Showing posts with label Minnesota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Minnesota. Show all posts

Friday, October 23, 2015

Northeastern No Goal against the Gophers



I see no reason why this isn't a goal. The Northeaster forward is not in the Minnesota crease before the puck is in the net. There doesn't appear to be any contact with the goalie. I think this is a blown call by the B1G officials. Your thoughts.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Friday Morning Reading

Good Morning! Good times have come our way. The second week of the college hockey season is finally here. The weekend kicks off with a double header, home-and-home hockey weekend for the UND hockey teams. The Women play both days at 2:00 pm followed by the UND men.




You won't believe this... The old stick through the skate trick.

And Finally, former Fighting Sioux All-American Zach Parise scores his fifth goal of the season. This is the quickest that Zach has gotten to five goals to start a hockey season. The Wild are 3-0 and Parise has scored (5g-1a--6pts) in three games.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Yep, Steve Ott is a Rodeo Clown



Yes it's true, Steve Ott is a rodeo clown. Personally, I would recommend circus clown instead. Rodeo clowns actually have a purpose in life.

I am so glad that someone from that national media has finally said this. I think the Wild should be applauded for their restraint and not taking the bait from the St. Louis Blues. It has been fun to watch the Wild players just look Ott and smile and skate away.
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune – Wild fans will want to treat Steve Ott as a villain. He’s not. Villains are frightening. Ott is more like junk mail — annoying but meaningless, and soon to be stuffed in the proper recycling bin.

If the St. Louis Blues were intelligent, they would be feeding off the talent of Vladimir Tarasenko. Instead, they are feeding off the idiocy of Ott, a supposed enforcer who plays like a child, holding sticks and patting heads instead of just once hitting someone square.

When Ott actually had a chance to help his team with a third-period breakaway, he lost the puck, then fanned on a pass in the crease. He’s not a hockey player; he’s a rodeo clown.

Sometimes Ott mimics a tough guy late in games, when the hockey portion of the evening has ended. Monday, with his team down by three goals in the waning moments, he jumped on the smallest player in the game, Jared Spurgeon.
I think that Ott's attacking Jared Spurgeon needs to be addressed at the right time and place. For the most part, that’s not the Wild game. The Wild are ranked 20th in the NHL in fighting majors and don’t have any players with more than five fights. Wild forward Chris Stewart has been in eight fights this season, but has only been in three as a member of the Wild.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

2014-15 ALL-CHN TEAMS


First Team All-CHN
F Jack Eichel, Fr., Boston University
F Jimmy Vesey, Jr., Harvard
F Daniel Ciampini, Sr., Union
D Mike Reilly, Jr., Minnesota
D Joey LaLeggia, Sr., Denver
G Zane McIntyre, Jr., North Dakota

Second Team All-CHN
F Evan Rodrigues, Sr., Boston University
F Zach Hyman, Sr., Michigan
F Tanner Kero, Michigan Tech
D Matt Grzelcyk, Jr., Boston University
D Robbie Russo, Sr., Notre Dame
G Kyle Hayton, Fr., St. Lawrence

All-CHN Rookie Team
F Jack Eichel, BU
F Dylan Larkin, Michigan
F Danton Heinen, Denver
D Noah Hanifin, BC
D Louie Belpedio, Miami

G Kyle Hayton, St. Lawrence

Sunday, March 01, 2015

Cody McLeod Jumps Mikael Granlund and Fights Charlie Coyle

I want to be clear, I am all for fighting and sticking up for your teammates. I get that, but what the heck is Cody McLeod doing? Or better yet, what is Avalanche coach Patrick Roy doing?

My question is: Wouldn't this be an intent to injure? McLeod took a run against an unexpecting player after the faceoff. I don't know?

Second, Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund are skilled players, they're not goons. You really don't want to see Coyle or Granlund stuck in this situation.



If you're a Minnesota Wild, you're probably talking about this today. The Minnesota Wild the Colorado Avalanche are at it yet again. In four games against the Wild the Avalanche has scored a grand total of one goal.
There are rules in place to prevent what McLeod did, but you need the refs to actually call it.

“That’s garbage is what it is,” Yeo said of McLeod’s antics. “You feel it was going that way all game long. They were obviously very emotional all game long. In an emotional type of game, we did a good job of keeping our focus and I really think that was the difference in the end.”

Asked what he thought of Roy putting out McLeod, Yeo said, “We’ve seen the league respond to things like this. There’s rules in place to try to prevent things like that and I’m quite certain that they’ll take a good long look at that.”

We’ll see if the league does examine this and determines the only thing that kept this from being an instigator with less than five minutes left is that the refs decided not levy one for some unexplained reason. (Michael Russo, StarTribune)
Apparently, Av's coach Patrick Roy sent their goon out at the end of the game because of a legal shoulder-to-chest hit.



If you don't believe me that this is a legal hit check out the GIFs embedded below.


Sunday, February 15, 2015

NCHC Hockey: Two Reviews, One Wrong, One Right

When the NCHC was formed, the league was going to do things better. That was one of the premises of breaking away from the WCHA schools. That status quo was no longer acceptable and needed to be changed.

One of the big selling points of hiring head of officials Don Adam was that the NCHC was going to work on training their on-ice officials. Almost two years into this new league, the NCHC is still plagued by many of the same issues that were front and center in the in the old WCHA. You have a great on-ice product that's officiated by sub-standard officials.

In my opinion, the NCHC has officials that shouldn't be reffing games at this level. This past weekend, NCHC officials Timm Walsh, Nick Krebsbach were absolutely brutal. Words can't explain what transpired. So, you have a video to watch.


First, you have a legitimate goal that should have counted. As you can see by watching the video, that the puck was clearly over the line.

There's no reason that goal shouldn't have counted. Watch the video, the puck was clearly over the line and in the net. The argument of the ref was going to blow the whistle, doesn't cut it in this instance.You have a puck that's not frozen and in play. If the refs were going to blow the whistle, there's no reason to spend five minutes reviewing the play. Right?

The second play, the puck is clearly not in the net and the refs take quite a bit of time to review the play.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

MSU-M 4 UMN 2 (Maverick goals)



After watching the video, I can see why the Gophers are having a tough time.

It's pretty simple, if the Gophers don't start winning hockey games, they will be sitting home for the NCAA tournament.

Right now, they're not a good hockey team.

It's kind of puzzling. Minnesota returned most of the team that went to the Frozen Four last season and finished as the runner-up.

After you watch these goals, you will see why the Gophers losing. They're getting beat to pucks. They're not strong on pucks. They're losing the battles. They're not going to the hard areas.

The Gophers All-American goaltender Adam Wilcox looks human. Wilcox is getting beat by shots at the top of the faceoff dots. That didn't happen last season.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

(Video) Highlights of UND vs. UMD



As promised, the video highlights of game two between UND vs. UMD game. I think the boys in stripes has a rough weekend, all weekend long. Also, I included the first penalty of the game. Mark MacMillan was hit with a shoulder/elbow in the head by UMD defensmen Andy Welinskito, this should have been a five-minute major.

Some had made the argument that Steph Pattyn should have been tossed from the game. The Duluth player definitely embellished the call. It was a good weekend of hockey. Feel free to chime in with your opinion.

NDK 1 - 1 6x6 Brendan O'Donnell (6) (Keaton Thompson/4, Andrew Panzarella/2) 13:25
NDK 2 - 1 6x6 LL Mark MacMillan (9) (Paul LaDue/7, Zane McIntyre/1) 6:11
NDK 3 - 1 6x6 GW Brendan O'Donnell (7) (Connor Gaarder/5) 10:19
NDK 4 - 1 6x6 Drake Caggiula (9) (Nick Schmaltz/13, Jordan Schmaltz/13) 12:47
NDK 5 - 2 6x6 HT Brendan O'Donnell (8) (Luke Johnson/6) 9:16

Monday, October 20, 2014

UND Ranked 3rd in Both National Polls

USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll

Rk.      School (First place votes)       
1.         Minnesota (39)                         
2.         Union (11)                                
3.         North Dakota                           
4.         Colgate                                    
5.         Providence                                
6.         Boston College                          
7.         Massachusetts-Lowell                 
8.         Ferris State                               
9.         St. Cloud State                          
10.       Miami     
11.       Denver                                  
12.       Boston University                       
13.       Minnesota State                           
14.       Michigan                                           
15.       Quinnipiac                                         
16.       Alaska                                                
17.       Vermont                                            
18.       Cornell                                               
19.       Minnesota Duluth                             
20.       Alaska Anchorage                           

Others receiving votes: Omaha 78, Robert Morris 67, Notre Dame 62, Bowling Green 47, Michigan Tech 36, Merrimack 27, Northern Michigan 24, New Hampshire 21, Princeton 17, Ohio State 14, Yale 10, Dartmouth 6, Harvard 6, Northeastern 6, Bemidji State 2, Clarkson 1, Mercyhurst 1.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll

Rk.      School (1st place)                     
1.         Minnesota (23)                                 
2.         Union (10)                                        
3.         North Dakota (1)                        
4.         Colgate                                              
5.         Providence                                      
6.         Boston College                                
7.         Ferris State                                        
8.         Massachusetts-Lowell                                     
9.         St. Cloud State                                  
10.       Miami                                                
11.       Boston University                            
12.       Minnesota State                               
13.       Denver                                              
14.       Michigan                                           
15.       Quinnipiac                                          

Others receiving votes: Alaska 45, Vermont 33, Cornell 27, Notre Dame 18, Robert Morris 15, Minnesota Duluth 14, Omaha 14, Yale 9, Alaska Anchorage 8, Bowling Green 6, Merrimack 6, Michigan Tech 5, Ohio State 3, New Hampshire 1, Bemidji State 1.

Monday, October 06, 2014

UND Second in USA Today Poll

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll

Rk.      School (1st place)                      Record           Pts.         PR
1.         Minnesota (34)                                  0-0-0         510            1
2.         North Dakota                                    0-0-0         462            2
3.         Boston College                                 0-0-0             428            4
4.         Providence                                         0-0-0            415            3
5.         Colgate                                              0-0-0            319            5
6.         St. Cloud State                                  0-0-0            304            6
7.         Union                                                 0-0-0            293            8
8.         Ferris State                                        1-0-0            279          10
9.         Michigan                                            0-1-0            237            7
10.       Miami                                                 0-0-0            178            9
11.       Minnesota State                                0-0-0            171          13
12.       Wisconsin                                          0-0-0            136          12
13.       Notre Dame                                       0-0-0            118          10
14.       Cornell                                               0-0-0              82          14
15.       Boston University                             0-0-0              43         NR               


Others receiving votes: Denver 21, Michigan Tech 14, Massachusetts-Lowell 14, Minnesota Duluth 12, Northeastern 10, Michigan State 8, Yale 8, Quinnipiac 6, Ohio State 5, Robert Morris 4, Bowling Green 2, New Hampshire 1.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Minnesota Wild Announce New ECHL Affiliate

There has been a lot of hockey news in the past day or so, and more coming from the Minnesota Wild camp today as well, and no it isn't anything about the Darcy Kuemper situation. The Wild have announced an affiliation with the ECHL's Alaska Aces.

The Aces have been very successful as a franchise in the past few seasons, winning three Kelly Cup Championships in the past nine seasons, including this past season.

Included in the agreement, according to wild.com, the Aces will serve as a resource for developmental efforts for both Iowa (AHL) and Minnesota.

UND fans may take notice at a familiar face on the Aces roster, and now in the Minnesota Wild system, Evan Trupp. Trupp played four years at UND and was a member of the Aces for their championship winning team last season.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Star Tribune: Henry Boucha responds to Bellecourt

If you haven't seen this, it's worth a look. Former Warroad Warrior and Minnesota North Star Henry Boucha let Clyde Bellcourt and the National Coalition Against Racism  know how he felt about their efforts to get Warroad to change it's logo. These comments were posted on his Facebook account.
Patrick Reusse, Star Tribune Henry Boucha offered this response on his Facebook page on Friday night:

“It the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, the Warroad Indian Community, the Indian Education Department and the Warroad Indian Parent Committee supported keeping the name Warroad Warriors. [The Warroad Indian Community] still does today!

“We are proud of what the Warriors represent. Warroad [Kay-Bay-Kah-Nong] is derived from War Road, a trail to the West where the Warriors (our ancestors) traveled down to fight and battle the Sioux. We fought many fierce battles and won the war, keeping our land on Lake of the Woods.

“This is what the name is all about, and we are proud to have it.

“The Indian Parent Committee and the Warroad Indian Community designed the logo for our school. We use it today and wear it with pride.

“We haven’t had a mascot in 40 years. No-May-Poke, a brother to KaKaGeesick and Little Thunder, sold part of his land allotment at a very reasonable price to the Warroad School. It was at [that] time the Warroad Warriors name was instilled, with pride.

“This issue should be left to the communities to decide. Warroad decided once, and we’ll keep the name!

“The National Coalition, with members David Glass, Clyde Bellecourt, Michelle Mills, Norman Renville and Alan Yansey, who instigated this issue with Warroad, along with their lawyers using donated monies and wasting it on this lawsuit, only want fame and national recognition. They should feed the homeless and use the money for something good.’’

Take the hint, Clyde, and go back to the noble task of getting rid of the Washington Redskins.
 Boucha posted this picture on his facebook page.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

My Early Preseason NCAA Men's Hockey Favorite

Ok, I know that the season is still two months away, but I just can't get over how this one ended, and not just for North Dakota either. In general, this past season saw a lot of  parody and I expect this season to be just the same. We saw a team with just one NHL draft pick win it all, a team beat another in .6 seconds to go to the national title game, but lose and lose badly. The end of an era in NCAA Men's Hockey with the end of one conference, and the addition to two new ones. Surprising blow-outs and spectacular overtime thrillers. Most of this could be seen within the North Dakota club alone.

Looking ahead to the season upon us, one must look at who left early, and from where, and who has the best incoming freshman. You have your usual suspects as one might imagine, with Boston College, Minnesota, and North Dakota probably being in the top 10 all season long, barring the typical first half North Dakota funk they always seem to have. Union, the defending national champs, is a team that I don't know what to think about. They proved that if you have a good core of players, and believe in your coach/team, great things can happen.

Michigan looks like they are back on the upswing once again, but their usual Big 10 football rival,
Ohio State, they too look as if they could become a team to look at when it comes to tourney time. The Buckeyes are off of a Big 10 tournament runner-up finish, losing an overtime heartbreaker to Wisconsin.

One also has to wonder about Boston University and if they will crawl back up the rankings again, or if they will stay out of the tournament picture like last season. Only time will tell.

Once again, the NCHC looks to be the powerhouse conference, with the possibility of sending at least five teams to the tournament once again. Miami has their top players returning this season, and are once again among the favorites to win the conference in preseason polls. However, they said that last season too and you saw how that ended up.

Minnesota, the College Hockey News number one team coming into this coming season in their very preseason poll release, looks to gain revenge after their national title game flop against Union. The always tough Golden Gophers
should be in the top five of the rankings for much of, if not the entire season. Being lead by goalie Adam Wilcox, and Kyle Rau, Minnesota is looking for banner number six to hang up in their barn once the season is over.

Finally, a team I know much more about, North Dakota. With three of five incoming freshman being drafted at this years NHL Draft, they return a line-up that has a lot of options.
If you thought last year's freshman class was impressive, wait until you see this one. You have a stud goalie, a first round draft pick, and good core team guys leaving a game day spot hard to come by this year. Between Minnesota and North Dakota this year, you don't find much deeper line-ups in the entire country, and I know UND is looking for revenge after how their, dare I say Cinderella, season ended.

If you asked me to pick a national champion right now, I'd have to flip a coin between North Dakota and Minnesota, but the season is very long and a lot can happen. Ask me this question at the start of the second half and I might have a different answer for you.

Monday, July 07, 2014

Minnesota Wild Development Camp Roster (College Hockey Connections)



The Minnesota Wild are holding their development camp on July 9-14. There will be a scrimmage on the 14th of July.

2014 MINNESOTA WILD DEVELOPMENT CAMP ROSTER

FORWARDS (College Hockey Connections)
40 Tyler Sheehy 5-10 185 Right 11/20/95 Burnsville, Minnesota Minnesota Big 10  
41 Alex Iafallo 6-0 176 Left 12/21/93 Eden, New York U. Minn. Duluth NCHC 
43 Mario Lucia 6-3 195 Left 8/25/93 Fairbanks, Alaska Notre Dame  Hockey East 
50 Vinni Lettieri 5-9 170 Right 2/6/95 Excelsior, Minnesota U. Minnesota Big 10 
52 Alex Tuch 6-3.5 218 Right 5/10/96 Baldwinsville, New York Boston College HE 
57 Adam Gilmour 6-4 192 Right 1/29/94 Albany, New York Boston College HE 
59 Eric Scheid 5-9 163 Left 5/5/92 Coon Rapids, Minnesota Penn State Big 10 
62 Avery Peterson 6-3 200 Left 6/20/95 Grand Rapids, Minnesota Nebraska-Omaha
70 Adam Phillips 6-0 195 Right 8/11/90 Farmington Hills, Michigan UMass- Amherst HE 
71 Brooks Bertsch 5-11 185 Right 5/10/90 Dubuque, Iowa St. Cloud State NCHC 
73 Tanner Kero 5-11 175 Left 7/24/92 Hancock, Michigan Michigan Tech WCHA 
79 Grant Opperman 6-0 185 Right 11/15/93 Wayzata, Minnesota Dartmouth ECAC 

DEFENSEMEN (With College Hockey Connections)
5 Christian Folin 6-3 210 Right 2/9/91 Gothenburg, Sweden UMass-Lowell HE 
44 Gustav Olofsson 6-4 191 Left 12/1/94 Boras, Sweden Colorado College NCHC
60 Carson Soucy 6-5 200 Left 7/27/94 Viking, Alberta U. Minn. Duluth NCHC
72 Hunter Warner 6-2 202 Right 9/21/95 Eden Prairie, Minnesota Minn. State Mankato 
75 Zach Palmquist 5-11 175 Left 12/9/90 South St. Paul, Minnesota Minn. State Mankato WCHA 
80 Louie Belpedio 5-10 190 Right 5/14/96 Skokie, Illinois Miami U. NCHC 

GOALTENDER
86 Michael Shibrowski 6-1 199 Left 11/15/90 Andover, Minnesota U. Minnesota Big 10

Thursday, July 03, 2014

Brady Skjei will return for Junior season



Now that the development camps are in full swing, the Minnesota Gophers got some good news. Defenseman Brady Skjei will return for his junior season.
By Brian Deutsch (GopherSports.com) - Gopher Hockey defenseman Brady Skjei has confirmed he will return to the University of Minnesota for his junior season in 2014-15.

The Lakeville, Minn., native is currently participating at the New York Rangers Prospect Development Camp at Madison Square Garden Training Center and informed the National Hockey League (NHL) organization of his decision on Thursday.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Another reason to stay in school



Here's a perfect example of why college hockey players shouldn't be in a hurry to leave college and play professional hockey. Even if they're a first round draft choice.

Four years after leaving college, former Minnesota Golden Gopher Jordan Schroeder has played in a mere 56 NHL games and scored an unimpressive (6g-9a—15pts). I know that hind sight is 20/20, but I do  wonder if Schroeder would still leave school early, knowing what he knows now? Stay in school and finish that degree.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Wild Kicking the Tires on Jarome Iginla



Looks like the Wild are trying to add another top-six forward for their lineup. This is interesting news right here. I wonder what it would take to get Iggy in a Wild uniform? I would also applaud the move if it happened.
Michael Russo, Startribune – The draft is over, no player trades were made, so whether it’s Sunday or Monday, bet that Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher and coach Mike Yeo will try to get together in Minnesota with pending free agents Matt Niskanen and Thomas Vanek.

While those have been the most well-publicized names surrounding Wild interest in advance of the market opening across the NHL Tuesday, the Wild has other lines in the water, too.

The Wild has been in contact with camp, according to multiple sources. It’s unclear if the interest is mutual, but it’s definitely clear that the Wild is interested in potentially signing the future Hall of Fame winger and, ironically, all-time leader in basically every offensive category against the Wild.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

The Thomas Vanek question



Eric Duatschek asks some very good questions. Personally, I hope that Thomas Vanek still has a chance to make it to Minnesota. I think he could be the final piece for the Minnesota Wild. Well... that and a solid starting goaltender that can stop the puck and play a majority of the games. I think the Wild have that with Karcy Kuemper. Time will tell.
Eric Duhatschek, Globe and Mail -- THE THOMAS VANEK CONUNDRUM: When times were good in Montreal, there was some talk that the Canadiens might actually consider bidding for Vanek in free agency. Now, it seems highly unlikely, given what a negligible impact he’s had on their run to the semi-finals. But will Minnesota welcome him now, after making inquiries at the deadline, but ultimately settling for Matt Moulson, because the acquisition cost and the dollars out were more affordable? Moulson wasn’t a great fit in Minnesota and the New York Islanders would do well to try and kiss and make up, after dealing him for Vanek in the first place. Minnesota has the great good fortune of having Dany Heatley’s $7-million cap hit disappear after this season, but committing that money to Vanek, a player of questionable playoff pedigree, seems ill-advised at this stage. The Wild seem to have a good thing going, with the group they’ve assembled now. Sitting out free agency this summer makes the most sense for them.
One problem for Vanek is that he's been less than impressive during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vanek has scored  (5g-3a-8pts) in 13 games. He's also a (-3). That's not going to make teams want to sign him for 7+ million a season.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Monday, April 28, 2014

(Video) Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche end of game scrum



Feisty end to a very good game between the Wild and Avalanche.

20:00 MIN Clayton Stoner Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min against Patrick Bordeleau
20:00 COL Patrick Bordeleau Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min against Clayton Stoner
20:00 COL Cody McLeod Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min against Nate Prosser
20:00 MIN Nate Prosser Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min against Cody McLeod


Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Minnesota Wild: A trip down memory lane (videos)


These are two of the biggest goals in Minnesota Wild history... Just think about this, Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy lost the last two games that he played in.

Also, the last game of  Roy's NHL career was against the Minnesota Wild. Looking at some of the names of the players, the Av's were loaded.



Watching these old video, I can't imagine the NHL without HD TV. Also, I really don't miss NHL Hockey on ESPN anymore. I think that NBC and NBCSN have done a very good job with the NHL broadcasts.
Enhanced by Zemanta