Lucic upset with Weaver cross check - check from behind

Listen to these announcers from the Florida Panthers, the Bruins forward Milan Lucic wold have been better off if he had just challenged Mike Weaver to a fight, than react this way. It was a blown call by the on ice officials.

Weaver just got cross-checked by Lucic. Appropriately heading to the box. 4 minute power play for the #FlaPanthers
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) February 24, 2013

Weaver gets Lucic in the back & then an unhappy 17 cross-checks him and gives a few shoves, getting an extra 2 for roughing.^CS
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 24, 2013

Lucic gets a 10-minute misconduct added on and is sent to the locker room from the box...^CS
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 24, 2013

"O Captain! My Captain!" - UND picks Mac to be captain

Official Press Release

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota senior defenseman Andrew MacWilliam has been named captain of the men’s hockey team for the 2012-13 season. Senior forwards Corban Knight, Danny Kristo and Carter Rowney were each named assistant captains.

MacWilliam, who served as an assistant captain as a junior, has appeared in 122 career games, the most among returning UND players, and owns a career plus/minus rating of +24. Last season, the Calgary, Alberta, native played in all 42 games and collected two goals and five assists along with a career-best +12 rating. He was also named to the WCHA Final Five All-Tournament Team.

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound MacWilliam was a seventh-round draft pick (188th overall) of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2008.

Knight, like MacWilliam, served as an assistant captain as a junior in 2011-12. The High River, Alberta, native played in all 42 games and amassed career highs in points (40), goals (16) and assists (24). His career +40 rating leads all returning UND players. Knight was a fifth-round draft pick (135th overall) of the Florida Panthers in 2009.

Kristo, a native of Eden Prairie, Minn., is UND’s top returning scorer with 109 points (42 goals, 67 assists) in 117 career games, including a career-high 45 points last season. In 42 games as a junior, Kristo also established career bests in goals (19), assists (26), game-winning goals (3) and plus/minus (+16). He also won UND’s Virg Foss 3-Star Award after receiving the most 3-star voting points from the media following home games. Kristo was a second-round draft pick (56th overall) of the Montreal Canadiens in 2008.

Rowney enjoyed a breakthrough season as a junior, finishing third on the team with a career-high 18 goals and fourth in scoring with a career-high 33 points. Nine of his goals came on the power-play and three stood as game-winners. The Sexsmith, Alberta, native tied for the WCHA playoff scoring lead with eight points in five games, including a league-leading six assists.

UND went 26-13-3 overall in 2011-12 and captured its league-record third consecutive Broadmoor Trophy as WCHA Final Five champions. It was also the program’s league-leading 11th WCHA playoff title.

UND opens the 2012-13 season, its last as a member of the WCHA, with exhibition games against Manitoba (Oct. 6) and the U.S. Under-18 Team (Oct. 12) before opening the regular season Oct. 19-20 at the Alaska Goal Rush tournament in Fairbanks.

Canucks may have an interest in Gophers Bjugstad

Getty Images

Yesterday I included a link to this story in one of my blog posts.

This is one of the reasons that I think that the Gophers are lucky to have Nick Bjugstad back with them this season. There are many that believe that Bjugstad could play in the NHL this season and that he is NHL ready.

Ben Kuzma, The Province --- Nick Bjugstad is not Patrick White.

While the centres are first-round NHL draft picks and products of the heavily scrutinized University of Minnesota program, the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Bjugstad is coming off a 25-goal NCAA sophomore season and it’s not surprising that the Vancouver Canucks have rumoured interest in the 20-year-old as a possible return from the Florida Panthers in a Roberto Luongo trade package. The previous regime had that level of interest in the 2007 draft when White was a surprise 25th overall selection — one pick before the St. Louis Blues took David Perron — but he never played a game for the Canucks. White never had more than nine goals in his three college seasons, was traded to the San Jose Sharks in 2009 and spent last season in the third division of the German Oberliga. It was a clear draft-day miss.

However, as much as scouts will tell you that Bjugstad is a can’t-miss prospect whose career is on fast forward, he’s rightfully returning for another season with the Golden Gophers. He has yet to complete a full NCAA season, battled a pair of injuries last season and his production dropped in the second half after 16 goals in his first 20 games.

While Gopher and WCHA fans are lucky that we get to see the young Bjugstad play a final season in the WCHA… You can almost bet that Bjugstad will be signing an entry level deal as soon as the Gophers are eliminated from in the regional the NCAA tourney.

Brian Skrudland not concerned with Bjudstads development at Minnesota

Miami Herald photo

Guy Flaming co-host of the Pipeline show 1260 A.M. out of Edmonton, Alberta interviewed Brian Skrudland the Director of Player Development for the Florida Panthers. Guy asked Skrudland  if Bjugstad staying in Minnesota for another year would hurt his development as a hockey player. Here is what Skrudland had to say about the matter.

I'm not sure so I asked Brian Skrudland the question to see if the Panthers organization shared the same concern.

"Well... that is a concern," Skrudland admitted, "But when you've got such a quality organization as [the University of] Minnesota has provided there... the off ice strength and conditioning coach, Cal Dietz, has done a fabulous job with Nick. There are a lot of positive things about him going back. The only negative is that he won't be wearing a Panthers jersey and helping us score some goals next year."

"It's an opportunity for him to finish something that he started and we love that as far as the character of the person," continued Skrudland, "And it's an opportunity to go back and maybe win the Hobey Baker and hopefully a national championship as well."

It would appear that the Florida Panther don’t have the same concerns about Minnesota like Garth Snow of the New York Islanders had. That being said, it would appear that the Panthers wanted Nick Bjudstad to sign a professional contract.

Just for the record Guy Flaming and Dean Millard are very fair hosts and are by no shape of the imagination anti-NCAA hockey but in this case I also think that Guy might have a point…

Flaming posed this question Bjugstad… “Could his progress stagnate, or even regress, playing at a level that in many ways, he is already a dominant player?”

I think that is a good question and only time will tell – I think the Gophers will definitely benefit from another season of having Nick Bjugstad on their roster and his presence will make them one of the top teams to beat in the WCHA this season if the Gophers can figure out who is going to be the man between the pipes for the Gophers.

[click to listen to podcast]

Another $900,000.00 Question – Does Nick Bjugstad sign with the Florida Panthers?

I’ve been monitoring the Twitter traffic the past couple of weeks and one of the main topics of discussion amongst Gopher fans is; will Golden Gopher forward Nick Bjugstad sign an entry level contract with the Florida Panthers? From everything that I have read, it appears that Bjugstad wowed them in South Florida this past week and was a man among boys.

Bjugstad "if" he signs will get the rookie max - money probably isn't' the concern - the big decision is whether he wants to leave college two years early and begin his professional career - which according to Michale Russo of the Star Tribune, will probably be in the AHL, because the Panthers are stacked with forwards.

I think Bjugstad is a great hockey prospect and doesn't have a lot to prove in college so I wouldn't be surprised if he signed a professional contract. So we wait, just like we did with the past few summers. I am sure we will hear which way he is leaning in the next couple of weeks. 

Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel --- Panthers prospect Nick Bjugstad firmly denied that the Panthers had made him any contract offers or that he had turned down any (that a source told me yesterday). He will talk to his family about his decision in the coming days and hopes to decide over the next two weeks. Bjugstad has looked like a man among boys at this camp. Ditto for Jonathan Huberdeau who wowed the fans and teammates with a spectacular shootout goal today in which he turned his back on the goalie before switching from backhand to forehand and backhand for a score between the five-hole.

Visa Hockey Love Hurts

A person sent me this in an email today and I found this commercial to be very funny. Watching your favorite team either not make the playoffs or lose in the playoffs is tough to handle and sometimes it takes a few days to get over the sting of losing.

As a fan of the NHL's Boston Bruins, I had this same feeling for a very long time until they won it all last season.  Enjoy the video.

More bad news for UND - Grimaldi to undergo season-ending knee surgery

 Official UND Press Release

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota Head Coach Dave Hakstol announced today that freshman forward Rocco Grimaldi will undergo knee surgery and will miss the remainder of the season.

Grimaldi suffered the injury during the preseason and has appeared in just four of UND’s 23 games this season, scoring one goal and one assist.

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Preseason Rookie of the Year, Grimaldi was a second-round draft pick (33rd overall) of the Florida Panthers in 2011.

Related articles

• WCHA Power Rankings - January 15 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - January 8 (insidehockey.com)

Brad Marchand gets the hat trick

Brad Marchand has had a nose for the net as of late and has been on fire scoring nine points in the last five games (6g-3a—9pts). In his last game out against the Florida Panthers Marchand scored five points (3g-2a—5pts). This Brad Marchand hat trick against the Florida Panters is a thing of beauty.

Hockey Prospectus on Forbort and Grimaldi

Image via WikipediaHere is what the Hockey Prospectus has to say on two Fighting Sioux players. Roco Grimaldi and Derek Forbort recently competed in the Team USA, U-20 Camp...

Derek Forbort, Defense, Los Angeles Kings: Forbort is a roller coaster to watch. He's so gifted, as the skating and puck skills abilities are simply tremendous for a big man and he can create "wow" moments on any given shift. His defensive work showed spurts of fine performance as well. However, the hockey sense still has a ways to go, as for every great play he made, it was coupled with a bad one.

Rocco Grimaldi, Center, Florida Panthers: Grimaldi was his standard self: plus skater, plus offensive skills, great work ethic, went to the net for chances, and good two-way play.

Related articles

• Showing Signs Of Progress: LA Kings Blue Line Prospects Nicolas Deslauriers, Derek Forbort, And Kevin Gravel (frozenroyalty.net)
• Hump Day Links... (mvn.com)

Rocco Grimaldi post draft interview...

I am excited that Rocco Grimaldi is going to be a member of the Fighting Sioux to start the 2011-2012 season. I think this highly skilled forward is going to be a great addition to the Fighting Sioux because Grimaldi is going to add much needed speed and skill to the Fighting Sioux line up... I predict that Grimaldi will be a top 6 forward that will play on the first or second line. I also like the fact that Rocco is going to have something to prove when he steps out on the ice as well. It will be nice to see a player like him on the Fighting Sioux side of the ice instead of watching a player of his skill dancing through our defenses scoring goals, Nathan Gerbe is a player that comes to mind.

Corey Hanlon; NESN ---- Rocco Grimaldi, selected by the Florida Panthers with the third pick in the second round of the 2011 NHL draft, stands at 5-foot-6 -- roughly the size of Zdeno Chara's leg. In a rebuilding franchise, Grimaldi could be making a big difference on the ice sooner rather than later and earn the title of shortest player in the league.

"It’s kind of annoying after a while, but it’s also kind of exciting to sit there not knowing what’s going to happen next," Grimaldi told Yahoo. "I still have to go out and prove people wrong, which I’ve done my whole life and I’m going to continue to do."

Grimaldi scored 34 goals in 50 games last season with the U.S. National Development team. He has committed to the University of North Dakota next year.

Drew Stafford to get paid...

Image by bridgetds via FlickrDrew Stafford gets fat contract, Stafford is going to make 4 million dollars a year. With that pay increase Stafford is going to have add pressure to perform from the Buffalo fan base.

Buffalo Sabres; NHL.COM --- Drew Stafford Buffalo Sabres GM Darcy Regier announced today the Sabres have agreed to terms with forward Drew Stafford, who was set to become a Restricted Free Agent on July 1 on a multi-year contract.

“It was important for us to get Drew locked up,” said Regier. “What we saw from Drew this season is exactly what we envisioned when we drafted him. Drew will continue to be an important part of our team in the coming years.”

Stafford (10/30/1985, 6’2”, 214 lbs.) is coming off a 2010-11 season that saw him finish second on the team with a career-high 31 goals in 62 games, including a league-best four hat tricks. The 25-year-old also posted career-highs in both points (52) and power play goals (11). In five seasons with Buffalo, Stafford has 196 points (94+102) in 317 career games.

Stafford was Buffalo’s first-round selection (13th overall) in the 2004 Entry Draft, and played three years at the University of North Dakota.

Related articles

• Buffalo Sabres, Drew Stafford agree on new deal (aol.sportingnews.com)
• Buffalo re-sign Drew Stafford to multi-year contract (cbc.ca)
• Buffalo re-sign RW Stafford, securing him before the start of free agency (thehockeynews.com)
• Sabres re-sign F Stafford to multiyear contract (sports.espn.go.com)