Western College Hockey

Big News About Big Changes

2009-01-23T05:30:00.000-06:00

Today marks a pretty huge change in this website.

Last October, the company SportsBlogs Inc., creators of the blogging network SB Nation got a pretty nice chunk of investment money from a venture capital firm to try and expand their sports blogging network. One of the areas SB Nation has tried to jump into is hockey, and more specifically, college hockey.

I was offered the chance to move my blog to SB Nation last December and decided to accept. So from now on, WCH can be found at http://www.westerncollegehockeyblog.com/

Why make this move? I have received several different blogging offers of varying quality over the years and have been reluctant to change how I do things. But there were a couple different reasons I decided to make this move.

1. I get to maintain complete editorial control. This was my first question when I was approached about signing on. This is always been a hobby for me, and if it ever stopped being fun, I'm not sure how much longer it would last, so it's best that I keep writing what I enjoy. So basically, the content is going to be the exact same as it is here(except I'll probably start posting nothing but funny YouTube videos and embarrassing pictures of celebrities. Super sorry.) It's still going to be the WCHA, CCHA, recruiting, HS hockey, USA hockey, whatever I feel like. So from that aspect, nothing is really changing.

2. A more interactive community for readers. This is actually something I've wanted for some time, but never had the technical acumen to pull off. Most newspapers in the country are in serious financial trouble at least in some part because they've failed at making the transition to the internet. The thing they've missed, at least in my mind, is that the internet was practically built on people being able to interact with one another. The problem with the comments section on most blogs or newspaper articles is that they get so cluttered with noise that there's little room for quality discussion. SB Nation has some tremendous opportunities for user-generated content that I outlined in the new blog's first post that should make this blog even better.

3. It's good exposure for college hockey. Even in the occasional emails I get from hockey people telling me what an a-hole I am, most are at least polite enough to thrown in a "While I appreciate what you do to promote college hockey..." before it. Being part of such a major network allows a different set of people to experience and learn about college hockey, who might not have otherwise, especially since there are many NHL blogs and blogs for other major college sports.

4. They have a pretty nice support staff with people that understand more about computers than I could hope to know. So now WCH will have, like, a logo, and a nice site design, and some colors that aren't a hideous shade of orange.

So overall, I feel like there are a ton of benefits to this move, and no real downsides. I'm pretty excited about it, and hope that the people who frequented this site will enjoy the new site even more.

Once again, you can find the new site at http://www.westerncollegehockeyblog.com/

New Commits

2009-01-20T18:01:00.002-06:00

UAA picked up a commitment from BCHL forward Chris Crowell.

AJHL forward Carter Rowney committed to North Dakota after visiting during North Dakota's series against Minnesota.

UNO Isn't Moving

2009-01-17T00:40:00.002-06:00

Nebraska-Omaha head coach Mike Kemp spoke Alaska's hockey luncheon this afternoon, and had some interesting things to say about some future conference realignment.

Incidentally, the Mavericks lost 2-0 to Alaska tonight, and had to wear Fairbanks Ice Dogs jerseys, because United Airways lost their jerseys while rerouting the Mavericks a couple times turning their trip to Fairbanks into a 24-hour journey.

Anyway, Kemp said that Nebraska-Omaha had been approached by the WCHA about the possibility of applying to join the conference, but made it pretty clear that UNO had no interest in switching conferences.

One of the big reasons why is that even though the WCHA may have more traditional hockey powers, Nebraska is football territory and names like Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State are going to resonate more with local fans than a school like Denver or North Dakota. Even MAC schools like Western Michigan, Miami, and Bowling Green carry more cachet than some of the D-II football schools in Minnesota.

Kemp did mention the advantage of being able to bus to most games in the WCHA--and I'm sure avoiding the air looked especially tempting after the fiasco getting up to Fairbanks--but also said that the CCHA has been good to UNO, and they have no interest in moving.

So UNO is out in terms of a 12th WCHA team, but Kemp did mention, however, that Northern Michigan has been approached by the WCHA about potentially joining the conference as well. Would they be interested? I'm not sure.

Still, it probably has to be considered a good sign for Bemidji State that the WCHA is at least looking to add a 12th team. Twelve teams would help out with scheduling a little bit, because it would allow the league to use a "cluster" format like the CCHA has the past couple of years. Scheduling with 11 teams would still be workable though. In any case, things this summer could be very interesting as some major changes could be coming.

Step 1 for Bemidji

2009-01-15T16:15:00.002-06:00

The ten teams in the WCHA today voted to lift the WCHA's moratorium on league expansion.

This was the first step towards getting Bemidji State out of the dying CHA and into the WCHA. Now that the expansion moratorium has been lifted, teams can apply for conference membership until March 31st of this year, and a final vote will take place during this spring at the conference coaches' meeting.

The Bemidji Pioneer ran an editorial on BSU's credentials.

Linkorama

2009-01-14T19:59:00.003-06:00

Don Lucia doesn't have cancer, which is certainly good news.

A feature on Bowling Green's Dan Sexton. Sexton had actually committed to a school out east before decommitting and taking his chances at getting another offer, and eventually got one he liked from BG.

Former St. Cloud State forward George Awada is a hockey star in Ireland. There's a lot of interesting stuff in there about hockey culture in Ireland.

The OHL is instituting an automatic one-game suspension for playersthat remove their helmet prior to fights. Clearly no such rule exists in the WCHA.

Brandon Burlon looks poised for a big second half for Michigan.

Who would have guessed that getting swept by a weak Northern Michigan team would have negative consequences. It would be a funny coincidence if Northern Michigan kept Wisconsin out of the NCAA tournament this year, given that it was a weird comparison between Minnesota State and Northern Michigan somehow won by NMU that put Wisconsin into the NCAA tournament last year.

New Commits

2009-01-14T19:10:00.003-06:00

The next stop on the Mike Dorr WCHA Tour will be Minnesota State.

Jacob Cepis decided on Minnesota after also taking a visit to Boston University.

North Dakota picked up commitments from AJHL forward Corbin Knight and Winnipeg Midget forward Brendan O'Donnell.

Bad Call 2: Electric Siouxgaloo

2009-01-12T19:03:00.005-06:00

Or...Dude, where's Zach Jones' suspension?

Eleven months ago, some North Dakota player dropped his gloves and got into a fight with a guy from Denver. Referee Marco Hunt gave said North Dakota player a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct.

Later that week, WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod decided Hunt "under-called" the fight and gave suspensions to the players.

That brings us to Saturday night. Same team. Same official. Zach Jones clearly drops his gloves and takes off his helmet with the intention of fighting Tony Lucia. The referee's intervene before Jones can reach his target(something the referees were reprimanded for not doing last year in another, different North Dakota fight, BTW), but it's pretty clear that Jones wasn't trying to shake Lucia's hand.

And for that, Jones received a two-minute minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. Incidentally, that marked the fourth time in Jones' career that he got two minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct rather than getting tossed for fighting. But the question is: why? If you're going to give a guy a penalty for whatever he intends to do after he drops his gloves and takes off his helmet--and then wrestles with the officials to break away, but that's a different discussion--how can you give him anything other than a fighting major?

Last time, that mistake got corrected. This one probably should be too.

CSB Mid-Term Rankings

2009-01-12T15:06:00.002-06:00

NHL Central Scouting released their mid-term rankings, which is the first list they put out that ranks each North American player.

You can view the list for North American skaters here, and North American goalies here.

As always, some very interesting choices from the NHL CSB, but overall, they seem to like the American players this year, especially as you move down the list, you start to see a lot of American players eligible last season that weren't selected.

Vote for Hobey

2009-01-11T23:52:00.003-06:00

The online fan vote for the Hobey Baker Award began last week without a lot of fanfare. The past few years, the fan vote has been plagued by automated voting giving certain players a bazillion votes. This year, the Hobey committee offers this stern warning:

"Automated or programmed voting is not allowed. In the spirit of Hobey Baker himself, all voting should be conducted in an honest and ethical manner. If further automated voting is evidenced, then the fan vote will not be included in this year’s selection process. We thank all college hockey fans for participating in this year’s Vote For Hobey."

OK, first off...in the spirit of Hobey Baker himself? Back before the delightful Fire Joe Morgan gave up blogging to focus on a new TV show starring Amy Poehler (*shudder*), they had an interesting observation on the evolution of video technology in baseball:

"If you could go back in time and take Nap Lajoie into a room after Rube Waddell K'd him on three pitches and show him a glowing box with a video replay of the at bat, he would call you a demon, slit your throat, tear out his eyes, and generally freak the f--- out."

I feel pretty much the same way re: Hobey Baker and computer voting fraud.

Second, is there an emptier threat than saying you're going to cut the fan vote out of the award? The fan vote counts for 1% of the final vote total, making it essentially meaningless already. Has the fan vote ever made a difference in the voting? It seems that most years, the recipient of the fan vote doesn't even make the top ten. Would anything really change if they stopped bothering with the fan vote?

Of course one thing that amuses me in all this is that they supposedly picked the 50 top players in college hockey this year. The most notable omission from that list of 50 is the guy that was allegedly the best player in college hockey two years ago. Either college hockey has come a long way over the past two years, or the committee's mistake in 2007 is becoming more apparent. Maybe they would be better off giving the fans more power.

Vilardo to OSU

2009-01-09T15:43:00.002-06:00

Team Illinois U16 center Michael Vilardo committed to Ohio State. Vilardo is a late '92 birthdate that would likely join the Buckeyes in 2011. Vilardo had visited Ohio State with teammate Chris Joyaux, who also committed to the Buckeyes.

Linkorama

2009-01-09T12:37:00.002-06:00

UNO's Mike Phillippi missed the first half of the season due to academic ineligibility, and was going to skip the second half and take a redshirt year, but coach Mike Kemp decided to let Phillippi play in the second half. That gives UNO a little more blueline depth after losing Alain Goulet over the break. Also, UNO freshman forward Jake Skjodt is out with mono. Luckily for UNO, he was most contagious while at home over break.

Meanwhile, UNO has been traveling quite a bit lately.

Michigan Tech has won 3 out of their last 4 games, despite only scoring 5 goals over that four-game stretch.

Matt Overman is out this weekend for Colorado College.

Eden Prairie's Nick Leddy is drawing praise as a potential first or second round NHL draft pick.

The WCHA only went 11-10-4 over the holiday break, which should have some pretty dire PWR consequences.

A feature on BG's Kyle Page.

Alaska will try to prove themselves this weekend when they face No. 1 Notre Dame. The match-up features the league's two top goalies.

Michigan/Miami Game Postponed

2009-01-09T11:43:00.002-06:00

Tonight was supposed to be the start of a pretty big important series in the CCHA between Michigan and Miami, but the first game of that series has been postponed until Sunday due to structural problems at Yost Arena. Apparently the old barn suffered some weather-related damage over the holidays and needs some repairs.

Yost Fieldhouse was opened in 1923 and was the first indoor multi-purpose athletic facility in the country. It was converted to an ice arena in 1973.

2010 US World Junior Team

2009-01-08T13:15:00.004-06:00

Nate Fournier over at The World of Junior Hockey had an interesting post on next year's US World Junior team.

Even though this week, everyone seems more obsessed with re-picking this year's World Junior team, I figured I'd take my own stab at what next year's team will look like.

Goalie
Mike Lee and Brandon Maxwell are pretty much gimmes(unless of course one of them struggles in the tournament, in which case, everyone will have totally known they should have picked someone else). Thank goodness you only need two goalies. If one of those guys was injured, who would be the next choice? Joe Cannata? Kevin Murdock? Adam Murray? Decent choices, but nothing that blows you away.

Defense
Zach Bogosian will still be eligible to play, but almost definitely won't be available. John Carlson has already signed a contract with the Washington Capitals, so his availability will likely depend on if he makes it past the 10-game cutoff in the NHL.

After those two, I think Cam Fowler is the next obvious choice. Like Jordan Schroeder this year, he'll be jockeying for a shot in the top 10, possibly top 5 of the NHL Draft with this tournament.

Aaron Ness and Jake Gardiner are going to be tough calls in my opinion because they're very good, but also very raw. Ness only had six assists in the first half of this year, but Don Lucia predicted he would take off in the second half of the season, and lo and behold, he scored his first goal, and added two assists last weekend, so he may just take off from there. Each will have a year and a half of college experience by that point, which is more than some of the other candidates, so I'd give them each a spot on the team.

Same goes for David Warsofsky of Boston University. He's got international experience and has played fairly well at the college level so far.

My next pick would be one of either Max Nicastro or Matt Donovan, or Sam Lofquist. All three are good skaters that can bring a little bit of everything to the mix. I'd imagine USA Hockey would lean towards Lofquist since he's got more experience both internationally and in college.

Next, I'd go with either John Moore or Nick Leddy. Both are excellent skaters that should make for very high draft picks this year. I wouldn't be surprised if Leddy was added to the US roster for the U18s this summer, and a good showing there may give USA Hockey more confidence in him.

That makes seven defensemen, if you count Carlson. If Carlson isn't available, I'd look for somebody that offered a little size and physicality to go along with a mostly finesse bunch, like a Collin Bowman.

Forwards

Things will obviously start at the top with Jordan Schroeder. There's a very outside chance of someone drafting him really high, signing him, and him not being available next year. He might be good enough to handle it skill-wise, but I think he'll stick around for one more season at Minnesota.

You'd have to believe that Mitch Wahl, Tyler Johnson, and Danny Kristo will all be back after playing on the team this year.

I like the idea of giving Schroeder two skilled finishers in Jeremy Morin and Phil McRae to work with.

Joining Morin off of this year's U18 team, I'd take Kyle Palmieri, who was invited to the tryout camp for this year's World Juniors, and Drew Shore.

David Wohlberg and Derek Stepan have both had outstanding freshman seasons, and should be locks to make the team. Wohlberg is especially valuable since he's excellent defensively as well.

That would make 10 forwards. USA Hockey has shown in the past that they like to choose more defensive-minded players for those last couple rosters rather than guys with a lot of flash. Justin Florek is a big guy that is starting to put things together at Northern Michigan, and he might be a nice choice. A.J. Jenks is another big player that could play a nice role as a center on a lower line. That just leaves the 13th roster spot. Chris Brown would be another great energy player. USA Hockey may go with an NTDP veteran that some aren't as familiar with, like Colin Moore, similar to when they took Jimmy Fraser a couple years ago, or if they wanted to really young, they could take a strong two-way player off the U18 team like Jason Zucker.

Overall, it probably won't be the strongest US team. Like most years, they should be in contention for a medal, and if they get hot goaltending at the right time, or a couple bounces go their way, who knows what could happen.

MN HS Linkorama

2009-01-07T20:42:00.003-06:00

Before Christmas, I mentioned The Breakdown's listing of top forward lines in the state of Minnesota, and now they have a listing of top defensive units, led by Duluth East, and followed by Bloomington Jefferson, St. Cloud Cathedral, Edina, and Hill-Murray. I think it does a really nice job of picking out some kids who may not receive much hype, but are excellent players.

A look around the Big 9 conference, which covers most of southern Minnesota.

Hermantown and Duluth Marshall played on Fox Sports North last night, and though I missed it, it sounded like a great game. Marshall is playing without Zach Mausolf, who was one of the more talented players in Class A.

Blaine beat Duluth East in Blaine last night in a match-up of two top ten teams, by a score of 5-3, with an empty net goal. The game attracted quite a bit of attention from NHL scouts.

Edina's Anders Lee committed to Notre Dame for the 2010-2011 season. Lee had considered Notre Dame for a long time, but was a bit reluctant because they wanted him to play a year in the USHL after graduation, but apparently those worries of a post-graduate year of juniors were quelled.

Woodbury made their first state tournament in 2007 with a surprising upset over Cretin-Derham Hall. Last year, it was less surprising when they made the tournament. This year, they're probably the Section 3AA favorite and have become a power in the eastern suburbs. There must be something in the water out there.

Linkorama

2009-01-07T15:25:00.002-06:00

There's not much to update on Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. "Dark Star" turned out to be wrong--and a bit of a douche--about the Bell's Palsy rumor. He'll miss this weekend's series against North Dakota. Apparently they're still running tests in hopes of finding out what is ailing him. This sounds like a House case.

Jase Weslosky is ready to play for St. Cloud this weekend. He missed St. Cloud's trip to Florida due to academic problems, and there were rumors that he'd be done for the year. It's a huge break for the Huskies, because I'm not sure Dan Dunn could have carried them for the second half of the year. Also, Jared Festler will likely miss this weekend's game with an ankle injury.

Nick Eno has been cleared to play for Bowling Green. The Falcons are currently tied for last place in the league, but have games in hand on just about everybody, and Eno's presence in goal could improve their defense and give them a big shot in the arm.

The article also has more on the Jacob Cepis situation:

"Jacob Cepis, a sophomore center who quit the Falcons Dec. 18, has been granted his release by BG which allows him to transfer to another school.
The release, however, does not allow him to transfer to another CCHA school.
Third-ranked Boston University, No. 5 Denver and Massachusetts remain the most popular schools on the rumor mill for where Cepis will end up. But No. 4 Minnesota and No. 14 Wisconsin still remain on the rumor mill.
Cepis is expected to be enrolled at his new school for the upcoming semester, allowing him to play the second half of next season.
If he’s not enrolled for the upcoming semester, he’ll have to sit out all of next season under NCAA rules."

Mark Mitera skated in practice this week after undergoing knee surgery in November. Red Berenson was skeptical about him playing in a game this year though.

US Fifth at World Juniors

2009-01-05T15:32:00.003-06:00

The United States took a disappointing 5th place finish in this year's World Juniors, and as usual, there's a lot of noise about why the US didn't take home the gold. People can say whatever they want, but there's really only one thing you need to know:

Thomas McCollum vs. Canada: 5 goals allowed on 28 shots
Thomas McCollum vs. Slovakia: 5 goals allowed on 19 shots

Say whatever you will about coaching, or how the team is selected, or any other complaint you can come up with. You can't coach the puck out of your net, and when your goalie only stops 37 out of 47 shots over two games, and forces your team to score 6 goals win, you're going to lose 99 times out of 100. In a short tournament, hot goaltending can take your team a long way, and poor goaltending can kill you. This year, it killed the US.

I'll give the rest of my thoughts in bullet form, since it's easier...

-Some people are also blaming the US defense for playing poorly. They didn't look good against Canada, and I didn't see the Slovakia game, but how bad could they have been if they only gave up 19 shots and McCollum gave up a couple soft goals? That's more than good enough to win.

-Should McCollum have been pulled? In hindsight, yes, because they couldn't have done any worse. I'm not sure I would have pulled him at any point in the Canada game, because bringing a cold goalie into a close game probably wouldn't be wise. Maybe I would have started Unice against Slovakia, but again, that's using hindsight. I can see the argument for starting McCollum again as well.

-Why is it that the people screaming loudest about how not winning the gold is an absolute failure for the US, and the whole system needs to be torn down are the same people that talk about Canada being the greatest hockey nation in the world? Sorry, you can't have both ways. It only proves that these people don't have enough objectivity to make their opinion worthwhile.

-I still don't see how the NTDP-bashing is valid in any way. This year's team took way more CHL players than in the past and look where it got them. Adding a few more plugs like Eric Tangradi, whose biggest contribution to the team was putting his stick in some guys face and getting one of the good players jacked in the face, or Tyler Johnson, who didn't do much of anything, wouldn't have made things any better. One of the big omissions from the roster was John Carlson, and again, using hindsight, he would have been a better choice on D because he couldn't have been any worse, but the seventh defenseman on the US was Blake Kessel, who is not an NTDP alum, so I don't see how that decision is political.

-When trying to wow me with the OHL's goaltending, it's probably not best to cite some kid who needed a career game just to bring his tournament save percentage up to .901. As a general rule, goaltenders peak much later, and it's just hard to be a very good goalie in that age group. That's why you see so many talented young goalies struggle at the college level. I'm not saying some of those CHL goalies might not be great some day, but at 18 or 19, most aren't providing much of a challenge.

-Congrats to Canada on winning another gold medal. I hope the Queen doesn't decide to take it for England when she makes the call on reinstating your parliament later this month.

Lucia Ill

2009-01-03T12:53:00.002-06:00

Minnesota head coach Don Lucia missed last night's game against Brown with an undisclosed illness. Lucia has undergone a series of tests to find out what is wrong, and so far, nothing has been released, though athletic director Joel Maturi said that major problems have been ruled out.

On WCCO radio last night, Dark Star reported that Lucia had Bell's Palsy, though two things should be kept in mind. First, he's like a 90-year-old man calls himself 'Dark Star' with a straight face, and second, he's a Twin Cities media personality, meaning he's probably wrong.

In any case, hopefully Lucia will have a speedy recovery to whatever is ailing him.

Goulet Leaves UNO

2009-01-02T19:09:00.002-06:00

Nebraska-Omaha took a big hit this week when it was announced that defenseman Alain Goulet had signed with the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL.

In November, Gatineau hired Jerome Dupont as head coach. Dupont had formerly coached for the Aurora Tigers, the junior team Goulet played for.

Goulet started off hot this year, with 4 points in his first six games, but only had one assist in his final 11 games.

World Juniors

2009-01-01T11:18:00.002-06:00

The US lost to Canada 6-4 last night in a pretty entertaining game. The US now gets Slovakia in the quarterfinals, Sweden if they win, and a potential final game against Canada.

A couple thoughts on the game last night...

1. I think I figured out how somebody scores like 250 points every year in the OHL. Tom McCollum was absolutely brutal for the US. Through the first two periods, every Canadian shot had one of three results, listed in order of frequency.

a. Missed the net
b. Goal
c. Save, with McCollum immediately looking over his shoulder and surprised not to see the puck in the net.

2. The US team must be pretty ugly to look at because a lot of those tough guys in red wouldn't touch them if they could see the US player's face.

3. Was this game played in Canada? That was not readily apparent to me.

4. The US had a terrible game defensively. Maybe one or two out of their seven defensemen played well last night.

5. I wouldn't be optimistic about a rematch in the final with Canada--though getting a win over Sweden would be an accomplishment in itself. Even if the US plays equally with them, the crowd could play a huge role, as well as the usual BS that comes with playing on the hosts' soil, like top players getting sucker-punched with no recourse and so on.

Dorr Leaves Gophers

2008-12-31T22:08:00.003-06:00

Minnesota forward Mike Dorr has left the University of Minnesota hockey team, telling teammates that he needs "to do what's best for my own interest." Dorr had only appeared in two games this year for the Gophers.

Dorr is no stranger to controversy. He committed to Minnesota-Duluth in January of his junior year of high school, then, about a year later, during a very successful senior season, he re-opened his recruitment, and committed to Minnesota about a month and a half later.

Now, Dorr will likely return to juniors and try to transfer to another WCHA school. In the interim period between backing out on Duluth and committing to Minnesota, Dorr listed Wisconsin, Minnesota State, and Notre Dame as other potential schools of interest. Minnesota State currently has his high school linemate Adam Mueller on their team.

UW Announcement Coming

2008-12-31T21:57:00.003-06:00

The Blog That Yost Built came across an interesting tidbit in the Detroit News, regarding Wisconsin holding an outdoor hockey game.

According to the News, Wisconsin will be making a formal announcement regarding an outdoor hockey game next February at Camp Randall stadium in the next two weeks. The Badgers have been trying for some time to schedule an outdoor game at Camp Randall. A deal to play a WCHA game outdoors fell through, so it's likely the game will be played against a non-conference opponent, with Michigan being one of the rumored schools.

I'd expect an announcement to come in the wake of tomorrow's outdoor hockey game between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field.

Buckeyes Add Youngsters

2008-12-30T21:33:00.002-06:00

Team Illinois Midget Minor defenseman Chris Joyaux, a '92 birthdate, committed to Ohio State, likely for the 2011 season.

The Buckeyes also added Ohio Jr. Bluejackets '92 defennseman Clark Christofoli, according to Chris Heisenberg.

GLI Day

2008-12-28T11:21:00.003-06:00

So my family and I showed up about ten minutes before puck drop for the first game of yesterday's Great Lakes Invitational, along with about 1000 other people, and we spent a good 20-30 minutes waiting in the ticket line. By the time we got I our tickets, I predicted Michigan would already be up 2-0 and the game would be, for all intents and purposes, over. Check and check.

The second game wasn't much prettier. Michigan State played pretty well by their own low standards, but had they not squandered so many quality chances, they could have easily scored 5 goals. Seeing them in person, it's just amazing the lack of depth they have considering how well-known their school is. That said, Corey Tropp was one very talented player that I thought underperformed, at least statistically in the first half of the year, and if he continues to create offensive--he assisted both MSU goals--they'll be better offensively.

It wasn't a great effort by North Dakota defensively. They've got some nice offensive defensemen, but yesterday, they were more prone to giving up 2-on-1 ones than creating odd-man situations for their team. Offensively, North Dakota moved the puck pretty well, but turned down too many decent shots in favor of a 90 mph backdoor pass that never connected.

#4 Fargo-Moorhead vs. Southern Minnesota

2008-12-23T12:58:00.000-06:00

Who: Fargo-Moorhead Jets vs. Southern Minnesota Express
Where: Shattuck-St. Mary's Arena, Faribault, Minnesota
When: April 27, 2007
Final Score: 3-2 Southern Minnesota (3ot)

If I recall, the press release put out after this game had something non-committal like "We're pretty sure this was the longest US junior playoff game in history" and as far as I know, nobody else stepped up and claimed a longer game, and nobody had a longer playoff game last year, so we'll just go ahead and call this the longest playoff in US junior hockey history.

Southern Minnesota had won the first two games of the series in Fargo, and needed this game to clinch a trip to the NAHL Tournament. Fargo-Moorhead needed the win to extend their season.

As you'd expect, this was an absolutely fantastic goaltenders battle from start to finish with current Minnesota State back-up Austin Lee in goal for Fargo-Moorhead, and current Denver back-up Lars Paulgaard in net for Southern Minnesota.

It took 37 minutes to get the game's first goal, when Chris Connolly scored to give F-M the lead. F-M looked like they were in the good shape to extend their season when they added a second goal at 5:51 of the third period. Southern Minnesota couldn't mount much attack on the Jets, and when they did, Austin Lee was rock solid in goal. But with just under 6 minutes to play, Southern Minnesota caught a break and went on the powerplay. Thirty seconds later, they had scored and cut the deficit to just one.

The game looked to be all but over with about 90 seconds to play, but Fargo-Moorhead took another penalty, and the Express tied the game with 44 seconds left on the clock. That would be the start of what would go on to be almost another entire game of hockey.

You'd expect both teams to play things pretty close to the vest in overtime of a playoff game, but the game was still pretty wide open. Shots were 12-10 favor Southern Minnesota in the first overtime period. F-M dominated the second overtime, outshooting Southern Minnesota 17-7 and had the first powerplay of the overtime. But Southern Minnesota's Lars Paulgaard was absolutely incredible. I was standing on the glass right behind Paulgaard and some of the saves he was making were phenomenal. One in particular that sticks in my memory was a shot through traffic that he was completely screened on. The shot was labeled for the lower left corner of the net and Paulgaard somehow threw his right leg out to kick it wide. There's no way he could have seen the shot until the very last second, but he was so locked in that he was able to make the save on pure instinct and quickness.

By the third overtime, it was becoming pretty obvious that the game would have to be won on special teams, because nobody was going to beat one of those goaltenders at even strength. After Fargo-Moorhead got their powerplay in the second OT, Southern Minnesota got a man advantage in the third overtime, and for the third time that night, they capitalized. It wasn't even a pretty goal. Mike Montgomery(now at Minnesota-Duluth) fired a shot that deflected off a shin pad or something in front of the net and went straight to the stick of teammate Dusty Jackson(now at Denver). Jackson caught the puck on his backhand, facing away from the net and just sort of flung the puck over his shoulder towards the net. Lee wasn't able to recover from the initial shot in time and the puck went in to finally end the game.

The final tally on the night was 110:15 of hockey, with each team registering 56 shots apiece, but Paulgaard winning the goaltending battle over Lee by making 54 saves, to Lee's 53.

#5 Mankato East vs. Austin

2008-12-23T10:25:00.000-06:00

Who: Mankato East HS vs. Austin HS
Where: Lund Arena, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota
When: February 25th, 2006
Final Score: 3-2 Mankato East

This game was the Section 1A semifinal back when Section 1A was probably the weakest section in the state, so this wasn't necessarily a game between the greatest two hockey teams. Current Air Force defenseman Tim Kirby played for Austin, but other than that, there's no real recognizable names on either side. But whatever this game lacked in skill, it made up for ten times over in terms of grit and heart.

Austin was the #2 seed in the section, while Mankato East was seeded third, thanks to these two teams tying in Mankato, and Austin winning 4-1 at home in the regular season. Earlier that day, 4th seed Marshall had upset top seeded Austin Lea--a game that very well may have made this list had I been there, because I have a tough time imagining how that happened--so the door was open for the winner of this game to make it to the state tournament.

Gustavus' arena is set up really nicely for neutral site games with a balcony of seats along each sideline, giving each team half of the arena. Austin was a little more organized in their cheering, giving an especially tough time to Mankato East's goalie, while you could tell the Mankato East contingent wasn't used to being able to cheer their team in big games, but they were no less enthused.

Austin had the edge in play most of the day. It looked like every kid on their team was only about 5'11" or so, but had eaten Spam three meals a day every day for their entire life, was a solid 190 lbs. or so. Mankato East wasn't as strong, and was probably about a half step slower, but did everything they could to hang in the game.

After a scoreless first period, Mankato East opened up the scoring less than a minute into the second period, but Austin answered back with two goals in the second period to take the lead. Austin had a number of chances to extend their lead, but Mankato East held strong and went to the locker room only trailing by one.

You would have expected the underdog to wear down in the third period after doing nearly everything in their power just to keep the game close through 2 periods, but Mankato East came out like a different team in the third period. They scored twice in the first three minutes of the period to put themselves back on top. The final 14 minutes of the game was like a game in itself. Mankato East had an insurance goal disallowed a couple different times due to the net coming off right before the puck crossed the line. Austin had some great chances as well. A number of times they worked the puck back to Tim Kirby at the point for big slap shots, but Mankato East were literally throwing themselves in front of every shot, and doing whatever they could to maintain their lead.

That Mankato East team wasn't the most skilled, or the fastest, or the prettiest group of players. But I've never seen a team play with more heart. It doesn't take a lot of skill to block a shot, but it does take a lot of guts to dive in front of a guy winding up for a slap shot and get hit somewhere where you may or may not be padded. It takes a lot of effort to stay with someone on the backcheck at the end of a long shift. They were so close to their school's first ever trip to the state tournament, and they were going to do whatever it took to make sure they got there. In all the hockey I've seen, I'm not sure I've ever seen a team play harder.

As a postscript to this game, Mankato East did beat Marshall in the section final to earn their first trip to the state tournament where they lost an incredibly entertaining game to Little Falls something like 7-6. Both Mankato East and Austin completely fell off the hockey map after that game however. Austin only won one game last season, against Mankato East. Neither team has won more than 6 games in a season since. Hopefully, one day they'll both make it back to prominence.

#6 2007 Minnesota State HS Finals

2008-12-23T08:16:00.005-06:00

Who: Duluth Marshall vs. Hermantown & Grand Rapids vs. Roseau
Where: XCel Energy Center
When: March 10, 2007
Final Scores: 4-1 Hermantown & 5-1 Roseau

Neither game on Championship Day ended up being that close. In fact, the best game of that day may have been the Class AA consolation game, where upstart Rochester Century, on paper, probably the weakest team in the tournament, pulled off a surprising win over Burnsville to take third place. But it was still a special day for hockey in Minnesota.

2007 was a special year for out-state Minnesota because all four finalists came from the northern part of the state, with no representation from the Twin Cities, and three of the four finalists were public schools.

I'm not one of those people that deny the right of private schools to exist and compete in the MSHSL, like some people; though I think I've made my opinion on big city private schools playing in Class A pretty clear. But I do think sometimes it seems a little more meaningful to see public schools succeed at the high school level. When a private school does well, it's a big deal for the school. When a public school, especially an out-state public school does well, it's a big deal for the whole community.

Grand Rapids and Roseau are two small communities--both schools could have been playing in Class A, but opted to play in the bigger division--where hockey is king. The two towns combined have a population of about 10,000, and odds are, pretty much all of those 10,000 people helped make up the crowd of 18,000 that watched the championship game. It may not be the olden days when people from Roseau or Grand Rapids would make their way to the state tournament and get their only glimpse of a building bigger than two stories. But with big cities and suburbs ever expanding, and small towns shrinking, it's getting tougher and tougher for the teams from these small communities to compete. There's no Acceleration Sports Training Center in Roseau. But the 2007 state tournament served notice that these old school hockey powers were still a force to be reckoned with in the world of high school hockey. And that their communities still mattered.

Nobody seemed more aware of the effect on their communities than the coaches and players themselves. I was covering the games that year, and the scene on the arena level of the X was pretty amazing. The kids from Hermantown talked about all the dads that laid down water for rinks for them to skate on growing up. The kids from Roseau had tears in their eyes talking about what it meant to be part of the history of Roseau hockey. A state high school championship is a special thing, and it was pretty cool seeing it go to people to whom it meant so much.

#7 Michigan vs. Lake Superior

2008-12-22T17:35:00.000-06:00

Who: Michigan vs. Lake Superior
Where: Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan
When: February 1st, 1992
Final Score: 1-0 Michigan

This may seem like ages ago, but at one time, there was no bigger rivalry in college hockey than the games between Michigan and Lake Superior. I think the only time I ever saw a fight break out before a game even started was a game between these two
teams. You could pick just about any game throughout the early to mid 90's and you'd have an incredibly physical, fast, one goal game, possibly decided in overtime. But even though I'm a guy who enjoys wide open, offensive hockey, this 1-0 battle sticks out most in mind.

Ten different players on that Michigan team would go on to see time in the NHL, including Mike Knuble and Aaron Ward, who are still playing today. Six Lakers would go on to play in the NHL as well, including a young freshman named Brian Rolston. Both goalies, Michigan's Steve Shields and Lake Superior's Darrin Madeley, would become NHL goalies and both were absolutely fantastic on this night.

The game also featured a pretty all-star coaching match-up between Red Berenson, who had resurrected Michigan's program and Jeff Jackson, who was in his second year as head coach after taking over the reigns of the LSSU powerhouse from Frank Anzalone.

Funny enough, nearly 17 years to the date after this series, Berenson and Jackson will meet for a big series between CCHA powerhouses later this year. Meanwhile, Rick Comley has a program in a periodic decline after a surprising national championship. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.

Lake Superior had embarrassed Michigan earlier in the year up at the Soo, winning the Friday night game in overtime, before coming back and blowing them out 10-0 the second night. Michigan won the first game of their second series of the year on Friday night 4-3, after 11 consecutive games against the Lakers without a win. Michigan wanted to prove the previous game wasn't a fluke, and Lake Superior wanted to prove it was.

The game's only goal was scored by Michigan's Denny Felsner who finished that season with 94 points, though would lose the Hobey Baker to Maine's Scott Pellerin, who totaled 57 points that year.

The win would help Michigan go on to win their first even CCHA regular season title. But Lake Superior would get the last laugh, beating Michigan in CCHA Playoff Championship and going on to win the national title.

Update of MSU Assault

2008-12-22T16:59:00.002-06:00

The Ingham County prosecutor has finally issued warrants for arrest for two Michigan State football players stemming from a fight that left Michigan State hockey player AJ Sturges in the hospital, and ended his season.

#8 Maine vs. Denver

2008-12-22T16:07:00.000-06:00

Who: Maine vs. Denver
Where: Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts
When: April 10, 2004
Final Score: 1-0 Denver

The game to decide the 2003-2004 national championship was a classic goaltenders battle between Denver's Adam Berkhoel and Maine's Jimmy Howard.

It didn't start as out as that amazing of a game. Maine scored first, but had a man in the blue paint on the opposite side of the crease, which happened to be illegal that year in the NCAA's rotating rulebook. Denver's Gabe Gauthier would score a powerplay goal about midway through the first period to give Denver a lead. It didn't seem spectacular at the time, but it would end up being the last goal scored that season.

It wasn't for lack of trying on Maine's part though. With 2:09 left in the game, Denver's Matt Laatsch took a hooking penalty and 35 seconds later, Gabe Gauthier literally grabbed the puck and tried to throw it out of the zone, resulting in a delay of game penalty. Maine pulled Jimmy Howard to get a 6-on-3 advantage, and what resulted was the craziest 1:30 of hockey that I've ever seen. Maine threw just about everything but the kitchen sink at Denver with six guys just blasting away at the net, while Denver had their three guys huddled around Berkhoel trying to throw their bodies in front of every shot. I was on the third level of the Fleet Center right behind Berkhoel, and despite not having a rooting interest in either team, I was up off the edge of my seat, nearly leaning over the balcony watching with excitement.

Maine had some amazing chances, and to this day, I'm still not quite sure how the puck stayed out of the net, but Berkhoel and DU's penalty killers found a way to get it done and win the national title.

#9 Breck vs. Chisago Lakes

2008-12-22T13:55:00.000-06:00

Who: Breck School vs. Chisago Lakes Area
Where: Chisago Lakes Arena
When: December 13, 2007
Final Score: 5-2 Breck

I realize this is kind of an odd game to make the list. There wasn't much on the line in this game. It was just a regular season high school game, and the heavy favorite won a game with a final score that wasn't all that close. But this game was one of my favorites because I felt like it really captured what Minnesota high school hockey is all about.

Chisago Lakes is an amalgamation of a couple small towns built by Swedish immigrants in the far, far outskirts of the Twin Cities suburbs. Technically, their sports teams play in the Northern Suburban Conference, but there's really nothing suburban about it. The number of large lakes in the area make their arena a little difficult to get to. Chisago Lakes Arena is about 10 miles from my apartment as the crow flies, and yet it takes me like 30 minutes to get there. The high school, gym, and hockey arena are all clumped together about a mile south of town on a road with absolutely no lights. After about 5pm on a winter night, it really feels like you've driven off the face of the earth.

The Breck School is a prestigious, Episcopalian-affiliated college prep school in Golden Valley, Minnesota, in the posh western suburbs on the Twin Cities. Looking over their list of famous alums, there are CEOs, poet/authors, the dude who invented GPS. They've also had some fine hockey players come through the school in recent years including Blake Wheeler, John Curry, and Jordan Fulton.

So the two teams were from very different backgrounds. One group of parents were in suits, the other in hunter orange and camo. The teams themselves were quite different too. Breck was two days removed from a huge win over top-ranked St. Thomas Academy. They were loaded with skilled, talented players, with at least a couple kids that would have a future in hockey beyond high school. Chisago was a team that would only win 6 games all season. It's unlikely that any of those kids would play hockey at any level after high school. On paper, it looked like the third period would be played with running time.

Breck managed to escape with a win, but the game was far closer than anyone could have expected. The atmosphere was top notch. Chisago Lakes Arena is one of those old school arenas with stands along one sideline and a metal roof. The arena was pretty full, and the crowd was loud. And not just loud after goals. They were loud after everything. A nice hit, a good scoring chance, a nice save.

Breck jumped out to an early lead, and controlled play throughout the game. I can't find a listing for shots on goal in the game, but Breck must have outshot Chisago by like a 4 to 1 margin. Chisago had an excellent goalie though, and took advantage of the few opportunities they had. By the third period, Chisago had cut Breck's lead to 3 to 2 and momentum was starting turn towards the home team. Chisago had a great chance to tie the game, but Breck's goalie made an amazing save to keep the lead. Breck was able to add an insurance goal late and then an empty-netter to make the final score look lopsided, but it was still a great game to watch.

When people start discussing which state has the best hockey, they start throwing out statistics about how many players make to the college or pro level. I think that misses the point though. None of the players on Chisago's team will ever make the NHL; probably not even any of the Breck players. But no where else in the country would you get such a fun game, and more importantly such a great atmosphere in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere.

#10 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Pittsbrugh Penguins

2008-12-22T10:04:00.000-06:00

Who: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Where: Maple Leaf Gardens
When: *shrug* Some time in the '90s
Final Score: I'm pretty sure TO won by a couple goals

At full disclosure, I really haven't been to that many NHL games, and none have been in the playoffs, but I wanted at least one pro game on the list, so this is kind of like the CHA/AH autobid of the list.

This one wasn't necessarily a fantastic or dramatic game--I'm not really sure a regular season NHL game could be given how long the season is--but it does crack the list for being one of the coolest hockey experiences of my life. I watched Hockey Night in Canada fairly religiously growing up, and the Leafs were my favorite NHL hockey team, so actually going to Maple Leaf Gardens was like going to Hockey Mecca.

I'm probably dating myself quite a bit with this, but the Leafs were a pretty good team, and tickets were hard to come by--the Leafs sold out every game at the Gardens for like 50 years. My dad and I were literally chased down the street by a scalper as someone tried to sell us their tickets.

There were a lot of great facets about the old Maple Leaf Gardens, and the place practically oozed history. I think my personal favorite quirk about the arena was that there was literally nothing separating the stands from the benches. The aisle behind each bench extended all the way onto the bench. Nowadays, I don't believe there is any professional rink where you can reach the bench from the stands. And what seems even weirder, there was no security--at least no visible security--blocking off the opening between the stands and the bench. I mean, if the Chicago White Sox' US Cellular Field had that, I'm pretty sure people would die. It's just one example of how when the Leafs moved to the shiny new Air Canada Centre, they gained some modern amenities, but lost some of the uniqueness that made their home arena so legendary.

My 10 Greatest Games

2008-12-22T07:49:00.000-06:00

With the holidays approaching, I figured now might not be a bad time for a little light holiday reading. I thought I'd count down the ten best--or at least my ten favorite--games that I've seen in person. I should also clarify that I mean 'days' rather than 'games' since a couple different doubleheaders made it onto the list.

There's a pretty wide range of games from high school, to juniors, to college to pro, and it will allow me to autopost some stuff on days I'll probably be away from a computer. I'll try to keep up with normal posting too if I come across anything newsworthy. Consider this countdown a holiday bonus for you.

Bozak Out Until Playoffs

2008-12-20T22:44:00.002-06:00

To update the status of Tyler Bozak, it was announced today that Bozak will miss the rest of the regular season, but could return for a potential playoff run.

MN HS Roundup

2008-12-19T16:48:00.005-06:00

Tim Kolehmainen, editor at The Breakdown wrote a nice feature on the top lines in Minnesota high school hockey. It's a pretty solid list. I'd maybe move the top lines at Duluth East and Minnetonka a little higher into the top ten.

Ben Hanowski is making a run at the state scoring record. As a general rule, I think any stats for high school hockey are essentially meaningless, and especially so for an out-state player that plays a lot of weaker teams, but Hanowski is still a very good player that has had a great high school career. It's looking pretty likely he'll make his fifth state tournament appearance with Little Falls this year, which is a really nice accomplishment.

Fox Sports North has done a pretty good job getting good high school games on TV this past week. I only caught the third period and overtime of Duluth East/Centennial but that was a very hard fought 2-2 tie. Both games that were on TV last night ended up being closer than expected. The Elk River/Eden Prairie and Edina/Grand Rapids games not only featured some of the bigger name players in the state, but also featured some of the better up-and-coming sophomores in the state.

Here are Follow the Puck's Top Ten rankings for each class.

Class AA: 1. Hill-Murray 2. Edina 3. Bloomington Jefferson 4. Holy Angels 5. Duluth East 6. Blaine 7. Centennial 8. Moorhead 9. Roseau 10. Eden Prairie

Class A: 1. Little Falls 2. Warroad 3. Hermantown 4. St. Thomas 5. Rochester Lourdes 6. Breck 7. Duluth Marshall 8. Mahtomedi 9. Thief River Falls 10. St. Cloud Cathedral

One of the problems with the way the state playoffs are set up is that it is designed to name one champion, and not necessarily get the best 8 teams to the XCel Center for the state's showcase event. Case in point, a week ago, Bloomington Jefferson, who could conceivably be seeded third in their section, took on Lakeville South, who so far, is looking like the favorite in Section 1AA and took the game into running time. Some of the best games this year could come in the section finals, as opposed to the state tournament.

Cepis Leaves BG

2008-12-19T07:46:00.002-06:00

Bowling Green forward Jacob Cepis has left the team for "personal reasons".

Cepis was an outstanding junior hockey player, finishing third in USHL scoring in 2006/2007, and was a CCHA all-rookie player last year, but really struggled this season, and the article suggested discontent between Cepis and head coach Scott Paluch.

The article also suggested that Cepis could look to transfer to a different school, with Wisconsin--of course--being one rumored destination.

Bozak Out; Kampfer In

2008-12-18T15:38:00.004-06:00

Denver's Tyler Bozak will miss some time after undergoing knee surgery. Bozak has been the recipient of a ton of hype recently after TSN's Darren Dreger did a story on Bozak, and BU defenseman Matt Gilroy as the top collegiate free agent prospects. Some of it is a little over done because even though those guys are solid players, I don't know that either is going to significantly change the fortunes of whichever teams land them, at least right away, but it is good to see people start recognizing college players as top pro prospects.

Also, Michigan defenseman Steve Kampfer will return to play in the Great Lakes Invitational. A little over two months ago, Kampfer was in the hospital and in critical condition with a pretty serious head injury. It's pretty remarkable that he'll be back and playing so soon.

WCHA At The Break

2008-12-18T13:17:00.003-06:00

...aaaand for that other conference.

1. Denver, 14 games played, 19 points

The biggest wild card for Denver coming into this season was going to be the goaltending of Marc Cheverie, and his success has sort of mirrored Denver's success this year. After a few shaky spots earlier in the year, Cheverie has been red hot, and Denver has been one of the strongest teams in the country of late.

Denver has probably the deepest forward corps in the WCHA, with three lines that are legitimate scoring threats. Everyone is familiar with Tyler Bozak, Rhett Rakhshani, and Tyler Ruegsegger, but sophomore Anthony Maiani is leading the Pioneers in scoring.

The Pioneers have received some surprising contributions from freshmen as well. Luke Salazar came out of nowhere to chip in 11 goals, while Patrick Wiercioch has been one
of the best freshmen defenders in the WCHA so far. After a slow start, big Joe Colborne has started to produce some points as well.

Denver gets home series with Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage in January, which should help give them a little cushion in the standings, but they play 5 straight road games in February, and the Pioneers have traditionally been weaker in the second half of the season. It could be difficult for them to maintain the play they've had the past few weeks.

2. Minnesota, 12 games played, 17 points

Minnesota has rebounded quite nicely from a disappointing season last year. A lot has been written here about the impact of their top line of Ryan Stoa, Jordan Schroeder, and Jay Barriball. Another reason for their turnaround may be the emergence of Cade Fairchild on defense. Minnesota's powerplay was atrocious at times last season. This year, they've got the best powerplay in the league, in part thanks to Fairchild's three goals and 8 assists with the man advantage.

They've hit a few bumps in the road the past couple of weeks, but they've got more talent than anybody else in the WCHA and have a great chance at winning the WCHA regular season title.

3. Colorado College, 14 games played, 16 points

Colorado College is almost purely a one-line hockey team. After the top line of Chad Rau, Eric Walsky, and Billy Sweatt, the Tigers are getting almost no scoring from their other three lines, which I think has started to catch up to them after a great start.

Richard Bachman has struggled a little bit recently in goal too, though all goalies should be so lucky as to "struggle" with a .924 save percentage. Still, it seems like for every great start he has, he also has a pretty weak start, which has made it difficult for CC to string together a nice winning streak.

Bachman, Rau, and Walsky are good enough to keep CC in the top half of the league, but unless they develop some secondary scoring and start playing more consistently, I doubt whether they'll end up much higher than third place.

3. Wisconsin, 14 games played, 16 points

Wisconsin was pretty much left for dead after an abysmal 0-6-1 start, but have completely turned things around by going 9-1-1 over their last 11 games. And unlike previous seasons, Wisconsin will actually get to play home games late in the season this year. They only have three more road series left this year.

After being bench for a couple weeks, Mike Davies has returned to the lineup and made a nice impact. Former Minnesota Mr. Hockey winner Tom Gorowsky is finally making a positive impact on the offensive end as well. He may double his career points total this year.

Despite a lot of controversy this year about who is/isn't/won't be on their roster, Wisconsin has pulled things together quite nicely and looks like they have a great shot at making the NCAA tournament.

5. Minnesota-Duluth, 14 games played, 15 points

It's another pretty solid first half of the season from Minnesota-Duluth, though we've seen this before, only to see the 'Dogs languish in the second half of the season. This year looks different though. This year's Bulldog team has some legitimate offensive firepower, with players like Justin Fontaine, MacGregor Sharp, and the Connollys, instead of relying on smoke and mirrors like last season.

Though one way this Duluth team is like UMD teams past is that they're great on their goofy-ass home rink, and not so great on the road. They're 5-1-3 at the DECC, and just 2-3-3 on the road, with a win and a tie coming out of conference.

I don't think UMD quite has the talent to compete with the top four teams in the league, but should be right in the thick of the hunt for the final home ice playoff spot, which they'll probably need to have a shot at making the Final Five.

6. North Dakota, 12 games played, 13 points

I think a lot of people wrote off North Dakota earlier this year because they weren't as strong as they were the past couple years, but they are potentially one of the scariest teams in the league for the second half of the season. They're a team known for their slow starts, and they're strong finishes, and I think they could do the same this year. A big sweep over St. Cloud last weekend puts them in excellent position for the second half of the year.

One reason they're so dangerous is that they've finally got things figured out in goal. I have no idea why Aaron Walski got three starts in goal, but North Dakota lost all three, while they've been pretty good with Brad Eidsness in goal. Eidsness struggled in his first start, but since then, has been at least serviceable in net.

The Sioux don't have any real stars on offense--BTW, I've yet to receive any apologies for all the things said about me for not putting Ryan Duncan on my preseason all-conference team--but they've got a lot of very good players that give them a really balanced scoring attack.

7. Minnesota State, 14 games played, 12 points

Things were looking pretty good for MSU right up until the past two weekends, when they were swept by St. Cloud and Denver. The Mavericks have been plagued by some key injuries up front for the past month, and for a team without any real consistent offensive threats that relies on their depth, losing a couple guys can really throw things out of whack.

One pleasant surprise for the Mavericks has been the offensive production of Kurt Davis, who leads the country in scoring by defensemen who haven't played Sacred Heart four times.

Goalie Mike Zacharias has played every minute in goal for MSU up until getting pulled in the third period of last Saturday's Denver game. He's been solid for the Mavericks, but his stats have taken a huge hit due to giving up a lot of powerplay goals.

8. St. Cloud, 12 games played, 10 points

The simplest way to describe St. Cloud is that some nights they're really good, and some nights they are really bad. They torched some weak non-conference opponents at home, and pulled off a pretty impressive looking sweep over Denver at home, but got absolutely embarrassed in two games against Duluth, and didn't play that well against North Dakota.

The cheap non-conference wins inflated their record to the point that they're not out of the NCAA tournament picture despite being tied for 8th in the league, and if they can find a way for the good St. Cloud team to show up on a consistent basis, they could make a run at another NCAA tournament appearance, but I have a feeling that the bad St. Cloud team will make an appearance either during a critical game down the stretch, or in the first round of the NCAA tournament again.

8. Alaska-Anchorage, 12 games played, 10 points

Every year, Anchorage wins a couple games early on and everybody says "Hey, maybe this is their year." It's not their year. They can send a basket of muffins to Michigan Tech for ending their streak of last place finishes, and they'll probably be the most talented 9th place team in the country, but they'll be the 9th best team in the WCHA.

The future is looking better for Anchorage. They have some seniors on defense, but otherwise, everyone else is still fairly young. They've got some legitimate scorers too, though I wonder if the pros may come calling for Tommy Grant this summer.

I'm not optimistic about the rest of this season though. UAA is fairly weak in goal. Bryce Christianson had good stats to start the season, but WCHA conference play and variance finally caught up with him. Add in that the travel in the second half of the season has been brutal to Anchorage, and that they still carry the reputation of a team you absolutely cannot afford to give up points to in the second half of the year, and the odds of them getting back to where they were in the standings a couple weeks ago is slim.

10. Michigan Tech, 14 games played, 4 points

Tech has been hit pretty hard by injuries, including losing Malcolm Gwilliam for the whole season, but even with a completely healthy roster, I'm not sure they'd be that much better.

One bright spot is that Jordan Baker is quietly becoming an impressive offensive threat with 8 goals on the year. Scoring is going to be a huge struggle for Tech all year though, and again, with things at the top of the conference being so close, teams are really going to be bearing down to make sure they get all four points in a series against Tech in the second half, which means it could be a very painful year for Tech and their fans.

MSU Loses Two

2008-12-17T21:15:00.002-06:00

Two players won't be spending the second half of the season with Michigan State, which all things considered, may not be that bad of a deal for them.

Freshman forward Mike Merrifield will return to junior hockey for the rest of the year, before coming back to Michigan State in the fall. Merrifield had only played in 6 games in the first half of the season, though he did register a goal in Tuesday's exhibition loss to the NTDP U18 team. This probably isn't a bad decision given that Merrifield probably should have been playing junior hockey all year anyway. After succeeding in the NAHL as a rookie last year, he was scheduled to play in the USHL this year, but was called to campus early due to offseason departures, and he obviously wasn't ready.

Defenseman Ryan Turek was released from the team for failing to meet the expectations of the team. Turek's lack of success is pretty disappointing. He was a 4th round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues--incidentally, drafted in the same round by the same team as Travis Erstad, who is now playing D-3 hockey. Turek was also among the first group of "early commits" to choose a school years in advance of actually enrolling in college.

CCHA At the Break

2008-12-17T11:00:00.005-06:00

There are still a few games to be played in the CCHA both in and out of conference before Christmas, but it's more or less the midway point of the season, so I figured I'd take a look at where each team is so far.

1. Notre Dame, 14 games played, 24 points

Notre Dame was my preseason pick to win the CCHA, and after a bit of a slow start, losing to Denver, and then getting swept by Miami, they haven't lost a point in CCHA play. One of the most impressive aspects of their dominance is how balanced their scoring has been. Christian Hanson leads the team with 23 points, and he's on pace to eclipse the 33 points he scored in his three previous seasons at Notre Dame. They're so deep that they've got some pretty good freshmen in Pat Gaul and Eric Ringel that aren't even seeing the ice right now.

The schedule gets marginally tougher in the second half of the season for the Irish with series against Alaska, at Omaha, and a home and home with Michigan, but there's no reason to think they should roll through the second half of this season.

2. Miami, 14 games played, 23 points

The Redhawks have been nearly as good as Notre Dame so far this year, trailing the Irish by just one shootout victory in the standings. The success of Miami's season was going to be dependent on the success of their freshman goalies, and so far, both Connor Knapp and Cody Reichard have been outstanding. Both have GAAs below 1.8 and save percentages above .920, which is outstanding.

The Redhawks sophomore class has really picked up the slack from Miami's outgoing senior class of last year. Carter Camper is tied for the lead in national scoring with 26 points, while Pat Cannone has 20, Tommy Wingels has 14, and Andy Miele has 14. Success this year aside, none of those four seem to outstanding pro prospects, meaning this group is likely here to stay for another two years, and Miami is here to stay as a power among the CCHA.

3. Nebraska-Omaha, 14 games played, 19 points

The Mavericks are pleasant surprise #1 in the CCHA this year. Coach Mike Kemp needed a top five finish to save his job, and so far, his team looks to be on pace to do that. The Mavericks always seem to have a couple seniors come out of nowhere to put up a ton of points, and this year, that role has fallen to Dan Charleston and Tomas Klempa, with 17 and 16 points respectively. Eddie Del Grosso is having a great year at the blueline, averaging over a point per game, with 10 of his 18 points coming at even strength.

The biggest story for the Mavericks this year, however, has been the emergence of their goaltending. After a carousel of poor goaltending ever since Chris Holt left the team for the pros, senior Jerad Kaufmann and junior Jeremie Dupont have both finally developed to the point that they are solid college goaltenders. Neither goalie has had a save percentage above .900 for a season prior to this year, and both are sporting percentages above .930 this year.

The Mavericks are on the NCAA tournament bubble right now, but their schedule gets much tougher in the second half of the year. They've got a non-conference game against Princeton, two against Minnesota State, and league series with Miami and Notre Dame(at home) and Michigan, Ferris State, and Alaska(on the road).

4. Alaska, 12 games played, 17 points

Alaska is pleasant surprise #2 in the CCHA this year. Just about everyone picked them to finish near the bottom of the league. I thought they'd be better than that, but I didn't expect them to be this good.

Defense has been the key for the Nanooks. They're only 8th in the conference in scoring, but senior Chad Johnson has been a darkhorse Hobey candidate with his amazing play in goal, and the Nanooks have the stingiest defense in the league. Freshman Scott Greenham has posted shutouts in his two starts this year--against bad Atlantic Hockey opponents, but still--and he can't see the ice for a conference game because Johnson has been so good.

They play a fairly big home series against Western Michigan this weekend. Alaska has historically been successful against Western and Western has been historically been unsuccessful against everybody, so if the Nanooks can get four points, they could jump up to third in the league, just behind the new Big Two.

The Nanooks are just barely inside the NCAA tournament right now, thanks in large part to a tie against Northeastern in their first game of the season(Who had that one circled as a key game?). The Nanooks aren't known for a second half slide the same way Anchorage is, but it will be interesting to watch. After a playing at Notre Dame on January 10th, the Nanooks alternate between playing at home and in Real America every weekend, save one bye week, until their season closing series with Anchorage.

5. Michigan, 12 games played, 14 points

For one of the first times since Red Berenson took over coaching at Michigan, there is a genuine goaltending controversy. Billy Sauer and Bryan Hogan have nearly identical numbers, 2.63/2.23 GAA .903/.909 SV%, but Hogan leads the conference in winning percentage with a 9-1-0 record, while Sauer is tied for 15th with a 2-6-0 record. Michigan has had some pretty terrible efforts this year where they could not put the puck into the net, and Sauer seems to have been in net for all of them. Whether it is coincidence or not, it looks like Hogan will be receiving the majority of the starts from now on.

Michigan's sophomore class has picked up some of the slack after Michigan lost their entire top line over the summer. Louie Caporusso has gotten off to a great start with 12 goals. Michigan's losses on defense have been well documented, but things are starting to look up. Mark Mitera likely won't be back, but freshman Brandon Burlon is starting to come into his own, and Steve Kampfer could return to the ice as early as Michigan's series against Miami. Contributions from those two offensive defenseman, along with allowing Chris Summers to move back to forward, could give Michigan's offense a huge boost in the second half. Catching Notre Dame or Miami seems unlikely, but the Wolverines could very likely pass Alaska and Omaha to earn a first round bye in the CCHA tournament, and extend their record NCAA tournament streak.

5. Ohio State, 12 games played, 14 points

I think a lot of people wrote off Ohio State after a dismal 2-5-1 start, but they've won 9 of their last 10 games.

That success has been the result of some talented youngsters. Goalie Joe Palmer has been a pretty big disappointment for the Buckeyes, but sophomore Dustin Carlson has emerged as the starter, and has put together a great season. Senior Corey Elkins leads the team in scoring, but after that, the next 13(!) highest scorers are either freshmen or sophomores. In particular, their large and talented sophomore class is really starting to develop and could be a force to be reckoned with in the second half.

Head coach John Markell was reportedly on pretty thin ice after last season, but this year could end up saving his job. If the Buckeyes can survive a tough schedule in the last couple weekends of the season, they have an outside shot at making the NCAA tournament.

5. Ferris State, 14 games played, 14 points

Ferris State is a team that always seems to be flying in stealth mode. They don't have many big name players that draw your attention. They're tough to get a read on because their results are all over the board--they lost a home game to Canisius, but took 3 points at Miami.

That stealth mode would be great if at the end of the year, Ferris found a way to make it to the Joe for the CCHA tournament, and sneak their way into the NCAA tournament as a 3 or 4 seed. But instead, they make the second round of the playoffs and give their opponent a hell of a series, before bowing out before anyone can really take notice. They look to be on a similar path this year.

8. Lake Superior, 14 games played, 12 points

Being in 8th place isn't spectacular by any means, but given what Lake Superior has to work with, it's also not that bad. Nathan Perkovich has had a little quieter year, but his slack has been picked up by Zac MacVoy, Troy Schwab, and Fred Cassiani.

The Lakers probably don't have the talent to move much higher than 8th, but they have a chance at earning home ice in the first round of the CCHA playoffs.

9. Bowling Green, 12 games played, 9 points

Bowling Green is a team that seems like it should be higher than 9th in the league. They've got one of the better top lines in the league with Dan Sexton, David Solway, and Brandon Svendsen.

There's been two problems for BG so far though. The first is in goal. Jimmy Spratt has a save percentage of .881 so far this year, which is pretty much what he has averaged for his career. Nick Eno is a promising young goalie, but he's been hampered by injury this year and unable to play. Second is the schedule. A third of BG's league games have been losses to Notre Dame. They've got pretty good looking splits with Alaska and Nebraska-Omaha, so they can beat good teams. Their second half schedule isn't easy, but they should be better than they were in the first half.

9. Northern Michigan, 14 games played, 9 points

Northern is sort of the mirror image of Alaska. Everyone seemed to pick them to finish pretty high in the league. I thought they'd be lower than projected, but I didn't expect them to be this low. In fact, they'd be tied for last place if it wasn't for the shootout.

So what has gone wrong? It looks like the offense has really let Northern down this year. At 1.71 goals per league game, they're 11th in the league in offense. Nick Sirota and Mark Olver both averaged nearly a point per game last season, and they're scoring about half of that this season.

There's still talent on this roster, but they still have to play at Notre Dame and at Miami, so it's going to be difficult for them to make up a lot of ground in the second half of the season, though they could be a difficult playoff matchup for whomever draws them.

11. Michigan State, 12 games played, 8 points

I can understand Michigan State having a down year after all the talent they lost after last season, but this is just embarrassing. A program with the history and name recognition of a Michigan State should never been in 11th place and scoring 1.5 goals per conference game.

MSU has a ton of young talent, and I think they'll be a little better in the second half, but it's looking like it will be too little, too late.

The big question for the rest of the season is what will be Rick Comley's future at Michigan State. Comley is two years removed from a national title, but aside from that surprising national title run, his results have been decidedly average--which incidentally, is the exact same way you'd describe his career at Northern Michigan. Comley has had a very long, distinguished career, but this offseason may be the time for him to step down gracefully and for MSU to move in another direction.

12. Western Michigan, 12 games played, 7 points

Oy. It's going to be a lot harder to justify pulling down the "Why hasn't Jim Culhane been fired yet?" article off the web like the Kalamazoo Gazette had to do last year. There's just not a lot of positives here.

New Commits

2008-12-17T10:51:00.003-06:00

Marquette Ranger Aaron Pietila committed to Michigan Tech.

Former Roseau Ram Jason Fabian committed to Air Force.

Waterloo Blackhawks forward Eriah Hayes committed to Minnesota State. Uriah's Haze would make a great band name.

Nick Pryor finally ended up deciding on Maine.

New Commits

2008-12-15T09:35:00.002-06:00

Lincoln Stars captain Chris Forfar committed to Michigan State over the weekend.

Defenseman Danny Biega committed to Harvard. His two brothers play for the Crimson.

Blake Geoffrion's brother Sebastien committed to Alabama-Huntsville. Huntsville is only about a 100 miles from his hometown of Brentwood, Tennessee.

McDermott to CC

2008-12-10T20:45:00.002-06:00

Fargo Force defenseman Eamonn McDermott has committed to Colorado College for the 2010 season. McDermott is a small defenseman, originally from the Cleveland area, that is a good skater and excellent at moving the puck. He's played with the US Select teams in Europe the past two summers.

More on Lucia/Two-Sport Athletes

2008-12-10T12:38:00.002-06:00

Don Lucia was on the radio in Minneapolis today, and clarified some of his comments on players playing both hockey and football. You can download the interview here.

Like I said yesterday, whether Lucia's quotes in the paper were taken out of context, or his opinion changed between then and now, or whatever, his stance here seems pretty reasonable.

2 Sport Stars

2008-12-09T12:52:00.003-06:00

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote a feature on Zach Budish's knee injury, suffered during football season, that will keep him from playing hockey his senior year.

Minnesota coach Don Lucia set off the internets with a quote saying he would advise hockey players against playing high school football. From the article:

""I have never discouraged or encouraged [playing football], but that may change now in light of what happened to Zach and what happened to Garrett, too," said Lucia, who also watched recruit Garrett Smaagaard of Eden Prairie miss his senior year of hockey after tearing his ACL in the 2000 Prep Bowl."
...
"Just weeks after Budish's injury, Lucia received a verbal commitment from an athlete who played both football and hockey.

"We had a talk," Lucia said. "I said, 'It's time to be a hockey player, not a football player.' He agreed and he's not going to play football next year.""

Said athlete would be Mahtomedi's Ben Marshall, for those that were curious.

Anyway, you can read the criticism in the comments of the article, or, if you want something a little more intelligent and grammatically correct, Bruce Ciskie had a rebuttal for the College Hockey News Blog.

I will say two things in defense of Lucia. First off, Lucia received a fair amount of criticism earlier this year--here included--for a quote in the Star-Trib about Minnesota never giving up a home game to play in an event like the Minnesota Hockey Showcase, when in fact, at least by that Saturday, his opinion was drastically different. Maybe he changed his mind, or maybe the quote was out of context, who knows. Not that this is an attack on any journalist in particular(the two articles were written by different writers anyway), but things do get misinterpreted sometimes.

Second, it's not hard to see why he might feel that way. He mentioned the Budish and Smaagaard injuries. Mike Forney's hockey career may have been a little less rocky had he not missed time and been so beaten up by football.

But at the same time, Lucia is also one of the more outspoken coaches on the issue of early commitments, and reportedly not a huge fan of 'family advisors' especially after debacles with Kyle Okposo and Phil Kessel, but I don't think you can play it both ways. You can't say 'we should let kids be kids' and then turn around and say 'you need to focus solely on hockey' If a player has to make a "career" decision that early on, they should also be able to make the wise hockey decision by locking down a scholarship early on, and getting professional advice on what his best for him as a hockey player.

Bottom line though, is that it is Lucia's program and he has the right to run it the way that he wants. There is a lot of pressure attached to playing and coaching at Minnesota. Look no further than about 11 months ago for evidence. By committing to the University of Minnesota, a player becomes a part of the team(more or less), and I think it's fair for Lucia to make sure a player's priorities are in order upon doing so. Minnesota isn't the only hockey program out there, and perhaps other programs would feel different. A player that still wants to play football wouldn't have to make a commitment to Minnesota.

Minnesota sets a very high standard for itself, and there are certain obligations that come along with that. There's nothing necessarily wrong with playing multiple sports, but if a player wants to commit to play at a big-time college hockey university, they should probably commit to being a big-time hockey player too.

Where Do NHL Players Come From?

2008-12-09T12:25:00.002-06:00

James Mirtle has been creating some interesting graphs mapping out where NHL players have come from throughout history. Today, he took a look at NHL players from the big three hockey states in the US: Minnesota, Michigan, and Massachusetts.

Here is the graph.

The biggest trend is one that has been talked about a couple of different times here, and that is the decline of hockey players from Massachusetts. While Minnesota and Michigan are on the rebound after a slight decline near the turn of the century--during the NHL's europhilia phase--Massachusetts has been in a steady decline, and as Mirtle points out, with vets like Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, and Bill Guerin near the end of their careers and few promising reinforcements on the way, those numbers should continue to decline.

The most common theory for why it be how it be is that the Boston Bruins have almost completely fallen off the sports radar in the city of Boston. The good news is that with the recent creation of a salary cap, the NHL has become egalitarian to the point that even the penny-pinching Bruins are able to compete, and if there is one thing the city of Boston loves--besides white people-- it's a winner. I mean, their baseball team somehow gained sovereignty after winning a title. The Bruins currently lead the NHL's Eastern Conference and a couple years of playoff success could change the sporting landscape there.

December American Hockey Draft Report

2008-12-08T23:08:00.002-06:00

This month's installment of the American Hockey Draft Report focuses on Minnesota's Jordan Schroeder, and compares his performance through his first 14 games against three other players that played in the NCAA during their draft year, and went on to become top ten picks. Schroeder stacks up pretty well so far.

New Commits

2008-12-08T15:24:00.003-06:00

NTDP defenseman John Ramage committed to Wisconsin. Defense is an area that Wisconsin isn't actually overloaded with prospects. Only Justin Schultz is scheduled to come in next year, and it's pretty plausible that the Badgers will be losing a couple blueliners to the pros.

Also, Anchorage reportedly got a commitment from '92 Joe Giordano. He's the second '92 birthdate UAA has recruited this year.

Providence continued their run of taking Minnesota HS players, by picking up a commitment from Lakeville South's Bill Simon. Simon had a pretty nice Elite League run this year.

MN High School Hockey in Trouble?

2008-12-07T20:38:00.003-06:00

The state of Minnesota hasn't been hit as hard economically as some other states, but times are still tough, and those economic problems could reach rinks in Minnesota. WCCO reported this weekend that the MSHSL board of directors is considering cutting the boy's high school hockey season by 20%, from 25 games to 20.

Minnesota high school hockey has a great tradition, and for the most part, has survived losing some of their top players to the USHL and NTDP, partly aided by the Upper Midwest Elite League, but a cut that big to their already sparse schedule could be disastrous.

AAA hockey is growing at the youth levels in the state of Minnesota. Type 'minnesota aaa hockey' into Google and on the first page, you get results for the homepages of the Minnesota Blades, Minnesota Magicians, Minnesota Rockets, Minnesota Stars, Red River Mud Sharks, and Minnesota Northern Wings; not to mention other AAA programs like the Minnesota Machine, Minnesota Flames, Minnesota Lightning, Minnesota Icemen, Jr. Wild, Minnesota Northern Storm and Team Easton. Most of these teams are forged in the spring and summer for a couple of tournaments here or there, but they provide a higher level of competition and depth than players would face in the winter with local teams. It seems like only a matter of time before players start eschewing their local hockey associations in favor of playing AAA hockey full-time.

Not that AAA hockey is without its faults, but Minnesota would have a leg up on the rest of the country with two of the bigger problems: cost and travel. With lots of available ice time and a deep talent base, it's not as necessary for teams to travel all around the country in search of competition.

If the state keeps making cuts to high school hockey, what is to stop the best players from opting out of playing high school altogether and playing in something like the Elite League throughout the winter? Again, the spectacle and history of the state tournament has huge drawing power for players, as does playing with the kids one grew up with, but between private schools and open enrollment, things seem to be heading away from that anyway. Both state champions last season were amalgamations of the top players from a number of different cities. The starting goalie for Warroad in the vaunted Warroad/Roseau game was a kid that had been cut by the Roseau HS team.

If that were to happen, it would be a real shame for the fans--two AAA all-star teams aren't going to draw 10,000 people on a weeknight the way Edina vs. Burnsville did last year--but it may be in the best interests of the players. Stats in high school hockey are practically meaningless since every player on a decent team seems to play at least a handful of blowout games where they could basically score as often as they want. I don't think high school hockey is a huge detriment, but with more quality players coming from non-traditional hockey areas, having Minnesotan players sharpen their skills against a higher level of competition wouldn't be a bad thing.

I think the bottom line is that there is a ton of demand to play hockey from players, and if the MSHSL can't meet that demand, players may start to look elsewhere.

WCH Weekend Preview

2008-12-05T09:57:00.003-06:00

Somebody actually requested this, and nobody feels like working on a Friday anyway, so it's time for the return for the WCH guide to culture and fluff.

Canadian Music Act of the Week: Tegan and Sara. Tegan and Sara are the leaders, and probably pioneers, of the creepy-looking-twin-indie-pop-duet genre. They're perhaps best known for their semi-hit song Walking with a Ghost . That song proves the theory that if you write a kickass hook to a song, you don't really need to bother with stuff like other lyrics.

Hockey Quote of the Week: I've spent all week trying to figure out the physics behind Kurt Davis' backhanded slap shot. According Shane Frederick, Minnesota State head coach Troy Jutting said it required “enough skill, enough oomph and a little luck.” I think my problem was that I have none of things.

Food of the Week: Taco John's Grilled Chicken Burrito. "This burrito is pretty good now that you've injected a bucket of liquid cheese into it, but is there any way we could get something fried in here too? Tater tots, you say? Brilliant!"

Blog Post of the Week: RWD says Goodbye to Bruce Ciskie.

Awful Commercial of the Week: Luvs Diapers. I'm sure this exactly what the Youngbloods had in mind when they wrote this song.

Song from the 90's that is better than anything by the effin' Jonas Brothers: Self Esteem by The Offspring. Did you know that 2009 marks the band's 25-year anniversary? Smash is the best selling independently-produce record of all-time, and one of the most solid front-to-back records ever.

Western Michigan's loss this week will be reminiscent of... The Battle of Bladensburg

Viral Video of the Week: Bubb Rubb. What can I say? I'm a sucker for the classics.

Random Wikipedia Entry: Flannery O'Connor

TV Dialogue of the Week: This week in video form.

Predictions
Rule Number 2 in the Blogger Code of Ethics--Right after Rule Number 1: "Make stuff up"--says I'm required to make some sort of predictions on the scores of games, even though the score, in large part, is often related to random, and thus unpredictable events. Making these futile projections will be one character from the The Simpsons making a pick for Friday and one villain from The Venture Brothers making a pick for Saturday.

Lee Carvallo: Denver 2 Michigan Tech 1

The Intangible Fancy: Nebraska-Omaha 3 Alaska 0

New Commits

2008-12-05T09:38:00.003-06:00

USHL vet Mike Seidel committed to Minnesota-Duluth. Seidel took visits to Ferris State, Michigan Tech, Western Michigan, and Quinnipiac. It sounds like he committed to UMD after talking with a couple former Cedar Rapids teammates. It's nice to see UMD has gotten past the Mason Raymond "You don't want to come to school here" era.

Also, Chris Heisenberg lists Edina defenseman Brendan Baker as committing to Holy Cross, which, like, whoa. I really like the way that Baker plays and think he's one of the best defensemen in the Minnesota HS ranks, and Holy Cross is, well, Holy Cross. Not that they're a bad team by any stretch, I just would have guessed he'd end up somewhere more known for their hockey program, so that seems like a huge recruiting win for their program.

Side note, I know my street cred in Atlantic Hockey is already perilously low after this past week, but it took me 7 guesses before I guessed what state Holy Cross was in. I don't know what I was thinking when I guessed Hawaii. Also, no mention of Holy Cross would be complete without this.

Anyway, it looks like Baker will start college right away out there, and should have a very good career out there.

New Commits

2008-12-04T15:38:00.004-06:00

Nebraska-Omaha picked up two new defenseman for the future. The first is Northwood Prep defenseman Nick Cecere, who is originally from West Des Moines, Iowa.

The other is St. Louis Jr. Blues defenseman Brian O'Rourke. He was selected by Green Bay in the USHL Future's Draft this fall, and played two games with GB while defenseman David Makowski was at the World Jr. A Challenge.

Both defensemen will join the Mavericks in either 2010 or 2011.

Lake Superior also had commitments from Ben Power and Kellen Ainsworth. Who knew?

Also, Cornell got a verbal commitment from Ben Thomson, who looks like a top '93 prospect from Ontario.

Linkorama

2008-12-03T23:55:00.002-06:00

It's important because I wrote it. I wrote a diary post over on MGoBlog talking about Michigan's hockey recruits.

I forgot to mention this last weekend, but Bowling Green defenseman Tim Maxwell left the team for "academic reasons". Maxwell's departure opens up more ice time for freshman Nick Bailen, who I think is a seriously underrated player.

Nine other goalies may have a better goals against average than Shane Connelly in WCHA conference play this year, but I'm willing to bet that none of those nine share a Christmas tree with Baby Mangino

Michigan Tech forward Mikael Lickteig is is done for the year with a knee injury. For some reason, I think of Lisa Simpson faking food poisoning to leave Martin Prince's birthday party. Seriously though, Tech has really been hit hard by injuries this year, and you know it's bad when a guy that doesn't even play goes down with a season-ending injury.

The most annoying thing in the wake of USA Hockey's announcement of their world junior is that we have to hear about how there's an OMG CONSPIRACY about every CHL that didn't make the team--despite the fact that 8 other CHL players apparently weren't part of that conspiracy.

Regan Bartel is mad that Colin Long didn't make the team. He asks, "
# If Long was on a level footing with a U.S college player on the depth chart, would that U.S college player have received the nod over the renegade that fled to Canada to chase his hockey dream? " I'd say Long is roughly on level footing with a Garrett Roe or Carter Camper, neither of whom made the US team last year. The US should get more than enough scoring from their top two lines. They needed a solid collection of guys for the lower two lines.

As far as my complaint earlier today on the exclusion of Jeremy Morin and Cam Fowler, I'll backtrack a little on Fowler. The US has a pretty loaded defensive corps--the other bitch du jour was about John Carlson not making the team on D--and this afternoon, I had a nightmare flashback to that horrible defense that played in the Grand Forks World Juniors a few years back, and decided that going with more maturity isn't the worst thing. I still can't think of a great reason for leaving Morin off the team.

Colorado Linkorama

2008-12-03T12:16:00.005-06:00

I forgot to mention this earlier, but Kate Crandall of the Colorado Springs Gazette left the newspaper to work for Teach for America. Kate wasn't at the Gazette for a really long time, but did a nice job getting a lot of information online in blog-form, which was extremely helpful to people like me.

On Frozen Blog had a very nice write-up on Air Force's success.

I hate being the anti-Air Force guy, because I really would like to see them succeed. I think it'd be incredible if they won their league's autobid and made a deep run in the NCAA tournament. But the idea of a team that will play just two games against teams that finish in the top 25 in the country getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament doesn't sit well with me at all. Even if they really are one of the best teams in the country, they'll have done little of significance to prove that.

I feel kind of the same way about INCH putting Jacques Lamoureux on their Hobey Tracker. Lamoureux overcame some pretty incredible odds just to make it into the Air Force, and for that alone, at least deserves some consideration. He's like the anti-Gerbe candidate. He's got the off-ice stuff in spades, but does his play merit consideration? After getting shut out last weekend, it's pretty likely he won't score a point against a single top 25 team. You don't hear much about Case Keenum being a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, even though he leads the NCAA in passing yards. Why? Because he plays for Houston.

On the plus side,Air Force joined Bemidji as the only non-WCHA/CCHA teams to get their own tag here, so they've got that going for them.

Denver's Tyler Bozak is one of the best free agents out there for the NHL right now. You could hold a pretty interesting debate on whether Bozak gained or lost money by coming back this year. On one hand, he'll likely be in the NHL from the start, possibly on a one-way contract(EDIT: All rookie contracts are two-way, but he'll likely spend way more time at the NHL level), meaning he'll get NHL dollars the whole year, as opposed to possibly spending a good chunk of time in the AHL. On the other hand, it's going to take him a year longer to reach his second contract, where he won't be bound by rookie salary limitations. Either way, he's got himself in a pretty good position.

US World Junior Roster

2008-12-03T09:14:00.003-06:00

The US World Junior team will be announced by USA Hockey this afternoon.

I mentioned yesterday that Thomas McCollum and Josh Unice will be the goaltenders for the US team.

It looks like Minnesota will send Jordan Schroeder, Cade Fairchild, and Mike Hoeffel to the tournament. Schroeder was a no-brainer. Fairchild is having a great season so far, and I really like the way that Hoeffel has played this year. He'll bring some good skill and a lot of effort to a lower line.

U18 stars Cam Fowler and Jeremy Morin won't be on the US roster. I have no idea why the US wouldn't select them.

UPDATE: The roster has been released.

Not a bad team. The inclusions of Blake Kessel and Tyler Johnson make the omission of Fowler and Morin all the more confusing, however.

White to Sioux

2008-12-03T09:11:00.004-06:00

Des Moines forward Matt White committed to North Dakota. The big power forward is an interesting prospect. He's got great size and skills, and looks to have all the tools of a excellent player, but it hasn't translated onto the scoresheet yet in the USHL. He's a young '91 birthdate, so he won't join the Sioux until at least 2010, and his draft year isn't until next year, so there's definitely time for him to put it all together.

Air Force and the Polls

2008-12-02T22:50:00.003-06:00

I hate fisking other college hockey writers, because I truly do appreciate anyone willing to put effort into writing about the game, but sometimes it's necessary. Plus, I figure I need actually write something about college hockey every now and then, since, as the MSHSL would like to point out, this is a college hockey blog, and how dare I write anything about high school hockey, which has no possible correlation to college hockey whatsoever. And I'm a fairly bitter person. See the previous statement as proof.

Anyway, Jim Connelly wrote a blog entry over at USCHO titled "Despite win over No. 3 Colorado College, bias against Air Force, Atlantic Hockey still exists".

As a disclaimer, most of this is discussing the recent national polls, of which, I really could not care less about. Partially because they're meaningless, and partially because I once dreamed of voting in one of those polls and turning in the most ridiculous list I could think of, until I realized that there's a good chance nobody would notice.

Anyway, the thesis is that Air Force proved their were For Real last weekend with their split against intrastate rivals Colorado College and Denver. The description of those two games were interesting. Air Force "...lost a tight game to the No. 9 team." while "...knocking off No. 3 Colorado College in CONVINCING fashion"

Wasn't the final score of both games 4-1? I'll grant that Air Force jumped out to a lead on Friday and seemed to have things on cruise control early, while Denver pulled away in the third period and scored an empty-netter, but I think there still has to be more distance between a tight game and an all caps convincing game.

I'll admit that I was a little surprised that Air Force pulled off the win on Friday, but is a win over CC on a Friday worthy of a super high ranking? North Dakota, Minnesota State, and Alaska-Anchorage all have the same win on their resume. The difference is that they've all lost other tough games, as opposed to beating up on 12 other cupcakes.

But wait, there's more.

"The fact that Air Force is being held back because it is a member of Atlantic Hockey should be a crushed argument after this past weekend."

Really?

"Other Atlantic Hockey members were dominant and, in fact, the league posted a 5-3-1 record out of conference on the week."

The line of dominance is apparently drawn at a .600 winning percentage. Anyway, you've got my attention. Who'd they beat?

"Mercyhurst won the RPI tournament by beating the host, RPI, and the No. 7 team in the country"

RPI is pretty brutal this year, with the worst offense in the country. Princeton was coming off their first real big win of the season the previous night and had a goaltending disaster. Still, a nice win for a team that got absolutely embarassed when they came out west to start the season. They seem to have caught something with goalie Ryan Zapolski and may no longer be my go-to bad team punchline.

Cansisius took three of four points from Clarkson, a pre-season top 20.

Heavy emphasis on pre-season, as in, before anyone had seen them play. Clarkson is 2-7-3 and 8th worst team in the country per KRACH.

Connecticut manhandled Brown

Brown hasn't won a game yet and is currently rated as the worst team in the country by KRACH.

Essentially, Atlantic Hockey went 3-0 against teams in the bottom 10 of the country, and 2-3 against teams in the top 20.

The article ends with this:

Though maybe it’s better off - teams might continue to take Air Force lightly and proceed to get outplayed.

Who is going to be taking them lightly? The biggest game on the rest of Air Force's schedule is a potential match-up with KRACH #31 Merrimack, the second worst team in Hockey East. Over half of their remaining games are against the 7 worst teams in the country. I'm pretty sure Connecticut isn't overlooking anyone.

And herein lies the problem. Air Force's strength of schedule is rated 46th best in the country, and presumably, that's as high as it is going to get, once the CC/DU games get more diluted by the rest of the Atlantic Hockey league schedule.

This creates a potential nightmare scenario. Air Force could drop like a rock with a couple losses, but so far, it's not looking like they will. They should be aided by the fact that they'll come nowhere close to the minimum of 10 games against Teams Under Consideration, and thus, don't have to worry about that comparison category. As a result, Air Force may end up doing the impossible: getting people to care about the Atlantic Hockey tournament. Air Force may be dominant over their league, but winning two single elimination games against anybody is a risky proposition. That means we'll likely be a couple weird bounces away from two Atlantic Hockey teams playing in the NCAA tournament. Air Force is a great story, but personally, I'd rather see a more battle-tested mid-pack WCHA or CCHA team make the tournament than a team that played two decent teams all year.

Add Herbert to 'Dogs List

2008-12-02T16:51:00.002-06:00

I mentioned earlier today that Shattuck forward Joe Basaraba had committed to Minnesota-Duluth, and Chris Heisenberg lists another forward committing to UMD.

This time it is Bloomington Jefferson HS forward Caleb Herbert. Herbert is a slender but speedy forward that missed most of last year with an injury, but was very impressive over the summer at the Select 17 Festival, and had a nice Fall Elite League. He should be a top player on a pretty good Jaguars team this year.

Linkorama

2008-12-02T16:30:00.003-06:00

As a reminder to anyone in Minnesota(or elsewhere), you can still sign up for the Anthony Ford Pond Hockey Tournament.

Bruce Ciskie will be moving on after many years working in radio in Duluth, and calling play-by-play for UMD for the past few years. You can still read his work over at Fanhouse, including this week's feature on Rhett Rakhshani.

USA Hockey signed a big TV deal with the NHL Network.

USA Hockey will also announce their World Junior team tomorrow. Thomas McCollum and Josh Unice will be in goal for the US.

Denver's Marc Cheverie is playing well.

FollowThePuck has their Three Stars for the first week of the high school season.

Russian prosecutors have placed the blame for Alexei Cherepanov's untimely death on the arena manager and the head of the club hosting the game for failing to coordinate proper emergency medical services before the game.

New Commits

2008-12-02T15:02:00.003-06:00

Chris Heisenberg has two new commits listed.

First, Shattuck-St. Mary's forward Joe Basaraba committed to Minnesota-Duluth. Basaraba is from Fort Frances, Ontario, which borders International Falls, Minnesota. Basaraba was selected by the Erie Otters in the second round of last summer's OHL Draft, and seemed intent on playing in the OHL, but apparently had a change of heart this year. This allows Basaraba to play within three hours of his hometown, as opposed to playing over 1000 miles away in Erie.

Second, Waterloo Blackhawks defenseman Mike Montrose committed to Bowling Green. Montrose was an excellent defenseman for the Little Caesar's organization before making the jump to the USHL last year.

More on WJHL Fiasco

2008-12-01T19:59:00.002-06:00

I mentioned the embarrassment of the Wisconsin Junior Hockey League yesterday, and here's a little more on that.

According to the head coach of the Rhinelander team, the league has collapsed. The Rhinelander Daggers were trying to gain admission in the Minnesota Junior Hockey League, but so far, I haven't heard anything.

I questioned yesterday whether the league's failure was due to poor planning or straight up wrongdoing on the part of the people running the league. The latter looks to be in the lead right now, with most of the blame falling on WJHL franchise director Scott Schwendeman. Said Rhinelander head coach Igor Myaskovskiy, "The guy is almost like a criminal."

Calling him almost a criminal is in fact, too kind. If you search Wisconsin Court Records, you'll find a pretty impressive rap sheet for a 26-year-old, including a lot of small claims to recover lost money, writing bad checks, and a couple bail jumping accusations.

That link is also helpful for keeping track of all the lawsuits filed against him so far in relation to the WJHL debacle. He also received a speeding ticket on September 2nd, presumably while driving away with those people's money.

It's really a shame that something like this happened. I guess the lesson here for players and parents is to be very careful when dealing with unsanctioned leagues. The WJHL was never sanctioned by USA Hockey, and according to USA Hockey, they never even talked with USA Hockey. Perhaps USA Hockey's rules and regulations for junior leagues would have kept something like this from happening.

High School Hockey Recap

2008-11-30T23:09:00.002-06:00

The Minnesota High School Hockey season got underway last weekend. Here are your scored for the 28th and 29th.

#1 Edina won their Turkey Trot tournament with wins over Buffalo and Wayzata. Maple Grove came in third, after losing to Wayzata in a shootout on the first day, and came back with a nice win over Buffalo. The boys from Suburban Consumerism Hell have some really nice players--sophomore Dan Carlson is one in particular that will be watched closely this year--and could be a nice sleeper team this year. They've got a tough section with Blaine and Centennial, but could surprise people.

The big result that stood out on Saturday was Breck beating fellow Class A power Duluth Marshall 5-1. Breck was absolutely loaded with young talent last season, and could maybe even make a run at that military school from Mendota Heights that wasn't very good a long time ago.

FSN's high school hockey coverage gets started this Tuesday when defending state champion Hill-Murray plays Burnsville at 7pm CST. Burnsville looks a little down compared to last season--as you'd expect after losing Tyler Barnes and Jake Hendrickson. They lost their first game of the season to resurgent Bloomington Jefferson last weekend, while Hill looks like they'll have their usual strong team. As a warning, the game is in Burnsville meaning they'll have B-vile alum Kevin Gorg doing something stupid.

Epic Fail Linkorama

2008-11-30T15:01:00.005-06:00

This was the inaugural season for the Wisconsin Junior Hockey League, a Tier III league that was Wisconsin's answer to the MnJHL, and so far, it's looking like a colossal failure. People are suing the league, and teams have folded. It will be interesting to see if the failures are a result of trying to do too much in market that isn't interested in low-level junior hockey, or if there was serious malfeasance here.

Major league creep David Frost gets to keep the word 'allegedly' in front of his laundry list of major league creepy accusations . In honor of this triumph of justice, I'll say that allegedly, the world would be a better place if he were found face down in a ditch tomorrow. This also means I've got free reign to start making the joke about Canada treating Bob Turow harsher than David Frost again.

Oh yeah, and fresh off his acquittal, Frost has a new website, featuring a blog written by the guy he allegedly sexually molested.

The ECHL's Augusta Lynx are close to going belly up, unless they get an immediate injection of capital. Kevin Quick plays for the Lynx. I think we all know the obvious joke here.

Gwilliam Update

2008-11-27T00:20:00.002-06:00

Michigan Tech's Malcolm Gwilliam is out of the hospital and heading back to Michigan, according to Michigan Tech head coach Jamie Russell.

Russell said that Gwilliam will make a full recovery and could play hockey again in the future, but not this season. He also mentioned the possibility of appealing to the NCAA for a sixth year of NCAA eligibility due to medical hardship.

UNO's Hot Start

2008-11-26T08:02:00.003-06:00

Earlier this year, I noted that Nebraksa-Omaha head coach Mike Kemp was on the hot seat in Omaha, and so far, his team seems to have responded. The Mavericks are 9-2-1, second in the CCHA, with enough games in hand to catch first place Miami. Part of the reason for that, as INCH noted this week, is that both UNO goalies, Jeremie Dupont and Jerad Kaufmann, have GAAs below 2.

It's a great start for UNO, but they've also been relatively untested. Yale is the only team in the four major conferences with a weaker strength of schedule than the Mavericks. The goaltending numbers could be deceiving too. Here's a look at the offenses UNO has face, with national rank--out of 58 teams--in parenthesis.(Numbers are as of last weekend, so they don't take into account games played on Tuesday)

American International(58)
Union(20)
2 vs. Mercyhurst(37)
2 vs. Bowling Green(45)
2 vs. Western Michigan(48)
2 vs. Ferris State(36)
2 vs. Michigan State(54)

So out of 12 games, 11 have been against below-average offensive teams. It will be interesting to see if UNO's goalies can maintain that success once they start playing some better offenses.

Hobey Watch: Dynamic Duos

2008-11-25T23:04:00.002-06:00

It's still very early, and the race for the Hobey is still wide open. A lot of the top candidates can be expressed as pairs, so this week, the Hobey Watch will be looking at players in groups of two.

1. Ryan Stoa and Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota

The fact that he is playing with a near equally talented senior in Ryan Stoa practically eliminates Jordan Schroeder from having any hope of winning the Hobey as a freshman, but I'm not totally convinced that he doesn't belong in the discussion.

Somewhere along the way last season, I put forth the theory that Minnesota had a ton of big goalscorers, but lacked a dynamic playmaker to set up those goalscorers. Schroeder has been that guy. Perhaps Jay Barriball just had an off year last season, and was bound to return to normal, and perhaps Ryan Stoa learned a lot while sitting out last year with a knee injury, but both are likely going to have career years, and have really helped carry Minnesota's team this year. I think Schroeder deserves a ton of credit for that.

2. Chad Rau and Eric Walsky, Colorado College

It helps having arguably the best goalie in the country, but Colorado College has had a ton of success this season, despite being pretty much a one line team. Rau and Walsky have combined to score 18 goals this year. Linemate Billy Sweatt has 5. The rest of the team has just 16 goals. I really don't think Colorado College, even with Bachman in net, would be any good without those two.

3. Brock Bradford and Colin Wilson, Boston College and Boston University

We'll pair up the crosstown rivals. Both have a lot of points on very good teams. Bradford is a senior, while Wilson is pretty obviously in his last year of NCAA hockey. New Hampshire's James van Riemsdyk could just as easily go in this category.

4. Jacques Lamoureux and Brent Olson, Air Force

The AFA duo is still atop the NCAA scoring table, though they've cooled their jets(Har!) as of late. Olson has "only" a single point in each of his last four games, while Lamoureux put up three bagels in a row, before picking up two assists in his last game. Air Force has proven that they're dominant over AHA competition. This weekend's games against CC and Denver will be one of the only real measuring sticks as to how "for real" these guys are.

Bonus!

Because Thanksgiving weekend is all about pure gluttony...

Ben Scrivens, Cornell-It looks like Cornell is returning to the Leneveu-McKee years with another goalie that has freakish stats. I've never actually been to an ECAC game, but I imagine the players being too busy standing around discussing semiotics to score goals.

Aaron Palushaj, Michigan-Michigan is 0-4 when Palushaj doesn't score, and 8-2 when he does.

Tommy Grant, Alaska-Anchorage-UAA looks respectable this year, in large part because they have legitimate scoring threats, including the deadly Grant.

Kurt Davis, Minnesota State-Davis has a point in every game his team has played this year.

Carter Camper, Miami-Miami lost a lot of talent after last season, but Camper has filled in very nicely.

Tyler Bozak, Denver-One of the most talented players in the NCAA. If his numbers go up a little bit, he could definitely be in the Hobey discussion.

Why Did We Suck? How Can We Not Suck?

2008-11-25T21:20:00.000-06:00

Michigan State hasn't been very good this year. At least I think. Their record in the CCHA is 2-6-2-2, and I'm not really sure what to do with that. I mean, that's too many numbers, right? In any case, I do know that they got swept at Omaha last weekend by scores of 7-1 and 3-1, and have only scored a single goal in each of their past 5 games.

Why have they been so terrible? It's not often that I get to do this, but my preseason projection for MSU is looking awfully prescient right now:

Much like Michigan last season, Michigan State’s season will depend on how quickly their freshmen can adapt to college hockey, after a string of departures to the NHL this past summer. The Spartans bring in a lot of forwards that were among the very best in their respective junior leagues last season, but those leagues are less traditional recruiting grounds for top NCAA players. Goalie Jeff Lerg may need to carry this team early in the season while those players adjust for the Spartans to be successful. The Spartans could be on the NCAA tournament bubble, but a slump, either early in the season, or in the second half when the youngsters start to hit a wall, could keep them out of the tournament.

Those freshmen? They're not adjusting quickly to college hockey, and it's probably killing their NCAA tournament hopes.

As far as freshman contribution, Daultan Leveille has 3 goals, Andrew Conboy has 2, Ben Warda and Trevor Nill have 1, and the rest have yet to score. Obviously they were hoping for more than 8 goals from this freshman class 14 games into the season.

It shouldn't be completely unexpected, however. Michigan State had what was considered a very good recruiting class coming in this year, but in looking at some of the top players--Daultan Leveille(GHJHL), Brett Perlini(NOJHL), Mike Merrifield(NAHL)--they came from junior leagues where they weren't playing against much, if any, Division I talent on a daily basis. Even if they are--to borrow Brian Cook's terminology--their own unique ninja-snowflakes, it's going to take time to adjust to the speed of the game before they really start contributing.

The upshot, of course, is that it's undeniable that these kids have talent, and they should be good eventually. The problem is that it's not likely to come this year, and if it does, it could be too late to get Michigan State back into the national tournament picture.

MN HS Hockey Linkorama

2008-11-25T21:01:00.003-06:00

Let's Play Hockey Magazine released their first rankings. Comparing them with my ad hoc top 10 from a couple weeks ago, it looks like I forgot about Bloomington Jefferson, who looks to be back after a brief downswing. No idea why St. Thomas is ranked that high since they were bad a really long time ago.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune profiled Mahtomedi's Ben Marshall and Hill-Murray's Tyler Zepeda.

The Mankato Free Press featured Mankato West's Andrew Bruggeman.

A look at the Lake Conference.

The Rochester P-B took a look at Rochester John Marshall, who is looking to rebound after a tough year last year.

Clare Commits to Michigan

2008-11-25T16:20:00.002-06:00

NTDP U17 defenseman Kevin Clare committed to Michigan. It looks like USHR broke the story.

Clare joins Jon Merrill, Luke Moffatt, Jacob Fallon, and Jack Campbell as players on the U17 team that have committed to Michigan.

That Didn't Take Long

2008-11-21T11:17:00.004-06:00

Green Bay Gamblers forward Sean Little committed to, yeah, you guessed it.

Also, per Chris Heisenberg...

Roseau's Tyler Landman is going to Providence. The Friars have hit Minnesota hard lately, taking Matt Bergland, David Brown, and Rob Maloney straight out of high school.(Incidentally, Bergland is off to a fantastic start with 11 points in his first ten games). Landman is a very hard-working player, and it's great to see that rewarded.

Also, Anchorage picked up a commitment from Sam Mellor, a late '92 birthdate, that plays in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League for the Kimberley Dynamiters(No, I didn't make up that name). He's got 4 goals and 8 assists in 18 games against mostly older competition.

Signing Week

2008-11-20T15:18:00.004-06:00

The Early Signing Period was this past week for college hockey, meaning teams no longer need to maintain radio silence on many of their recruits. Here are some of the press releases.

Notre Dame looks like they could have the best class in the country, if all those players make it to campus. Also, I think Riley Sheahan's jersey gave me a seizure.

Western Michigan's class.

Michigan Tech's class. Hurray for Milos!

Michigan signed three NTDP players. That class should grow by the end of the summer.

St. Cloud signed three players from the western part of the state.

Minnesota State signed four players, including one from Florida, Arizona, and Alaska.

Tech's Gwilliam Hospitalized

2008-11-19T23:42:00.004-06:00

There was a bit of scary situation in Minnesota on Sunday. Michigan Tech's Malcolm Gwilliam had to be taken to the hospital shortly before the game.

From the article:

"The latest blow to Tech is the loss of first line senior wing Malcolm Gwilliam. He was hospitalized before Sunday’s game with an undisclosed medical condition not related to hockey.

Russell called it serious but said he could not say anymore. The team’s sports information director said it was not life-threatening but Gwilliam remained behind in a hospital while his teammates returned to Hougton, Mich."

Rumors seem to indicate that Gwilliam was feeling some numbness in his face, related to some kind of clot or blockage in his leg. On his radio show tonight, Russell said Gwilliam is still hospitalized in Minnesota. Russell also gave high compliments to the training staff at Minnesota for how they handled the situation.

Linkorama

2008-11-19T15:56:00.007-06:00

The Michigan Daily had a nice article on the differences between blogs and newspaper coverage. It may seem odd given what I do, but I really do hope newspaper can find a way to get things together. There's a long rant to go with this, but I'll save that for later.

I noticed I got a little criticism for not putting Edina's Anders Lee on my list of Mr. Hockey candidates. That's a fair criticism, but I thought I'd give my reasoning. Personally, I think Marshall Everson is a better player than Lee, and if anybody from Edina is going to win the award now that Zach Budish isn't playing, I think it should be Everson. Lee is also a very good player, but I think part of the reason he's getting so much attention right now is that he's one of the few top prospects out there that hasn't committed to a college, and the Next Big Recruit is always going to get more attention than someone that committed to a school years ago. Of course, if Lee ends up committing to Minnesota, which seems like a very real possibility, I could see him keeping that hype.

On the injury front, Michigan State's Nick Sucharski will miss a lot of time due to a shoulder injury. I'd guess that at this point, he'd opt for surgery.

The UAA Fan Blog wins an irony award for saying in the same post that Anchorage A) needs to build a new arena with a minimum of 6000 seats B) Is giving away a ton of free tickets to seats in their current 6400 seat arena. There's not even a paragraph between the two.

This site got a mention among the top college sports blogs.

More on Montpetit

2008-11-19T13:19:00.005-06:00

Now that Andy Baggot has given us a little more information on Brock Montpetit's de-commit, there's a few issues I wanted to discuss.

On the decision to back out of UW, Baggot wrote:

John Montpetit said the decision was "100 percent'' his son's. He acknowledged Brock was bothered by the fact he wasn't part of the current freshman class at UW and that the final scholarship offer was less than what was promised when the commitment was made.

"We were told it was a 100 percent full ride,'' John Montpetit said. "Now we're told they don't give out 100 percent rides, that they're 90 percent.''

This doesn't seem right to me. I've heard that pretty much every program short of the Air Force offers a maximum 90% scholarship. Maybe there was a mix-up in communication, but I have kind of a hard time believing Wisconsin dropped his percentage from 100% to 90%.

And really, does that sound like a huge deal-breaker? How much is 10% of in-state tuition at Wisconsin? The Univesity of Wisconsin estimates a year's worth of total expenses at UW-Madison is about $19,000, so we're talking about less than $2000 for a kid that spent two years at an elite prep school.

As far as not playing for Wisconsin this year, I could see that being a concern, but again, I'm fairly sure that when he committed, the commitment was for 2008 or 2009.(Someone can correct me here, since the original article on his commitment disappeared into internet ether, but I'm pretty sure that was the case) In any case, this is a pretty good lesson for all recruits out there. If a coach tells you that they want you either Year X or Year X + 1, you should probably count on starting in Year X + 1.

The bigger issue here, in my estimation, is that Montpetit committed to Wisconsin in June of 2006, and since that commitment, Wisconsin verbally committed to: Craig Smith, Derek Stepan, Jordy Murray, Travis Erstad(who has since decided to play D-III hockey), Tyler Barnes, Derek Lee, Tyler Lapic, Jefferson Dahl, Gavin Hartzog, Michael Mersch, Keegan Meuer, Cody Strang, Matt Paape, and Mark Zengerle. That's 14 other forwards--13 still committed, albeit spread out through 3-4 classes, but that's a lot of promises to a lot of players. You can only dress 12 forwards a night, and usually only 6 play on the powerplay. Make any argument you want about "earning playing time" but the fact is, once you start dividing things that many ways, players are going to get shuffled out. And who is to say that a year or two down the road, Wisconsin won't go after the next big prospect that comes their way?

Then, it's hard to imagine Montpetit finding a better situation than at Wisconsin. Most WCHA schools are likely going to be pretty full for next season. It's probably unlikely that Montpetit would find another 90% scholarship offer at another WCHA school--though again, I don't think the money was a huge issue. And it's not like there won't be a team full of talented players at any other WCHA school.

In any case, like I said last night, this is probably most damaging to Mike Eaves and Wisconsin. People have joked about the Weekly Wisconsin Commitments for a while, and it finally seems to be coming back to bite them. I often hear people say how verbal commitments are non-binding, and there are guarantees and yada yada, but this provides a good example of what can happen if teams don't honor. It should be noted that Wisconsin still sent Montpetit a Letter of Intent that he chose not to sign. But Wisconsin is going to get absolutely hammered in the recruiting world with the perception that they over-recruit and force players out of their program. It's a reputation that no team would risk gaining.

Mr. Hockey Candidates

2008-11-19T08:45:00.000-06:00

I took a stab at the top ten candidates for the Minnesota Mr. Hockey award. It looks like this year's award will be Nick Leddy's to lose, but there are a number of talented players that could win the award.

Montpetit Decommits

2008-11-18T22:27:00.003-06:00

I've received word that Waterloo forward Brock Montpetit has decommitted from the University of Wisconsin.

Montpetit committed to Wisconsin back in June of 2006. I haven't heard reasons why, or where he might be looking to play in the future, but this seems like a pretty serious hit to Wisconsin's image. There's been complaints of over-recruiting dogging their program for a few months now, and having a top player decommit likely won't do anything to help that reputation.

Update: Andy Baggot talked with Montpetit's father about the situation.

Linkorama

2008-11-18T13:55:00.002-06:00

I'll admit I was pretty excited yesterday when I heard Doug Gilmour would be taking over coaching the Kingston Frontenacs, just because I wanted to see Out of Left Field's reaction. It didn't disappoint. Watching Kingston from afar is like following a good sitcom.

Incidentally, since we only ever hear about CHL success stories, I will point out that in looking over the Fronts roster, there are more than a couple guys--Kelly Geoffrey, Jesse Brown, Matt Kang--that would have been better served taking college offers when they came their way.

Practice is getting underway for the Minnesota boy's high school hockey season. The Rochester Post-Bulletin's Faceoff blog started breaking down the teams in the Queen City of Minnesota. Rochester Mayo looks pretty good despite losing Charlie Thauwald to junior hockey. Century still has the best fight song in the city, though.

Tickets go on sale this week for The Rocky Mountain Face-Off between Colorado State and Colorado's club team, as CSU tries to raise money to start a Division I hockey program. CSU starting a program would be interesting to see.

Denver's Tyler Bozak is having a good year.

Western Michigan's Kevin Connauton is quietly having a pretty good season. Having a positive +/- rating on Western's team is no small feat.

The Blog That Yost Built's Tim Williams got interviewed in an article about Michigan recruit Jack Campbell.

New Commits

2008-11-18T11:40:00.003-06:00

Indian Ice forward Shane Berschbach committed to Miami. Berschbach is small, but always seems to find a way to put points up on the board.

BCHL forward Garrett Milan committed to St. Cloud, and upon doing so, gave this rousing endorsement of the school: "I think St. Cloud fits me better academically. It's a good school, and I want to go into business, but I didn't feel like it was Harvard and it would be hard to keep up."

Bemidji picked up two commitments from the Topeka Roadrunners of the NAHL in forward Jordan Geroge and Matt Hartmann. Geroge is the second leading scorer in the league. He's a smaller playmaker that runs Topeka's offense. Hartmann is tied for 11th in league scoring. He's one of the strongest players in the league, and in addition to being a big hitter, he added a deadly shot to his arsenal this season and has become a dangerous offensive threat. Two very nice pick-ups for the Beavers.

NCAA Preliminary Draft Rankings

2008-11-18T11:13:00.002-06:00

NHL Central Scouting released their preliminary NCAA rankings. Kind of like the junior list, they seem to have erred on the side of adding everybody to the list. Most of the guys on here are like the Ghosts of Central Scouting Past and won't get drafted.

A few thoughts...

If I were picking out of the WCHA, the guys I would take a look at would be: Jordan Schroeder(obvs.), Mike Connolly, and Jared Festler.

Wouldn't a guy who hasn't played in a game yet qualify for Limited Viewing?

I'm kind of surprised that Calvin de Haan is 5th on the OHL list. I know he's had a great start to the season, but he was at Fargo's camp last spring, and didn't really seem to do a lot.

The WHL group looks pretty deep, though I still would have thought Collin Bowman would be a little higher.

WCHA Penalty Math

2008-11-17T12:38:00.003-06:00

Greg Shepherd was in the booth with Frank and Doug during yesterday's Sunday matinee between Minnesota and Michigan Tech, in a move that was bound to end in disaster. One thing in particular caught my attention though. No, not that he repeated that ridiculous line about video being the officials worst enemy--because clearly, the biggest problem here was that someone filmed it. Not the terribly put assertion that the league didn't really care about fans when deciding to call 50 penalties a game--technically a good decision, but from a PR standpoint, he made it sound as terrible as possible, and Frank had to awkwardly try to clean up his mess. Not even the Freudian slip about how officials would stop calling games this way as soon as the calendar rolled over to December.

No, what stuck out to me the most was the assertion that the stricter rules enforcement wasn't that big of a deal because so far, it had only meant an extra two powerplays per team, per game. Much like the Pairwise rankings, this is the magical combination of math and poor logic.

First issue: Is that even true?

Last season, there was a total of 1229 powerplays over the course of 140 WCHA league games. That works out to an average of 8.77 powerplays per game, meaning each team is getting roughly 4.385 powerplays per game. After 39 league games this season, there have been a total of 543 powerplays. Again, going to the averages, that's 13.92 powerplays per game, or 6.96 powerplays per team, per game.

So 4.385 vs. 6.96, a difference of 2.575 powerplays per team, per game . Technically, his assertion is close to true, though stretched by about a powerplay per game.

Second, more important issue: Is that a big deal?

This is a little tougher to argue since it's a matter of opinion, but I'm pretty sure it is.

The number only looks small because it's been divided enough times until you get a small number. You may as well say, "Hey, it's only an extra .858 powerplays per period!" or "That's only an extra .032 powerplays per shift!"

The problem is that if you go in the other direction, the numbers tend to look worse. This is a little speculative on my part, since there are no concrete numbers on actual PP time, but let's assume that the average powerplay lasts 1:30 due to either powerplay goals or overlapping penalties. That means that last season there was approximately 12:23 of powerplay time per game, which is 21% of a hockey game. This year, there is approxmiately 20:53 of powerplay time per game, which is 35% of the game. I think most people would argue that 14% of a hockey game is a pretty big deal.

Third Issue: Does this mean the officials are in the wrong?

Not necessarily. In theory, I love the idea of cleaning up some of the obstruction in the game and making it faster and more exciting. The problem is putting faith in the practitioners of that theory, and frankly, there's never been much reason to put that faith in the WCHA's officials, and even less reason with a number of officials having been recently promoted from linesman out of necessity rather than performance.

The issues this causes are the same as what happened during the checking-from-behind craze of a few years ago. Game-changing decisions are being put in the hands of the officials and their calls are frustratingly inconsistent and frustratingly questionable. Some of that is just the nature of officiating. Two biased parties are going to see the same thing very differently. But I also think that more calls this group has to make, the greater the chance of them making very poor calls. And that's been the biggest complaint so far this season. It's not that a team is going shorthanded an extra five times per weekend. It's that they're going shorthanded on calls that never should have been made.

Fourth Issue: What's the Solution?

Sadly, it may just be waiting until December when officials stop calling--er, I mean, players "adjust" to the new rules. It seems to have worked for the NHL, so maybe it will work in college. In the meantime, it's up to the fans to adjust to watching a different game.

Key Games

2008-11-17T11:57:00.002-06:00

I had mentioned on Saturday that the WCHA only had two teams in the NCAA tournament and the CCHA only had one, according to the way-too-early PWR. That hasn't changed, though Colorado College replaced MSU as a WCHA rep, while Miami replaced Michigan as the CCHA rep.

One of the big reasons for this is that as of right now, the ECAC has 5 teams in the top 13 of the country, thanks to their late start, and rather insular schedule so far. In any case, non-conference games against these ECAC schools could have a big impact on NCAA tournament status for a lot of teams in the WCHA and CCHA. Here's a look at those non-conference games.

Already Played:
10-10-08: Michigan 4 St. Lawrence 3
10-11-08: Michigan 5 St. Lawrence 3
10-18-08: Nebraska-Omaha 2 Union 1 (OT)

Still to Come:
11-28-08: Colgate at Denver, Cornell at North Dakota
11-29-8: Colgate at Colorado College, Cornell at North Dakota
12-5-08: North Dakota at Harvard
12-6-08: North Daktoa at Harvard
12-13-08: RPI at Miami
12-14-08: RPI at Miami
12-19-08: Clarkson at Bowling Green
12-20-08: Clarkson at Bowling Green
12-27-08: Cornell vs. St. Cloud(Florida College Classic), Lake Superior vs. Harvard(Badger Showdown)
12-28-08: Potentially Colgate vs. St. Cloud(Florida College Classic), Potentially Harvard vs. Wisconsin(Badger Showdown)
12-29-08: Minnesota State at Princeton, Nebraska-Omaha at Yale
12-30-08: Nebraska-Omaha at Princeton, Minnesota State at Yale
1-2-09: Brown at Minnesota(Dodge Holiday Classic), Clarkson vs. Miami(Ohio Hockey Classic), St. Lawrence vs. Ferris State(Catamount Cup), Union vs. Notre Dame(Shillelagh Tournament)
1-3-09: Potentially Brown vs. Western Michigan, Potentially Clarkson vs. Ohio State(Ohio Hockey Classic), Potentially Colgate vs. Ferris State(Catamount Cup), Potentially RPI vs Denver(Denver Cup), Potentially Union vs. Minnesota-Duluth(Shillelagh Tournament)
1-8-09: Lake Superior at Colgate
1-9-09: Lake Superior at Colgate

No games vs. WCHA or CCHA: Dartmouth, Quinnipiac

Kampfer's Assailant Charged

2008-11-15T12:19:00.003-06:00

Former Michigan football player("player") Mike Milano was charged with one count of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder and one count of aggravated assault, for an incident which left Michigan hockey player Steve Kampfer with serious injuries.

Earlier this week, Kampfer filed for a restraining order against Milano, but it was denied, as restraining orders require repeated harassment.

I Just Wanted to Be First

2008-11-15T11:48:00.002-06:00

If the NCAA tournament started later tonight...

Minnesota and Minnesota State would be the only WCHA teams in the tournament. Michigan would be the only CCHA team.

Air Force's non-conference games with Denver and CC can't get here fast enough.

CHL Stuff

2008-11-14T15:28:00.002-06:00

The NTDP won't be releasing Brandon Maxwell to Windsor of the OHL. It's a pretty complicated issue, but I can understand why USA Hockey wouldn't release him.

Also, Colin Jacobs signed with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. He had previously committed to the NTDP for next season. I'm not super-surprised by this move. Given that he's represented by CAA(the same people that represent The Jonas Brothers!), I could see them wanting to push whatever is perceived to be the faster track, rather than toiling in relative anonymity in Ann Arbor. Jacobs definitely has a lot of potential, but a very long ways to go before reaching it. Hopefully he can develop that in Seattle.

New Commits

2008-11-14T11:13:00.002-06:00

Des Moines forward Chris Knowlton committed to Denver.

BCHL defenseman Matt Grassi committed to Michigan State. One could only hope his middle initial is D.

BCHL forward Mark Zengerle committed to Wisconsin.

Lincoln Stars defenseman Ross Henry committed to Western Michigan. Henry is an interesting player. At his best, he looks like a very high-end defender. If he develops a little more consistency, he could be a real steal for Western.

Sioux Falls forward Matt Farris committed to Princeton. Farris is unique in that he is a native of Pierre, South Dakota. The Ivy League makes sense for Farris as he won the USHL's Scholar-Athlete Award.

Elite League NIT: NHL Draft Prospects

2008-11-10T18:20:00.004-06:00

I meant to put this on the bottom of the last post, but that got a little long, and I forgot. I figured I'd make a list of the top five draft prospects for the 2009 and 2010 NHL Drafts from players at that tournament.

2009
1. Nick Leddy
2. Erik Haula
3. Danny Mattson
4. Kirill Gotovets
5. Alexander Fallstrom

2010

1. Victor Ohman
2. Derek Forbort
3. Tyler Pitlick
4. Brent Darnell
5. Axel Wemmenborn

Elite League NIT Report

2008-11-10T15:23:00.004-06:00

The Upper Midwest Elite League held their National Invitational Tournament last weekend at New Hope Ice Arena, and I was there the first two days of the tournament, and a good time seemed to be had by all. Shattuck-St. Mary's took home the title with a win over Minnesota Red in the final, while Minnesota White beat Malmo in the third place game.

Among the more amusing things at the tournament:

1. Minnesota White managed to take 2 Too Many Men penalties in a 25 second span. And neither were of the 'bad line change, guy trying to race back to the bench' variety. They were literally playing with too many men for a good ten seconds, before the opposition's coach's shouting got the attention of the officials.

2. Only in Minnesota would the 'Jean' in 'Jean-Paul' be pronounced like "Gene".

3. Between the Norwegian team that played in the Elite League regular season, and Malmo, I will never stop being amused by the way Scandinavians dress.

On to the slightly more serious stuff...

Malmo's team looked much better than they were last year. Victor Ohman was on the Malmo team that came over to the States last year, and didn't really do much to impress me. Then again, he was a '92 birthdate, so he was one of the youngest players on the ice. I had heard a fair amount of hype about him over the past year, which didn't really connect with what I saw last year. But this year, he was probably the best player at the tournament. I think he finished with 9 points for the tournament, and seemed to have a hand in nearly all of Malmo's goals. The big difference between Ohman and some of the American '92s at the tournament was that Ohman was listed at 6'1" 201 lbs., and seemed to be every bit of that. Insert your own joke about eating your lingonberries. He's a very strong kid with a great nose for the net. He'll definitely be a name to watch for the 2010 Draft.

Axel Wemmenborn was another '92 birthdate that was like a poor man's version of Ohman. Not quite as big, and not quite the scorer, but still a good looking player. Sebastien Dyk was a '92 that played with Ohman and also ended up with a hand in a lot of goals. '90 defenseman Ziga Grahut played on their top powerplay unit and had a great shot from the point.

Erik Haula was the player I was most interested in seeing for Shattuck, as he is projected as a potential first round draft pick this summer. Haula was his team's best forward, and a talented player, but not as dominant as you might expect. Still, he scored a beautiful overtime goal against Malmo, and did a lot of little things very well. He still needs to add a lot of strength, which could hold him back a little in terms of the draft, but still a very nice player.

Alexander Fallstrom is the other top forward for Shattuck this year. I was a little surprised he got passed over in the draft last year. He's very talented, and I wouldn't be surprised if he got picked in this year's draft. Belarussian import Kirill Gotovets was very impressive on defense. I think he'll get drafted too.

This Shattuck is maybe a little underrated compared to past teams. Fallstrom is the only player committed to a college right now, and Haula and Gotovets are the only other serious potential draft picks. But they do have a lot of very talented, though small, hockey players. Guys like Blake Matejcek, J-P Lafontaine, Brad Robbins, and Sam Alfieri on offense, and Nathan Sinz and Kevin Tuohy on defense are all small, but pretty good hockey players.

Minnesota Red won the battle of the Minnesota teams. The Red team had less talent, but did a great job of playing as a team and always looking to make the extra pass, while the White team was always looking to take a shot, as opposed to setting up a teammate for a shot.

Off the Red team, Derek Forbort has really developed into a great hockey player. He's made great strides over the past 10 months or so since I last saw him, and should have a bright future.

Max Tardy is another player that has made a huge jump in development. He led the regular season in scoring, and I heard a lot of impressive reviews of his play by people at the rink.

I had Danny Mattson rated a lot higher in the draft than most people do--though I also suspect I've seen him a little more than most people. I may have him a little too high just because he lacks ideal pro size, but his offensive instincts are certainly at that level.

I really like the way Adam Knochenmus plays, even though he's another little guy. He's another typical Roseau kid--hard worker, and a very smart player. Max Gardiner still doesn't have the skating ability of his brother, but he gets around ok and really uses his size to create havoc.

Nick Leddy was probably the top prospect for this year's draft at the tournament. He had kind of a rough game on Saturday, but overall, looks to have a fantastic future. He should easily be the best player in the state this year. I also thought his defensive partner Brendan Baker played well. I've always like Baker and think he gets overshadowed by the other big names from Edina.

Speaking of the other Edina players, Marshall Everson and Anders Lee played pretty well. Lee has absolutely ridiculous strength for a high schooler. But I think they missed Zach Budish making plays and setting them up offensively.

The line of Tyler Pitlick, Willie Hess, and Danny DeLisle was probably White's most effective line, though on Saturday, it seemed like they didn't get out there 5-on-5 enough to be effective--penalties killed White against Red. All indications are that Pitlick will jump straight to college hockey next year. He's added a lot of strength, but I think still has a ways to go before he's strong enough to be really great in the WCHA. Centennial defender Joe Schmitz has really seen his stock rise this fall. I don't know if it's true or not, but he looks a lot bigger than he was at the end of last year. He was held fairly quiet in the games I saw though. The other Centennial defender, Brett Stern got injured in the first game and was replaced by Zach Palmquist. Palmquist has gotten a little WCHA interest this fall. He's a skilled kid, but still on the small side. I could see where teams would like him though, once he adds weight.(The program listed Palmquist as 190 lbs. Last summer's Model Camp roster listed him at 150. The Model Camp weight looks far more accurate.)

I mentioned the Minnesota '92s being a little behind in terms of weight. Christian Isackson, Brett Patterson, and Nick Bjustad were listed at 170, 160, and 155 respectively. There's a huge difference between that and a guy that's a solid 200 lbs. and it showed. But I suspect that by next fall, those guys will have caught up and should be in the conversation for the 2010 draft. They all had moments where they flashed their talent, but overall didn't do a lot. White kept putting Isackson on the point opposite Leddy on their powerplay, which never seemed to work all that well.

Team Wisconsin competed as their own team in this year's NIT, as opposed to last year, where they were absorbed into the Red team after years of struggling on their own. Ironically, last year was probably the one year they could have really competed as their own individual team.

It seemed like a lot of the strength in this year's team was in the junior class, but then again, who knows how many of those kids will be playing high school hockey next fall. Matt Paape was the top forward for Wisconsin. He's a solid, honest player though not all that flashy. Defenseman Aaron Harstad looks like a really nice player, as did defenseman Nolan Kirley.

The MDHL, Michigan's answer to the Minnesota Elite League, team is always a scrappy one. Talent-wise, there was a pretty big gap between the top four teams--Minnesota Red, White, Malmo, and Shattuck--and the other four, but Michigan was a scrappy bunch, and gave Shattuck a pretty good game on the first night--the only decent game of the first night-- despite probably not playing their best hockey.

Brent Darnell is the first player from the MDHL to make a college commitment while playing in the league. He's maybe not the flashiest player, but is the type of player that coaches will love because he plays great defense, hits people, and is solid on face-offs. Cranbrook's Patrick Brown is another '92 player that looked pretty good.

It'd be nice to see the MDHL continue to have some success. They held their league tournament two weeks ago and had a lot of scouts attend, and those kids got a lot of exposure this weekend. Without making a value judgement on high-level AAA hockey, I will say that it's probably not for everyone, and it's nice to see kids have another option to go with.

Linkorama

2008-11-10T14:51:00.002-06:00

College Hockey News says no conference realignment anytime soon. On one hand, I'd be surprised if we saw something major happen. On the other hand, if something major was going to happen, I don't see anybody going on the record about it, especially if this is in the very early stages.

Todd Milewski did a great job talking about the WCHA's stricter rules enforcement for USCHO. Incidentally, USCHO's coverage had kind of been lacking the past couple years, but seems much better now that they've got Todd back, and Elliot Olshansky writing for them.

The US team dominated the competition at the World Jr. A Championships. Very nice to see the US bring home a gold medal.

Hockey writer Guy Flaming was at the tournament and interviewed Seth Helgeson. He also had audio interviews with Helgesonand Danny Kristo.

Illegal Curve profiled goalie Mike Lee.

It sounds like NTDP goalie Brandon Maxwell could be signing with Windsor, who recently acquired his rights.

Conference Realignment?

2008-11-09T01:32:00.003-06:00

Mike Chambers had an interesting blog post today saying that conference realignment is imminent.

Interestingly enough, the plan that is apparently being discussed is almost exactly the same as the plan I suggested nearly two years ago. The only difference being that I had Wayne State joining the CCHA and UAH being thrown to the wolves, whereas now, Wayne State's program is already gone. And frankly, if the CCHA is going to inherit a dud of a program from the CHA, they would have been better off adding Wayne State, just because it's a short bus trip for most of the league.

Another Berge Commits to MSU

2008-11-08T10:49:00.003-06:00

Josh Berge, the brother of Minnesota State senior Mick Berge, committed to Minnesota State for the 2010-2011 season.

Mick was the first Oklahoman to play Division I hockey. Josh would likely be the third, following Matt Donovan who will start with Denver next year.

It's Almost High School Hockey Time

2008-11-06T15:44:00.004-06:00

(As a disclaimer, I'm sure the MSHSL would like to remind you that this is a blog and not a newspaper--one of the main differences being that I'm not cutting huge amounts of staff any time in the near future--and therefore nothing I say is worthy of reading. Also, this is a college hockey blog, so why would I even write about high school hockey?)

High school football is getting close to wrapping up(probably?) which means it's almost time for high school hockey season here in Minnesota.

Fox Sports North released their television schedule for this year, including a girl's game between Anoka and Centennial which, at least from a gender equity standpoint, is great to see. I also shouldn't poke too much fun at what is a great venture by FSN, but it's good to see Eden Prairie, St. Thomas Academy, and Cretin all on the schedule, so they'll have tons of footage for future Gopher games. Sadly missing from the TV schedule is my favorite school, the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley HS Deer Smackers(Editor's Note: Possibly not their real nickname.)

The 3rd annual Hockey Day Minnesota will be on January 17th this year, and the event looks to be even better this year. For one, they will be including other Minnesota universities, as Minnesota takes on St. Cloud. Southern Minnesota will also be represented in the form of Rochester John Marshall HS.

And finally, MyFoxHockey released their Preseason Top 10 poll.

Without putting a ton of research into it, my preseason top ten would look like this: 1. Edina 2. Eden Prairie 3. Hill-Murray 4. Centennial 5. Holy Angels 6. Hopkins 7. St. Thomas Academy 8. Blaine 9. Duluth East 10. Duluth Marshall

Hobey Watch

2008-11-06T15:17:00.002-06:00

Eliot Olshansky wrote his own Hobey Watch for USCHO, which this week, discusses Jeff Lerg and how he might have the intangibles to make a serious run at the Hobey.

Here's my top 3 for the Hobey after a couple games played...

1. Ryan Stoa, Minnesota

Minnesota has played three pretty tough series so far--early returns on St. Cloud and Wisconsin aside, they've got some talent--and he's been pretty close to dominant in all three. Stoa has a goal in every game except one so far, and is a huge reason for Minnesota's turnaround. It helps having perhaps the country's best playmaker on your line. Last year I argued that Minnesota's lack of success would kill Blake Wheeler, but this year, Minnesota's impressive record should boost Stoa.

2. Richard Bachman, Colorado College
Bachman's exclusion as a Hobey finalist last year was a bit of a joke. He was named the WCHA's best player and should make a run at this award again. Last weekend was his first huge test against a highly-ranked Denver team, and he ended up playing well enough to earn conference player of the week honors.

3. Aaron Palushaj, Michigan

Michigan is really missing Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik, as shown by their struggles on the powerplay, but Palushaj has taken a big step forward and become an excellent scorer.

Harstad to CC

2008-11-06T14:58:00.002-06:00

Steven's Point(Wis.) HS defenseman Aaron Harstad committed to Colorado College last night. Harstad chose the Tigers over Wisconsin, with a few other WCHA schools interested.

Linkorama

2008-11-05T22:42:00.003-06:00

The Anthony Ford Committee is holding their first ever Pond Hockey Tournament on January 10th and is looking for sponsors. I know times are tough, but if you've got a company that is looking to make a tax deductible donation this year, this is a great way to support youth hockey and honor the memory of a great hockey fan.

Bruce Ciskie has been doing a weekly feature on an NCAA hockey player every week for AOL Fanhouse and this week's is on Jordan Schroeder. Normally, I'd make fun of Fox Sports North for their excessive hype of Schroeder, but he's pretty much earned it with his play--even if I rolled my eyes when Kevin Gorg tried saying Schroeder's success last Saturday had something to do with what him playing in the state high school tournament three years ago. They sure cut bait with Aaron Ness pretty quickly though. I'm sure the two-hour "Aaron Ness: Making of a Champion" show is in the can, waiting for that first career goal though.

To make it clear, the above isn't a shot at Aaron Ness, as much as some of the production choices made by FSN this year. My opinion on Ness' slow start is that he's not generating much offense on the powerplay because he has a noticeably bad shot. He moves the puck as well as anyone, but is absolutely no threat to shoot. Cade Fairchild, on the other hand, picked up quite a few points last weekend firing his heavy shot into traffic in front of the net.

Not to belabor Tuesday's election, or Minnesota, but it looks like Don Lucia's stump speech for McCain/Palin didn't do much. Speaking of coaches voting, RWD took a shot at which way coaches and bloggers voted. I was in the blue cateogory, despite the fact that I voted conservative in the county commissioner's race.

As a public service, I feel obligated to let all of you know that you can still be charged with drunk driving even if you're on an ice rink.

The World Jr. A Championships are going on right now. The World of Junior Hockey is following it quite closely. Some controversy/hilarity went down yesterday in a game between Canada West and Russia. Canada West was upset in the first game of the tournament by Belarus, and another loss would have knocked them out of the tournament. After trailing 1-0 after the first period, Canada received nine straight powerplays in the second period, and eventually won the game. The Russians handled this with neither grace nor aplomb and ended up leaving the ice before the game was over while their goalie saluted the crowd.

CSB A Players

2008-11-05T19:45:00.002-06:00

I'm going to be starting a monthly-ish feature on draft-eligible American hockey players called 'American Hockey Draft Report'. This month's is kind of long as it takes a look at all the American players to receive an 'A' rating by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau.

You can read it here.

Gravel to St. Cloud

2008-11-05T03:21:00.003-06:00

Marquette Rangers defenseman Kevin Gravel has has committed to St.Cloud. Gravel has flown under the radar a bit, playing with the Marquette AAA program prior to joining the Rangers of the NAHL, but he's one of the better '92 born defensemen in the country. He's a very tough, defensive defenseman.

Gravel has a connection to St. Cloud as his father Jim played for the Huskies. Northern Michigan and Michigan State also offered Gravel a scholarship.

Also, Mahtomedi HS defenseman Ben Marshall has committed to Minnesota. North Dakota, Wisconsin, and St. Cloud were also interested.

Elite League NIT Rosters

2008-11-04T19:59:00.004-06:00

The Upper Midwest Elite League will be hosting their National Invitational Tournament this weekend in New Hope, Minnesota. The tournament will bring together a number of top prospects. Here are the rosters for the event.

Team Minnesota White

Team Minnesota Red

Shattuck-St. Mary's

Los Angeles Selects

Team Wisconsin

San Jose Jr. Sharks

Malmo Redhawks

Michigan Stars

Minnesota White looks to basically be a Twin Cities team. Minnesota Red looks to incorporate more of outstate Minnesota, along with some Twin Cities players. The Michigan Stars are an all-star team made up of players from the Michigan Developmental Hockey League, a league designed after the Minnesota Elite League to give players that choose high school hockey more options. The Malmo Redhawks played in the MDHL's league tournament last weekend.

Johns to Notre Dame

2008-11-04T00:02:00.003-06:00

NTDP defenseman Stephen Johns committed to Notre Dame for the 2010 season.

The big defenseman is a native of the Pittsburgh and played for the Pittsburgh Hornets organization. That's the same team that produced current Notre Dame forward Pat Gaul.

Also of note, Des Moines Buccaneers forward Alex Chiasson committed to Boston University. Chiasson is a highly-rated forward for this summer's NHL draft, and BU was desperate for forwards for next season.

How to Fix the Minnesota Hockey Showcase

2008-11-01T23:59:00.005-05:00

The first ever Minnesota Hockey Showcase wasn't exactly a success. They only got about 10,500 paying spectators combined between the two games, for a pretty dull atmosphere. But all four coaches, and players from all four teams seemed pretty positive about the event and seemed to enjoy it. I think the general feeling was that even though this one may not have gone very well, there is potential for success in the future.

The future of the event hinges on two factors. First, will Minnesota support the event? Minnesota has least to gain from this, but their support and involvement is critical. For what it's worth, Don Lucia seemed much more positive about the future of this event than he did earlier this week. Second, and most important, is if they can fill the building. Though all coaches liked the event, they all said the final decision would be made by people above them that handle the finances.

So how do they go about filling the building? Here's a few suggestions and ideas I have.

1. Hold the event later in the season. This year's event came too early in the season. Don Lucia said it's not really hockey season for a lot of fans yet, which I think is true. There were a lot of important playoff football games today. The weather was nice. People are out hunting. There were a lot of things keeping people away, and with it being so early in the season, there wasn't a lot at stake in these games to draw people in. If this was later in the season and there were playoff and NCAA tournament positions on the line, I think it might have been a little different.

2. The idea Don Lucia mentioned a couple times, which I like, is making these games part of the season ticket package for all four schools. Minnesota gains a small advantage because they have the most season ticket holders, but it guarantees they sell tickets to about 13,000 people, and then they just need 5,000 more tickets sold for a full house. I'm not sure all those season ticket holders would show up, but you'd get a fair number.

3. Do something about the price of tickets. Making tickets $40 for two games was a mistake. I think there were too many fans that only cared to watch one game and didn't want to pay $40 for just one game.

4. Look into making the event a tournament. There's a million difficulties with this. Tournament games would likely have to be non-conference games, and non-conference games are already a rarity to begin with. But a two-day tournament would add some excitement.

Minnesota/Minnesota State Post-Game

2008-11-01T22:37:00.003-05:00

Minnesota

Gopher coach Don Lucia was pretty disappointed with how his team played in the first period, but felt like they really picked it up after that. He said that powerplays can be streaky sometimes. Tonight, obviously it was a good night for the Gophers with the man advantage.

Jordan Schroeder said the big difference between last night and tonight was that MSU really likes to pack it in on the penalty kill. Last night, Minnesota was trying too many cross-ice passes through the box that were getting tipped and deflected. Tonight, Minnesota kept things on the perimeter and were able to get shots through to the net.

Both Lucia and Schroeder felt like it was a relief for Schroeder to get his first goal(s) of the season. Lucia said the one pairing that he's always had in his head and wanted to see was Jordan Schroeder and Ryan Stoa. That combination has been great so far this year.

With Aaron Ness, Lucia brought up that Paul Martin also got off to a very slow start as a freshman, then really took off around Christmas-time of his first year.

Minnesota State

Troy Jutting wasn't too down on his team after the lost. He said it was one of their best games all year, minus the special teams. Of course, that's a fairly big chunk of the game. Minnesota State looked much better five-on-five, but took too many penalties. He felt his team did a better job discipline-wise tonight. He gave Minnesota a lot of credit for having skilled players who made plays. He mentioned Alex Kangas' save on Kael Mouillierat that would have put MSU up by two goals as a real game-changer, which I agree with. It might have been a different game had MSU been able to play with a significant lead.

Both coaches said they liked the event, but that the final call would be made by the financial people rather than them. Don Lucia said the event was feasible in the future, but he seemed really adamant that tickets for this event should go in every team's season ticket package, so that they only need 5000 walk-up tickets to make it a sellout.

Troy Jutting thought it was a great event for Minnesota hockey fans. He said with so many players from Minnesota on the four teams, nearly everyone in the state had some sort of connection to at least player while growing up. He also mentioned it as a potential tool for helping to keep the best players in the state. He also said this is probably more important for MSU, UMD, and SCSU since those programs don't get a check from their football and basketball programs.

Minnesota vs. Minnesota State: Game Thread

2008-11-01T19:30:00.017-05:00

1st Period is underway

Good action so far. Except we've got a malfunctioning clock that stopped things for a minute. Minnesota State has a pretty good crowd presence here. It's not a huge home ice advantage, but they've at least got a small one.

End of 1st Period, 0-0 tie

A very even period. Minnesota State's powerplay looked much better than it did last night, even though it didn't translate into a goal. Minnesota had some decent chances too. Jordan Schroeder had the period's best chance, but missed scoring his first goal when he shot the puck wide. Minnesota State had some good opportunities, but nothing that materialized into a good chance.

All eyes are the officiating after last night's game, but overall it was pretty good. They called two hooks behind the play that probably wouldn't have been called last year, which is good, and they didn't make any head-scratchers like last night.

One officiating oddity, though. The referees are serious about not letting teams change after an icing. On one play, MSU shot the puck down the ice slowly and was trying to change. Referee Jon Campion blew the whistle about 10 feet before the puck crossed the end line to keep MSU's players from hoping onto the bench. Apparently the linesmen were surprised too, since they talked with Campion for a couple minutes after that call.

2nd Period underway

Goal MSU-Goal: Mike Louwerse Assists: Rylan Galiardi, Channing Boe

Minnesota State worked the puck out from behind the Minnesota net, and Mike Louwerse found a rebound which he jammed in for the game's first goal.

Minnesota Goal-Goal: Ryan Stoa Assists: Cade Fairchild 1-1 tie

Minnesota State took two very bad penalties to go down two men, and Minnesota capitalized. Ryan Stoa got the puck on the side of the net and beat Zacharias down low.

They just announced attendance: 10,295. Not the turnout they were hoping for.

Minnesota State Goal-Goal Mike Louwerse Assists: Kurt Davis 2-1 MSU

Minnesota State got a 5x3 of their own and capitalized. Kurt Davis fired a shot from the point and Louwerse one-timed the rebound into the upper part of the net.

Minnesota Goal-Goal: Jordan Schroeder Assists: Cade Fairchild, Jay Barriball 2-2 tie

After a series of MSU powerplay, Minnesota got a man advantage and scored. Schroeder walked in from the left point and beat Zacharias with a nice shot.

Goal Minnesota-Goal: David Fischer Assists: Aaron Ness, Mike Carman 3-2 Minnesota

Minnesota scores their third powerplay goal of the night. Fischer fired a wrist shot through traffic that Zacharias didn't see.

End of 2nd Period. 3-2 Minnesota

The Gophers dominated the last half of that period, and it became all about survival for Minnesota State. They weren't able to maintain their lead or keep the game tied, meaning they'll have to come from behind in the third period again tonight. Minnesota State got into penalty troubles and Minnesota's powerplay is much more effective tonight.

The number of penalties really went up that period as the officials started calling more ticky-tack penalties. There were was only one call each way that I thought was really terrible. There were other soft ones, but calls that probably should have been made. One of the big problems right now is that I think the 2:00 man advantage is a bigger punishment than a lot of these infractions call for.

3rd Period is Underway

Goal Minnesota-Goal:Mike Carman Assists: David Fischer, Ryan Flynn 4-2 Minnesota

After just missing a goal on a 2-on-1, Minnesota got a shot from the point which was tipped and floated over the shoulder of Zacharias.

Minnesota Goal-Goal: Jordan Schroeder Assists: Ryan Stoa, Cade Fairchild 5-2 Minnesota

The Gophers scored their 4th powerplay goal of the game. Schroeder snuck down low and got the puck at the side of the net which he chipped in.

Goal Minnesota State-Goal: Jerad Stewart Assists: James Gaulrapp, Kurt Davis 5-3 Minnesota

Minnesota State has a bounce go their way, and after Kangas made two very nice saves, Jerad Stewart stuffed in the third. There's less than two minutes left, however, so it's likely too little too late.

Minnesota Goal-Goal: Ryan Flynn Assists: Mike Carman 6-3 Minnesota

Flynn scores an empty-netter from the neutral zone to ice the game for Minnesota.

End of Game. Final Score: Minnesota 6 Minnesota State 3

Minnesota dominated this game. Minnesota State took too many penalties and Minnesota's powerplay was lethal tonight. MSU had a chance in the third period, and looked to be building a little momentum, but Minnesota's fourth goal was a backbreaker. Minnesota looked like the far superior, more skilled team tonight. They were able to do more with the puck when they got chances than Minnesota State was.