NCHC UNVEILS NEW WEBSITE – NCHCHockey.com

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), along with the conference’s web hosting provider, Sport Ngin, is proud to announce the unveiling of the NCHC’s official website.  The NCHC staff and Sport Ngin team constructed a micro-site in March 2013 to give fans a glimpse of the ‘look and feel’  they can expect when the official site launches, Thursday, Aug. 1, at 10 am CT. 

"This is an exciting time for the Conference as we unveil the official NCHC website,” said NCHC Commissioner Josh Fenton. “Our partner, Sport Ngin, has developed a product that will allow us to share the NCHC news; engage our passionate fans through unique content and features; and showcase our corporate partners."

"The NCHC represents many of the most exciting and storied teams in the history of college hockey,” said Justin Kaufenberg, CEO and co-founder of Sport Ngin. “We're honored to have been entrusted with putting together a website the NCHC, member teams, players and fans will be proud of. Our shared goal is to create an incredibly interactive website that will connect the NCHC with fans and media like no other conference. We're really proud of the new nchchockey.com"

The NCHC  website will focus on engaging fans through unique and creative content. The functionality of the site will allow a person browsing to have a superior user-experience. Some of the prominent features of the site include social media integration, dynamic schedule views, and fully integrated institutional pages. The overall site design was modeled to provide the user with a feel of being within a hockey rink during the browsing experience.

The site’s ongoing development will continue as the conference prepares to begin its inaugural season. One key component that fans can expect in the coming months is a mobile app that will be supported on smart phones and tablets. The app will allow the user to stay engaged with the conference on a handheld device.

"Fan engagement through technology is a priority for the Conference,” stated Fenton. “We will focus our time and attention on the continued evolution of the site and mobile applications to meet the needs of our constituents."

In addition to the mobile app, fans can look forward to the launch of the NCHC Shop.  Once launched, the shop will feature NCHC and member institution merchandise and apparel.  The Conference anticipates the launch of both the NCHC Mobile App and the NCHC Shop prior to the start of the season.

The NCHC, which includes member institutions Colorado College, Denver, Miami, Minnesota Duluth, Nebraska Omaha, North Dakota, St. Cloud State, and Western Michigan, begins its inaugural season on October 18, 2013, with a double-header featuring North Dakota at Miami and Colorado College hosting Minnesota Duluth. Games times to be announced in the future.

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Scott Gomez signs with Panthers

Scott Gomez gets 900k for on 1 year deal from #Panthers.
— Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) July 31, 2013

Forward Scott Gomez signs with his third NHL team in three seasons. Gomez has played in the NHL for 14 seasons, scoring (171g-530a--730pts) and he has had a hard time hitting the back of the net, as of late, scoring only 11 goals in the last three seasons. Advice, don't select him for your fantasy team.

Related articles

• Scott Gomez signs one-year contract with Panthers (cbssports.com)

2013 Former NCAA Hockey Players Free Agent Signings

DATE PLAYER 2013-14 TEAM PREVIOUS TEAM

JUL 26 F Blake Wheeler,Winnipeg, Winnipeg
JUL 26 F Kyle Palmieri, Anaheim,Anaheim
JUL 26 F Nathan Gerbe, Carolina, Buffalo
JUL 25 D Cody Goloubef, Columbus,Columbus
JUL 24 F Jordan Schroeder, Vancouver, Vancouver
JUL 22 D Patrick Wiercioch, Ottawa, Ottawa
JUL 20 D Zach Redmond, Winnipeg, Winnipeg
JUL 19 F Brian Flynn, Buffalo, Buffalo
JUL 19 D Michael Kostka, Chicago, Toronto
JUL 19 F Zac Dalpe, Carolina, Carolina
JUL 19 F Brandon Yip, Phoenix, Nashville
JUL 16 F Dustin Penner, Anaheim, Los Angeles
JUL 16 D Brendan Smith, Detroit, Detroit
JUL 15 D Alec Martinez, Los Angeles, Los Angeles
JUL 12 F Harry Zolnierczyk, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
JUL 12 F Marcus Kruger, Chicago, Chicago
JUL 12 F Benn Ferriero, Vancouver, Minnesota
JUL 12 F Brandon Defazio, Vancouver, NY Islanders
JUL 12 F Erik Condra, Ottawa, Ottawa
JUL 12 D Jon Landry, Minnesota, NY Islanders
JUL 11 F Tim Kennedy, Phoenix, San Jose
JUL 10 D Oliver Lauridsen, Philadelphia, Philadelphia
JUL 10 G Alex Stalock, San Jose, San Jose
JUL 10 F Brian O'Neill, Los Angeles, Los Angeles
JUL 10 F Peter LeBlanc, Washington, Washington
JUL 10 F Joe Colborne, Toronto, Toronto
JUL 10 F Carl Hagelin, NY Rangers, NY Rangers
JUL 10 D Mark Borowiecki, Ottawa, Ottawa
JUL 9 F Paul Thompson, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
JUL 9 F Andy Miele, Phoenix, Phoenix
JUL 8 D Drew Bagnall, Buffalo,Minnesota
JUL 8 F Carter Camper, Boston, Boston
JUL 8 F Jon Matsumoto Florida San Jose
JUL 8 D Matt Gilroy Florida NY Rangers
JUL 8 F Chris Mueller Dallas Nashville
JUL 8 D Tyson Strachan, Washington, Florida
JUL 8 F Matt Watkins, Washington, NY Islanders
JUL 8 G David Leggio, Washington, Buffalo
JUL 8 D Joe Corvo, Ottawa, Carolina
JUL 8 D Ryan McDonagh, NY Rangers, NY Rangers
JUL 7 F Jack Skille, Columbus, Florida
JUL 6 F Ryan Jones, Edmonton, Edmonton
JUL 6 G Richard Bachman, Edmonton, Dallas
JUL 6 F Mike Santorelli, Vancouver, Winnipeg
JUL 6 F Andrew Gordon, Winnipeg, Vancouver
JUL 5 F Andrew Ebbett, Pittsburgh, Vancouver
JUL 5 F JT Wyman, Colorado, Tampa Bay
JUL 5 G Mike McKenna, Columbus, St. Louis
JUL 5 F Nick Johnson, Boston, Phoenix
JUL 5 G Chad Johnson, Boston, Phoenix
JUL 5 F Chris Conner, Pittsburgh, Phoenix
JUL 5 D Mike Moore, Boston, Nashville
JUL 5 D Alex Biega, Vancouver, Buffalo
JUL 5 D Nate Guenin, Colorado, Anaheim
JUL 5 F Keith Aucoin, St. Louis, NY Islanders
JUL 5 F Dominic Moore, NY Rangers, San Jose
JUL 5 F Craig Adams, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
JUL 5 F Tyler Bozak, Toronto, Toronto
JUL 5 F Trevor Smith, Toronto, Pittsburgh
JUL 5 D Chris Summers, Phoenix, Phoenix
JUL 5 D Chris Butler, Calgary Calgary
JUL 5 F Matt Cullen, Nashville, Minnesota
JUL 5 F Eric Nystrom, Nashville, Dallas
JUL 5 F Matt Hendricks, Nashville, Washington
JUL 5 G Carter Hutton, Nashville, Chicago
JUL 5 G Dan Ellis, Dallas, Carolina
JUL 5 F Viktor Stalberg, Nashville, Chicago
JUL 5 D Mike Mottau, Florida, Toronto
JUL 5 F Joey Crabb, Florida, Washington
JUL 5 G Yann Danis, Philadelphia, Edmonton
JUL 5 D Rob Scuderi, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles
JUL 5 D Mike Komisarek, Carolina, Toronto

Hump Day Links

The summer is starting to wind down. The School year is about to begin in a few weeks. That means that college hockey players will be returning to their respective campuses in a few weeks. Hopefully, this summer has a few hot days left before September comes our way. God knows that last winter was a doozy.

So far this offseason, 30 NCAA hockey players have forgone their college eligibility to sign professional contracts. This is counting Josh Jooris of Union that signed with the Calgary Flames.

Last week, Ludwig Karlsson of the Northeastern Huskies signed with the Ottawa Senators.

The WCHA has released its 2013-14 composite schedule.

University of Maine Black Bears: Civic Center hopes [Ice Breaker] tourney is Ice Breaker for NCAA hockey regional.

Former Wisconsin Badgers Forward Joe Pavelski has signed a five-year extension with the San Jose Sharks. Pavelski has (150g-186a—336pts) in 479 NHL games. The extension is for five years and 30 million dollars.

UND Hockey recruit’s Ryan Mantha, Austin Pognaski and Nick Schmaltz are listed on the 2013 Under-18 Select team that will participate in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in Finland August 5-10. Team USA begins play against team Finland on Monday, August 5, 2013.

Shooter Strikes Again: Don’t Count on the Wild Going Anywhere Except the WCF

Yesterday, there was a blog post over on Kukla's Korner that caused quite a stir. The post was basically a hook, line and sinker post about a newspaper article that Charlie Walters aka “Shooter” wrote in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press.

The article is still causing some blow back to day on twitter today. Check out Bruce Ciskie's twitter feed for the fire works.

Apparently, the story in question just keeps disappearing, or someone at the Pioneer Press edited the story after it created an unneeded fire storm. Why? Because there is no actual evidence provided in that story at all, sure anyone can say that the Wild are moving, but you might want to actually prove that you have some hard evidence in your article in question before you submit it, or at least ask someone other than a little blue bird. Like most of us suspected, Shooter put an article in the paper and it wasn’t based in any fact what-so-ever, probably got called on it and took it down or the paper took it down.

Former Editor B.Reynolds, who’s decided to retire from hockey blogging and move off of the Minnesota Wilderness beat, came out of his self-imposed retirement to respond to this fallacious rumor.

UND Recruit Ryan Gropp Snubbed by Team Canada

Ryan Gropp, who recently revealed his intentions to play at North Dakota, did not make Canada's Ivan Hlinka roster. https://t.co/v9JUwlsukY
— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) July 29, 2013

UND recruit Ryan Gropp has been snubbed by team Canada for the Ivan Hlinka roster. Seems like a puzzling move to me. I would have thought he would have made the roster.

Perlini, Gropp, Middleton and Martin are probably the biggest 'surprises'. Felt they did enough. Regardless, its a pretty talented squad.
— Sean Lafortune (@SeanLafortune) July 29, 2013

Related articles

• Ryan Gropp commits to North Dakota (mvn.com)

Shooter: Wild could leave Minnesota?

Over on Kukla’s Korner, there was a blog post this morning making reference to a report that the Minnesota Wild could be leaving Minnesota. Of course, the story was written by Charley Walters, aka. Shooter. If you go to the story, it appears to that the article has already been edited, because if you go the link you will not see the article text that is mention in this blog post... WTF? Hum, interesting.

Reports are out that the Minnesota Wild have recorded a $30 Million loss this past season; according to Charley Walters of TwinCities.com out of St. Paul.

Is the State of Hockey at risk of losing their second National Hockey League Franchise?

It has been 20 years, nearly to the day, that the Minnesota North Stars packed up and moved to the sunbelt and became the Dallas Stars; and low attendance and lost revenue during seasons where the team did not play up to the standards of their fan base.

The NHL granted Minnesota the Wild in the 2000-01 Season (though announced back in 1997 that the team would be part of the expansion); and after finally making the playoffs this season after not qualifying for the past four seasons. The lockout may be in part to blame for the $30 Million loss this past season. If the season had started on time than there would have been more revenue generated – but also more money paid out to employees’ and game day crew. Another hit to the books for the Wild would be the $10 Million bonuses’ for each Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. The two big ticket UFA’s from last summer where each awarded a lockout proof bonus.

A short term financial fall has hit the State of Hockey: the questions that remain to be answered is if it is just a case of spending money to make money or if this hit is just the start of a financial mess with economic down times across the country? or may Minnesota lose another NHL franchise in the coming years? Time can only reveal the answers to these questions.

Monday Morning Blues: A Few Links to start the Week

Good morning. Finally, I am back at it after a week long vacation.

There are a couple of nice articles about the Danny Kristo trade over on the Blue Seat Blog.

The inside track on the Kristo trade

Astute trade gave Rangers fine prospect

This may have an effect on UND’s goalie situation. Subban Ready to Step Up

The UAA Seawolves have a new assistant coach; Thomas names Ciocco new assistant

This could mean more de-commitments from NCAA Hockey; Canadian Hockey League to ban all Imports?

Former UAA forward Justin Bourne gives his perspective; On the differences between playing on Olympic and NHL-sized ice sheets

Does ESPN Hate the NHL?

ESPN (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Interesting article by SI's Allan Muir… Since the NHL moved from ESPN to OLN in 2005 after the 2004-05 lockout; then Versus and now NBCSN, there has been a lot less hockey highlights on ESPN.

One of the questions that I have often asked myself is; does ESPN even need to show hockey highlights? Why would they? NHL Hockey fans know that if they want to watch the NHL in the USA, they can watch the sport on NBCSN or on your regional sports channel like FSN. Or you can do what many NHL fans do, they simply purchase the NHL package, NHL Center Ice. This one of the main reasons that I don’t watch ESPN at all anymore. The only actual hockey games that ESPN shows on the sports network, is during the NCAA hockey tourney.

Allan Muir, SI.COM --- SportsCenter likes to cover the NFL. A lot. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and Peyton Manning got mentioned more often for crossing the street than most athletes did for making game-winning plays. They’ll throw down the adjective “elite” to describe anything from a prospect to a haircut.

Where Burns’ sacrifice starts paying off is when he examines the treatment of hockey on the program. Now we all know it is an afterthought, falling just below Tim Tebow’s dating life and just above Little League baseball and arena football. His numbers bear out that belief. Out of a total broadcast time of 23,052.75 minutes last year, SportsCenter devoted all of 459.5 to covering the NHL.

That’s a whopping 2.7 percent of its airtime.

Does that seem like a reasonable representation of the interest in the game across this great land? Of course not. And that’s why many hockey fans can’t be bothered with the show.

But relative to some other numbers, hockey has some surprising company among the other sports that are fighting for scraps of airtime.

Consider golf, a sport that boasts one of the world’s most high-profile athletes in Tiger Woods and draws decent ratings on the major U.S. networks. It earned just 3.3 percent of ESPN’s airtime. That’s more than the NHL, but given golf’s profile, the margin isn’t as great as I expected.

Related articles

• ESPN vs. the Sharks on Twitter (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Deadspin study finds ESPN devotes less than three percent of its total airtime to the NHL (nhl.si.com)

College Football: End of the FCS Vs. FBS games?

Looks like you're going to see a lot less games between FCS and FBS football teams. If you have watched college football at the beginning of most football seasons, you will see match-ups between FCS and FBS teams.

A lot of these FCS teams depend on these guaranteed games to fund their athletic departments. These games pay a lot of money to FCS team that is willing to travel to the FBS team’s home field and play a football game. Many times these football games are a lopsided game and then the FCS school gets a big lucrative pay day.

Ralph D. Russo, Associated Press --- Larry Scott said he still wants FBS to have a "so-called big tent," with more than just the top five conferences being included.

"That's why the reports of a possible breakaway and things like that are overcooked," he said. "That's not anyone's agenda."

He said the move toward more nine-game conference schedules and an emphasis on strength of schedule in the upcoming College Football Playoff will lead to fewer games between the big five conferences and the other five FBS conferences (Mountain West, American Athletic, Sun Belt, Mid-American and Conference USA). But there still will be competition between the two groups.

What likely will decrease are games between FBS and FCS teams and so-called guarantee games, when a school from a power conference pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to a school from a lesser conference to play a road game.

Some FCS and lower-level FBS programs, especially those in the Sun Belt and MAC, rely on those guarantee game payouts to fund their athletic programs and losing them could be a problem.

To me, this smacks of elitism. I understand the bigger teams not wanting to play the smaller schools. But some of the big schools are getting beat by FCS schools on a regular basis.

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Good Bye to an old friend,Old REA Demolished on Monday

Ready to come down. Bitter sweet moment. I can't wait for the IDPF, but I respect the history and tradition. pic.twitter.com/AdJku8PhfO
— Chris Mussman (@UNDMuss) July 27, 2013

As most of you know, the "old Ralph" comes down on Monday at 10:00 a.m. there is a nice article in today's Grand Forks Herald talking about the old barn. I came to Grand Forks, ND and attended UND in September of 1993 and saw many games in the Old Ralph.

It was a loud building, in the late 1990's when UND had returned to the top of college hockey world, during the Dean Blais years. One of my favorite games was against the Gophers on January 23, 1999 and UND was behind going into the third period and scored something like 4 or 5 goals to win 6-5 and complete the weekend sweep. That building was really loud. Feel free to share your favorite memories.

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Blake Wheeler signed for 5.6 million a year

Former @GopherHockey F Blake Wheeler (Plymouth, MN) “@BiggieFunke: Thrilled to be a Jet for 6 more years”
— Let's Play Hockey (@LetsPlay_Hockey) July 27, 2013

While I was on my family vacation, I was surprised to see that the Winnipeg Jets resigned former Minnesota Golden Gophers and Boston Bruin forward Blake Wheeler to a 6-year, 33 Million dollar contract. According to Capgeek.com, Wheeler is going to make 5.6 million dollars a year to play for the Jets. Yeah, okay! That seems like a lot of money for a guy that's scored (93g-139a—232pts) in 372 NHL games, he's never scored more than (17g-47a—64pts) in 82 game season. Does anyone see a compliance buyout coming in the future?

"@aladd16: Happy to have our enforcer locked up for 6 more years! Congrats @BiggieFunke pic.twitter.com/wqlcrhoCRx" hahahahahahahha
— Blake Wheeler (@BiggieFunke) July 27, 2013

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Forum headline: Former UNO, UND football coach arrested in Iowa

The Fargo Forum probably was falling all over itself to put up that headline. To quote the A.P. article that the Forum doctored, "[Pat] Behrns had been head coach of the University of North Dakota football team from 1980 to 1985." Behrns hasn't coached at UND for 28 years. This is the same newspaper that won't hold their head football coach or the football players at NDSU accountable.

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• UND Football: Dexter Albrecht explains '30 Minutes or Less' (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
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UND Hockey: Caption for this picture

This photo is from MacWilliam's first series at UND. The officials would later even the score with 327 PIMs. pic.twitter.com/jmH5NkJe0q
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) July 25, 2013

s/t to Brad Elliott Schlossman. Caption for this picture. I am thinking, "sorry ref"...

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UND Football: Dexter Albrecht explains ‘30 Minutes or Less'

I was able to ask Dexter Albrecht the Director of Ticket Sales & Promotions at the University of North Dakota, a few questions about the University of North Dakota’s ‘30 Minutes or Less’...  Which UND is running on July 31, 2013. It's a season tickets promotion for UND football, where if you order season tickets and you live in the Greater Grand Forks Metro Area and you don’t have them delivered to your home or business by the UND football staffers, student-athletes and athletic department officials in 30 minutes or less, they’ll be free.  

Eric Burton: So, you can guarantee that every UND fans living in the Greater Grand Forks Metro Area that orders a Season Ticket will have it in 30 minutes or less?

Dexter Albrecht : I don’t think I can 100% guarantee that, and that is kind of the hook for this. You can get to most places in town in 30 minutes or less, but we’re limited on cars, drivers, and coaches so if we get swamped with orders it will be difficult to get tickets to everyone. We could be giving some away or a lot away depending on how many orders we get.

The main reason we wanted to do with this was to create awareness to the program, and the great home schedule we have. Last year football attendance increased over 1300 fans per game and currently we have already sold close to as many season tickets as where we finished last year, so we’re on pace for some great ticket numbers. Along with that we traditionally have a lot of people that wait until the week of the first game to purchase season tickets. We wanted to give those people a reason not to wait to purchase their season tickets, as well as maybe get some people who were on the fence about getting them.

If you break it down with the schedule we have I really think you will have a hard time finding a better value for your entertainment dollar in the state of North Dakota, Southern Manitoba, or Northwest Minnesota than season tickets for as low as $75 a seat for 7 home football games with 5 of them being against ranked opponents.

Eric Burton: Also, will the team deliver season the tickets to a person’s place of work if they want; if that person lives in the Greater Grand Forks Metro Area?

Dexter Albrecht: We will deliver these tickets to anywhere that our fans would like, as long as it’s in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks city limits. Home, work, or your own business it doesn’t matter to us.

Eric Burton: Taking a look at the UND football schedule, it looks like UND’s schedule is again one of the toughest home schedules in FCS Football?

Dexter Albrecht: It does look like a tough home schedule and I know the coaches and players are fired up for the season. While it’s a tough home schedule it’s also a very attractive schedule for fans.

To give you an idea of how attractive the schedule is for no just UND fans but casual college football fans, we have actually had multiple people who have purchased UND season tickets this year that have also told me they also have football season tickets for North Dakota State, and Montana State. I’ve also had people tell me they are fans of NDSU, Montana, and Montana St. first, but they live in the area and can’t make all of those schools games purchase season tickets with us because of the value of the tickets and the great home schedule we have. To me that’s great, we’ll take those fans and try and convert then to UND fans, or fans of both schools.  

I would also guess that we will probably have some of these fans of other schools who won’t purchase season tickets with us, but they will still come to a game or two of ours because of all the big games on our schedule. That’s a credit to the Big Sky Conference as well as schools like NDSU, SDSU, and USD. There are a lot of people in the state and region that cheer for success for all of the local Universities and casual college football fans in the Dakotas do not have very far to go anymore to see great college football week in and week out and that’s exciting for everyone.

I would also say that statement translate into all sports (basketball, volleyball, etc) with the four Dakota schools all being Division one now. With us being in a different conference we offer fans of those schools an opportunity to see schools they don’t normally see in the Missouri Valley Conference, and the Summit League which makes us a little unique and I think that is attractive to casual fans. They all know who Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington are in football or who Weber State is in Men’s Basketball.

Goon’s World would like to thank Dexter Albrecht for stopping by and answering a few questions. UND opens the 2013 season against Valparaiso August 29, 2013,

at 7:00 p.m. at the Alerus Center.  

Season-ticket packages start at $75 per seat and are also available for purchase any time at undsports.com.

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J.T. Brown and Justin Falk golf photo

@BHHF23 Golf Tourney @TheeALPHA1 @JustinFaulk27 @JTBrown23 @W_E_DollarSign @iluvtofish @rkesti @vollanj #SS4L pic.twitter.com/w1bmhVhRZ7
— MAP South Campus (@SouthMAP) July 23, 2013

This one was way too good to pass up. I am not sure that I would wear an outfit like that to the golf course. :)

College Hockey Inc. announces the field for the 2014 Ice Breaker

Notre Dame hockey will play host to the 2014 Ice Breaker Tournament at the Compton Family Ice Arena. #GoIrish
— Notre Dame Hockey (@NDHockey) July 23, 2013

The Minnesota Gophers, Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, Rensselaer Engineers and the Host Notre Dame Fighting Irish will participate in the 2014 Ice Breaker Tournament that is to be held at the Compton Family Ice Arena on the Campus of Notre Dame. So, you have the B1G, Hockey East, ECAC and NCHC represented in this Ice Breaker Tourney.

ECAC Hockey -- TheIce Breaker Tournament , the traditional start to the college hockey season, will be held at the Compton Family Ice Arena at the University of Notre Dame in 2014 and at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine, in 2015.

College Hockey Inc., which manages the event on behalf of the Hockey Commissioners Association, also announced that the 2014 tournament will feature Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth and Rensselaer in addition to host Notre Dame. The 2015 field will include the host school, the University of Maine, with three other teams to be determined at a later date.

“The Ice Breaker will be visiting two fantastic venues in 2014 and ’15, arenas that showcase college hockey in their own unique way,” said Mike Snee, Executive Director of College Hockey Inc. “We are thrilled to work with Notre Dame and Maine on these tournaments and look forward to celebrating the start of the 2014 and ’15 seasons in these terrific settings.”

The 2013 Ice Breaker Tournament, the 17th year of the event, will be held Oct. 11-12 at Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena and features Clarkson, Mercyhurst and New Hampshire in addition to the host Golden Gophers.

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Will Jim Delany take aim at NCAA?

I found this article on my twitter feed, I find this article to be interesting, but in a way, I think  it kind of translates to other sports besides football, I think. There's a mind set out there, and frankly some of the schools in the WCHA didn't want to play against the smaller schools in the WCHA, that mind set was out there. It's really about the have's and the schools that have more. I believe.

Take 1: Brian Bennett Delany has probably been more supportive of NCAA president Mark Emmert than some of his other peers, but he has to feel many of the same frustrations as his commissioner colleagues. Like Slive, Delany is a big proponent of paying athletes an additional stipend on top of their scholarships to cover the full cost of attendance, and they are upset the NCAA has yet to approve that measure after both stumped for it more than two years ago. Bowlsby said Monday that commissioners of the five power conferences met six weeks ago and were unanimous in wanting major changes to the NCAA structure. It sounds like the major conferences are growing tired of a system where Ohio State and Nebraska have to share the same rules as Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas-San Antonio.

The threat of the power leagues breaking off and forming their own kingdom gives them leverage, although those conference don't really want to be in the business of putting on their own soccer and lacrosse tournaments. Still, this is clearly an organized assault on the NCAA by the most powerful leaders in college football, and I'd expect Delany to weigh in with his own concerns. He probably won't be as pointed in his comments as Bowlsby -- Delany tends to speak in carefully considered, lawyerly tones -- but as one of the sport's most influential figures, whatever Delany says on Wednesday will carry a lot of weight.

There's a lot of money to be made in college sports, it's very a big business and some schools no matter what aren't going to be able to even the playing field, financially. We also see this in college hockey as well. Lastly, I also believe the NCAA is a poorly run organization that isn't even-handed in the way they deal with member schools. I could see the big schools breaking away from the NCAA and forming their own governing body.

New Jersey Devils sign Jaromir Jagr

Czech NHL player Jaromír Jágr (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The New Jersey Devils have signed Unrestricted Free Agent forward Jaromir Jagr. This will be the third team in two seasons for the 41 year old Jagr, he also played for the Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins and now is a member of the New Jersey Devils. Jagr was picked up by the Boston Bruins for the stretch run last spring and scored (2g7a—9pts) in 11 games for the Boston Bruins. He also chipped in (0g-10a—10pts) during the Boston Bruins Stanley Cup playoff run.

Moves like Jagr! We’ve signed the @NHL’s #8 all-time leading scorer Jaromir Jagr. Welcome to #JerseysTeam!
— New Jersey Devils (@NHLDevils) July 23, 2013

Jaromir Jagr signs a deal with the Devils. Yes, officially http://t.co/rFEwqCfRgf
— Eye on Hockey (@EyeOnHockey) July 23, 2013

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Canada's 2013-14 National Men's Team Orientation Camp Roster

Former Fighting Sioux forward Jonathan Toews  has made the team Canada Orientation Camp Roster. Also, three Boston Bruins Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand have made the roster as well. Team Canada's camp will be on 25-28 August, 2013. 

Goaltenders
Corey Crawford	L/G	6'2"	208	12/31/84	Montreal, Que.	Chicago Blackhawks(NHL)
Braden Holtby	L/G	6'2"	203	09/16/89	Lloydminster, Sask.	Washington Capitals (NHL)
*#Roberto Luongo	L/G	6'3"	217	04/04/79	Montreal, Que.	Vancouver Canucks (NHL)
Carey Price	L/G	6'3"	209	08/16/87	Anahim Lake, B.C.	Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
Mike Smith	L/G	6'4"	215	03/22/82	Kingston, Ont.	Phoenix Coyotes (NHL)
Defense
Karl Alzner	L/G	6'3"	217	09/24/88	Burnaby, B.C.	Washington Capitals (NHL)
#Jay Bouwmeester	L/G	6'4"	212	09/27/83	Edmonton, Alta.	St. Louis Blues (NHL)
*Dan Boyle	R/D	5'11"	190	07/12/76	Ottawa, Ont.	San Jose Sharks (NHL)
*Drew Doughty	R/D	6'1"	208	12/08/89	London, Ont.	Los Angeles Kings (NHL)
Mike Green	R/D	6'1"	207	10/12/85	Calgary, Alta.	Washington Capitals (NHL)
Dan Hamhuis	L/G	6'1"	209	12/13/82	Smithers, B.C.	Vancouver Canucks (NHL)
Travis Hamonic	R/D	6'1"	206	08/16/90	St. Malo, Man.	New York Islanders (NHL)
*Duncan Keith	L/G	6'1"	200	07/16/83	Penticton, B.C.	Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)
Kristopher Letang	R/D	6'0"	201	04/24/87	Ste-Julie, Que.	Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)
Marc Methot	L/G	6'3"	231	06/21/85	Ottawa, Ont.	Ottawa Senators (NHL)
Dion Phaneuf	L/G	6'3"	214	04/10/85	Edmonton, Alta.	Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL)
Alex Pietrangelo	R/D	6'3"	201	01/18/90	King City, Ont.	St. Louis Blues (NHL)
*Brent Seabrook	R/D	6'3"	221	04/20/85	Tsawwassen, B.C.	Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)
Marc Staal	L/G	6'4"	207	01/13/87	Thunder Bay, Ont.	New York Rangers (NHL)
PK Subban	R/D	6'0"	216	05/13/89	Toronto, Ont.	Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
Marc-Édouard Vlasic	L/G	6'1"	205	03/30/87	Montreal, Que.	San Jose Sharks (NHL)
*Shea Weber	R/D	6'4"	233	08/14/85	Sicamous, B.C.	Nashville Predators (NHL)
Forwards
*Patrice Bergeron	R/D	6'2"	194	07/24/85	Sillery, Que.	Boston Bruins (NHL)
Jeff Carter	R/D	6'4"	210	01/01/85	London, Ont.	Los Angeles Kings (NHL)
Logan Couture	L/G	6'1"	200	03/28/89	London, Ont.	San Jose Sharks (NHL)
*Sidney Crosby	L/G	5'11"	200	08/07/87	Cole Harbour, N.S.	Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)
Matt Duchene	L/G	5'11"	200	01/16/91	Haliburton, Ont.	Colorado Avalanche (NHL)
Jordan Eberle	R/D	5'10"	184	05/15/90	Regina, Sask.	Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
*Ryan Getzlaf	R/D	6'4"	221	05/10/85	Regina, Sask.	Anaheim Ducks (NHL)
Claude Giroux	R/D	5'11"	172	01/12/88	Ottawa, Ont.	Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)
Taylor Hall	L/G	6'1"	194	11/14/91	Kingston, Ont.	Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
Chris Kunitz	L/G	6'0"	193	09/26/79	Regina, Sask.	Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)
Andrew Ladd	L/G	6'2"	205	12/12/85	Maple Ridge, B.C.	Winnipeg Jets (NHL)
Milan Lucic	L/G	6'4"	220	06/07/88	Vancouver, B.C.	Boston Bruins (NHL)
Brad Marchand	L/G	5'9"	183	05/11/88	Hammonds Plains, N.S.	Boston Bruins (NHL)
*#Rick Nash	L/G	6'4"	213	06/16/84	Brampton, Ont.	New York Rangers (NHL)
James Neal	L/G	6'2"	208	09/03/87	Whitby, Ont.	Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)
*Corey Perry	R/D	6'3"	210	05/16/85	Peterborough, Ont.	Anaheim Ducks (NHL)
*Michael Richards	L/G	5'11"	200	02/11/85	Kenora, Ont.	Los Angeles Kings (NHL)
Patrick Sharp	R/D	6'1"	199	12/27/81	Thunder Bay, Ont.	Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)
*#Eric Staal	L/G	6'4"	205	10/29/84	Thunder Bay, Ont.	Carolina Hurricanes (NHL)
Jordan Staal	L/G	6'4"	220	09/10/88	Thunder Bay, Ont.	Carolina Hurricanes (NHL)
#Martin St. Louis	R/D	5'9"	185	06/18/75	Laval, Que.	Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)
Steven Stamkos	R/D	6'0"	190	02/07/90	Unionville, Ont.	Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)
John Tavares	L/G	6'0"	199	09/20/90	Oakville, Ont.	New York Islanders (NHL)
*#Joe Thornton	L/G	6'4"	225	07/02/79	St. Thomas, Ont.	San Jose Sharks (NHL)
*Jonathan Toews	L/G	6'2"	210	04/29/88	Winnipeg, Man.	Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)