Check out the O'Gara Blog Zane Gothberg mention

Boston Bruins logo (1955–1995). Secondary logo, used on black jersey. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yale defenseman Rob O'Gara from the 2013 National Champion Bulldogs is doing a blog for the Boston Bruins official NHL site. Apparently, O'Gara is also buddies with Zane Gothberg who's also attending this week's Boston Bruins Development Camp.

Boston Bruins -- I’m really excited for this year’s development camp, this is my third year attending. Last year was different from the first year and I think I’ll have more confidence this year but I’m sure this year will be different than last. It’s going to be a fun week with great competition and it’s a great group of guys. As you go along, you start knowing the names and seeing who you are going to play with. Like Ryan Fitzgerald, I played with him back on the U18 Junior Bruins before we started our prep year seasons. I haven’t seen him in a while so I’m excited to say hi and it’s going fun week.



I’m also looking forward to playing with Zane Gothberg again during the week. We hit it off the last couple years and he’s one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met. We both played in the final 8 in our regional, him in North Dakota, he said hi before our Minnesota game. It was good to see him and you know, it was a little friendly competition and even though I didn’t score against him, we got the best of them. My friend Frank DiChiara from Long Island played with Matt Benning this year, I’ve known him since I was really young. Benning was at camp last year and as a D-man, there are only eight of us here, so we have to bond and stick together.

Minnesota Wild fans react to the Matt Cooke Signing...

The Wild signed Matt Cooke. Bye. pic.twitter.com/kGuVseF62o
— Abby (@ybba2215) July 5, 2013

Minnesota Wild Won't Earn Any New Fans By Signing Matt Cooke - Rant Sports http://t.co/eDMaOi42xY
— Minnesota Wild 24x7 (@MinWild24x7) July 7, 2013

Since initial shock I have decided to give matt cooke a chance...plz surprise us wild fans, we cud use some positivity right now
— Tyler Martin (@wildgeorge12) July 7, 2013

Sick of this Wild franchise. Fans have nothing to be excited about. Matt Cooke?? I have absolutely zero interest in this bum.
— mleegwater (@mleegwater) July 7, 2013

Still extremely upset about Matt Cooke😣
— Rachel Herbert (@dustyherb) July 7, 2013

@braja57 @Russostrib From Pens' HR and a Matt Cooke superfan. Good guy off the ice? Sure. The point is, he played the wrong way for years.
— Jordan Hansen (@JordanBHansen) July 7, 2013

There is way too much emotion flying around over Matt Cooke. Try using common sense folks.
— Giles Ferrell (@gilesferrell) July 7, 2013

If you are comparing Heatley, Cooke and Clutterbuck or any two thereof, just stop. Don't care what your personal feelings of each are. Stop.
— Jeremy (@knowsknothing) July 7, 2013

Updated Free Agent Signings.

Jul 6	Summers, Chris	D	Phoenix	Phoenix	$550K	1	$550K
Jul 6	McNeill, Patrick	D	Washington	Columbus	n/a	1	n/a
Jul 6	Roy, Derek	C	Vancouver	St. Louis	$4M	1	$4M
Jul 6	Jones, Ryan	RW	Edmonton	Edmonton	n/a	1	n/a
Jul 6	Pardy, Adam	D	Buffalo	Winnipeg	$600K	1	$600K
Jul 6	Santorelli, Mike	C	Winnipeg	Vancouver	n/a	n/a	n/a
Jul 6	Samson, Jerome	RW	Carolina	Winnipeg	n/a	n/a	n/a
Jul 6	Gordon, Andrew	RW	Vancouver	Winnipeg	n/a	n/a	n/a
Jul 6	Sulzer, Alexander	D	Buffalo	Buffalo	n/a	1	n/a
Jul 5	Khabibulin, Nikolai	G	Edmonton	Chicago	$2M	1	$2M
Jul 5	Johnson, Chad	G	Phoenix	Boston	$600K	1	$600K
Jul 5	Cooke, Matt	LW	Pittsburgh	Minnesota	$7.5M	3	$2.5M
Jul 5	Iginla, Jarome	RW	Pittsburgh	Boston	$6M	1	$6M
Jul 5	Bolduc, Alexandre	C	Phoenix	St. Louis	$550K	1	$550K
Jul 5	Mancari, Mark	RW	Buffalo	St. Louis	$600K	1	$600K
Jul 5	Pouliot, Benoit	LW	Tampa Bay	NY Rangers	$1.3M	1	$1.3M
Jul 5	Ryder, Michael	RW	Montreal	New Jersey	$7M	2	$3.5M
Jul 5	Lapierre, Maxim	C	Vancouver	St. Louis	$2.2M	2	$1.1M
Jul 5	Koivu, Saku	C	Anaheim	Anaheim	$2.5M	1	$2.5M
Jul 5	Adams, Craig	C	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	$1.4M	2	$700K
Jul 5	Olesz, Rostislav	C	Chicago	New Jersey	$1M	1	$1M
Jul 5	Desbiens, Guillaume	RW	Vancouver	Colorado	$600K	1	$600K
Jul 5	Wyman, J.T.	RW	Tampa Bay	Colorado	$750K	1	$750K
Jul 5	Holden, Nick	D	Columbus	Colorado	$1.2M	2	$600K
Jul 5	Hamilton, Ryan	LW	Toronto	Edmonton	$1.2M	2	$600K
Jul 5	Johnson, Aaron	D	Boston	NY Rangers	$600K	1	$600K
Jul 5	Brennan, T.J.	D	Nashville	Toronto	$600K	1	$600K
Jul 5	Richardson, Brad	RW	Los Angeles	Vancouver	$2.3M	2	$1.15M
Jul 5	Schultz, Jeff	D	Washington	Los Angeles	$700K	1	$700K
Jul 5	Weber, Yannick	D	Montreal	Vancouver	$650K	1	$650K

The Wild make some Wild moves (RW77) - UPDATED

Alternate logo since 2000. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Free Agency has started and with it comes some interesting moves.

First, the Wild traded away Devon Setoguchi for a 2nd round pick, but that's a "who cares" kindof trade.  The big news?

THE CHEAPEST HACK IN THE NHL IS NOW A MINNESOTA WILD!

Matt Cooke, more famous for ending careers than winning games, signed a 3 year contract with the Minnesota Wild.


Ok, the upside to this:  Matt Cooke is a big hitting forward that is an obvious replacement of Cal Clutterbuck.  He has been on winning teams in the past.  He can score goals on occasion.  He was nominated for the Masterton and lost to current Wild Josh Harding.

The downside?  This is a player that is almost universally reviled.  I say almost because the Pens fans still defend him for the same reason, invariably, that Wild fans will inevitably defend him:  He's on your team.  Another downside?  He's one blindside Savard-esque hit from being McSorley'd.  This guy skates on thin ice everywhere he goes.

CORRECTION:  3 years $7.5 million contract or $2.5 million a year.  THAT, my friends, is OVERPAYING worse than Stalberg's new contract.

He did have a decent year last year blocking shots but then again, someone had to because Marc Andre Sievry couldn't.

Trust me when I say it:  This was a BAD idea.  If the Wild really did want Cooke's services, they should have gone for a 1 year contract with a club option (if that's possible) for a second year.  He may have only had 36 PIM in 48 games last season, but he's still one of the most if not the most dangerous skater in the NHL and that's saying something (as a Red Wings fan who couldn't defend the Wings' signing Bertuzzi).

Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) on Twitter said it best:  The Wild traded 1 year contract of Devon Setoguchi for 1 2nd round pick and 3 years of Matt Cooke.

Be Proud Minnesota.

Wild to buyout Tom Gilbert

English: Tom Gilbert in 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to Michael Russo, the Minnesota Wild might have found their first candidate for one of the two compliance buyouts. I think it would be a great move. Gilbert was absolutely brutal last season on the blue line for the Minnesota Wild.

Michael Russo, Russo's Rants -- The Wild plans to place Tom Gilbert on unconditional waivers, sources say. That is the first necessary step to buy out the remaining one year of the veteran defenseman’s contract.

When Gilbert clears, the Wild plans to use one of its two allowable compliance buyouts on the 30-year-old native of Bloomington.

What's unclear, and we'll know soon, is whether Gilbert will go on unconditional waivers today or tomorrow. A correction to yesterday's blog: Teams have until tomorrow to put somebody on unconditional waivers for the purpose of using a compliance buyout by tomorrow's 4 p.m. CT deadline.

Gilbert will receive $1 million in each of the next two seasons (two-thirds of his $3 million salary), but it will free up an additional $4 million of salary cap space this summer for the Wild.

The move is designed to give Minnesota more flexibility this offseason. One can assume the Wild will need to add a defenseman or two this offseason. Gilbert would be free to sign with any team once free agency opens at 11 a.m. CT Friday.

Here was my grade season ending grade for Tom Gilbert that I submitted for the Hockey Wilderness. Incidentally, I look like I will be getting my wish as Justin Falk was traded this week to the New York Rangers.

Tom Gilbert: D

The former Wisconsin Badger Tom Gilbert is an utter disappointment in my opinion, that Wild are being cheated, he’s not worth the money he’s being paid. Gilbert is being paid a hefty four million a year to be a turnover factory and an unimpressive top-six defenseman. If I was a general manager for a day, he would be the first Wild player out of Minnesota; Justin Falk would be number two. The Wild should consider his four million dollar contract for an Amnesty buyout this summer as well. If they Wild could trade him for a bag of wood hockey sticks I would urge them to consider the deal. One positive is that he can’t play any worse than he did this season. Nowhere to go but up for Gilbert, I don’t think he can play any worse. Looking at the stats, in the plus/minus department, -11 is brutal.

Related articles

• Tom Gilbert: Wild Trade Bait? (hockeywilderness.com)
• Minnesota Wild Final Season Grades: Right D (Staff Writers Grades) (hockeywilderness.com)

Wild send Clutterbuck’s rights to the Islanders

English: Minnesota Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck during warm-up prior to a National Hockey League game against the Calgary Flames in Calgary. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This weekend, My buddy Redwing77 sent me a text to tell me that Cal Clutterbuck had been traded to the New York Islanders. The text caught me off guard. At least the Wild were smart enough to not send him to a conference opponent.

Mike Doyle, Minnesota Wild --- The Minnesota Wild has acquired right wing Nino Niederreiter from the New York Islanders in exchange for to the rights to Cal Clutterbuck and a third-round pick (70th overall) in today's NHL Entry Draft.

Niederreiter was the fifth-overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. In 2012-13, the Chur, Switzerland native played in 74 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate, scoring 28 goals and adding 22 assists. The 20-year-old was second on the team in scoring. He is the highest drafted Swiss player in NHL history.He also led Switzerland with five goals, and added three assists in the 2013 IIHF Men’s World Championship, as the Swiss earned a silver medal – its first World Championship medal in 60 years.

Needless to say, I am shocked that the Wild didn't try to re-sign their hit leader.

Satisfaction waning for ticket buyers in two of Badgers' biggest sports

s/t Sioux Volley... There was an interesting article that was posted in the Madison Newspaper on June 11, 2013, that was written by Todd Milewski.

I think that you will find some of the points of the article to be very interesting to why Wisconsin Badgers "might" have experienced a drop off in attendance and ticket sales last season.

That comes after a season in which the Badgers did not lead the nation in men's hockey attendance for the first time since 1998.

"I think hockey's in a little bit of what will ultimately be a positive transitional phase in the scheduling in that you're going to have all the games against the Big Ten schools plus the games against nonconference opponents that people are familiar with," Doherty said.

Athletics officials received no shortage of comments from hockey fans. Among them:

• "Take steps to improve game-day atmosphere such as increased marketing to increase attendance, allow signs, etc., in student section."

• "Allow signs, noisemakers, other items to enhance the environment."

• "Allow beer sales at the Kohl Center."

• "The value is severely diminished when you do not get Minnesota and/or North Dakota at home."

Last season, the Badgers sold one of their home games against archrival Minnesota to a company that staged it outdoors at Chicago's Soldier Field.

"Sending your premier rivalry game to Chicago shows disrespect to your fan base," one comment read.

Despite the dip in game-day satisfaction with men's basketball, the report indicates that the athletic department should not expect a decline in renewal rate next season.

Read more: 

Bryan Bickell hits Tom Gilbert

In football we used to have a saying, it's better to be the hammer, than the nail. Ouch! Check out this big time hit by Chicago Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell puts on Minnesota Wild Defenseman Tom Gilbert.

(Video) Charlie Coyle scores his sixth goal of the year against the Blue Jackets

Minnesota Wild forward Charlie Coyle is up and coming forward in the NHL, the former Boston University Terrier and 2011 WJC star has been welcome addition to the Minnesota Wild this season and he scored his 6th goal of the season on the power play. In 27 games with the Wild, Coyle has (6g-3a—9pts).

Minnesota beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0.

UND’s Hakstol: “regionals pinnacle of our season and should be played in a great atmosphere.”

und v. usa (Photo credit: intersubjectiv)

This past weekend, UND played in the NCAAWest Regional tourney in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  If you watched the games you will see that the games were sparsely attended,just like I had predicted.

So the NCAA wants the teams to play in empty arena’s posing as quite mausoleums during prayer time.

Come to think of it, I have probably been to churches that are louder than last week’s West and Midwest regionals.

The announced attendance for Friday’s game between Niagara and UND was 2289 and for Saturday’s game, the announced attendance was 1918 fans.

Seriously!

If mathematically challenged, that’s a grand total for 4207 fans to see the NCAA West Regional hockey games for the weekend. My words, “that’s pathetic.” The NCAA should be ashamed. There are high school hockey tourneys in North Dakota that have more people attend them then this regional.

Today was the last press conference of the year for UND hockey head coach Dave Hakstol was asked about his thought on the NCAA tourney being played in building with atmospheres like last weekend’s regional in Grand Rapids, Michigan?

“The pinnacle of our season should be played in a great atmosphere,” Hakstol said. “I think the players that are involved in the national tournament deserve that. “I think It’s something that has garnered a fair amount of discussion over the last couple of year, but no action.” We have to fix things. We’re not doing this the right way at the regional level – to play in front of… I saw a stat within out program we had 5500 people on a live chat, and there was maybe 1500 people in a building watching a great hockey game between Yale and North Dakota on Saturday night. That’s not right. That’s the pinnacle and that’s the spotlight of our season. Yeah, we have to change things. Certainly, I would like to work towards doing that, sooner, rather than later. The best regionals that I have been involved in, that I can remember, atmosphere wise, was here, in 05-06, where we hosted, competitive environment. The regional in Minnesota; last year at the Xcel Energy Center; in front of 10,000 people, we came up one game short. Great atmosphere to play in, spotlight event, the way the national tournament game should feel. Third one would have been; at the Kohl Center, where the University of Wisconsin hosted. We had the good fortune of coming out of that regional. That was a tough game, there was about 15,000 people cheering against us and 1,000 of our fans with us, but that was atmosphere, and that’s the stage that our national tournament should be played on, we need to get back to one shape or form. “

It’s pretty clear that the UND’s head coach would rather play in a raucous, loud arena filled with passionate fans, even if they’re another fan bases’  than an empty arena, in a nameless town with empty seats posing as fans for the sake of having a regional championship at a neutral site, in an empty building on Saturday in March.  I agree.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers-Combine.