Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Tuesday at the Links

UND Hockey: Remembering the ‘Old Ralph’ Engelstad Arena [Click to view]

NDSU Football: NDSU player Beck pleads guilty in resisting charge, wants to 'put this behind him,' says lawyer [Click to view]

MEN'S HOCKEY: UND to have hockey TV show this season [Click to view]

Former UND hockey players Tim Skarperud wins Grand Forks men's all-city golf tournament [Click to view]

Should the NHL ditch their “loser point” system? [Click to view]

Hackel: NHL still wrestling with expanded video replay [Click to view]
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Monday, August 19, 2013

NCAA Reverses course: Marine Veteran can play football

The wordmark and logo for Middle Tennessee Sta...
The wordmark and logo for Middle Tennessee State University. This logo has replaced Image:Mtsu old logo.jpg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A bunch of bumbling buffoons, this is a clown show, there is no excuse for this... The person at the NCAA that made this decision should be fired immediately and sent home in disgrace. I am for veterans rights and he served his country with honor and nothing he did in the service should do anything to jeopardize his eligibility. I am sick and tired of this organization.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) -- The NCAA has ruled that a Middle Tennessee football player who spent five years in the Marines will be allowed to compete this fall and that he will have four years of eligibility remaining.

It's a reversal from the NCAA's earlier decision to rule Steven Rhodes was ineligible because he played in a recreational league during his military service. School officials had said earlier Monday that they were working with NCAA officials to come up with a solution.

"This is exciting news for Steven and Middle Tennessee State University," school President Sidney McPhee said in a statement. "We express our gratitude to the NCAA for reviewing this situation and granting Steven the ability to play this fall. We are hopeful that the NCAA will look at the bylaws regarding all individuals who serve in the military before becoming a student-athlete."

Late Monday afternoon, the NCAA issued a news release saying Rhodes could play immediately and member schools would continue to re-examine the competition rules, especially as it impacts those returning from military service. Rhodes has been practicing at both tight end and defensive end

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NCAA Stupidity: Marine Veteran fighting for eligibility to play for MTSU this season

English: National Collegiate Athletic Associat...
Number one in stupidity, the NCAA. This is a travesty. When I was in Germany, the U.S. Army had a intramural flag football league, so are we to believe that these veterans shouldn't be allowed to go to college and play football? This is absolutely shameful. Disgusting!
Adam Sparks, The Daily News Journal — Steven Rhodes felt a duty to serve his country and had a dream to play football.

But now, to his surprise, one is hindering the other in the peculiar case of the United States Marine and 24-year-old MTSU freshman football player versus the NCAA.

“This is extremely frustrating. I think it’s unfair, highly unfair,” Rhodes said. “I just got out of the Marine Corps, and I wanted to play. For (the NCAA) to say, ‘No, you can’t play right now,’ I just don’t understand the logic in that.”

Rhodes, an Antioch native, finished his five years of active service in the Marines this summer, when he called MTSU coaches in hopes of landing a spot as a walk-on player for the Blue Raiders. They happily granted the request of the athletic 6-foot-3, 240-pound Marine sergeant. He has played both tight end and defensive end thus far in preseason camp.

But not long after arriving on campus, Rhodes was told that his participation in a military-only recreational football league in 2012 would hinder his immediate eligibility to play Division I college football, per an NCAA rule.

Despite his age, military service and complete lack of college football experience, Rhodes must take a mandatory redshirt and not play a single game for MTSU this season.



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Through These Doors on TV this Season


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UND Sports: TV News for UND Sports










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Sunday, August 18, 2013

Sunday Night links....












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Minnesota Wild depth chart



Michael Russo of the Star and Tribune has the depth chart posted on Russo's Rants and apparently this this team that the Minnesota Wild are going to go forward with. Looks like a decent lineup.
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Saturday, August 17, 2013

How I'd Fix College Hockey and the NCHC Specifically (RW77)

Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version ...
Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ok, to lead off, I wish I could claim credit for any of these ideas, but I can't.  FULL Credit actually goes to Sean McIndoe (otherwise known as @DownGoesBrown) for his blog post on Grantland entitled "How We'd Fix the NHL".  The reason why I come on out and say it is that, with the exception of the obvious rule differences between the NHL and NCAA DI Hockey, the fixes would actually cross over really easily.  Let me break down the fixes:

1.  Fix the Standings and Kill the Loser Point

In McIndoe's article, he speaks to the fact that shootouts render the loser point to be detrimental to the game stating it actually rewards a team for playing for overtime.  It inflates records and confuses all but the ardent fan (and sometimes them too).

I agree.  Why do we need 15 columns in the Standings section of the newspaper or website?  Keep it simple.  Wins, Losses, and that's it.  If you want a point in the standings for the "loser" then the only real solution is to eliminate shootouts and bring back ties as a possibility.  DI Hockey is not like the NHL yet with regards to ties, but it is readily apparent that they want to be.  So, this argument is apt.

2.  Longer OT, fewer shootouts*

In his article, McIndoe makes the point simple:  Make OT's 10 minutes long and keep it sudden death.  It isn't about reducing the number of players on the ice because it ends up being just as gimmicky as the shootout.

However, with no loser point and a 10 minute OT, it will more than likely reduce the number of shootouts we would see.  It doesn't eliminate shootouts, which will make the casual fan happy, but it won't promote them, which will be an adequate compromise for us strident hockey traditionalists.

It's at this point in McIndoe's article that he speaks to several NHL-specific problems that the NCAA has, so I'll speak to some NCAA problems that the NHL doesn't have.

3.  Change the rules regarding helmets.  Mandate visors, recommend cages.

The NCAA will never allow the freedom the NHL has at the moment regarding helmets and visor styles, but we can go a little more the way of flexibility.  The USHL requires all players wear half-shields or visors.  The NCAA right now requires full cages.  I say we go the way of the USHL and require the player to choose between the half shield/visor and the full cage.  It does not matter which the player chooses as long as one is present at all times.

This has to do with perceived security and cheap shots to the head.  Right now, the cage is pretty protective all in all so high sticking is more of a judgment call as to whether the stick actually hit the cage.  Judgment calls means the opportunity to make a situational call or non-call.  That usually exacerbates the mediocrity inherent in the NCAA Officiating Corps. 

Safety is a huge issue but much of being safe is playing safe.  I do not think the players are playing as safely as they should.  They've become too reliant upon their equipment (especially goaltenders) to bail them out.  Educate and allow them the choice.

Sadly, the best effect of visors over cages cannot be achieved in NCAA hockey as fighting is not allowed.


4.  Fix the Diving Problem

McIndoe again hits the nail right on the head.  Every team has divers on it.  Every team does it.  Why?  Because it works.  Much of the time, officials defend it by semantics (embellishment is still diving, but it's a less negative word than diving).  The best way to eliminate diving is to develop players who naturally do not dive.  However, as McIndoe again correctly states, you cannot change player psychology.  If you do, the other guy isn't, and you will be spending a lot of time on special teams.

Right now, the biggest flaw with diving is that it is RARELY called as a penalty without it being offsetting.  McIndoe suggests several fixes and I'll add one of my own:

a.  No more coincidentals.  Yup.  If a guy cross checks you and you flop to the ice like you've been shot congrats.  You're going for diving and the cross check goes uncalled.  There have been several times where a team will send a 3rd or 4th liner or bottom pairing defenseman out there to bait the other team's star.  The star runs into them, they flop.  Both go.  Who loses in that case?  Not the flopper.
b.  Rep counts.  This is a contraversial one on McIndoe's part, but in the NCAA we've already seen that the officials already practice this.  I've seen many times where Matt Greene was called simply for skating too close to the other guy.  Joe Finley got called for a high elbows and we all know (haters and likers alike) that Finley is absolutely NOT a physical player.  However, if the guy has a rep of being a diver, then call it if he does.  You make the bed, you sleep in it.
c.  The TV gloves come off.  McIndoe says to call it like it is, and I agree.  If the guy dives, then the commentator should cite Louganis.  Heck, cut to the commentators and they can hold up numbers grading the dive!  The NFL commentators already do it, so let's hear our guys do it too.
d.  Here's my add-in.  The truth is, the game happens too fast for officials to track it all.  If diving is a problem, perhaps replays of the play in question can be sent to the head of officials for review.  If it was clearly a dive and there was no call, then the offending player can sit out a period in his next game.  It doesn't do any justice for the game in which it occurs, but perhaps the guy won't dive if he knows that doing so will only cause his team to go short handed if he's caught or he won't play for an entire period if he isn't.

These changes will cause the player who dives no end of issues, but it will come with some false penalties.  That's life.  It wouldn't be the first bad call the officials make and it would never be the last.  However, diving would truly cease... assuming that the conference head of officials is consistent.

5.  Standardization between conferences in how officiating is run and the rule book interpretted

DI Hockey will never go under the umbrella of a single head of officiating for the entire DI Hockey world, but they should at least have standardized policies and procedures across the entire DI Hockey world.  In other words, if I am an official in the NCHC and I take a weekend series officiating in Hockey East, there should be no difference in how I call the game and the fans shouldn't notice it either.

I know what you're thinking:  "This rule is already in place!  They all use the same rulebook and it is the same game!"  However, I've watched so many officials from every conference officiate non-conference games and notice how different it is from the conference I am used to watching.  However, when you watch in-conference games, the games are largely officiated the same way.  This needs to be eliminated.

How?  I'm not sure how to make this work without compromising the autonomy of the existing Head of Officiating norm.  Maybe they can work as a committee to come up with a standardized Standards of Operating Procedures (SOP) Handbook?  Maybe they can have a standardized job description for officials and ARs.  I'm open for suggestions.

It seems like the most obvious solution to this:  Having a generalized pool of officials that will officiate games regardless of conference instead of the conference-specific hired officials seems to not be feasible.

6.  Accountability is more than something held against player and coaching performances.  It's held on officials and head of officials too.

Officials aren't perfect.  And Don Adam's system is great on paper.  His officiating corps, however, makes it suspect.  So, if Don Adam's system is to be taken seriously, accountability must be in place.  The HEA seems to have such an accountability program in place as far as what the fans can tell because, though the HEA has a dud or two, I've yet to see whole threads dedicated on message boards to how big of an issue officiating is (that isn't just one fanbase venting) like I've seen in other conferences.

I'm not saying that Adam come out the day after an on-ice officiating debacle and announce that he's cleaned house, but I am saying that Adam not make the same mistake McLeod and Shepherd have done year after year by announcing that the officiating isn't a problem because the ADs and coaches told them it wasn't a few months after the season has concluded.  It seems that accountability only matters during that month to those two clowns.  And those meetings are held to address far more significant issues than to think back 4 or 5 months to those two games in January or December.  If Adam and Fenton want to do this style of accountability, then they'll have to convince the ADs and coaches that an early January meeting will have to be held as well as the post season conference and the primary topic would be operations and officiating.  I don't see that happening.

7.  Make the nets bigger.

I'm not (and neither is McIndoe) suggesting drastic changes like some of the nets we've seen in the past, but I suggest 3 alternatives to the existing net:  Make the net 1 inch taller but keep the width the same, Make the net 1 inch wider but keep the height the same, make the height and width 1 inch bigger.  One inch doesn't seem like much but it was amazing last year to watch how many shots clanged off the crossbar and stayed out.  1 more inch and that puck is in the back of the net.  With goaltender equipment and the goaltenders themselves being bigger (especially since the rules are less strict in the NCAA compared to the NHL), this would give the shooter more to shoot at.

8.  Redefine late hits. 

Late hits aren't as big of a problem in NCAA as it is in the NHL, but it is still an issue.  There is nothing in the NHL rulebook (I don't know if it is stated in the NCAA rulebook either) regarding how many seconds after the player gets rid of the puck would a hit be considered late, or how many seconds after the whistle would a hit be considered late, but it should be better defined.  McIndoe asks a GREAT question:  Why is it that a hit, delivered seconds too early, is considered an illegal hit but a hit delivered seconds after the puck is gone, considered a legal hit?

McIndoe's rule rewriting is dead on.  He states:  "Any hit that is initiated after the puck is gone is a late hit. And "initiating" a hit will mean actually starting to throw it, not just gliding toward a guy who's watching his pass."  The onus will be on the guy who is setting up to hit a guy to try at all costs to avoid contact late.  I also think this may eliminate much of the cheap shots if the officials would be willing to be consistent in its calling.

Summary

Not all of my suggestions have the greatest solutions and not all of Sean McIndoe's suggestions cross over, but his article is an absolutely SPOT ON MUST READ for those who are passionate about NHL Hockey and improving the product on the ice.  Normally he's full of tongue in cheek humor, but in this case, he's spot on.  Kudos to you Mr. McIndoe.

I'd LOVE to hear solutions to the issues addressed above in the comment section.  Again, I'm not an expert and I fully acknowledge Sean McIndoe's role in the creation of this post.  If you want to speak to an expert, talk to Sean.

How We’d Fix It: The NHL. (Aug. 8, 2013). Grantland.com. Retrieved August 17, 2013, from http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9538380/how-fix-nhl



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Friday, August 16, 2013

Nebraska-Omaha Hockey: Hodge, White dismissed from UNO hockey team

Yikes, the Wheels of Justice do not grind slowly in Omaha. Nebraska-Omaha has dismissed one of their top players after an ugly incident earlier in the month at a downtown bar in Omaha, Nebraska. The school has also dismissed an incoming freshman defenseman and suspended former Red River and Central hockey player Alex Simonson
Daniel James Murphy, World-Herald --- The latest fallout from an alleged fight involving members of the University of Nebraska at Omaha hockey team leaves two players dismissed from the team and one player under suspension.

Matt White, 25, Alex Simonson, 23, and Preston Hodge, 21, were each ticketed Aug. 3 on suspicion of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

On Friday, Athletic Director Trev Alberts announced in a press release that Hodge, a 5-foot-11, 200-pound freshman defenseman, and White, a 5-foot-10, 187-pound senior and Mav co-captain, had been dismissed from the team.

Alberts said Simonson, who played in 18 of UNO's 39 games last season, is under investigation by the university.
This is a huge loss for the Mavericks, White scored (47g-52a—99pts) was in the top ten for scoring in the WCHA last season.


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Defending NCHC Overtime Rules

I know there’s a few fans that are unhappy with the NCHC new overtime rules. Why do I know, because quite a few people have told me they don’t like the new rules. If you go back and read this again, you’ll see the genius in this. There will be no loser points.
Each conference game will be worth three points. Three points will be awarded to any team that wins a game in regulation or within the five-minute sudden-death overtime period. One point will be awarded to each team in a game that remains tied at the conclusion of the overtime period. One additional point will be awarded to the team who wins the shootout, giving that team two points total for winning the game in a shootout. A team that loses in regulation or during the five-minute overtime period will receive zero points.
So, I am going to go on record and say that I am big fan of the NCHC’s new overtime rule. Think about this, there will be “0” points for a loss during the five-minute overtime period, in other words, the losing team receives, nothing, nada, nix, nine, nay, zilch. The losing team will receive zero loser points in the standing for losing in overtime, but why should they? I understand that once the game goes to a shootout that both teams deserve a point, but why reward a team losing during overtime with a point? I think the NCHC got it right and I have to give them credit. Bravo!

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UNO Hockey: Three Maverick Hockey Players in Trouble

English: UNO Hockey vs. Michigan at the 2011 N...
English: UNO Hockey vs. Michigan at the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Kevin Cole of the Omaha World Herald is reporting that three Nebraska-Omaha hockey players are in trouble for incident that took place at a downtown bar in Omaha, Nebraska on August 3, 2013. One of the players involved is former Red River and Central hockey player Alex Simonson. It will be interesting to see how this plays out with Maverick head coach Dean Blais. Story Developing.
Kevin Cole, World-Herald -- Three UNO hockey players face disorderly conduct allegations after they allegedly spouted racial slurs and got into a fight in the Old Market.

Matt White, 25, Alex Simonson, 23, and Preston Hodge, 21, all members of the University of Nebraska at Omaha hockey team, were each ticketed Aug. 3 on suspicion of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Lamar Triplett, 26, of Omaha, who got into a confrontation with the players, was ticketed on suspicion of misdemeanor assault.

“I don't know why I got a citation because I was just trying to defend myself that night,” Triplett said in an interview. “It was a crazy situation. It was the most random situation I have ever been in.”

City Prosecutor David Smallheiser said the men have not been formally charged and have court appearances scheduled in September.

Omaha police were called to a parking lot at 10th and Harney Streets about 2 a.m. to investigate a disturbance.

Witnesses told police that the hockey players had been harassing a small group of African-Americans with racial slurs and epithets.
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Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Ralph 7/14/2013





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NCHC Hockey: Conference to Use Shootouts in Regular Season Games

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) has announced it will use shootouts to award an extra point within conference standings. The NCHC Board of Directors unanimously approved the use of a shootout to decide games after the NCAA standard five-minute, sudden-death overtime period has expired.

“The conference office and our member institutions are committed to engaging our fans in ways that provide them excitement in our home venues,” said NCHC Commissioner Josh Fenton. “The use of a shootout at the conclusion of our standard overtime to determine an extra point within conference standings will make for an exciting race to determine the NCHC regular season champion. We are confident our passionate fans will enjoy this aspect of the game in similar ways to how it is embraced in the National Hockey League.”

All NCHC regular-season conference match-ups will feature a shootout should the game end in a tie at the conclusion of a five-minute overtime period. Any game that uses a shootout will be officially recorded as a tie within the overall record of each team. The Pairwise ranking will be calculated knowing the game was officially recorded as a tie.

The shootout will feature three shooters pre-selected by each team following the conclusion of overtime. The team that scores the most goals among the three shooters will be declared the winner. Should the shootout be tied at the conclusion of the initial three shooters, a sudden- death round with one shooter from each team will commence until a winner is declared. Goaltenders will remain on the same ends of the ice for the shootout as they were for the five-minute overtime period.

Each conference game will be worth three points. Three points will be awarded to any team that wins a game in regulation or within the five-minute sudden-death overtime period. One point will be awarded to each team in a game that remains tied at the conclusion of the overtime period. One additional point will be awarded to the team who wins the shootout, giving that team two points total for winning the game in a shootout. A team that loses in regulation or during the five-minute overtime period will receive zero points.

Non-conference games held in NCHC venues will also feature a shootout with mutual agreement from the visiting institutions. NCHC Tournament games will not feature shootouts but rather 20-minute sudden death overtime periods will be played until a winner is declared.

(Exception: The third-place game of the NCHC Championship will use a five-minute sudden death overtime followed by the standard protocol for a shootout).

At the end of the regular season, the team with the most points in the standings will be declared the NCHC regular season champion. If two or more teams are tied for the championship, they shall be considered co-champions. For NCHC Tournament seeding, any ties within the conference standings will be broken based upon the following set of rules. No shootout results will be used to break ties in the standings. Games decided in a shootout will be considered a tie when deciding final seeding for the NCHC Tournament.

1. The team with the greater number of NCHC regular-season wins shall be the higher seed.

2. Head-to-head competition: The team with the best NCHC regular-season winning percentage against the other teams tied in the standings

3. Goal Differential: The comparison of total goals for and against each team in contests between (among) the other teams tied in the standings in NCHC regular-season play

4. Winning percentage of the teams tied in the standings against the remaining NCHC teams, starting at the top of the standings and working toward the bottom until the tie is broken.

5. Should the teams still remain tied in the standings, the seeding will be decided by a coin flip.

The NCHC Championship will be held on March 21 and 22, 2014 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. To learn more about the NCHC Championship Tournament, purchasing tickets and reserving a hotel room, please visit the NCHC website at NCHCHockey.com.

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 are to be announced.
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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

A Trip Around the Blogsphere












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Wednesday Links

College Hockey: Providence Goalie Giles making impression on the Flames. [Herald Hockey]

Thieves make off with Roberto Luongo’s tires, leave him with useless tire pump [Pass it to Bulis]

From the soon to be Brooklyn Islanders… Islanders' run of fan torture is unparalleled [The Sporting News]

Penguins Star Evgeni Malkin has a year left on his contract with the Penguins.. The Stars deny tampering with Penguins' Evgeni Malkin [CBC.CA]

Vikings News: Key stadium decisions put on hold until stadium authority reviews Wilf lawsuits and finances [Star and Tribune]

30 Teams, 30 days…. UND’s Jordan Schmaltz is ranked sixth for Blues prospects. [NHL.COM]

CHL president David Branch: Eliminating import players ‘never been discussed’ [Buzzing the Net]
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UND: Grand Forks Ranked 17th towns under 250,000 population



GeauxSioux posted this over on Sioux Sports. It’s worth a look.
The “college experience” is about more than simply attending a top-notch university. The city or town where the school is located also is important, the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) suggests in its 2012-2013 “AIER College Destinations Index” (AIER CDI).

The AIER CDI includes the top 75 towns and cities in the United States for college students, based on a larger evaluation of the 227 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with student populations of 15,000 or more. [Aier.org]
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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Pac-12 Network launches campaign to drop DirecTV

Here’s another unhappy customer with DirecTV.
SAN FRANCISCO – Pac-12 Networks today launched a new advertising campaign titled “Compare” that contrasts the exciting Pac-12 football action a fan will see on Pac-12 Networks with what they won’t see on DirecTV. The campaign will be featured on digital, print, outdoor and radio outlets, and across all Pac-12 member university platforms.

Entering its second season of covering Pac-12 football, Pac-12 Networks is distributed on more than 50 video providers across the country, including three of the four largest. Despite being offered the same deal that all of the other providers have agreed to, DirecTV remains unwilling to reach an agreement, and the “Compare” campaign is the latest step by Pac-12 Networks to urge fans to drop DirecTV and switch to another provider.

“We realize this is affecting many of our fans, and we share their frustration,” said Pac-12 Networks President Lydia Murphy-Stephans. "We built the Pac-12 Networks to give fans unprecedented access to their favorite teams and sports on TV, and with just two weeks before the fall sports schedule begins, DirecTV continues to deny them that access.”
This does bring up a matter for discussion. College sports fans are really over a barrel in some instances when it comes to watching their favorite teams. Obviously, there’s more options for watching the professionals sports like the NHL, MLB, NBA and the NFL. It’s becomes more dicey with college sports.

I love DirecTV, the programming is amazing… I like it better than Midconet. I can watch all kinds of stuff and I have more channels than I shake a stick at. However, there’s instances where I can’t always watch what I want to watch as well, even with the Sports Pack. If for some reason I didn't go to the hockey game at the REA, it wont be on my TV. That could change at some point in the future, but as of right now, it won't be on.
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More Trouble at the NCAA

Maybe we should get rid of the NCAA and Mark Emmert? To me the NCAA seems like a bunch of pushy bullys. There has to be a better to have oversight over college athletics.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - NCAA President Mark Emmert has spent 2 1/2 years trying to push through historic reforms and get tougher on cheaters.

It's only created more problems.

Today, Emmert presides over an organization that is struggling to maintain credibility with the public, is tied up in multiple court cases and is tainted by an embarrassing internal scandal. He has been criticized for his governing style and personality. There have been questions surrounding the work he did in previous jobs and whether he overstepped his authority in punishing Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky scandal. He drew fire for pinning blame for the debacle in the Miami investigation on enforcement officials and some question whether he should lead the NCAA through its next major overhaul - fixing the governance structure.

Critics contend there is only way to only one way to restore the NCAA's tattered image: Find a new president.

''He should have been gone yesterday, as far as I'm concerned,'' said Gerald Gurney, a former senior associate athletic director for academics at Oklahoma and a former compliance director at Maryland. ''He's absolutely unable to get anything through the NCAA system. Every time one of his proposals is voted down, that's like a vote of no confidence. If he can't get his ideas across to membership, he ought to leave.''

Emmert has ignored the growing calls for his resignation and he doesn't sound like a man planning to leave any time soon. [Read the rest of the article right here]
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WILD GM: Core in place

I have been on record to saying this when it comes to the Minnesota Wild. In my opinion, the Minnesota Wild are "very" close to being a very good hockey team for a very long time, based on the make-up of their current roster and the young players that the Wild have in their farm system. I don't think it's a stretch to say that they could be a Stanley Cup contender with the right mix of players. A player like Thomas Vanek would put the Minnesota Wild over the top and to the next level.

The GM of the Minnesota Wild had this to say about his hockey team.
"We were fortunate to sign both Zach and Ryan," Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher said. "Looking back now, in hindsight with a year removed, I can't even say how lucky we are that we did sign them. You hear horror stories of all these big free-agent signings that don't pan out, and we signed arguably the best defenseman in the League and one of the best goal scorers in the League. Both players lived up to expectations. They're great people."

The Wild's return to the postseason was short-lived. Minnesota was ousted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals in five games, scoring seven goals. The team obviously was frustrated, but the emergence of defenseman and forwards Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker has everyone within the organization excited about what lies ahead.

" Fletcher said. "We have a good mix of veteran players and young players up front. We like our defense with the addition of Ballard. Certainly, with Nik Backstrom and Josh Harding and the emergence of Darcy Kuemper last year, we like our depth in goal. Every team could always use upgrades, but right now we're really happy with where we're at. There will be some good competition in camp and we're excited to see where some of our young players will sort out." [Brian Compton - NHL.com ]
The Wild if they get the right breaks and some players develop I think they could, this could be a breakout season for the Minnesota Wild. Young players like Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund. I have to say that I am excited for the season to start.
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Tuesday Morning: A couple of Links












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