Linkorama

This is kind of cool. Two new national awards will be handed out this year. The first is a Rookie of the Year award, and the second is the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award, named in honor of former Army hockey player Derek Hines, who was killed in combat in Afghanistan. The Rookie of the Year award is a nice idea because it gives college hockey an opportunity to honor some of their top prospects since most don't stay in college long enough to get much consideration for the Hobey Baker award. It's also a classy move to hand out an award named after Derek Hines.

So like minutes after I posted the story on Steve Spinell, Chris Heisenberg also listed that Miami got a commitment from defenseman Chris Wideman for 2008. Wideman is another excellent 1990 born defenseman that is currently playing in the NAHL. USHR said he played a solid all-around game at the Select 16 Festival this summer, and said he was the top defenseman on the Royal Blue team, which won all five of their games. It's another great pick-up for the Redhawks.

DJ Powers profiles Bill Sweatt for Hockey's Future.

The Blog that Yost Built has a classic story about former Ohio State player Scott Titus. My favorite part was the justification:

Classy? Not at all. But next time, don't take a cheapshot at our player, you Buckeye trash.

Nebraska-Omaha's Mike Eickman talks about some of UNO's off-ice traditions, including the team's Kangaroo Court. Apparently goalie Jeremie Dupont got busted for the YouTube videos that I had linked to. And as a note to UNO defenseman Juha Uotila, if you ever need someone to defend you in the Kangaroo Court, I owe you one.

St. Cloud's Dan Kronick gets the inevitable feature article written about him since the Huskies take on his former team, Minnesota-Duluth this weekend.

(These next four links all come via the excellent USHL Blog.

Michigan State recruit Corey Tropp has had a great year so far with Sioux Falls.

Michigan recruit Max Pacioretty is another kid who seems to have had a huge year so far. KTIV is Sioux City made him a Champion, though I have no clue what he's a champion of. There's really not a lot going on in Sioux City. His hometown paper also gave him some love for being rated so high by the Central Scouting Bureau.

Technically Sioux Falls defenseman Jake Bauer is going to Quinnipiac, but he's a Minnesota-born kid, and this is too funny to pass up. It's a pretty animated interview where he gives Omaha the honor of having both the dumbest, and the ugliest fans in the league.

Elk River HS takes on Anoka HS on Fox Sports North tonight for anyone in Minnesota, or with a satellite dish. Elk River has Minnesota recruit Brandon Martell, and defenseman Chris Slavik, who should also be a college player one day. Anoka has talented junior John O'Neill, who should draw considerable college interest.

This is two weeks old, but here's a nice article about Quinnipiac recruit Zach Hansen and Ryan Guentzel, both of Minnesota. The article mentions that Ryan has talked to Notre Dame, Bemidji State, and Minnesota, where his dad coaches.

Former Ohio Stater Nate Guenin will make his NHL debut tonight.

Dan Tormey has returned to the ice, after a nasty collision with Minnesota's Blake Wheeler which cut a tendon on his glove hand.