UND Hockey: Knight and Kristo are All-Americans

Congratulations to our own Danny Kristo (1st team) and Corban Knight (2nd), who have both been named 2012-13 CCM All-Americans. @undmhockey
— Jayson Hajdu (@UNDSID) April 12, 2013

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota senior linemates Danny Kristo and Corban Knight have been named 2012-13 CCM Division I All-Americans by the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA). The announcement was made today at the NCAA Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.

Kristo was named to the All-America West First Team, while Knight garnered All-American West Second Team honors.

A native of Eden Prairie, Minn., Kristo was named a Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10 finalist and the College Hockey News Player of the Year in 2012-13 after leading the WCHA in goals (26) and ranking second nationally in points (52). Both totals were career highs, as was his team-leading +17 plus/minus rating. He also matched his career high in assists (26), becoming UND’s first player since Jeff Panzer (1997-2001) to record 20-plus assists in each of his four seasons.

Kristo was also named to the All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) First Team and the NCAA West Region All-Tournament Team, earned his second straight UND Virg Foss 3-Star Award, was a two-time WCHA Player of the Week, and was a national player of the month honorable mention in February.

Knight, a native of High River, Alberta, was also named a Hobey Baker Award Top 10 finalist after achieving career highs in points (49), goals (16) and assists (33). His 33 assists, which rank third nationally, made him UND’s first player to put together back-to-back 30-assist seasons since current Minnesota Wild star Zach Parise (2002-04).

Knight also earned All-WCHA Second Team honors and was named to the NCAA West Region All-Tournament Team. He led the nation with a career-high 623 assists, 120 more than any other player and second-most in UND single-season history. A two-time WCHA Offensive Player of the Week and the national player of the month in December, Knight put together a 19-game point streak that was UND’s longest in 25 years.

Kristo and Knight are the 70^th and 71^st All-Americans in UND men’s hockey history and the ninth and 10^th under current head coach Dave Hakstol. It also marks the 19^th different year in which UND has had multiple All-Americans in the same season.

More on the NCHC...

Image via WikipediaThe NCHC had their first press conference in Colorado Springs today and I found a couple of interesting things in a newspaper article written by Fighting Sioux Hockey beat writer Brad Schlossman that caught my attention. There has been a lot of stuff thrown out there this past week and Brad's article put things in perspective. 

Brad Schlossman; Grand Forks Herald --- The new league, which has taken considerable flak from the national media since its formation was reported last week, de-bunked several myths.

The most notable: These schools did not vote to stay together at April’s WCHA meetings in Florida, which had been previously reported.

Wow!!! We were told that all of the WCHA members voted to stay with the WCHA during the annual American Hockey Coaches Association convention that was held last May in Florida. As you can see now that claim has been refuted with these comments from UND athletic director Brad Faison. So there seems to be a schism among the members of the WCHA.

Brad Schlossman; Grand Forks Herald ---In fact, the idea of the new conference was brought up and was met by a proposal by one athletic director to mandate a six-figure fine for those leaving the league. That proposal was never voted on.

Clearly, though, there were concerns from a few schools. And the more they talked, the closer they moved to starting a new conference.

“The more we talked, the more we recognized what we had in common,” Omaha athletic director Trev Alberts said. “I can’t tell you that there was any specific athletic director or head coach leading the charge. It just happened naturally out of the course of informal conversations.”

Both Faison and Ralph said the talks between the athletic directors have been very productive.

“The level of professionalism in these meetings has been astronomical, it has been through the roof,” Ralph said. “It’s so exciting, so invigorating to be in these meetings. The quality of administrators is second to none. I’m really proud to be part of it.”

The athletic directors confirmed that multiple national outlets have contacted them about broadcasting games. Sources say that Versus, which will soon be re-branded NBC Sports, is one of them.

Faison said the goal is for all games — home and road — to be televised.

“We’ve already had preliminary interest from some national media,” Faison said. “For Fighting Sioux fans, I expect that we’ll find ourselves in position where every game we play will be on TV, which is huge. Television certainly brings some revenue, but the reality is that the exposure, whether it be for recruiting or projecting back to our alumni, is important. We have a good TV platform. This will just enhance that in a dramatic fashion.”

From reading the comments of the article above you can see that the league was not just slapped together  haphazardly,  it looks like a lot of thought has been put into the formation of this college hockey conference. It will be interesting to see what kind of a TV deal the new league can get. I like most Fighting Sioux Hockey fans would love to be able to watch every single game home and away on television, that would be a major accomplishment. Not many Division I college hockey teams can make that claim.

Lastly, I also want to know how a league that is set up by the member schools, who hire the commissioner would allow that league commissioner to fine their member schools six figures for leaving a league? That seems odd to me. 

Related articles

• National Collegiate Hockey Conference is new home for DU, Colorado College (denverpost.com)
• Powerhouse programs form new college hockey league (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The truth will set you free...

Image via WikipediaI have said all along there is a common denominator starting to surface... I have said for a long time that Bruce McLeod has to go and should be removed as commissioner of the WCHA. Andy Baggot's latest revelation kind of reveals what is driving this new conference.

Andy Baggot; Madison.com --- Five Western Collegiate Hockey Association schools -- Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota -- joined forces with Miami (Ohio) out of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association to form a new allegience starting in 2013-14 that was revealed last week.

One of the biggest questions has to do with how the proud and powerful WCHA allowed this to happen. Why would these premier members abruptly abandon a recognized 12-team brand to begin anew?

A college hockey source may have provided it Wednesday morning a couple hours before the presidents, athletic directors and coaches from the six schools took questions.

The source said that officials at Denver and North Dakota strongly questioned the direction of the WCHA during the annual American Hockey Coaches Association convention in Florida in May. There was sentiment to force long-time commissioner Bruce McLeod to step down, but the source said that while people from multiple schools inched up to that line, "no one crossed it.''

When the notion came up of schools possibly seceding from the WCHA instead, it was met with the threat of six-figure fines per institution.

Obviously, that didn't go over very well.

Related articles

• College Hockey's Seismic Shift Begins Today in Colorado Springs (pikespeaklife.wordpress.com)
• New league for DU, Colorado College hockey (denverpost.com)
• College Hockey's New 'Super Conferences': Are They Good Or Bad For The Game? (sbnation.com)
• NCAA hockey shake-up: Six top schools set to form 'super conference' in 2013-14 (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)

No more hockey games with the UW Badgers when the BTHC forms?

Image via WikipediaApparently the University of North Dakota won't be able to play the University of Wisconsin when the formation of the Big Ten Hockey Conference comes to fruition because of their Athletic Department Policy On Native American Logos And Names. I guess the policy didn't matter last season when the Sioux and the Badgers played in basketball last season on November 16th, 2010... Stay tuned.

Andy Baggot; Madison.com ----  Big Ten teams will play 20 league games - home-and-home series against one another - and hope to augment the rest of their schedules with eight games against WCHA and/or CCHA teams. That would leave six non-conference openings to fill in with opponents from Atlantic Hockey, Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference and Hockey East Association.


During the American Hockey Coaches Association convention in Florida last month, Frazier said WCHA and CCHA officials are receptive to having some type of interlocking schedule with the Big Ten.

One complication to the Badgers playing against WCHA opponents is that they wouldn't be able to schedule North Dakota — a major rival and perennial national power — because of its Fighting Sioux nickname and Native American warrior logo.

UW has a policy that prohibits scheduling non-conference opponents with monikers that defy an NCAA mandate against racially insensitive nicknames.
"We'd love to continue our relationship with North Dakota," Frazier said, "but North Dakota has to figure (its nickname issue) out from an NCAA perspective."