Don Cherry uninformed when it comes to college hockey

This is a really good read. I know you're going to be shocked by this news. Apparently, xenophobe Don Cherry of the Coaches Corner stepped on it again this week blasting US division I college hockey. Cherry is not a  fan of an ex-college hockey player taking the ice over a player that played in the Canadian Hockey League. This article kind of piggy backs on this subject. See tweets below.

Stephen Whyno, The Canadian Press – "I think that if more Canadian families were exposed to what college can do -- as parents for your kid socially, athletically and academically ... I think more people would be doing it," said University of Denver coach Jim Montgomery, a Montreal native who went to Maine and ended up playing 122 NHL games.

One opportunity for exposure is the NCAA tournament, which begins Friday and includes 109 Canadian players. There are 35 players from Ontario, 35 from British Columbia, 18 from Alberta and seven each from Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Many of those players are trying to follow in the footsteps of several successful Canadian NHLers who went to college, including four members of the gold-medal-winning Sochi Olympic team: Jonathan Toews (North Dakota), Martin St. Louis (Vermont), Patrick Sharp (Vermont) and Chris Kunitz (Ferris State).

Among the 945 players to see NHL action this season, 100 were Canadians who played at a U.S. college.

Naturally, many went the more traditional road, through the QMJHL, OHL or WHL. But the NCAA is slowly becoming another acceptable way to get there.

Here's are the tweets in question from Don Cherry. I must say that Cherry is clueless when it comes to college hockey. Also, historically, the Toronto Marlies have had a fair number of college hockey players on their roster. Two years ago, when the Marlies made a run in the playoffs they had many ex-college hockey players, making a huge contribution for the Marlies on the ice. This season, if my math is correct, the Marlies have three players with college hockey experience.

5) kid coming from college. We wanna have a look-see. Imagine how he feels. But the dumb dumb media who never played the game, coached the
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) March 28, 2014

4) expense of a kid who has been playing regularly all year. Imagine going to tell a kid he's not playing. Why? He asks. Cause we've got a
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) March 28, 2014

3) Flyers. Thought he is big and must be tough. But that wasn't the point I was making. Make no mistake about it. Eric is dropping in at the
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) March 28, 2014

2) it's ridiculous. I know Eric was a 2009 5th round draft choice. In fact I remember reading about him when he played for Philadelphia Jr
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) March 28, 2014

1) I really am amused when I see media types criticize me for saying Eric Knodel, US College guy, dropping in to take the spot of a Marlie.
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) March 28, 2014

Paul Kelly on Jordan Schmaltz

Highly touted Fighting Sioux hockey recruit Jordan Schmaltz has been a hot topic of discussion lately up in Canada and on the hockey blogs. You can listen to what Paul Kelly had to say on the matter as well.

Bob McCown;  Sportsnet 590 --- "For Mr. Rychel to make some of the statements he made in his article [sic] that this player [Jordan Schmaltz] isn't exploring his options and needs to make a decision and we're going to better prepare him for the NHL more so than North Dakota is quite frankly, laughable." ... Frankly, if you go back to 2003, 2004, and compare North Dakota to Windsor Spitfires, what you will find is both programs have put 15 players into the National Hockey League over that time. But the Windsor Spitfires players in the National Hockey League have played half the number of games as have the players coming out of the University of North Dakota. The players coming out of North Dakota who include Zach Parise, Drew Stafford, Travis Zajac, Jonny Toews, Matt Greene, they've had three times the number of points ... the point is, to say North Dakota's not preparing players for the NHL, that's a joke." (Prime Time Sports)

And Another one Jumps to Major Juniors

Maybe this was pointed out earlier but......

2012 Minnesota Gopher recruit Joel Vienneau, a highly touted goaltender (worthy of note, from Canada), signed with Sudbury of the OHL instead of staying in Muskegon for one more year before heading to the Twin Cities.

Here is the article.

It looks like he bought the line about the Major Juniors being the way to go to get to the NHL.

I'd love to blast the Gophers as I'm no fan of theirs but I don't think Minnesota had anything to do with this.

It is nice to see that Joel has his head on straight. I mean, I too would go to an organization where a spot with playing time isn't guaranteed over a team where that same spot is virtually guaranteed. Not to mention the fact that NHL scouts know who the Gophers are.

Well, oh well. Maybe he'll turn into another Josh Unice or Brandon Maxwell (IIRC) or Anthony Grieco.

Best of luck.

Summit turns deaf ear to NCAA

Damien Cox a sports writer with the Toronto Star has a really interesting article about the World Hockey Summit and how Paul Kelly of College Hockey Inc was snubbed World Hockey Summit.

Toronto Star --- You’ll have to forgive Paul Kelly for feeling a tad radioactive.

But then, you might feel that way, too, if you held the position that the former NHL Players’ Association boss does today, but still found yourself persona non grata at the event that bills itself as the World Hockey Summit.

Kelly, in case you didn’t know, survived the disgraceful coup d’etat at the NHLPA with his reputation intact, so much so that he was quickly snapped up by the NCAA and hired as the executive director of College Hockey Inc., the nine-month-old organization that acts as the information and marketing arm of U.S. college hockey.

Given the heated battleground that is the relationship between the NCAA and Canada’s junior hockey system, with both competing furiously for the same players, you might think Kelly would be a useful speaker at the summit.

Well, you thought wrong, and it’s not hard to guess that it was the CHL, one of the organizations behind the summit, that didn’t want him involved.

“If the summit is truly what it says it is, you’d think they’d want to hear all views,” said Kelly. “You’d think they’d welcome the chance to heard from an NCAA perspective and from someone on the front line. But for whatever reason, they didn’t want me there.”

Of late, the bodies have been flying between the NCAA and CHL, mostly one way. Last year, it was Leaf draft pick Kenny Ryan bolting Boston University at the last minute and joining the Windsor Spitfires. This summer, Habs first round pick Louis Leblanc left Harvard for the Montreal juniors, while Jerry D’Amigo bolted RPI for one of several possible destinations, including the Leafs, Toronto Marlies or Kitchener Rangers. Then, Jarred Tinordi, after committing to Notre Dame and even taking summer classes, left to play for the London Knights.

What Kelly would have told the summit, had he been invited. Is that, in his opinion, the “relentless” recruiting of players who have committed to U.S. schools by CHL teams is both unseemly and destructive to the sport. U.S. colleges are powerless to reverse the flow by luring players from Canadian major junior teams because those players have already forfeited their NCAA eligibility.

Kelly would also argue that allowing CHL teams to draft players as young as 14 is forcing the NCAA to find ways to recruit at ever younger ages, as well. Again, not particularly good for the game.

Even if the NCAA and CHL were to sit down and talk, the NCAA really has nothing to bargain with. The CHL can steal the NCAA hockey players and the NCAA Hockey can’t steal the CHL’s players because the NCAA incorrectly considers CHL hockey players to be professionals. Seriously, If I was on the NCAA oversight committee, I would lobby to have that rule to not allow CHL hockey players to play in the NCAA would be the first thing that I would change, it’s a stupid rule.

Bad Boy Josh Birkholz makes his CHL debute.

Good for him. This article was over on Goal Gophers, one thing that stuck out was if the CHL is such a superior development league to the NCAA, how is Josh Birkholz a top 6 forward? That makes a person go hum. Seriously; what line was Birkholz projected to be on with the Golden Gophers this season? If I am not mistaken; wasn't Birkholz a top 9-12 forward last season with the Gophers (third or fourth line player). With the talent they have coming in this season I would imagine he would have been about the same this season.

Shortly after the Silvertips signed Birkholz, Doug Soetaert, the team's vice president and general manager talked about him. "Obviously we look for Josh to come in and be a top six forward for us during the coming year," Soetaert said.

"We develop these players. They all have aspirations to move on to the NHL as fast as they can. If they are here one year, that's great. If two, so be it. But that's our sole purpose, to develop players as fast as we can."

Birkholz will be on a team with only two other Americans. Eighteen of his teammates on the major junior hockey team are Canadians, two are Finns.

"With Josh, he wants to continue his education online at the University of Minnesota and we respect all that," Soetaert said. "But he will have the opportunity to play a lot and develop to a high level."

Birkholz was taken in the third round of the 2009 NHL draft by the Florida Panthers.

The Silvertip Vice President Doug Soetaert's statement sounds like a recruitment advertisement for the CHL...