Archive for the 'Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings' Category

Three Things I Think ECAC: October 14, 2015

Wednesday, October 14th, 2015

In what very could go down as one of the most important weeks of the season for ECAC teams, league teams went 9-2-1 in non-conference play. Union and RPI had the most impressive wins of the week with victories over Boston University and Boston College, respectively. Those wins will be huge for the pairwise boost in the future, as both will probably be near the top come the end of the season. The league schedule will kick off in two weeks, as Harvard and Dartmouth will kickoff the slate with a pair on Halloween weekend. I wasn’t going to write this week, but there is a point I wanted to get across that is hardly league related but it is. Without much ado, here are my thoughts of the week. (more…)

Three Things I Think: Big Ten, Oct. 14

Wednesday, October 14th, 2015

College hockey fully kicked off last week, and it featured five Big Ten teams in action. The Wolverines and their high-powered offense sat out, while Penn State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan State all participated in out-of-conference contests.

The Spartans narrowly lost the Ice Breaker Tournament after tying Maine and defeated Lake Superior State. Minnesota dropped a contest to Vermont, Penn State defeated Canisius, Bowling Green swept Ohio State and Wisconsin tied Northern Michigan.

It’s still early in the season so there’s no reason to panic. But there were some points of reassurance and some issues of concern in the opening weekend.

(After the jump: Not last year’s Wisconsin, Eric Schierhorn and Minnesota’s struggles)
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Icebreaker Game Notes: UND Settles to Defeat LSSU, 5-2

Friday, October 9th, 2015

Portland, Maine – It seemed as though, Lake Superior State was going to put up the upset of the the early season. The Lakers scored two early goals, off of snipes in the slot by J.T Henke and Mitch Hults.  It also had an early goal that was disallowed because it was hit in by a hand, just 11 seconds into the contest. It was able to escape out of the period with the 2-0 lead, but the second period brought about a much different scenario. UND scored three goals in the first eight minutes, seven

The seeds were able placed at the end of the first period, for UND to take over the game. For much of the second half of the firrst period, North Dakota poured shot after shot onto Laker goalie, Gordon Defiel. UND outshot the Lakers, 12-0 in the remaining moments of the first. The onslaught continued in the second and its opponent wasn’t able to register a shot til about the midway point of the second period.

Lake Superior had chances to tie. Drake Cagguila was assessed a five minute game misconduct late in the second period and North Dakota took two quick penalties early in the third to give its opponent . But a restless, non-existent power play and good kill by North Dakota stymied any opportunity for a comeback. North Dakota added another in the third period, and poured more shots onto Defiel. North Dakota outshot its opponent 45-26 in the game. (more…)

Weekend Preview: Big Ten, Oct. 9

Friday, October 9th, 2015

College hockey is already underway, as Mercyhurst and Colgate opened the action last weekend. This week marks opening competition for Big Ten teams, which features five out-of-conference matchups. Michigan, which defeated Toronto 8-1 in an exhibition game, has a bye.

The Buckeyes will face in-state rival Bowling Green, one of the best teams in the WCHA last season. Michigan State travels to Maine for the IceBreaker tournament to face Maine and Lake Superior State. Minnesota hosts Vermont, Penn State travels to Canisius and Wisconsin hosts Northern Michigan. (more…)

Previewing Hockey East’s Exhibition Weekend

Thursday, October 1st, 2015

Practices officially open on Saturday, which means college hockey is back this weekend. In Hockey East, 10 teams will host exhibitions with CIS programs Saturday and Sunday. Let’s take a look at them:

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Details on Hockey East’s Deal with American Sports Network

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015

BOSTON — Hockey East officially announced its agreement with American Sports Network to produce its league television slate. It’s a two-year contract and will consist of 14 games for this upcoming season.

ASN is a production company, and will produce the games for its series of networks. Locally, it’s likely that games will continue to air on NESN, though that portion of the deal was not formally announced by the league on Monday.

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Injuries Contagious Around Hockey East

Monday, September 21st, 2015

BOSTON — With just two weeks to go before the exhibition season officially kicks off, a trio of Hockey East teams are entering the year with question marks thanks to some injuries to top players.

On Monday at the league’s media day, held at TD Garden, Boston College head coach Jerry York confirmed to WEEI.com’s Scott McLaughlin that goaltender Thatcher Demko could miss the start of the upcoming season. That’s certainly not what the favorited Eagles need heading into the season, though BC doesn’t play a league game until Nov. 3 when it hosts a UMass team that was picked to finish last in Hockey East.

Demko had surgery on his hips in the offseason. It’s the type of surgery that’s becoming more common for players at that position.

Down the road, Boston University defenseman Matt Grzelcyk is also unlikely to be ready for the start of the season after undergoing knee surgery over the summer. The BU captain is a key piece for the Terriers this season, who last Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues, Matt O’Connor and others off a team that won the Hockey East Championship last March.

Grzelcyk has been skating, but BU head coach David Quinn said on Monday that the Terriers will likely err on the side of caution and not rush him back into action.

UConn goaltender Rob Nichols had similar surgery to Demko, and according to a report in last week’s Hartford Courant, he might also not be ready for the start of the season. Nichols reportedly just got back on the ice last week and still hasn’t skated in back-to-back days, nor has he been cleared for game action.

Despite Despair, O’Connor’s Poise Is Why We Love The Game

Sunday, April 12th, 2015

BOSTON — You hardly see a National Hockey League player cry after a crushing loss. Last night, after a 4-3 loss to Providence in the national championship game, there wasn’t a dry eye in the Boston University dressing room.

That’s because in college hockey, at places like Boston University and everywhere else, you’re playing for something bigger than you, and you know it.

Players like Cason Hohmann, Evan Rodrigues and Anthony Moccia might play hockey beyond this season, but it will never be the same. Never.

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A Rebuttal To Every ‘We Got Screwed’ Column You’ll Read This Week …

Tuesday, March 24th, 2015

In a blog post earlier this week on the website for The Lowell Sun, which covers UMass Lowell, a writer admitted that he didn’t “know squat” about the Pairwise. That’s fine. Unless you’re a college hockey diehard, you probably wouldn’t know the difference between the Pairwise and a pair a shoes.

But that didn’t stop the newspaper from publishing a front-page column on Tuesday, where the lede was “The UMass Lowell hockey team got screwed,” and calling the River Hawks “victims of a computer” in its headline.

Before I sat down to write this blog post, I asked my laptop if it had any bias against any particular college hockey programs. It didn’t answer me.

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Thoughts On The Big Ten Tournament Attendance And How To Fix It

Tuesday, March 24th, 2015

With the Big Ten programs so spread out, attendance may never be as great as we want it to be. But the attendance from the Big Ten tournament in Detroit were embarrassing.

Michigan played in all three games this weekend, including two weekend nights. Despite the local program’s presence, fans didn’t come out the Joe Louis Arena. Not even when Michigan and Michigan State faced off on Friday night.

If two local teams, featuring players like Zach Hyman, Dylan Larkin (a Red Wings prospect), Zach Werenski, Jake Hildebrand, Josh Jacobs, can’t draw fans of teams in their own state, there’s a problem.

Attendance was much better last year in St. Paul, with Minnesota as the local team. Wisconsin is a little further away, but Badgers fans still came out to support their team. And some Gophers fans took the trip to see the championship game on Saturday.

After this weekend, I assume the Big Ten tournament will not draw well outside of St. Paul. I loved last year’s tournament, from Minneapolis to the X. But having the tournament in MSP each year isn’t fair to the other four teams that have to travel.

Which is why they should move it to Chicago.

I’m biased towards Chicago because I love that city. But it’s central to the core of the conference (sorry, Penn State). It has easy-to-use public transportation, is a great city, provides opportunities for fan engagement and it’s where the conference is headquartered. There’s more to do in Chicago on a Saturday than there is in Detroit or Minneapolis, giving fans an added reason to travel (Most fans, would have to travel anyway).

Honestly, I’m not sure if the attendance issue can ever be fixed. But there are steps the conference can take to make the tournament more fan-friendly, easier to get to, and more fun to attend. Because right now, there’s not much incentive to go.

The B1G has to work for it

When the conference was founded for hockey, it threw a bunch of brand-name programs together. But having historic, winning schools doesn’t equal attendance success – especially if the conference is having a down year. The conference can’t expect fans to spend money and time on travel to see Big Ten hockey. It’s expensive as is, but especially for college students. If fans are going to go, it needs to be worth their time.

Take the Frozen Four. Yes, it’s a more important event, but they do a great job of keeping fans entertained with a fun atmosphere before the games. This would be great for the Big Ten – hosting an event or two around the city for fans to attend.

And then there’s marketing. Last year I didn’t see much advertising around the city, and this year all I saw were sporadic posters with the conference colors and logo. This is a conference that’s shown hockey isn’t a big priority, but they need to make it one. Spend some money on advertising. Draw in the local crowd.

(Side note: I saw more advertising from the Red Wings for the Big Ten tournament than I saw from the conference.)

Take away the Thursday game

Both years the Big Ten has drawn poor attendance for the Thursday game. Traveling for a first-round game is a low priority for fans, especially when they’re traveling far. But even when they’re not traveling far. Michigan fans didn’t show up on Thursday. But I don’t blame them, since they were almost a lock to beat Wisconsin.

 

 

I said this before the tournament, and it seems others have similar opinions. The Thursday game, featuring the four lower seeds, is better suited to a best-of-three series played at the home of the higher seed a week before the actual tournament. The schools, as hosts, have a much better chance of drawing attendance for that game than an NHL arena does, especially when it’s far away.