Parise and Zajac never played together at UND

NJ.COM

This seems to be a common historical point of discussion – but incorrect – while it’s true that Zach Parise and Travis Zajac both played their collegiate hockey for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux – Parise and Zajac never played together. It never happened; this could be cleared up by doing a simple search on Google. So it would be impossible for them to have developed chemistry at UND.

Parise was a member of the Fighting Sioux hockey team from 2002-04, Zajac arrived at UND in the fall of 2004 and played two season at UND as well, 2004-2006.

Larry Wigge --- Travis Zajac and Zach Parise go together like two peas in a pod.

They are center and winger, both from the University of North Dakota. Both worked well together there, so why not in the NHL. They feed off one another.

Zajac is the straw that stirs the drink and prefers to stay in the background to Parise's star status.

The secret is out, Zajac is a star too.

For much of the 2011-12 season, Zajac was a lost man ... a player without a team.

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Advertisement in the Fargo Forum

This is a screen shot of an advertisement that was on the Fargo Forum website, just a few minutes ago. It's an advertisement for measure four voting no on the Fighting Sioux nickname.

Just for the Record I am not advising anyone how to vote on this ballot measure, that's up to you.  I just included this to show you what was on the Fargo Forum website.

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Marlies move on to the Calder Cup finals

Seems like your typical Matt Frattin goal, hard working and doesn't give up on the effort, you can also see Frattin's other goal here by watching the Marlies game six in six minutes highlights.

Beast Mode - as he has been all series long against OKC Barons - Frattin was again a monster in game six against the Oklahoma City Barons. Frattin scored his  ninth and 10 goals of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs. Frattin's is tied for the team lead in points with Jerry D'Amigo and Philippe Dupuis - ten goals leads the Calder Cup Playoffs as well.

The Toronto Marlies now face off against the Norfolk Admirals, who like the Marlies have quite a few ex-college hockey players on their team. Some of the college flavor of the Norfolk Admirals includes: Cory Conacher (Canisus College), Evan Oberg (Minnesota-Duluth),  Mike Kostka (UMass-Amherst),  Jonathon Kalinski (Minnesota State University-Mankato), Trevor Smith (University of New Hampshire),  Alex Killorn (Harvard), Richard Petiot (Colorado College),  Jeff Dimmen (University of Maine).

Then there were two - Devils and Kings

There will be at least one former Fighting Sioux hockey players name on the Stanley Cup this season.

From the Eastern Conference Champion - Zach Parise and Travis Zajac's Devils will play the Western Conference Champion and Matt Greene's Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Finals starting on  Wednesday Night.

Vladislav Namestnikov's questionable hit on Klarc Wilson

This past week the the CHL's MasterCard Memorial Cup has been on the NHL Network and I have watched a good share of the games. There has been some good hockey played and there has been some physical games as well.

Here is the video of a hit that took place during Wednesday's game. London Knight's forward Vladislav Namestnikov absolutely steam rolls Edmonton Oil Kings’forward Klarc Wilson.

There were some that thought the hit was predatory and questionable - incidentally the CHL decided not to give the London Knights star forward Vladislav Namestnikov any supplemental discipline for this hit on Edmonton Oil Kings’ Klarc Wilson.

What do you think of this hit? Is it dirty or a good check. It appears that Namestnikov does leave his feet to make the hit.

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UCONN to Hockey East

Hockey East Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It would appear that the Huskies of the University of Connecticut will probably be leaving the AHA and moving to Hockey East, it has been thrown around a bit the past couple of months. One of the interesting things that I found in this article was that Hockey East actually wanted to add the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Miami University Redhawks. It almost appears that the UCONN Huskies were the third choice of Hockey East. 

Allen Lessels, New Hampshire Union Leader --- Talks between Hockey East and UConn officials have heated up in recent months and both sides have been studying the feasibility of teaming up. While no formal invitation has been extended to the Huskies yet, it's clear that — barring any last-minute hitches — it's only a matter of time before one will be.

“Right now, we're looking very closely at UConn,” said Marty Scarano, the director of athletics at UNH. “I think it's safe to say that it's very close to being consummated.”

Hockey East started out as a seven-team league for the 1984-85 season and added Merrimack for the 1989-90 season, Massachusetts (1994-95) and Vermont brought it to 10 teams in 2006-07.

A major overhaul of the college hockey landscape — including the creation of Big 10 hockey for 2013-14 that will include Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin — led to Notre Dame coming to Hockey East.

“Once we made the move to 11, we had to make the move to 12,” Scarano said. “We knew that. We had talked to Notre Dame and Miami of Ohio and when Miami elected not to join us, we had to cast our attention elsewhere.”

So with an extra spot in AHA Hockey - there's an open slot as well in the WCHA - does one of these two  conferences step up and offer the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers a spot in their conference? The Chargers still need a conference to call home. I get the feeling that all of the movement we have seen the last two summers might not entirely be over yet. Or is it?  

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Wisconsin's Justin Schultz moving on

None of us in the college hockey world are probably very shocked by this announcement. Personally, I really enjoyed watching Justin Schultz play three season at the University of Wisconsin and he could have signed a professional contract after last season, it was admirable that he choose to come back and play a third season with the Wisconsin Badgers.

For everything Wisconsin Badgers check out Chuck Schwartz.

NHL looking into Coyotes' antics

Phoenix Coyotes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You had to wonder after listening to some the comments that were made by the Phoenix Coyotes - during post game interviews - if there was going to be repercussions from the NHL. I understand that the refs weren't as good as they could have been.

Pierre LeBrun, ESPN.COM --- The NHL is further investigating the postgame actions and comments of some Phoenix Coyotes players after their season-ending, overtime loss in the Western Conference finals, league executive vice president Colin Campbell told ESPN.com on Thursday.

The league is not pleased with some of what happened after Dustin Penner's overtime winner Tuesday night for the Kings, including Coyotes center Martin Hanzal skating aggressively toward a referee and making a gesture, goalie Mike Smith throwing his stick and Keith Yandle's postgame comment in which he suggested it was no surprise the calls didn't go his team's way given the similar colors of the refs' and Kings' uniforms.

"Their actions were unprofessional and unacceptable," Campbell told ESPN.com

Most of us that watched the games this season during the Stanley Cup Playoffs realize that there have been a lot of questionable calls made on the ice in "all" of the series to date. That being said, there is a level of professionalism that NHL hockey players are supposed to exhibit and some of the Coyotes' post game comments were over-the-top and questionable.

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Classic Sid - Granlund would look better with Parise

English: Zach Parise (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Duh! I wonder if Sid has even been to a hockey game lately? I always get a kick out of Sid Hartman's writings - although hockey has never been a strong subject for Sid. Of course Parise would look better along side Mikael Granlund and or Mikko Koivu for that matter. There are probably 25-29 teams that are interested in the services of Zach Parise.

Sid Hartman, Star Tribune --- Lou Nanne, whom I describe as Mr. Hockey in this state, has been a close friend of J.P. Parise (Zach's father and a former Minnesota North Star) for a long, long time, and he has been a confidant of young Parise since the young man hung around local NHL teams.

Nanne is convinced that the Wild would have a good chance of signing Parise if New Jersey is fortunate enough to win the Stanley Cup -- they have a 3-2 lead on the Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals.

Parise has been great for New Jersey in the playoffs, with 14 points in 17 games on seven goals and seven assists.

"If Jersey does win, it could really benefit the Wild because Zach Parise is a free agent and he wants to win a Cup," Nanne said. "It might be tough for him to come here right away, but if he wins a Cup in New Jersey then that goal has already been met and then it might be really reasonable for him to come to the Wild as a free agent."

Nanne said Parise hasn't ruled out signing with anyone.

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Zach Parise - Because It's The Cup

This was a commercial that I saw on the NHL Network tonight, it was the first time that I had seen it. Former Fighting Sioux forwards Zach Parise and Travis Zajac are one win away from putting three former Fighting Sioux players in the Stanley Cup Finals. Also, when the Stanley Cup is presented after the cup clinching game, an "American" Captain will accept the Stanley Cup.

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Dustin Brown picture after hit on Michal Rozsival

I found this picture on my Twitter feed, this might not sit well with Phoenix Coyotes fans.

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Dodgers exec wants Winter Classic

Dodger Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oh boy most of us are probably just chomping at the bit to see this hockey game. Or not! I see these outdoor games as a distraction away from the actual hockey game. Hey I admit, that I liked the 24/7 Flyers and Rangers on HBO this past winter; that was an awesome show and you got to know the players from the two teams quite well.

But now some want to have hockey in Chavez Ravine.  Why not go for Aloha stadium in Honolulu? I can't imagine that there have been that many hockey games in Hawaii. 

LOS ANGELES --- Dodgers president Stan Kasten was hoping to capitalize on rare Stanley Cup fever in Los Angeles with a pitch to bring the NHL Winter Classic game to baseball's biggest ballpark.

Kasten, the former president of the Atlanta Thrashers, said Dodger Stadium was equipped for the finals-bound Kings to host the annual outdoor showcase event and he was exploring plans to make it happen.

"Facility-wise, we could certainly handle it," Kasten told the Los Angeles Times, saying technology existed to keep the ice playable in hot weather.

The report cited an outdoor exhibition game in 1991 in which Wayne Gretzky and the Kings played in temperatures of around 85F (29C) in Las Vegas.

Personally, I think we have overdone the outdoor hockey game - just a bit - how many more of them do we need to have? Next season, there are at least three outdoor games in college hockey that I can think of off the top of my head. Do we really need anymore of these things? How much is enough? At what point do we hit the over saturation mark?

If I had to make a choice, I would rather be able to see a hockey game in a stadium built for hockey, most of the stadiums that I watched hockey in are designed with the hockey viewer in mind. I am really not all that thrilled about trying to watch a hockey game in a baseball stadium or a football stadium where your seat is going to be a long ways away from the ice and you have a hard time seeing the puck.  Can you imagine trying to watch a hockey game in Memorial Stadium in Grand Forks, ND when it 30-40 below zero, with the wind chill factored in. That might be one game I that I sit out.

Jordan Schmaltz on winning the Clark Cup

Future UND Fighting Sioux recruit, defenseman Jordan Schmaltz's team the Greenbay Gamblers have just won the USHL Clark Cup Championship. The Gamblers beat the Waterloo Black Hawks in five games. 

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