Wednesday, September 24, 2014

UND Hockey: Get Your GameDay App


UND Hockey Fans, don't forget to get your GameDay App. It's free, just click on the appropriate link below. Hockey Season, starts in 11 days. I have a Samsung Mega and this app looks great on my phone.




Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Big Ten Hockey Conference TV Schedule

2014-15 MEN’S HOCKEY TELEVISION SCHEDULE (All times Eastern)
DATE                               TIME                      MATCHUP                                                                      TV
October 24, 2014        9 PM                      Bemidji State               at        Minnesota                BTN
October 25, 2014        8 PM                      Bemidji State               at        Minnesota                FSN+
November 1, 2014     5 PM                      St. Cloud State            at        Minnesota                FSN
November 7, 2014     8 PM                      Notre Dame                 at        Minnesota                BTN
November 9, 2014     5 PM                      Notre Dame                 at        Minnesota                ESPNU
November 14, 2014   8 PM                      Minnesota-Duluth     at        Minnesota                FSN+
November 20, 2014   TBD                        Michigan State            at        Ohio State                 FSD+/STO (delay)
November 21, 2014   7:30 PM                Penn State                    at        Michigan                    FSD+
December 5, 2014      7 PM                      Ohio State                     at        Michigan                    BTN
December 5, 2014      7 PM                      Minnesota                    at        Michigan State        FSD
December 5, 2014      9 PM                      Penn State                    at        Wisconsin                  ESPNEWS
December 14, 2014   5 PM                      Clarkson                         at        Michigan State        FSD
December 28, 2014   3:30 or 7 PM       Michigan Tech             vs.      Michigan                    FSD+
December 28, 2014   3:30 or 7 PM       Ferris State                   vs.      Michigan State        FSD+
December 29, 2014   3:30 or 7 PM       MSU/FSU                      vs.      Michigan                    FSD+
December 29, 2014   3:30 or 7 PM       MTU/MICH                   vs.      Michigan State        FSD+
January 2, 2015           8 PM                      Merrimack                    at        Minnesota                FSN+
January 9, 2015           6:30 PM                Minnesota                    at        Michigan                    BTN
January 9, 2015           7 PM                      U.S. NTDP                     at        Michigan State        FSD+
January 10, 2015         4 PM                      Minnesota                    at        Michigan                    FSD/FSN+
January 16, 2015         7 PM                      Michigan                        at        Ohio State                 FSD+/STO
January 16, 2015         9 PM                      Wisconsin                      at        Minnesota                BTN
January 17, 2015         5 PM                      Michigan State            at        Penn State                ESPNU
January 17, 2015         6 PM                      Wisconsin                      at        Minnesota                FSN/FS Wisconsin
January 23, 2015         7 PM                      Ohio State                     at        Michigan State        FSD/STO
January 23, 2015         8 PM                      Minnesota State        vs.      Minnesota                FSN+
January 23, 2015         9 PM                      Michigan                        at        Wisconsin                  BTN
January 24, 2015         5 or 8 PM             UMD/BSU                     vs.      Minnesota                FSN
January 24, 2015         7 PM                      Ohio State                     at        Michigan State        BTN
January 30, 2015         7:30 PM                Michigan State            vs.      Michigan                    FSD
January 30, 2015         9 PM                      Minnesota                    at        Wisconsin                  BTN
January 31, 2015         8 PM                      Minnesota                    at        Wisconsin                  BTN
February 6, 2015         6:30 PM                Wisconsin                      at        Penn State                BTN
February 6, 2015         9 PM                      Ohio State                     at        Minnesota                BTN
February 7, 2015         8 PM                      Michigan                        vs.      Michigan State        BTN
February 7, 2015         8 PM                      Ohio State                     at        Minnesota                FSN+/STO
February 13, 2015      6:30 PM                Wisconsin                      at        Ohio State                 BTN
February 13, 2015      7 PM                      Penn State                    at        Michigan State        FSD
February 13, 2015      9 PM                      Michigan                        at        Minnesota                BTN
February 14, 2015      6 PM                      Penn State                    at        Michigan State        BTN
February 14, 2015      8 PM                      Michigan                        at        Minnesota                FSN+/FSD+/STO
February 20, 2015      6:30 PM                Minnesota                    at        Penn State                BTN
February 20, 2015      9 PM                      Michigan State            at        Wisconsin                  BTN
February 21, 2015      5 PM                      Minnesota                    at        Penn State                ESPNU
February 22, 2015      TBD                        Ohio State                     at        Michigan                    FSD+/STO
February 26, 2015      9 PM                      Michigan State            at        Minnesota                BTN
February 27, 2015      6:30 PM                Penn State                    at        Ohio State                 BTN
February 27, 2015      7:30 PM                Wisconsin                      at        Michigan                    FSD+/FS Wisconsin
February 27, 2015      9 PM                      Michigan State            at        Minnesota                BTN
February 28, 2015      4 PM                      Wisconsin                      at        Michigan                    BTN
March 6, 2015              5 PM                      Minnesota                    at        Ohio State                 ESPNU
March 7, 2015              6 PM                      Minnesota                    at        Ohio State                 ESPNEWS
March 7, 2015              7 PM                      Wisconsin                      at        Michigan State        FSD/FS Wisconsin+
March 13, 2015            7 PM                      Michigan                        at        Michigan State        FSD
March 14, 2015            5 PM                      Michigan State            at        Michigan                    FSD
March 14, 2015            7 PM                      Ohio State                     at        Wisconsin                  BTN
March 14, 2015            8 PM                      Penn State                    at        Minnesota                FSN+
March 19, 2015            4:30 or 8 PM       No. 6 Seed                    vs.      No. 3 Seed                BTN
March 19, 2015            4:30 or 8 PM       No. 5 Seed                    vs.      No. 4 Seed                BTN
March 20, 2015            4:30 or 8 PM       No. 4/5 Seed                vs.      No. 1 Seed                BTN
March 20, 2015            4:30 or 8 PM       No. 3/6 Seed                vs.      No. 2 Seed                BTN
March 21, 2015            8 PM                      TBD                                  vs.      TBD                              BTN

KEY:
FSD – FOX Sports Detroit
FSN – FOX Sports North
FS Wisconsin – FOX Sports Wisconsin
STO – SportsTime Ohio

UND Women Fourth in WCHA Head Coaches' Preseason Poll

2014-15 WCHA Head Coaches’ Preseason Poll
Rk       Team (1st place votes)              Points
1          Minnesota (6)                               48
2          Wisconsin (2)                                 44
3          Minnesota Duluth                       34
4          North Dakota                                 33
5          Ohio State                                       26
6          Minnesota State                          17
7          Bemidji State                                 13
8          St. Cloud State                              9

(Note: coaches could not vote for their own teams in the poll and points were awarded on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system)

Reading this poll, it would appear that UND is flying under the radar. 

Hockey East Coaches’ Preseason Poll

1. Providence (7) 127
2. Boston College (3) 120
3. Notre Dame 94
4. Northeastern (1) 90
5. New Hampshire 86
6. Boston University 83
7. UMass Lowell (1) 79
8. Vermont 75
9. Maine 74
10. Merrimack 37
11. Massachusetts 33
12. Connecticut 26


The Hockey East coaches have spoken, and they're not giving UCONN any love.

ECAC Hockey Coaches Poll

1) Colgate
2) Union
3) Cornell
4) Yale
5) Quinnipiac
6) Dartmouth
7) Brown
8) Clarkson
9) RPI
10) Harvard
11) SLU
12) Princeton



Here's the ECAC preseason coaches poll. I am surprised that Union isn't number one.

Monday, September 22, 2014

College Hockey: 13 Days Until the 2014-15 Season Begins



It's a Johnny Hockey until the 2014-15 college hockey exhibition season begins. There are actually 18 days until the regular season beings. UND starts off the regular season against the BSU Beavers in a non-conference home-and-home series, October 10-11, 2014.

San Jose Sharks Pugilist Scott Adds Security


According to CapGeek.com, former Michigan Tech Husky defenseman John Scott is paid $700,000.00 a year to skate around the ice and beat people up. Scott plays an average of 6.44 minutes a game. Other than fighting abilities, Scott has no other hockey talents. His Corsi numbers aren't that good either. That’s quite the racket.
Kevin Kurz, CSCNBAYAREA.COM --"It was just one of those things. He hit my guy, I didn’t really care for it,” Scott said. “I gave him a little nudge. He slashed me and I kind of went after him. Cooler heads prevailed, and we went our separate ways.”

Todd McLellan said: “I thought it was a really good moment for our team. Taylor finished a teammate really hard and John stepped in. He let everybody know what his job was. Taylor responded well. We didn’t need to wound or injure anybody. They handled it very well, and we moved on.”

Scott's role is clearly defined. He’s not going to play every night, and even when he’s in the lineup, his minutes will likely be limited. In 56 games with Buffalo last season, Scott had one goal and 125 penalty minutes – including five fights – while playing just 6:45 per game.
Sounds like the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, Todd McLellan has said that Scott is going to be an insurance policy, or extra security. I wonder if Scott will be in uniform when the Leafs and Sharks play?

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Daily Beast Reporter Eli Lake refers to Washington Redskins as ‘Washington Racists’



If you haven't seen these tweets, Daily Beast national security reporter Eli Lake, referred to the Washington Redskins as ‘Washington Racists’... Apparently, the reporter was cued in to a the Twitchy story and has since said that tweets were coming from the perspective of the Philadelphia Eagles fan. Just for the record, The Daily Beast is a liberal leaning politidcal blog.

Lately, the Washington Redskins name has been under attack by the US Senate. The democratic led senate wants to take the NFL's tax-exempt status away from them if the Redskins don't change their name.


Saturday, September 20, 2014

NDSU Linebacker Carlton Littlejohn smokes Montana receiver Mitch Saylor



NDSU linebacker Carlton Littlejohn was assessed a personal four for targeting and given a game disqualification for this hit on Montana receiver Mitch Saylor. After further review, the disqualification for targeting was reversed. Littlejohn remained in the game, but NDSU was still given a penalty.

This is a perfect textbook example of how reviewing a penalty, in the end, will help the officials make the right call.  College hockey should pay attention, the review didn't take all that long, and in the end right call was made.


Friday, September 19, 2014

UPDATE: More on the Nickname Task Force

The Grand Forks Herald has updated their article from earlier today and this caught my eye. I guess, I am all for slowing down picking the name, too. Makes sense to me.
Jennifer Johnson, Grand Forks Herald -- Last month, UND Athletics Director Brian Faison said that he didn’t anticipate changes to the nickname affecting game attendance, and merchants have continued to sell their stockpiles of Fighting Sioux merchandise.

State Rep. Scott Louser, R-Minot, said at that time he anticipated the university’s progress toward a new nickname would be slow because of his plans to introduce a bill during the next legislative session. It would extend the waiting time the university has to choose a new nickname by 2½ years.

He wasn’t concerned the university would pick a new name ahead of his legislation.

“It’s not something they’re going to be able to put together in January and pick a name, I would think,” he’d said then.

Grand Forks Herald: UND names task force to adopt new nickname, logo

So it begins. The University has announced that it will move forward in selecting a new logo. Not surprising, but I think that the decision for a new nickname should include more than 13 - 17 people. In my opinion, if the University of North Dakota doesn't go about selecting an new nickname the right way, this could get ugly.  
UND has formed a task force to develop a process to adopt a new nickname and logo.

"North Dakota law provides that the earliest UND could adopt or implement a new nickname and logo is January 2015," the news release states. "Over the next few months, the group will participate in a facilitated process designed to map out and gather input for the potential selection of a new nickname and logo for UND. The team anticipates submitting its recommendations to UND President Robert Kelley by the end of 2014. While the Task Force is not charged with making a final nickname and logo selection, President Kelley welcomes all final outcomes and recommendations from the Task Force’s work."

The following people have been selected to be task force members:

Sheri Kleinsasser Stockmoe, UND alumna, co-chair
Tanner Franklin, Student Body President, UND, co-chair
Matt Bakke, UND alumnus
Jesse Fenstermacher, UND student athlete, Men's Track & Field
Karl Goehring, UND alumnus
Chuck Horter, UND alumnus
Nikki Husfeldt, UND student athlete, Women’s Volleyball
Sue Jeno, UND faculty and athletic faculty advisor
Sharley Kurtz, UND Staff Senate President
Sandra Mitchell, UND Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion
Jim Mochoruk, UND Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor
R. J. Morin, UND student
Margaret Myers, UND Associate Vice President for Finance and Operations
Please do not select the moronic nickname Sundogs....