English: UNO Hockey vs. Michigan at the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Kevin Cole of the Omaha World Herald is reporting that three Nebraska-Omaha hockey players are in trouble for incident that took place at a downtown bar in Omaha, Nebraska on August 3, 2013. One of the players involved is former Red River and Central hockey player Alex Simonson. It will be interesting to see how this plays out with Maverick head coach Dean Blais. Story Developing.
Kevin Cole, World-Herald -- Three UNO hockey players face disorderly conduct allegations after they allegedly spouted racial slurs and got into a fight in the Old Market.
Matt White, 25, Alex Simonson, 23, and Preston Hodge, 21, all members of the University of Nebraska at Omaha hockey team, were each ticketed Aug. 3 on suspicion of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.
Lamar Triplett, 26, of Omaha, who got into a confrontation with the players, was ticketed on suspicion of misdemeanor assault.
“I don't know why I got a citation because I was just trying to defend myself that night,” Triplett said in an interview. “It was a crazy situation. It was the most random situation I have ever been in.”
City Prosecutor David Smallheiser said the men have not been formally charged and have court appearances scheduled in September.
Omaha police were called to a parking lot at 10th and Harney Streets about 2 a.m. to investigate a disturbance.
Witnesses told police that the hockey players had been harassing a small group of African-Americans with racial slurs and epithets.
Each week, I participate in a WCHA Web Media Poll that is put on by the Tech Hockey Guide with 11 other people that represent both the print media as well as the hockey blogosphere.
There was some movement in this week’s poll. Minnesota and North Dakota remain at the number one and number two spots. Denver moves up one spot to three. Nebraska-Omaha moves down one spot, from three to four. Saint Cloud State moves up one spot, from sixth to fifth. Minnesota State moves down one spot, from fifth to sixth. Wisconsin moves up one spot, from eighth to seventh. Minnesota Duluth falls one spot from seventh to eighth.
MADISON, Wis. – Forwards Josh Archibald of the University of Nebraska Omaha, who scored four goals in a league sweep over Colorado College last weekend, and Corban Knight of the University of North Dakota, who produced six scoring points in a pair of victories over Holy Cross, have been named Red Baron® WCHA co-Offensive Players of the Week for January 8. Knight also earned the weekly award on Dec. 18.
Archibald, a 5-10, 170-pound sophomore center from Brainerd, Minn., powered the host Mavericks (13-8-1) to back-to-back conference wins over visiting Colorado College on Jan. 4-5 at CenturyLink Center Omaha and into first place in the WCHA race. He notched a three-goal hat trick, the first of his collegiate career, and was the First Star of the Game in UNO’s 8-4 triumph last Friday night, scoring in each period at even-strength, on the power-play and while shorthanded. The following night (Saturday), he scored his fourth goal of the series in the third period, giving him four goals on four shots, as the Mavericks completed the sweep over the Tigers with a 3-1 win. In the two games, he had four goals, four shots on goal and a +4 plus/minus rating.
A draftee of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, Archibald is third in team scoring this season with 21 points (11g, 10a).
Knight, a 6-2, 200-pound senior center from High River, Alberta, put together his second straight six-point weekend and figured in on both game-winning goals as host North Dakota (12-5-3) collected its second sweep in a row with 5-2 and 3-2 non-conference wins over No. 20-ranked Holy Cross at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks. Named the game’s No. 1 star last Friday and the No. 2 star on Saturday, Knight also extended his point-scoring streak to 15 games, UND’s longest since All-American Brandon Bochenski had a 17-game streak in 2002-03. He had two goals, including the game-winner, and two assists on Jan. 4 and then had two more assists on Jan. 5, both in the third period and on the power-play, setting up Michael Parks’ game-tying goal and Danny Kristo’s game-winning goal as UND rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 win. Knight also won 21-of-24 (87.5%) face-offs on Saturday and 31-of-40 (77.5%) in the series.
Tickets
will be sold through Ticketmaster.com and CenturyLink Omaha box office. The
games are being presented by the Omaha Sports Commission, working with the
University of Nebraska at Omaha and Omaha Lancers hockey programs. Mutual of
Omaha is the title sponsor of the event. Omaha Lancer and UNO Maverick season
ticket holders were given an opportunity to purchase tickets late last week and
officials say the initial response has been
tremendous.
“Since
announcing the Mutual of Omaha Battles on Ice last February, we have been asked
numerous times when tickets would be on available and we are pleased to announce
public sales start today,” Omaha Sports Commission President Harold Cliff said.
“The Omaha Sports Commission is proud to host this event and we want to thank
Mutual of Omaha for serving as title sponsor of this unique sports
competition.”
“UNO
hockey fans could not be more excited for this game, and we have heard from
hundreds of North Dakota hockey fans who intend to travel to Omaha and see these
incredible games,” UNO’s Director of Athletics Trev Alberts said. “Mutual of
Omaha’s Battles on Ice will showcase all that UNO hockey has going for it and
provide excellent national exposure to our program.”
“This
will be an historic season for the Omaha Lancers, as we start in our new home at
the Ralston Arena and then play in this great event at TD Ameritrade Park
Omaha,” Omaha Lancers President and Managing Partner Ben Robert said. “The
Mutual of Omaha Battles on Ice is generating great excitement among our fans,
and we know a number of Lincoln Stars fans will travel I-80 to see this great
double-header.”
“Mutual
of Omaha is proud to sponsor Battles on Ice and we are hoping for a packed
stadium of hockey fans,” Mutual of Omaha Senior Vice President John Hildenbiddle
said. “The Omaha Sports Commission is to be commended for helping bring
everyone together and creating another memorable sports event for our
community.”
There might be four people that hasn't heard about this yet. As we know word travels fast in Grand Forks, ND. UND hockey beat writer Brad Schlossman, is reporting that two UND hockey players were cited for Minor in Possession. Unlike the "other school" to the south coach Hakstol deals swiftly with these types of matters swiftly before they get out of hand.
Two UND players have been punished for receiving minors in possession/consumption of alcohol.
Dan Senkbeil, who was cited for a minor and for failure to halt on Aug. 31, was suspended from all team activities for two weeks. He has not yet been cleared by coach Dave Hakstol to play in games. Senkbeil received his minor one week before turning 21.
Michael Parks was cited for a minor and his punishment is being handled internally. Parks is 20.
Apparently, the NDSU head football coach Craig Bohl is finally, going to start giving their players some sort of punishment - no matter how minor it might seem - Sophomore outside lineback Travis Beck will now be given a minor slap on the wrist after he recieved his second Minor in Possession of alcohol.
#NDSU HC Craig Bohl tells me Travis Beck will be disciplined internally by team for charge of MIP
— Dom Izzo (@DomIzzoWDAY) September 11, 2012
Fri., Oct. 12 Notre Dame vs. #12 Maine 7 p.m.
Army vs. Nebraska TBD
Sat., Oct. 13 Final (Teams TBD) 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 16 Harvard at #13 Cornell 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 30 #1 Boston College at #11 Boston University 7:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at #8 Denver 10 p.m.
Dec. 1 #11 Boston University at #1 Boston College 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 7 Michigan State at Notre Dame 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 4 Colorado College at Nebraska-Omaha 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 11 #3 Union at Princeton 7:30 p.m.
Nebraska-Omaha at Denver 10 p.m.
Jan. 18 Harvard at Yale 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 25 Yale at #13 Cornell 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 1 Dartmouth at #3 Union 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8 #6 North Dakota at Nebraska-Omaha 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 15 #11 Boston University at #12 Maine 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 22 Yale at Quinnipiac 7:30 p.m. #6 North Dakota at #8 Denver 10 p.m.
March 1 Wisconsin at Nebraska-Omaha 7:30 p.m.
March 8 #12 Maine at New Hampshire 7:30 p.m.
Due to the impending and inevitable NHL lockout this season a lot of hockey fans of the National Hockey league are going to be looking for other options to fill their NHL hockey void.
May I suggest, giving college hockey a try to fill your NHL hockey void.
For the college hockey fans this is going to be a very exciting season. First time fans are also going to find out that this is going to be very historic season in the college hockey world as well.
Let me get you up to speed on what is happening in the college hockey world.
Historic Season
The landscape has changed drastically since the summer of 2011 – this was due to a very generous donation from Penn State University alumnus Terry Pegula in September of 2010 – that very large and generous donation allowed Penn State University to start a men’s and women’s division I college hockey team.
With Terry Pegula, who is the founder and chief executive of East Resources Inc., opened his “rather large” wallet and wrote Penn State a check for $88 million to help the Nittany Lions build Pegula Ice arena. None the less, that donation rocked the college hockey world, now that the Big Ten “will have” six teams that play college hockey – the B1G by conference rules is required to have a B1G hockey conference – with this generous donation by Pegula – this new conference will begin play during the 2012-13 season.
With the addition of one University joining college hockey – a tidal wave of change came to college hockey landscape that set the ball in motion for what ended up being a very chaotic summer. With a swipe of a pen – the big name/money schools from the Big Ten Schools that were in both the WCHA and the CCHA dedided to leave the WCHA and CCHA conferences and form the Big Ten Hockey Conference.
On the outside, it would “appear” that the transition for the B1G schools was for the most part seamless.
Not to be out done and in response to the Big Ten hockey conference formation; Miami University from the CCHA decided to join North Dakota, Denver University, Colorado College, and University of Nebraska Omaha to form the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
The NCHC transition was seen as a little rockier as the NCHC schools made what some in the media perceived as a few unimpressive stumbles out of the starting blocks. One of these perceived blunders was in the NCHC’s attempt to lure Notre Dame to become a member of the six team super conference.
That effort fell short when the NCHC leadership didn’t wasn’t too keen on the idea of Notre Dame having their own television deal – the NCHC was looking at inking their national television deal with a sports network.
Hockey East had no problem with Notre Dame having their own television deal and Notre Dame decided to join Hockey East in October of 2011.
While some fans were perplexed with why the NCHC didn’t look past Notre Dames TV deal the NCHC decided to move on and signed a television deal of their own with CBS Sports Network in the February of 2012. League fans of the NCHC weren’t happy with this deal because many of them thought an exclusivity deal with the NCHC that guarantees at least 18 games was as step down from their current television deals.
In some cases it was.
While the NCHC lost the Fighting Irish, they gained Western Michigan University of the CCHA and Saint Cloud State University of the WCHA.
If your head is still spinning you’re not alone, the college hockey world wasn’t done changing – the remaining schools from the WCHA and CCHA merged into the WCHA – the CCHA which has been in existence for almost 40 seasons the league will disband after the 2012-13 season.
The new WCHA which will begin play during the 2013-14 season will have the following schools; Bemidji State University, Bowling Green University, Ferris State University, Lake Superior State University, Minnesota State University Mankato, Michigan Tech University, Northern Michigan University, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, University of Alaska Anchorage.
If you thought the movement was over, it wasn’t. Hockey East with the addition of Notre Dame was sitting at an unattractive and uneven number of 11 schools which makes conference scheduling more difficult. On June 21st, 2012 Hockey East solved that scheduling issue and accepted the University of Connecticut Huskies of the Atlantic Hockey Association. The UCONN Huskies will begin Hockey East play during the 2014-15 season.
With what has happened the last few summers – this season could shape up to be an exciting season of college hockey – especially with a long term labor dispute – college hockey could take center stage.
The CCHA will play it’s final conference tourney of their history at the Joe Louis Arena on March 21-23 in Detroit and the WCHA will play their final conference tourney the same weekend at the Xcel Energy Center under the current WCHA. Old rivalries will have one more opportunity to renew themselves before teams go their separate ways.
There will be many opportunities to watch college hockey on television, if the NHL gets involved a long term lockout and ends up losing the whole season.
No one knows how long the NHL work stoppage will be if the NHL owners lock the players out.
That being said, an NHL lockout is bound to benefit of Division I college hockey. As we get closer to the season a full television schedule will come out and this is especially handy if you have the sports pack on DirecTV where you can watch numerous games in three time zones.
Congrats to former Minnesota State University Mankato Mavericks head coach Troy Jutting for getting the assistant coaching position at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
Last week were were alerted of the impending coaching move by SB Nation Blogger Chuck Schwartz and Bridget Brooks. The University of Nebraska Omaha came out with their "official" press release today.
Jutting is well known to fans of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, having served as the head coach of Minnesota State for the last 12 years.
“We are fortunate that we have been able to add someone of Troy's experience to our staff,” said Blais. “After so many games coaching against us, he knows our program and our players. Just as important, he knows the WCHA and what it takes to be successful
there. I think he can help us as we compete for league and national championships.”
[Read the whole release here]
Fighting Sioux goalie Aaron Dell has been named the WCHA Defensive player of the week. Dell was rock solid last weekend stopping 59 out of 61 shots in a weekend split against the University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota junior goalie Aaron Dell has been named Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in UND’s series split with Nebraska Omaha last weekend.
Dell stopped 59 of 61 shots (.967 save percentage) in the series, including a 26-save shutout that earned him the game’s No. 1 star in UND’s 1-0 win on Saturday. It was his first shutout of the season and eighth of his career, which ranks fourth all-time at UND behind only Karl Goehring (15), Jordan Parise (10), and Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (10). One night earlier, Dell stopped 33 of 35 shots and was named the No. 2 star in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Mavericks.
Over his last three starts Dell owns a 0.99 goals against average and a .963 save percentage. In 16 games this season (15 starts), the Airdrie, Alberta, native is 6-7-1 with a 2.80 goals against average and an .895 save percentage.
Alaska Anchorage junior forward Mitch Bruijsten and Minnesota sophomore defenseman Mark Alt shared WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors, while Bemidji State freshman goalie Andrew Walsh was named WCHA Rookie of the Week.
UND (9-8-1, 7-7-0 WCHA) closes out the first half of the season on Saturday with an exhibition game against the Russian Red Stars. The puck drops at 7:07 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
UND’s WCHA Players of the Week
November 29. Brock Nelson (Offensive) Dec. 6: Brock Nelson (Offensive), Brendan O’Donnell (Rookie)
Dec. 13: Aaron Dell (Defensive)
If you don’t believe me take a look at Mavericks hulk Tony Turgeon who is listed at 6’4” and 232 pounds. But Turgeon isn’t the only one that is big on the Mavericks blue line; in fact the Mavericks only had one guy in their line up last night on the blue line that wasn’t 200 pounds. Kyle Ensign is 6’0” and 189.
Also, looking at the shot charts you will see that both goalies played pretty well and stopped many grade “A” opportunities inside the slot. I also think that this team is very close to putting all of the pieces together. The freshman line of Parks, MacMillan and Brendan O'Donnell is very close to breaking out.
As I mentioned earlier, there was a lot of physical play in last night's game and both teams lined up at the blue line making it more difficult to get across the blue line. Last night I couldn’t believe my eyes, when I saw a team led by Dean Blais use “neutral zone trap.” In the past Blais’ teams have been known for playing a wide open style of hockey, some have deemed it race horse hockey.
29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A)–7 Danny Kristo
11 Derek Rodwell–27 Carter Rowney–13 Connor Gaarder
21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–15 Michael Parks
28 Stephane Pattyn–14 Taylor Dickin
Fighting Sioux defensive parings
4 Derek Forbort–24 Ben Blood (A)
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A)–5 Nick Mattson
18 Dillon Simpson–20 Joe Gleason
22 Andrew Panzarella
17 Terry Broadhurst–11 Jayson Megna–15 Josh Archibald
19 Ryan Walters–12 Brock Montpetit–21 Matt White
23 Johnnie Searfoss–26 Alex Hudson–22 Andrew Schmit
14 Dominic Zombo–25 Brent Gwidt–10 Alex Simonson
Maverick Defensive Parings
7 Michael Young–24 Bryce Aneloski
8 Jaycob Megna–3 Andrej Sustr
4 Tony Turgeon–5 Kyle Ensign
Image via WikipediaHere is an interesting take on this past summer's realignment, I guess it's one man's opinion. I am not ready to put Andy Baggot in the it's all UND and DU's fault category just yet but he seems to be leaning that way.
McLeod apparently had no clue the exodus was being planned — good God, his office is located on the Denver campus — which doesn't speak well of his instincts or the character of those involved in the clandestine operation.
The unspoken narrative is that the renegades — led by Denver and North Dakota, which have won seven NCAA titles apiece, in cahoots with CC and Omaha — were disenchanted with McLeod's guidance and were worried that the new Big Ten monolith would soon dominate the landscape.
