Four year Crunch forward, Tanner Richard has left the team to play with the Swiss National team in the hopes of skating with Switzerland in the World Championship. Damien Riat was cut from the team making room for Richard to pursue the opportunity.
[protected-iframe id=”dbb0993af45dab9ad236b16cd6f6a6c7-114320562-46289989″ info=”//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js” class=”instagram-media”]The Swiss native was a solid faceoff man and scored 14 goals and dished out 20 assists this season for the ‘Cuse. He was cited for taking bad penalties and once the group of Tampa Bay forwards returned for the playoffs, he lost ice time. This past weekend he was a healthy scratch for both playoff games in St. Johns.
Syracuse.com quoted Crunch head coach Ben Groulx, “Tanner was not part of our team right now. He was not a regular player for us. He had an opportunity to play for the Swiss team. At one point, you have to do what’s best for your career. I think it’s a great opportunity for him. I support that decision 100 percent.”
Groulx continued, “Would he have had a chance to come back with us (later in the playoffs)? I don’t know. But I think it’s a good decision for him. We have some players here, they pan out. A guy like (Yanni) Gourde started the season on the fourth line and he ended up on the first line. As a coach, you’ve got to be open to those situations. For me, on our depth chart, we have guys in front of (Richard). I really like Tanner. But we have a team to run. And we’re using the guys we feel that are helping us the most. I don’t know if his play slipped. But one thing I know, some guys were just better than him, in my mind.”
(Photos/Christine Gunn)
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