. [/QUOTE]

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