Parise tight lipped about where he's going

This is one of those stories that aren’t going to go away, until we know where former Fighting Sioux All-American forward Zach Parise is headed. Zach Parise hasn’t tipped his hat where he is going either, only to say that he wants to re-sign with the New Jersey Devils. You can rest assured that Parise and his agent are going to get a bunch of offers from a lot of teams.

Joan Niesen, FSN.COM --- Parise said he treats his impending free agency as something he can take advantage of, but it would seem that balancing his sanity with the desire to get the most out of this summer is something he's grappling with daily. Talk to Parise for five minutes and who knows how many times he'll say he wants to minimize the stress of the process. However, coming home to Minneapolis this offseason, though a natural move, is unlikely to mitigate the constant scrutiny.

Parise grew up in Bloomington, Minn. His father, J.P., played for the North Stars, and Parise still keeps a house in the Twin Cities, which he returned to last Friday from New Jersey. That's why he made an appearance Wednesday at the Defending the Blue Line game on the University of Minnesota campus, where he signed autographs and watched from the bench. As an unsigned player, Parise did not compete with the local hockey stars who took the ice. Instead, he subjected himself to the barrage of questions he's mostly unable to answer.

On Tuesday morning Paul Allen had Michael Russo beat writer of the Minnesota Wild from the Minneapolis Star and Tribune on the KFAN 100.3 and the two of them discussed the Parise free agency story and where they think that Zach might go. Russo seems to think that if the Wild get Parise that they might have a good chance to get Predators’ defenseman Ryan Sutter. You can listen to P.A.’s interview of Russo from the podcast that is embedded below in the blog post.

Kristo will sign next April after the NCAA Playoffs

There has been a lot of discussion – from Hab’s fans and Fighting Sioux Hockey fans – who, when and where the soon to be senior forward Danny Kristo is going to sign.

After reading this article from the Montreal Gazette, it sounds like Kristo intends to sign with the Montreal Canadians after the UND’s season is over. According to the Sioux forward; Kristo and his teammates have some unfinished business to do.

Based on who UND returns to the lineup and who is coming in, Fighting Sioux hockey fans might have something to be excited about going into the season. What makes the prospects more exciting is an inspired Kristo on a mission and the spark that he could add to this team.

Taking it further, imagine Kristo with another off-season in the gym ready to lead the Fighting Sioux for the 2012-13 season.

Pat Hickey, The Gazette --- [Danny] Kristo said he envisions turning pro next April after what he hopes will be a successful season at North Dakota. The school was one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament, but missed a berth in the Frozen Four when it was upset 1-0 by Minnesota in the Midwest Regional final.

North Dakota did appear in the Frozen Four two years ago, but lost 1-0 to Michigan in the semifinals.

“I have some unfinished business in North Dakota,” said Kristo, who was Louis Leblanc’s linemate in the USHL. “The past three years we’ve been close, we’ve had a good team. We only lost three guys from last season, so we’re going to have a good team.”

Kristo said he takes some inspiration from former teammates who stayed at North Dakota for four years.

“Just a year ago at North Dakota, we had three seniors who decided to stay,” Kristo said. “You look at (Matt) Frattin, (Brad) Malone and (Chay) Genoway, and they all played in the NHL last season. There are different paths for everyone. It’s (a) pretty close-knit family at North Dakota and going back for one year will make me better.”

I guess we first need to correct a few incorrect points from the article, UND was beaten by Minnesota 5-2 in the 2012 West Regional Final and Michigan beat the UND 2-0 in the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four Semi-Final, other than that the mess is pretty good.

Kristo is one of the more entertaining players to listen to in the post-game media scrums This is just more classic Kristo right here.

“You never know until you get there, but I think was ready,” Kristo said. “With everything that was going on in the offseason, I didn’t know if someone (with the Canadiens) was going to get fired or there was going to be a new GM but, in the end, going back to school would be the right decision.”

I think that there is a message here – Kristo talked to his former team mates that stayed all four years at UND instead of signing early to play in the professional rank and he decided that it was a good idea personally if he will return to Grand Forks to play his final season for the Fighting Sioux.

Sometimes I think that some of these college athletes are in a hurry to get to the next level and sometimes these athletes miss out on a great opportunity to play out their college eligibility as well as live the college experience. With the present CBA the money is going to be about the same whether they stay and play three or four season in college. One has to wonder if former Fighting Sioux forwards Jason Gregoire and Brett Hextall regret leaving early to play in the minors last season.

Related articles

• Kristo will sign next April after the NCAA Playoffs

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• Kristo and Dell impress at Habs development camp

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• Kristo coming back for senior season at UND

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Four former WCHA's players received votes for the Calder Trophy

The Calder Memorial Trophy that Bure won in his rookie season (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Four former WCHA players received votes for the Calder Cup Trophy to goes to the NHL's top rookie of the year in the NHL, two of the players that received votes were former Wisconsin Badgers.

012 Calder Trophy Voting Pts. (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
1. Gabriel Landeskog, COL 1,383 (116-29-4-0-0)
2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, EDM 1,001 (26-83-22-16-2)
3. Adam Henrique, Devils, 620 (3-19-59-50-12)
4. Matt Read, PHI 546 (3-17-45-51-19)
5. Carl Hagelin, NYR 88 (0-0-5-9-36)
6. Jake Gardiner, TOR 70 (0-0-4-8-26)
7. Justin Faulk, CAR 62 (0-1-4-6-17)
8. Cody Hodgson, BUF 49 (0-0-2-7-18)
9. Sean Couturier, PHI 37 (1-0-3-1-9)
10. Slava Voynov, L.A. 10 (0-0-1-1-2)
11. Jared Cowen, OTT 4 (0-0-0-0-4)
12. Marc-Andre Gragnani, VAN 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Adam Larsson, N.J. 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Andrew Shaw, CHI 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Craig Smith, NSH 1 (0-0-0-0-1)

Not all WCHA members are thrilled about the new Mystery Alaska plan

The WCHA leadership has been in full spin mode since the league announced their “Mystery Alaska” plan. It’s been interesting to watch as the WCHA commissioner spins this unattractive playoff plan. This would be a text book definition of a “gong show” – there is no way to explain this – it is what it is.

Today we have found out that the new format might only be around for a two year rotation – to me this suggests that the league has taken an idea and thrown it up against the wall to see if it sticks, but to also see how the nWCHA’s fan base responds to the new playoff format.

Todd D. Milewski, USCHO.COM --- The plan was born from financial and geographical issues related to Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage being in the same conference for the first time when conferences reshuffle in 2013, McLeod said.

But the league committed to it for only two seasons, possibly further illustrating the trepidation WCHA members felt about making an outside-the-box change to postseason seeding.

“Some years if they both finish in the lower half, that’s not going to taste very good,” McLeod said. “But if they both finish in the upper half, it’s going to be not good for them. They might have been able to get two in [to the Final Five] otherwise and they’re only going to get one. That’s why we did it on a two-year rotation to see how things shake out and how people feel about it. It’s not a very long commitment.”

Including all nine teams in the postseason wasn’t a foregone conclusion, McLeod said. Eight- and six-team plans were also discussed at the meeting in Detroit before the full field was approved.

Perusing the fan message boards - I have seen a mixed response from the nWCHA fans about the new “Mystery Alaska” playoff format.

It would also appear that a big number of the nWCHA fans are siding more with the ‘we don’t like the new playoff format’ or they have just basically blamed the NCHC for the nWCHA’s fortunes.

Based on what we have seen transpire in the last week in Detroit. I believe is one of the major reasons that UND, SCSU, UMD, DU, C.C. and UNO decided to leave the WCHA and go out on their own to form a new league.

There seems to be a major divide between the schools that are strapped for cash and the schools that aren’t as strapped for cash; especially in the present economy. Schools are experiencing financial constraints and reduced budgets and this is not new to college sports or to college hockey.

Let’s also not forget there there’s always going to be the “haves” and “have nots, ” this was true even in the old North Central Conference and will be true in the Big Sky Conference as well. The present WCHA schools are never really going to be able to compete financially with the schools in the NCHC, B1G or even a majority of the Hockey East schools.

The question I pose is; is it the big school’s responsibility to prop up the small schools in Division I athletics?

Also, does the nWCHA hold the moral high ground?

Another school in their geographic template UAH (BGSU is 629 miles from UAH - it's rougly 4000 from BGSU to UAA) needs to find a conference home and it would appear from the side lines that the nWCHA is basically stalling or dawdling, almost hoping that the Chargers go away.

The UAH Chargers basically have one viable option, conference membership in the WCHA where they would be able to be with other schools (except BGSU who is DI); who outside of hockey are also Division II in all their other sports.

But I digress.

Lastly, Division I college hockey is currently resembling the other major Division I college sports right now with all their conference re-alignment. It has been really ugly with the other sports changing conferences leaving teams to scramble to find a new conference home. It’s almost like natural selection, or a survival of the fittest.

I also don’t know if there are any answers or quick fixes to what ails college sports – there doesn’t seem to be any magic pill that could just fix everything. Some say that the WCHA would have been fine if the schools that left had stayed. The CCHA still might have been a conference in shambles, Miami and Notre Dame still probably would have wanted out. There would still be other issues out there that would still be unresolved.

There is also another elephant sitting in the room – the commissioner of the WCHA Bruce McLeod – no one seem to want to talk about it right now. Eventually, I believe the WCHA is going to have to cut ties with McLeod and go a different direction. Keeping him on board past the 2013-14 season is detrimental to the WCHA going forward. The WCHA needs an infusion of new blood.

Where is Justin Schultz going?

The million dollar question or should I say the $925,000.00 question - where is former Wisconsin Badger Justin Schultz going on or after July first during free agency signing period.

Schultz it going to be one of the more sought after free agents after July first - he will be able to take advantage of the same loop hole that Blake Wheeler did to sign with what ever team that he wants to. It will also be interesting to see if that loop hole is in the next CBA. Teams that lose their draft choices to other teams will get nothing in return.

Apparently, the Anaheim Ducks aren't all that pleased with Schultz's decision to shop his services to the best fit. I can't say that I blame them because Schultz has an awesome upside.

Stu Hackel, SI.COM --- That might be a new name for you, but he’s a University of Wisconsin star defenseman who was drafted by the Ducks in 2008 before he started his college career. He broke in as a freshman on a Badgers team that already boasted Ryan McDonagh, Jake Gardiner and Brendan Smith. (“I don’t know how anybody scored on them,” Ferraro remarked, adding that Schultz is thought to be better than Gardiner, but not as good as McDonagh.) But Schultz has never signed with Anaheim and if he doesn’t by July 1 – it’s been clear for a while that he won’t — he, too, becomes a UFA. Projected as a top-two defenseman and an excellent puck mover, he’s coming off a great junior year and he found the hole in the CBA that allows him to choose the team that best fits him the way Blake Wheeler did when he signed with the Bruins a few years ago. Whoever gets Schultz will be getting a very good prospect and won’t be trading anyone or using a draft pick to secure him.

You Get What You Pay For

Guest post by Rebeca Wilcox.

Hockey goalie equipment tends to be expensive for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that it utilizes a lot more material than the standard set of shoulder pads. The other reason that goalie equipment is expensive involves the technology that goes into creating it. When you are a goalie out to buy hockey equipment, you need to make sure that you purchase only the top name brands. It is a decision that will help to extend your career and protect your health. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

- Armor 

Goalie body armor is constantly changing and evolving. One of the reasons why armor keeps changing is because of the vulnerable spots that the manufacturers keep finding. The top equipment manufacturers use technology that identifies those spots and then puts protection there that does not hinder the goalie's movement. If you spend less on your armor to buy an off brand, you may wind up paying for it with persistent and painful injuries.

- Masks 

Goalie masks and players' helmets have come a long way in a short period of time. Goalie masks absorb a tremendous amount of punishment and require a sophisticated padding system to protect a goalie from long-term injury. If you buy a cheap goalie mask, then you are not giving yourself the full benefit of scientifically placed padding. The top manufacturers spend the time and money to determine the best ways to protect a goalie's head. That is the kind of technology that you want working for you.

- Skates 

Goalie skates have always had toes capable of deflecting even the hardest slapshots, but the arch of the foot and the ankle have always been left exposed. A goalie that turns in such a way that he takes a slapshot off the ankle is probably looking at a painful injury if he does not have the latest technology from the best manufacturers.

- Blockers 

The trapper gloves used by goalies have not changed much over the years, but the blockers have. The top manufacturers are constantly developing new ways to protect a goalie's fingers and wrist from shots and skate blades.

- Pants 

Goalie pants are becoming much different than standard player pants. The top manufacturers appreciate the fact that goalies take shots from a variety of angles and they are working to develop pants that protect and move with the goalie. The off brands, in most cases, do not even offer pants that are specific to the needs of a goalie.

Goalies need all of the protection they can get. When you are shopping for your goalie equipment, be sure to buy name brand products to get the best in protective gear.

A Rant on the future of NCHC Officiating (RW77)

With the recent post on Don "The Imagineer" Adam and his life as a police officer (which, as an aside, I would have thought would have made him an excellent official since police officers know the value of rules and enforcement therein but I digress) I thought I would chime in (again) on officials and what the NCHC should be looking for (but they probably will not listen to me anyways).

The NCHC should start fresh

There is nothing saying that the current officials in the WCHA and soon-to-be-defunct CCHA wouldn't want to be in the NCHC... especially the CCHA officials as they would undoubtedly be out of work otherwise.  However, I think the NCHC did something wise:  They hired outside the established officiating infrastructure.  Though Novak has experience with college hockey, he hasn't been mired in the beaurocacy that bogs down the WCHA and whatnot that hiring someone like Greg Shepherd or Steve Piotrowski does.  The Big 10 hired Steve Piotrowski to run their officiating.  Despite mixed reviews lately (which I believe those negative reviews were erroneous thanks to the WCHA's dire ideal of what makes a good officiating system), Piotrwoski will be a great leader in that field but...I believe Novak will be able to see what the entire officiating "world" really is like and hire accordingly.

Therefore, the NCHC can pick and choose and there is no obligation otherwise.

The Silver Lining of the Transferring Official

What if the NCHC does hire the buffoons in black and white that call themselves WCHA on ice officials?  Well, they may not entirely be buffoons, they may merely be products of the King Buffoon himself:  King Idiot Greg Shepherd. 

Here's a case in point:  I remember when Jon Campion came to the WCHA.  I watched him call a game at the REA and said to myself "This guy gets it."  He called it pretty evenly and when he did call a penalty, it was clearly a penalty.  He was as consistent as you can reasonably expect from an on-ice official (especially since at that time there was only 1 official and 2 ARs).  But as he spent more and more time around the beaurocracy and "Old Boy's Network" Greg Shepherd set up in the WCHA (with the blessing of Bruce McLeod), he started to "buy in" to Shepherd's system and his "game" deteriorated gradually until it reached the cliff:  That fateful night at the REA where Campion went awkwardly into the boards and tore his ACL.  When he returned he was a half step slow and his judgment became skewed such that it was hard to differentiate Campion from Anderson and Randy Schmidt (now fired thanks to his idiocy being caught on tape and garnering almost national attention). 

So, the official may not be all that bad, just a warped cog in a defective machine. 

So what do I think the NCHC should do (in summation)?

Hire the right guys.  Do not give excessive weight to pre-existing college hockey experience but do not turn them away.  The NCHC should mold itself more in the fashion of the NHL and USA hockey while embedding the NCAA mandate.  They should endeavour to uphold all NCAA crackdowns consistently and equally throughout the season regardless of whether or not it is a problem specific to the NCHC or otherwise.  Likewise, they should endevour to NOT be the reason behind a crackdown (such as the Don Adam Rule otherwise known as the mandatory major for CFB).  In the end, we do not want to become complacent like the WCHA as that has been the undoing to quite a few NCAA Regional trips by WCHA teams as of late. 

I am curous though:  Do American officials officiate in foreign leagues such as the Finnish Elite League or the Swedish Elite League or even the KHL?  If so, would it be feasible to try to attract those American officials back to the States?

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir or whatnot but I'd love to know what you'd like to see in the running of the NCHC officiating corps.

Ramsey; Please let the Fighting Sioux nickname end

s/t to Joe Paisley. I know it’s a little old but I have yet to see it posted anywhere else – David Ramsey from the Colorado Springs Gazette has a piece on UND retiring the Fighting Sioux nickname, if you’re not familiar with Ramsey he’s a self-professed anti-Fighting Sioux nickname person – but he is also a pretty good guy as well.

David Ramsey, The Gazette --- Those who cling to the Fighting Sioux moniker have misdirected their devotion. The moniker supporters I’ve talked with are fiercely devoted to UND’s hockey team. And I must say this: UND hockey fans are among the best in college sports, right up there with Kentucky basketball fans and Alabama football fans.

But a change in the images of UND sports will do nothing, really, to alter the hockey program.

I’m a graduate of Syracuse. For decades, white guys dressed up as the Saltine Warrior, a repulsive Native American caricature. These white guys whooped and danced on the sidelines of football games while embarrassing themselves and the university.

The Saltine Warrior was dismissed in 1977, when a brave and wise chancellor named Melvin Eggers listened to the protests of local Native Americans. There was, as you might expect, a massive outcry. Longtime fans promised to boycott games. Old-timers vowed to embrace the Warrior forever.

Forever did not last long.

When I arrived in Syracuse in 1985, the Saltine Warrior was a distant memory of less-enlightened times, a symbol that did not belong in modern-day reality. And Syracuse, where Stephen Crane, William Safire, Frank Langella, Lou Reed and Vanessa Williams studied, is doing just fine without him, thank you.

Here is a perfect link on how to write a gamer/article without mentioning the Fighting Sioux nick name.

Don Adam balances careers as hockey referee, police officer

I found this little news nugget on line today that college hockey  fans might find interesting. When he is not on the ice 'making up stuff as he goes,' Don Adam is a City of Louisville,Colorado police officer.

Mike Chambers, Denver Post --- On the streets or inside an ice arena, excitement and drama seem to follow Don Adam, a genuine Front Range-raised cop. The hockey referee and Louisville police officer is one of the state's most versatile law-enforcement officers, often conducting his business in a heated college game between rivals or a civil dispute in the small city east of Boulder.

The one-time NHL referee has been a police officer for nine years and is approaching his 24th year with the Denver-based Western Collegiate Hockey Association. He is no stranger to the intense University of Denver-Colorado College rivalry, and he wore the orange referee stripes during the 1992 and 1998 Winter Olympics, five world championships and the 1993 NHL preseason.

He was the first NHL video replay official at Avalanche games, which he did from 1995 until the league began to rule on all its replays from its home office in Toronto at the start of the 2003-04 season.

"In hockey, we work from the rule book, and as a cop we work from the Colorado Revised Statutes, but to interpret those things in the two respective jobs, there's a lot of similarities," Adam said from his patrol car. "Both professions require a lot of quick decisions in pressure-filled situations. Experience, judgment and common sense are a huge part in how you apply it all."

It will be interesting to see who the officials in the NCHC are going to be when the conference starts play during the 2013-14 season. One of the questions on fan’s mind is are the WCHA officials going to officiate games in the NCHC.

I also know that a lot of fans would rather not have the conga line of questionable officials that are currently officiating in the WCHA. Most fans that I have talked to on line or in person would rather be done with them and start fresh with the new league with a different set of officials and linesmen.

When the NCHC commissioner Jim Scherr was interviewed this past winter at the REA, Scherr was asked about who was going to be officiating hockey games in the NCHC and he said that there is going to be a competition for officials because there are now three leagues instead of two. Scherr also had said that a lot of officials had reached out to the commissioner to inquire about officiating for the new league.

Spirt Lake Tribe’s Committee for Understanding and Respect files appeal

Here is the latest from the Fighting Sioux nickname story – the Spirit Lake Tribe’s Committee for Understanding and Respect has appealed their lawsuit that was thrown out of by U.S. District Court Judge Raph Erickson to 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Chuck Haga, Grand Forks Herald --- Three days after their effort to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname at UND was roundly rebuffed by state voters, nickname supporters at Spirit Lake filed documents outlining issues they want to address at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The tribe’s Committee for Understanding and Respect has appealed last month’s decision by U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson to dismiss its lawsuit against the NCAA, in which the tribe argued that Sioux people were inappropriately denied “a seat at the table” in negotiations over use of the name, among other issues.

Erickson ordered the lawsuit dismissed on May 1, saying that none of the several counts brought by the pro-nickname committee stated a sufficient legal claim under federal law.

The Spirit Lake committee filed its notice of appeal on June 1 and then turned its attention to the statewide referendum it had placed on the primary election ballot through a petition drive. Last Tuesday, North Dakota voters overwhelmingly rejected that effort and voted to allow UND to retire the nickname.

So is this a losing cause or does the Spirit Lake tribe’s Committee for Understanding and Respect have a chance to have their appeal heard? Personally, I think this lawsuit will be thrown out of court. I would love nothing more than to have the NCAA lose a lawsuit in court but I don’t think this lawsuit has a chance of moving forward.

Jordan Schmaltz ranked 38 by TSN

Incoming Fighting Sioux freshman defenseman Jordan Schmaltz is ranked 38 by Canadian Sport Channel TSN in their final Draft Rankings.  Schmaltz is one of the players that I can't wait to see play in a UND uniform. 

Roco Grimaldi and Jordan Schmaltz make the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp Roster

Here is the Roster for the 2012 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp Participants. As expected, Fighting Sioux freshman Rocco Grimaldi and Jordan Schmaltz are on the roster.

GOALIES (4)

John Gibson, Pittsburgh, Pa. Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
Jon Gillies, Concord, N.H. Indiana Ice (USHL)
Garret Sparks, Elmhurst, Ill. Guelph Storm (OHL)
Anthony Stolarz, Edison, N.J. Corpus Christi (NAHL)

DEFENSEMEN (17)

Connor Carrick, Orland Park, Ill. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Brian Cooper, Anchorage, Alaska Fargo Force (USHL)
Shayne Gostisbehere, Margate, Fla. Union College (ECACH)
Matt Grzelcyk, Charlestown, Mass. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Garrett Haar, Huntington Beach, Calif. Western Michigan Univ. (CCHA)
Seth Jones, Plano, Texas U.S. National Under-18 Team
Jake McCabe, Eau Claire, Wis. Univ. of Wisconsin (WCHA)
Connor Murphy, Boston, Mass. Sarnia Sting (OHL)
Mike Paliotta, Westport, Conn. Univ. of Vermont (HEA)
Mike Reilly, Chanhassen, Minn. Penticton Vees (BCHL)
Robbie Russo, Westmount, Ill. Univ. of Notre Dame (CCHA)
Joakim Ryan, Rumson, N.J. Cornell Univ. (ECACH)
Jordan Schmaltz, Verona, Wis. Green Bay Gamblers (USHL)
Patrick Sieloff, Ann Arbor, Mich. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Brady Skjei, Lakeville, Minn. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Jacob Trouba, Rochester, Mich. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Andrew Welinski, Duluth, Minn. Green Bay Gamblers (USHL)

FORWARDS (25)

Cole Bardreau, Fairport, N.Y. Cornell Univ. (ECACH)
Tyler Biggs, Binghamton, N.Y. Miami Univ. (CCHA)
Colin Blackwell, North Andover, Mass. Harvard Univ. (ECACH)
Reid Boucher, Grand Ledge, Mich. Sarnia Sting (OHL)
Travis Boyd, Hopkins, Minn. Uiv. of Minnesota (WCHA)
Alex Broadhurst, Orland Park, Ill. Geen Bay Gamblers (USHL)
Thomas DiPauli, Woodbridge, Ill. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Steve Fogarty, Chambersburg, Pa. Penticton Vees (BCHL)
Alex Galchenyuk, Milwaukee, Wis. Srnia Sting (OHL)
John Gaudreau, Carneys Point, N.J. Bston College (HEA)
Rocco Grimaldi, Rossmoor, Calif. Univ. of North Dakota (WCHA)
Brian Hart, Cumberland, Maine Phillips-Exeter (HS)
Ryan Hartman, West Dundee, Ill. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Nicolas Kerdiles, Irvine, Calif. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Sean Kuraly, Dublin, Ohio Indiana Ice (USHL)
Mario Lucia, Plymouth, Minn. Penticton Vees (BCHL)
Stefan Matteau Chicago, Ill. U.S. National Under-18 Team
J.T. Miller, East Palestine, Ohio Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Logan Nelson, Coon Rapids, Minn. Victoria Royals
Stefan Noesen, Plano, Texas Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Blake Pietila, Brighton, Mich. Michigan Tech Univ. (WCHA)
Adam Reid, Chino Hills, Calif. Northeastern Univ. (HEA)
Henrik Samuelsson, Scottsdale, Ariz. Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
Vince Trocheck, Pittsburgh, Pa. Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
Jim Vesey, North Reading, Mass. South Shore Kings (EJHL)

Wait, what? Do you really want to go there?

I am not sure why the guy that has the TYT blog wants to start a fight with the North Dakota Fighting Sioux fan base? I am sure that most of you have probably never seen it because no one reads his blog any ways.

Then again, I suppose if you want to generate interest and hits and lot of traffic to your blog – infuriating one of the more passionate fan bases in all of college hockey probably doesn’t hurt – it will bring more traffic to your blog.

ND vote lets school scrap Fighting Sioux nickname (Yahoo!)

I'm. So. Pumped. And no, it has nothing to do with my opinion of Native American mascots, the NCAA's rule on them or the larger social and political issues involved. I just hate North Dakota, so things that make them sad make me happy, simple as that. All of that said, this is The Story That Will Never Die (TM), so I'm not throwing the party until what's apparently a minority of the state's residents are unsuccessful in their next avenue of appeal, an attempt at a constitutional amendment.

Apparently Dean Blais' comments about the selection of the Target Center has also gotten ire of the TYT blog as well.

Two can play at that game, Deano. If North Dakota's out of the NCHC tournament, you're left with a choice of: a) two branch campuses, b) two MAC schools (and I love the MAC as a current student at a member school), c) two schools 900+ miles away and d) St. Cloud State in e) a facility that's almost universally seen as second-rate for hockey compared to the Big Ten's Xcel Energy Center. So good luck with that. The Big Ten, without Minnesota, still offers three all-time top ten men's hockey programs and five schools with universal brand recognition. And (including Minnesota again) the main campuses of two NCHC schools, although Nebraska doesn't sponsor hockey yet.

Actually, it is worth pointing out that the Big Ten's entire tournament will be played in St. Paul (or Detroit, in alternating years). In other words, Minnesota will have at least one game at the Xcel Energy Center every single year. North Dakota, on the other hand, will have to get through a best-of-three campus site first round to make it to Minny. They probably will most of the time, but hey, no guarantees when you've recruited the eight best hockey programs in the country into one conference.

Quick break while I finish laughing from typing that last sentence...

While the TYT is half right – the games that UMN plays in are going to be the highest attended games of the B1G tourney – that’s a no brainer – the problem is that other games will not be as highly attended as the days of the old WCHA tourney. That’s reality! No longer will you have SCSU, UND, UMD fans coming to the games at the Xcel energy center.

The aforementioned teams will be replaced by PSU, OSU, MSU and Michigan. OSU hockey fans don’t attend games in their own building what makes you think that they are going to attend games in Minnesota or Detroit for that matter?

Thge lingering question is – are Michigan and Michigan State fans going to attend the B1G tourney in St. Paul every other season? Here is the attendance numbers of the last two games that Michigan was involved in during last season’s CCHA tourney 10,421 (Michigan vs. WMU) and 7823 (BGSU vs. Michigan). If Michigan isn’t going to stuff the Joe Louis arena full of their fans when they are playing what makes people think that Michigan and Michgan State are going to travel to St. Paul when they are only guaranteed only one game?

Going forward It will be interesting to see how many people actually attend the B1G, NCHC and WCHA conference tourneys.

To the person that suggested that OSU and Michigan State being a big draw I wouldn't count on it - here are the OSU numbers for the last two season.

2011-12 14th Ohio State 16 Attendance 82,854 Average 5,178 17,500 29.6%
2010-11 18th Ohio State 17 Attendance 65,093 Average 3,829 17,500 21.9%

Kristo and Dell impress at Habs development camp

Ric Stephens from All Habs had his final report from the Montreal Canadians Development camp and it sounds like Aaron Dell and Danny Kristo left a pretty good impression on the All Habs bloggers and hopefully the Habs management.

On the other side of the equation, it appears that former Fighting Sioux forward Michael Cichy did not leave a very good impression during his time in the Habs development camp and kind of confirmed some of the rumblings that many of us heard about Cichy during his time at UND.

Forwards

Danny Kristo may have been the player of the game, demonstrating his raw speed and soft hands, scoring once. To a certain extent, Kristo has flown under the radar with fans and media in Montreal but until help arrives in the form of the No. 3 pick at the 2012 Entry Draft, the Fighting Sioux right-winger is the Habs most-promising forward prospect. Kristo will head back to the University of North Dakota for his senior year in the Fall in pursuit of an NCAA championship.

Michael Cichy also deserves mention after today’s scrimmage. During drills, one can’t help notice that his skating isn’t very strong and there’s nagging rumblings about his conditioning. But get him into game action and Cichy shows that he has excellent vision and a nose for offense. The smallish center scored twice during the scrimmage for Team White.

Goaltenders

Aaron Dell is listed as one of The Goalie Guild’s “Dark Horses” with a 35 per cent chance of being signed to a pro deal. In camp Dell demonstrated why he had such a successful NCAA career with solid positioning. He could improve his rebound control but was willing to be a battle to make the save when caught out of position.

Parise, "No way I'll sign with Rangers"

I know this is an old story, actually it's about half a week old,  but I just found the video for Parise's comments that he made last week while being interviewed by the media.

The now famous comments by Parise, when he said, "No way I'll sign with Rangers."

As a Bruins and Wild fan, nothing pleases me more than to hear Parise say that.  So going forward, we can probably scratch the Rangers off of the list of teams where Zach Parise might end up in the off season.

After reading this article it looks like the Boston Bruins aren't going to be making any big moves either in the off-season - so I think we might be able to cross off the Bruins off the list as well, as a place where Parise will not end up during the free agency signing period.

UAA AD Cobb not a fan of "Mystery Alaska"

This past Week the remaining teams in the WCHA had their conference meeting and have begun to work out some of the details about how their league is going to be run going forward.

There have been various news stories to come out of the WCHA meetings that concluded last Wednesday.With each passing day it seems some more news emerges, some of this news adds to the already released information.

Apparently the UAA athletic director Steve Cobb is not a real big fan of the nWCHA's new playoff format - after reading his comments he has basically said what I and others have said. Actually, he has some sharp words of criticism for the new format as well  - Cobb called the "Mystery Alaska Rule" embarrassing - I have to say that I agree with him. The new rule challenges the integrity of the WCHA's conference tourney.

Doyle Woody, Anchorage Daily News --- The unusual playoff format for the Alaska schools, a cost-saving measure approved by an 8-1 vote during league meetings in Detroit last week, did not receive a stick salute from Cobb, who said he cast the only dissenting vote.

"I think it is embarrassing, and I think it is bad for college hockey and bad for our league,'' Cobb said. "Don't get me wrong, we love playing Fairbanks. But the playoffs are supposed to be an earned deal. You don't pick your opponent.''

Having UAA travel to UAF for a best-of-3, first-round series, or vice versa, would save the new league considerable money compared to either Alaska team traveling to the Lower 48 or having an opponent, or two, travel to Alaska.

It also looks like the WCHA is going to have their conference tourney in the Xcel Energy Center in 2015 when the B1G is going to be in Detroit. So the NCHC is going to go head to head with the WCHA and the B1G conference tourneys.

Cobb said the league will play its Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., in 2015 -- that's been the site of the Final Five for years -- but has yet to determine a Final Five site for 2014. The Big Ten has booked the Xcel for its tournaments in 2014 and 2016.

It will be interesting to see where the first nWCHA conferece tourney will be held - you have to wonder if some of the Michigan schools like LSSU, NMU, MTU, FSU will lobby for the conference tourney to be held in the Joe Louis Arena for the 2014 season?

L.A. Lakers Victory parade? Yikes no respect for the Kings

Wow! Nice slight to the Los Angeles Kings and their Stanley Cup victory.

"We will probably be over the Laker's victory parade, Mark Kriski said.

Update on “Mystery Alaska” playoff plan

My last blog post was to an older link that was updated last night. So basically this story even gets better - this story seems to evolve more by the minute. I almost think that the WCHA needs a P.R. person that is media savvy because the WCHA seems to be shooting themselves in the foot right now.

Here is another thought, maybe the WCHA should have not released their playoff format till they had all of the bugs ironed out of it. What's the rush? The nWCHA doesn't start play until the 2013-14 season so why do you have to release the plans to your conference tourney, especially if the format is still in the planning stage and there is a good possibility that it might change even more in the next couple of days or months. 

Matt Wellens, Mining Journal --- UPDATE: Information provided by WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod may not have been accurate concerning the league playoff structure. According to a source, Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage would receive a first-round bye if either wins the WCHA regular season title. McLeod told The Mining Journal otherwise, that both will meet in the first round no matter what and that the next highest seed not from Alaska would receive a bye. Here is how McLeod explained it: McLeod: "Let's just say Anchorage and Fairbanks are 1 and 2. Well they're going to play. You know what I mean? So who gets the bye? We got to take a closer look at it. Right now, it would be No. 3. You know what I mean?" The source asked not to be named because the league told all coaches, athletic directors and presidents to let the league office handle inquiries.

This latest revelation is even worse - why play the regular season? Also, if two teams finish one and two, the top bid would deserved it's playoff bye and the second place team should be afforded the opportunity to play the eight place team on their home ice. It's doesn't matter if they have to play a few more dollars to fly that team to Alaska, the integrity of the tourney should not be sacrificed.

“Mystery Alaska” playoff plan revealed by WCHA

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is some more on the WCHA new playoff format, Matt Wellens from the Mining Journal interviewed Bruce McLeod and here is a what the WCHA Commissioner had to say about their new controversial playoff format.

“There was definitely an uneasy feeling about it,” McLeod said. “Certainly something out of the box, out of the norm, I would say. There was just an uneasy feeling about the whole thing.”

McLeod said the decision was made based on financial concerns the league had with possibly sending two teams to Alaska in a moment’s notice or the league playoffs.

While the “Alaska Plan” was approved by the league, McLeod said there are other proposals on the table from the athletic directors. The league will be revisiting the plan, possibly as soon as next week during a conference call among the ADs.

“It’s not set in stone. Although it was voted upon and passed, there were a couple other scenarios that were definitely talked about. I’m not quite sure,” McLeod said. [Mining Journal]

When a person looks at this league playoff format one must scratch their head and think that it's poorly concocted and not real well thought out. I would not be surprised if this scenario is revisited and possibly scrapped.

Kristo, MacMillian and Dell day two Habs development camp

Dan's Daily Dose

Three current and one former UND Fighting Sioux players are participating in the the Montreal Canadians development camp this week. Dan Kramer from All Habs has a really good run down of what has transpired over the course of this week.

GOALTENDERS

Aaron Dell: My favourite of the goalies on day one. I expect him to be offered a contract, be it a two-way deal or an AHL agreement with the Bulldogs. He’s a little slow-moving, but he’s a scrambler, battling for pucks and not giving up.

Based on all that we have heard around here during the offseason – we probably won’t be seeing Aaron Dell in a UND uniform next season. The last word that I had heard, from a pretty good source it’s about 99% that Dell isn’t coming back to UND - so I guess we shouldn't be shocked if to see Aaron Dell sign a professional contract.

Kramer also explains Dell's style to a "T" - Dell is positionally a very sound goaltender and there isn’t a lot of wasted movement.

FORWARDS

Former Fighting Sioux - Mike Cichy: Cichy is very small and skinny. He had to sit out a year of hockey for switching Universities, and doesn’t seem to have spent much of it in the weight room. His legs stand out as being remarkably thin (at one point I quipped that he almost looks like a kid wearing his father’s equipment), not something you want in a professional hockey player for reasons of balance, skating, and strength, so at this point, he doesn’t seem to have much of a future as a prospect.

Danny Kristo: I came away from day one thinking that Kristo looked very small. He is very quick, despite short strides (which can hamper a player). For example, despite both being undersized, his style is almost the opposite of Gallagher’s, who has longer stride but isn’t as fast, which is a testament to Kristo’s footwork. He also has good hands, though he didn’t seem particularly engaged when it was his turn to charge in on net. As such, he wasn’t remarkable. One the size issues, I felt he looked bigger on day two, so I’ll attribute my initial impression in part to his being grouped mainly with the defensemen on Wednesday, all of whom are 6’1″ or taller. Hopefully he commits fully to training with his final year in college, and adds some strength. Tended to only interact with players he was familiar with in Leblanc and MacMillan.

Mark MacMillan: I’ll call MacMillan a pet prospect of mine. He’s filling out slowly, now generously listed at 183 lbs after being drafted at 150, but he does look bigger than in the past. He’s a skilled guy with interesting offensive tools, but had some trouble with a few skating drills (he looked alright at times as well, but it’s an area for him to focus on). A longer-term project, he may be a go-to player at UND next season, so that’s perhaps the only reason to be happy that Kristo will be returning there for another season.

Here is what All-Habs had to say about a few of our forwards as well as about former Fighting Sioux forward Mike Cichy. Kramer kind of confirms what Sioux fans already knew about Cichy – during his time at UND.  During Cichy's short time at UND,  there were rumblings that Cichy wasn’t the most dedicated or hardest of workers on the ice or in the weight room.

This was basically confirmed after his first season, when Fighting Sioux coach Dave Hakstol confirmed that Cichy had come into his first camp with the Fighting Sioux out of shape.  Looks like this might have worked out best for the Fighting Sioux in the end.

More on the nWCHA's new playoff format

When I first heard about the nWCHA’s playoff format I actually thought it was a joke and or a misprint abut as the details emerged I realized that they weren’t kidding.

In a nut shell since some of the member schools in the nWCHA don’t want to have to pay for any additional travel to or from Alaska
and this is a way to alleviate travel costs.  

This is a bad plan, because this move will cheapen or could in essence ruin the integrity of the nWCHA conference tourney. The best way to run a tourney is to have your top 1-8 teams play based on seeding, or you make the regular season meaningless. So if the Alaska Schools finish second and third you will have knocked out one team that might have gotten to the nWCHA Final Five if they had played their appropriate seed. If I was a fan of one of the Alaska schools I would be upset - I don't care for this and I am not a fan of either program.

Jack Hittinger, Bemidji Pioneer ---- Bemidji State athletic director Rick Goeb Thursday confirmed that all nine of the league’s teams would make the playoffs and that the regular-season champion would receive a bye into the Final Five.

That much could have been gleaned from the press release the league released Thursday afternoon.

What wasn’t on the press release, however, was the fact that the Alaska schools would be playing each other every year – regardless of league finish – unless one of them got that first-round bye.

In other words, there will always be at least one hockey team from Alaska in the Final Five.

“There were mixed feelings about that,” speaking from the Detroit airport following the meetings. “If they both finish above or below the top four, there might be a feeling that it was a little unfair.

“But we discussed a lot of different options and this was the one that seemed to make the most sense for everyone from a travel perspective and from an economic perspective.”

I believe that Brad Schlossman of the Grand forks Herald might have been right last summer when he wrote this piece.

A source told the Herald that when business was conducted in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, there were often times two blocks of voting.

The schools with larger budgets typically wanted to spend money, invest and try new things. Schools with smaller budgets often resisted.

With Minnesota and Wisconsin departing for the Big Ten Hockey Conference, the smaller-budget schools take over control of the voting block. This caused athletic directors with larger budgets to worry about the future of the conference.

I don’t think it’s that hard of a stretch to figure out that there are haves and have not in college hockey. College hockey is no different than the other sports in division I, II and III sports, you can also see this in FBS and FCS football - some schools are more committed to their sports teams more than other schools and not all is equal. That being said, there has to be an integrity associated with a conference tourney, if the best teams aren't representing the conference in their conference tourney you have short-changed and cheapened the playoff system.

What happened if both UAA and UAF were sitting high in the Pairwise Rankings and on the cusp of making the NCAA tourney and needed to make the Final Five to solidify their chances at an at-large bid to make the NCAA tourney? By one of these teams losing their first round bid they would in essence end their season and kill any chance they had of making the NCAA tourney.

Jonathan Quick's Awesome Victory Speech

s/t to Chuck Schwartz for having this gem on his twitter feed. I am not sure that Jonathan Quick will be getting any requests for him to do any public speaking engagements anytime soon but I can understand getting caught up in the moment. Again, congrats to the Kings for winning the Stanley Cup Championship.

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The nWCHA playoff format - I am not kidding

The nWCHA's held their meetings in Detroit Michigan this past week and one of the things they came up with was their league's new playoff format.

While the press release from the WCHA didn't include the new playoff format, it didn't take long for the new format to hit the Twitter-verse and this is what the new playoff format is going to look like. The top team in the nWCHA is going to get a first round bye and the rest of the eight teams in the league are going to play in the first round but that's not all of it.

Right out of the gate, the new format is a bit of a buzz kill, or at least what I would just call it a ill conceived idea - the first round of the playoffs is a potential money maker for the program that hosts the first round event.

There is also another great twist - per the beat writer of the Bemidji Pioneer Jack Hittinger - the Alaska Schools are going to play each other each season in the nWCHA playoffs unless one of them is the number one seed - number one seed in the nWCHA will get a first round bye. When I first saw this tweet on Twitter.com I thought it was a joke, but here is the confirmation of this.