Linkorama

I missed this last week, but Tri-City defenseman Brett Wysopal committed to Colorado College.

Chris Heisenberg's new website lists the newest members of the NTDP program. It looks like BU defensive recruit David Warsofsky, and Merrimack goalie recruit Joe Cannata will be joining the U18 team. The new names on the U17 team that I hadn't previously mentioned are: Beau Schmitz(Ferris State), Drew Shore, Jerry D'Amigo, Ryan Bourque Rich Crowley, Bjorn Krupp, and goalie Brandon Maxwell. There's a couple surprises. First, only one Minnesotan player is on the team. Second, Notre Dame recruit Sam Calabrese isn't on the team, though many thought he would be a superstar a few years ago.

Jon Marthaler tried to Minnesota's hockey coaches throughout history.

Some may think it is strange that schools recruit 14-year-old hockey players, though in many instances, it's way less messed up than recruiting an 18-year-old basketball player.

On a similar note, the NCAA is going to ban text messaging recruits. I don't think this ever became a major trend in college hockey. I honestly can't picture a coach like Jeff Jackson or Red Berenson typing out messages with their thumbs.

Pat Eaves gets hit. No comment. Next question.

Despite not having a head coach at the moment, Alaska has still gotten letters of intent from a couple of their recruits.

I had mentioned Troy Ward as someone who might possibly be interested in applying for the Alaska job, but apparently there are rumors out there that he is applying for the coaching job at New Prague HS in Minnesota. Not only is it high school hockey, New Prague isn't exactly a powerhouse.

Minnesota State signed a second generation Maverick. Also, forward Mike Louwerse will make the jump straight from high school to MSU.

After losing to Russia in their first game, the Team USA U18 team beat up on Germany 9-1, lost to Canada 3-2 in a shootout, and beat Latvia 8-0. The US finished third in their group and will face Slovakia in the semifinals. Justin Vaive and Jordan Schroeder are the two leading US scorers.

Canada finished first that same group and get a bye to the semifinals. Leading the way for the Canadians have been Steve Stamkos, who will be a top pick in the 2008 draft, and Jamie Arniel. Alaska's Dion Knelsen has 2 goals and 2 assists in the tournament. All of his points came in one game, in which he was named Player of the Game.

USA Hockey announced their Men's World Championships team. David Backes was added to the team after his season ended.

TheChicago Showcase kicked off today. In case you were curious how the best high school players in Kentucky and West Virginia would do against Wisconsin's "B" team, the answer is not very well. Wisconsin beat them 13-1 today.