Former DU forward Tyler Bozak's Halloween costume tweet

Oh good, a Leaf dressed as a black man who then deleted the tweet. RT @bozie42: Halloween!! instagr.am/p/RblQYWP9Sw/
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) October 31, 2012

Oh hey, the deleted pic is here. Sigh. wraparoundcurl.tumblr.com/post/346813764…
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) October 31, 2012

This is a picture that former Denver University and current Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bozak put into one of his tweets tonight about his Halloween costume, which is a picture of him dressing up as Michael Jackson. I can tell you that Bozak's Halloween Costume is not going to be well received. Actually the picture has gone kind of viral and Bozak has gotten beaten up pretty bad.

That's a tribute to one of my fave artists. For anyone saying its racist is crazy!
— Tyler Bozak (@Bozie42) October 31, 2012

Here is Bozak's response to the twitter picture that he has since deleted. I agree with the tweet below, I am going to mark this one up as a horrible mistake on Bozak's part.

"Racist" is a loaded word that implies intent. Doubt Bozak's racist, more likely just made a stupid mistake.
— draglikepull (@draglikepull) October 31, 2012

NHL prospects represented by many current and former College Hockey players

Originally posted at The Hockey Writers - Combine

As most of us know, the NHL players have been locked out by the NHL owners effective on September 15^th, 2012 – when this lockout ends is anyone’s guess – the prospects of the two sides coming to a quick settlement doesn’t look very good. From everything that I have been reading during the past week does  suggests fans shouldn’t expect any NHL hockey games during the months of October and November and we probably won’t have any games until sometime in  December.

So while the NHL and the NHLPA try to settle their differences – NHL hockey fans are going to have to look for other hockey options.  Much like the 2004-05 lockout that cost us a whole season, hockey fans are going to have a lot of extra free time on their hands that they used to fill by watching NHL Hockey. Personally, I watch at least 3-6 NHL hockey games on NHL Center Ice during the regular season – when my favorite college hockey team is in town during the weekend, I spend those nights at the local hockey arena watching college hockey. Obviously, there are other NHL hockey fans that watch even more NHL hockey than that. That being said, there is going to fill a void that has been caused by the lockout, obviously there won’t be as much watchable hockey on TV.

There are many options when it comes to filling the hockey void left by the NHL lockout – hockey fans in the States can watch NCAA Division I Hockey on the various regional sports networks and or watch games in person at a stadium near you.

The NCAA is filled with many top players that have been drafted by NHL teams  and quite a few of them currently play in the NHL.  Corey Pronman from the Hockey prospectus has ranked the top 100 NHL Prospects and I have posted the players from the list that have played college hockey or are currently playing Division I college hockey.

Looking at the list that Pronman has compiled, you might notice a few familiar names, but also a few familiar universities as well. There might have been a few names that I have omitted and I apologize ahead of time if I have.

 12. Justin Schultz, Defense, Edmonton Oilers – Wisconsin
14. Brendan Smith, Defense, Detroit Red Wings – Wisconsin
21. Jaden Schwartz, Left Wing, St. Louis Blues – Colorado College
24. Nick Bjugstad, Center, Florida Panthers – Minnesota Gophers
26. Gustav Nyquist, Right Wing, Detroit Red Wings – Maine
32. Chris Kreider, Left Wing, New York Rangers – Boston College
36. Rocco Grimaldi, Center, Florida Panthers – North Dakota
37. Jon Merrill, Defense, New Jersey Devils – Michigan
42. Jacob Trouba, Defense, Winnipeg Jets – Michigan
47. Kyle Palmieri, Right Wing, Anaheim Ducks – Notre Dame
48. Charlie Coyle, Center, Minnesota Wild – Boston University
50. Brandon Pirri, Center, Chicago Blackhawks - RPI
56. Joe Colborne, Center, Toronto Maple Leafs – Denver University
58. Brian Dumoulin, Defense, Pittsburgh Penguins - Boston College
61. Torey Krug, Defense, Boston Bruins – Michigan State
67. Brock Nelson, Center, New York Islanders – North Dakota
69. Corban Knight, Right Wing, Florida Panthers – North Dakota
71. Reilly Smith, Right Wing, Dallas Stars - Miami
72. Matt Donovan, Defense, New York Islanders – Denver University
79. Cory Conacher, Left Wing, Tampa Bay Lightning - Canisius
81. Drew Shore, Center, Florida Panthers – Denver University
82. Beau Bennett, Right Wing, Pittsburgh Penguins – Denver University
83. J.T. Brown, Right Wing, Tampa Bay Lightning – Minnesota Duluth
85. Derek Forbort, Defense Los Angeles Kings – North Dakota
86. Scott Mayfield, Defense, New York Islanders – Denver University
94. John Gaudreau, Left Wing, Calgary Flames – Boston College
98. T.J. Tynan, Center, Columbus Blue Jackets – Notre Dame

Related articles

• NHL Fans Do Have Other Options (insidehockey.com)
• NHL Hockey fans, you have options (thehockeywriters.com)
• You have options during an NHL Lockout (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• The NHL Lockout: An Alternative View (insidehockey.com)

Is the NCHC lacking name-recognition?

Chris Peters of the United States of Hockey has this little blurb on his blog today – it’s worth a look. I sure there will be NCHC fans will take issue with some of the things that he said. Or not!

In all honesty, the league didn’t have to do terribly much to seemingly come out ahead on realignment. By just letting things play out and adding Notre Dame, largely due to the league thanks to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s (seriously, that’s as hard to type as it is to say) lack of foresight and possibly arrogance, Hockey East took another significant step forward by attracting UConn.

Meanwhile the NCHC has very little name-recognition, and therefore a second-rate TV deal, a second-rate tournament venue, but a high level of on-ice competition. From a hockey standpoint, it’s a fantastic league, but that’s where it ends. That might be enough for you as a fan, but it’s not enough to lead me or anyone else to believe it’s going to be a great business long term.

The Big Ten Hockey Conference will have good exposure on the Big Ten Network, but it’s still merely a six-team league. Until a few more Big Ten schools step up for hockey, and there’s nothing to indicate that will happen anytime soon, the conference’s size doesn’t make for a lot of variety and excitement, though the rivalries should remain intense. Still, the exposure and brand recognition resonates with the casual fan.

First off, is Chris Right? For disclosure – Chris was not a big fan of the re-alignment that took place last summer, he isn’t alone there are a lot of people that weren’t fans of last summer's re-alignment plan as well. It's not like we had a choice in the matter, said schools pursued this venture without any input from the fans.

That being said, do you agree with what he said? Right now, I am more concerned with what NCHC fans think than the B1G fans. It's obvious that the B1G has name-recognition.

Does the new NCHC has very little name-recognition? In my opinion; no! I am also not so sure how you can say that there is little name recognition with the teams that make up the NCHC. Teams like UND, DU, C.C. UMD have all won NCAA titles and have storied histories.

Add to the mix up and coming teams like Miami University and Western Michigan from the soon to be defunct CCHA and UNO and SCSU and you have the making of a very well balanced hockey league. The NCHC brings to the table 16 NCAA titles, only the B1G will have more NCAA titles (20), so were not talking about a second rate bunch of pathetic cupcakes here. We already know the title counts of all three leagues involved.

Let's take a look at the financials. Historically, the NCHC teams have been successful on the ice as well as financially; if you look you will see that five of the future NCHC teams make about 3.2 million off of their Division I hockey programs as opposed to the reconfigured Hockey East which loses about $395,000 a year of their hockey programs. Only Denver and Western Michigan have lost money with their hockey programs.

I am not here to disrespect Hockey East or (Chris for that matter) because Hockey East is a very good hockey league and has piled up an impressive four NCAA titles during the 2000’s, however, it’s only been two teams that have won the NCAA titles during that time period ( BU and B.C.) – besides the three power schools currently in the Hockey East no other really stands out in that conference, except maybe the University of New Hampshire.

If anything I think that the two leagues are on equal footing as far as name recognition goes in college hockey.

I think historically speaking people are just as familiar with BU and B.C. as they are with DU, UND when it comes to college hockey.

Adding Notre Dame to the Hockey East was a good move but what exactly have they accomplished during their hockey existence? Yep! You will be able to watch your team play Notre Dame when they play their Hockey East foes, but the rest of the league is not going to benefit financially from that television deal.

Breaking it down further – outside of the power schools Boston College, Boston University, Maine and UNH who else in the current Hockey East stands out and packs fans in the stands? Maybe Notre Dame when they get to Hockey East in 2013-14.

Are University of Connecticut hockey fans going to suddenly realize that they have a college hockey team and fill the XL center when it’s 30 miles from their campus? This isn’t the UCONN Men’s or Women’s Basketball teams.

This is a very different animal, the UCONN Huskies hockey team with very little history that is currently a member of the AHA conference, that’s not to say that they can’t evolve into a power house hockey team. Let’s call UCONN a work in progress.

Here is the part that I do agree with Chris with. If the Target Center which is exclusively a Basketball venue doesn’t improve after the 100-150 million dollars improvements Target Center is going to be a second rate tournament venue. That’s really not debatable; the Target Center has its work cut out for it.

The central location of the Target Center does make it an attractive venue and the majority of the fans that have the most rabid fan bases are all driving distance away.

Finally, I am not so sure we can call the deal with CBS Sports a second-rate TV deal, before we even see how it turns out.

Besides the Notre Dame TV deal with NBC Sports Net, how is the rest of Hockey East doing when it comes to games being televised? I have watched a few of the games on NESN via my DirecTV Satellite Dish but I don’t see a lot of UMASS Lowell or Amherst games on the dish.

There are a lot of unknowns going forward – no one knows how this deal is going to shake out – I would say at least give the NCHC a chance before we bury them and kick dirt on a conference that hasn’t even played a collegiate hockey game as of yet.

I also think that it’s too early to declare winners and losers – with college athletics none of this stuff stays static – things change constantly. Who knows, maybe there are more moves in the re-alignment phase before the 2013-14 season kicks off.

Lastly, I know there are a lot of unhappy people with the NCHC Television deal, I gathered this by reading the reactions of the fans over on Brad Schlossman’s blog. Due to the size of UND’s fan base there are a lot of fans that live outside of the Midco.net foot print and watch UND hockey on DirecTV or FTA Satellite dishes. After the upcoming season, many of them are worried that they will no longer be able to watch all of UND’s home games. I too wonder if I need to re-subscribe to Midco.net myself?

In conclusion, there is also no reason to panic just yet because there is a whole year left to work out the details. As we get closer to the kickoff of the NCHC more details will emerge and we will get a better idea what is going to transpire. I also don't think that the NCHC will lack name-recognition.

DU vs. MTU final Five

During the Final Five I will be having a chat for the DU vs. MTU game and all games that UND is "not" involved in. Feel free to drop by and talk hockey with the Goon. I will be covering the Final Five for Inside Hockey with Zack Friedli. Serena Dalhammer will be taking photographs for Inside Hockey as well. 

Denver Pioneer Lines

12 – Ty Loney – 15 Drew Shore (C) – 18 Luke Salazar

17 Jason Zucker -23 Nick Shore – 19 Daniel Doremus

37 Nate Dewhurst – 26 – Shawn Ostrow – 8 Dustin Jackson (C)

14 Larkin Jacobson – 25 Matt Tabrum – 22 Jarrod Mermis 

Pioneer Defense Pairing

7 Paul (A) – 2 Scott Mayfield

21 Joey LaLeggia – 5 John Lee

24 John Ryder – 4 Josiah Didier 

Goalies

31 Juho Olkinuora

33 Adam Murray

1 Sam Brittain

Pioneer Player Stats

Michigan Tech Huskies Lines

12 Ryan Furne – 16 Brett Olson- 22 Jordan Baker (A)

19 Blake Pietila – 10 Tanner Kero – 28 Milos Gordic

15 – David Johnston – 8 Jacob Johnston – 18 Alex MacLeod

27 Bryce Reddick – 9 Dennis Rix – 14 Chad Pietila

Defensive Pairings 

6 Steven Seigo – 34 Riley Sweeney

3 Bradley Stebner – 25 Carl Nielson

24 Daniel Sova – 5 Justin Fillion

Goalies 

30 – Josh Robinson

35 – Kevin Genoe

Husky Player Stats

Related articles

• DU Pioneers expect to be better prepared for Michigan Tech this time

• WCHA Final Five Capsules (insidehockey.com)
• Playing around with the numbers - NCAA Hockey Tourney Selection (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

WCHA Issues One-Game Suspension to Minnesota’s Rau

Official Press Release - February 11, 2012/For Immediate Release

MADISON, Wis. – The men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association today announced a onegame suspension to University of Minnesota hockey player Kyle Rau for his actions in the February 10 game vs the University of Denver.

Rau’s suspension was determined after a review of the incident under the WCHA’s
Supplementary Discipline Policy and Procedures. At the time of the incident, he was assessed a 5:00-major penalty for boarding and a 10:00-game misconduct.
Rau will be required to serve this one-game suspension in his team’s next regularly scheduled game on Saturday, February 11 vs the University of Denver.
– WCHA –


My take on the WCHA suspension - I applaud the WCHA for taking this action, lets hope that other players around the league take notice; but lets also hope that these types of hits will no longer be tolerated. This was a dangerous play, Rau was late hitting Zucker and he was in a vulnerable position. These are the types of hits that need to be eliminated from Amateur hockey.

Saturday Morning Links - UND in Canada

There is a really good site for Jack Jablonski that Charlie from Hockey Bias brought to my attention. You can donate money for the Jack Jablonski Fund by clicking on this link.

Last night there was a very dangerous hit similar to the one that hurt Jack Jablonski in Winona that ended up in a brawl that saw 10 players ejected from the game. [MNHockeyHub]

A Tradition of Excellence has Fighting Sioux vs. Clarkson; Notes and Links. [Tradition of Excellence]

The Winnipeg Free Press has a great article on the UND hockey team’s trip to the MTS Center. UND Storms into the MTS Centre tonight for the first time our dear neighbors will play a game in Winnipeg. [Free Press]

Jayson has the UND Hockey Travel Blog post up. [UNDSPORTS.COM]

Brad Schlossman has a great story on the NCAA vs. CHL debate. [UND Hockey Blog]

Mike Chambers from the Denver Post wrote this interesting article in response to the University of Denver getting beat by Alabama-Huntsville Chargers in Denver last night. This is the second WCHA team that Huntsville has beaten this year. [Denver Post]

Chambers also has this blog post as a follow up. [Denver Post Blog]

Missing tonight were sophomore wingers Jason Zucker (rest from U.S. World Junior duty) and Beau Bennett (wrist), senior defenseman John Ryder (knee) and sophomore defenseman David Makowski (unknown) and sophomore goalie Sam Brittain (knee). All are expected back soon, although Brittain’s situation is a little dicey, given that a medical redshirt is an option. Zucker will be back Monday and play in next weekend’s must-sweep series against Bemidji State. Ryder and Makowski are key defensemen — Ryder as the shutdown, hard-hitting guy and Makowski the playmaker. Zucker and Bennett are future NHLers.

Looking at this list of injured players, it would appear that DU and UND are attempting to set records in man games lost during the regular season. The fact that both teams are in still in reach of a WCHA home series and an at large NCAA tourney bid is almost a miracle based on the players both squads have seen fall to injuries.

Sand bagging at it's best.

Image via WikipediaIf this isn't sand bagging I don't know what is? Denver University Pioneers even with their questionable goaltending will still be a top team. Nice try Mike.

Mike Chambers; The Field House --- Thus, I’m willing to bet many of the 25 voters who participated in a Duluth, Minn.-based media poll has no idea that DU sophomore goalie Sam Brittain will most of the season, if not all of it, after undergoing major knee surgery June 17 in Denver. After all, how can you pick the Pioneers to win the toughest league in the country without their best goalie? It wouldn’t be shocking to suggest DU will make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight year, or even advance to the Frozen Four. Because by then they MIGHT have Brittain back.

But how do you pick the Pios to win a marathon conference season with it’s No. 2 and No. 3 goalies for at least half of the marathon?

Related articles

• Former Fighting Sioux forward Brad Malone interviewed by Mike Chambers (mvn.com)
• Another Mike Chambers drive by shooting on former Fighting Sioux forward Brad Malone... (mvn.com)

Denver forward Jesse Martin has surgery

Denver University senior forward Jesse Martin had surgery to repair his broken C2 vertebra. Let's hope that Jesse has a successful recovery.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - University of Denver senior center Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta) underwent surgery Monday afternoon at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., to stabilize a broken C2 vertebra in his neck. The surgery went as planned. Doctors will reassess his condition on Tuesday morning.

The surgery was performed by Alex Mendez, MD, and Robert Morgan, MD. Mendez specializes in cranial-based neurosurgical procedures, and both complex and minimally invasive spine surgery. Morgan specializes in complex spine surgery and reconstruction.

The surgery was performed at Regions Hospital's Center for Spine and Spinal Cord Injury. The center fosters increased collaboration across the medical, surgical and rehabilitation teams that provide care to patients who sustain injuries or have illnesses of the spine.

Martin suffered the injury during an on-ice collision with North Dakota's Brad Malone on Oct. 30.

Denver athletic department is losing 7 million a year.

Wow! I found this article in the Denver Post this morning when I was conducting a visual recon of the opposition’s newspaper and I must say; that is a lot of money.

The Denver Post --- Despite having one of the country's premier hockey programs, the University of Denver athletic department is operating on an annual budget deficit of more than $7 million. The massive shortfall is the result of the school's pledge to remain in NCAA Division I in all sports, as well as its effort to upgrade its struggling men's basketball program.

Athletic director Peg Bradley-Doppes said there has been no discussion about Denver returning to Division II in its core sports.

"I believe the chancellor and the board feel very, very, very good about the direction of our program, and confident in the direction of the program," she said in a recent interview. "This university takes pride in that we educate student-athletes. . . . There is no quick fix here."

According to documents obtained by The Denver Post, the DU athletic program lost more than $22 million during a three-year period ending June 30, 2007, the deficits growing from $7.1 million to $7.8 million in the third year. DU is a private school and would not make its recent budgets available.

WCHA Preview Part III

We are going to delve now into the top half of the league. As I get closer to #1, the tougher it goes to determine who will finish where. For example, I'm pretty certain of UAA finishing dead last. However, I'm not certain where any of the top 6 will finish. As usual, the top 5 will be very tightly packed in terms of talent. It would not surprise me at all if my top 6 looks completely different than reality even by week 3 of the season.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers
2009-2010 Overall Record: 18-19-2 WCHA Record: 12-14-2 (6-5-0 NC Record)

Key Losses: Jordan Schroeder, Nick Leddy, Jay Barriball, Mike Carman, Ryan Flynn, Tony Lucia
Key Returnees: Jacob Cepis, Alex Kangas, Aaron Ness, Cade Fairchild
Key Rookies: Nick Bjugstad, Erik Haula, Max Gardiner(?)

Let's face it, 4 or 5 years ago, if you said Minnesota will end up barely in the top half of the league and have 2 or 3 straight poor seasons where they miss the NCAA playoffs and one where they didn't even make the Final Five, I'd've called you just another blind homer. Well, it's a reality. The Gophers enter into this season facing arguably the most important season in Coach Lucia's career. This season could be it for Lucia in Minnesota if he doesn't produce. And it is a shame, because his biggest fault is his blind loyalty to John Hill. Hill's incompetence is going to cost Lucia his job this year because I don't see the Gophers any higher than #5 with their current defense.

The Gophers, in my view, have been a finesse/puck possession styled team. They're not overly physical. They rely upon forechecking, outlet passing, a dynamic transition game in the neutral zone, and special teams. I argue that they are still a very good passing team. They're still pretty good at finishing if given the opportunity. However, their Team Defense and their Special Teams (especially their PK unit) is a train wreck. They are easily taken off of their game and that often results in goaltender Alex Kangas being left hung out to dry.

Alex Kangas' stats aren't good or great, and they're not accurate as to how well or poorly he's actually played in his time with the U. Kangas is probably the most consistent player the Gophers have. He's actually pretty good. I consider him to be better than just about every goaltender the Gophers have had since Weber left. In fact, though he's a work in progress, Kent Patterson has the potential to pick up the mantle left by Kangas (Kangas is a senior this year) with little drop. However, no one will notice given how, again, atrocious Minnesota is in their own zone.

They added Cepis mid season and he gave them a boost, thanks to an incredible knack for Cepis to manipulate the shoddy officiating the WCHA offers through the use of acting. Like Roe and Earl before that, Cepis has enough talent to be able to succeed without diving, but he chooses again and again to flop to the ice. Too bad. On a positive note, he finished runner up last season in the Louganis Freestyle Diving (Frozen Water Division) Award to SCSU's Garrett Roe. This year, I'm sure he'll use his first full year's eligibility in Minneapolis to pressure Roe to bring the Trophy to Dinkytown.

I don't see there being a lot of room in the upper echelon for the Gophers in their current configuration. Losing Schroeder was expected, but losing Leddy was a big hit. All Eyes will be on DU and UW's goaltending situations (DU's got a new goaltender and UW's goaltender is almost Carey Price-like in terms of Achilles' Heel). If DU falters and UW is exposed (which I predict they will be), Minnesota could finish as high as tied for 4th! Most likely though, they'll finish 6th.

(?) - I heard Max Gardiner is coming in for the departed Nick Leddy, but Heisenberg still lists him as coming in 2011.

Predicted Finish: 6th

University of Wisconsin Badgers

2009-2010 Overall Record: 28-11-4 WCHA Record: 17-8-3 (11-3-1 NC Record)

Key Losses: Blake Geoffrion, Michael Davies, Ryan McDonaugh, Derek Stepan, Brendan Smith, Cody Goloubef

Key Returners: Jake Gardiner, Craig Smith, John Ramage, Jordy Murray, Scott Gudmanson
Key Recruits: Jason Clark, Frank Simonelli, Chase Drake, Mark Zengerle

Truth be told, this team succeeded far beyond what I thought was possible last season and this season they'll be woefully exposed. Why? Gone is their defensive team that was just as good if not better than the defensive crews I watched dominate for the Sioux in the days of Matt Greene and the NC winning Sioux in 2000. They were simply stifling. Now they're pros. And the Badger faithful should worry. No, they'll not be cellar dwellers. Mike Eaves is too good a head coach to allow them to fall that far. However, they will be forced to revert back to the Badgers of the early 2000s: boring, trap/lock based, insomnia-curing hockey. Why? Because Scott Amundson is NOT Bernd Bruckler or Brian Elliott. In fact, he's, at best, mediocre. And when you don't have that team D ahead of you, all you're left is: exposed.

The Badgers went a long way last season, but they will not see the same success this year. They'll surprise a few and they may return to the NCAAs, but they won't win it all.

Predicted Finish: 5th

Denver University Pioneers
2009-2010 Overall Record: 27-10-4 WCHA Record: 19-5-4 (8-5-0 NC Record)

Key Losses: Marc Cheverie, Joe Colborne, Rhett Rakshani, Tyler Ruegsegger, Patrick Wiercioch
Key Returners: Adam Murray, Matt Donovan, Anthony Maiani, William Wrenn, Drew Shore, Kyle Ostrow
Key Recruits: Sam Brittain, Beau Bennett, Nick Shore, Jason Zucker

Interesting this: Denver loses as much talent, including arguably the best goaltender in the NCAA last season and I have them finishing ahead of the returning DI Hockey runner ups. Why? Because defensively, Denver is still more sound than Wisconsin. Adam Murray and Sam Brittain have more potential than Gudmanson and Bennett. And Gwozdecky, as deplorable he is to Sioux fans, always seems to get the most out of his players.

Sam Brittain has turned heads both in juniors and at the Combine. He's a big guy at 6'3" 190: something you usually use to describe defensemen. Beau Bennett seems to have an innate ability to score. I don't think DU is going to have much trouble in scoring and in Team D. The major question marks this season lies in consistency and goaltending. Murray looked shakey in spot duty last year, but this year is always different. Not every goaltender can tear the league apart like Cheverie did over his 2 years and 1 game he played in Colorado.

DU is going to beatable this year, but it won't be a cakewalk.

Predicted Finish: 4th

Another dynasty in the making?

In case you haven’t seen this blog post about UND fan's favorite opposition coach George aka "the Dasher Troll" Gwozdecky, it does make for an interesting read. This blog post also drips with arrogance, smugness and is condescending to say the least. My first question to Mike Chambers would be; do you always soil yourself every time you write an article about George Gwozdecky? Sure we all know that Gwoz is a reputable coach but he is also just one of many qualified coaches in college hockey. Since he is a Big Ten guy maybe he can apply for the Gophers position after Lucia is shown the door.

Denver Post -- Please excuse my reach while I connect the dots.

Gwozdecky, who is seeking a new deal at DU, is/was a Big Ten guy, and you know Penn State is going to hire a veteran college coach with big-league roots and NCAA championship plaques on his walls. Gwozdecky, 57, could be that man. He won NCAA championships as a player at Wisconsin and an assistant coach at Michigan State.

His resume at DU includes two NCAA titles (2004, 2005), three WCHA regular-season titles (2002, 2005, 2010) and four WCHA playoff crowns (1999, 2002, 2005, 2008). He is a two-time national coach of the year (1993, 2005) and the reigning WCHA coach of the year, his fourth overall.

See the connection here? This is beyond speculation. For Gwozdecky, it’s leverage.