Waking up this morning I noticed some frost on the roof of my garage and have come to the conclusion that our short summer in the north land is officially now over and the hockey season is upon us. The Fighting Sioux hockey team play their exhibition game on October 1st against Regina 16 days from now.
Some of the first media and pseudo media have begun to release their preseason rankings/ballots [Bucky's Fifth Quarter], [Western College Hockey], [Roman Empire]
This is how I see the WCHA shaking out this season.
1. Denver
2. Colorado College
3. North Dakota
4. Minnesota
5. Nebraska-Omaha
6. Wisconsin
6. Minnesota-Duluth
8. Alaska-Anchorage
9. St. Cloud State
10. Bemidji State
11. Michigan Tech
12. Minnesota State
Fratts making an impression
From reading all of the press clipping coming from the Toronto newspapers it sounds like former Fighting Sioux forward Matt Frattin has made quite an impression on the Toronto Maple Leafs brain trust during this week’s rookie camp and Matt Frattin may have a chance to make the Leafs rosters out of training camp.
Frattin looking good at camp [Toronto Sun]
OSHAWA - The playing field is about to level for Matt Frattin.Leaf's Roster has WCHA flavor
But the 23-year-old Maple Leafs freshman couldn’t have had a better send-off to training camp as he played in all situations and shone in a 4-3 Leafs loss to the Ottawa Senators in the rookie tournament closer at the General Motors Centre.
“He clearly showed some of what he can do and I think he has more to give,” said Toronto Marlies coach Dallas Eakins, who was behind the Leafs bench. “He didn’t fall away. And it looks like he is fairly fit as well, which is encouraging.”
Frattin played the point on the power play and one-timed a shot past goalie Robin Lehner late in the second period during a man-advantage. He also killed penalties, and his smarts demonstrated why he should have a good shot at winning a spot on the Leafs’ roster when camp breaks. He played in one game for the Leafs last season.
If you glance at the Toronto Leafs training camp roster you will see a hint of a WCHA influence. Currently there are seven former WCHA players on the Leaf's training camp roster. [Toronto Maple Leafs training camp roster]
Brad Malone also making an impression with AV's
Sounds like former Fighting Sioux forward Brad Malone is also making an impression with the Colorado Avalanche coaching staff as well. Here is what the Mile High City had to say about Brad Malone.
Brad Malone: The first thing that jumped off the ice about Malone yesterday and was only reinforced today was that he moves well for a guy his size. He's a smooth skater with a long, powerful stride who isn't blessed with great acceleration but has a top speed that won't cause him to be overwhelmed in the NHL. He was focused on firing a few more pucks past goalies today (same for Landy, who he's living with at a hotel near Park Meadows) and used his quick, compact release to pick some corners. Maybe most surprising on the day was some actual hitting showed up as he and Landeskog came together in front of Pickard for an amusing confrontation. Later during the scrimmages Malone received a pretty significant body check from O'Byrne and took it in stride. As they skated down the ice, Malone was definitely looking to let O'Byrne know he saw the number of that freight train and seemed anxious to get into O'Byrne. Sadly, everyone remembered it was day 2 of rookie camp and the two quickly skated away with smiles on their faces. Don't be surprised to see Malone happily lay into O'Byrne this weekend. From what I saw, Malone had himself a pretty solid day and I'm really liking his potential to make an impact on the bottom 6 this season. It may not be immediate but I wouldn't be surprised to see Malone donning an Avs jersey at some point in this campaign.
