Sit out the entire season? Seriously? Would his NHL team let him do that? Wouldn't his development totally drop off?
Tuesday night Guy and I spoke with someone who did just that, took a year off and it doesn't seem to be affecting him.
Mike Cichy started scoring early - 67 as a 15 year old with the Boston jr. Bruins, and he continued that while wearing his countries colours in the 2008 World Junior A Challenge in Camrose, Alberta when he was named tournament MVP. He was a rising USHL scoring star after netting 121 points in 115 games with Tri City and Indiana as he entered college and suited up with the North Dakota then Fighting Sioux.
If you fell into a 3 year coma and woke up today, then you'd be shocked to see Cichy have a goal and 3 assists with Western Michigan in the Broncos first four games of the season. So what happened?
As he told us Tuesday night things started great at UND but quickly fizzled to the point where the Montreal Canadiens 2009 7th round pick left the school with just 11 points in 48 games. He made plans to transfer to WMU and suit up for Jeff Blashill, the coach he played his best hockey for. With Blashill Cichy won a USHL title, was named playoff MVP and was well over a point per game.
The appeal of playing for Blashill once again was so great that he made the choice to sit out a season and join the Broncos this year. Unfortunately Jeff Blashill is no longer coaching the Broncos, although he's only about an hour away in Grand Rapids coaching the Red Wings AHL team. Maybe his old coach is giving him some tips, I'm not sure, but he's playing well so far in the young season and not showing any signs of rust from the year long layoff.
You can hear all the details from Cichy himself by clicking here.
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