So you say that there is a chance?

This is an interesting spin and I haven't seen yet - I mean from the NHL labor dispute point of view - I guess this could play out this way… I guess there really isn’t much going on right now during the dog days of summer. I mean the television networks that broadcast the hockey games are going to be one of the parties that has a lot to lose if there is a work stoppage.

I am also hoping that if there is a NHL lockout that NBC Sports Network comes up with a hockey alternative, like broadcasting more games from the AHL, ECHL or CHL hockey and well showing more college hockey games as well. I guess we are jumping the gun but I would hope that there will be something to fill the void that is left if there is a work stoppage.

Bruce Dowbiggin, Globe and Mail --- One broadcast change from the 2004-05 lockout is there is a considerable TV component at play for the NHL if a lockout goes too far. Eight years ago, NBC, which had made no payments to the league for its rights, understood it might have no content and did not pressure the NHL for an early CBA settlement.

This time, the league has much invested in its partnership with HBO on 24/7, a sports-documentary program that leads into the much-ballyhooed Detroit/Toronto Winter Classic on NBC. For that series to go as planned, filming must start in late November or early December. Losing the HBO connection would be a blow to the prestige the NHL has built of late with its new initiatives.

That’s reminiscent of what happened in the 1994-95 lockout when Fox TV had paid a significant rights fee to start carrying games in January of 1995. The obligation to pacify its U.S. TV partner pushed the NHL to settle earlier than it wanted and, in some ways, created the conditions for the disastrous lockout 10 years later.

These are things to consider - the NHL and HBO would lose a lot of money if there wasn't an NHL season this year. I have read where some speculate that he NHL wants to be going by November so they don’t miss out on their money maker. One silver lining is, if there is an NHL lockout, I guess one could always spend more time with our families. Yeah!

Glendale rejects petitions to oppose Coyotes' arena deal

Finally!!! In the never ending saga that is the Phoenix Coyotes there is finally some good news for the Yotes fans. Ken Jones and Joe Cobb effort to put a referendum on the November ballot has failed when they missed the July ninth deadline to turn in 1800+ signatures.

The Associated Press --- The Glendale City Clerk's Office has rejected petitions that sought to put a referendum on the November ballot about the Phoenix Coyotes' pending arena management deal.

City officials said Monday that the petitions missed the July 9 deadline by three days and lacked the required 1,862 signatures.

The two Glendale residents who spearheaded the referendum turned in 1,568 signatures last Thursday.

Ken Jones and Joe Cobb said they wanted to give voters a chance to decide whether to overturn Glendale's 20-year, $324 US million lease agreement with potential Coyotes buyer Greg Jamison. The City Council approved the deal last month.

The NHL has yet to finalize the sale to Jamison, a former San Jose Sharks chief executive. But league officials say the deal still is being worked on.

Apparently the referendum organizers don't want to go away quitely into the night. One of the lead organizers of the petition drive Ken Jones, told the Republic's Lisa Halverstadt.

"I am one of the two originators of the referendum. We still expect a public vote on Glendale's expensive lease with Jamison, the potential owner of the Coyotes hockey team.

"We are determined to force fans to pay for their hockey. If the public doesn't get to vote on the Jamison lease, we have two backup plans.

"First, if it becomes necessary, a ground roots effort will be made to add a $30.00 surcharge or special use tax to every future ticket sold for regular season and playoff games. If this does not work, we will go to a Plan B and then continue until hockey costs are removed from Glendale's taxpayers

NCAA boss Mark Emmert is open to PSU death penalty

While I do think that PSU football could receive the death penalty – color my cynical – I just don’t see it happening. In the end the almighty dollar will prevail. Mark my words… A death penalty would affect the bottom line of more than one school – the NCAA would be hard pressed to cause suffering on the other B1G schools.

NEW YORK (AP) --- The president of the NCAA says he isn't ruling out the possibility of shutting down the Penn State football program in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

In a PBS interview Monday night, NCAA President Mark Emmert said he doesn't want to "take anything off the table" if the NCAA determines penalties against Penn State are warranted. Emmert said he's "never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of just overall conduct and behavior inside a university."

He added, "What the appropriate penalties are, if there are determinations of violations, we'll have to decide." The last time the NCAA shut down a football program with the so-called "death penalty" was in the 1980s, when SMU was forced to drop the sport because of extra benefits violations.

After the NCAA suspended the SMU program for a year, the school decided not to play in 1988, either, as it tried to regroup.

While I would personally have no problem with the NCAA throwing the book at Penn State University, however, I don't think it's going to happen. Not in this case. All you have to do is look to the SMU scandal of the 1980's to realize that there might never be another NCAA death penalty handed out again – the death penalty buried the SMU football program into a twenty year period of mediocrity that they are finally recovering from now.

In 2002, John Lombardi, then president of the University of Florida and now president of the Louisiana State University System, expressed the sentiment of many college officials when he said:

“ SMU taught the committee that the death penalty is too much like the nuclear bomb. It's like what happened after we dropped the (atom) bomb in World War II. The results were so catastrophic that now we'll do anything to avoid dropping another one.”

That’s not to say that the acts that happened on PSU’s campus aren’t egregious, because they are disgusting – there is also no way to sugar coat this mess. I am just not hopeful that the NCAA will do it in this instance. We will be watching to see how this shakes out.

Now we find out from an L.A. Times article that the Sandusky might have been abusing young boys as early as the 1970’s. Wow!

Joe Paterno’s family continued its fight Monday to save the reputation of one of college football’s most honored coaches, insisting that it will conduct its own investigation into the Penn State University child sex-abuse scandal tied to Jerry Sandusky. Meanwhile, reports that Sandusky may have abused some victims as early as the 1970s raised new questions about the already complicated legal liability issues in the scandal.

Citing "sources close to the Jerry Sandusky case," the Patriot-News reported that three men have told police that they were abused in the 1970s or 1980s by Sandusky, who was convicted in June on 45 criminal charges of sexually abusing boys. He is in jail awaiting sentencing...

So the sports world is watching – what the NCAA does next is anyone’s bet…

Brian Skrudland not concerned with Bjudstads development at Minnesota

Miami Herald photo

Guy Flaming co-host of the Pipeline show 1260 A.M. out of Edmonton, Alberta interviewed Brian Skrudland the Director of Player Development for the Florida Panthers. Guy asked Skrudland  if Bjugstad staying in Minnesota for another year would hurt his development as a hockey player. Here is what Skrudland had to say about the matter.

I'm not sure so I asked Brian Skrudland the question to see if the Panthers organization shared the same concern.

"Well... that is a concern," Skrudland admitted, "But when you've got such a quality organization as [the University of] Minnesota has provided there... the off ice strength and conditioning coach, Cal Dietz, has done a fabulous job with Nick. There are a lot of positive things about him going back. The only negative is that he won't be wearing a Panthers jersey and helping us score some goals next year."

"It's an opportunity for him to finish something that he started and we love that as far as the character of the person," continued Skrudland, "And it's an opportunity to go back and maybe win the Hobey Baker and hopefully a national championship as well."

It would appear that the Florida Panther don’t have the same concerns about Minnesota like Garth Snow of the New York Islanders had. That being said, it would appear that the Panthers wanted Nick Bjudstad to sign a professional contract.

Just for the record Guy Flaming and Dean Millard are very fair hosts and are by no shape of the imagination anti-NCAA hockey but in this case I also think that Guy might have a point…

Flaming posed this question Bjugstad… “Could his progress stagnate, or even regress, playing at a level that in many ways, he is already a dominant player?”

I think that is a good question and only time will tell – I think the Gophers will definitely benefit from another season of having Nick Bjugstad on their roster and his presence will make them one of the top teams to beat in the WCHA this season if the Gophers can figure out who is going to be the man between the pipes for the Gophers.

[click to listen to podcast]

No NHL Hockey this season?

Could the NHL once again stand for the No Hockey League? It appears that that might be the case.

Apparently, Joe Yerdon of Pro Hockey Talk is saying that a source close to the situation, said that a lost season could very well be a possibility.

That is definitely a dooms day scenario - me personally - I am going to remain hopeful, because it's very early in the negotiation process and the CBA doesn't even expire until the 15th of September.

Like Redwing77 said, it's early in the negotiations and no need to panic just yet. Hopefully this is just someone throwing this out there with the hopes that something sticks.

In fact, one source with knowledge of the players’ side of the negotiation is predicting not just a work stoppage, but an entire lost season.

“Last time around, the NHL made its salary cap proposal and barely moved off it,” the source, speaking under the condition of anonymity, told PHT. “This is not an initial proposal. The league is shutting down and it’s ‘come back when you’re ready to accept.’

“This is exactly what happened last time. You heard it here first, we will not play next year.”

After reading this post - I remain skeptical because I have yet to see anyone else pick up on this story, yet. Don't get me wrong, while I think it's very possible that there could be a season long work stoppage - I also can't believe that someone would utter this so early in the game - again Donald Fehr is yet to make a counter proposal. Let's see where the players what the players come up with.

Also, a labor stoppage for a whole season would be devastating to the NHL.

I watch Hockey 24/7 and I can’t fathom another work stoppage in the NHL that would take out the whole season. The 2004-05 season was a miserable time in my life and the lockout left a hole in many NHL fans hearts.

If the owners killed a whole season - it will be because of their own greed. Sure some teams might not come back after the work stoppage. But after a season where they made a record 3.3 billion dollars I have a hard time feeling sorry for them, especially after the latest free agent signing.

Updated Wild Wild Depth Chart

Michael Russo of the Star Tribune has the updated the depth chart for the Minnesota Wild. Seems like the Wild have a lot more talent to work with than other years. It will be interesting to see if former Denver Pioneer Jason Zucker can make the Wild out of training camp or if he will need a year in the minors before he makes the Wild.

It also seems like the Wild have a few pieces that they could trade if they had to. One question mark is whether Wild forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard will be able to make a comeback after suffering another concussion last season.

FORWARDS

Left wing-Center-Right wing

First line: Zach Parise-Mikko Koivu-Dany Heatley
Second line: Devin Setoguchi -Mikael Granlund-Pierre-Marc Bouchard
Third line: Matt Cullen-Kyle Brodziak-Cal Clutterbuck
Fourth line: Darroll Powe-Zenon Konopka-Torrey Mitchell
Extra: Matt Kassian

Vying for spots: Kassian, Stephane Veilleux, Jake Dowell, Jason Zucker, Brett Bulmer, Charlie Coyle, Johan Larsson, Nick Palmieri, Zack Phillips, Chad Rau, Jarod Palmer, Kris Foucault, David McIntyre, Carson McMillan, Justin Fontaine, Joel Broda.

DEFENSEMEN

Left-Right

First pair: Ryan Suter-Jared Spurgeon
Second pair: Marco Scandella-Tom Gilbert
Third pair: Clayton Stoner-Justin Falk/Nate Prosser
Extra: Falk/Prosser

Vying for spots: Falk, Prosser, Jonas Brodin, Steven Kampfer, Matt Dumba, Brian Connelly, Tyler Cuma, Chay Genoway, Drew Bagnall, Kyle Medvec, Josh Caron, Colton Jobke

GOALTENDERS

No. 1: Niklas Backstrom
No. 2: Josh Harding
In the wings: Matt Hackett, Darcy Kuemper

CBA musings

I have been trying to make heads or tails of the new CBA proposal by the NHL owners and let me just say that I have a bad feeling that it could be a long drawn out fight. We should be very worried about the NHL season starting on time – my gut feeling – I am going to predict that the season is delayed until at least November or December.

Jonathan Willis, edmontonjournal.com --- If the NHL gets its way on some of its demands – particularly it’s insistence that players sign five-year deals capped at the rookie maximum – that trickle will expand. To use an Oilers’ example, why would Nail Yakupov be willing to sign for five years on a contract with a base salary of less than $1 million when he could expect to make much more money much sooner in Russia? Particularly if, upon the completion of his five-year entry-level NHL deal, he could look forward to five more years of restricted free agency? Even if he were willing to do so, it seems likely that future drafts would see European players increasingly consider the Kontinental Hockey League as a viable option.

Another interesting wrinkle is the NHL/KHL memorandum of understanding. As things stand, the KHL respects NHL contracts, not poaching talent on deals, and the NHL does likewise. If, however, the NHL starts kneecapping its teams’ ability to compete financially with the KHL, the incentive of the Russian league to respect NHL rules would undoubtedly be greatly reduced.

The possibility exists that the league owners don’t care. What they’re asking for is a huge spike in the amount of money they get to take home, massive restrictions on the negotiating power of individual players, and a much longer time period before talented youngsters start earning big money. With the possibility of huge spikes in take-home money and greater certainty that drafted players will stay in the system for the long haul, an exodus of European talent back to Europe may not bother them in the least.

Initially; after perusing some of the proposals that the owners put forth – I decided that I don’t like the idea of extending entry level deals from three to five years. Why? There is no reason to do that. A player after playing in the NHL for three season should have the ability to get a substantial raise if he has been successful. All that is going to do is steer top European players to the KHL instead of the NHL. I wonder if the Minnesota Wild would miss out on a player like Mikael Granlund?

Also, I don’t think the players are going to take a big cut in pay from the owners especially after some of the ridiculous free agent contracts that have been signed this free agent signing period. Donald Fehr is on record as saying that player’s roll backs are not going to happen on his watch.

Just for comparison purposes the NFL and NBA players are making 47 and 50 percent of their leagues revenues. So it will be interesting to see what the NHL players agree to, I wonder if they would go very far below 50 percent.

By comparison, during labour disputes in the past year, players in the NFL and NBA agreed to revenue shares of roughly 47 percent and 50 percent, respectively. [thespec.com]

Based on the fact that the NHL made 3.3 billion last season – I don’t have a lot of empathy for the owners.

I also think that you might want to plan to do something else during the months of October and November – don’t plan on watching the NHL – because this disagreement is going to take a while if the owners don’t come down off their high horse.

NHL Team in Las Vegas?

(Design courtesy of LVAF)

Apparently, Las Vegas Arena Foundation of Las Vegas is considering building an arena big enough to support an NHL or NBA franchise. In the past Las Vegas has been named as a possible location to relocate the Phoenix Coyotes. One that has prevented any of the major sports from having a team in Las Vegas has been the gambling issue.

Las Vegas Sun --- proposing a 20,000-seat indoor arena to be built on the Strip on land owned by Caesars Entertainment behind Imperial Palace. The facility would be suitable for an NBA or NHL franchise, as well as other events such as concerts or the National Finals Rodeo, which has been at the Thomas & Mack Center since 1985. The LVAF is planning to fund the $500 million project by implementing a 0.9 percent sales tax for specified businesses within a three-mile radius of the proposed location.

Principals behind proposal

The Las Vegas Arena Foundation is a nonprofit organization formed to develop an arena specifically on land donated by Caesars Entertainment. The foundation’s chairman is former County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury. Other foundation leaders include Marybel Batjer, an executive with Caesars Entertainment; Danny Thompson, president of the AFL-CIO of Nevada; and Pat Shalmy, former Clark County manager.

Could be a good potential location for the NCAA Frozen Four and the Final Four in Men's and Women's Division I basket ball. 

Sifting through the debris of the PSU child abuse scandal…

I have spent the weekend reading about the Penn State University child abuse scandal and the more I read, the angrier I have become.

In a nut shell - power PSU administrators and an iconic football coach - covered up a grotesque, disgusting sexual abuse scandal for 14 years. This is really really nothing more than a sad and depressing case, that will plague Penn State University for a very long time.

The people that stepped forward were thrown under the bus and shunned publicly. In this case it would appear that the football program appears to have run the univeristy - when there was evidence of wrong doing - these same powerful people from the athletic department covered this disgusting scandal up and swept it under the rug.

Why? Because these same selfish people cared more about the football program and it's image than the health and welfare of young boys. I can tell you one thing, I wouldn't send my child to this school.

For 14 years they were silent and complicit in Sandusky's sexual abuse. For 14 years Paterno, President Graham Spanier, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Vice President Gary Schultz could have picked up the phone to call the cops and tell what they knew about Sandusky sexually assaulting young boys. But they didn't. All they cared about was negative attention and how it might reflect on the program and the university.[CNN Opinion]

There is no way anyone can defend this mess, this is totally unacceptable and there is no way anyone can defend this or sugar coat this. You can put chocolate sprinkles and frosting on a turd but in the end it's still a turd.

Earlier this week I said that the NCAA should throw the book at PSU, but after thinking about it what could they do about it. There also may not be any NCAA response to this mess/scandal.

That's the sad part is; I begrudgingly believe the Sicatoka might be right - there might not be anything that the NCAA can do about this, because it would be outside of their scope of control – as disgusting as this is, this would appear to be a criminal issue and maybe not worthy of a single NCAA sanctions. Sicatoka said recently in the comments of another blog post“…until the events can be shown to have violated some NCAA rule (lack of institutional control, maybe?) I don't see where the NCAA has any jurisdiction in this matter.

Going forward I think the first thing the University should have done to begin the healing process is tear down the statue Joe Paterno, unfortunately, that's not going to happen either or at least for now.

Don Van Natta Jr. , ESPN.com --- The embattled members of Penn State's Board of Trustees quietly have decided to leave Joe Paterno's statue standing -- at least for now and, some hope, forever, according to sources with firsthand knowledge of the trustees' private discussions this week. The trustees' reluctance to remove the statue is motivated, in part, by a desire not to offend alumni and students who adore the late coach despite the damning findings of his role in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse cover-up detailed in the Freeh report, the sources said. Some trustees also said in interviews they want to resist being pressured by the media into a sudden decision about such an emotionally charged issue.

I would love to see PSU take that statue of Joe Paterno and smash it into a thousand pieces and then melt it down into a molten blob.  In my opinion, from now on when Penn State will be for the crimes of Jerry Sandusky and how he sodomized young boys for 14 years in the showers of Penn State University athletic buildings and when he was caught the university swept it under the rug and covered it up - these people should also go to jail for a very long time because they are just culpable as well in this matter. I hope the victims sue Penn State into the ground.

Owners shoot first shot over the bow

The National Hockey League has made an initial offer to the NHL Players' Association and I am going to be honest with you, this could be a very long off season, especially if the Owners don't budge from their current position. There owners have suggested some major changes to the current CBA. Here is a pretty good break down by Julie Robenhymer of Hockey Buzz.

Here are the main points of the reported proposal:
- reduce hockey related revenues to 46% from 57%
- 10 seasons in NHL before becoming UFA
- contracts limited to 5 year terms
- same salary in each season of contract
- no more salary arbitration
- ELCs are 5 years instead of 3
- no signing bonuses
- cap ceiling to be $4M above midpoint, floor $8M under.

After taking a look at this proposal by the owners, it definitely looks like a red herring to me. I can't see the players signing an agreement that looks like this. I also don't see how the NHLPA would accept that big of a roll back in players salaries.

Nick Bjugstad returns to the Gophers

The Minnesota Gophers got some good news yesterday when they learned that their power forward Nick Bjugstad will be returning for his junior season. With the return of Bjugstad the Gophers are going to have the target on their back.

Lets not kid ourselves, Bjugstad is one of the better forwards in the WCHA and could’ve signed a entry level professional contract this summer if he wanted to.

Recently while listening to the P.A. show on KFAN 100.3 at the end of June,  the host Paul Allen had Michael Russo of the Star and Tribune on the show with him.

During that segment in question Russo said that if Bjugstad did in fact sign an entry level deal, he would probably would start the season in the AHL based on who the Panthers had on their roster. It also sounds like the Panthers were in no rush to sign the young Minnesota forward.

The upside is with Bjugstad staying in college, it doesn't hurt his development at all, he is going to play against older players. The Gophers also win because they don't to rush another forward in to take his place in the line up and they keep their coveted forward for one more season.

There is one loser in the equation - it's bad for WCHA goalies - who he could be lighting up for 20+ goals this season - Bjugstad had 25 last season. 

Gopher Sports --- Minnesota junior Nick Bjugstad announced today that he is returning to the Golden Gopher hockey team for the 2012-13 season.

"This is the right spot for me," said Bjugstad. "I am going to be close to finishing my education and hopefully can accomplish the goal that I have had ever since I was little, which is winning a national championship. We are going to have a good team this year and hopefully get another chance at the national championship and make a run there. I feel I can develop here and become more of a leader on the team as well. Hopefully, I will have a good season."

The 6’5”, 211-pound center from Blaine, Minn., was named All-WCHA First Team and Second-Team All-American after recording 42 points in 40 games as a sophomore. He led Minnesota with 25 goals (tied for fifth in the nation) and also added 17 assists as he finished third on the team in points. His 25 goals were the most scored by a Gopher since Ryan Potulny had 38 in 2005-06. Minnesota was 20-6-1 when he had a point last season.

Bjugstad, who will turn 20 next Tuesday, recorded 21 of his points (9g-12a) in 16 road games and he had a point in 13 of 16 games away from Mariucci Arena. He was +21 on the season and tied for second on the team in power-play goals (8). He also led the team in shooting percentage (17.2%) and faceoffs (of players who have taken more than 50 faceoffs) with a 57.9% success rate.

Based on what has happened recently in College hockey Nick Bjugstad returning to the Golden Gophers for another season is a win for college hockey. It's rare that we get to see a highly talented blue chip players stay more than two seasons – this is exciting for college hockey fans – in the past highly talented first round draft choices rarely if ever stay more than two seasons.

Bjugstad goes back to college

Panthers prospect forward Nick Bjugstad, who was believed to have a chance at making the team this year, has decided to return to the University of Minnesota for his junior season and put his pro career on hold.

“We told him to weigh the pros and cons,’’ Tallon said. “Either way we stick by him and support him. He has a brilliant future for us and I’m excited for whenever it starts.’’

The Michigan Daily stands by their man.

I am very happy to learn that the Michigan Daily is standing behind their man Matt Slovin, who has not backed off his story one bit, even with a threat of a law suit staring him in the face, he did not blink.

Honestly, I have to admire a person like that, Slovin will probably go down in history as the guy that stood up to the mighty Kitchener Rangers.

A statement from The Michigan Daily regarding the situation involving the Kitchener Rangers:

On June 28 The Michigan Daily published an article on its website that said hockey player Jacob Trouba was considering an offer to play for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. The article was updated to include further developments on July 2, July 3 and July 4. The Rangers and the Trouba family have denied the offer, and the Rangers have threatened legal action. The Daily stands behind the story and the reporter, Matt Slovin. The Daily will respond to threats of legal action in an appropriate fashion. [The Michigan Daily]

Time for the NCAA to throw the book at PSU football

Getty Images

The results of the PSU sex abuse scandal were made public today – just like many of us expected – PSU officials to include former head football coach Joe Paterno covered up these heinous and disgusting vile acts for over 14 year period, there is no excuse for this felonious criminal behavior, none.

PSU officials have known since 1998 that Jerry Sandusky was a sexual predator and was abusing young boys on the grounds of Penn State University, yet they covered these crimes up. This is unacceptable! The Penn State officials that covered up these crimes are also culpable for the heinous acts that were committed against the victims of Jerry Sandusky.

There is no way of sugar coating this - this is a horrible disgusting scandal cannot go unpunished – the NCAA has to respond to this, if the NCAA fails to respond to this in an acceptable manner they have no credibility what-so-ever. The NCAA needs to come down hard on the PSU football team - the "death penalty" for the PSU football team would be a good start.

State College, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Penn State's most powerful leaders showed "total and consistent disregard" for victims of child sex abuse and failed to protect children, according to the findings of a long-awaited internal review over how the university handled a scandal involving its former defensive coordinator. In fact, the report says several former officials "empowered" Jerry Sandusky to continue his abuse, and investigators say legendary head football coach Joe Paterno could have stopped the attacks had he done more. Read the report here (PDF)

I read a good number of the Freeh report until I couldn’t stomach any more of it - I hope Jerry Sandusky rots in hell. There are a few items in this report that I found to be really egregious. The University knew about this as early as 1998.

Investigators found that even before May 1998, "several staff members and football coaches regularly observed Sandusky showering with young boys," but "none of the individuals interviewed notified their superiors of this behavior," according to the report.

It also found that university police "and the Department of Public Welfare responded promptly to the report by a young boy's mother of a possible sexual assault by Sandusky" in 1998, and top university officials were "kept informed of the investigation.

In what universe is an adult male showering with a young boy to be considered to be normal behavior – that should have been the last incident in this story not the beginning of a long line of abusive incidents. Again, there is not excuse to these incidents - none - the victims of Jerry Sandusky will suffer the effects of their abuse for the rest of their lives.

Another thing that I find disgusting is on Page 62 of the Free Report it states.

On Friday February 9, 2011, University graduate assistant Michael McQueary observed Sandusky involved in a sexual activity with a boy in the coach’s shower room in the University Lasch Building. McQueary met with and reported the incident to Paterno on Saturday, February 10, 2001. Paterno did not immediately report what McQueary told him, explaining that he didn’t not want to interfere with anyone’s weekend.

Wait, What? Didn’t want to interfere with anyone’s weekend, you’ve got to be kidding me. I had to read this twice because I couldn't believe that Paterno could be so callus, the health and safety of the children victimized are way more important than some university suit's weekend being interrupted because one of their assistant football coaches was a sexual predator and had perpetrated a felonious crime against a minor child. This is nothing but arrogance of an out of control football coach and staff.

Finally, They should take the statue that stands outside of Beaver Stadium and smash it into a thousand pieces melt it down and sell the rubble as scraps, because the actions of a few bad apples in  have tarnished the reputation for Penn State for a very long time.

The ball is in PSU’s court, the rest of the world is waiting for you to make the proper and right move.

Jeff Dubay resurfaces - talks about his addiction

s/t @Bruce Ciskie... The P.A. and Dubay show from nine to noon, Monday through Friday was a very popular radio show on KFAN for 10 years; then in the fall of 2008, co-host Jeff Dubay’s world fell apart on him. For college hockey fans Dubay filled the college hockey void that Minneapolis, St. Paul and the upper Midwest had.

Since his dismissal from KFAN – the station has lacked a daily college hockey presence – until recently. While Ryan Cardinal of Gopher Puck Live has done a good job filling in on Thursdays, the station has never been the same since Dubay left KFAN 100.3, there has been a void that has yet to be filled.

That being said, I do have to give credit where credit is due, Paul Allen has incorporated some good hockey minds like Michael Russo of the Star Tribune and Allen has also improved in his knowledge of the game of hockey.

Chad Hartman, MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) —“When somebody brought this out and set it on the table, I’d never seen this before,” Dubay said. “It’s these chunky, little white things. I thought, ‘What the heck is it?’ The guy said, ‘It’s rock.’ I still didn’t know what it was. I still didn’t know it was crack cocaine.”

The drug was a break from the depression, but it quickly became a habit.

“You took the drug and then the drug took you,” he said. “And that’s all it took. I was done for the next two years.”

In October 2008, while driving home after buying crack, an officer started pulling Dubay over for a broken taillight.

Dubay panicked and threw the drugs out the window. But officers found them.

“I was crying, saying, ‘My life is over.’ Please don’t. Just please give me a break,’” he recalled.

You can listen to the whole interview right here. I ran into Jeff Dubay three years ago during the WCHA Final Five and have often wondered what had happened to him. Hartman's interview on WCCO kind of catches us up. Thankfully Dubay has been clean since May of 2011. I hope that Jeff can finally get his act together and go on to live a healthy life.

Farwell 'NCAA has been similarly accused of making it attractive financially to keep these players playing in their system'

To tonight while I was riding my bike and I was listening to the Pipeline show on Team 1260 A.M. out of Edmonton, Alberta .

The hosts Guy Flaming and Dean Millard had on Mike Farwell who is a radio analyst for Kitchener Rangers hockey team and works for  570 A.M. News. Farwell is also a sports anchor on the Sportsnet 590 A.M. The Fan out of Toronto, Ontario.  

You can listen to the show in question by clicking on this link or you can download the show on iTunes store.

Guy asked Mike Farwell about the various allegations surrounding the CHL and if there is any truth to some of these rumors.  The response to the question was quite interesting.

“In my personal opinion and I am heading into my thirteenth season in this league,” Farwell said. “Where there is smoke there is fire and we hear unfortunately about these types of situations far too often. “

“You listed some of the power houses but again; I don’t want to get into a naming of names and who said what and he said – she said sort of thing again. It’s not too hard if want to just Google it you can find the members clubs across the entire 62 team Canadian Hockey League that have been accused of these things before.”

Then Farwell dropped this little throw away nugget out there, “having said that, the NCAA has been similarly accused of making it attractive financially to keep these players playing in their system, despite that fact that it goes against their rules and regulations as well.”

“I want to make that abundantly clear we hear this so often, you have to ask what is going on.  To me this is really the elephant in the room for the Canadian Hockey League and its incumbent on the league to do something.” 

Wait, What? I was disappointed that the hosts didn’t dig a little further and ask for clarification from Farwell, he also gave no specific example of what he was referring to.

College is pretty regulated and there just isn’t a lot of dirty under the table stuff going on in college hockey. When is the last time a team in the NCAA hockey was given the death penalty for improprieties? You don't have the violations in college hockey that happen in NCAA Division I Basketball and Football. If you don't think the NCAA is looking up North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Boston College and Denver's rear ends you're highly mistaken.

This is also not the first time I have heard Major Junior Hockey Fans make the charge that NCAA hockey has questionable recruiting practices. Really! There has not been a lot in the recent past and there has only been six NCAA violations since 1974 according to Joe Meloni of the College Hockey News. 

Text of letter Joe Paterno wrote in December 2011

This letter by Joe Paterno's which was written in December of 2011 or January of 2012 has been making it's way around the internet today and its a must read if you have not read it.

[The Associated Press]

For the last two months, at the request of the Attorney General's office, I have not discussed the specifics of my testimony regarding the pending cases. And while I will continue to honor that request, I do feel compelled to address comments made subsequent to November 9; specifically, I feel compelled to say, in no uncertain terms, that this is not a football scandal.

Let me say that again so I am not misunderstood: regardless of anyone's opinion of my actions or the actions of the handful of administration officials in this matter, the fact is nothing alleged is an indictment of football or evidence that the spectacular collections of accomplishments by dedicated student athletes should be in anyway tarnished.

Yet, over and over again, I have heard Penn State officials decrying the influence of football and have heard such ignorant comments like Penn State will no longer be a ''football factory'' and we are going to ''start'' focusing on integrity in athletics. These statements are simply unsupported by the five decades of evidence to the contrary - and succeed only in unfairly besmirching both a great university and the players and alumni of the football program who have given of themselves to help make it great.

For over 40 years young men have come to Penn State with the idea that they were going to do something different - they were coming to a place where they would be expected to compete at the highest levels of college football and challenged to get a degree. And they succeeded - during the last 45 years NO ONE has won more games while graduating more players. The men who made that commitment and who gave of themselves to help build the national reputation of what was once a regional school deserve better than to have their hard work and sacrifice dismissed as part of a ''football factory,'' all in the interests of expediency.

Penn State is not a football factory and it is ALREADY a great University. We have world-class researchers, degree programs, and students in every discipline. Penn Staters have been pioneers in medical advancements, engineering, and in the humanities. Our graduates have gone on to change the world - even graduates with football lettermen sweaters.

That is why recent comments are so perplexing and damaging - Penn Staters know we are a world class University. We can recite with pride the ranks of our academic programs and the successes of our graduates. Penn Staters (and employers) know what we are and the quality of our education. Nothing that has been alleged in any way implicates that reputation; rather, it is only the inexplicable comments of our own administration doing so.

It must stop. This is not a football scandal and should not be treated as one. It is not an academic scandal and does not in any way tarnish the hard earned and well-deserved academic reputation of Penn State. That Penn State officials would suggest otherwise is a disservice to every one of the over 500,000 living alumni.

Forget my career in terms of my accomplishments and look at the last 40 years as I do: as the aggregate achievements of hundreds of young men working to become better people as they got an education and became better football players. Look at those men and what they have done in the world since they left Penn State and assess their contributions as an aggregate - is this a collection of jocks who did nothing but skate by at a football factory, or are these men who earned an education and built a reputation second to none as a place where academic integrity and gridiron success could thrive together?

Whatever failings that may have happened at Penn State, whatever conclusions about my or others' conduct you may wish to draw from a fair view of the allegations, it is inarguable that these actions had nothing to do with this last team or any of the hundreds of prior graduates of the ''Grand Experiment.''

Penn Staters across the globe should feel no shame in saying ''We are . Penn State.'' This is a great university with one of the best academic performing football programs in major college athletics. Those are facts - and nothing that has been alleged changes them.

NCAA to wait for 'appropriate time' for action on Penn State

I don't think that Penn State is out of the woods yet and I do believe that there has to be some kind of NCAA punishment or sanctions for Penn State University football team. What happened on their campus is disgusting and heinous crime and might have been covered up.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – The NCAA says that it will decide on whether to take action at the "appropriate time" in connection with its inquiry into Penn State and the child sexual abuse scandal that led to the ouster of Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno.

The NCAA says Penn State will have to formally respond to questions from President Mark Emmert about the conduct of its athletics department in connection with the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal.

Findings from Penn State's internal investigation into the case of ex-defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky are due to be released at 9 a.m. ET Thursday. The NCAA says it has already been collecting information from the probe led by former FBI director Louis Freeh.

The NCAA says Penn State will have to formally respond to questions from NCAA President Mark Emmert, even after Freeh unveils his findings.

The governing body says it won't interfere with other ongoing inquiries and will determine if additional action is necessary. It offered no specific timeline.

If investigations reveal that Penn State did in fact cover up these heinous crimes then,  PSU needs to have the book thrown at them by the NCAA - but I would say lets let the investigations play out before the long arm of the NCAA wields its punishment. I don't like the fact that the University knew about this back in 2001 and this didn't get exposed. If in fact there was a coverup then PSU should feel the pain of NCAA Sanctions.

UND Women's Hockey - 2012-13

The UND Women's 2012-13 schedule was released today.

Fri, Oct 05   Minnesota State *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Oct 06   Minnesota State *  Grand Forks, N.D.    2:07 p.m. 

Fri, Oct 12   Ohio State *  at Columbus, Ohio    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Oct 13   Ohio State *  at Columbus, Ohio    4:07 p.m. 

Fri, Oct 19   St. Cloud State *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Oct 20   St. Cloud State *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Oct 27   Minnesota *  Grand Forks, N.D.    2:07 p.m. 

Sun, Oct 28   Minnesota *  Grand Forks, N.D.    2:07 p.m. 

Fri, Nov 02   Clarkson  Grand Forks, N.D.    2:07 p.m. 

Sat, Nov 03   Clarkson  Grand Forks, N.D.    2:07 p.m. 

Sat, Nov 17   Bemidji State *  at Bemidji, Minn.    2:07 p.m. 

Sun, Nov 18   Bemidji State *  at Bemidji, Minn.    2:07 p.m. 

Fri, Nov 23   Minnesota Duluth *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Nov 24   Minnesota Duluth *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Fri, Nov 30   RIT  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Dec 01   RIT  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Dec 08   Wisconsin *  at Madison, Wis.    2:07 p.m. 

Sun, Dec 09   Wisconsin *  at Madison, Wis.    2:07 p.m. 

Fri, Jan 04   Lindenwood  at St. Charles, Mo.    7:00 p.m. 

Sat, Jan 05   Lindenwood  at St. Charles, Mo.    2:00 p.m. 

Fri, Jan 11   Minnesota *  at Minneapolis, Minn.    6:07 p.m. 

Sat, Jan 12   Minnesota *  at Minneapolis, Minn.    4:07 p.m. 

Fri, Jan 18   Wisconsin *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Jan 19   Wisconsin *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m.  

Fri, Jan 25   St. Cloud State *  at St. Cloud, Minn.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Jan 26   St. Cloud State *  at St. Cloud, Minn.    2:07 p.m. 

Fri, Feb 01   Minnesota State *  at Mankato, Minn.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Feb 02   Minnesota State *  at Mankato, Minn.    3:07 p.m. 

Fri, Feb 08   Bemidji State *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Feb 09   Bemidji State *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Fri, Feb 15   Ohio State *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Feb 16   Ohio State *  Grand Forks, N.D.    7:07 p.m. 

Fri, Feb 22   Minnesota Duluth *  at Duluth, Minn.    7:07 p.m. 

Sat, Feb 23   Minnesota Duluth *  at Duluth, Minn.    4:07 p.m. 

Fri, Mar 01   WCHA First Round  TBA    TBA 

Sat, Mar 02   WCHA First Round  TBA    TBA 

Sun, Mar 03   WCHA First Round (if nec.)  TBA    TBA 

Fri, Mar 08   WCHA Final Face-Off Semifinals  at Minneapolis, Minn.    TBA 

Sat, Mar 09   WCHA Final Face-Off Championship  at Minneapolis, Minn.    7:07 p.m. 

Fri, Mar 15   NCAA Regionals  TBA    TBA 

Fri, Mar 22   NCAA Frozen Four Semifinals  at Minneapolis, Minn.    TBA 

Sun, Mar 24   NCAA Frozen Four Championship  at Minneapolis, Minn.    TBA 

More from the Kitchener Rangers suing the Michigan Daily

Personally, I think it’s funny that the all mighty Kitchener Rangers of the OHL are suing the University of Michigan student newspaper – in Canada no doubt. Like Chris Peters of the United States of Hockey said on twitter yesterday this is probably all optics for now. I agree with Peters' assessment. I am not sure how a Canadian court is going to get "The Michigan Daily" to comply with their rulings if they found liable?

Sunaya Sapurji, Yahoo Sports --- The long, bitter and ongoing feud between the Canadian Hockey League and NCAA hockey took an interesting twist when the Kitchener Rangers announced they had made good on a previous threat to sue The Michigan Daily.

According to Kitchener’s chief operating officer Steve Bienkowski, the Ontario Hockey League team has filed a statement of claim in a Kitchener, Ont., court against The Daily – the University of Michigan’s student newspaper – and to reporter Matt Slovin. The issued claim is expected to be served on Wednesday morning.

The lawsuit stems from a report the newspaper published last Tuesday, which quoted an anonymous OHL source, who alleged the Rangers had offered standout defenceman Jacob Trouba, a Wolverines commit, $200,000 in lieu of an education package to play for Kitchener this season. Such a payment would contravene the OHL’s rules in regards to impermissible benefits.

Ryder Gilliland, the lawyer representing the Rangers in their suit, said the team is seeking $1 million in damages – $500,000 in general damages and another $500,000 in punitive damages. Once the official claim is processed, the newspaper and Slovin have 40 days in which to defend that claim because they are located in the United States.

“We’re actually not making any comment at this time,” said Jacob Axelrad, the editor-in-chief of The Daily.

Although I am not a lawyer by any stretch of the imagination – I think it’s going to be very hard to prove liable in this case. This also isn’t the first time that the Rangers have been accused of shenanigans either.

Three years ago Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson accused the Rangers of trying to pay off blueliner Cam Fowler, who was slated to play for Jackson's squad. [RANGERS REPORT]

I don’t recall the Rangers suing Jeff Jackson. So does that mean that they don’t dispute the Jackson claims? As of right now the story is still on "the Michigan Daily web site.

Kitchener Rangers sue the Michigan Daily

The Kitchener Rangers have sued the University of Michigan’s student newspaper the Michigan Daily and reporter Matt Slovin for his story that Michigan recruit Jacob Trouba was offered 200,000.00 by the Kitchener Rangers to break his commitment to the University of Michigan and play for the Kitchener Rangers who drafted him.

By QMI Agency --- The Kitchener Rangers of the OHL have taken legal action against a University of Michigan student newspaper and one of its reporters for publishing a story that alleged the team offered defenceman Jacob Trouba $200,000 to play for it.

A story that appeared in The Michigan Daily last week alleged that the Rangers tried to coax Trouba, a first-round draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets last month, out of a deal to play for the Michigan Wolverines.

This story is getting more interesting by the minute – here is a story from the Record that says the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL are suing the Michigan Daily for $1 million dollars in damages for the story that Matt Slovin wrote on Michigan recruit Jacob Trouba and him being offered 200,000.00 to play for the Rangers.

You can also read more about this developing story here and here.