Holtz: Notre Dame should join Big Ten

First off; Happy Independence day from Goon's World, may your day be safe and may it be a happy day for you and your family... Former Gopher and Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Coach Lou Holtz says that the Irish should join the Big Ten conference.

Lou Holtz changed his mind. He thinks Notre Dame should join the Big Ten.

"I'm an old man, and all my life I've said that Notre Dame should remain independent because it's a national school," said Holtz, a former Fighting Irish coach who was in the Twin Cities last weekend. "We played the very best in the country from Texas to Tennessee to Miami of Florida to Southern Cal.

"However, two days ago was the first time I've ever said that I think Notre Dame ought to seriously consider joining the Big Ten. Because what I see happening, I see four or five superconferences."
[Star Tribune]

More News (RW77)

Not a lot on the news fronts, but there are some tidbits.

Former UND Defenseman Brad Bombardir has been named the Director of Player Development for the Minnesota Wild.

--> This is not a job I'd want. He has to look the Wild Administration right in their eyes and say "Our minor leagues have talent." On the flip side, he could get to help develop some real talent now that the moron Risebrough is gone and the Wild can now draft players that meet their needs rather than solely meet their "system."

Former UND Associate Head Coach Brad Berry was named the Assistant Coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

--> This is great news. I just hope things go better for him in Ohio than it did for Dean Blais.

Rumor has it that former UND forward Erik Fabian is the leading candidate for the vacant Assistant Coaching position for UND's women's hockey team.

--> FAAAAAAABIIIAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!

In more NHL News:

-- Chicago traded away the rights to Center Colin Fraser for a 2010 6th Round draft pick (Edmonton). Too bad because, with Byfuglien and Eager's departures, Fraser probably would have seen a lot more ice time with the Hawks. On the flip side, Fraser will be a 2nd line center with the Oilers. Not because he's 2nd line material... rather because the Oilers are that bad.

-- Tim Thomas' agent is looking for suitors for a trade out of Boston. Good luck. Nobody wants to touch that $5 million/year for 3 year salary.... well, unless the Minnesota Timberwolves rehire Kevin McHale and switch over to Hockey.

-- Rumor has it (and it's not all that much of a rumor really) that Montreal has started serious talks about re-signing Carey Price. I don't know why this is big on ESPN.com's Rumor Central (I don't have access to the Insider material...lousy budget!), but it's not like Montreal is going to go out and spend big money on anyone like Nabokov, Turco, or whoever. The upside of Price in Montreal is that you get to see him do incredibly stupid things like getting two unsportsmanlike conducts in the same game (one of which was while he was on the bench) and then rationalizing it much like fellow d-bag Matt Cooke by saying "Let 'em know you're there." Don't believe me? Watch this!

Ok, I admit wedging that last one in there because I missed it when I could have put it in a more relevant post. Oh well.

CCHA killing the shoot out?

Here is something that I found interesting. CCHA is thinking of dismantling the shoot out because no one else is currently using them. I thought the NCAA was mandating breaking ties in the future? Personally, I find the shoot out to be exciting and would like to see the NCAA/WCHA break ties that way.

Also, this doesn’t appear to be good news for UAH. I can’t imagine the scheduling nightmare with an 11 team league. Cue the Big Ten Hockey Conference discussion again?

Shootouts out?
Anastos says the future of CCHA shootouts will be discussed in offseason meetings. They could be eliminated, since the rest of the NCAA schools are not using them. The CCHA also must decide whether to keep using four officials for financial reasons, and he doubts another school will be added with Nebraska-Omaha leaving for the WCHA.[Lansing State Journal]