Poll Monday; 5th in USA Today Poll...

USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[Dec. 20, 2010]
1 Yale (34)11-1-0 510
2 New Hampshire 10-2-4 458
3 Minnesota Duluth 12-3-3 418
4 Boston College 11-5-0 410
5 North Dakota 13-5-2 403
6 Miami (Ohio) 10-5-3 308
7 Denver 12-5-3 282
8 Maine 8-4-4 247
9 Nebraska-Omaha 12-5-1 243
10 Michigan 10-5-4 195
11 Boston University 8-4-5 162
12 Notre Dame 11-6-2 156
13 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 9-4-3 124
14 Union 10-5-3 59
15 Wisconsin 10-7-3 43
Others receiving votes: University of Alaska, 22; Colorado College, 15; Merrimack College, 6; University of Minnesota, 6; Western Michigan University, 6; Ferris State University, 3; Robert Morris University, 3; Dartmouth College, 1.

I know these polls really don’t mean much because in the end the only poll(s) that matters is the RPI/PWR that is used to select the teams for the NCAA tourney. We can put Yale at the top of the polls all season long if we want but they still have to play and prove themselves in the end, I still think they are going to end up being another 2007 Clarkson that was a number one seed that got bounced from the tourney.

If there is a team that deserves some credit it would be RPI, they beat Boston University and still end up behind BU in the USA Today poll. I would also like to know why in the name of Zeus’s butt is Union still ranked in the top 15 after being swept by Western Michigan University this past weekend?

Jaspers' Rink addresses realingment

Jaspers' Rink has a realignment plan that I really like. I think the NHL should look into this. I would love to go back to the old Norris days. This realignment would renew the old rivalries 1.) Detroit and Minnesota, 2.) Minnesota and Chicago and finally 3.) St Louis and Minnesota. I would also be able to see more of Former Sioux players T. J. Oshie and Jonathon Toews.

1. Realignment. I wouldn't even have my jacket off or feet up on Gary Bettman's desk before this was a done deal. Here's how the new divisions would look:
Wales Conference, Adams Division: BOS, BUF, MTL, NJD, NYI, NYR, OTT, TOR
Wales Conference, Patrick Division: ATL, CAR, FLA, PHI, PIT, TBL, WSH
Campbell Conference, Norris Division: CHI, CLM, COL, DET, MIN, NSH, STL

Campbell Conference, Sunbelt Division: ANA, CGY, DAL, EDM, LAK, PHX, SJS, VAN

Head size related to penalty minutes (Commodore)

I found this story on line. I find it interesting. I remember reading about studies like this when I was in college but I honestly didn't think people still conducted studies like this today.

Hockey fatheads end up in the penalty box more often: study
Joanne Laucius, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Fatheaded hockey players are more aggressive than their slimmer-faced counterparts, a St. Catharines, Ont., study has found.

Results of the study published Wednesday in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society, concluded of the six Canadian-based NHL teams, the faces of the Ottawa Senators are dead giveaways when it comes to predicting how much time players spend in the penalty box.

"We're not saying that Ottawa is more aggressive than any other team. But each individual player's face predicts how much time he had in the box," said Brock University neuroscience researcher Justin Carre.

Carre, who studies fluctuations in hormone levels, wanted to test recent theories that link male facial width-to-height ratio to behaviour such as aggression. Changes in male facial shape start at puberty, when boys are exposed to the influences of testosterone, a hormone that also sparks aggressive behaviour.

The researcher devised a lab experiment comparing facial ratios of a group of student volunteers with their aggressiveness while playing a video game.

The measurements, performed with the help of a digital ruler, compare the width of the face at the cheekbones with the height between the bottom of the eyebrows and the upper lip. An unusually wide male face has a ratio of about 2.3, while a relatively narrow face has a ratio of about 1.6.

Among the male students, those with wide faces were more likely to play the video game aggressively, even downright vengefully.

Carre, who had played American college level hockey and is currently assistant coach of the Brock Badgers, decided to take the theory into the real world.

"We wanted to come up with the idea of readily-available statistics - penalty minutes," said Cheryl McCormick, co-author of the paper and the Canada research chair in behavioural neuroscience at Brock.

He shifted his gaze to the NHL and calculated the facial ratio for the players on Canada's NHL_teams using 2007-2008 roster photos and compared the results with the average number of penalty minutes per game the player racked up for aggressive behaviour such as slashing, cross-checking, high-sticking, boarding, elbowing, checking from behind and fighting. Goalies were not analyzed.

Of the 18 Senators, Carre looked at defenceman Mike Commodore, who has since left the Senators, with a facial ratio of about 1.6 and only about a minute per game in the penalty box, was at the low end of the scale.

Right-winger Chris Neil, with a facial ratio of almost 2.4 and about three minutes per game in the box, was at the opposite end. "(Chris) Neil was off the chart in the face ratio," said Carre.

Of the Canadian teams the Ottawa Senators had the strongest "correlation" between facial width and aggression - although overall, the Senators were relatively gentlemanly players with relatively few penalties.

The teams had an average correlation ranking of .30. The Senators scored the highest with .51, with the Montreal Canadiens next at .39, closely followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs at .37. The Vancouver Canucks rated .24, followed by the Edmonton Oilers at .20 and the Calgary Flames at .17.

Brian Morris, a spokesman for the Senators, was at a loss for a comment on Carre's findings. It would be hard to draw conclusions based on facial measurements working from photographs alone, he suggested.

"Seemingly, it's more of a theory than a scientific fact," he said.

Carre spent Wednesday juggling requests from the international media to perform his calculations on the faces of other sports figures, mostly British footballers.

And Carre believes there's a fascinating follow-up study to be done on how facial ratios affect hockey referees. Perhaps wide-faced players are more likely to be penalized than players whose faces are less threatening.

"It might have implications for the type of officiating they get," he said.

Ottawa Citizen

Hockey News hot list.

Former Fighting Sioux Taylor Chorney made the Hot List, not to be confused with the hot or not list. Sounds like Hockey East has a few awesome recruits coming in. I only included the ones that are relevant to college hockey and the WCHA.

The Hot List: Combing through the combine

1. Colin Wilson, C – Boston U. Terriers (Hockey East): You can read my draft combine blog for the gory details, but Wilson essentially owned the day, powering through drills and doing it all with a confident grin. If anyone helped his draft stock, it was Wilson. Draft eligible in 2008.

6. Jimmy Hayes, RW – Lincoln Stars (USHL): The Boston College commit had a fantastic combine, which should help his draft status. Currently pegged as a late second- or third-rounder, expect him to go a bit higher now. Draft eligible in 2008.

7. Alex Goligoski, D – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL): While the Big Pens duel Detroit for the Stanley Cup, the Baby Pens are taking on Chicago for the Calder Cup and Goligoski is front and center. Though his team is down 2-0 in the series, the defenseman has already set an AHL record for most points by a blueliner in one post-season with 26, including points on all six Wilkes-Barre goals in the final so far. Drafted 61st overall by Pittsburgh in 2004.

9. Taylor Chorney, D – North Dakota Fighting Sioux (WCHA): Technically, Chorney’s NCAA days are done. The standout defenseman has been confirmed for the Edmonton Oilers development camp on the weekend and a signing is imminent. Drafted 36th overall by Edmonton in 2005.

10. Aaron Ness, D – Roseau Rams (Minn. HS): Ness showed just how fit a 5-foot-10, 170-pound teenager can be at the draft combine and likely quelled any fears NHL teams had about his size. The University of Minnesota commit can skate and stickhandle with the best of them and is likely a mid to late first-rounder. Draft eligible in 2008.

13. Tim Kennedy, LW – Michigan State Spartans (CCHA): Another new Sabres signee, Kennedy led the Spartans in all major offensive categories this season. The 5-foot-9 winger also led State in scoring the previous year and is originally from Buffalo, so now he gets a homecoming. Drafted 181st overall by Washington in 2005.

WCHA coaches push for changes

Today was a great news day for college hockey, after a brief lull in the news. Brad has another great article that also covers the annual coaches meeting. The title of his article is pretty funny WCHA coaches push for change. Seems the league office is the one that is being resistant to change and doesn't want to change the STATUS QUO.

In the past year I have talked to a lot of fans from many different teams that are sick and tired of watching their star players being mugged, brutalized, raped and slashed up and down the ice. If you're a star player(s)and you have a chance to score goals in a league like the CCHA where the games are called more tighter or be constantly brutalized in a league like the WCHA; where are you going to want to play? It hasn't come down to this yet but it could if the league office doesn't get its head out of its fourth point of contact. The only reason I can see the WCHA commish not wanting to call the games like the NHL is that McCloud is afraid the have nots won't be able to keep up on the ice with the have mores. This is a possibility.

The time has come for the Bruce McCloud and his sorry band of officials to step into the 21st century, the fans should not have to accept mediocrity anymore. The days of bush league hockey is over.

During last weekend’s American Hockey Coaches Association meetings in Florida, coaches expressed their interest in a two-referee system and tighter calls when it comes to obstruction.

They hope that will lead to faster-paced, higher-scoring games. The end result of the talks won’t be known for another month, when the NCAA rules committee meets and decides on what changes to make for the upcoming season. But it’s clear where the WCHA stands on the issue.

“We were overwhelmingly in favor of two-and-two (two referees, two linesmen),” UND coach Dave Hakstol said. “It gives us a better opportunity to do some things. We had a lot of great discussions about trying to take the hooking, holding and obstruction out of the game. We talked about the NHL rule of not being able to change (lines) after icing the puck.

“You need a two-and-two system to be able to do that.”

WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said he clearly sensed a movement toward the NHL standard of calling penalties, although nobody wanted to duplicate the NHL standard.

College hockey has been stricter on checking from behind calls than the NHL, and coaches don’t want to see that change. But they would like to see stick-work eliminated.

How about Phil?

This is the question that was posted on USCHO seems that they are having a tough time seeing past their love affair with the CCHA. Nice to see Roe and Bachman getting some love but they are freshmen.

QUESTION: Going into the homestretch of the regular season, who is the current favorite for the Hobey Baker Award?

Nathan Gerbe, BC -- 22-22-44 in 31 GP with 3 SHG

Richard Bachmann, Colorado College -- leading nation in save percentage (.935) and GAA (1.71) along with 21-5-1 record

Ryan Jones, Miami -- Nation's leading goal scorer with 29-14-43 in 34 GP

Kevin Porter, Michigan -- Nation's leading scorer with 25-26-51 in 34 GP

Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud -- Just a sophomore but tied for second nationally in points with 19-25-44 in 32 GP

Some other player not mentioned above
I don't know / No opinion.

How about where is Jean-Philippe Lamoureux a goals against average of 1.76 and a save percentage of .931. Mind you; this wasn't done playing a bunch of cup cakes this was done playing the toughest strength of schedule in college hockey while Porter and Jones have done it against a shamefully weak strength of schedule.

In case anyone forgot.

There has been a lot of squabbling and complaining on what did or did not happen this past weekend. We have a coach in Denver complaining to whoever will listen to him about how the mean Sioux kicked the snot out of the Pioneers.

After it was all said and done, lost in all the complaining and arguing is the fact that UND got another sweep on home ice and now the Fighting Sioux sport a 11-4-0 record on home ice and have a 13-3-1 record over the last 17 games if my math is correct.

The What if
WCHA Final
Team GP Pts
UND 28 39
CC 28 38
Denver 28 35
Mankato 28 30
UW 28 29
UMD 28 28
SCSU 28 24
UMN 28 23
MTech 28 22
AA 28 12

The Latest Poll

The Sioux drop to third in the INCH college hockey poll... First off let Miami have the rankings, we will see where they end up at in the end, championships are won in March and April.

October 29, 2007

No. Team (First-place votes) Points Last Poll
1. Miami (30) 506 2
2. Michigan 446 3
3. North Dakota (2) 433 1
4. New Hampshire (1) 430 6
5. Boston College 385 5
6. Michigan State 323 9
7. Denver 250 7
8. Minnesota 247 10
9. Wisconsin 235 11
10. Colorado College 219 4
11. Clarkson 174 8
12. Maine 143 13
13. Notre Dame 99 12
14. Michigan Tech 97 15
15. Minnesota Duluth 47 NR