College Hockey: Tallying up the College Hockey Outdoor games

College Hockey: Tallying up the College Hockey Outdoor Games http://t.co/ztCPwBYZZS #hockey
— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) September 13, 2013

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Buffalo Sabres: Introduce Alternative Captain and Alternate Captain Patches

Introducing the Captain and Alternate Captain patches #NewThirdJerseys #Sabres pic.twitter.com/vPGFApv4KC
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) August 22, 2013

These are looking sweet.

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Sunday Night links....

Great feature on UND sophomore goaltender @ZanoInsano_29, via @kluedeke29 & @NEHockeyJournal: http://t.co/IXzn7zja12
— Sioux Tradition (@SiouxTradition) August 18, 2013

Should the NHL ditch their "loser point" system? http://t.co/9dPgFuFil5
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) August 17, 2013

NHL Rules that should be Changed: Diving/Embellishment http://t.co/DMyDKsNUaN
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) August 17, 2013

Progress being made on the field at Memorial Stadium and next door as the Old Ralph continues to come… http://t.co/h6B0b51juC
— NorthDakota Football (@UNDfootball) August 14, 2013

NCHC Hockey: Conference to use Shootouts to Break Ties http://t.co/re9zpFhJ0j #hockey
— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) August 16, 2013

The Face-Off: Through the Eyes & Mind of an NHL Player (Part 2) http://t.co/dKLiXIKJuE #hockey
— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) August 16, 2013

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• NHL Rules that should be Changed: Diving/Embellishment (hockeywilderness.com)
• Should the NHL ditch their "loser point" system? (hockeywilderness.com)
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• Beau Bennett: Bringing a Fresh Face to the Penguins (thehockeywriters.com)

NCHC to launch new web page on August 1, 2013

New site countdown http://t.co/27rSfWbFbb @CCTigers @DU_Hockey @MiamiRedHawks @UMDBulldogs @omavs @UNDMHockey @SCSUHUSKIES @WMUHockey
— The NCHC (@TheNCHC) July 16, 2013

The NCHC is set to launch it's new web page on August 1, 2013 and I am sure there will be some that will have a great time with this one,  because we know that Webpages make a conference. Right? Here is what's posing as a webpage for the Big Ten Hockey Conference right now.

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• Josh Fenton Named Commissioner Of NCHC (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• NCHC Forges New Standards for Officiating (getrealhockey.com)

Time to name the #MNCollegeHockey Tourney

Voting is underway for the #MNCollegeHockey Tournament. Help us choose one of eight finalists. Vote here: http://t.co/N2moZmlXWc
— BSU Athletics News (@BSUBeavers) July 16, 2013

The time has come to name the Minnesota College Hockey Tourney. You can log on to GOPHERSPORTS.COM and make your selection or you can tweet your selection to @GopherHockey . There are eight of them, and you can vote for one of them. Here's the choices: The Herb Brooks Classic, The Hot Dish, The Minnesota College Hockey Classic, The Northern Lights Cup, The Star of the North Classic, The 10,000 Lakes Classic, The North Star Classic/Cup, The Taconite Cup/Classic.

Don't forget to vote for your favorite #MNCollegeHockey Tournament name! http://t.co/0NwNPX9kkz
— Gopher Hockey (@GopherHockey) July 16, 2013

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Some Sad News (RW77)

Ok, I know this doesn't relate to the NHL or to UND Hockey or, I guess, to NDSU athletics but...

Just graduated CC Forward Scott Winkler was found dead at his parent's home in Norway yesterday (Wednesday, June 12th).  He was 23.

This is definitely not cool.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the Winkler family and friends.

I hope the rest of the UND Hockey family would do the same.

TSN.CA NCAA PLAYER RANKINGS

Over the TSN.CA web site, they have the NCAA Hockey Player rankings. Seven of the top 20 players are WCHA players and two of the top 20 are from UND. It's also interesting, that there are a lot of free agent goalies in the top 20 as well. I would expect Eric Hartzell from QU to get a free agent offer as soon as his team is done with the Frozen Four.

College Hockey: On ice officials have to be better

Match penalty (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some college hockey officials incorrectly assume that if a college hockey player is a heavy hitter and dishes out “legal” heavy hits, he is somehow a dirty player and worthy of a major penalty even when it was a legal hit.

Hence, said player is incorrectly called for a major penalty.

It’s almost like the onus is on the player instead of the referee. I don’t understand this flawed line of thinking.

If anything the on ice officials need to do a better job calling the game of hockey.

Hockey like football is a physical sport – this is not up for debate – physicality is part of the game. This is a fact, there’s going to be injuries as a result of legal checks.

If I am not mistaken, one NHL player hurt himself eating a stack of pancakes last season.

If you could develop a light set of pads that was 100% able to prevent injuries you could make millions of dollars. There is no such thing.

Unfortunately, with college hockey, they’re forced to use part time officials; the product on the ice is suffering because of this. In the WCHA, the officiating has gotten worse the last couple of years and the league has shown no interest in improving the quality of their on ice officials. In my opinion, transparency is at an all-time low.

Often times, the wrong call is being made on the ice, under the guise of not wanting to be that ref that made a wrong call, when it comes to hard and often legal hits. This problem would be easy to fix, with the aid of video review.  s/t Bruce Ciskie 

If the referee on the ice is calling a major penalty, why not allow that referee to step into scorer’s table to allow him to take a quick look to confirm that he’s not making an incorrect call.

In NCAA hockey, penalties can be increased but never decreased. That rules is one that never seemed to make much sense to me.  If anything that rule is incoherent and the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee should take a look at changing it, next time they meet.  Even the NHL can rescind a match penalty.

The game of hockey like football is fast and sometimes the officials get the calls on the ice wrong, the refs are human and will make mistakes. Some refs in some leagues seems to make more mistakes than others.

Lately, legal shoulder-to-shoulder hits have been called hits to the head resulting in major penalties and a game misconduct to the player dishing legal checks. This is unacceptable in my opinion and could be easily fixed if the ref was allowed to step into the scorer table to review the hit.

The on ice officials already review numerous legit goals to confirm that they were legal. One must ask, can they really slow down the game anymore?

I mean think about it, it’s not like they couldn’t review the few major penalties that college hockey has already. So why not review a questionable hit before the ref incorrectly throws a player out of a game for legal hit? Does that not seem fair? Wouldn’t that be better than taking legal hits out of the game of hockey? Why not change the refs behavior instead of expecting a player to change the way he plays the game of hockey.

UND senior defenseman Andrew MacWilliam is 6’2” 230 pounds and he plays a physical game and he is UND’s best penalty killer and he plays against all of the opposition’s best players.  MacWilliam is a hard checker, but not a dirty player and he has been incorrectly thrown out of two games this season for legal hits, one against BU’s Ahti Oksanen and one against MTU for hitting David Johnstone last Friday Night.

Both hits were legal shoulder-to-shoulder hits and shouldn’t have resulted in a penalty at all. In both instances, the same referee Marco Hunt made the wrong call and MacWilliam was given a five minute Major and a game misconduct, next time MacWilliam is given a game misconduct, he will also have to sit out a game due to a suspension for three game misconducts.

Last season, MacWIlliam was also given a five minute major and a game misconduct in game against theDenver Pioneers freshman forward Matt Tabrum as well, for this hit.

Do you see a pattern here? The officials need to learn the difference between a legal hit and an illegal hit. Hockey is a physical game and the players and the fans deserve better. The level of officiating does not match the level of play on the ice and it hasn’t for some time now.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

B1G Hockey Conference Trophy

A peak at the new Big 10 hockey conference trophy twitter.com/GopherPuckStat…
— Gopher Hockey Stats (@GopherPuckStats) March 7, 2013

There it is, the new Big 10 hockey conference trophy, what do you think? I think it looks like something you put on the end of an arrow...

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Nolan Zajac goal that was waved off.

The Denver Pioneers thought they had the go ahead goal at the 1:45 mark of the third period, or did they. After further review, the on-ice officials correctly ruled that Denver forward David Makowski had interfered with Colorado College Tiger's goalie Joe Howe.

(Video) Tucker Tucker Poolman

He's GREAT on the PP and not shabby behind the mic.@omahalancers D-Man @puckertoolman shares his thoughts on the TPG! bit.ly/YgbFZw
— USHL (@USHL) January 29, 2013

This is UND Hockey recruit  and Omaha Lancers defenseman Tucker Poolman and his thoughts on the USHL/NHL Top Prospects game interview. I thought it was interesting that Poolman has 10 goals on the season, and all 10 are on the power play.

Make this happen NHL and NHLPA

This is something that I have seen tweeted and written print a few times in the last week, the is that the NHL owners have told the Commissioner Gary Bettman that cancelling the season is not an option.

Paper exchanged between NHL/ NHLPA. Bottom line: Big mkts. have told Bettman a cancelled season is no-go. Fehr knows this. So will grind.
— bruce dowbiggin (@dowbboy) January 2, 2013

If and when a new CBA is signed, word on the street is the NHL will make Centre Ice free for the season.
— Josh Rimer (@JoshRimerHockey) December 30, 2012

Game winning goal Russia versus Slovakia

With the NHL currently locked out, it's nice to see some hockey finally on television again... I have been watching hockey most of the evening and this was the best game from day one of the the 2013 IIHF WJC. Russia's Albert Yarullin scored at 4:50 of overtime to give team Russia a 3-2 victory against Slovakia. Slovakia actually tied the game with a goal from Slovakia's Richard Mraz with about 14.7 second left to force an overtime period.

Time to tweak the NCAA Division I Hockey Tourney

Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recently, there was an November 29 article by Mark Bedics at NCAA.com and the chair of the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee and current athletic director of Notre Dame Tom Nevala, would like to see the first round of the Men’s NCAA Division I hockey tourney moved on campus and have the games played at the home ice of the higher seed.

Our current setup provides a lot of challenges,” said Tom Nevala, chair of the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee and senior associate athletics director at Notre Dame. “You need to find buildings that are neutral sites, have NHL ice and ideally are within close proximity to the host school’s fan base. Right now for the most part, we really need the host to qualify if we are going to have good attendance and atmosphere at our regionals. In an effort to increase attendance, the NCAA has been working with the hosts to try and make tickets more affordable but the nature of neutral sites and non-traditional game times works against us a bit.”

Although, there have been five fairly major format changes in the first 65 years of the tournament, there have been none in the last 20. The ongoing debate about championship format has become more active during the last couple years.

“Personally, I would like to see us move to an on-campus best-of-three series format for the first round,” Nevala said. “The top seeds would host regardless of size of its building. Right now we do it at the conference level and it works very well. There are upsets even with the home ice advantage and the atmosphere for everyone involved would be better. We have such great campus facilities that are such a part of the fabric of college hockey, it’s a shame that the national tourney isn’t played in them.”

I personally would welcome the change with open arms.

I would imagine something like this 1 versus 16, 2 versus 15, 3 versus 14, 4 versus 13, 5 versus 12, 6 versus 11, 7 versus 10, and 8 versus 9. This would protect the integrity of the NCAA Tourney; I would imagine that there would be some tweaks to avoid conference matchups during the first round of the playoffs, if possible.

Obviously, after the first round there would be eight teams left and you could play two regionals at predetermined locations.

This would seem a little fairer to me.

Apparently, a majority of Division I Hockey coaches would rather play in quiet half empty arenas that in some cases aren’t very attractive venues.

One of these less than attractive regional sites that immediately comes to mind is the 2010 Midwest Regional that was held in Fort Wayne, IN, where a whopping 7337 people attended three NCAA Midwest Regional games held on March 27 and 28, 2010.

Watching the Midwest Regional on television, you could see that regional was poorly attended and you had to ask; why? Seriously, why was that regional held in that location? All of the hockey arenas in the USA and the NCAA couldn’t do better option than that? Notre Dame could have hosted that tourney in Chicago or some other attractive location. Hence, the more logical idea of having the first round of the NCAA Division I Hockey tourney the on campus of the higher seeds.

In 2006, the University of North Dakota hosted a West Regional at the Ralph Englestad Arena and it was one of the best attended hockey regionals in NCAA Division I Hockey history when it drew 22,645 fans. For comparison sake, the 2006 regional outdrew the 2012 West Regional Championships that was held at the Xcel Energy Center drawing 20,360 fans.

Obviously, some teams aren’t going to be real excited about going to another teams building to play in the first round of the NCAA tourney but there needs to be an actual reward for getting a number one seed.

Most years, it wouldn’t make much difference if a number four seed played in the home building of a number one seed or played at a regional site; they’re lucky to be in the tourney and anyway you sliced it and they also deserve  play a game against a higher seeded team.

Also, why shouldn’t a higher seed be able to have the luxury of playing in their building with 11,500 of their screaming fans cheering them on. Why shouldn’t the better seed be rewarded for good play during the course of the season? Isn’t that what the NCAA is trying to do?

I am not so sure.

Is it fair for a team that is ranked number one over-all; have to fly half way across the country to Worcester, MA to face the Boston College Eagles in an arena that is 37.9 miles away from their campus. This happens on a very regular basis.

Make no mistake about it, the Eagles have been a great team over the last 10 seasons and they have the record to show for it.

But that being said, why should a number one seed from the west be rewarded with traveling to a regional championship where they have to play the Boston College Eagles in their home state a mere 40 miles away. There’s no way that you can convince me that’s a neutral site.

Maybe question should be; neutral site for who? In its present form the NCAA Division I Hockey tourney is awarding select teams the luxury of playing close to home more times than not. That’s hardly fair for all of the teams involved in the NCAA tourney.

That scenario has happened to the Miami University RedHawks twice in the last four years. In 2008, the Miami RedHawks traveled to Worcester, Massachusetts to face the Boston College Eagles and lost 4-3 in the Championship game – a great reward for finishing with the number one seed over-all.

Not Really!

In 2011, the number one seeded RedHawks would travel to Manchester, NH and this time they had to face the fourth seeded University of New Hampshire Wildcats who were playing a short 35 miles away from their campus, the top seeded RedHawks would again lose, to the host team the UNH Wildcats. Again, where was the reward for gaining the number one seed?

If you look at the schedule of the Boston College Eagles schedule over the last 10 season, they haven’t traveled very far very often. Here is a breakdown of that less than strenuous travel.

In 2003, the B.C. Eagles jumped on highway 95 and traveled a short 46.8 miles to play the Cornell Big Red in the East Regional, the Eagles would go on to lose 2-1 in double overtime.

In 2004, the B.C. Eagles traveled to Manchester, NH; a mere 60 miles up I-93 from the campus of Boston College to play the in the Northeast regional. The Eagles would advance to the Frozen Four where they would lose to Maine in the Semifinals.

In 2005, the B.C. Eagles would travel to Worcester, MA to play in the East Regional. The Eagles would lose to the University of North Dakota. To get to the Frozen Four the Fighting Sioux would have to go a mini Bean Pot Tourney beating both Boston University and Boston College to qualify for the Frozen Four, no easy task.

In 2006, the B.C. Eagles would again travel to the friendly confines of Worcester MA to play in the Northeast Regional and would advance to the Frozen Four where they would lose to NCAA Champion Wisconsin in the Championship game of the Frozen Four. (NCAA runner up)

In 2007, the B.C. Eagles traveled to Manchester, NH for the Northeast Regional, where they would again reach the Frozen Four before losing to NCAA Champion Michigan State in the Championship game of the Frozen Four. (NCAA runner up)

In 2008, the B.C. Eagles were back in Worcester, MA for the Northeast Regional where the Eagles would advance to the Frozen Four by beating both Minnesota and Miami. The Eagles would go on to win the NCAA title beating Notre Dame in the Championship game. (NCAA Champs)

In 2009, the B.C. Eagles missed the NCAA playoffs.

In 2010, the B.C. Eagles would again make the short 37.8 mile trip to Worcester, MA for the Northeast Regional were they would again advance to the NCAA Frozen Four where they would beat the Wisconsin Badgers in the Championship game. (NCAA Champs)

In 2011, the B.C. Eagles would finally travel outside of the Northeast to St. Louis MO, where the Eagles would get drubbed by the Colorado College Tigers 8-4 in the quarterfinals.

In 2012, the B.C. Eagles would again make a return to Worcester, MA to play in the Northeast Regional where they would advance to the Frozen Four and win the NCAA championship with a win in the championship game against Ferris State. (NCAA Champs)

So you can imagine that the Boston College Eagles would like to keep the status quo and keep going to regional held in Manchester, NH Providence, RI or Worcester, MA.

Obviously, the B.C. Eagles are a great hockey program and Jerry York is a great hockey coach but you can’t say that Boston College didn’t benefit from getting to play close to home where their fans travel no more than an hour to see their favorite teams play hockey.

This short travel is a huge advantage over the teams, especially the team in the west unless you’re the University of Minnesota who gets to enjoy the same luxury of getting to have a regional in their back yard virtually every other year.  The distance for the Gophers from their campus to the Xcel Energy Center is a short seven mile trip.

If you break this down, B.C. won three NCAA titles in five years and the year that they didn’t get to play close to their home they failed to make the NCAA Frozen Four and ended up losing in the first round.

What are we to make of that?

I also think that there are a certain handful of teams that benefiting from having the regionals championships in their back yards almost yearly at the expense of others.

The NCAA has announced that the 2013 Division I College Hockey regionals are going to be at Grand Rapids, Michigan, Manchester, New Hampshire, Providence, Providence, Rhode Island and Toledo, Ohio. The 2014 regionals will be held at Bridgeport, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Paul, Minnesota. and Worcester, Massachusetts. Do you see a pattern here?

So I agree with Tom Nevala lets do a few tweaks to the NCAA Division I Hockey Tourney, the status quo doesn’t work for everyone.

Ogilthorpe the movie...

Another hockey movie, Ogilthorpe, the guy from the movie Slap Shot, I can't wait to see it. I also read that there will be an sequel to the movie Goon as well.

Though I do feel the need to clarify something from the last article I posted, GOON 2 will be written by @jessechabot and myself.1/2
— Jay Baruchel(@BaruchelNDG) September 24, 2012

MSU-M's Eriah Hayes between the legs, no-look pass

For some reason I still get MSU Mankato's highlight video's emailed to me and this one came in my email last night before I went to bed. I thought I would put it up so you could take a look at. It's an awesome hockey play by Eriah Hayes. Thoughts?

Tweets that give me hope that the season could be saved

NHL offer today at 50-50...Biggest issue is to honour existing contracts...players will get full value of contract in deferred dollars.
— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) October 17, 2012

I think after today developments there is some hope that a settlement could be reached or at least it's possible that both sides could agree to a new CBA. What is even more exciting is there is a chance that we could have a full 82 game NHL season. Or at least from my vantage point -- it would appear that the two sides are "finally" making some progress after the NHL owners put forward what appears to be a serious proposal now.

Per player source,clarification is needed on HRR definition in league proposal,appears in new offer player share is lowered.Also 'salary
— Aaron Ward (@aaronward_nhl) October 17, 2012

guarantee/protection',to allow to go from 57% to 50%,means players would likely be paid back by themselves,out of their share in the
— Aaron Ward (@aaronward_nhl) October 17, 2012

Being told there's plenty of good traction tonight over CBA. Still a lot of work to be done, but this could move relatively quickly.
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) October 17, 2012

New PHT -Next CBA meetings will indeed take place Thursday dlvr.it/2KpBm3
— Joe Yerdon (@JoeYerdonPHT) October 17, 2012

Players cautiously optimistic after NHL offer es.pn/R8WJJL
— ESPN NHL coverage (@ESPN_NHL) October 17, 2012

Saturday night thoughts

I was checking out the box scores from the American Hockey League - this box score caught my attention. What jumps out at you here? There are a couple things that piqued my attention - see if you can find them?

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(video) What we are missing.

Since there is really no watchable hockey action right now, I thought I would include this video that I thought was pretty good. Some good editing and the video is worth a look. It's time for the NHL owners and the NHLPA to get series and try to get an agreement so we can have the 2012-13 hockey season. Music is by Bruce Springsteen.

A beautiful goal by Zherdev

It's nice to see someone playing some actual hockey and this is a taste of what we're missing. Check out former New York Ranger Nikolay Zherdev as he scored this beautiful highlight reel goal against Spartak in KHL action on Tuesday night. Zherdev plays for Atlant of the KHL and his team beat Spartack 5-2.