Thursday links... (Former college hockey player fight log)

I found this picture on Bisionville and I thought it was funny so I included it. 

Gopher Puck Live's Ryan Cardinal was on KFAN this morning. [click to listen]

DU’s Gwozdecky met with NHL brass [click to view] and Badgers coach Mike Eaves is unable to catch a plane out of Madtown.[Click to view].

Andy Baggot beat writer for the Wisconsin Badgers has an article on the early departures. [click to view]

Delusion of Grandeur has an interesting post this week; one might even say that it’s a head scratcher, I am not sure why a division one college hockey coach would even entertain the idea of answering his ridiculous email.[Click to see for yourself]

The College hockey blog has picked traditional doormat team Western Michigan University as his team of the week. [Click to view]

Surgery on Jesse Martin's broken neck 'very successful' Doctors see potential for Edmontonian to play hockey again. [Click to read article]

Oshie's broken ankle severely tests Blues [Click to read article]

Ex-College hockey players fight log

Former Badger Jack Skille purse fight's Sami Lepisto from the Yotes. [Click to view]

Former Princeton Tiger George Parros fights Frazer McLaren [Click to view]

Zack Stortini vs former MTU hot head John Scott. Scott works Zach Stortini like a clown. [Click to view]

Former SCSU Huskies Ryan Malone vs Jamie McGinn [Click to view]

Former MSU Spartan Justin Abdelkader vs Former Gopher Keith Ballard in a hug feast.[Click to view]

Brian Sutherby vs former BU Terrier Brandon Yip, Yip isn't going to known for his fighting skills. [Click to view]

Steve Montador vs Former Michigan Wolverine and Canadian's hack Michael Komisarek. [Click to view]

Former Minnesota State University Mankato Maverick David Backes vs Andrew Ference. [Click to view]

102 million dollar fail - Kovy shoot out fail

I added this one for Sioux7 as he is a unapologetic New Jersey Devils fan. Check out this Ilya Kovalchuk's horrid attempt on the shootout tonight, I think we can classify this one as an #epic fail.

Former Sioux Oshie out with broken ankle (video included)

s/t to pro hockey talk as I took the video from his site. Looks like T.J. Oshie was hurt in the scrum after the hit. None the less, this is not very good news for the St. Louis Blues hockey team; according the St. Louis beat writer Jeremy Rutherford of the St Louis Today, former Fighting Sioux forward T.J. Oshie has a broken ankle and will need surgery.

Jeremy Rutherford
According to Blues coach Davis Payne, forward T.J. Oshie has suffered a broken ankle, which will require surgery.

This is what the St. Louis Radio station KMOX had to say.

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — Already having their worst night of the season, the Blues may receive more bad news when T.J. Oshie’s injury is determined.

With just under 11:00 minutes left in the third period down 8-1, Oshie jumped on the back of a Columbus Blue Jackets player trying to break up a fight. However, when the player fell backwards with Oshie on his back, it appeared that the third-year forward came down on the left leg awkwardly.

The reaction from Oshie drew the Blues training staff to the ice immediately. He was not able to come off the ice, nor able to get to the locker room, on his own power.

Update on Jesse Martin

Mike Chambers from the Denver Post an update on Jesse Martin's surgery.

Terry Martin, father of injured University of Denver hockey player Jesse Martin, said his son’s surgery on Monday to stabilize multiple C2 fractures “was fabulous” and it should give the 22-year-old a chance “for a real good lifestyle.”

Terry said doctors operated through Jesse’s throat, and afterward told the family they anticipate Jesse will regain “full range of motion” of his neck.

His hockey career, however, likely ended Oct. 30 when he awkwardly absorbed an open-ice check from North Dakota’s Brad Malone in at game at Grand Forks, N.D. In addition to the C2 fractures, the hit also caused trauma to the spinal cord, and Jesse has lost some feeling and strength in his arms.

Derek Boogaard scores his third goal of his NHL career.

Derek Boogaard is not known for scoring goals but he just blasted the puck past the Rangers goalie like an old pro. I wonder if it will be five more years before Boogey scores another goal? It was 234 games between goals.

Would this work in Hockey?

Here is a question; you have a hit that might appear to be questionable say like the Joe Tornton hit on David Perron last week. Why not have a replay official to review the play. This is what some are suggesting for the game of football, would this work for hockey? Comments...

Jason Whitlock Fox Sports ----- Goodell is correctly trying to change the needlessly violent culture of the NFL. I get that. I’m for that. But let’s do it the right way.

Quarterbacks don’t get injured when hands accidentally hit the back of their helmets. The play Coleman and Mikell made on Austin Collie cannot and should not be eliminated from the game.

Collie was not defenseless. The helmet-to-helmet contact was just as much Collie’s fault as it was the Philly defensive back. The contact was unintentional.

You could see all of that watching the replay. The ref on the field did not have the benefit of replay, and he should have.

Use the cameras! The NFL is a reality TV show. There are cameras seemingly everywhere. Use them!

Add a seventh referee who calls the game from the replay booth. Give him a microphone, put a camera on him and make him a part of the game. Let him arbitrate judgment calls such as unnecessary-roughness penalties.

Gandalf nails it...

This week features the watch up between the UND Fighting Sioux and UW Badgers. With the BTHC becoming a reality in the future with the addition of the Penn State University Nittany Lions we may not will not see the Wisconsin Badgers as much as we have in the past, it shame as well because it is one of the great rivalries in college hockey. The Badger fan base is one of the best in college sports, they get it and Badger fans are a lot of fun to converse with and talk hockey over a few beers. ExileOnDaytonStreet has a great article on the formation of the Big Ten hockey conference, basically he is telling WCHA fans enjoy it while you can. Here is what Gandalf the Red had to say about the BTHC.

I'm not sure who this "welcomed by many of us" crowd is. The hardcore Badger HOCKEY fans that I know aren't looking forward to the BTHC, or at best are luke warm to the idea. I think the casual fan who is more into football and basketball, would be the welcoming crowd. You already have your sports, don't ruin men's hockey.

I don't like the idea of the BTHC. While UAA sucks, and Tech sucks and Mankato sucks, Penn State is going to suck, MSU often sucks, and OSU hasn't exactly ever been a powerhouse though Oz might turn them into something 5 years from now. So what is the trade off? More of the same old boring programs IMHO in the Big 10, or old rivalries built against other WCHA powerhouses over the years. Oh sure we can still schedule North Dakota, St Could, Duluth & Denver in non-conference, but that is a two way street. They have to agree, and just because UW and um leave the WCHA, don't kid yourself, those four schools listed aren't going to turn into Lake Superior State. North Dakota and Denver especially will still recruit stud filled classes. The BTHC won't be anything more special for the junior A players in Canada, or mn high school kids, or kids in the USHL.

Sure it will be more money in the pockets of the big 10 schools, wow that gets me really fuckin excited. Good for Barry who didn't even know what the Hobey Baker was until last year.

I agree about conferences, and opening things up, but it will sure suck to replace home games against great teams like DU and UND w/ OSU & PSU. Wow I can't wait...

Sure I go to Kohl Center to see the Badgers play first and foremost, but I also enjoy watching the boat loads of talent that exist in the WCHA, which is only rivaled by Hockey East, and the BTHC will not feature that kind of talent outside of michigan and minny. Sure it might some day, but if I had a vote on this one, Barry can stuff change right up his fat ass

I also think the formation of the BTHC is a direct result of what happens when you let athletic directors with football and basketball backgrounds run ruin college hockey. All you have to do is return to the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules committee kerfuffle from this past summer, that was a exercise in futility that looked like a major league Cluster Fuck , oops I mean Charlie foxtrot.

I can guarantee there more Charlie foxtrots and proverbial goat ropes if we continue to let football and basketball buffoons people like Barry Alverez and James E. Delany continue with their determination to ruin college hockey. Seriously folks, we don’t need a BTHC to maximize the money of the six Big Ten Schools that will have hockey.

I also hate to think how many CCHA schools will just pull up shop and drop hockey, I am sure some of the CCHA schools that have struggled as of late probably depend on big draws like Michigan and Michigan State to beef up their gates. I actually can’t imagine the CCHA without Michigan and Michigan State and without those teams that could drop the CCHA to a league on par with the AHA. Who knows what Notre Dame will do if they are coaxed with the prospects of the playing all of their sports in the Big Ten. I think there is a delicate balance that could be upset with they BTHC goes about this the wrong way.

Should I stay or should I go...

There is an ongoing and continuous discussion about division one college hockey players leaving their college hockey early before they have used up their college eligibility to chase the dream of a professional hockey career. It would appear that those who leave early, very few actually move right from the NCAA to the NHL. In fact the numbers are against them. While the promise of big money and the glitz and glamour of the NHL might be very persuasive to a young m an/player, there are very few Jonathan Toews or Derek Stephan’s in Division one college hockey. If you’re still not convinced, check out these posts from Brad Schlossman’s twitter page. I was actually surprised with the numbers.

According to the @inch list of guys who left early, 7 of 36 are in the NHL now. Only Stepan went straight from college to NHL.

Some are playing well in AHL and might make it up by the end of the year, but still an interesting stat.

12 WCHA players gave up eligibility to sign pro contracts this summer. Only UW's Derek Stepan is in the NHL right now.

According to a Denver Post article Former all-WCHA and DU goalie Marc Cheverie is struggling at the next level of his hockey career. As a matter of fact I was really shocked and surprised to read that Marc Cheverie's save percentage isn’t even above .850. Why am I shocked; in college Cheverie wasn't just a good goalie, he was a dominating goalie during his junior year in the WCHA (24-6-3, 2.08 GAA, .932 SV% 6 shutouts). We are talking about a goalie that was near the top in the NCAA for shutouts, wins, save percentage and goals against average. Cheverie was dominating in all facets of the NCAA statistics, now that all star goalie is struggling in the ECHL.

The Denver Post - It wasn't at all shocking when Cheverie decided to skip his senior season at DU and sign with the Florida Panthers last summer. He already was 23 years old and had been the WCHA player of the year as a junior.

The Panthers, who claimed him in the sixth round of the 2006 draft, could sell the notion that he had little left to accomplish — at least on the personal level — in the college game.

But this is a bit jarring: While, in theory, the native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, could have been in the net for the Pioneers in the weekend series against Colorado College, Cheverie instead was fighting through a horrible start to his pro career. He's not even in the American Hockey League, but with the Panthers' lower-level affiliate, the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. And going into the weekend games, he had a 5.04 goals-against average, an .848 save percentage and a 1-2-1 record for the struggling Cyclones, who had won only once in eight games to open the season.

"It's a learning process I have to go through," Cheverie said on the phone last week. "It's not one of my goals to be here, but if this is how I have to get there, this is how I have to get there. I want to be in the NHL someday, but I have some work to do at this level to move up. If I had my way, I'd be in the NHL right now, but obviously, I'm not ready yet, so that's the way it is."

There are worse places to play below the AHL level than Cincinnati, so that's one of the positives.

"I've struggled a bit," Cheverie conceded. "It's been tough mentally, but that's part of the learning experience, part of getting in your comfort zone. You just want to be in a place where you're going to get better, and I think I have that here."

Summer of discontent

Every spring and summer college hockey fans cringe as they wait for fall to come, past experience has told them that some of the better players on their team or on other teams in the NCAA will lose players before they have played their four years of college.

The teams that suffer the most early departures are the teams that recruit blue chip hockey players. I would rather my favorite team recruit these types of players and take the risk that they play 2 or 3 seasons, than to not have them at all. Not many NCAA fans can saw that I enjoyed the likes of Zach Parise, Drew Stafford, T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews.

The NCAA coaches are trying to work out a deal with the NHL but I am not all that positive that they will be able to get the NHL to back off stealing their prized players. [Pioneer Press]

Denver forward Jesse Martin has surgery

Denver University senior forward Jesse Martin had surgery to repair his broken C2 vertebra. Let's hope that Jesse has a successful recovery.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - University of Denver senior center Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta) underwent surgery Monday afternoon at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., to stabilize a broken C2 vertebra in his neck. The surgery went as planned. Doctors will reassess his condition on Tuesday morning.

The surgery was performed by Alex Mendez, MD, and Robert Morgan, MD. Mendez specializes in cranial-based neurosurgical procedures, and both complex and minimally invasive spine surgery. Morgan specializes in complex spine surgery and reconstruction.

The surgery was performed at Regions Hospital's Center for Spine and Spinal Cord Injury. The center fosters increased collaboration across the medical, surgical and rehabilitation teams that provide care to patients who sustain injuries or have illnesses of the spine.

Martin suffered the injury during an on-ice collision with North Dakota's Brad Malone on Oct. 30.

Poll Monday, Sioux drop to 10th?

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[November 8, 2010]
1 Boston University (31) 6-0-2 955 3
2 Minnesota-Duluth (11) 7-1-2 867 2
3 Yale ( 5) 4-0-0 863 5
4 Miami ( 2) 5-2-3 842 1
5 Maine 4-1-3 771 7
6 Nebraska-Omaha ( 1) 7-1-0 717 8
7 Boston College 5-3-0 706 4
8 Michigan 5-2-3 675 6
9 New Hampshire 4-1-2 634 10
10 North Dakota 5-4-1 547 9
11 Notre Dame 6-2-1 461 11
12 Union 6-1-3 421 15
13 Wisconsin 6-2-2 406 15
14 Alaska 6-3-1 399 14
15 Denver 4-4-2 302 13
16 Michigan State 3-2-3 214 12
17 Western Michigan 6-2-2 154 NR
18 Rensselaer 4-2-3 145 18
19 Minnesota 5-4-1 141 17
20 Ferris State 5-3-2 132 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Cornell 30, Robert Morris 30, St. Cloud State 26, Colorado College 22, Michigan Tech 16, Quinnipiac 11, Merrimack 7, Clarkson 2, Dartmouth 2, Harvard 1, Niagara 1

USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[Nov. 8, 2010]
1 Boston University (23) 6-0-2 489 3
2 Minnesota Duluth (5) 7-1-2 444 2
3 Miami (Ohio) (3) 5-2-3 424 1
4 Yale (2) 4-0-0 423 6
5 Maine 4-1-3 333 7
6 Boston College (1) 5-3-0 320 4
7 Nebraska-Omaha 7-1-0 297 8
8 New Hampshire 4-1-2 282 10
9 Michigan 5-2-3 278 5
10 North Dakota 5-4-1 232 9
11 Notre Dame 6-2-1 155 11
12 Union 6-1-3 124 14
13 Alaska 6-3-1 105 15
14 Wisconsin 6-2-2 77 NR
15 Denver 4-4-2 56 13
Others receiving votes: Michigan State University, 13; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 13; Western Michigan University, 8; Ferris State University, 2; University of Minnesota, 2; Cornell University, 1; Robert Morris University, 1; St. Cloud State University, 1.
**********************
I am going to bring this up again; The Sioux dominate the Bulldogs on Friday night and come within seconds of scoring the winning goal on Saturday night before losing in overtime yet drop in the ranking and the number two team in the nation keeps their ranking, that’s ridiculous. It's a meaningless poll, but it's silly. Also; no one is saying that UMD isn’t good but let’s put this into perspective, comparing the two teams schedules, the Sioux have played a tougher schedule. Notice I didn’t say that UMD is not a good team. I said lets look at this with some perspective.

INCH Power Rankings

INCH Power Rankings
[November 7, 2010]
1. Boston University
2. Minnesota Duluth
3. Maine
4. Yale
5. Miami
6. Michigan
7. Union
8. North Dakota - The Fighting Sioux are in the middle of a six-week stretch of games against teams currently in the INCH Power Rankings — they've already faced Maine, DU, and UMD and have Wisconsin, UNO, and Notre Dame up next.
5-4-1 (4-2-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota Duluth, 4-2; L vs. Minnesota Duluth, 3-2 ot. THIS WEEK: at Wisconsin, at Wisconsin
9. New Hampshire
10. Boston College
11. Nebraska-Omaha
12. Wisconsin
13. Notre Dame
14. Alaska
15. Michigan State
16. Denver
17. Western Michigan
18. Rensselaer
19. Robert Morris
20. Ferris State

Analysis - I think these rankings are a little off, UMD stays in second place after being dominated by the Fighting Sioux on Friday night and then the Sioux lose a close one on Saturday night. This is the same game that Sioux just miss winning in the waning seconds of regulation.

Two other things that don't pass the smell test are Boston College in 10th, Boston College is a better team than 10th. Also, you can't tell me that Union is the 7th ranked team in the nation.

Backes and Ference

Let me preface this with I am a Bruins fan, I also have to admit that admire the way that David Backes plays the game of hockey. Let's look at this hit, its a text book legal shoulder check. Breaking it down further; Backes puts an awesome, legal and violent check on the Bruins Marc Recci, who gets up and skates away. The problem I have is why should Backes have to fight? It wasn't charging, Recci wasn't hurt and it wasn't a dirty hit.

T.J. Oshie steam rolls David Krejci

Wow! This is the hit that everyone was talking about last night. After watching the hit I would think that it's a text book legal hit. Too bad David Krejci is the one on the receiving end of the hit. Krejci is out at least a week with a concussion.

Scores from 11/06/2010

Saturday, November 6


Non Conference

Sweden Under-20 1 at Massachusetts 5
Alab-Huntsville 1 at Ohio State 5

AHA

Robert Morris 2 at Holy Cross 3 OT
American Int'l 2 at Sacred Heart 4
Canisius 1 at Connecticut 1 OT

ECAC

Colgate 1 at St. Lawrence 4
Cornell 6 at Clarkson 1
Princeton 4 at Brown 3
Quinnipiac 1 at Yale 5
Rensselaer 0 at Harvard 1
Union 0 at Dartmouth 0 OT

Hockey East

Vermont 3 at Providence 3 OT
Maine 2 at Boston University 2 OT
New Hampshire 2 at UMass Lowell 1

CCHA

Miami 1 at Ferris State 1 OT
Michigan 5 at Alaska 2
Notre Dame 6 at Bowling Green 3
Northern Michigan 1 at Lake Superior 3
Michigan State 1 at Western Michigan 3

WCHA

Bemidji State 3 at St. Cloud State 2 OT
Denver 2 at Colorado College 9
Minnesota Duluth 3 at North Dakota 2 OT
Minnesota State 2 at Nebraska-Omaha 5
Wisconsin 3 at Minnesota 3 OT

What a wild night of college hockey. The old Cliché is standing true this season anyone can beat anyone on any given night.

Sunrise addition; Bulldogs 3 - Sioux 2 O.T.

So here we are; the sun came up today regardless of what happened on the ice last night, no need to jump off any bridges or start the fire Hakstol discussion. Putting in perspective UMD is now 3-12-2 in the REA, that means in 17 games UMD has won three times, you have to figure the Bulldogs would win a game eventually in the REA. Now the UND Fighting Sioux need to go to the “Oil Can” on December 30th and slap that Bulldog ass in front of the UMD fans at the grand opening of their new hockey arena.

Rankings smankings

Here is the $64,000.00 question; if the UMD Bulldogs are the number two ranked team in the country, what does that make UND? Seriously! The UND Fighting Sioux were ranked 9th in both polls by the flat bellied experts going into this weeks play and the UMD Bulldogs were ranked 2nd over all. So are we to believe that UMD is the second best team in the nation? Then one could easily make the argument that UND can’t be far behind them in the rankings. Especially when it looked like the lower ranked team was the better of the two teams for large chunks of the weekend.

Moving forward, I don’t see any reason why Sioux fans can’t feel up beat and optimistic about the future of the Fighting Sioux hockey program for the 2010-2011 season? Defensively UND has great talent on paper and has yet to live up to their expectations, UND also played without one of the second line forwards for the first game and the Sioux were minus two defensemen for the whole weekend that have proven to be two of the best this season on the ice. UMD was missing Mike Montgomery on Friday night as well due to an illness. So the argument is that UND has a lot of dept and it showed this weekend.

On Friday night the Fighting Sioux owned the Bulldogs, the game wasn’t as close as the score board indicated. It was a little different on Saturday night, the game was a more even and the Bulldogs carried the play at times. The Sioux got took a few penalties that ended up burying them. Moving forward UND has to stop taking penalties or learn how to kill them. You can not continue to give talented teams with great forwards and awesome power plays seven minutes or more during a period in penalties and expect to win the game. It’s like playing with fire in a meth lab. You're going to get burned.

Defensively - turnovers kill

This season turn over’s in all three zones of the ice have killed the Fighting Sioux. While I did see improvement this weekend the Sioux still need to limit the opposition being able to cash in on defensive turnovers from the neutral zone in. Also, I hate to say this but I would like to see the Sioux trap a little more (not a lot more) and tighten the reigns defensively a bit more, especially against teams with high skill like Maine. In addition I think the Sioux need to keep counter attacking instead of sitting on a lead when they have a team on the ropes. While I find teams that play defense first and offense second boring, I do think that our team could focus on defense a little more. I don’t know how many times I have seen our defensemen that focus on offense get caught up ice pinching, leaving the goaltender exposed. Even the best goaltenders don't like to face a lot of odd man rushes, eventually you get burned.


Goon's Three Stars of the Game

1.) Mike Connolly, UMD Forward, (1g-1a-2pts)
2.) Kenny Reiter, UMD goalie
3.) Aaron Dell, UND goalie

[Box score]
1st Period (20:00)

NDK-1 Ben Blood (2-Hooking) MND 0x1 4:03
MND-1 Keegan Flaherty (2-Holding) NDK 0x1 6:15
NDK-2 Corban Knight (2-Hooking) MND 0x2 14:59
MND-2 Kyle Schmidt (2-High-Sticking) NDK 1x2 18:07
NDK 1 - 0 6x5 PP Brock Nelson (1) (Chay Genoway, Corban Knight) 18:39
NDK: 29,5,10,17,7,G32 MND: 22,11,4,25,G35

2nd Period (20:00)

NDK-3 Corban Knight (2-Slashing) MND 0x3 0:48
MND 1 - 1 6x6 Mike Connolly (7) (Wade Bergman, Justin Faulk) 2:48
MND (+): 22,28,25,12,17,G35
NDK-4 Mario Lamoureux (5-Checking from Behind) MND 0x4 3:32
NDK-5 Mario Lamoureux (10-Game Misconduct) 3:32
NDK 2 - 1 6x6 Evan Trupp (3) (unassisted) 8:53
NDK (+): 19,29,20,18,11,G32 MND (-): 10,14,24,2,17,G35
MND 2 - 2 6x6 J.T. Brown (5) (Kyle Schmidt, Travis Oleksuk) 13:41
MND (+): 23,7,11,4,25,G35 NDK (-): 11,19,25,29,3,G32
MND-3 Max Tardy (2-Interference) NDK 1x3 15:21
MND-4 Max Tardy (2-Tripping) NDK 1x4 15:21
NDK-6 Brad Malone (2-Hooking) MND 0x5 17:30
NDK-7 Ben Blood (2-Interference) MND 0x6 19:32

3rd Period (20:00)

MND-5 Kyle Schmidt (2-Hooking) NDK 1x5 15:12

Overtime (0:58)

MND 3 - 2 6x6 GW LL Justin Fontaine (6) (Mike Connolly, Justin Faulk) 0:58
MND (+): 37,22,25,12,4,G35 NDK (-): 7,5,24,26,10,G32

End of Game

Kyle Radke on Fire

Kyle Radke was on fire this past weekend, allowing the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees to sweep the Odessa Jackalopes and take 4 points. Radke had a total of 3 shots on goal, 1 goal, and 3 assists, bringing his season totals to 12 shots on goal, 2 goals, and five assists. Radke is currently tied for third with 7 points on the season.

Radke also got a little frisky this weekend, taking two 5 minute majors and missing the entire third period due to a game misconduct for fighting. He got in some really good uppercuts on Saturday, I think he made the other guy cry.

All in all it was a very exciting series, 16 round shootout victory on Friday and a 4-1 total domination win on Saturday. If you took out all the diving, hooking, and flat out tackling by the Jackalopes we probably would have seen two 8-1 victories. The Jackalopes remind me of a MSUM team with a little Robbie Earl thrown in for good measure.

UND can't be as bad as some think...

I have been reading with amusement that some of my fellow Sioux fans and other pundits around the Internet/blogsphere that were ready to award the UMD Bulldogs a sweep and 4 points for the series before the games were even played. After reading some of this stuff, I was wondering why we should even bother to play the series. We could have saved a lot of time and money by stopping the UMD bus and sending them home, there was no need for them to show up. According to some it was going to be a remake of the slaughter at the OK Coral.

Let’s look at this a little more closely UMD Bulldogs have a roster that sports 5 NHL draft choices and the UND Fighting Sioux have a roster with 16 NHL draft choices. Are we to believe that those 16 draft choices for the Fighting Sioux are just smoke and mirrors and a bunch of prima donnas. Isn’t this the same team that was picked to finish in the top spot of the WCHA standings in both the media and the coaches’ poll? The way some people had talked about the Sioux you would have thought they were a bunch of worthless, talentless hacks.

How the hell did we get there?

So I must say to my fellow fans, yeah some of you are sandbagging. If you’re a golfer you know what I mean. You have probably played against a golfer that claimed to be a really poor golfer and then they go out on the course and shoot lights out and carded a really good score, then you had to listen to them say, "oh, I played the best game of my life. I have no idea I had this in me."

Fast forward to this weekend's series; the Fighting Sioux have incredible and talented dept throughout their line up and can roll four lines if there isn’t aren’t a lot of penalties called against them. Key word in this sentence is “aren’t” but I digress, the Sioux are known traditionally as having a big mean mobile defense that limits their opposition to low shot totals and punishes the opposition when they come in front to the net, hence the high penalty minutes.

On the flip side of that argument the Bulldogs are known to have quick speedy forwards a decent sized defense, however, the Bulldogs are probably more of a two line team, albeit their top line is as good as many in the country. Am I saying that means that UND can’t lose to the Bulldogs, never said that. I am just saying the Sioux are no slouches either. It’s not like the UND Fighting Sioux are sitting at the bottom of the WCHA standings. In spite of the early goaltending eruptions malfunction, failures and defensive breakdowns/lapses the Sioux have some how (if you listen some in the fan base) managed to hang around the top of the top of the league standings.

This blog post isn’t intended to disrespect the Bulldogs I think they are a nice team with incredible speed through the forward lines. This post is intended to give credit to our team.

Better Days ahead

I have to be honest with you I am a little worried like everyone else about our defense and goaltending to date; they haven’t looked as good as billed. There have been positives, Dillon Simpson is much better than I would have believed a 17 year old would be. Aaron Dell is starting to settle into the starting position and is getting better with each start in net. Dell has only played in 11 games during his college career and can only get better, I like Dell's positioning and he seems to be getting up to speed and seeing the play more clearly.

I do think that Derrick LaPoint has had a tough season to date, however, traditionally Derrick has been more of a player that gets hot during the second half of the season. If the Fighting Sioux can get consistent goaltending and the defense can limit shots and scoring opportunities this season could prove to be pretty good one.

While some like to say that past history between two teams doesn’t matter I don’t agree at all, UND is 5-1 against the Bulldogs their last six games. Since the 2004-2005 the Sioux are an amazing 16-5-2 against the Bulldogs, you can’t tell me that the record doesn’t play into the opposition players minds. Just saying; does that mean the Sioux can’t lose tonight? Nope!

Links to the this weekends series

College Hockey: WCHA Picks Nov. 5 [USCHO]

Patchwork lineup comes through for Sioux [USCHO]

Friday night rewind [UND Hockey Blog]

Saturday in the WCHA [Rink and Run]

Final: North Dakota 4, UMD 2 [Rink and Run]

College men's hockey: Bulldogs' unbeaten streak ends [Duluth News Tribune]

MEN'S HOCKEY: Sioux hand Minnesota-Duluth first loss of the season [Grand Forks Herald]

Scores from 11/05/2010

Friday, November 5

Army 5 at Massachusetts 2
Colgate 4 at Clarkson 4 OT
Cornell 0 at St. Lawrence 3
Merrimack 0 at Providence 2
Niagara 4 at Northeastern 1
Princeton 3 at Yale 5
Quinnipiac 3 at Brown 3 OT
Rensselaer 4 at Dartmouth 1
New Hampshire 2 at Boston College 1
Union 2 at Harvard 1
Vermont 1 at UMass Lowell 3
Alab-Huntsville 2 at Ohio State 6
Canisius 2 at Connecticut 3
Miami 2 at Ferris State 3
Michigan 0 at Alaska 3
Mercyhurst 6 at Air Force 2
Notre Dame 2 at Bowling Green 3
Northern Michigan 4 at Lake Superior 1
Robert Morris 4 at Holy Cross 2
Bemidji State 3 at St. Cloud State 6
Wisconsin 6 at Minnesota 0
Colorado College 1 at Denver 4
Minnesota Duluth 2 at North Dakota 4
Minnesota State 1 at Nebraska-Omaha 5

Analysis – Gopher fans have pitch forks, rope and torches and they are ready to ________? I don’t know but it’s getting ugly in Minneapolis. The Fire Don Lucia campaign is in full force and prevalent on Gopher Puck Live and USCHO. The 250,000.00 question is; will the UMN administration fire two head coaches in one season? It also sounds like Gopher Senior Jay Barribal isn't all that happy with his fellow teammates effort. Win as a team and lose as a team, I am not so sure it's recommended that you call them out in the media if you haven't scored either.

Star Tribune --- "They outworked us in the corners, they beat us to the net," Barriball said. "We didn't do too many things good. ... They did the same thing that [Nebraska]-Omaha did to us. We have to find a way to deal with teams like that."

Before the Gopher fans run their coach out of town they might want to keep in mind that their team is very young and they have suffered a lot of injuries and illness. Zach Budish injury, Jake Parenteau illness, Nick Larson injury Nick Bjugstad illness. [Gopher Beat Writer]and [Badgers Beat Writer]

The Maverick Bowl - (The battle of the cows, Red Cows versus Purple Cows) The UNO Mavericks played the MSU Mankato Mavericks in their first ever home WCHA series. The UNO Mavericks won going away 5-1. The UNO Mavericks continue their winning way and are now 6-1-0 overall and 3-0-0 in the WCHA. [UNO Beat Writer]and [Puckato]

DU and C.C. the fight for the Gold Pan – I watched the end of this game after I got home from the Sioux and UMD game and from what I can see DU dominated the Tigers 4-1. I also saw a stat where the Tigers have scored twenty goals over all and nine of their goals (almost half) of their goals on the power play. The Tigers only goal came at 5:11 left to play in the third period. Moral to the story is don’t let C.C. go on the power play too many times. According to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post Jesse Martin is scheduled to have surgury on Monday.

Marty was scheduled to have surgery on Friday at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Instead, he was transferred to Regions Hospital in St. Paul and surgery is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Monday, according to his father.

[C.C. Beat Writer] and [DU Beat Writer]

Beavers vs Huskies - Ben Hanowski was benched last weekend by his head coach Bob Motzko and Hanowski responded by getting a hat trick against the Bemidji State University Beavers as the Huskies beat the Beavers 6-3. This was the first away series for the BSU Beavers that played their first two WCHA series at home. [SCSU Beat Writer] and [Bemidji Beat Writer]

Sioux 4 Bulldogs 2

The Fighting Sioux keep beating/whopping that Bulldog ass. The game really wasn't as close as the score board indicated as the Fighting Sioux dominated play for most of the game and spent long periods of time in the UMD end attacking the UMD net, if it wasn't for Aaron Crandell it could have been a 6-2 game in favor of the Fighting Sioux.

Lets not beat around the bush, seriously, the Bulldog goalie Aaron Crandall was very pretty good tonight and he did a good job keeping the Dogs in the game. In addition to the goaltending exhibition in the UMD net, the Sioux would have run away with the game it it wasn't form some selfish untimely, knuckle-headed penalties. The Ralph Englestad Arena continues to be a house of horrors for the UMD Bulldogs as they are now 2-12-2 against the Fighting Sioux since they moved into the Ralph.

Defense is key?

I am starting to notice a pattern with this year Fighting Sioux team, the defense is preventing/limiting a lot of shots, but they are giving up goals off of untimely turnovers at key times in games. Also, Derrick LaPoint has been a turn over factory and at times has looked slow. I think when the Andrew MacWilliam and Derek Forbort come back, Derrick LaPoint he should be the one sitting in the stands. I would like to see more of Joe Gleason as he looked good tonight and I hope that they Fighting Sioux coaching staff can get him into the line up more frequently. Since it's late I will post more tomorrow.

Goon's three stars of the game

1. Evan Trupp, UND 1g-1a-2pts
2. Matt Frattin, UND 1g-0-1pts
3. Aaron Crandall goalie, UMD

[Official Box Score]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Period (20:00)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ND-1 Keegan Flaherty (2-SLASHING THE GOALIE) NDK 0x1 5:05
MND-2 Travis Oleksuk (2-Tripping) NDK 0x2 8:12
NDK-1 Brett Hextall (2-Cross-Checking) MND 0x1 9:25
MND-3 Mike Seidel (2-Roughing) 11:46
NDK-2 Mario Lamoureux (2-Holding) 11:46
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Period (20:00)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NDK 1 - 0 6x6 Derek Rodwell (3) (Evan Trupp, Brock Nelson) 2:22
NDK (+): 11,19,29,24,18,G32 MND (-): 5,17,8,14,10,G31
NDK-3 Matt Frattin (2-Hooking) MND 0x2 14:50
MND-4 Brady Lamb (2-Roughing) NDK 1x3 16:03
MND 1 - 1 5x5 Travis Oleksuk (6) (Kyle Schmidt, Dylan Olsen) 16:25
MND (+): 11,7,4,28,G31 NDK (-): 8,26,18,24,G32
NDK 2 - 1 6x5 PP LL Evan Trupp (2) (Chay Genoway) 17:57
NDK: 19,5,17,7,10,G32 MND: 37,5,25,27,G31
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Period (20:00)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NDK 3 - 1 6x6 GW Matt Frattin (8) (unassisted) 5:05
NDK (+): 21,7,8,25,5,G32 MND (-): 23,7,2,28,11,G31
NDK-4 Brett Hextall (2-Interference) MND 0x3 5:39
MND-5 Jake Hendrickson (2-Tripping) NDK 1x4 8:41
NDK-5 Jason Gregoire (2-Interference) MND 1x4 14:39
MND 2 - 3 6x5 PP Justin Fontaine (5) (Jack Connolly, Mike Connolly) 15:49
MND: 37,12,22,25,2,G31 NDK: 26,10,3,25,G32
MND-6 Justin Fontaine (2-Shooting after the Whistle) NDK 2x5 18:23
MND-7 Justin Fontaine (10-Misconduct) 18:23
Timeout - Minnesota Duluth 18:23
NDK 4 - 2 6x5 PP EN Corban Knight (5) (Chay Genoway) 19:49
NDK: 10,5,7,21,24,G32 MND: 23,25,11,22,12
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Game
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday morning pontifications

Here are a few things that are worth looking at this morning.

Apparently Brandon from Sioux Yeah Yeah is either sandbagging or doesn't think our team has a chance of winning the hockey games this weekend. Not mention, that the UND Fighting Sioux are a pretty good hockey team it's self, even with the rash of illnesses and the impending suspension. Add to the fact that the Fighting Sioux have also played a tougher schedule to date to start the season. That's not saying that UMD isn't a good hockey team because they are, but lets not forget that UND is pretty good as well.

Against my advice; Brandon was also participated and was taken to task in this week's gauntlet by Runnin' With the Dogs. I would tell people to enter at your own peril when agreeing to run the gauntlet.

Also apparent, is that Brandon forgot to read the Bruce Ciskie blog, where Bruce said this, "Since it opened in October of 2001, UMD is 2-11-2 in games played at Ralph Engelstad Arena." [Ciskie Blog] Let not your heart be troubled Brandon.

Sioux fans will be able to send DU forward Jesse Martin their best wishes this weekend. This from Jayson Hajdu' Twitter page, the UND Sports Information Director.

@UNDSID --- Sioux fans can send their best wishes to DU's Jesse Martin by signing a giant card at REA guest services during this weekend's men's games.

So go and sign this card if you are in the building this weekend. The Fighting Sioux fan base is pulling for the Denver University Pioneer forward.

A few predictions and thoughts from the Pundits

From the Star and Tribune; N Dakota's Malone suspended 1 game for check that left Denver player with neck fractures [Star Tribune] It seems like every post that involves the Sioux in the Star and Tribune turns into a name calling fest between the Gophers and Sioux fans.

According to Brad Schlossman Carter Rowney is out this weekend with an apparent upper body injury as the result of an elbow.

UND will likely be without Carter Rowney up front, too. Rowney was injured at the end of the second period Friday when Beau Bennett’s elbow caught him up high. There is no timetable on Rowney’s return yet. He did not practice today.

I am wondering why this hit wasn't reviewed by the WCHA officials as well? [Crickets chirping ]

Roman from Goal Gophers of the Red Star and Sickle thinks the Sioux will slap that Bulldog ass this weekend. I just hope he hasn't jinxed the Sioux this weekend.

Roman: Wish I could be in two places at once, at the Ralph and Mariucci. UMD (6-0-2) has the nation's longest unbeaten streak after escaping Bemidji with three points. Beavers slowed down 'Dogs top line, so will Sioux. North Dakota won four of five meetings last season. ... Sioux sweep.

This is what Tyler Buckentine WCHA Columnist from USCHO had to say about the match up between the Sioux and the Bulldogs this weekend. The combined record of UMD opponents is 9-20-7.

USCHO --- UMD’s opponents have a combined record of 9–20–7, and Sandelin said he believes the Bulldogs will see the toughest competition they’ve seen all season when they step into Ralph Engelstad Arena on Friday.

“They’re obviously the best team we’ve faced to this point,” Sandelin said. “They’re deeper and a little more skilled than the other teams we’ve faced, plus we’re at [UND’s] rink. We need to take care of the puck and play smart hockey because teams with their ability will take it and put it in your net.”

The Sioux are known for having one of the deepest lineups in Division I and have the ability to roll four solid lines each week.

Paul Stastny talks about the Malone hit on Martin

Here is what a former DU player and current Av's player Paul Stastny had to say about the Malone hit on Martin.

The Denver Post --- Stastny, who played two seasons at DU and skates with Martin and other Pioneers during the summer, was rattled because he knows what happened to Martin can happen to anyone.

And Stastny also knows North Dakota's Brad Malone, who delivered the hit on Martin. Malone, a 6-foot-2, 212-pound senior forward, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Avalanche in 2007.

While Martin's hockey career is probably over, Malone will likely continue his career with the Avs organization next season.

"I only saw the replay from one angle and it wasn't the best view, but I don't think there was any intention to hurt him," Stastny said. "Honestly, I've been thinking about it for the last two days. Jesse had his head down, but you don't want to blame anyone."

Martin was skating the puck up ice, out of the defensive zone, and wanted to pass it ahead. But he lost control of the puck and looked down to find it just before Malone crushed him on a forecheck.

Where do we go from here?

This what perpetual Fighting Sioux hater Western College Hockey blogger Chris Dilks had this to say about the Malone hit.

All in all, I'm not going to declare Malone the worst person ever because I think he was honestly trying to throw a legal check, but the bottom line is that he definitely threw an illegal check which seriously injured another player. What type of suspension should that be worth? For those willing to search through internet archives, you could probably find all sorts of creative solutions from North Dakota fans, demanding pounds of flesh from Aaron Marvin last year, not the least of which was former Grand Forks Herald writer Virg Foss, who penned an editorial last year saying players that injure a player with an illegal check should be suspended until the injured player returns to the ice. I doubt the Herald will be reprinting that this week. There's no need to be excessive, but the suspension should definitely be significant.

Personally, I don’t mind the WCH blog, I read it all the time almost every day, I think there are a lot of good points brought up in this blog but let’s be frank and realistic and call it like it is, Chris Dilks hates everything UND, you can’t tell me otherwise. It is what it is. I get it; I don’t have a problem with that. I have my own teams and players that I have don’t like, cough, cough.

Also, I think in retrospect; unfortunately we all had to know this day was going to happen, when a Fighting Sioux hockey player injured another player on the ice. You could predict that opposition fans would say that, “hey what about Malone, you guys were calling for Aaron Marvin’s head last season as well.” I am not sure we are comparing apples to apples in this situation. It was pretty evident from the video of the Marvin that he followed Genoway all the way up the ice and went around another one of his teammates to put a devastating and a illegal hit on Chay Genoway.

I don't think the Marvin hit on Genoway compares to the hit that Malone put on Martin. Marvin's hit on Genoway was a CFB/boarding penalty. Malone on the other hand it would appear was attempting to put a “legal hit but violent hit" on Martin and unfortunately ended up injuring another player.

Malone has shown remorse for his hit and has had a tough time dealing with this. I hope as fans we don't forget what happened and continue to put both players in our thoughts and prayers. I think all of us have a sick feeling in our stomach about what happened on the ice, none of us want to see another player injured, if they do they aren’t wired right, and need to seek professional help. During last Saturday’s game, if Martin skates away I don’t even know if we are looking at a penalty because hockey happens so fast.

Both players were suspended for their hit(s). I think we could have seen both players get longer suspensions for their hits/checks and the league would have been justified. In talking to a lot of people this week there are a lot of people that said, don't be surprised if there is a lengthy suspension attached to this hit. Malone was given a one game suspension but will now be a repeat offender and the scope will be on him just like it's on Aaron Marvin and it was on on former MSU Maverick Trevor Buress. If both players put a questionable hit on another players they will be subject to heavy disciplinary action. The fans and teams in the WCHA will demand that this happen.

Matt Niskanen vs Sidney Crosby Fight

I figured this would be a fitting video for this weekend's series with the UMD Bulldogs. Ok! For those of you that haven't seen this fight video, former UMD defenseman Matt Niskanen drops the glove against the Penguins crybaby star forward Sidney Crosby.

Brad Malone suspended one game by the WCHA

I don't have a problem with the suspension, however, why did it take the WCHA so long for the league to hand it down this suspension? They couldn't have come down with the decision on Tuesday? I mean seriously, by moving slowly in handing down this suspension, the WCHA looks like a bunch of bumbling buffoons, that makes them also look incompetent. I don't think any of us are shocked by the decision, most of us figured a suspension was coming, it was just a matter of how long.

MADISON, Wis. – The Western Collegiate Hockey Association today (Nov. 4, 2010) announced a one-game suspension to University of North Dakota hockey player Brad Malone for his actions in the October 30 game vs the University of Denver.

Malone's suspension was determined after a review of the incident under the WCHA's Supplementary Discipline Policy and Procedures. At the time of the incident, he was assessed a 5:00-minute major penalty for charging and a 10:00-minute game misconduct.

Malone will be required to serve this one-game suspension in his team's next regularly scheduled game on Friday, November 5 vs the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

First I want to start off by wishing Jesse Martin (and his family) a quick and full recovery from his broken vertebrae.

There has already been lots of speculating on this incident from fans around the league, and I’ll leave it at that. However, I want to talk briefly about hockey hits in general. I believe that Don Cherry (Hockey Night in Canada announcer, ex-coach), had the answer to all these injuries, years ago. Get rid of the hard plastic arm pads that players wear, and replace them with some of the new cotton/foam padding. Let’s face the physics of the matter, plastic, it doesn’t give much when you hit it, cotton/foam padding on the other hand does.

Now, back to this week, yet again we have five league series this weekend. The standings are starting shake out, but it is still too early to say who really is the best team in the league is right now.

WCHA standings

TEAM……………...W-L-T...Pts
1. Minnesota-Duluth....3-0-1…7
2. North Dakota………3-1-0…6
2. Minnesota…………..3-3-0…6
2. Minnesota State…...2-2-2…6
5. Denver……………...2-1-1…5
5. Wisconsin…………..2-1-1…5
7. Nebraska-Omaha…2-0-0…4
8. Michigan Tech……..1-2-1…3
9. Colorado College…..1-3-0…2
10. St. Cloud State….....1-1-0…2
11. Alaska-Anchorage...0-3-1…1
11. Bemidji State……….0-3-1…1

WCHA

Colorado College vs #13 Denver
Last weekend the Tigers where swept by the Gophers in Colorado Spring and the Pioneers split their series with the Sioux in Grand Forks.

After getting swept last weekend the Tigers need to get back in the win column. Like the saying goes, “you can’t win the league title in first part of the season, but you can lose it.” This is start of this year’s Gold Pan games, and from what I read/know the Pioneers are the Tigers most disliked rival. It seems that most DU fans consider UND to be their arch-rivals the past few years, replacing the Tigers. Any way you slice it, it is still an in-state rival (too bad Air Force is not in the WCHA too). The Tiger need some points this weekend, if they want to stay in contention for a league title come March, or just home ice. For the Pioneers, it will be focusing on this weekend, and trying to put last weekend’s unfortunate incident in the past. After this weekend series, DU will have finished up what looks to be the hardest stretch of their season schedule. I’m going with the home team to win in their home building, SPLIT.

Bemidji State @ #20 St. Cloud State
Last weekend the Beavers lost and tied the Bulldogs in Bemidji and the Huskies split with Quinnipiac in St. Cloud.

The Beavers are still trying to get their first WCHA conference win, with this weekend being their first WCHA road games. BSU came close last weekend with a pair of overtime games. The Huskies have been sporadic to start the year, win here a lose there, repeat. SCSU had/has high hopes for the season, and the league coaches thought the Huskies were/are going to be one of the top teams in the league. This early in the year, you have to look past the standing some, SCSU sits in 10, but they have only played 2 games, where most played four or six games. BSU is winless in four games and sitting in the basement. The Beavers might have too big of a hole to dig out of, if they don’t get some points, and soon. SPLIT

#15 Wisconsin @ #17 Minnesota
Last weekend the Badgers swept the MTU Huskies in Madison and the Gophers swept the Tigers in Colorado Springs.

It looks like the Gophers found their offense last week, who knew it was hiding in Colorado, huh. The Gophers put up 13 goals on the weekend, posting 4 on Friday night and 9 on Saturday. Wisconsin put some goals up the board last weekend too, 5 and 4 respectively. If both those offensives show up in Minneapolis this weekend, we might have ourselves some old fashioned barn burners. Of course, now that I speculate shoot outs, the games will end up more like 1-0. This is the other big rivalry series this weekend, CC vs DU is the other rivals game. I’m going to go with a safe conservative pick here, SPLIT.

#2 Minnesota-Duluth @ #9 North Dakota
Last weekend the Bulldogs took three points from the Beavers in Bemidji and the Sioux split with the Pioneers in Grand Forks.

The Sioux outshot the Pioneers in both games last weekend, 30-17 Friday and 33-17 Saturday. UND has scored 14 goals in conference play and UMD has scored 13 goals, both teams have played 4 games. If you look at BSU being a common denominator between UND, UMD you would have to go with the Sioux in this series. They beat BSU by a pair of 5-2 scores, and UMD beat them 3-2 OT and tied 1-1. I’m going to stick with the home team this weekend, SIOUX SWEEP.

Minnesota State @ #8 Nebraska-Omaha
Last weekend the MSUM Mavericks took three points from the Seawolves in Anchorage and the UNO Mavericks enjoyed a weekend off.

This will be the first time these teams play each other as members of the same league. The last few years these teams have played one another, as non-conference games. That should make for a good background between these pair of Mavericks. Like the cliché goes, “familiarity breeds contempt” and these teams should be familiar with each other. I saw the UNO v UM games a few weeks ago, and the Red Mavericks looked pretty good (of course, the Gophers looked bad then too). I haven’t seen the Purple Pucksters in action this year, so its hard to predict these games. MAVERICKS Win and the other MAVERICKS Win too :)

BYE WEEK
University of Alaska Anchorage – Seawolves
Michigan Technological University – Huskies

I’m Sioux 7 and I approve of this message.
(Man, I’m glad I don’t have to hear that fraise for a couple of years.)

Hockey culture doesn't sit well with dad

Here is an article from Slam Sports/Canoe.CA, Terry Martin is in favor of changing the culture of hockey as soon as possible.

EDMONTON - The father of a young hockey player who is still recovering in a Minneapolis hospital from a broken neck after a devastating hit says the entire sport is due for a fundamental fix when it comes to bodychecking.

Terry Martin's son, 22-year-old Jesse Martin -- a centreman with the University of Denver -- was taken off on a stretcher Sunday night following the hit by Brad Malone, a player with the University of North Dakota during a match Sunday in Grand Forks.

The former player for the Spruce Grove Saints and a product of the Atlanta Thrashers was rushed to hospital after suffering three fractures to his C-2 vertebrae to his neck.

"I am absolutely in favour of the discussion going on right now about changing the culture of hockey," Terry Martin said in an interview.

Former Duluth Sieve Brady Hjelle Commits to Ohio State University

I just saw this on line over at the Cedar Rapids Roughriders team web page.

Cedar Rapids, IA- RoughRider goaltender, Brady Hjelle, has committed to play the remainder of his college hockey career at Ohio State University.

"We congratulate Brady and are very happy for him and his family. Brady will fit in very nicely with the culture Coach Osiecki and his staff are building at OSU," said Head Coach and General Manager Mark Carlson.

Flyers Danny Briere suspended three games for cross-check

If you haven't seen this Danny Briere was suspended by the NHL for three games for this hit on Islanders center Frans Nielsen. Apparently Briere didn't agree with the Suspension. This is what Briere had to say on the manner.

ESPN.COM --- "I'm shocked," he said before Philadelphia hosted the Hurricanes on Monday night. "Surprised is not strong enough. After all the suspensions that have been handed out the last couple of years and this year, I didn't think I was going to get a game. Then I thought, 'OK yes, I am a repeat offender, they'll probably give me a game because of it.' I'm shocked that it was more than a game."

Come on Danny, you did cross check him in the head and you're a repeat offender, how did you think the league was going to respond? Three games is about right for this hit. I am beginning to wonder who is a bigger POS, Matt Cooke or Daniel Carcillo.

Edmonton product suffers broken neck

Here is a story from the Edmonton Journal that I found on line about Denver forward Jesse Martin, lets not forget this young man as he makes his recovery.

EDMONTON — The father of a city-born hockey player whose neck was broken in a hockey game in North Dakota on Saturday says the prognosis looks good, but it's way too early to know if his son can continue to pursue his dream to play in the NHL.

Terry Martin says his 22-year-old son Jesse has feeling in his extremities, but will likely require surgery within the next couple of days to align the multiple fractures in his second cervical vertebrae.

"The good news is he has got a good range of motion in his arms and legs," Terry Martin said Monday from bedside at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

"It is traumatic, but there has been progress, and that's been positive.

"We have guarded optimism, knowing that it is really serious, but he is in very good hands."

His son suffered multiple fractures to his C2 vertebrae after he was hit with a crushing bodycheck midway through a contest between his University of Denver Pioneers and the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

The six-foot, 180-pound forward was skating with the puck out of his team's end of the ice when he was hit with a thundering check from Fighting Sioux forward Brad Malone. He appeared to be planning to make a pass, but was glancing down when the six-foot-two, 212-pound Malone caught him with his shoulder.

College hockey coaches to meet with NHL officials over player raids

It will be interesting to see how this story shakes out. I think this is a work in progress. Division I college hockey took a pounding this summer as a lot of great players fled for the CHL and or NHL.

Twincities.com --- Don Lucia didn't garner a ton of sympathy when he started losing his best players to the NHL. The Gophers men's hockey coach already had won two NCAA titles, and seemed to have his pick of talent, anyway.

But now it's not just the Gophers' cupboard being raided of underclassmen, and college hockey hopes to do something about it.

Lucia and a handful of other Division I coaches, including Wisconsin's Mike Eaves, Boston University's Jack Parker and Harvard's Ted Donato, will meet with NHL representatives next month in Toronto to exchange ideas on the subject.

Among the NHL representatives will be Commissioner Gary Bettman.

"There are things we want to talk about that hopefully we can do with a new (collective bargaining agreement) that can help college hockey," said Lucia, who lost Nick Leddy (to Chicago) and Jordan Schroeder (Vancouver) last spring before either had turned 20.

Before that it was Kyle Okposo, who left in the middle of his sophomore season to join the New York Islanders, and Phil Kessel (Boston) and Erik Johnson (St. Louis), each of whom played one season for the Gophers.

"College hockey has been under assault," said Paul Kelly, executive director of College Hockey Inc., a newly created organization charged with promoting college hockey. "It used to be hard to keep your highly skilled players for three years; now it's two years, and sometimes one. You're constantly recruiting; you have to re-create your team."

When I read this article; my first question is; when is reality is also going to set in. What are the division one hockey coaches going to use as bargaining chips to convince the NHL to stop talking their top players after being college hockey for only a year or two? Seriously! While this is an interesting story, these coaches don't anything to bargain with. I am not sure what they think they can do to stop GM’s and NHL hockey teams from raiding division one hockey teams. That is one of the negatives about recruiting blue chip hockey players to play for their teams, if they are successful their NHL teams are going to want them to play for them. Phil Kessel and Erik Johnson were ready to play in the NHL after only one season in college.

Zach Budish injured; out for the season?

Goal Gophers is reporting that Sophmore winger Zach Budish could be out for the season because of a knee injury. This is bad news for the Gophers if true. According to the Star Tribune Budish was injuried in a moped accident.

Goal Gophers --- Zach Budish, a sophomore right winger for the Gophers, was injured Monday in a moped accident, a team spokesman said. The severity of Budish’s injuries are being determined.

According to at least one report, Budish appears to have a torn anterior cruciate ligament in one of his knees and could be out for the rest of the season. That’s what Kevin Gorg, FSN’s analyst for the Gophers-Colorado College series this past weekend, said on KFAN radio on Tuesday morning.

Gophers coach Don Lucia will provide an update on Budish on Wednesday, the day regularly scheduled for media interviews, said Paul Rovnak, the assistant director in athletic communications for men’s hockey.

DU player with broken neck talks to North Dakota opponent who injured him

The Denver Post is reporting this story. Wow! The kid is lying in bed hurt and worried about the kid that checked him. This stuff really thugs at your heart strings. Classy move by Martin, lets hope he makes a speedy return.

The Denver Post --- While recovering from three fractures to his C2 vertebrae today in a Minneapolis hospital, University of Denver center Jesse Martin reached out to the player who inadvertently ended his season and possibly his career.

According to Martin's father, Terry Martin, Jesse called North Dakota senior Brad Malone to ease Malone's mental anguish over his check that caused the injury midway through DU's 3-0 victory on Saturday in Grand Forks, N.D.

"Jesse had heard Brad was having a tough time and he wanted Brad to know he had no hard feelings," Terry Martin said. "Jesse doesn't think it was an illegal hit and he wanted Brad to know that."

Poll Monday - Sioux drop to 9th

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
[November 1, 2010]
1 Miami (33) 5-1-2 977 1
2 Minnesota-Duluth ( 8) 6-0-2 926 3
3 Boston University ( 7) 6-0-1 836 6
4 Boston College ( 1) 4-2-0 835 2
5 Yale ( 1) 2-0-0 790 5
6 Michigan 4-1-3 762 4
7 Maine 4-1-2 707 7
8 Nebraska-Omaha 5-1-0 597 9
9 North Dakota 4-3-1 565 8
10 New Hampshire 2-1-2 555 10
11 Notre Dame 5-1-1 488 13
12 Michigan State 3-0-3 481 11
13 Denver 3-3-2 389 12
14 Alaska 5-2-1 358 15
15 Union 5-1-2 286 16
15 Wisconsin 5-2-1 286 18
17 Minnesota 5-3-0 191 20
18 Rensselaer 3-1-3 104 20
19 Cornell 0-2-0 91 14
20 St. Cloud State 3-4-1 88 17
Others Receiving Votes: Merrimack 44, Quinnipiac 38, Robert Morris 34, Colorado College 18, Michigan Tech 13, Ferris State 12, Western Michigan 12, Clarkson 7, Rochester Institute of Technology 6, Bemidji State 2, Canisius 1, Vermont 1


USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
[November 1, 2010]
1Miami University, 494 (23)15-1-25
2University of Minnesota Duluth, 469 (7)36-0-25
3Boston University, 407 (4)56-0-15
4Boston College, 40324-2-05
5University of Michigan, 36144-1-35
6Yale University, 35972-0-05
7University of Maine, 322 64-1-25
8University of Nebraska Omaha, 23595-1-03
9University of North Dakota, 208 84-3-15
10University of New Hampshire, 200102-1-25
11University of Notre Dame, 163115-1-12
12Michigan State University, 152143-0-32
13University of Denver, 94123-3-25
14Union College, 88135-1-22
15University of Alaska, 70NR5-2-14

Get Well Jessie Martin

Vizoroo quote from USCHO: For those of us who "live and die" for our favorite college hockey team, there comes a time when that is secondary. And that time came to Pioneer fans this weekend.

First off; I don’t think there are truer words. That being said; I don’t think anyone in the Fighting Sioux fan base is happy that an opposition player was carted off of the ice during Saturday’s game, if they are they need to have their heads examined because they aren’t wired right. Personally, I have also been on the sideline and in the stands for football players that were carted off of the playing surface for a catastrophic injury, it ruins the whole game and puts a dark cloud over the event, this kid may never play hockey again. I have also been to auto races that ended with a driver being taken to the hospital for a bad crash; again the race/event becomes secondary. In the end we are all just human being.

This game puts another dark cloud over a great rivalry between two great programs, whether you like the DU hockey or their head coach, the Denver University Pioneers are a class organization; evidence of this was when their players stood still and slapped their sticks on the ice for the Ed Belfour presentation on Friday night. The last thing we need is more ugliness between the two programs and their great fans.

Personally, while I enjoy the back and forth between the two programs, now is not the time for that, let’s have some empathy for the DU fans as they go through this trying time. I would imagine that Sioux forward Brad Malone also feels bad as well, the big screen caught a glimpse of Malone after the incident and the expression on his face was one of concern. Rember to keep Jesse Martin in thoughts and prayers as he goes through medical treatments.



Denver Post photo.

INCH Power Rankings - Sioux 8th

INCH Power Rankings

1 Miami of Ohio
2 Minn. Duluth
3 Boston University
4 Boston College
5 Michigan
6 Maine
7 Yale
8 North Dakota - The Fighting Sioux outshot Denver by a 63-34 margin last weekend, but the Pioneers outscored NoDak by a 6-4 margin. Feel free to jump to your own conclusion here. 4-3-1 (3-1-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Denver, 4-3; L vs. Denver, 3-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota Duluth, vs. Minnesota Duluth.
9 Union
10 Michigan State
11 New Hampshire
12 Notre Dame
13 Denver
14 Nebraska-Omaha
15 Alaska Fairbanks
16 Wisconsin
17 Rensselaer
18 Merrimack
19 Robert Morris
20 Quinnipiac

I must say that I am surprised that UND is still in 8th I was expecting to be dropped to 10th in the power rankings.

Big Ten Conference hockey? It's a strong possibility

I found this little news nugget in today’s Saint Cloud Times. First off; I can’t be the only one that is uninspired by McLeod’s leadership in moving the WCHA forward with the Big Ten Hockey Conference looming in the future. I am actually more worried now after reading these comments from McLeod; combine these comments in this news article with his interview with Scott Williams Lakeland Public Television during the UND and BSU series a few weeks back I am even more concerned. I am still trying to download the interview between Scott Williams and Bruce McLeod and will do so as soon as I can figure out how to rip the DVD to my hard drive.

Times news services --- Though Penn State officially is committed to playing NCAA Division I hockey, Big Ten Conference representatives won’t speculate about the possibility of an official Big Ten hockey conference.

The Nittany Lions, they point out, haven’t even hired an architect to design their arena. And, they add, such a monumental decision would require a significant amount of discussion at the elite levels of college athletics.

Bruce McLeod doesn’t buy it.

“The way I see it, there’s not much to speculate about,” the Western Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner said. “They were already looking at it, and now they have six teams. They will have it.”

Last summer, the Big Ten reached out to McLeod and other college hockey leaders about the possibility of starting a hockey conference. Despite only having five schools that play Division I men’s hockey — Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State — the Big Ten thought a conference could be created through affiliate memberships with schools such as Notre Dame.

“I and some other people fought very, very hard for several months to avoid that,” McLeod said Monday. “We made a pretty good case, and it didn’t happen.”

Minnesota was among those opposed, though with the addition of a sixth conference team — the number the NCAA requires for a conference championship — arguments against a Big Ten men’s hockey conference might have dried up