Minnesota welcomed LW Martin Rucinsky back to the organization in a big, big way this past week. Rucinsky, who played for the Gorillas before moving to Minnesota, has scored 3 goals and added 6 assists in 5 games for the Rink Rats since he was acquired in a trade with the Cats. With their win last night, the Rink Rats are unbeaten in 12 games and remain in 7th place in the conference playoff race. The progress Minnesota has made is truly a rags-to-riches story as they hovered near the bottom of the league standings for the majority of the season heading into the All-Star break. Going into the break, Minnesota was one of the hottest teams in the league and hasn’t looked back.
“We’ve been playing really well and I’m proud of our guys for not giving up”, stated GM Rink Rat. “We’ve made some strong moves which have really helped our club. Adding a guy like Martin adds a lot of depth to our club especially on the offensive side. He plays really well with the puck and it’s nice to have him back and see such a strong effort from our club in the past few weeks. We’ve discussed some names with other clubs and although nothing really solid has transpired we could still make a big splash before the deadline. No matter what happens I like the makeup of our current squad and feel we have a chance to make some things happen in the playoffs”.
When asked how he’d fit into the new Rink Rats’ lineup, Rucinsky smiled and said, “I think everything will be just fine. There are a lot of new faces here since I left, but it’s a good thing. You can tell things have changed a lot since I left and the team seems a lot more focused on winning. I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to push forward and being a quality playoff team.”
The Rink Rats also added Scott Hannan in an exchange that sent a 5th round pick to the Fighting Irish. The move was purely a depth move as Hannan will likely be used sparingly in a defensive role. Minnesota has a tough road ahead of them playing several conference games against teams with winning records. The remainder of the season will truly be a test for Minnesota and likely influence the playoff race.
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