Update on Nate Hagemo...

I was wondering what had happened to Nate Hagemo after getting an invite to a rookie camp in Carolina this summer. Here is an update on Former Minnesota Gopher hockey star Nate Hagemo. Hagemo in in camp with the Florida Everblades on a two week tryout. Also, on the team is former
Michigan State A.J. Thelen is also on the team. I really hope that this works out for Hagemo...

After battling addiction, prospective Blades defenseman happy to be back on ice.
By ANGELA BUSCH

ESTERO — Many of the players in Florida Everblades training camp have experienced ebbs and flows of stardom — from notoriety to anonymity — from the first round of the NHL draft to a long bus ride in hockey purgatory.

They’ve all been up and down. But it’s hard to find a Blades player who has been much higher, or lower, than Nate Hagemo.
----------snip----------
Truth is, Hagemo’s not even a Blade yet. He’s trying out over the next two weeks, trying to earn a roster spot by proving himself on the ice.

He just wants on the team. Three years after being selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the NHL draft — less than four months removed from his latest arrest — Hagemo, 21, doesn’t really care about the headlines or the stardom anymore.

He just wants to play hockey again.
The Edina, Minn., native was once a part of a proud tradition of gopher state hockey. He won a high school state championship with the Academy of Holy Angels as a sophomore in 2002, then spent the next two seasons at the U.S. National Under-18 Team development site in Ann Arbor, Mich., with Blades defenseman A.J. Thelen, who’s also from Minnesota.

“We’ve been skating and playing against each other since we were 10, 11 years old,” Thelen said of Hagemo. “Especially that year in Ann Arbor, we were always going against each other. We could relate to each other.”

“Whenever we played together, it made me pick up my game,” Hagemo said. “I always looked at (Thelen), and he made me want to get better.”

In 2004, the Minnesota Wild made Thelen the 12th overall selection in the NHL draft. A year later, Hagemo was picked 58th overall by Carolina.

Thelen headed to powerhouse Michigan State, while Hagemo picked perennial Frozen Four contender Minnesota. The hometown hockey heroes were on their way.
----------snip----------
The January arrest was Hagemo’s third run-in with the police since quitting Gophers hockey in 2006 due to complications from his shoulder injury and the addiction that was starting to interfere with his life.

That same year, he was arrested on suspicion of attempting to burglarize a house. In 2007, he was ticketed for refusing to take a blood-alcohol test after a traffic accident and for careless driving, with a revoked license.

Looking at Hagemo now, quiet with his teammates at Germain Arena, you’d never guess his past troubles. He’s one of the youngest players at Blades training camp and could almost be everyone else’s kid brother.

But Hagemo’s not just a wide-eyed hockey recruit anymore. Through his addiction, Hagemo saw places — including jail — he never thought he’d go. He knew he had to get help.

After his arrest in January, Hagemo enrolled in a 30-day treatment program in Minnesota. He says he has been sober since then and has just been focusing on getting back to hockey.

<- Read the whole article here ->

CHN's WCHA Season Preview

The College Hockey News has released its WCHA season preview in two parts. (1) & (2) Not a lot of change from the other polls around the college hockey media. Personally I do not have a problem with this poll. Like I have mentioned in the past, these polls mean nothing once the puck drops. If anything it could fire the teams up to play better and show they are better than a _______ ranking.

1. Denver
2. Colorado College
3. Minnesota State Mavericks
4. North Dakota Fighting Sioux
5. Minnesota
6. St. Cloud State
7. Wisconsin Badgers
8. Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
9. Michigan Tech Huskies
10. Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves

Here is what Dan Myers of the CHN Staff had to say about the Unversity of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. The biggest question for the Sioux is who is going to be the starting goaltender? I believe that question is going to be answered in a few weeks. I am predicting Freshman Brad Eidsness is going to be the man between the pipes.

North Dakota Fighting Sioux
Coach: Dave Hakstol
Last season: 28-11-4 overall, 18-7-3 WCHA

How they finished: North Dakota won the Midwest Regional and lost to eventual national champion Boston College in the national semifinals. UND was one of the nation’s top teams down the stretch, going unbeaten during an 18-game stretch from the beginning of January through mid-March, which has been a trend in recent years.

Changes: North Dakota lost two of their best players early to the NHL in forward T.J. Oshie and defenseman Taylor Chorney. Oshie and Chorney were arguably the two best players in the entire WCHA. They also lost senior goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux to graduation and will try to replace him with any number of untested options.

Strengths: Despite losing quality talent in all areas, North Dakota will bring in a number of blue-chip recruits to replace them. Chorney will be a tough loss, but the Sioux have a ton of talent at defense, which will be led by Joe Finley -- a towering force who stands at 6-foot-7. Chay Genoway is one of the conference’s most underrated talents. Freshmen Ben Blood and Corey Fienhage should step in and contribute immediately.

Weaknesses: Who is going to start in net? The favorite seems to be senior Aaron Walski -- who despite his advanced age, has played in only three games. Freshman Brad Eidsness and Graeme Harrington will also see plenty of time in net. The battle for the No. 1 job has not been decided. Is it because all three are playing well? Or is it because none of the three have stepped up? Only Hakstol knows the answer to that.

Outlook: Unlike years past, one can imagine North Dakota not finishing among the top two or three in the WCHA. They still might -- plenty of talent returns to the fold in Grand Forks, including oft-forgotten former Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Duncan. But UND has no proven goaltender and in a conference like the WCHA, that could be a problem. Of course, they said the same thing about Colorado College last season.

Projected Finish: 4th

Blake Wheeler makes the Bruins roster?

Mike McMahon and is reporting that Joe Finley's favorite dance partner from las season apparently has made the Boston Bruins opening day roster. Then while reading the Boston Globe web page it appears that this might still be in question. I guess there are two sides to every story depending on what publication you read.

Here is what Steve Conroy had to say about Blake Wheeler while it is interesting that Blake has made the Bruins, but after watching him play in the WCHA for three years and compare Wheeler to Milan Lucic is a stretch and I believe a disservice, are we to believe that Wheeler grew a pair over the off season? Having watched almost every game the Bruins played last season Lucic has been compared to Cam Neely by some. I don't know? I am going to be cynical when reading that comparison until I see actual visual evidence that this is the case. I would also be interested in seeing how Blake handles himself in a fight against an NHL player. So it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming days.

But the rookie (Wheeler) has made an impression.

“He’s shown a work ethic, skating, use of his size, every day getting better, willingness to learn. There’s a lot of similarities in that sense between him and (Milan) Lucic. They work hard and they’re sponges,” Chiarelli said. “They’re both big bodies but they’re different players. He works the puck along the boards like Lucic. He doesn’t have that nasty edge that Lucic has, but he can make plays with speed. I don’t want to put too much on his shoulders because we haven’t made our final decisions, but he’s done well.”

Sometimes I think the new CBA is a a cumbersome piece of paper that needs a lawyer to translate some of the language that is in it. I think it is time for the Bruins to dump the under performing, over paid slug named Peter Schaefer. In retrospect this was a horrible off season pick up from last season and it is time for the Bruins to cut the dead weight. Schaefer spent a lot of time producing little in the way of offense and spent a good chunk of time on the fourth line if he played he also spent a good chunk of time sitting in the stands.

By Fluto Shinzawa --- Globe Staff October 7, 2008 It's one of the reasons former top-five pick Blake Wheeler, despite being one of the Bruins' best forwards in camp, is on the bubble between Boston and Providence.
Wheeler's base salary is capped at $875,000. But with bonuses figured in, his annual cap hit for this year and next could be $2.825 million - standard pay for a skilled forward selected fifth overall in the 2004 draft. In comparison, the annual cap number for Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, the No. 2 pick in 2004, was $2.85 million before the Penguins extended the center.

Anaheim, facing a similar cap crunch, assigned forward Bobby Ryan, the No. 2 pick behind Sidney Crosby in 2005, to its AHL club in Iowa. Ryan had performed well in camp, but his cap number (just south of $2 million per year) was a factor.

So while Wheeler's number is in line with his comparables, the 22-year-old's hit is putting the squeeze on the cap-tight Bruins. They must decide what to do with the underperforming Peter Schaefer and his $2.1 million cap hit, far too steep for a player who was a fourth-liner and a healthy scratch for part of last season.

Former Sioux Taylor Chorney sent down to Springfield.

It was announced today by the Edmonton Oilers that Taylor Chorney has been sent to the Springfield Oilers. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before Taylor is called up by the Oilers.

Three players assigned to Springfield Oilers roster now stands at 26 Edmonton Oilers...
Press Release Oct 7, 2008, 11:28 AM EDT
Chorney The Edmonton Oilers have assigned centre Gilbert Brule and defencemen Taylor Chorney and Theo Peckham to the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League.

With the three assignments the Oilers roster stands at 26 players.

Hockey Futures breaks down the Sioux

Hockey Futures broke down the teams in the WCHA and talked each of the WCHA teams and about their NHL prospects. For comparison sake the Unversity of North Dakota Fighting Sioux have 13 NHL prospect on their team roster, on the flip side the Minnesota Golden Gophers have the most prospect at 17. On the other end of the spectrum UAA has one NHL prospect and MTU has 0.

Hockey Futures mentioned that the most pressing concern for the Fighting Sioux hockey team their goaltending situation. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the goaltending situaton is a major concern this season for the Fighting Sioux. In fact if you look at the stats of the returning goaltenders you will see a stat that kind of sticks like a sore thumb. The Fighting Sioux goalies on the Fighting Sioux roster have a combined total of one (1) start. The coaching staff this season will have to establish who is the starting goaltender before the meat of their conference schedule, if that does not happen it could be a long season between the pipes. Replacing Lamoureux will not be an easy task but I believe that Brad Eidsness can step up to the challenge.

University of North Dakota
(Number of NHL prospects on 2008-09 roster: 13)

The University of North Dakota capped their fourth straight season with a trip to the Frozen Four this past spring, but failed to come home with another National Championship. The Fighting Sioux are hoping to remedy that when they open their 2008-09 campaign on Oct. 10 at Agganis Arena against host Boston University in the Icebreaker Tournament.

There are a number of questions that face North Dakota coming into the season, the most pressing of which is in goal. Hobey Baker finalist Jean-Philippe Lamoureux has graduated. Lamoureux will go down as one of the program’s greatest goaltenders. He co-led the nation with six shutouts and posted a 27-11-4 record. His .932 save percentage and 1.74 goals against average were second in the nation. Senior Aaron Walski, who served as Lamoureux’s backup last season is the lone returning netminder. Competing with Walski for playing time will be Brad Eidsness, one of two incoming freshmen. Eidsness, a 2007 draft selection of the Buffalo Sabres, comes to North Dakota after a stellar campaign with Okotoks (AJHL) that earned him the league’s MVP honor.

“I think we’re probably going to end up with quite a battle for playing time in net,” said head coach Dave Hakstol. “Aaron Walski, our returning senior, even though he hasn’t had a whole lot of time in net, has certainly put himself in a position to play and earn minutes this year. Brad Eidsness was recruited into our program to do the job. So we’re pretty confident that he’ll be able to develop into that role. It’s a matter of how much time it will take him to do just that, to develop into that No. 1 role. But he’s certainly going to have every opportunity to compete for playing time.”

Check out the Wild's stupid mascot

I saw this over on Puck Daddy but also in the Star and Tribune. The NHL doesn't need anymore cute Bears or other various animals and life forms. This appears to a marketing gimmick.

Blowing sunshine up your...

After watching the Sioux play in an exhibition game against the Manitoba Bison last night I have to say that there is a lot to be positive about. The overrated senior team captain and 2007 Hobey Baker Memorial winner Ryan Duncan (that is how some WCHA fans describe him) looked really good on a line with Chris VandeVelde and Brad Miller. Got that Ducan haters? Even without T.J. Oshie or Toews flanking him, Ryan Duncan managed to score two beautiful goals helping the Sioux to a 6-2 route of the Manitoba Bison.

Also, there is some positive mojo emitting from the Fighting Sioux hockey team getting a balanced attack as 10 of the 14 forwards factored into the games scoring. Granted there were two extra forwards because the game was listed as an exhibition and the Sioux could dress as many players as they wanted. None the less; the Fighting Sioux hockey team looked small (aside from Malone and Davidson), quick and moved the puck around nicely dominating a much slower Manitoba game. The speedy Sioux appeared to run out of gas in the third period but that is to be expected since the Sioux have only had one official practice going into the game.

He’s here…

Jason Gregoire scored the first goal of the game with an impressive shot and gave us a glimpse of why I am feeling good about this year’s version of the Fighting Sioux hockey team. Also adding to my enthusiasm, Evan Trupp returned from a season ending injury to race up and down the ice giving the opposition fits. I expect a much bigger role from Trupp if he can stay healthy. According to Tim Hennesy during the pregame radio Trupp has gained some more muscle in the off season. I don't know he still looks small, but fast.

Team Weakness?

Coming into this season there is no mystery that the Fighting Sioux have three question marks; the unproven goalie trio of Aaron Walski (sr), Brad Eidsness (fr), and Graeme Harrington (fr). Some one from this untested group of goalies has to step up and be the man between the pipes.

Personally I think that is the one of the few weakness of this other wise very solid hockey team. League wide the Denver Pioneers will probably also experience the same growing pains as they break in a relatively green goaltender in Sophomore Marc Cheverie.

While not having a proven goaltender could be a big mountain to climb at first I think people also forget that the C.C Tigers won a majority of the games behind a relatively unknown and unproved goaltender in Richard Bachman, while the Minnesota Golden Gophers settled on Alex Kangas after demoting Jeff Long Island Frazee to the bench after a series of on the ice melt downs.

Predicting the Finish

This past week we saw the hockey experts at INCH predict that UND could finish as low as 7Th in the WCHA, As a homer blogger wearing Kelly green and white shades I just don’t see that happening not with this team, UNLESS we have a major sieve fest in the net this season. If that prediction actually came to fruition they would run head coach Dave Hakstol and his staff out of Grand Forks on a rail. I predict it would get ugly if you know what I mean? We had people asking for Hakstol head after he lead his team to a 4th Frozen Four in a row and lost, can you imagine the anger if his NHL prospect laden team finished 7th?

All pontifications aside I believe that UND has a top five team and possibly could finish in the top two positions, I believe there is no way they can over take the much heralded and powerful Colorado College Tigers or so we have been told. From what I have been told is that the league has told the Tigers to hold onto the cup because there is no way anyone else even has a chance of taking the MacNaughton Cup from the Colorado College Tigers this season. That being said the TIGERS are good...

USCHO releases first poll of the season...

Here is the first USCHO Division 1 hockey poll... As a Fighting Sioux homer I think this poll has the Fighting Sioux ranked a little too high. The Fighting Sioux start the season with three unproven goaltenders. It will be interesting to see how long B.C. stays atop the national polls and if there will be a hang over. The Eagles officially have the target on their back. Let the games begin.

USCHO.com/CSTV Division I Men's Poll
1 Boston College (36) 25-11-8 969 7
2 Michigan ( 5) 33- 6-4 922 1
3 Colorado College ( 7) 28-12-1 874 6
4 Notre Dame ( 1) 27-16-4 829 12
5 North Dakota ( 1) 28-11-4 789 3
6 Denver 26-14-1 707 4
7 New Hampshire 25-10-3 648 5
8 Miami 33- 8-1 613 2
9 Boston University 19-17-4 565 15
10 Minnesota 19-17-9 503 10
11 Michigan State 25-12-5 440 9
12 Princeton 21-14-0 427 13
13 Clarkson 22-13-4 375 11
14 Wisconsin 16-17-7 358 17
15 St. Cloud State 19-16-5 299 8
16 Northern Michigan 20-20-4 257 NR
17 Cornell 19-14-3 186 NR
18 Minnesota State 19-16-4 170 14
19 Harvard 17-13-4 134 16
20 Vermont 17-15-7 90 18
----------------------------------------
Others Receiving Votes: Northeastern 74, Air Force 59, Niagara 58, Ferris State 42, Mass.-Lowell 30, Massachusetts 21, Minnesota-Duluth 17, Providence 8, Yale 6, Maine 5, Bowling Green 3, Dartmouth 3, Quinnipiac 3, Rensselaer 3, Union 3, Bemidji State 2, RIT 2, Robert Morris 2, St. Lawrence 2, Mercyhurst 1, Michigan Tech 1

Blake Wheelers on the Bruins opening night roster?

Michael McMahon has an interesting article on the Bruins Media day. It appears the Boston Bruins are exited to have former Golden Gopher Blake Wheeler on their teams. It also sounds like the Bruins front office staff have some tough decisions to make before the regular season begins but it also appears that Wheeler has a chance to join former Gopher Phil Kessel on the Bruins roster to start the season.

Claude Julien: On Blake Wheeler.

On the camp that Blake Wheeler has had: “I don’t think I had seen him play before we signed him. He’s a fifth overall pick, and you need to give credit to Peter and the front office for being able to get us this type of guy.

General Manager Peter Chiarelli: On Blake Wheeler

On the camp that rookie Blake Wheeler has had: “He’s a big guy, and a big body. He has a lot of skill, he’s shown that. We have some important decisions to make in the next couple of days. With the cap the way it is now, performance bonuses count in your cap, it’s a hard number. Before, the performance bonuses went beyond the cap. When you have guys like Tuuka Rask and Blake Wheeler, they were high draft picks and they have a lot of performance bonuses built into their contracts. That makes it a different decision than we would have had to make before.”

According the Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald the Bruins might actually deal the overpaid over rated Peter Schaefer if Wheeler makes the Bruins.

Chiarelli said there’s a good chance he’ll make a trade in the coming days, and no doubt he has been trying to deal Schaefer ($2.1 million). Barring that, though, if the team decides that rookie Blake Wheeler has made the club, it seems likely Schaefer will have to be waived and sent down to Providence. . . .

Duncan and Watkins leads the Sioux to a 6-2 victory.

Tonight was the first time we got to see some of the new Fighting Sioux players and get reacquainted with a few of the older Sioux players in a exhibition game against Manitoba.

First thing that I noticed tonight that big Joe Finley and Chay Genoway were back paired together on defense. Another thing that stuck out was this years version of the Fighting Sioux seems to be smaller, quicker and more talented.

Tonight, the Sioux were lead by Matt Watkins a goal and two assists and Ryan Duncan who chipped in two goals.

Box Score
1st Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MTB-1 Myles Rumsey (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 0x1 8:00
MTB-2 Nick Hotson (2-Hooking) NDK 1x2 10:01
NDK 1 - 0 6x5 PP LL Jason Gregoire (Matt Watkins) 11:41
NDK: 17,20,29,2,5,G30 MTB: 17,24,12,20,G34
MTB-3 Rick Wood (2-Interference) NDK 1x3 16:17
NDK-1 Chris VandeVelde (2-Interference) MTB 0x1 17:12

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NDK-2 Chris VandeVelde (2-Slashing) MTB 0x2 0:32
NDK-3 Joe Finley (2-Cross-Checking) MTB 0x3 5:46
MTB-4 Cole Hunter (2-Hooking) NDK 2x4 12:13
NDK 2 - 0 6x5 PP Matt Watkins (Brad Miller, Brad Malone) 12:25
NDK: 20,14,22,8,25,G31 MTB: 27,12,11,28,G34
NDK-4 Mario Lamoureux (2-Hooking) MTB 1x4 13:01
MTB 1 - 2 6x5 PP Riley Dudar (Myles Rumsey, Nick Hotson) 14:03
MTB: 10,3,15,16,18,G34 NDK: 29,25,16,6,G31
NDK 3 - 1 6x6 GW Andrew Kozek (Evan Trupp, Ben Blood) 14:56
NDK (+): 10,19,24,17,3,G31 MTB (-): 24,17,10,28,3,G34
NDK 4 - 1 6x6 Brett Hextall (Mario Lamoureux, Chay Genoway) 18:36
NDK (+): 9,5,2,26,11,G31 MTB (-): 12,17,10,19,5,G34

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NDK-5 Zach Jones (2-Cross-Checking) MTB 2x5 1:58
MTB 2 - 4 6x5 PP EA Stephane Lenoski (Mike Hellyer, P.P. Lamoureux) 3:38
MTB: 12,11,20,9,10,25 NDK: 5,29,10,2,G31
NDK-6 Matt Watkins (2-Hooking) MTB 2x6 3:38
MTB-5 P.P. Lamoureux (2-Interference) NDK 2x5 4:05
NDK 5 - 2 6x6 Ryan Duncan (Chris VandeVelde, Matt Watkins) 6:24
NDK (+): 16,29,20,2,5,G31 MTB (-): 12,20,16,15,19,G34
NDK-7 Mario Lamoureux (2-Interference) MTB 2x7 7:25
MTB-6 Nolan Waker (2-Tripping) NDK 2x6 9:16
MTB-7 Mark Olafson (2-High-Sticking) 14:49
NDK-8 Evan Trupp (2-High-Sticking) 14:49
MTB-8 David Brown (2-Interference) NDK 3x7 15:22
NDK 6 - 2 5x4 PP Ryan Duncan (Brad Miller, Chay Genoway) 15:48
NDK: 16,14,5,29,G35 MTB: 20,27,12,G34

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Game

No Sioux on the 2008-09 Preseason All-CHN Team

CHN released their all-CHN team. I don't have a problem with these teams for most but I guess I would have to say that I am shocked that James vanRiemsdhyke or Colin Wilson not being on one of the first two teams is kind of puzzling, but each his own. I expect huge things out both of these two sophmores. I think one could also make the same case for Duncan or Roe. Oh well.

Players to Watch
F - Ryan Duncan, Sr., North Dakota - 2007 Hobey Baker Award winner, has put up the numbers in the past, now he must lead.
F - Colin Wilson, So., Boston University - The highest pick among college players in last June's NHL Draft, decided to stay in school when Nashville could not assure him an NHL spot.
F - Garrett Roe, So., St. Cloud - Petered out near the end of last season, after putting up big numbers.
F - James vanRiemsdyk, So., New Hampshire - Decided to stick around in college, the highest NHL pick to do so. Really picked up his game towards the end of last season, has the potential to be dominant.

Western College Hockey reviews the Fighting Sioux...

Check out what Chris from Western College hockey had to say about the Sioux. I really think UND is flying under the radar this season.

NCAA Hockey Season Preview: University of North Dakota
A look at the 2008-2009 North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey team.
View more »

It's tough to characterize last season as anything but a disappointment for the University of North Dakota hockey team. The team brought back an impressive array of talent and started the season as the hands-down number one team in the country. But the Sioux got off to a disappointing start when they split their first eight series of the season. They made a nice run at the end of the season, but failed to win the regular season championship, the WCHA postseason tournament, and though they made the Frozen Four, they were embarrassed by Boston College in the semifinal for the third straight year.

Bird cage liner: INCH'S WCHA Predicted Finish

Here is something you can line your bird cage with or put in your cat’s litter box; seriously folks it is no mystery that the writers at INCH are trying to get a rise out of their readership or they just plain didn’t do their homework.

First off: I am not all that shocked because this article was posted on INCH. Let’s just say INCH has a history of trying to incite the masses, by writing silly things. Most objective WCHA fans know that INCH has a love feast for Hockey East, EZAC and the CCHA and cant see past border of Michigan.

Also, INCH has a history of being wrong and writing stupid things about WCHA, that is why I take more credence in what the College Hockey News has to say they are more objective and balanced. All you have to do is listen to one of their podcasts and you will see what I mean. That is how I stay motivated during my winter workouts, I listen to INCH podscasts and it drives me nuts. That being said I do actually expect more out Jess Myers who is supposed to be a WCHA guy and usually doesn't write this type of objectionable garbage. I don't see a 7th place finish for the Sioux and if they do it isn't going to be pretty in Grand Forks, ND.

October 2, 2008
2008-09 WCHA Preview --- By Jess Myers
Predicted Finish

1. Colorado College: Yes, Jack Hillen is gone. But so many formidable elements return as the Tigers seek their fourth MacNaughton Cup in the past seven seasons.
2. Denver: Rakhshani and Ruegsegger (with a hefty helping of Bozak) make the Pioneers as hard to stop as they are to spell. The lone question is in goal.
3. St. Cloud State: Good goaltending and great offense return to the fold, as Husky fans swear this is the year they'll be playing in April, in Roe's backyard.
4. Wisconsin: With Gardiner joining McBain, Smith, Goloubef and McDonagh on the back side, the Badgers have arguably the most defensive talent in the nation.
5. Minnesota State: The political world isn't the only place where you'll find hard-working Mavericks who talk about the importance of veteran experience.
6. Minnesota: Thirteen members of the Gopher roster didn't play college hockey last year. A dozen of them are freshmen, and one, thankfully, is Ryan Stoa.
7. North Dakota: A lack of proven talent in goal is the big question for the Sioux. Of course, we had similar thoughts about CC last year, and that turned out fine.
8. Minnesota Duluth: The offensive depth and the goaltending are the bright spots at the DECC. But defensive questions need answers for the Bulldogs to move up.
9. Michigan Tech: The duo of Nolan in goal and Kinrade on the blue line is a good place to start. But the Huskies need goal-scorers to stay in the home ice race.
10. Alaska Anchorage: The trio of Lunden, Crowder and Clark combined for 73 points last season. Beyond them, well, did we mention that you can see Russia?

Here is what Ryan Duncan had to say on the Fighting Sioux chances, first thing that comes to mind is nice job of sand bagging Ryan. I have to admit that Duncan is class act and of course he isn't going to tip his hat on how good UND is going to be this year.

PRIMED FOR A FALL

North Dakota doesn't have any superstars, unless you count a former Hobey Baker winner.
The words sound like a sports cliché, until you remember that the guy uttering them has a Hobey on his resume.

"There are no superstars on our team this year," said North Dakota senior forward Ryan Duncan, who took home the game's top individual award as a sophomore. "There's a different team aspect here than in previous years."

The list of would-be Fighting Sioux who have elected to take a paycheck instead of a fourth (or in some cases, a third) year of college hockey is impressive. What remains in Grand Forks is a close-knit group of seven seniors determined to lead North Dakota on a fifth straight Frozen Four trip, and to win two more games than they have in previous years. Still, there are myriad questions to be answered about defense, goaltending (returning senior Aaron Walski has less than two full games worth of playing time in his college career) and who will lead the offense. Duncan welcomes the challenge, and invites opponents to make him the center of attention at their peril.

"If you're going to concentrate on me, you're going to have a whole heap of trouble from other guys," said Duncan, who is the team's top returning scorer with 40 points last season. "I'm just one piece of the puzzle, so if they want to focus on me, that's fine."

Ouch: with friends like Martin Skoula...

Jim Mone, Associated Press
Ouch that is going to leave a mark, you just hope that Harding won't miss too much time, although Harding claims he is going to be ready I still get nervous when I see freak accidents like that happen.

I sometimes wounder if the NHL goalies shouldn't be wearing the same face masks as the NCAA Division 1 college goaltenders. There is way too much room in Harding's mask for a stick to poke him in the eye.

Wild goaltender Josh Harding wasted little time Thursday declaring himself ready to get back into the net.

"Everything's fine," Harding said after watching -- through sunglasses -- his teammates practice. "It's just a slight scratch. But nothing serious. I should be back right away."

In Wednesday night's preseason game against Buffalo, Harding was poked in the right eye with the blade of a stick that made it through the eyehole of his goalie mask. He was sent to a hospital as a precautionary measure.

Humorous picture.

I like this picture, I had this emailed to me by a friend of mine.

Duncan named captain of the fighting Sioux

I just saw this over on Brad's Blog first I am surprised that there are 3 players wearing the "A". I was right on my prediction that Duncan and Finley would be wearing letters.

UND just officially announced this season's captains. They are as expected:

C -- Ryan Duncan
A -- Matt Watkins
A -- Joe Finley
A -- Zach Jones

Bettman's Surprise Party

In honour of the fifteenth year that Gary Bettman has been NHL Commissioner, I have decided to have a surprise party in his name. Of the guests expected to attend the party, at a playground for the elite, are: Craig Leipold (Wild owner) , William Del Biaggio III (former Predators owner), Philip Anschutz (Kings owner) and Henry Samueli (Ducks owner).

While the names seem inconspicuous to the layman, they are at the heart of the downfall that may decide the kid commissioner's fate.

Leipold, Anschutz and Del Baggio, for the purposes of this article, are named the Three Amigos. From the outside, it appears they have conspired to undermine Bettman with the other 27 owners.

The tale is long and twisted with a plot that would make John Grisham or Dean Koontz stand up and take notice.

"Anschutz and Leipold are on Gary's executive committee"

It seems that Leipold and Anschutz, two of Bettman's closest confidants, lent Del Baggio $17 million in his attempt to buy a $25 million stake in the Nashville Predators. While it isn't clear what Leipold's motive was it is alleged that Anschutz wanted an empty transport truck warming up in front of the Sommet Center in Nashville (aka Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts). Even though Del Baggio had a minority stake in the Predators, he apparently had the ability to move the team to Kansas City, where Anschutz's Entertainment Group happened to own the Sprint Center.

Bettman, smug and cocky, at the best of times, went before the board of governors and told them he had no prior knowledge of this shady deal made in the dark hearts of men.

"Anschutz and Leipold are on Gary's executive committee," an NHL insider told Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star. " These are guys who are at the power centre of the league, close to Gary, and supposed to be his best allies and here they were lending Del Biaggio money, and not telling Gary, at a time when they were supposed to be reviewing his offer to become an owner.

"It stinks."

Will not tolerate any criminal activity from its owners

Just when Bettman thought his surprise party couldn't get any worse, Samueli, led by federal authorities, enters the party.

The owner of the Anaheim Ducks faces the prospect of five years probation and $12.2 million in fines after admitting he lied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commmission about a stock option scandal within his company Broadcom.

The smart thing for Bettman to do, if not the most obvious, would be to distance himself from Samueli and say that the NHL will not tolerate any kind of criminal activity from its owners.

In his typical evasive style, Bettman said Samueli is one of the most charitable men in Orange County and he wasn't going to worry about something that may or may not have occurred.

The commish didn't have to run Samueli up the yardarm but he should have made it clear that these type of incidents aren't acceptable in the NHL.

I couldn't make this stuff up.

Ill-conceived expansion over the last fifteen years

These owners are Bettman's hand-picked choices and I guess nothing less than blind loyalty from him was warranted. In the words of a salty dog, "The man is going down with the ship."

I think that greed and arrogance have played a large role in these incidents. When Bettman started his expansion plans across the Southern U.S., how could the owners resist lining their pockets with expansion money? Or how could Bettman, the owners messiah, admit that he was wrong in pushing hockey into markets where it doesn't stand a chance of ever succeeding.

Or maybe it was all bad luck.

Not likely, considering these recent incidents are a direct result of ill-conceived expansion over the last fifteen years.

Having said that, what these two episodes show us is quite clear.

It seems Bettman's zeal for hockey in southern markets has resulted in a lack of due diligence in the search for owners. It also appears the commish is running a banana republic. What the hell are the Three Amigos dealing in secret for?

Maybe Gary took his invisible pills that week.

At least one thing is clear, "we all see you Gary and we're watching."

Fighting Sioux debate continues

I would be interested in knowing how many ohter Native American's feel just like John Chaske.

Spirit Lake tribal members to attend UND hockey game this weekend
By Mike Bellmore - Features Editor --- FORT TOTTEN, N.D.
John Chaske is part of a Spirit Lake Committee in support of the Fighting Sioux nickname at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

It’s a committee that has been in contact with school officials in Grand Forks and secured up to 100 tickets for an exhibition hockey game this weekend at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

UND is planning to unveil the Tribal Flag during the pre-game ceremonies to honor the Native American people and veterans of Spirit Lake and Standing Rock Reservations.

“I’m in favor of the nickname as long as it honors our people and does nothing disrespectful to them,’’ says Chaske. “I think there’s actually a silent majority in favor of it, but not many people seem to want to step forward on it.’’

UND is offering transportation for the tribal elders and veterans (a charter bus) , but only one bus will be available for those at Standing Rock and Spirit Lake.

Pre-Season Prognosticating (Sioux 7)

I thought I would start out the season with some big words and make an attempt to appear smarter than I am. The Goon has nicely enough posted the preseason polls. As we all know that is usually based on how the team did the previous year, not on what they did in the off season. I predict it will be a close race between the top 3teams this year, of course it always seems that way. This is how the voices in my head told me the standing would be at in March 2009.

1. UND
2. Denver
3. CC
4. SCSU
5. Minnesota
6. Wisconsin
7. UM-Duluth
8. MSU-Mankato
9. MTU
10. UAA

When predicting the season it is always a good idea to pick your favorite team to finish first. It is also, lets call it a traditon, to pick UAA to finish last :)

I think the middle of pack this season, just like last, will come down to final weekend(s) to see who gets home ice advantage. Lets hope the referee's this year don't blow as many games as they did last season, UW and SCSU fans really can relate to those games.

UND un-officially starts the season this Sunday in an exhibition tilt against the U. of Manitoba. The Sioux officially start play on Oct 10 at Boston U and Oct. 11 vs. U-Mass. The regular season will end with UND playing on the road at UW, March 6-7.
The Seawolves have already played their first un-official game of the season, that resulted in a 4-0 loss to the US U-18 team on Sept. 25.

Media poll vs the Coaches poll.

Here are the results of the Capital times media poll.

STANDINGS
Team (first-place votes) Points Last year
1. Colorado College (22) 247 1
2. North Dakota (3) 210 2
3. Denver 192 3
4. Minnesota 156 7
(tie) Wisconsin 156 6
6. St. Cloud State 133 t4
7. Minnesota State 124 t4
8. Minnesota-Duluth 78 8
9. Michigan Tech 51 9
10. Alaska Anchorage 32 10

Here are the results of the WCHA Coaches poll.

1. Colorado College (8) 78
2. UND (2) 67
3. Denver 62
4. (tie) Minnesota 53
4. (tie) Wisconsin 53
6. St. Cloud State 48
7. MSU-Mankato 38
8. Minn.-Duluth 24
9. Michigan Tech 14
10. Anchorage 13

If you look at these two polls you will see that they shook out the EXACT same way, I would have never expected that in a 100 years. I mean Of course C.C. is the pick to repeat as the leauge champion, but you could get a lot of different variations from 2-10, well 2-9 at least.

I also think the only thing that is certain this season; is that there will be a lot of uncertainty in the WCHA this season. After the first place C.C. Tigers I think any of the teams in the 2-7 position could realistically finish in the top five.

It seems to be a yearly occurrence and this year is no different, there are going to be a few teams in the WCHA breaking in a high number of freshman. The Minnesota Golden Gophers has 12 freshmen on this season’s roster. While I have heard a few Gopher fans pointing to last season's Michigan team as an example of how Minnesota might/could finish, (for the record the Michigan Wolverines had 11 freshman on their team last season) that being said, I really believe last years Wolverine team was an enigma and they finished the regular season relatively unscathed even with a high number of freshman. Realistically the season could have finished a whole lot differently for the Wolverines. Hockey is a game of breaks; a couple of bad break here and a couple of bad moves here could have landed the Wolverines lower in the CCHA standings. That also doesn't mean I think the Gophers are going to suck. The Gophers have a lot of question marks like the many of the other 9 teams in the league not named the Tigers.

Some of the Pressing issues

Some of the other issues that are going to surface are: 1.) How are DU and UND going to fare with their untested goaltenders? 2.) Who is going to score for MTU and UMD? 3.) Can UAA win more the 6 games? 4.) Will UMN have more scoring punch than last season?

WCHA fans are soon going to find out how the regular season shakes out. This is why they play the games. Preseason Polls/rankings mean nothing after the drop of the puck of the first game. In fact preseason rankings could probably serve a better purpose as bird cage liner or toilet paper for your out house behind the hunting shack. Being the defending WCHA league champion, means nothing once the regular season begins, teams are going to be coming after the C.C. Tigers hard. With that being said, it is my pleasure to say that the Tigers now officially have the target on their back.