Wow! It's cold - Tuesday Links

Sixty Minutes. No Alibis. No Regrets. have their weekly Bracketology up and I have to admit that I really like the brackets that they have up right now. I know it's early and there is a lot of hockey left, but I would really love to see Yale and B.C. in the same bracket, I would be willing to bet that the Yale fans wouldn't like that bracket one bit. There's old saying that something’s gotta give, in that bracket you would take out a top team because only one team Yale or B.C. is going to get out alive. It would also be a region of death. Hum! Been there, done that!

East Regional (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
1 Yale vs 16 RIT
5 Boston College vs 12 Notre Dame

Mid-West Regional (Green Bay, Wisconsin)
4 Minnesota-Duluth vs 13 Union
7 Wisconsin vs 10 Merrimack

Northeast Regional (Manchester, New Hampshire)
3 Denver vs 14 Dartmouth
8 New Hampshire vs 9 Michigan

West Regional (St. Louis, Missouri)
3 North Dakota vs 15 Boston University
6 RPI vs 11 Western Michigan

Former UND Fighting Sioux forward Michale Forney is starting to get it going in the ECHL. [gwinnettedailypost.com]

Former Gopher and current Maple Leaf forward Phil Kessel was picked last in the NHL All Star Game draft and that has rubbed some "Make Me Laugh" fans the wrong way. I mean seriously, someone had to be picked last. There are a lot of NHL hockey fans that didn't like the way Phil Kessel handed his departure from Boston. [Puck Daddy]

Bruce Ciskie has a great blog post about Gopher Hockey head coach Donny Lucia and how he might actually be the best choice to coach the Gophers going forward. [Ciskie Blog]

Lucia has won two national championships and, literally, hundreds of games in college hockey. He hasn't lost his mind, and he hasn't simply forgotten how to coach kids.

If Minnesota thinks they can do better, they're probably mistaken. The Gophers have been hit hard by early departures, and they've been hit hard by the ability of the state's other four NCAA Division I programs -- along with nearby North Dakota -- to recruit Minnesota kids. Minnesota no longer has their pick of Minnesota talent. Instead, they have to 1) compete with UMD, St. Cloud State, Bemidji State, Minnesota State, and North Dakota; 2) realize that they won't win all those races; and 3) succeed in recruiting out-of-state players to make up for the in-state talent they don't get.

The sport isn't what it used to be. It's not easy to get to the NCAA Tournament, the Frozen Four, or the title game. It's not easy to get home-ice and make the WCHA Final Five.

[Save UAH Hockey] has a great blog post up on the lack of media coverage for UAH Hockey. UAH beat UNO this past Saturday in Omaha and it wasn't till Monday that the local news paper [AL.COM] finally decided to post a very small story about UAH's victory. I would say that they were a little late to the party. You're right GeofF, Goon has your back.

[Omaha.com] has their WCHA Power Rankings up and I have to admit that I like the way Chad Purcell thinks.

A few things...(ex college hockey players)

[...]Former B.C. Eagle and mighty mouse Nathan Gerbe has been called up to the Sabres. It would be cool to see him skating with Drew Stafford.

[...]Former UMD Bulldog Brent Hull feels responsible that Sean Avery is a member of the Dallas Stars. I would be willing to bet that he is not getting any of Avery's sloppy seconds.

[...]This was the first Boston Bruins game that I ever went to. It was a fight filled game between the Bruins and the Minnesota North Stars.

[...]Gary Betteman said that Sean Avery had been warned last spring about crossing the line. I think the sun glasses that Avery wore to his hearing were God awful. Can we suspend have Gary Betteman him for his sun glasses selection?

[...]Former Gophers Phil Kessel scored his 16th goal of the season for the Boston Bruins. In the same game Joe Finley's favorite dance partner Blake Wheeler has his 9th goal of the season and an assist as well. That gives Blake Wheeler 15 points on the season.

[...]Speaking of big Joe Finley it was announced during Sioux Harvard broadcast by Tim Hennesey that Finley was skating this week and could be back for the GLI or the BSU series. I can't imagine what a shot in the arm it would be if UND was able to have big Joe back for the GLI. I think I cried tears of joy. Mascots especially Goldy and Bucky Badger beware. He, he, he...

[...]Former Sioux player Jonathan Toewsscored his 6th and 7th goals of the season tonight against the hated Redwings. After starting slow the Blackhawks star is really starting to rack up the points. Jonathan Toews now has 20 points in 24 games.

[...]Former Sioux Drew Stafford scored his 4th goal of the season for the Buffalo Sabres and former Gopher Thomas Vanek scored his 19th goal of the season against Matt Smaby's Tampa Bay Lightning, unfortunately for Matt he was on the ice for the Vanek goal.