Saturday morning in Oregon the members of Team Wisconsin assembled for a weekend of practice preparing for next weekend's Minnesota NIT. I had the chance to talk to the coaches about the squad that was assembled. The coaching staff preached the team to attack in the offensive zone.

"Attack, attack, attack," coach Eric Fenton said to the guys.

Another point that was made was to talk on the ice, especially in communicating on who is going to the net. In the little time before the Showcase, this has proven to be crucial to success.

Head Coach Tim Ebner and I talked about a few things today:

Usually TW plays Team Illinois in a scrimmage, but TI is in Pittsburgh this week playing in the tournament that was formerly known as the Chicago Showcase. So the Oregon Outlaws, who play their home games in the Oregon rink, would be the scrimmage opponent.

Before the Showcase the team will have a practice at Plymouth Ice in Plymouth, MN on Wednesday. With Easter being early, TW was limited in its practice chances so the scrimmage would be crucial to see where this team is at.

One of the things that seems to be concerning is the number of kids who do not go out for TW. But on the flipside there's more kids from different places on this squad. "The evaluators had to make some real hard choices," said Ebner.

In talking to the players, one of the subjects that came up was the requirement to wear ear flaps in Minnesota. Some players say the flaps affect hearing, get sticky, or are confining. Other players say they wear them but leave them in because they prove to be difficult to put in.

The Outlaws scrimmage proved to be a good showing by TW in a 9-3 win. Brady Burzynski led in scoring with a hat trick, while Jesse Tredinnick and Logan Murphy each notched two goals. Alex Shuchuck and Alec Vanko each tallied once.

The TW goalies played at both ends in this game, with Ebner wanting both netminders to see maximum action before they strap the pads on for real next week in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. 

Players will vote for their choice of captains next Wednesday. 

The Outlaws had two former TW players on their roster in Nik Haley from Sun Prairie and Mike Jacobson  from Janesville. Jacobson said that it was a great experience to play for TW in the old Chicago Showcase. While he didn't move on to the 'next level,' some of his teammates on that squad did. 2006 Player of the Year Derrick LaPoint went on to play at North Dakota and had a solid season for Reading in the ECHL before being promoted to the AHL at the end of the year.

"To play with guys who made it that far and being able to play at that level with them was pretty special," said Jacobson.