Nearly every person that writes about sports does some sort of Mailbag-type thing every so often, mainly because it is as easy as it is lazy. I was totally jealous so I'm coming up with my own variation called Comment Redux that allows me to respond to some of the stuff in the comments as well as a few other questions that people ask me.
RE: Upcoming postings
Posting has been light lately, because not much has been happening. It should pick up once the season starts, however. Here are a few things coming up soon.
1. The NAHL Showcase/Future Prospect's Tournament starts on Wednesday. Over the past two years, it has evolved from a nice little tournament to a crazy 5-day hockey bender. I'll be there and will try to write as much about it as possible. USA Hockey is also hosting a seminar on the American Hockey Model on Friday that I'll try to get in to and report back on.
2. I'll be doing individual season previews for the 10 WCHA teams. The CCHA doesn't get the same treatment because, frankly, I don't think the interest is there to justify the effort. I'll probably just preview the whole league in one post.
3. I'll be doing the Weekend Preview again this year with new categories.
RE: Ethan Werek
A couple people asked why I didn't bother mentioning that Ethan Werek signed with Kingston of the OHL. The answer is the same reason I never posted anything when he committed to Boston University. He was going to school out east, making my interest only casual. But I certainly wish him the best of luck playing for one of the OHL's worst GMs.
RE: Draft List
People asked some good questions about player left off the draft list. I'll try to give some explanations.
Nick Oliver-Matter of opinion. He's worked hard on his skating and I think he'll look better in the USHL than he did in HS hockey, so he could definitely move up.
Tyler Brown-Another matter of opinion. He didn't play as well in the games I saw him, but I also haven't seen him play a ton.
AJ Treais, Shane Berschbach, Dakota Eveland-All good players, two of whom are already committed to top colleges, but I don't think any of the three have the overwhelming talent to cancel out their lack of size.
Tyler Pitlick, Andrew Yogan-Check back next year.
John Henrion, Chris Kreider, Chris McCarthy-East coasters that I hadn't seen enough to feel comfortable putting on the list.
Barron Smith-Haven't seen him in a couple years. He's always had the size. If he improves his quickness, he'll definitely be picked.
The rest are again a matter of opinion. Everyone's list is going to look different.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
19 comments:
No interest in CCHA?? They continually have great teams, coaches, and players to report on.
M, MSU, ND, Miami, Buckeyes....there is plenty of interest there, don't kid yourself.
http://www.badgerbeat.com/blog/blog/id/305039
a new week, a new UW commit
Matt White in DM is a late 91 dob. 2010 draft.
Just FYI
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dfsxs696_31ghgztbc7&skipauth=true
But I certainly wish him the best of luck playing for one of the OHL's WORST GMs.
we can all agree on at least one thing :)
I read Western College Hockey primarily for news about CCHA teams and recruits. The league has lots of fans. I hate to sound critical, since I love your blog, but is there really too little interest "to justify the effort" of previewing CCHA teams? Or are YOU the one with too little interest?
Keep up the great reporting, but remember the name of your blog, and don't ignore the CCHA.
1st anon, outside of those teams who gives a damn about the rest of the CCHA though? In the WCHA, while only Donald cares about UAA, there is a strong audience for the other 9 teams. So 90% of one league compared to 42% of the other.
Christian Stevens is another 91 DOB that will be drafted this year.He played for Honeybaked and Shattuck until he moved east. He currently plays for the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL. Great site for Minnesota and WCHA news. Thanks.
Anon 10:57, thanks for the draft link. The NCAA and it's feeder leagues had 633 players drafted. That's way more than I thought! Bad news for the CHL fans!
Krupp is another American who will be an NHL draft.
As a CCHA fan I think there is more interest among us across the league, meaning I/we care about everybody in the league as opposed to the rabid, "my team only" approach I've seen from WCHA fans on here. So, while Western and Ferris may be irrelevant to the upper echelons, their fans are interested in what the rest of the CCHA is doing.
Maybe if there was more discussion of the CCHA on here, more CCHA fans would be reading your blog. Just a thought.
Keep up the good work.
Well this is the "Western College Hockey" blog afterall. If I want to find out about what is going on in the CCHA I suppose I'd go to the "Central College Hockey" blog.
The only people who comment on here are Minn, Wisc, St.C, and the occasional Bulldog. Oh, and Chris is interested in the Mankato.
It hasn't been a Western College Hockey blog for sometime, just a top half of the WCHA blog.
I was really looking forward to the CCHA previews again this year, really too bad.
2 out of 4 teams in the frozen four last year from the CCHA...I think people should give more credit to the league than they do
Come on Chris, being a Meeeechigander, you must report on the CCHA! If not, we know where you used to live! (A little south of Ann Arbor!) Great Blog, keep up the good work.
1st anon...
The CCHA continually has great teams and you list the Buckeyes? Seriously? 11th place finish anyone? More like continually disappointing.
Anonymous 9:19pm: Please take note of this blog's title. I like how people get upset with the poster not focusing the majority of his/her attention on other conferences...IDIOT!
Anonymous 10:54am: Please take note of this blog's own description at the top of the page "News and Views on what is happening in both the Central College Hockey Association and Western Collegiate Hockey Association." I like how people can't be bothered to read what is put right in front of them. IDIOT, indeed.
I think what most of you have missed is that WCHA coverage is driving most of the traffic to this site. It seems there are always many more comments about WCHA stories than stories about the CCHA. Or maybe WCHA fans are more vocal I don't know. The person that writes this blog probably has a good reason for the way he covers College Hockey. Given his love of all things Michigan(U), it would seem if the CCHA warranted the attention he would give it to them.
Post a Comment