The Gopher Puck Blog is saying that a source told him that Minnesota star Phil Kessel will sign with Boston in the next couple of days. The Gopher Blog is usually pretty reliable about this stuff. Like Minnesota's other losses this offseason(excluding Chucko, I guess), this one would qualify as disappointing but not all that surprising.
Last week, I took issue with a release written by the Portland Winterhawks. The writer of that piece responded to me. Once again, the writer goes for the old "better players" myth. Just because a player will be in the NHL two or three years from now, doesn't mean he's a better player now. If you put the 16 and 17 year olds in the CHL up against 21 and 22 year old college players, the older players will win most times regardless of how good the young kids are. That's why guys who can't get ice time in college hockey can go to the CHL and score a point per game like Matt Auffrey and Peder Skinner.
I also thought it was interesting to hear people say on one hand, how dominant Knelson was when he attended the Winterhawks tryout camp, yet say the WHL will have better competition? Will Knelson be that good in the CCHA? My money says no.
Ian Kallay, who left Michigan Tech to pursue a "business opportunity" has applied for the North Dakota job.
Fairbanks added big left wing Cory Rymut from British Columbia to offset the loss of losing three players that failed to qualify for school.
Sarnia confirms the Christian Steingraber signing.
Former Michigan player is out indefinitely with pulmonary embolism. In non-medical terms, Ortmeyer has a blood clot in his lung. The condition shouldn't be life-threatening, but he could be forced to miss a lot of time if he has to be treated with blood thinners, which would cause him to bleed continuosly if cut.
Teams USA are dominating in the Three Nations Cup in Rochester, New York, beating up on international hockey scrubs Germany and Switzerland. Max Cook, who has committed to Miami, is having an impressive tournament. Anoka's John O'Neill scored a hat trick is yesterday's game against Germany.
Lake Superior has had a lot of roster moves lately, and the LSSU Hockey Blog covers them. Matt Wheeler left the team, but he was kind of a goon. Probably the biggest though, is that head coach Jim Roque said that freshmen Matt Martello will play for LSSU and not in the OHL. That's a huge gain for the Lakers, who pick up one of the best offensive talents they've had in years.
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So the writer of those pieces just "assumes" that the OHL is higher caliber than the CCHA? I don't see why that is taken as granted. Is he saying that a good OHL team could beat a good CCHA team? I don't see that happening. Or, to adjust for age, is he saying a good OHL team could beat the better half of a good USHL team combined with the younger half of a good CCHA team? I don't see that happening either.
"Fairbanks added big left wing Cory Rymut from British Columbia to offset the loss of losing three players that failed to qualify for school."
WOW .... He must be big !
have any of you clowns actually seen an OHL or WHL game???? The players may be younger but I tell you what, they are bigger and stronger and just as fast. I am a college hockey fan first and formost, but get your heads out of the sand if you think a CCHA team would handle an OHL team and to suggest that a USHL team would is simply laughable!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dwayne Zinger has also come out of UAF to play 7 whole games in the NHL.
That "writer" sure doesn't write very well. There were lots of typos and poorly written sentences in that "response."
To me, it doesn't really matter who would actually win if you took a major junior team and pit it against a collegiate team. To me, what gets me every time, is the attitude that major junior fans/teams/media have regarding the entire sport of hockey. It's almost as if the NHL is the only level of hockey worth covering on the same page as major juniors. Likewise, the AHL is only in existance because major junior teams have to hold by roster size limitations and age limitations. After all, since NHL scouts only go to major junior games at a pace that they usually go to their own farm teams games, why have the AHL at all if there wasn't that age limitation?
Seriously, the attitude is the worst thing that came out of major juniors.
That being said, I really WOULD enjoy seeing a MJ vs NCAA exhibition game. Like, perhaps a Moncton vs. Boston College, or a Brandon vs. UND or Sault St. Marie vs. Michigan. I don't know who would win, but I bet it would be an interesting game.
I'm not ripping the writer of the piece, especially for something written on a message board. My site has a lot more typos and poorly worded sentences than any superformal writing I'd do. And I appreciate the fact that he took the time to respond to what I wrote.
I'm not saying the CHL is a bad route either. In fact, it might even be the better option for a supertalented 16 year old kid, instead of having to wait two years in juniors to play college. But the assumption that those 16 and 17 year olds are so talented that they were would beat a much older team is incorrect. That's why an older guy like Jeff Kryzakos can't crack a lineup at one of the worst CCHA teams, but can be one of the leading scorers in the OHL.
It's like putting a pretty good college team against the NTDP team. In two or three years, the NTDP team will look like an all-star team, but they struggle against most colleges because they're so much younger.
Its now official Kessels Signs with the Bruins. http://www.bostonbruins.com/default.asp
You don't have to rip the writer, that's what I'm here for. :^)
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