While most of us were asleep... Sifting through the debries on day later

The discussion all started with this tweet in question.

The excuses are coming in from the NoDak fans fast and furious. Yes UND was suspension depleted. Still No. 2 team in country, right? Yep.
— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) October 21, 2012

As most college hockey fans know by now, North Dakota lost in the championship game of the Brice Goal Rush Tourney last night in Fairbanks, Alaska. Obviously, UND was "favored" to win the game and after they lost twitter and a few of the fan message boards were a buzz.

Actually, it happens a lot after UND loses just ask @UNDSID

I mean, it is, what it is. UND lost a hockey game that most thought they should have won. It's not like this loss is of the Holy Cross level. To quote a former Michigan player, "the best team doesn't always win." That's hockey and that's sports in general.

From the fun fact department. No team other than a team from Alaska has won the Brice Goal Rush Tourney, UA has won the tourney in 2009, 2010 and 2012. UAA won it in 2008 and 2011. That streak is in tact after this past weekend.

@chrismpeters they aren't #2 w/o their first line. Its an upset but if you've paid any attention to UND in Hak era they always start slow.
— Peter Christian (@Peter_Christian) October 21, 2012

These were some of the tweets that I found in my twitter feed today. I have to give credit, where credit is due, UND lost a game to a team that wanted the game more. UND didn't cash in on their opportunities and UA did, that's hockey. UND wasn't going to go 42-0-0, there will be a few more losses before the season is over and I bet they will lose a game to a team that they should've beaten.

@peter_christian It's still an upset. Alaska isn't very good.
— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) October 21, 2012

@chrismpeters I don't think anyone denies that. Its not "huge" as you've described it. Nobody wins trophies in October.
— Peter Christian (@Peter_Christian) October 21, 2012

Here is the list of teams that have played in the Alaska Goal Rush Tourney.
2008: Mercyhurst, Maine, UAA and UA
2009: Robert Morris, Rennselaer, UAA and UA
2010: Colorado College, Union, UAA and UA
2011: Mercyhurst, Omaha Nebraska, UAA and UA
2012: Merimack, North Dakota, UAA and UA


This is a blog post that I found on the subject today.

Alaska Nanooks Hockey blog --- Efforts like we saw tonight show exactly what the Nanooks are capable of. Tonight they outskated, and outworked a good North Dakota team. It's amazing the number of excuses that are out there online that the only reason that the Nanooks won was because of the suspensions to North Dakota players. My answer: those players made the choice to have the party, and getting caught was part of the risk and you have to live with those consequences. But that excuse can't be used to cope with the loss, nor take away anything from this victory for Alaska. The fact is UND was outplayed by the Nanooks tonight.

Related articles

• UND: The Weekend Ahead (10/19-10/20) (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Game Notes for UND vs UAA and UA 10/19-10/20 (thehockeywriters.com)
• Nine Men out, UND heads north to Alaska (thehockeywriters.com)
• Alaska Nanooks 2010 Hockey Intro Video (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

UND Women's Hockey vs SCSU Huskies game one lines

UND Forward Lines 

LW Monique Lamoureux (A) 18 – C Jocelyne Lmoureux © LW Meghan Dufault 19

LW Becca Kohler 51 – C Josefine Jakobsen 63 – RW Layla Marvin 13

LW Andrea Dalen 10 – C Mary Loken 2 – R Megan Gilbert Kohler 15

LW Allison Patrick– C Shannon Kaiser 11 – R No Player

UND Defense Pairing

Sam LaShomb 4 – Kayla Berg(A)  9

Tanja Eisenschmid 22 – Ashley Furia 91

Tori Willaims 16 – Jordan Slavin 7  

UND Goalies 

Jorid Dagfinrud 30

Shelby Amsley-Benzie 1

Michelle Bonapace-Potvin 33

Saint Cloud State University Huskies 

Huskies Forward lines 

LW Molli Mott 23 – C Haylea Schmid (A) 9 – RW Alex Nelson 15 (C)

LW Vanessa Spartaro 16 – Abby Ness  19 – RW Jakku Funk 22

LW Kylie Lane 10 – C Hanna Brodt 5  – RW Julia Gilbert 11

LW Callie Dahl – C Amy Olson 12 – RW Ellie Sitek 21

Huskies Defense Pairings 

Katie Allen 2 (A) – Audrey Hanmer 3

Michelle Burke 8 – Lisa Martinson 27

Amanda Monkman 4 – Caru Coen28  

Huskies Goalies

Julie Friend 1

Katie Fitzgerald 33

Women's hockey chat link. 

  

Alaska Nanooks 2010 Hockey Intro Video

Brad Schlossman posted this video on the Wednesday Herald writers sports chat today. Since UND is going up to Fairbanks to play in the Brice Goal Rush Tourney, I thought I would post it on the blog because it's a very well done video, the University of Alaska Fairbanks used to play this video before their games during the 2010-11 season.

Easton Synergy EQ50 Jr. Hockey Equipment Combo (Google Affiliate Ad)

Nine Men out, UND heads north to Alaska

Originally posted at the Hockey Writers - Combine...

I mentioned last Friday night after the exhibition game against US National Development Under 18 team that UND was going to face some self-created adversity, during their first weekend series of the 2012-13 season.

In their game against the UAA Seawolves, UND will play with bare bones lineup of 16 skaters – that’s two less than the number allowed by the rules when they take the ice in their first game.

Last season, UND played most of the last month of the 2011-12 campaign with 17 players or less due to injuries, so this really isn't anything new for the team from North Dakota.

Also, this will not be used as an excuse by the North Dakota coaching staff.

UND will be without senior forward Danny Kristo (19g-26a—45pts), who is suspended for the first two games of the season, due to an infraction of team rules.

Kristo will not make the trip with the team to Fairbanks, Alaska and he will not be back until the first home series of the season the following weekend against the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, on October 26 and 27 at Ralph Englestad Arena.

Also missing from the lineup, for “at least” the next two weeks is sophomore forward Michael Parks (12g-10a—22pts), who suffered an undisclosed lower body injury in the exhibition game against the University of Manitoba Bison.

Head coach Dave Hakstol was asked about the status of sophomore forward Michael Parks.

“Probably, I am guessing a few weeks for Michael Parks,” Hakstol said. “That is about as close I can come to narrowing it down. It certainly won’t be with the next one to two weeks, but I hope with the next few weeks we will be able to get him on the ice. It will all depend on how his rehab progresses and how he reacts.”

UND will also miss sophomore forward Brendan O’Donnell (5g-1a—6pts) , senior defenseman Andrew MacWilliam (2g-5a—7pts), senior forward Carter Rowney (18g-15—33pts) and senior forward Corbin Knight (16g-24a—40pts) who will all serve a one game suspension during first game against the University of Alaska Anchorage at the Brice Alaska Goal Rush tourney for a violation of team rules.

With Knight, Kirsto, Rowney and Parks absent for the first game of the season because of suspensions and the injury  – based on last season numbers – UND will be missing some high end talent that scored 140 points last season – that doesn’t take a mathematical guru to figure out that’s a lot of offensive fire power missing from the UND line.

On the following night of the Brice Alaska Goal Rush tourney, sophomore forwards Connor Gaarder (4g-6a—10pts), Stephane Pattyn (4g-3a—7pts) and sophomore defenseman Andrew Panzarella (0g-4a—4pts) will all sit out due to an infraction of team rules...

This is the list of UND hockey players that will miss the game for UND against Anchorage Alaska.

1.       Danny Kristo – Suspension

2.       Corbin Knight – Suspension

3.       Andrew MacWilliam – Suspension

4.       Carter Rowney – Suspension

5.       Brendan O'Donnell – Suspension

6.       Michael Parks – Injury

This is the list of UND hockey players that will miss the game for UND against Alaska game

1.       Danny Kristo – Suspension

2.       Connor Gaarder– Suspension

3.       Andrew Panzarella– Suspension

4.       Stephane Pattyn– Suspension

5.       Michael Parks – Injury

Related articles

• UND Squeaks Past USNDT U-18 Team (insidehockey.com)
• ND Shakes Off Rust to Beat Manitoba Bison (insidehockey.com)
• Wednesday press update for UND Men's hockey (thehockeywriters.com)

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 Bauer Supreme TotalOne Jr. Hockey Equipment Combo (Google Affiliate Ad)
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UND games to be shown on-line this weekend.

Here is the link to the Broadcasts

Upcoming UND Hockey Broadcasts

Friday, October 19, 2012

College Hockey Home

AK-Anchorage v. North Dakota @ AK-Fairbanks

Time 8:05PM CST Price $7.00.

Saturday, October 20, 2012
College Hockey Home
University of Alaska Fairbanks Versus University of North Dakota
Time 10:05 PM CST
Price$7.00.

University of Alaska Fairbanks (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Eight men out - UND players to miss some time...

UND Hockey Arena (Photo credit: jimmywayne)

It would appear that the University of North Dakota Hockey team is experiencing what I would call a rough start to their season. Now the Athletic Department has suspended eight players to start the season – most of which seems to be due to a team party that appears to have gotten a bit out of hand.

If Coach Hakstol doesn’t have his player’s attention now – he will never get their attention. As a person that follows the UND Hockey program closely – I am disappointed in the players because there off ice behavior shows a lack of focus. Obviously, we’re talking about young adults and college students do party from time-to-time, it’s a fact of life.

That being said, I don’t think that their offseason activities will have much of an effect on their season if they can get their act together. I can’t imagine what kind of consequences that will levied if someone gets into more trouble, especially after all that has happened in the last week.

It sounds like some players need to grow up and concentrate on playing hockey and need to spend less time having team parties. 

So if anyone is keeping track at home – the roster for the Brice Alaska Goal Rush tourney in Fairbanks Alaska is going to have a depleted roster both nights of the tourney.

Players that are suspended for the Anchorage Alaska game

1.       Danny Kristo

2.       Corbin Knight

3.       Andrew MacWilliam

4.       Carter Rowney

5.       Brendan O'Donnell

Players that are suspended for the Suspended for Alaska game

1.       Danny Kristo

2.       Connor Gaarder

3.       Andrew Panzarella

4.       Stephane Pattyn

UND Athletics issues additional 1-game suspensions for men’s hockey party

UND Athletics issues additional 1-game suspensions bit.ly/VmGOJm
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDMHockey) September 22, 2012

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota Director of Athletics Brian Faison announced today additional suspensions for a violation of team rules stemming from a Sept. 15 men’s hockey team party. Today’s suspensions were determined based on additional information gathered during the athletic department’s investigative process.

Sophomores Connor Gaarder, Andrew Panzarella and Stephane Pattyn have been suspended for UND’s Oct. 20 regular season game at Alaska Fairbanks. On Monday, Faison had announced 1-game suspensions for senior captains Andrew MacWilliam, Corban Knight, Danny Kristo and Carter Rowney to be served during UND’s Oct. 19 regular season opener against Alaska Anchorage in Fairbanks.

Faison also announced today that Kristo and sophomore forward Brendan O’Donnell have each received a 1-game suspension for a violation of UND Athletics Department policy. O’Donnell will serve his suspension on Oct. 19 versus Alaska Anchorage, while Kristo will serve his additional suspension Oct. 20 at Alaska Fairbanks.

When Faison issued the four initial suspensions on Monday, he also announced several additional team disciplinary measures including, but not limited to:

o Athletics Department-issued team probation under which any further violations by a team member could result in immediate reduction of scholarship, suspension from competition, or expulsion from the program.

o The implementation of a mandatory team community service program

o Weekly team alcohol education programming

Faison reiterated that “measures taken by the athletics department do not preclude possible additional measures by the department, or actions by the University or local and state authorities.”

Neither Faison nor head coach Dave Hakstol will provide further comment.

Links to the Story...

UND announces additional suspensions - UND Hockey Blog

More players to sit out opening weekend; four to be charged with underage drinking - Grand Forks Herald

Pre-Season Predictions (by Sioux 7)

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS The last WCHA season as we currently know it is about to start, this season will mark the end of epic an era. The WCHA has been one of the top conferences for as long as I can remember, and it will be reborn with some schools remaining (Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, Alaska-Anchorage, and Bemidji State) and new ones (Alaska (Fairbanks), Northern Michigan (they return after leaving the WCHA in ‘92), Ferris State, & Lake Superior State) joining. Before I get into this year’s predictions, let’s look back on how last year finished up, below are the final regular season records.

WCHA FINAL STANDINGS 2011-2012

Team………………..……W-L-T………Points
1. Minnesota…………...…20-8-0…..…….40
2. Minnesota-Duluth……..16-7-5….……..37
3. Denver…………...........16-8-4………....36
4. North Dakota.………....16-11-1….….…33
5. Colorado College …….15-12-1…….….31
6. St. Cloud St…………...12-12-4……..…28
7. Nebraska-Omaha……...11-12-5…….....27
8. Michigan Tech………..11-13-4………..26
9. Bemidji State……..…..11-14-3.…….....25
10. Wisconsin…....………11-15-2..….…..24
11. Minnesota State……...8-18-2..…….....18
12. Alaska-Anchorage…...5-22-1………...11

The Final 5 in St. Paul featured MTU, SCSU, UND, DU, UMD, and UM. The WCHA tournament went like this – Thursday, DU defeated MTU 3-2 in OT, and UND defeated SCSU 4-1 – Friday DU beat UMD 4-3 in a 2-ot thriller, and UND defeat UM in an exciting 6-3 comeback win – Saturday UND defeated DU 4-0, to claim their 3rd consecutive Broadmoor Trophy. With that in mind here are my less than well-educated guesses as to who will finish where…

12 – Alaska-Anchorage – Let’s face facts, the Seawolves have been in the bottom half of the standings every year. That doesn’t mean they are doormats though, they are in most of their games and they don’t give up. Dave Shyiak is a good coach; he keeps his teams competitive with the recruits/players he gets. Alaska isn’t high on most kid’s list of places to go to college, and all the long flights taking their toll on these college students. I don’t see them in the top half of the standings, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they finished out of the twelve spot.

11 – Minnesota State – The Mavericks will have a new coach this year, Mike Hastings, he replaces Troy Jutting, who was at MSUM for the previous 12 years. Hastings was an assistant coach with UNO the past 3 years, and was with Minnesota before that, he is a 1993 alumni of SCSU. With a new coach at the helm, players will have to adjust to their new leader. I think a year or two down the road these purple pucksters could make a run up the new WCHA standings.

10 – Bemidji State – The Beavers were one of four teams last year that had eleven wins in league play and where three games below .500. Like most of the bottom half teams, they need to get more scoring from their top lines, if they want to finish with a winning record.

9 – Michigan Tech – The Huskies from Houghton almost made it to an even record to end the season. But they did make the Final Five and gave DU all they could handle in their play-in game. You could say that BSU has a “favorable” schedule this year, in that they don’t play four games against many of the “powers that be”. Don’t be too surprised if you hear the Huskies do some howling this year.

8 – Wisconsin – The Badgers struggled last year, we’ll call last season a rebuilding year. They have been a defense first team, starting with the goalie and working out from there. Now that they have some experienced goaltending in their Badger burrow, they can start building themselves back up. Coach Eaves knows what it takes to win, so we’ll all have to watch and see how fast they put it all together in Madison.

7 – Nebraska-Omaha – The Mavericks lost assistant coach Mike Hastings to Mankato in the off season, but gained Mankato’s old head coach Troy Jutting as an assistant. MSUM and UNO games could turn into a rivalry now that they have swapped coaches. UNO needs to be more consistent across the board, last year it seemed as if the offense was good, then defense and goaltending were off, and vise versa. If they get that squared away they could be a top half team.

6 – Colorado College – The Tigers won four of their last twelve games to finish out their year, and lost their first round playoff series at home to visiting MTU. Last year they started off hot and cold off, I’m sure they want the same start this year, but a different finish…We’ll just have to wait and see…

5 – St. Cloud State – The Huskies have a heavy sophomore class this season, which means they should all be improved from their freshman campaign. They have three seniors and they will be the backbone for the team, seniors Hanowski and Lee will be the keys to taking this year’s Huskies back to the Final Five and beyond. This season will also mark head coach Bob Motzko’s 8th season as the lead musher of SCSU hockey.

4 – Minnesota Duluth – The Bulldogs are coming off a strong season, unfortunately they watch last year’s McNaughton cup slip away from them and into the hands of Minnesota. When you look at the losses of seniors from last year, you might think of this season as a rebuilding year. I think it’ll be more of a reloading year.

3 – Minnesota – The Gophers had excellent year last, capturing the WCHA regular season title and advancing to the Frozen Four. The maroon and gold return plenty of talent from last year team. The big question will be goaltending, with the little or no college game experience; luckily they have some seasoned d-men.

2 – North Dakota – The teams formerly known as the Fighting Sioux, now just know as North Dakota (I’ll just use ND), will be in a similar boat as Minnesota. They have a question mark about the goaltending and how that will develop through the season. Also this year ND will have brothers playing for them at the same time, the MacMillan men, Mark and Mitch. (I believe that last time that happened was 03-04, with the Parise’s Zack and Jordan.) This will be coach Hakstol’s 9th season with ND, the coach staff has changed in the off season with Cary Eades departing the program.

1 – Denver – The Pioneers are my preseason predicted number one. How can I give them that honor over my favorite ND team, you ask? They return their goalie’s from last season and they both had playing time. And as for scoring, let’s just say DU has always been offensive, wink, wink. Win or lose the last WCHA title as we currently know it, coach Gwozdecky will still be the snazziest dressed coach in the league.

Not all WCHA members are thrilled about the new Mystery Alaska plan

The WCHA leadership has been in full spin mode since the league announced their “Mystery Alaska” plan. It’s been interesting to watch as the WCHA commissioner spins this unattractive playoff plan. This would be a text book definition of a “gong show” – there is no way to explain this – it is what it is.

Today we have found out that the new format might only be around for a two year rotation – to me this suggests that the league has taken an idea and thrown it up against the wall to see if it sticks, but to also see how the nWCHA’s fan base responds to the new playoff format.

Todd D. Milewski, USCHO.COM --- The plan was born from financial and geographical issues related to Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage being in the same conference for the first time when conferences reshuffle in 2013, McLeod said.

But the league committed to it for only two seasons, possibly further illustrating the trepidation WCHA members felt about making an outside-the-box change to postseason seeding.

“Some years if they both finish in the lower half, that’s not going to taste very good,” McLeod said. “But if they both finish in the upper half, it’s going to be not good for them. They might have been able to get two in [to the Final Five] otherwise and they’re only going to get one. That’s why we did it on a two-year rotation to see how things shake out and how people feel about it. It’s not a very long commitment.”

Including all nine teams in the postseason wasn’t a foregone conclusion, McLeod said. Eight- and six-team plans were also discussed at the meeting in Detroit before the full field was approved.

Perusing the fan message boards - I have seen a mixed response from the nWCHA fans about the new “Mystery Alaska” playoff format.

It would also appear that a big number of the nWCHA fans are siding more with the ‘we don’t like the new playoff format’ or they have just basically blamed the NCHC for the nWCHA’s fortunes.

Based on what we have seen transpire in the last week in Detroit. I believe is one of the major reasons that UND, SCSU, UMD, DU, C.C. and UNO decided to leave the WCHA and go out on their own to form a new league.

There seems to be a major divide between the schools that are strapped for cash and the schools that aren’t as strapped for cash; especially in the present economy. Schools are experiencing financial constraints and reduced budgets and this is not new to college sports or to college hockey.

Let’s also not forget there there’s always going to be the “haves” and “have nots, ” this was true even in the old North Central Conference and will be true in the Big Sky Conference as well. The present WCHA schools are never really going to be able to compete financially with the schools in the NCHC, B1G or even a majority of the Hockey East schools.

The question I pose is; is it the big school’s responsibility to prop up the small schools in Division I athletics?

Also, does the nWCHA hold the moral high ground?

Another school in their geographic template UAH (BGSU is 629 miles from UAH - it's rougly 4000 from BGSU to UAA) needs to find a conference home and it would appear from the side lines that the nWCHA is basically stalling or dawdling, almost hoping that the Chargers go away.

The UAH Chargers basically have one viable option, conference membership in the WCHA where they would be able to be with other schools (except BGSU who is DI); who outside of hockey are also Division II in all their other sports.

But I digress.

Lastly, Division I college hockey is currently resembling the other major Division I college sports right now with all their conference re-alignment. It has been really ugly with the other sports changing conferences leaving teams to scramble to find a new conference home. It’s almost like natural selection, or a survival of the fittest.

I also don’t know if there are any answers or quick fixes to what ails college sports – there doesn’t seem to be any magic pill that could just fix everything. Some say that the WCHA would have been fine if the schools that left had stayed. The CCHA still might have been a conference in shambles, Miami and Notre Dame still probably would have wanted out. There would still be other issues out there that would still be unresolved.

There is also another elephant sitting in the room – the commissioner of the WCHA Bruce McLeod – no one seem to want to talk about it right now. Eventually, I believe the WCHA is going to have to cut ties with McLeod and go a different direction. Keeping him on board past the 2013-14 season is detrimental to the WCHA going forward. The WCHA needs an infusion of new blood.

Update on “Mystery Alaska” playoff plan

My last blog post was to an older link that was updated last night. So basically this story even gets better - this story seems to evolve more by the minute. I almost think that the WCHA needs a P.R. person that is media savvy because the WCHA seems to be shooting themselves in the foot right now.

Here is another thought, maybe the WCHA should have not released their playoff format till they had all of the bugs ironed out of it. What's the rush? The nWCHA doesn't start play until the 2013-14 season so why do you have to release the plans to your conference tourney, especially if the format is still in the planning stage and there is a good possibility that it might change even more in the next couple of days or months. 

Matt Wellens, Mining Journal --- UPDATE: Information provided by WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod may not have been accurate concerning the league playoff structure. According to a source, Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage would receive a first-round bye if either wins the WCHA regular season title. McLeod told The Mining Journal otherwise, that both will meet in the first round no matter what and that the next highest seed not from Alaska would receive a bye. Here is how McLeod explained it: McLeod: "Let's just say Anchorage and Fairbanks are 1 and 2. Well they're going to play. You know what I mean? So who gets the bye? We got to take a closer look at it. Right now, it would be No. 3. You know what I mean?" The source asked not to be named because the league told all coaches, athletic directors and presidents to let the league office handle inquiries.

This latest revelation is even worse - why play the regular season? Also, if two teams finish one and two, the top bid would deserved it's playoff bye and the second place team should be afforded the opportunity to play the eight place team on their home ice. It's doesn't matter if they have to play a few more dollars to fly that team to Alaska, the integrity of the tourney should not be sacrificed.

“Mystery Alaska” playoff plan revealed by WCHA

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is some more on the WCHA new playoff format, Matt Wellens from the Mining Journal interviewed Bruce McLeod and here is a what the WCHA Commissioner had to say about their new controversial playoff format.

“There was definitely an uneasy feeling about it,” McLeod said. “Certainly something out of the box, out of the norm, I would say. There was just an uneasy feeling about the whole thing.”

McLeod said the decision was made based on financial concerns the league had with possibly sending two teams to Alaska in a moment’s notice or the league playoffs.

While the “Alaska Plan” was approved by the league, McLeod said there are other proposals on the table from the athletic directors. The league will be revisiting the plan, possibly as soon as next week during a conference call among the ADs.

“It’s not set in stone. Although it was voted upon and passed, there were a couple other scenarios that were definitely talked about. I’m not quite sure,” McLeod said. [Mining Journal]

When a person looks at this league playoff format one must scratch their head and think that it's poorly concocted and not real well thought out. I would not be surprised if this scenario is revisited and possibly scrapped.

Organizing the new WCHA

Image via WikipediaOr maybe we should call it re-organizing the WCHA.

It looks like the newly reformatted WCHA is going to have a 28 game schedule starting in 2013-14. One of the main things that the new WCHA is also working on is travel to the Alaska schools. For obvious reasons, having both Alaska schools in the same conference is going to cause travel costs to go up.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner --- The revamped WCHA is set to play a 28-game conference schedule during the regular season.

“I think it’s a good thing and it will put us in a strong position,” Karr said Saturday night at the Carlson Center following the Nanooks’ 3-1 win over Bowling Green. “Some of the other conferences may be playing fewer games.”

The administrators of the new WCHA are also considering a plan which teams would come twice in the same season to the 49th State to play the Nanooks and UAA either once out of every five years or twice out of every five years.

“They’re going to come up to Anchorage in the first semester and Fairbanks in the second semester, or vice versa,” Karr said.

There is a possibility, too, of an opponent coming to Alaska to face the Nanooks and UAA during the break for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

There is also an advantage of traveling to Alaska as well, if your team travels to Anchorage or Fairbankds your favorite college hockey team can add two extra games to their schedule, for a team like UND or Minnesota, that can mean a lot more money in the bank.

Looks like the WCHA is also going to add a 10th team and there is a chance that it could be UAH, this was discussed on the Pipeline Show last weekend. Geof Morris  from UAHHockey.com, was on the Pipeline Show laid out the problems facing UAH, their situation is not pretty.

“We’re hoping to get to 10 schools as soon as possible,” Karr added.

Among schools under consideration to become the 10th member of the new WCHA are Wisconsin-Green Bay, Iowa State, Minnesota State Moorhead and Alabama-Huntsville.

Officials at Wisconsin-Green Bay, Iowa State and Minnesota State Moorhead have discussed adding Division I hockey to their athletic programs.

Goon's Weekly Predictions 10-28-10-29

There are eleven teams playing this week in the WCHA, the walking wounded of Minnesota State University Mankato have a bye and they are off this weekend. There are five league game and one non-conference match-up between C.C. and RPI. Following last week record of (7-5) + (7-9) the week before I am now 14-14 for the season in my picks.

Denver vs MTU - DU Sweep
Bemidji vs UMD - Split
St. Cloud State vs UND - Sweep UND
UNO vs Wisconsin - Sweep Wisconsin
Minnesota and Alaska Anchorage - Split
C.C. vs RPI - Sweep Tigers

INCH Power Rankings

As always I include the INCH Power Rankings because I find them interesting. I don't think you can rank a team like Yale in the top three when they haven't played a game yet. Also, I think Union is ranked a bit high.

1. Boston College
2. Colorado College
3. Yale
4. Michigan
5. Denver
6. Minnesota
7. Union
8. North Dakota
9. Miami
10. Merrimack
11. Notre Dame
12. Western Michigan
13. Boston University
14. Colgate
15. Dartmouth
16. Alaska Anchorage
17. RIT
18. Providence
19. Michigan Tech
20. Ferris State

Dropped out: Minnesota Duluth, New Hampshire, Maine, Alaska, Air Force
Bubble-licious: Alaska, Bowling Green, Lake Superior State, Quinnipiac

WCHA commissioner has a busy couple of weeks

Image via WikipediaWCHA fans do you feel confident when you read that Bruce McLeod is going to Fairbanks, Alaska to talk to the Fairbanks administration? If my team was going to be in the WCHA after the 2013-2014 season, I would be concerned.

Mick Hatton; SC Times --- McLeod was in Chicago on Tuesday and met with Central Collegiate Hockey Association officials. On Monday, McLeod leaves to meet with officials at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

McLeod would not characterize the talks he had with the CCHA as about a possible merger between the two conferences.

“We had a good discussion with the CCHA, agreed to some common ground and talked about some things that could be on the table when we get the whole group together to meet in the future,” McLeod said. “I wouldn’t read too much into the meeting one way or another. It was good and positive and we have a lot of hurdles to overcome.

“It always gets back to do we worry about ourselves and get back to eight (WCHA) members or do we think of the greater good of college hockey? I think more than anything, we’re just trying to keep as nimble as we can possibly be. Gradually, we’ll get ourselves to making a decision.”

McLeod is heading to Alaska after being asked to visit the CCHA school by a committee of athletic directors of the five WCHA schools (St. Cloud State, Alaska-Anchorage, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech and Minnesota State-Mankato) that plan to remain in the conference in 2013-14. St. Cloud State is being represented on that committee by Gino Gasparini, who is a special adviser to St. Cloud State President Earl H. Potter III for athletics. That committee is being headed by Michigan Tech.

Alaska-Anchorage, obviously, has an interest in having Alaska-Fairbanks in the same conference.

“I haven’t been up there for a long time ... and I’m going to get a sense of the program commitment. They’ve been fairly aggressive up there,” McLeod said of being in contact with the WCHA. “I can understand why it’s best for those two (Alaska) schools, but I’m not sure I’m convinced it’s the best for everybody.

“They need to convince me why it’s best for the

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