CHN: The practice of “de-committing”

Mike McMahon of College Hockey News wrote an article about The Gentleman's Agreement: What Now?... For the most part this is old news from this past summer. Only with a different twist to it. There was something from the article that caught my eye. I found the part about the de-commitment to be very compelling and though provoking. Jeff Jackson is right, that word isn't in the dictionary, but it's become a common word in college hockey.

Mike McMahon, College Hockey News -- As Jackson points out, the word de-commit was practically invented by college hockey. It doesn’t actually exist.

“To me, a commitment is a commitment,” Jackson said. “The word de-commit doesn’t exist in Webster’s Dictionary, it’s breaking a commitment. To me, I won’t do it. I won’t go out and recruit a kid who has committed to another school, I don’t care if it’s a big school or a school at the bottom of the standings.”

Players are committing younger and younger – BU verbally committed a 14-year-old earlier this week and Maine committed a 13-year-old player last January – and recruiting to the NLI would render those “commitments” meaningless.

Of course, some would argue that’s already the case.

“Everyone is involved in it,” Jackson said. “The advisors are involved in it, the parents are involved in it, other players are talking in the locker rooms. I don’t like recruiting 15 year olds. I don’t think we should be in that business. I think we should have an agreement where we won’t commit a kid until he’s 17, but we can’t do that because we’re competing with the Canadian Hockey League.”

By signing with a CHL team, a player gives up his NCAA eligibility. In the eyes of the NCAA, because CHL players can be signed by NHL teams and assigned to CHL teams on loan, it’s considered a professional league.

The number of players de-committing, Jackson says, has increased over the years. Part of it, however, is simply the increased public and media attention being placed upon where players are committing. There is nothing stopping a player from proclaiming on Twitter that he has committed to such-and-such school, well before a school is ready to say the same.

UND Hockey: Dillon Simpson on 2013-14 Preseason All-CHN second team

The University of North Dakota senior defenseman Dillon Simpson made the CHN Preseason All-CHN Team.  

First Team

F John Gaudreau, Jr., Boston College

F Austin Czarnik, Jr., Miami

F Michael Mersch, Sr., Wisconsin

D Shayne Gostisbehere, Jr., Union

D Michael Matheson, Soph., Boston College

G Jon Gillies, Soph., Providence

Second Team

F Kyle Rau, Jr., Minnesota

F Greg Carey, Sr., St. Lawrence

F Ryan Walters, Sr., Nebraska-Omaha

F Matt Leitner, Jr., Minnesota State

D Dillon Simpson, Sr., North Dakota

D Jake McCabe, Jr., Wisconsin

G Connor Hellebuyck, Soph., Massachusetts-Lowell

Check out the Goon on KNOX 1310 @3:30 PM - Blais on the BTHC

First off I will be on KNOX 1310 A.M. at 3:30 PM - 4:30 this afternoon talking about hockey with R.J. Richards you can listen to the show on this link if you don't live in Grand Forks, ND. [KNOX 1310 Click to listen]

Breaking News

Dean Blais just fired a missile across the bow of the Big Ten Hockey Conference. This author has been on record of being against a BTHC because I think it’s going to do a lot of damage to the CCHA and possibly to college hockey as a whole, there are schools barely hanging on by a thread. The BTHC is being driven by the Big Ten athletic directors that want make more money for their schools by showing more hockey games on their Big Ten television network, I would really like to know what is stopping them. By all means show more college hockey on the BTN. I would really like to know what is stopping you from showing more hockey hockey now. I don't by this argument that you need to have a BTHC conference to make more money off of the BTN.

I want to applaud Coach Blais, is saying what a lot of other have been saying about the Big Ten Hockey Conference. Since Blais is saying it, this become more credible because Blais is a college hockey coaching legend and a future hall of fame hockey coach. Check out this article by Tom Shatel of the World Herald newspaper.

WORLD-HERALD ---- UNO coach Dean Blais — a Minnesota alum — is staunchly on the side that says this would be a bad deal and could “ruin’’ college hockey.

“It’s a TV issue,’’ Blais said. “There’s money. The big schools have money and they want a lot more. Is it good for college hockey? We’ll see.’’

Blais’ point: The cost of starting this mega made-for-TV league would come at the expense of the “little guys,’’ especially in the WCHA and CCHA.

There are 58 schools that play Division I men’s hockey. College hockey is not cheap. Many Mid-American Conference-level schools depend on the revenue from home games with Michigan or Wisconsin or Michigan State. If those teams don’t come around anymore, and hockey became too expensive, how many of those schools would drop the sport?

“It wouldn’t hurt Omaha, we’re going to be fine,’’ Blais said. “But this division could hurt certain teams. It would give an administration an excuse to drop hockey.’’

To ease that pain, the Big Ten apparently is working on a plan in which the Big Ten schools from the WCHA and CCHA would continue to schedule some teams in those leagues as nonconference games. But they couldn’t play everyone in their former leagues.

And, let’s face it, if Wisconsin has to play Murderer’s Row in the Big Ten, it’s not going to play North Dakota, Denver and UNO on the side.

“What pod are we in? Who are we going to play?’’ Blais said. “You have to think about the good of college hockey. Do the fans of Minnesota want to see North Dakota come in there and Omaha and Duluth? Absolutely. Do they care about Michigan and Ohio State? No.

“For Wisconsin to lose North Dakota, that’s their No. 1 rival. That would be terrible. And now that Miami is up there, people in Ann Arbor would rather see Miami now than Wisconsin or Minnesota.’’

Blais also makes this point: Most of the schools in a Big Ten hockey league are used to making the NCAA tournament, but that league would get only one or two bids as the teams beat up on each other.

“College hockey right now is pretty solid,’’ Blais said. “We’re third, I think, in the NCAA in revenue-producing. Are we going to jeopardize that, as a body? Minnesota and Wisconsin probably make $4 million to $5 million a year in hockey because of their buildings. If you give them $7 million, does that matter? They already have so much money. Is it worth the extra money to ruin college hockey?’’

There is some blogger from PSU that believes I am a hater when it comes to everything Penn State University. It’s not about that at all, college hockey is bigger than the Big Ten Hockey Conference and it’s bigger than some school that doesn’t even have a division one hockey program yet. Some people are missing the point in a very big way. College hockey is about the small schools beating the big schools on the ice; David versus Goliath. In college hockey there are many schools that are Division II or Division III in all their other sports. These schools also use these games against the Big Ten schools to pad their bottom line and put butts in their stands and make money.

College Hockey is one of the few sports were a team from Sault Sainte Marie can beat a team from Ann Harbor, Madison, East Lansing or South Bend. College hockey has to be very careful to no upset the delicate balance that has been created. Six Big Ten Schools could irreparable damage to the rest of college hockey for the sole purpose of greed and making more money. Maybe we all need to take a deep breath and work this out like adults.

Over on Goal Gophers, Chris Miller and Roman Augustoviz make their predictions for this weekend's series between the Seapuppies and the Fighting Sioux.

Alaska Anchorage at North Dakota

Chris: As long as I’m pumping up sportswriters, I got to say Doyle Woody of the Anchorage Daily News used to have quite the gig back when the ADN traveled with the Seapuppies, as far as frequent flyer miles go. As I recall, Doyle also missed a lot of flights thanks to his enjoyment of the WCHA night life, often returning to his hotel room long after the 4 a.m. wakeup call, but I would never say that publicly in case Doyle has a good lawyer.

In Duluth, we used to convene at the “smoke-free” Pioneer Bar and, in true journalistic style, Doyle met the future Mrs. Woody there one night when she was working for the News-Trombone. They are now happily married and, quite honestly, Doyle still has a ton of frequent flyer miles so after the season he’s always jetting off to Bora-Bora or some tropical locale. Enough insight about Anchorage, though.

North Dakota had last weekend off to watch Christina Aguilera screw up a song that most of us learned in kindergarten, so they’ll be rested and ready to sweep. If not, Dave Hakstol should be fired and replaced by Dean Blais. ... Sioux sweep

Roman: UAA has won three in a row, beating the Gophers 1-0 at Mariucci and Michigan Tech 4-1 and 4-2 in the Sully. The Seawolves' neutral zone trap or four-man picket fence at its blue line can hamper opponents. Tech was held to under 20 shots in both losses. But the Sioux smell another title. They are only one point back of UMD and Denver, tied for first place in the WCHA so ... A Sioux win and a tie

UND and UAA match up courtesy of CHN

Tale of the Tape

Alaska-Anchorage vs. North Dakota / February 12, 2011

	Alaska-Anchorage	North Dakota
Record	10-13-3	19-8-2
Head-to-Head	0-0-1	0-0-1
Goals	62 / 2.38	106 / 3.66
Goals Against	77 / 2.96	72 / 2.48
Power Play	15.9%	20.3%
Penalty Kill	81.0%	84.2%
Avg. Height / Weight	6' 0.25" / 188.64 lbs.	6' 0.58" / 194.85 lbs.
Avg. Age	22y 3m	21y 8m
Coach	Dave Shyiak	Dave Hakstol
Latest Results	2/05 vs. Michigan Tech ... 4-2 W 2/04 vs. Michigan Tech ... 4-1 W 1/29 at Minnesota ... 1-0 W 1/28 at Minnesota ... 1-5 L	1/29 at Colorado College ... 6-0 W 1/28 at Colorado College ... 2-4 L
Injuries	Andrew Pickering (head)	Chay Genoway (lower body) Danny Kristo (frostbite)
Team Scoring Leaders
	T. Grant 10-13-23 M. Bailey 8-9-17 J. Kwas 4-13-17 C. Parkinson 7-8-15 M. Bruijsten 8-5-13	M. Frattin 21-10-31 C. Knight 12-16-28 B. Malone 9-16-25 C. Genoway 6-19-25 E. Trupp 11-14-25
Team Goaltenders
	R. Gunderson 6-10-2 2.72 C. Kamal 4-3-1 2.97	A. Dell 18-6-1 2.07 B. Eidsness 1-2-1 4.56
More Info
Radio	650 AM KENI	KQHT 96.1 FM
	Netcast	Netcast
	Roster	Roster
	Stats	Stats
	Schedule	Schedule
Recent Team vs. Team Result History

Wednesday Linkorama - Break over time to get to work

On Wednesday there is a lot of news worthy stuff going in the college hockey world.

Elliot Olshansky has a really really nice article at NCAA.COM that talks about the Fighting Sioux's first half success during the month of December... [NCAA.COM]

Let's Go DU Hockey Blog has a funny blog post; SCSU Bad Boyz Throw Party-Get Kicked Off Team SCSU Bad Boyz Throw Party-Get Kicked Off Team [Let's Go DU]

The writers at INCH have an interesting quip about the ratings...

We accept that many people will dissent against Yale’s standing atop the INCH Power Rankings and both voter-driven polls as they are currently published, but there’s something else that should be considered. Many of those same dissenting voices have traditionally pointed to polls “that matter” or are derived from mathematical calculations based on results and opponents. Well, looky here—Yale happens to be ranked first in both the PairWise and KRACH. Citing those as the most reliable measures when they show WCHA or Hockey East dominance and ignoring it in favor of blaming voters when Yale reigns doesn’t align.

Here is the SCSU beat writer's sanitized version of Chris Hepp leaving the Huskies, er, dismissal from the Husky team and signing a professional ECHL contract. I find it laughable that Garrett Roe said, "said he was surprised by Hepp’s decision." Sure Garrett, take another dive... Nothing on the Tony Mosey dismissal yet... [Click to read article]

If you look at the official SCSU Hockey Roster you will see it's devoid of the Mosey, Johnson and Hepp names... [SCSU Hockey Roster]

KVSC has the Less sanitized version of the SCSU dismissals of the two SCSU bad boyz... [Click to read article]

Amid this news, rumors are flowing on internet message boards about a possible off-ice incident while in Florida that lead to Hepp's or Mosey’s dismissal and potential repercussions for more players. This has not been confirmed by KVSC, and SCSU Athletic Media Relations has no news or information at this time regarding those rumors.

According to Don Lucia Union is a good old team, or at least they are recruiting older players... [Goal Gophers]

NMU to stay in the CCHA.

It had been speculated that NMU might jump to the WCHA, but that rumor has been shot down. I agree with the NMU blogger, I think NMU would be a great addition to the WCHA and would be a natural rival with MTU. I think NMU fans should email and call the NMU athletic department.

NMU Decides to Stay in CCHA --- Rob Balmes
Much to the chagrin of many Wildcat fans, the NMU President, Board, and Athletic Director decided to remain in the CCHA, turning down an offer to rejoin the WCHA. I personally believe it is a terrible mistake, but respect the decision. Fans should now petition the CCHA to open a dialogue and not be bullied by Michigan and Michigan State to have cross-over interleague play every season. They have their nice little deal to play Wisconsin and Minnesota every season. The dream is dead, NMU remains a Central member.

Hobey Hat trick announced.

Here is the 2008-2009 Hobey Hat Trick.

The hat trick includes Junior goalie Brad Thiessen from Northeastern, Boston University senior defenseman Matt Gilroy and BU sophomore forward Colin Wilson.

Poll Monday.

USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll

January 26, 2009
Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll
1 Notre Dame (37) 19-3-3 987 1
2 Boston University (13) 18-5-1 963 2
3 Northeastern 17-5-2 867 5
4 Cornell 14-2-3 831 3
5 Minnesota 12-5-5 791 6
6 Vermont 14-5-4 716 7
7 Denver 15-7-3 696 4
8 Michigan 18-8-0 692 8
9 Princeton 13-5-0 582 9
10 Miami 14-8-4 553 10
11 Boston College 11-8-3 450 14
12 North Dakota 15-10-3 432 15
13 New Hampshire 11-8-4 353 11
14 Ohio State 16-7-3 347 12
15 Wisconsin 13-10-3 279 16
16 Minnesota-Duluth 13-7-6 271 17
17 Colorado College 13-9-6 244 13
18 Yale 13-5-1 158 NR
19 Air Force 17-6-1 97 20
20 Dartmouth 10-7-2 67 18
Others Receiving Votes: St. Cloud State 42, Nebraska-Omaha 24, RIT 23, Alaska 17, Minnesota State 5,
Massachusetts 4, Quinnipiac 4, St. Lawrence 4, Niagara 1
----------------------------

USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
Jan. 19, 2009
Rank School (first-place votes) Record Points Last week
1 Notre Dame (22) 19-3-3 496 1
2 Boston University (6) 16-5-1 464 2
3 Cornell (6) 13-1-3 434 4
4 Denver 15-6-2 394 7
5 Northeastern 15-5-2 386 6
6 Minnesota 12-5-5 336 8
7 Vermont 13-5-3 304 7
8 Michigan 16-8-0 280 6
9 Princeton 13-5-0 222 10
10 Miami (Ohio) 13-8-3 188 9
11 Ohio State 16-6-2 156 14
12 New Hampshire 11-6-4 154 13
13 Colorado College 13-8-5 132 11
14 Boston College 9-8-3 46 12
15 North Dakota 15-10-3 45 NR

Others receiving votes:
Wisconsin 17, Alaska 9, Nebraska-Omaha 9,
Air Force 2, Michigan State 2, Quinnipiac 2, Yale 2.
----------------------------

INCH Power Rankings

1. Notre Dame
2. Boston University
3. Cornell
4. Northeastern
5. Vermont
6. Denver
7. Michigan
8. Minnesota
9. Princeton
10. Miami
11. North Dakota
12. Ohio State
13. Boston College
14. Wisconsin
15. New Hampshire
16. Colorado College
17. Air Force
18. Minnesota Duluth
19. Yale
20. RIT
Dropped out: Dartmouth, Alaska
Bubble-licious: St. Cloud State, Dartmouth, Nebraska-Omaha

In the INCH power ranking UMD could be higher. USA Today didn't even have UND's record right the Fighting Sioux are 15-10-3.

Internet Trolls.

There are a few people that take themselves way, way, way too serious. When I started this blog it was to have fun. At this current time I am still having fun. Most of us write blogs because it is a hobby. Now we have these self appointed narcissistic experts that think they are the hockey blog police. You know these people; they are people that are insecure in their skin that need to cut others down to feel better about their pathetic self. These are the people that sit in their mother’s basement with oatmeal on their shirt parsing every word and phrase that bloggers write. They also comment on every misspelled word and punctuation mark that is missed, then when you go to their blog they have misspelled words and pictures that of woman’s hockey players when the article is about a men’s hockey team. Sorry but you really need to get a life, I am not quitting because you take issue with what I write.

Always brave when hiding behind a fake name on the net

These trolls are always brave when they can hide behind a moniker or fake name using multiple email addresses and log in names. It is pretty easy to figure out who they are because use the same phrases and say the same things. These trolls have multiple login names on college hockey message boards and are an administrator’s night mare, one name is deleted and banned another name will sprout up almost instantly. These guys are real brave when they are anonymous and write anything; nothing is out of bounds because they know they don’t have to pay for their comments. Yet in public they wouldn’t dare say this stuff to you because they are gutless punks.

Now we have a few morons that have dedicated a blog to Brandon, BrettB and my blog (I will not link their blog because it isn’t worth mentioning plus they are just trolling for hits) they are going to focus on every article and point that we make. Now! Talk about your basic losers. If that isn’t a text book definition of loser I don’t know what is? Let’s review; you think our bogs are that bad, so you’re going to waste your time pointing out how bad you think these blogs are? WTF is that? So let me get this right; your life is really that pathetic and that bad that you have to focus on us? If that isn’t pathetic I don’t know what is? If you think our blogs are that bad don’t read it. Why lower yourself?

Sioux7 not going anywhere

Now to some house cleaning issues. Our friend from RWD's suggested that I give Sioux7 his pink slip. Come on now! that is not going to happen. Sioux7 is a great friend of mine and I personally hired him to jinx the other teams around the WCHA. Unfortunately the Badgers have thrived under Sioux7's predictions

Profanity

From time to time posts have been removed for objectionable content. I have many family and friends that read my blog and I am not having them wade through vile filthy, horrible, objectionable comments. If you can't use the language you're posting in a letter to a business colleague or your mother it shouldn't be posted. If you can't comment without being respectful and with out cussing don't comment. Again, its the common courtesy thing. Notice how people are really brave while hiding behind a fake name. These are people from the same ilk that caused Brad to have to moderate his hockey blog. The lack of class that some people ooze is mind boggling.

Scores from 11-28-2008 (wow what a night)

Friday, November 28, 2008

CCHA
Western Michigan 1 at Notre Dame 4
Nebraska-Omaha 3 at Ohio State 4
Ferris State 6 at Northern Michigan 4
Lake Superior 1 at Alaska 4

Analysis
tOSU bring UNO back down to earth. The Irish just keep winning.

Non-Conference
St. Lawrence 4 at Massachusetts 3
Army 4 at Union 5
Minnesota State 2 at Bowling Green 2 ot
Michigan Tech 0 at Bemidji State 3
Dartmouth 4 at Providence 2
Cornell 3 at North Dakota 7
Canisius 4 at Clarkson 3 ot
Colorado College 1 at Air Force 4
Harvard 1 at Boston College 5
Colgate 1 at Denver 6

Analysis
I was looking at the scores last night and this is the most parity I have seen in college hockey in a long time. Isn't this what the fans want to see? The RPI/PWR ranking are going to be fluid all the way to the end. A team is going to have to play each game out, there will be no gimmes. The WCHA goes 2-0 against the ECAC.

RPI Holiday Tournament
Northeastern 3 vs. Princeton 5
Mercyhurst 4 at Rensselaer 1

Analysis
The Princeton Tigers beat Northeastern.

College Hockey Showcase
Michigan 6 at Minnesota 3
Michigan State 1 at Wisconsin 3

Analysis
Wisconsin beats MSU who lost their seventh game in a row. Michigan blasted Minnesota, Alex Kangas was God awful. Yes I watched the game, I taped it on my DVR. looks like Michigan isn't as bad as some have thought.