Friday, September 28, 2012

Friday Links and College Hockey to take center stage.

Seawolf
Seawolf (Photo credit: Travis S.)
The dog days of summer are finally over and for UND Hockey fans the season couldn't come fast enough - especially with all of the news that has happened off of the ice, during the preseason.

Once UND gets past the team imposed suspensions and the self created adversity - UND should end up having a pretty good season based on the personnel that UND has coming back and the new recruits coming in.

With a sigh of relief, the exhibition season will finally begin a week from this Saturday as the UND Fighting Sioux Hockey team will take on the Manitoba Bison at 7:05 pm on the 6th of October at Ralph Englestad Arena.

Ironically, the UND Hockey team was suppose to see former UND forward Taylor Dicken who was reported to have transferred to the home town Manitoba Bison - looking at the Manitoba roster I was unable to find Dicken's name.

UAA Seawolves might need a temporary home away from home

If there ever was a case for UAA Seawolves to get a their own arena on their campus - that time is right now - the Seawolves have some arena issues right now that might not get solved before the Seawolves play their first home game.

I also think that it's time that UAA athletic department look into the possibility that they might need to get a new on campus arena for the Seawolves. The Seawolves share an arena with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL... UAA is going to get a new 109 million dollar basketball arena on their campus, but the new building will not have an ice surface for hockey. This also doesn't sit well with Seawolves fans either.

Its the opinion of some UAA fans that I have chatted with, that the UAA Athletic Department isn't as committed to UAA hockey as the University should be and UAA Seawolves fans aren't real happy with the UAA Athletic Director Steve Cobb.

According to Doyle Woody of the Anchorage Daily News the Seawolves might not have their arena to play in when the season begins. Chris Dilks of the new revamped SBN, does a pretty good job of breaking down the options that the Seawolves have if their arena isn't fixed in time for their first home game.
Chris Dilks, Western College Hockey --- Anchorage athletic director Steve Cobb has begun making preparations in case the repairs can't be made in time, or in case the repairs don't hold through the season. The Seawolves' practice facility, the 750-person capacity Wells Fargo Sports Complex, is being given a press box, and being set-up to accommodate television broadcasts and video review.

With it being Alaska, there aren't many other viable options if ice can't be made at Sullivan Arena. The Menard Center in Wasilla, roughly 45 minutes from campus, can seat 1500 people. The Kenai River Brown Bears' home in Soldotna can seat 2000, but at nearly three hours drive away, it's likely not much of an option. There aren't any other arenas in the area with a capacity over 1000 people.

A new on-campus arena has been discussed for Alaska-Anchorage for a few years now. Perhaps these issues at Sullivan Arena could help add some momentum to the project.
President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney are kicking the Denver Pioneers out of their own hockey arena so the two candidates can have their first presidential debate.



Yesterday, Brad Elliot Schlossman beat writer for the Grand Forks Herald released his preseason UND hockey preview - that preview is now available for all to read on line. Good stuff there. [Click to view]

Former Central Knight's and Future UND defenseman Paul LaDue was named the assistant captain for the Lincoln Stars.



UND's now infamous hockey part actually made The Hockey News as well - you can read the story by clicking on this link to a story that Ryan Kennedy wrote.


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