Linkorama

The Minnesota Daily writes about Jay Barriball, and how he's kind of the anti-Kessel/Vanek, which is weird, because I always thought that the anti-Kessel/Vanek was some kind of superhero. It's a nice story. Even though Barriball was disappointed with the loss on Saturday, you could tell he was glowing because he got to wear the Minnesota uniform and scored a goal in his first game.

The Omaha-World Herlad's Tom Shatel says UNO needs to promote Scott Parse.

The OWH also talks about UNO's goalie situation, and how sophomore goalie Jerad Kaufmann got jumped in Little Canada, Minnesota this summer.

This week's USCHO/CSTV Poll is out. BC edges ahead of Wisconsin due to the Badgers tie, I guess. Minnesota falls to 8, one spot behind Maine, which I guess makes sense. BU, North Dakota, Michigan, and Vermont all got at least one first place vote. Colgate's two losses shook the faith of whoever had them in first place in week one. Whoever voted Anchorage 19th in week one apparently gave up on them as well.

ESPN did a story on the Ten Best Hockey Experiences in North America. A game at The Ralph checks in on the list, as does the Beanpot. I doubt the experience at the Air Canada Centre and Bell Centre is the same as it was at Maple Leaf Garden or the Montreal Forum(sidenote, I went to a game at the Garden once and it was one of the greatest hockey experiences of my life.), but they make the cut on reputation. There's some good stuff on that list though. Maybe I'll do something like that for college hockey one day.

ISS has their most recent addition Top 30 North American Skaters for the 2007 NHL Draft. You can already see the general trend of the draft taking shape, in that there are no WHL players in the top 6, but WHL players make up over a third of the list. The name that interests me most on the list in Jimmy O'Brien at #12. I was pretty impressed with him on Saturday, and I think he'll develop into an outstanding player. But when was the last time a player played college hockey the year before his draft year and his stock actually rose? I'm sure there are examples, but they seem to be few and far between, and with O'Brien at least starting out on what is technically Minnesota's fourth line, though he still sees a pretty regular shift, that could be the case for him as well.