NCAA Hockey: Coaches want to keep the status quo

A couple of things have come out of the NCAA hockey meetings so far. Frankly, I am not all that happy with what has come out of the NCAA meetings. I didn’t really have that high of expectations anyways.

Brad Schlossman, Grand Forks Herald – There was a proposal at the annual Florida meetings last week to change the NCAA tournament format to allow the top eight seeds to host a best-of-three series in the first round, but it was met with resistance from a segment of coaches, Faison said.

“Clearly, for me, I’ve always been a supporter of the top eight hosting in the first round,” said Faison, who will be a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee in September. “I think it’s a better way. There are still going to be upsets. It’s just better for the game.”

The primary concern of coaches with that format is that it’s not a competitively fair situation, Faison said.

In a nut shell, “certain” schools appear to want to keep the status quo, when it comes to the NCAA Division I Hockey Tourney.  But why would they want to change? Currently in its present form, the NCAA Hockey Tourney working marvelously for them.  Why would the eastern schools want to get on a plane and have to travel to say Denver, Minnesota, North Dakota or Wisconsin and play a best-of-three series when they can play a one-and-done series in their own back yard.

The same schools would also benefit from hosting their share of best-of-three series as well. So their refusal to be open to change is puzzling.

Going forward, this means, we will continue to let the schools out east drive an hour or less and play in what is basically their own back yards.

On the flip side, the NCAA will continue to have the western schools fly long distances and play in empty arenas, in unattractive cities in places that you would never dream of traveling to.

For whatever reason, the NCAA won’t make the eastern teams travel.

According to Grand Forks Herald beat writer Brad Schlossman, “BU and BC have got on a plane 3 times for a regional in the last 13 years. The teams lost by four goals in the 1st round each time.”

The NCAA wants regional games played in arenas posing as quiet emotionless mausoleums, all under the guise of the regional being held at “neutral” sites. The fact remains, these sites are not in fact “neutral” sites. All you have to do is look at Google maps to prove my point. The University of New Hampshire is 45 minutes away from last year’s regional site in Manchester, New Hampshire.

It appears that the UND hockey team is going to get a chance at hosting a regional “close” to Grand Forks, ND. Again, since the NCAA has decided in their infinite wisdom they don’t want any more regionals on-campus and want to play in empty arenas posing as quiet emotionless mausoleums, all under the guise of the regional being held at “neutral” sites. This would be the next best option, next to the Xcel Energy Center.

UND athletic director Brian Faison said the school is working on putting together a bid to host a men’s hockey regional at Fargo’s Scheels Arena in 2015 or 2016.

I know, be careful what you ask for. Right? That being said, there is going to be a problem with having a regional championship at that location. Having been to the Scheels Arena in Fargo, I don’t think it’s big enough for a regional championship. The Scheels Arena only seats 5,000 people for hockey.

What if the NCAA puts Minnesota and North Dakota in the same regional, they’ve done it on many occasions. In essence, Scheels Arena wouldn’t be big enough to accommodate both schools ticket demands. When you put a regional close to a host school like North Dakota with a rabid fan base like UND, their fans are going to show up. The same is true with Minnesota.  It will be interesting to see how this ends up.

Related articles

• NCAA Hockey: Coaches want to keep the status quo (thehockeywriters.com)
• Time to move the NCAA Hockey Tourney back on campus (thehockeywriters.com)
• Time to move the NCAA Hockey Tourney back on campus (insidehockey.com)

UND’s Hakstol: “regionals pinnacle of our season and should be played in a great atmosphere.”

und v. usa (Photo credit: intersubjectiv)

This past weekend, UND played in the NCAAWest Regional tourney in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  If you watched the games you will see that the games were sparsely attended,just like I had predicted.

So the NCAA wants the teams to play in empty arena’s posing as quite mausoleums during prayer time.

Come to think of it, I have probably been to churches that are louder than last week’s West and Midwest regionals.

The announced attendance for Friday’s game between Niagara and UND was 2289 and for Saturday’s game, the announced attendance was 1918 fans.

Seriously!

If mathematically challenged, that’s a grand total for 4207 fans to see the NCAA West Regional hockey games for the weekend. My words, “that’s pathetic.” The NCAA should be ashamed. There are high school hockey tourneys in North Dakota that have more people attend them then this regional.

Today was the last press conference of the year for UND hockey head coach Dave Hakstol was asked about his thought on the NCAA tourney being played in building with atmospheres like last weekend’s regional in Grand Rapids, Michigan?

“The pinnacle of our season should be played in a great atmosphere,” Hakstol said. “I think the players that are involved in the national tournament deserve that. “I think It’s something that has garnered a fair amount of discussion over the last couple of year, but no action.” We have to fix things. We’re not doing this the right way at the regional level – to play in front of… I saw a stat within out program we had 5500 people on a live chat, and there was maybe 1500 people in a building watching a great hockey game between Yale and North Dakota on Saturday night. That’s not right. That’s the pinnacle and that’s the spotlight of our season. Yeah, we have to change things. Certainly, I would like to work towards doing that, sooner, rather than later. The best regionals that I have been involved in, that I can remember, atmosphere wise, was here, in 05-06, where we hosted, competitive environment. The regional in Minnesota; last year at the Xcel Energy Center; in front of 10,000 people, we came up one game short. Great atmosphere to play in, spotlight event, the way the national tournament game should feel. Third one would have been; at the Kohl Center, where the University of Wisconsin hosted. We had the good fortune of coming out of that regional. That was a tough game, there was about 15,000 people cheering against us and 1,000 of our fans with us, but that was atmosphere, and that’s the stage that our national tournament should be played on, we need to get back to one shape or form. “

It’s pretty clear that the UND’s head coach would rather play in a raucous, loud arena filled with passionate fans, even if they’re another fan bases’  than an empty arena, in a nameless town with empty seats posing as fans for the sake of having a regional championship at a neutral site, in an empty building on Saturday in March.  I agree.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers-Combine.

Funny you should mention that coach Jackson

Also, in his post-game presser, ND coach Jeff Jackson says something must be done about 1st-2nd rd NCAA sites. No atmosphere here or GR.
— Mike Eidelbes (@INCH) March 30, 2013

Funny that he should mention that, but I think I have been saying that all season long. I think I might have wrote about it as well.

Related articles

• NCAA hockey attendance 'adequate' (toledoblade.com)
• UND Hockey: What Happened, day 2 (thehockeywriters.com)

UND 2012-13 hockey season post-mortem

For UND hockey fans, the end of every season is always tough, especially for the last 13 years.  UND hockey fans don’t take losing well and UND hockey is a way of life, much like football is in Nebraska or Texas.

But I digress.

If you would have asked me how I thought this year would have ended, I would have said anything is possible including this ending.  Although, I was thinking that the Green and White’s season would have ended in a trip to Pittsburgh, PA culminating in their eighth NCAA title.

I thought this team had the “potential” to take it all the way to Pittsburgh, but in the last month, those expectations were quietly dampened as they had trouble getting sweeps against the likes of Bemidji State and Michigan Tech.

This year’s team was hard to put a finger on.  They never really clicked defensively or offensively.

The coaching staff was still messing around with line combinations up until the end of the season. Some of that was a result of UND’s incredible depth this season. There was also, for the most part, no major injuries so there were many combinations to play with.

Players that played poorly on the ice found themselves sitting in the stands the next game.

There never seemed to be a lot of great chemistry among the forward lines except for the top line and the energy line.

A great hockey mind told me earlier in the season; that if your team is still screwing around with the forward lines in late January, your season wasn’t going last very long. Hum…those words of wisdom, now proved to be very true. It’s not really rocket science per see, but it’ makes a lot of sense. Just seems like there was no continuity to this hockey team.

This year’s team never really had that killer instinct, they never seemed to have to have ability to put a team away and they had a propensity to let bad teams hang around longer than they should have.

That being said, this team wasn’t a bunch of talentless hacks either.

The 2012-13 version of the UND hockey team was still a pretty decent hockey team that at times looked like they could beat the best teams in the country and played one of the toughest schedules in the country.  They didn’t rack up 22 wins playing the weak sisters of the poor.

On the negative side of things, UND had two league sweeps all season long, UNO and MTU and both of these sweeps were on the road. UND swept one team at home, and that was nonconference foe Holy Cross.

The 2012-13 UND hockey team finished with a 22-13-7 record and also finished one win away from sharing the McNaughton Cup with Minnesota and Saint Cloud State.

Let this one sink in for you, this is the first time in 10 years that the UND hockey team isn’t going to go to the Frozen Four or win a Broadmoor Trophy or McNaughton Cup.  I didn’t even realize this until I read Brad Schlossman’s post game report in the Grand Forks Herald.

There are going to be those that will say that this UND hockey team didn’t meet expectations. There will be others that will say that this team lacked grit and heart.

Secondary scoring was an issue with this team and after Danny Kristo (26-g-26a—52pts), Corban Knight (16g-33a—49pts) and Rocco Grimaldi (13g-23a—36pts), there was a drop off of in scoring after the top line.

Next season, the junior class of Mark MacMillan (13g-12a—25pts) and Michael Parks (7g-1a—8pts) along with Roco Grimaldi are going to be expected to lead the way for UND.  Michael Parks was slowed this season by an injury and he never really seemed to regain his rhythm that he had from the previous season.

Fire Hakstol

As always, expectations are pretty high, especially when your team resides in Grand Forks, North Dakota, almost to a point of fanaticism. When the season ends prematurely without a NCAA title, some in the fan base begin to call for the coach’s head.

I can tell you right now that there is zero chance that head coach Dave Hakstol gets fired, he’s not going anywhere.  Not going to happen, first-off Hakstol just signed a long term deal and you would require a very big buy out.  If I had to guess, a buyout it’s in the $800,000.00 – $1,000,000.00, so no, coach Hakstol is going anywhere, unless someone is going to step forward to write the University of North Dakota a huge check and I don’t see that happening.  Nor am I suggesting that this should it happen.  The next quesition would be, who do you replace him with? Replacing him doesn’t mean the program succeeds either.

Lastly, Dave Hakstol is a very good hockey coach and has done a good job with the UND hockey program.  UND just won 20 plus games for the ninth year in a row and I think it’s just a matter of time before he leads UND to a national title. Then the naysayers will be running to catch up with the Hakstol bandwagon.

Cross-Posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.

(Video) UND 2 NU 1

I decided to put the game winning goal up from the Yale vs. Minnesota game as well. When I .fast forwarding to the UND goals I thought what the heck. I was in the car on my way to Hugo's,  and I was listening to the game on 1500ESPN and Frank and Wally had barely got set when the overtime was already over. Not really a memorable call to the end of the Gophers season.

UND grinds out win against Niagara Purple Eagles

This was a typical hard fought regional semifinal playoff game, this is what I call a grind it out win. This wasn't a lot of fun to watch, but UND still moves on. Mac's goal to tie the game was your typical timely, big time goal.

Coming into this game, when you look at both team's schedules, you would think that game shouldn't even be close, but this is the NCAA playoffs. I thought we might see about a 6-1 game, but after the first period, I figured this was going to be a war. I also thought that this was a nasty game as well. In the end, UND was able to do what good teams do, they found a way to win.

Related articles

• UND Finds Tough Sledding Against Tech (insidehockey.com)
• Day 2 Reflections From WCHA Final Five (insidehockey.com)

Links of interest NCAA Hockey

Those that want to watch the games on ESPNU here is the link to the games today. [click to view]

Here is the TV schedule for the NCAA tourney games.  [click to view]

Here is the link to listen to the Gopher game against Yale on the Radio [click to listen]

Here is the link to listen to the UND Hockey game(s) on the Radio [iHeartRadio]

UND Officials Web Page

UND Official Press Guide for the NCAA Playoffs.

UMN Official Minnesota Hockey Web Page.

Yale Bulldogs Hockey Official Web Page.

Niagara Official Web Page

Related articles

• Time to move the NCAA Hockey Tourney back on campus (thehockeywriters.com)
• College Hockey's March Madness Continues: This weekend's NCAA Division one television schedule (3/29 - 3/31) (thehockeywriters.com)

Time to move the NCAA Hockey Tourney back on campus

It’s that time a year again, Division I college hockey soon will be taking center stage in the NCAA regionals playing in half empty arenas, in venues in cities across the USA.

It’s a yearly occurrence for college hockey, because we can’t have anymore regionals on campus. God forbid, we can’t have playoff games in rowdy arenas stuffed with rabid fans.

The NCAA wants regional games played in arenas posing as quite emotionless mausoleums, all under the guise of  the regional being held at “neutral” sites.

But some of the sites really aren’t that neutral, for some of the schools.

Midsized towns like Grand Rapids, Michigan, Manchester, New Hampshire, Providence, Rhode Island and Toledo, Ohio, will be hosting this year 2013 NCAA Division I college hockey regionals.

There is a good chance in one or two of these regional, will sparsely attended.

This year, you can pretty much guess that Midwest Regional being held in Toledo, Ohio will be that regional that will be played in front of an empty arena or arena seats posing as fans.

Going on past history, I am betting that this will be that regional that very few fans will see live, unless it’s being watched on television. According to The Blade, a Toledo, Ohio newspaper, tickets remain for the regional. You can get your tickets to the regional for a cool $75.00. Really, tickets remain. I can’t imagine why? That’s way too pricey.

Anyone want to lay odds on the attendance numbers for that regional? If they get 2,000-3,000 fans for the weekend, they will be lucky. That’s what the NCAA want’s half empty arena’s at neutral sites.

The other western regional, the “West” regional, is east of the Mississippi River. I don’t know about you, but I don’t see how anything in the Eastern Time zone is considered the Western part of the USA, at least by my standards, but whatever.

For the West Region, tickets are still available and a little bit cheaper, there going for $65.00.  Want to lay odds, that there will be a fair number of empty seats at this regional as well. Sure, North Dakota and Minnesota are in this regional and their fans travel well.

But let’s get real.

Grand Rapids is 649 miles from the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota is 582 away from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

With the cable/satellite television, one doesn’t need to spend money on a expensive last minute plane ticket or gas for 14 hour car trip, hotel room, and ticket package.

Of course, on the flip side of this equation, the Boston College eagles will get to travel a strenuous 50 miles south to Providence, Rhode Island.

Let’s not forget, New Hampshire has an exhausting 45 minute bus trip to the North East Regional in Manchester, New Hampshire.

For the most part the NCAA won’t make the eastern teams travel.

According to Grand Forks Herald beat writer Brad Schlossman, “BU and BC have got on a plane 3 times for a regional in the last 13 years. The teams lost by four goals in 1st round each time.”

Last time Boston College was sent west they got rolled 8-4 by the Colorado College Tigers.

So in essence, yearly, the NCAA is giving the eastern teams in the NCAA Division I hockey tournament home games. It’s no wonder they don’t want to move the regionals back on campus. Why should they? They might have to play a Michigan, North Dakota, Minnesota, Denver at their home arena. We can’t have that, they might not have an easier path to the Frozen Four.

I believe it’s time for the NCAA regionals to move back on campus, soon. Of course, there is not a lot of support for moving the regionals back on campus. I don’t, however, think that’s going to happen, anytime soon.

This year, if anything, I think brings to light, a reason to at least explore that option.

After Notre Dame beat Michigan 3-1, to win the CCHA title, it looked like UND was headed to the East regional. Think again. Instead of going by the Pairwise numbers and putting UND in the East Regional with Quinnipiac, Canisius and Union, the NCAA instead put the Boston College in the easier bracket and doubled up two WCHA teams in the West Regional, all under the guise of Minnesota and North Dakota will sell tickets.

After an all WCHA Frozen Four in 2005, the NCAA didn’t want to have a repeat of that even again. In some fans opinion, the NCAA has pretty much handed Boston College a easy route to the Frozen Four with that regional draw.

According to Tom Nevala, chair of the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee and senior associate athletics director at Notre Dame, it doesn’t sound like the regionals are going to be moving back to campus anytime soon.

According to Tom Nevala, chair of the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee and senior associate athletics director at Notre Dame, it doesn’t sound like the regionals are going to be moving back to campus anytime soon.

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.”

So does Nevala see it happening any time soon?

“The coaching body is so set on having the regional games at neutral sites that before the committee would ever propose something like this we would need to work with them to try and get everyone on board,” Nevala said. “Hopefully we can put something together that they would feel comfortable with. It’s really hard for anyone with an objective view to say what we are doing now at our regionals is great,  so we need to try and do something with them because a great tournament should be our goal.”

Regional sites for the next two years have already been determined so the earliest any change could happen would be for the 2015 championship. The 2013 regionals are at Grand Rapids, Mich., Manchester, N.H., Providence, R.I. and Toledo, Ohio. The 2014 regionals will be held at Bridgeport, Conn., Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Paul, Minn. and Worcester, Mass. [ncaa.com]

I find those comments disappointing, however, maybe there is hope. Being from North Dakota, at least there is some hope in the future. Or at least, UND athletic director Brian Faison is saying some of the things that I like to hear.

“I don’t like the situation we seem to find ourselves in sometimes when we play in empty arenas in regionals,” said North Dakota athletic director Brian Faison, who will join the committee in the fall. “I’d love to be in a situation where you could play on campus sites for the first round. … I’d love to see us get into a different format, and I think it’s better for the sport. It’s a great game.

“And you want that game in the best locations that you can to showcase.” [Lacrosse Tribune]

Don’t count on the NCAA Hockey showcasing the college game in half empty arena’s in towns some have never heard of, nor would ever think of visiting, if it was for the college hockey game. It’s  time to consider moving the NCAA Hockey Regionals back on campus.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.

Related articles

• WCHA Hockey: What are we doing here? (thehockeywriters.com)

C.C. vs. UW: winner to the NCAA tourney

The University of Wisconsin Badgers (21-12-7) and Colorado College (18-18-5) faceoff tonight in the championship game of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five at 7:00 pm. Central.

You can watch that game on DirecTV channel 668 FSN, if you don’t have cable.

This is an important game for both teams.

The winner goes the NCAA playoffs. The Tigers if they lose, they’re season is over. The same may happen for the Wisconsin Badgers if they don’t win tonight as well, it’s up to the Pairwise math.

Wisconsin is currently sitting at 17^th in the Pairwise so they’re definitely a bubble team.

After the win last night, Colorado College Tiger goalie Joe Howe summed it up with the quote of the weekend, “Rylan [Schwartz] put a quote on the board from Mike Babcock [Redwings head coach] you don’t have to win three games, you have to win one game three times.”

I have told people that the Tigers have one of the best lines in college hockey and the opposition has had a tuff time stopping Rylan Schwartz, Alexander Krushelnyski and the local boy Charlie Taft (Edina, Minnesota). Regardless of the record, the Tigers are a good hockey teams and are peaking at the right time. The Tigers have also won five of their last six games.

Last night, the Tigers looked as if they had watched some game film from the BSU and Minnesota series. At times, it looked like C.C. used some of the same offensive strategies. On one play, the Tigers chipped the puck up the glass and the forward from C.C. skated into the puck and got a quick shot on net that Adam Wilcox made a big save on. If Wilcox doesn’t make that save, it’s a 3-0 game.

You have to give credit, where credit is due. The Tigers beat DU (20-13-5) in games, they beat UND (21-12-7) and Minnesota (26-8-5).

Colorado College Tigers: Rylan Schwartz (19g-32a—51pts), Alexander Krushelnyski (15g-27a—42pts), William Rupuzzi (15g-20a—35pts), Scott Winkler (13g-15a—28pts), Archie Skalbeck (12g-11a—23pts)Defense: Mike Boivin (14g-14a—28pts) Eamonn McDermott (3g-20a—23pts), Peter Stoykewych (2g-9a—11pts). Goalies: Joe Howe 14-11-4, 2.97 GAA, .915 save percentage, Josh Thorimbert 4-7-1, 3.73 GAA, .873 save percentage.

Wisconsin Badgers: Forwards: Michael Mersch (23g-13a—36pts), Mark Zengerle (9g-21a—31pts), Nic Kerdiles (9g-21a—30pts), Joseph Labate (9g-13a—22pts),  Tyler Barnes (14g-15a—21pts), Defense:  Jake McCabe (3g-17a—20pts) John Ramage (8g-10a—18pts). Goalies: Landon Peterson 6-4-3, 2.01 GAA, .926 save percentage, Joel Rumpel 15-8-4, 2.21 GAA, .921 save percentage.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writes Combine

Related articles

• Day two reflections from the WCHA Final Five (thehockeywriters.com)
• Day two reflections from the WCHA Final Five (getrealhockey.com)

UND Women make second NCAA tourney in a row

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Official Press Release
MADISON, Wis. – Two teams from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, winners of the last 13 national championships, have been selected to play in the quarterfinals of the 2013 NCAA Division 1 Women’s Ice Hockey Championship.

Defending national champion, 2012-13 WCHA regular season champ and No. 1 seed Minnesota (38-0-0) will host North Dakota (26-11-1), in the quarterfinal round, the NCAA revealed during Sunday night’s selection show. Puck drop is 4:00 pm CT Saturday at Ridder Arena. The game is a rematch of the 2013 WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF title game on Saturday (March 9) in Minneapolis when Minnesota continued its perfect season and extended its unprecedented winning streak to 46 games with a 2-0 victory. This will be the sixth meeting between the teams this season.

This is the eighth NCAA regional appearances for Minnesota. Minnesota also hosted the regional game in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. The Golden Gophers beat North Dakota in the NCAA Regional at Ridder Arena last season. This is the second NCAA tournament appearance for North Dakota, which received one of the four at-large berths.

Eight teams are selected for the championship. Of the eight teams, the top-four teams are seeded. Three conferences were awarded automatic bids for the 2013 tournament. The remaining five teams were selected at-large. The automatic qualifying conferences and their representatives are the WCHA – Minnesota; ECAC Hockey – Cornell; and Hockey East Association – Boston University. Boston College, Clarkson, Harvard, Mercyhurst and North Dakota were all selected as at-large teams.

The quarterfinals will be played Saturday, March 16 and the other pairings have No. 2-seeded Cornell (27-5-1) hosting Mercyhurst (28-6-1), No. 3 Boston University (26-5-3) entertaining Clarkson (28-9-0) and Harvard (24-6-3) at Boston College (26-6-3), the No. 4 seed. The quarterfinal winners will advance to the 2013 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four, set for Friday, March 22 and Sunday, March 24 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. The semifinal games will be played at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. CT on March 22. The championship game will be played at 3 p.m. CT on March 24.

In the 12 years of NCAA-sponsored tournaments, WCHA members have won all 12 titles – Minnesota Duluth has five, Wisconsin has four and Minnesota three. Minnesota defeated Wisconsin, 4-2 in the 2012 championship game at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. Six of this year quarterfinalists are repeaters from last year’s field, including North Dakota and Minnesota. The other repeaters are Mercyhurst, BC, Cornell and BU.

Related articles

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NCAA Investigates Its Investigators

Wow! So now it appears that the NCAA is in need of a internal affairs division. There are days that I wished the NCAA was disbanded or at least weakened. The NCAA is not a law enforcement agency, its an athletic association.

Inside Higher ED --- NCAA does not have subpoena power and thus lacks the authority to compel testimony under oath, Emmert said, meaning the Miami investigation turned up evidence that shouldn’t have been accessible. Further, whoever hired Shapiro’s lawyer apparently did not have clearance to do so, because Emmert said the decision did not go through the NCAA’s general counsel as procedure requires.

Reminding everyone of his own demands of athletic programs to show integrity, Emmert expressed his disgust with the conduct of his own staff, two of whom are no longer employed there.

“I’ve certainly never seen anything like this, and I don’t want to see it again,” Emmert said, adding that the conduct was “deeply disturbing” and he felt “deeply disappointed and frustrated and even angry.”

These new developments could be good news for Miami, however, which was widely expected to face harsh punishment from the NCAA. Emmert said that whatever evidence was obtained through the lawyer (a “small portion” of all the evidence that’s been gathered, he said) will be thrown out, and the investigation of Miami will not be extended or redone. The investigation of the enforcement division, to be conducted by an external law firm, will apply to “the current issue” of the Miami case as well as the enforcement’s overall policies and practices The NCAA will not deliver Miami’s notice of allegations -- the document that contains its formal charges -- until after the law firm has completed its work, which Emmert hopes happens in one to two weeks.

 I also don't want the Federal Government getting involved in running the NCAA 's regulatory process, like the  writer below suggests. Seriously, do we want federal law enforcement agents being pulled out of the field to investigate NCAA violations and allegations? Investigations are a law enforcement function. Moreover, the federal government screws up everything it runs and touches, and that's not what we need. I also don't think that the average fans wants the Feds screwing up the NCAA as well. Whats next? Wire taps on boosters and fans? 

Let the federal government take over the NCAA’s regulatory process, writes John Infante, NCAA expert for the athletic recruiting website Athnet and author of the Bylaw Blog: “There is really only one organization that can enforce the NCAA’s rules substantially better than the NCAA. There is also only one organization that can force institutions to go along with an expanded enforcement program. Luckily, it is the same organization: the federal government.”

What do you think?

UND vs. Minnesota Week... It's on... Let the fun begin...

It's here and it's on... This will be the final WCHA series between the two teams, before they go their separate ways. So after this season, there will be no more after regular season games, for at least four years. I wouldn't be surprised it that last longer.

If UND plays Minnesota during the next four seasons it will be during the NCAA tourney. So I expect there will be some pleasantries exchanged this weekend.



This is one of my favorite memories of recent time. I still think they should call that famous corner Wehrs Corner like some have suggest. I wonder if Kevin Wehr still has night mares of that corner.



I still giggle when I hear Frank Mazzocco say, "This Fighting Sioux teams is bringing some old time hockey back to the WCHA." Also, in retrospect, I think Woog and Mazzocco are better than the current Gopher television announcers that are employed by FSN. I never thought I would say this but I think it's true.



Don't leave the arena early after the last game, there still could be some fire works in the hand shake line as well. I am kind of sad this is the last regulars season between the two teams. I also think that it's sad that he two schools are going to let this historic rivalry cool off. In my opinion, there is no reason for the two teams not to play.

I like many UND fans would love to see the two team meet every year.

Related articles

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• Former Gophers Andy Brink's thought's on college hockey and the WCHA (thehockeywriters.com)

National College Hockey Television Schedule (01/04 – 1/12)

As the NHL and the NHLPA continue with their endless lockout and squabble over billions of dollars, Hockey Related Revenue and other issues, there is actually watchable hockey that is being played tonight… In other words, you have options if you have cable  television or a satellite dish.

 Coming up this weekend, there are some nice national matchups. This weekend, the Cornell Big Red travel to Denver, Colorado for an important two-game nonconference series against the Denver Pioneers. This series has huge national implications in the Pairwise Rankings.  Tuesday night, Notre Dame travels to Minnesota to take on the Gophers in a crucial one game nonconference matchup.

*NESN = New England Sports Network. FCS= Fox College Sports. NBCSN = NBC Sports Network. DirecTV requires the “Sports Pack” to view the Regional sports Networks.

Fri.	Jan. 4		Dartmouth v. Quinnipiac	NESN	6:00 p.m.	683/414
Fr.	Jan. 4		Holy Cross at UND	FCS/Midco	7:37 p.m.	623
Fri.	Jan. 4		Colorado College at Nebraska-Omaha	NBC Sports Net.	7:30 p.m.	603 / 159
Fri.	Jan. 4		Robert Morris at Army	CBS Sports Net.	7:30 p.m.	613 / 158 (C)
Fri.	Jan. 4		Cornell at Denver	ROOT Sports	9:30 p.m.	683 / 414
Sat.	Jan. 5		Holy Cross at UND	FCS/Midco	7:07 p.m.	626
Sat.	Jan. 5		Merrimack at Vermont	CBS Sports Net.	7:30 p.m.	613 / 158 (C)
Tue.	Jan. 8		Bowling Green at Michigan	Big Ten Net.	7:30 p.m.	610 / 439 (C)
Tue.	Jan. 8		Notre Dame at Minnesota	FS North +	8:00 p.m.	657/444
Fri.	Jan. 11		Colorado College at UND	FCS/Midco	7:37pm	623
Fri.	Jan. 11		New Hampshire at Boston College	NESN	7:00 p.m.	628 / 434
Fri.	Jan. 11		Union at Princeton	NBCSN	7:30 p.m.	603 / 159
Fri.	Jan. 11		Alaska Anchorage at Minnesota	BTN	9:00 p.m.	610 / 439 (C)
Fri.	Jan. 11		Nebraska-Omaha at Denver	NBCSN	10:00 p.m.	603 / 159
Sat.	Jan. 12		Army at Air Force	CBS Sports Net.	6:00 p.m.	613 / 158 (C)
Sat.	Jan. 12		Colorado College at UND	FCS/Midco	7:07 p.m.	TBD
Sat.	Jan. 12		Alaska at Michigan	FS Detroit +	7:30 p.m.	664 / TBD
Sat.	Jan. 12		Alaska Anchorage at Minnesota	FS North	8:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Sat.	Jan. 12		Nebraska-Omaha at Denver	ROOT Sports	9:00 p.m.	683 /414

Why not Corban Knight for the Hobey Baker?

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t think it’s too early to start this post – half of the college hockey season is over already – soon the second half of the season will be upon us. It won’t be long until the hockey pundits will be talking about the end of the season awards that go along with the culmination of the NCAA hockey season.

That means that the Hobey Baker Memorial fan voting will be upon us very soon.

While I have no say in the process, I do believe that UND senior forward Corban Knight should be a legitimate candidate for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award and I believe that it will be very hard for the voters to overlook him.

Breaking it down further, Knight is a complete player, both on an off of the ice, and there is no reason why he shouldn’t be one of the Hobey Hat Trick (finalists) when it’s all said and done.

Through 16 games this season, Knight is leading the Green and White in scoring and has amassed an impressive (8g-15s—23pts). Knight is ranked eighth nationally in the NCAA for points per game 1.35. Knight is also tied for first over-all with Drew LeBlanc of Saint Cloud State in the WCHA for points in conference games.

Knight is currently on a 13 game scoring streaking racking up (6g-15a-21pts).

In the locker room, on or off the ice, Knight has the respect of his teammates and is very well liked. Recently, this is what fellow teammate Carter Rowney had to say about his fellow assistant caption.

“He’s a good guy,” Rowney said.  “He lives in the same building as me and everything. Great team player, everyone gets along with him – easy to get along with. Always positive, no matter what’s going on. He’s never down on himself, never down on anyone else, just a positive guy.”

When UND head coach Dave Hakstol was asked about Corban Knight, the  head coach was very complimentary.

“He’s a mature young man in every way,” Haksol said. “That’s one of the benefits of being a junior and a senior and taking the extra time to develop at this level before you step to the pro level; is being able to have that year where physically you’re maybe a little bit ahead of the opponents that you’re playing against. Certainly, mentally he’s as toughest there is. Very quiet in the way he goes about it – but mentally as tough as anybody.”

The head coach went on to say, “Corban is just a complete hockey player. “He’s good in all three zones. There’s a lot of element to his game that bring a lot of value to a team. I think one that he gets a lot of credit for is his ability in the faceoff dot. But there are a lot of areas of his game that are quietly similar to what he does in the faceoff dot. He’s a very solid, reliable two way player that consistently puts out real good solid offensive numbers – we’re seeing that again this year. He’s flown under the radar with it – he’s got a nice point scoring streak going. More importantly, I think his play is probably indicative of our team’s play. He’s very consistent player.”

Knight also does many good things off the ice as well. Recently, this is what the head coach Dave Hakstol had to say about his senior forward’s off ice activities.

“What you see is what you get,” Hakstol said. “He’s a great young man, always got a positive perspective. He always pays attention to how he treats people around him. He’s very cognizant of that. He’s always being a leader – not just in our locker room but in the community. He does an awful lot of things in the community that go unnoticed. He doesn’t do it with any fanfare – but he’s always willing to help out.”

Here’s the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Criteria.

• Candidates must exhibit strength of character both on and off the ice.
• Candidates must contribute to the integrity of the team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game.
• Consideration should be given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship.
• Candidates must comply with all NCAA rules: be full time students in an accredited NCAA college or university; and complete 50% or more of the season.

I do believe that Corban Knight would meet all of these criteria, to be eligible for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.

Related articles

• UND forward Corban Knight's attitude; infectious on and off the ice (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND skates past DU 6-3 (thehockeywriters.com)
• Notes from the Wednesday's UND Men's Hockey press conference (thehockeywriters.com)

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.