NCHC Special teams - Team Stats

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.

Related articles

• NCAA Hockey: Lucia Wants to Revisit the Gentleman's Agreement (hockeywilderness.com)
• UND Hockey: Making the Case for Dave Hakstol (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey: Age is Just a Number (thehockeywriters.com)
• NCHC Hockey: UND Hockey Players Love Shootout Option (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey: Age Not a Factor for Dillon Simpson (thehockeywriters.com)

Updated National College Hockey Television Schedule

This season, with the NHL lockout, the NHL has become the “No Hockey League.” Thankfully, college hockey has been able to pick up some of the slack. If you’re not real familiar with NCAA Division I hockey, the holidays is a good time to watch nonconference action.

This season I have been maintaining a list of nationally televised college hockey games.  For instance, if you have the DirecTV with the sports package, you can watch college hockey on the various regional Fox Sports channels as well as on NBC Sports Net and CBS Sports Net.

Thur.	Dec. 13		UAH at Wisconsin	FS Wisconsin	7:07 p.m.	669
Fri.	Dec. 14		UAH at Wisconsin	FS Wisconsin	7:07 p.m.	669
Fri.	Dec. 14		Miami at Ohio State	BTN	7 p.m.	610 / 439 (C)
Fri.	Dec. 14		Western Michigan at Michigan	CBS Sports Net.	7:30 p.m.	613 / 158 (C)
Thu.	Dec. 27		Michigan State vs. Western Michigan	FS Detroit	3:30 p.m.	663 / 430
Thu.	Dec. 27		Michigan vs. Michigan Tech	FS Detroit	7:30 p.m.	663 / 430
Fri.	Dec. 28		GLI Third-Place Game	FS Detroit	3:30 p.m.	663 / 430
Fri.	Dec. 28		GLI Championship Game	FS Detroit	7:30 p.m.	663 / 430
Sat.	Dec. 29		Air Force at Minnesota	FS North +	7:05 p.m.	657/444
Sat.	Dec. 29		Boston University at Denver	ROOT Sports	9 p.m.	683 / 414
Sat.	Dec. 30		Boston College at Minnesota	FS North +	7:05 p.m.	657/444

Posted at the Hockey Writers Combine...

Defenseman Thomas Welsh de-commits from Penn State

I reached out to Mike Welsh a person that I had interviewed via email last September when his son Thomas committed to play hockey at Penn State. Thomas has since de-committed from PSU. I again, had a conversation with Mike Via email.

It’s nice to talk to you again Mike.  It’s been almost a year since we last chatted.

Q: Your son Thomas Welsh who is a highly sought after recruit recently de-committed from Penn State University this past week and I was wondering if NCAA Hockey is still in the future for Thomas? 

Mike Welsh: Having Thomas gain the experience academically and by continuing his development in hockey by being at an NCAA Division 1 school, was the driving force on why he left Canada before his minor midget draft year.  We felt that if Thomas was in the USA at a prep school that this would send a very clear message to the NCAA that this is a "kid" that really wants to play school hockey.

Decommitting was not something that Thomas – nor us as a family every considered once a decision with PSU was made.   We as a family took our time when we decided on PSU.   As we have stated before Div 1 hockey has so much to offer....  However, one cannot deny the CHL has many benefits as well, its an individual decision that families must make.  Either option can by the right choice.

Q: Was the scandal at Penn State University a factor in the decision to de-commit Penn State University?

Mike Welsh: Absolutely not, PSU University is a very fine institution.

Q: If he’s still considering College Hockey are there any particular schools that he might be interested in? 

Mike Welsh: Thomas will need to explore his options and will have to make a decision based upon due diligence.

Q: I read on a blog that your son’s rights were trade from Sarnia to Mississauga. Is the CHL still an option as well?

Mike Welsh: Thomas was initially drafted by Sarnia in 2011 but was recently traded to the Steelheads this spring (2012).  There has been some discussion with the Steelheads but that is as far as it goes.  Thomas will need to explore other DIv 1 schools.

Q: Has Thomas looked into any schools out west or are there any schools that have shown an interest as well?

Mike Welsh:  The recruiting process for Thomas will need to be "restarted", when he committed to PSU for 2013, he sent a message to other schools that this was his choice.    He will need to restart this process.   The NCAA has particular rules on recruiting and those rules need to be adhered to so that the eligibility for a player remains intact.

Q: I see that Thomas is playing with the OJHL's Georgetown Raiders…

Mike Welsh:  Thomas is playing for the Georgetown Raider Jr A team this year.  It was a family decision for him to return due to some health issues with me.  He recently played in the Team Canada East Evaluation Camp and in the Burlington Cougar Tournament and I provided a link for you.  [click to view]

This is from the Thank You Terry PSU Blog.

 2013 defense commit Thomas Welsh was at a Team Canada East selection camp over the weekend as part of the buildup to choosing who will wear the maple leaf at the World Junior A Challenge in November. Welsh received sound marks for his performance from at least one scout, as he ultimately seeks to join PSU freshmen Curtis Loik and Luke Juha in earning a WJAC gold medal.

So all's great, right? Wrong.

[Mississauga Steelheads GM James] Boyd was there not only scouting the talent. But also his talent. D-Man Thomas Welsh. 95 birthday.

The Steelheads acquired Welsh's draft rights from Sarnia (who initially selected the Toronto native in the fifth round in 2011) back on June 1st. So it certainly seems as if all signs point to the OHL club making a strong push for a guy who qualifies as one of Guy Gadowsky's better recruits to date.

For now, the plan is for Welsh to join the OJHL's Georgetown Raiders this season after playing previously for New England prep powerhouse Salisbury School. But stay tuned.

BC Interruption, "NCAA Ice Hockey Regionals Were Run Like College Baseball? "

As we are about four months away from the start of the Division I college hockey season - here is a great idea from Brian Favat from B.C. Interruption for you to chew on. Favat throws the idea of having the four highest seeds host the regionals and have a double elimination tourney. I think this would definitely prove to be an exciting regional format.

B.C. Interruption --- Had an interesting thought while taking in some of this weekend's NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament regional action. After another year of poor Regional attendance, lots of talk about ways of improving the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Regional format. Could the answer come from college baseball?

What if the men's ice hockey tournament Regional round took on the same format as the NCAA baseball regional format?

The baseball regional round is a four team, double elimination format hosted by the top seed in each region. The regionals start on Friday, pairing the 1 seed up against the 4 and the 2 against the 3. The winners of those two games advance to the 1-0 game, while the losers face each other in an elimination game.

It would look something like this, I don't know if the NCAA would approve of this Idea... I am up for improving the current state of the college hockey regional format - as we saw from this last year that the NCAA regionals were poorly attended.

Thursday

No. 1 seed vs. No. 4 seed
No. 2 seed vs. No. 3 seed

Friday

1-0 game: 1/4 Winner vs. 2/3 Winner
Elimination game: 1/4 Loser vs. 2/3 Loser

Saturday
1-0 Game Loser vs. Elimination game Winner

Sunday
Saturday game winner vs. 2-0 team

Monday (if necessary)
2-1 Elimination game

Here are the attendance figures from the four regional final games from this season’s NCAA regionals – 5,328, 10,974, 4,470, 3,108 – The highest attended regional was the West Regional in Xcel Energy Center. The NCAA should have more fans attending the regionals, something needs to be done to improve attendance.

Another Idea that I am in favor of - having the four number one seeds host the regionals on their campus sites and keep the format the rest of the way. I think that the number one seeds should have some benefit from playing well all season long and gaining a number one seed. You call also probably have higher attendance numbers that we had last season.

One problem facing UND is that the school is currently under NCAA sanctions and would not be able to host an NCAA regional.