Showing posts with label NCAA Hockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NCAA Hockey. Show all posts

Monday, March 03, 2014

NCAA Hockey: Where's everyone going?

Worcester

1. Boston College vs. 4. Cornell
2. Quinnipiac vs. 3. Michigan

Bridgeport

1. Union vs. 4. Vermont
2. Ferris State vs. 3. Providence

Minneapolis

1. Minnesota vs. 4. Mercyhurst
2. UMass Lowell vs. 3. North Dakota

Cincinnati

1. St. Cloud State vs. 4. Northeastern
2. Wisconsin vs. 3. Notre Dame



Mike McMahon of the Mack Report had these brackets up on his blog. They're are worth taking a looking at. There seems to be a common theme emerging. Taking a look at the Worchester regional, that would be a region of death, too. All of the recent projections that I have seen have UND playing in Minnesota’s regional. This would be a region of death as well. Last week, Jayson Moy of USCHO fame had these brackets.

This week’s brackets

West Regional (St. Paul):
13 Colgate vs. 2 Minnesota
10 North Dakota vs. 6 Wisconsin

Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
14 Michigan vs. 4 Ferris State
12 Vermont vs. 5 St. Cloud State

Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Boston College
11 Cornell vs. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell

East Regional (Bridgeport):
15 Notre Dame vs. 3 Union
9 Northeastern vs. 7 Quinnipiac

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Hatten SC Times: Tickets still available for this weekend's games; UND vs SCSU

I am actually surprised that there are still tickets left for this game. Standing room is very good tickets. This will be a great series if you can take in game I would recommend going.
Mick Hatten, Saint Cloud Time -- Tickets for this weekend’s North Dakota at St. Cloud State men’s hockey series are getting difficult to come by, particularly for the Saturday night game at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

Tenth-ranked North Dakota and fifth-ranked St. Cloud State go into the weekend tied for the lead in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which is in its inaugural season. There are four games left in the regular season and the teams moved into a tie for the lead last weekend.

“This is always a big series for us and sales are always high,” said Chad Sheetz, St. Cloud State’s assistant director of athletic business & finance operations. “After Christmas, sales really started to pick up.”

As of about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, there were 599 remaining standing-room only tickets remaining for Saturday’s game, which starts at 7:07 p.m.

There are about 450 tickets available for Friday’s game.

Friday’s game has the unusual starting time of 8:07 p.m. because the game will be on a national telecast. Friday’s game will be televised on CBS Sports Network (Charter Channel 412, Direct TV Channel 221 and Dish Network Channel 158).

UND Hockey: NCHC Quarterfinal ticket packages on sale Wednesday


GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Ticket packages for the NCHC quarterfinal round, to be hosted by UND from March 14-16, will go on sale to the general public and to UND students on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 10 a.m. Central.
Series ticket packages are reserved seating and are $40 for adults, $20 for UND students and $20 for youth. Adult and youth series packages may be purchased in person at the UND Box Office at Ralph Engelstad Arena or online at (Ticket Master).

UND students may purchase up to four series packages and may do so in person at the UND Box Office at Ralph Engelstad Arena. A valid UND student ID must be presented with game ticket to gain admittance into each game.
Season ticket holders already received their NCHC Quarterfinal tickets as part of their season ticket package.

All unclaimed student tickets will become available to the general public as series packages on Saturday, March 1, beginning at 10 a.m. Central.
Single-game tickets for the NCHC Quarterfinals will go on sale to the public on Wednesday, March 12 at 10 a.m. Central.

The NCHC Quarterfinals take place March 14, 15 and 16 (Game 3 if necessary). Game times are 7:38 p.m. on Friday and 7:08 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (all times Central). UND’s first-round opponent has not yet been determined.
UND clinched home ice for the first round of the conference playoffs last Saturday with a 6-2 win at No. 20 Minnesota Duluth. It is the 12th straight year UND will host the first round of its conference playoffs, the longest active streak in NCAA Division I men’s hockey.

NCAA Hockey: National Scoring Race

Points Per Game: GP G- A- P P/GM
  1 Johnny Gaudreau (CGY)      Boston College    JR F       33   29-34-63    1.91
  2 Greg Carey                 St. Lawrence      SR F       32   15-36-51    1.59
  3 Kevin Hayes (CHI)          Boston College    SR F       33   22-29-51    1.55
  4 Ryan Dzingel (OTT)         Ohio State        JR F       28   17-21-38    1.36
  5 Austin Czarnik             Miami             JR F       29   11-28-39    1.34
  6 Brett Gensler              Bentley           SR F       32   17-26-43    1.34
  7 Bill Arnold (CGY)          Boston College    SR F       33   12-32-44    1.33
  8 Kevin Roy (ANA)            Northeastern      SO F       32   17-25-42    1.31
  9 Devin Shore (DAL)          Maine             SO F       30   13-26-39    1.30
10 Riley Barber (WSH)         Miami             SO F       30   18-20-38    1.27
    Josh Archibald (PIT)       Nebraska Omaha    JR F       30   26-12-38    1.27
    Ryan Haggerty              Rensselaer        JR F       30   24-14-38    1.27
13 Mark Naclerio              Brown             SO F       27   16-18-34    1.26
14 Chris McCarthy             Vermont           SR F       31   16-23-39    1.26
15 Matthew Zay                Mercyhurst        JR F       32   16-24-40    1.25
    Jesse Root                 Yale              SR F       24   12-18-30    1.25
17 Kevin Goumas               New Hampshire     SR F       33   13-27-40    1.21
18 Cole Gunner                Air Force         JR F       34   14-27-41    1.21
19 Matt Leitner               Minnesota State   JR F       30    9-27-36    1.20
20 Nick Lappin                Brown             SO F       26   12-19-31    1.19

Friday, January 03, 2014

Hockey Humor: Diving As An Art - GIF



This even looks better as a GIF. Colgate's Daniel Gentzler is assessed a two-minute minor for tripping. He seems surprised that the Gopher defenseman Justin Holl fell down so easily.
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Friday, December 20, 2013

New York Times: Top Prospects Decide if Path to N.H.L. Runs Through College

I think this article is worth a look. Personally, I have been on record, in the past, of letting players that have played in the CHL, play in Division I college hockey. I don’t see why they can’t play college hockey. The money they get as a stipend is minuscule. There are others that feel this way as well. Of course this is not a popular stance to have.
Paul Brownfield, New York Times -- Berenson said Nieves, at 6-3, 200 pounds, was still learning to use his size and speed to cut to the net. Now in his 30th season behind the Michigan bench, Berenson, 74, preaches patience and life after hockey. Compared with major junior hockey, the college game is faster and more intense, he said.

“This is a team that essentially stays together all year,” Berenson added. “They’re like a pro hockey league. They’re trading players and demoting players. We go to school full time. This is a whole different lifestyle.”

Berenson is opposed to changing the rules so that players can experience the O.H.L. at 16 and then play college at 18. Michigan is a special place, he said, requiring a certain kind of commitment.

Berenson lamented the factors that rush Michigan players to the pros, including N.H.L. teams that sign draft picks as underclassmen to avoid losing them to free agency. (Teams have until Aug. 15 after class graduation to sign draftees who have played four years of college hockey.)

Of the seven scholarship hockey players in Nieves’s freshman class a year ago, only four are still enrolled at Michigan. Defenseman Jacob Trouba jumped to the N.H.L.’s Winnipeg Jets. Forward Daniel Milne was unhappy with his lack of playing time and joined the O.H.L.’s Owen Sound Attack, a team that plays two hours from his hometown.

“They thanked me for everything,” Berenson said of his discussion with Milne’s parents. “And they said, ‘I guess we’re too impatient; we’re just going to move on and play in the O.’ ”

Saturday, December 14, 2013

UND Hockey: Tonight’s Game NMU vs. UND

Tonight, the University of North Dakota plays Northern Michigan University Wildcats in  game two of an important non-conference series.

Last night, the University of North Dakota beat the Northern Michigan Wildcats 4-1.  Tonight, North Dakota will go for their second consecutive series sweep. North Dakota has won four games in a row and is 6-3-1 in their last 10-games.

This is the last series for the University of North Dakota, until after the New Year.

Matchup: North Dakota (8-7-2, 5-5-0 NCHC) versus Northern Michigan (6-9-2, 4-5-1 WCHA).

Date: December 14, 2013.

Time: Saturday 7:07 p.m. Central

Radio: UND 96.1 (KQHT-FM)  The Fox

Webcastundsports.com

TV:  Midco Sports Network

All-Time Series History
UND leads the all-time series 27-23-3 (.538). In Grand Forks, UND leads the series 19-8-1 (.696). In Marquette, Northern Michigan leads the series 14-6-2 6-14-2 (.682). At Neutral sites: UND leads the series 2-1-0 (.667). UND has never played Northern Michigan under head coach Dave Hakstol: First meetings. Last 10 games, UND leads the series 8-2-0 (.800).

North DakotaForwards: Rocco Grimaldi (6g-10a—14pts), Drake Caggiula (4g-6a—10pts), Luke Johnson (4g-6a—10pts), Michael Parks (3g-7a—10pts), Stephane Pattyn (3g-3a—6pts), Brendan O’Donnell (3g-2—5pts), Connor Gaarder (2g-4a—6pts). Defense:  Dillon Simpson (3g-7a—10pts), Jordan Schmaltz (2g-7a—9pts), Paul Ladue (3g-4a—7pts), Nick Mattson (1g-5a—6pts), Troy Stecher (1g-5a—6pts),  Goaltenders: Clarke Saunders 2-2-0, GAA 3.60 and .900 save percentage, Zane Gothberg 6-5-2, 2.47 GAA and .917 save percentage.

UND injuries: Brendan O’Donnell (Out).


Northern Western MichiganForwards Stephan Vigier (10g-5a—15pts), Ryan Daugherty (2g-7a—9pts), Reed Seckel (5g-2a—7pts).  Defense:  CJ Ludwing  (5g-7a—12pts), Mitch Jones (0g-9a—9pts), Luke Eibler (1g-6a—7pts).  Goaltenders Mathias Dahlstrom 5-7-2, 2.26 GAA, .924 save percentage, Michael Doan 1-2-0, 3.86 GAA, .863% save percentage.
NMU Injuries: CJ Ludwing (out for the year).
Second Half Team

Year Before Xmas After Xmas
2004-05 13-7-2 (.636) 12-8-3 (.587)
2005-06 12-7-1 (.625) 17-9-0 (.654)
2006-07 7-10-1 (.417) 17-4-4 (.760)
2007-08 8-6-1 (.567) 20-5-3 (.768)
2008-09 9-8-1 (.528) 15-7-3 (.660)
2009-10 9-6-3 (.583) 16-7-2 (.680)
2010-11 13-5-2 (.700) 19-4-1 (.813)
2011-12 9-8-1 (.528) 17-5-2 (.750)
2012-13 10-5-3 (.639) 12-7-4 (.609)
2013-14 8-7-2 (.529) —-

Totals 99-69-17 (.581) 144-56-22 (.698)

Traditionally, since Dave Hakstol has been the head coach, UND has been known for its second half surges. Here’s a breakdown of those numbers.

UND official Web Page

Northern Michigan University Web Page

Saturday, December 07, 2013

Saturday Morning Post: UND Hockey Moving on up

Good Morning… Last night, the University of North Dakota (6-7-2, 4-5-0 NCHC) Hockey team beat the Western Michigan University Broncos (6-6-3, 2-3 NCHC) 3-2 in a grind out hockey game in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

If I had to describe last night’s game, I would also use the words penalty feast. Both teams beat a path to the penalty box. I was thinking they might have to oil the doors on both penalty boxes at Lawson Ice Arena, this is due to all of the use that they got last night.

It’s ridiculous.

Don Cherry of Hockey Night in Canada once said, “Fans don’t come to the game to watch the officials call a game, the fans come to the game to watch the players play a hockey game.”

There seems to be a correlation between the number of penalties called, and head of officials Don Adam attending a NCHC hockey game. Last weekend, Don Adam was in the Ralph Engelstad Arena press box and there were a high number of penalties called last weekend as well.
Western Michigan took nine minor penalties for 18-minutes and North Dakota took 10 minor penalties for 20-minutes.  UND was 2/7 on the power-play and Western Michigan was 0/7. To date, Western Michigan has yet to score a power-play goal in league play. The Broncos are 0/24 on the power-play in NCHC play. UND on the other hand is 8/38 (21.1).

Links of Interest


Some Saturday morning tidbits on the @UNDMHockey travel blog 

Grand Forks Herald: UND grinds out 3-2 victory over Western Michigan

WMU hockey team unable to finish scoring chances in 3-2loss to North Dakota

Johnson emergence a good sign for UND

Friday, December 06, 2013

Weekend Match-Ups (by Donn)

I’m a little late posting my predictions this week, I’ve been way too busy, so it will be short and sweet.

Of note, this is the first full weekend of NCHC games in league history!
 

NCHC STANDINGS 2013-2014

Team………………………W-L-T………Points
Nebraska-Omaha…………5-1-0…………..15
St. Cloud St……………….4-1-1…………...13
Denver…………………..…3-2-1…………..11
North Dakota………………3-5-0……….….9
Minnesota-Duluth…………2-2-0……….….6
Western Michigan………..2-2-0…………...6 
Miami……………………….2-4-0……….….6
Colorado College………...1-5-2…….….….6
 

NCHC Games

#16 Nebraska-Omaha @ Colorado College
Last weekend the Tigers were swept (6-2, 3-0) by the UNH Wildcats in Colorado Springs and the Mavericks were enjoy a holiday weekend of rest.

SPLIT – UNO wins Friday and CC wins Saturday

 

Denver @ #12 Miami
Last weekend the RedHawks took 3-pts (4-4ot, 6-3) from the Beavers in Bemidji and Pioneers were resting up in the mile high city.

RedHawks Sweep


 
#2 St. Cloud St. @ #20 Minnesota-Duluth
Last weekend the Bulldogs split the Gophers in Minneapolis and the Huskies had a bye weekend to gobble up the turkey.

SPLIT – SCSU wins Friday and UMD wins Saturday

 

North Dakota @ Western Michigan  
Last weekend NoDak split with the SLU Saints (5-2L, 3-2W) and the Broncos tied Northeastern 1-1 and beat Huntsville 1-0 in the Shillelagh Tournament.

SPLIT –UND wins Friday and WMU wins Saturday

Monday, December 02, 2013

Mike Chambers: Rules against fighting in NCAA hockey don't deter cheap shots

Nice article by Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. I agree with a lot of what is said here. I have been watching college hockey for a very long time, and some of the dirtiest acts of violence, I have seen,  have happened on the ice during college hockey games.

I don’t know how many times I have seen a play where I have said, "I guarantee that guy doesn’t do that in a league where there’s fighting." Do we want to see bench clearing brawls in college hockey? Nope! Not saying that at all.  
Mike Chambers, Denver Post – If that player came from the NCAA ranks, he's more likely to be a loose cannon, because college hockey has such stiff penalties for fighting, which draws a game misconduct and ensuing one-game suspension. The NCAA also mandates full facial protection with a mask. While that might seemingly make the NCAA game safer, Mitchell said what it does is encourage more cheap shots, because players don't fear retaliation.

"If you take fighting out of the game, you're going to have guys taking liberties on your top players, and trust me, that thought is in the back of their minds: 'Hey, if I'm going to go out there and do something stupid, I might have to answer the bell. Someone is going to be come looking for me,' " Mitchell said. "So if (fighting is) out of the game, they have no worries."

The semi-pro Canadian Hockey League (major junior) mimics the NHL regarding its rules, including fighting, and offers a choice of cages or visors. NCAA hockey is often dubbed "gladiators on ice," with players less fearful of opponents because of the severe fighting penalties and added facial protection. Cross checks to the face mask are delivered instead of punches to the face.

Since fighting is not part of the college game, the majority of concussions hockey players suffer are a result of contact to the head from a shoulder or elbow or having a head smashed against the boards or glass. Moreover, NCAA players often get away with landing glove punches, but just because it's not a bare fist connecting with a open face doesn't mean it isn't damaging to the head.
I had an ex-college hockey player once tell me. “I can go up and smart off to the biggest guy on the ice, because I know I don’t have to fight.”

Saturday, November 30, 2013

St. Lawrence Pastes North Dakota

Grand Forks, ND – The mood was very somber after last night’s non-conference game between the University of North Dakota and St. Lawrence. The players held a closed door meeting after the game. UND caption Dillon Simpson wouldn’t say what they talked about during the meeting.

“We’ll keep that in the room,” Simpson said. “But guys are upset in there.”

UND head coach Dave Hakstol was not very happy with the over-all performance of his hockey team.

But why would he?

UND had just suffered a lackluster 5-2 loss in the first game of the Subway Holiday Classic.
“Not a very good performance by our team,” head coach Dave Haskstol.

The head coach continued. “Not a very good performance over-all by our team,”Hakstol said. “We didn’t do very much in the first two periods. We tried to mount a little push in the third period, but it wasn’t enough.”

All around, it was a rough night for the UND hockey team, as they found themselves flatfooted, and on their heels most of the night. Credit the St. Lawrence Saints; they were the better team all night long. The Saints went 3-for-6 (.500) on the power play. The Saints also outshot UND 25-23.

Special teams were a difference in last night’s game.  UND went 1-for9 on the power play, and again took undisciplined penalties at key times in the game.

“It’s frustrating,” Simpson said. “Something we’re going to study a lot (game film) tomorrow morning I am sure. We got to have a good night if we want to win games, our power play has to be good, and our “PK” has to be even better.”

One of the turning points in the game was in the third period. UND had a five-on-three power play for 44 second, but Saints were able to kill it off. If the head coach didn’t have his team’s attention before last night’s game, he probably does now. It was obvious that the loss didn’t sit well with the players.

“Disappointing, didn’t come out the way we wanted to,” Simpson said. “We didn’t play the first forty the way we wanted to. Got to have a better effort tomorrow night.”

The UND head coach was asked if there would be changes to the lineup for tonight’s game.

“You’ll see some changes, Hakstol said. We’ll likely make a change or two.”


Rough patch for UND


UND has gone 2-7-1 in its last 10 games and is winless in four games. According to UND SID Jayson Hajdu, this is UND’s worst 10-game stretch under head coach Dave Hakstol. This is also the worst stretch for UND, since the second half of the 2002-03 season, when UND went 1-7-2.

 

Notes of interest

Coming into the game, UND had gone an impressive 6-0-2 record in the last eight games of the Subway Holiday Classic.

With four points in last night’s game, forward Greg Carey of St. Lawrence , is now the leading the nation (10g-18a—28pts) in scoring.

UND is (1-2-2) in non-conference play this season. UND is (1-1-1) against the ECAC.
In the last six games, UND’s penalty kill is 25-for-36 (69.4).

UND has another chance to right the ship tonight at 7:05 p.m. central at Ralph Engelstad Arena

[Box Score]

Friday, November 29, 2013

UND vs. SLU: Sifting through the numbers

Looking at the series ahead, UND’s (4-6-2, 3-5-0 NCHC) next opponent St. Lawrence (7-5-2, 2-2-2 ECAC) comes into this weekend’s two-game non-conference series, having lost three out of the last four games. During the month of November, the Saints have a 3-3-2 record.

UND’s month of November, the Green and White has had its problems as well. UND owns a 2-5-1 record and have gone 2-2-1 in their last five games. UND is 2-3-1 at home and 2-3-1 on the road this season. Lastly, UND has a 1-1-2 record in non-conference games so far this season.

St. Lawrence is the 4th ranked offense nationally, but are ranked 52nd nationally on defense. SLU’s power play is ranked fourth in the nation, but their penalty kill not so good and is ranked 49th. SLU has scored 54 goals for and given up 51 goals against.

UND is ranked 36th nationally on offense and 45th nationally on defense. UND’s power play is ranked at 29th nationally. On the flip side, they’re ranked 10th nationally on the penalty kill. UND has scored 32 goals for and given up 39 goals against.

Something has got to give. With SLU’s poor defense, you have to think that UND’s forwards would be licking their lips this weekend, with anticipation.

Historically Speaking
UND has had some great success in the Subway Holiday Classic. UND has a 6-0-2 record in its last eight games. Last year, UND swept the Holy Cross Crusaders (5-2 and 3-2) Subway Holiday Classic. Incidentally, that was UND’s only sweep of the season at home last season.

Here’s some ticket Information UND hockey office. Go out and buy your tickets for this weekend’s non-conference series.
Reserved seating and general admission tickets remain available for both games this weekend.

Additionally, a special “Black Friday” promotion will be available on Friday morning. From 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday, all remaining upper bowl seats will be sold for $20 for adults and $15 for children/youth.

Tickets can be purchased at the UND Box Office at Ralph Engelstad Arena or online at Ticketmaster.com.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

College Hockey top 20 Strength of Schedule


Today, I took the top 20 teams for strength of schedule in NCAA for Division I college hockey. If you look at the numbers you can see that Miami, UND, SCSU and Minnesota have played some of the toughest schedules to date. I got these numbers from the KRACH. You can draw your own conclusions from the numbers if you want.
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Friday, November 15, 2013

UND Hockey vs. UMD Bulldogs Lines

UND forward Lines
29 Bryn Chyzyk – 9 Drake Caggiula – 19 Rocco Grimaldi
16 Mark MacMillan –27 Luke Johnson – 15 Michael Parks (A)
28 Stephan Pattyn (A) – 13 Connor Gaarder – 11 Derek Rodwell
25 Mitch MacMillan – 10 Adam Tambellini – 7 Wade Murphy

UND Defense Pairing
18 Dillon Simpson © - 24 Jordan Schmaltz
5 Nick Mattson – 6 Paul LaDue
2 Troy Stecher – 22 Andrew Panzerella

UND goalies
33 Clarke Saunders
31 Zane Gothberg

Scratches: 17 Colton S. Clair, 20 Gage Ausmus, 21 Brendan O’Donnell, 26 Coltyn Sanderson, 30 Matt Hrynkiw.

UMD Bulldogs

UMD Forward Lines
11 Austin Farley–13 Tony Cameranesi–26 Adam Krause
14 Alex Iafallo–17 Dominic Toninato–18 Joe Basaraba
8 Kyle Osterberg–21 Caleb Herbert–25 Justin Crandall
24 Charlie Sampair–27 Cal Decowski–19 Max Tardy
UMD Defense Pairings
4 Carson Soucy–7 Andy Welinski
16 Tim Smith–15 Willie Raskob
5 Willie Corrin–6 Derik Johnson

UMD Goalies
1 Aaron Crandall
36 Matt McNeely
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Lets fill the Ralph this weekend

Monday, October 07, 2013

UND Hockey: More on the Shootout


The NCAA hockey season kicked off this past weekend with a series of exhibition games and three regular season games. The newly founded National Collegiate Hockey Conference is set to begin play this season. The NCHC will use the shootout to break ties during conference match-ups, if the game is tied after a standard five-minute overtime period.  

Like I mentioned in an earlier article, while this move is going to be a controversial to some NCHC hockey fans, I think it’s a smart move by the NCHC to adopt the shootout.  Why not? To me, it seems like a no-brainer.  According to College Hockey Inc., Division I College hockey is responsible for providing and supplying about 30 percent of the players that play in the NHL. If Division I college hockey is going to continue to be a top development league and a route to the NHL, College hockey rules “should” closely mirror those of the NHL. I believe this is a move in the right direction.

Last night during the exhibition game the Manitoba Bison, at the end of the game, the two teams had a shootout. It was a practice run for UND. UND outscored the Bison 2-0 with UND goalie Zane Gothberg stopping both Bison shooters that he faced.

In interviewing some of the players on the UND Hockey team, they do seem excited about the prospects of the NCHC using the shootout to break ties. This past week, UND goalie Zane Gothberg was asked about the new league and unsolicited he brought up the shootout.

“I am looking forward to it, especially with the shootouts that they’ll have at the end of the game, if there’s a tie,” Zane Gothberg said. That will be kind of cool.

Junior forward Michal Parks was asked about his thoughts on the shootout and this is what he had to say.

“I like it,” Parks said. “It will make our game more like the NHL game.”

To be honest with you, I am excited about the shootout as well. I think it’s going to be an exciting feature of the NCHC. I also believe the fans, for the most part, will embrace them.

For those that are interest in online betting, check out this site Ice Hockey betting online.

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