It was one year ago this week that Ryan Stoa’s sophomore season at Minnesota ended before it had really begun, as the forward suffered a season-ending, surgery-requiring knee injury. So it was great to see Stoa — now the captain for the Gophers — score tonight in his first game since Oct. 13, 2007. It’s a nice story, especially in light of unfortunate injury news elsewhere in college hockey this week.

Before the game, Stoa talked about his long-awaited return with Fox Sports North, saying in part, “I’m excited. Being on the sidelines isn’t any fun. Nobody wants to do it, but it rejuvenates you in a way. I’m just happy to be at the rink, being with the guys. I’m so excited to play.”

In addition to a shorthanded goal, Stoa also assisted on the eventual game-winner in an entertaining 3-2 win at St. Cloud. And Minnesota goaltender Alex Kangas, a 2006 fifth round draft pick (Atlanta Thrashers), stopped Huskie forward Aaron Marvin, a 2006 third round pick (Calgary Flames), with a memorable save in the final seconds.

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The 2008-09 Preseason All-CHN Team was announced today. I’m sure many people will take offense that their favorites aren’t there, but I think the list is fairly non-controversial.

Michigan Tech and Merrimack both lost their exhibition openers to Canadian university teams today. Ooof.

BU goalie Scott Cashman is dead at 39, the same age our friend Jon Barkan died at last year, also from a heart-related issue. I’ll be 39 next year at this time. Ummm, yes I’m worried. Everyone go get a checkup.

Colorado College’s brand new athletics web site has this cool as heck video clip up from the 1950 NCAA championship game, won by CC over Boston University. I actually own a film-to-video transfer of the whole 1967 game, where Cornell won. Got it from the NCAA. But this one has me topped. I must get a copy.

Denver has suspended four players already. Once again, George Gwozdecky shows off his zero tolerance policy.

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So, the news came out officially today that the Tampa Bay Lightning’s new ownership has pulled the plug on the Lightning College Classic, the Christmas-time tournament that Notre Dame had arranged. This struck most of us as odd, immediately, considering that Tampa is hosting the 2012 Frozen Four.

The tournament was arranged by Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson with this in mind, in addition to it being a fun venue for a tournament. And he had a relationship with some members of the previous ownership group.

Our friend Ken Schott has suggested the NCAA move the 2012 Frozen Four. It’s well documented that I didn’t like the idea of having the FF there when it was awarded a few years ago, but I’m not sure I’ll go as far as Ken here. But I share his puzzlement, and the decision was just as perplexing to everyone we spoke to.

This includes Jackson, who is the one who has had direct dealings with Tampa’s management about the issue. He never really heard a direct reason for the decision, but assumes it had to do with finances. In the process, however, Tampa’s new ownership has taken a narrow view of the situation, and consequently pissed off college hockey. This is not a way to ramp up for the Frozen Four.

You could say that this decision will have no bearing on the quality of that Frozen Four. After all, the FF stands on its own these days. But having local support of the media and residents of that community is always a plus for the atmosphere of the event. It’s one reason I didn’t want it there to begin with.

I asked Jackson if he thought that this was the result of direct animosity towards college hockey, and he didn’t think so, considering the people involved in the new ownership include Brian Lawton, Barry Melrose and Cap Raeder. But it’s still annoying, perplexing and a bit maddening.

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When I saw that Casey Jones had decided to fill the assistant coaching opening at Cornell, my first thought was “good catch,” and my second thought was “hmmmm.”

Many have argued over the years that Jones, a Cornell alum (1990), was the strategic brains behind Ohio State’s rise from oblivion during his time as John Markell’s assistant. Jones has put his hat in the ring for various head coaching openings, and fallen short. It has also been said that, should Markell be let go, Jones would be in line for the job.

However, it’s all been long thought that Cornell head coach Mike Schafer — who was an assistant at Cornell when Jones was playing — is not a college coaching lifer. He has designs on pro hockey, and some time in the next five years or so, many expect him to leave.

So, putting all of this together — and seeing that, apparently, Ohio State is sticking with Markell — Jones made the move back to his alma mater, to a so-called “lesser conference,” and in so doing, perhaps put himself in position to become the next head coach at Cornell.

Something to think about.

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Once again, things are changing in college hockey. Yesterday, the CCHA approved the shootout rule to be in effect for the 2008-09 season.

Although I thought that the shootout rule was a little bothersome, this is a change in college hockey that I will have to realize it could be good for the game.

The NHL seems to have done it right, and maybe it will be good for the future. Plus, the conference records will be the same as the NHL point system, two points for a win, one point to each team if the game enters the shootout (after the five minute overtime), and one point for a shootout win.

The only thing that I am confused on a little bit is the fact that the NCAA didn’t exactly mandate this rule yet for all conferences. They had talked about it but haven’t set the rule in stone exactly yet. But, yet again, what would happen to the pairwise rankings?

Right now there is no effect in the pairwise in the CCHA, but what if (or when will) every conference had a shootout? The pairwise would probably have to make changes, like they have done in the past.

Will this work? Possibly, but even though I don’t agree with it completely, at least it’s worth a try. If the shootout does work, then it will be another step in the right direction for the sport.

56 Days till the season begins. Should be an interesting 2008-09 college hockey season with all the rule changes and new faces.

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I liked this article by Bruce Ciskie, pointing out the irony of the New York Islanders selected highly-touted Minnesota recruit Aaron Ness in the recent NHL Draft. We pointed that out, too, in our Draft Roundup. Ciskie expands and opines on that, and gets a comment from Snow, where he mentions he’s not concerned about Ness playing for Don Lucia.

There are only two conclusions to reach about that … either a) give credit to Snow for overlooking his past issues with Lucia and take the best player … or b) it points out the folly of Snow ripping Lucia to begin with.

I go with the latter.

Snow said he was only “defending his guy (Kyle Okposo)” last December, in response to Lucia’s initial comments about the Islanders pressuring Okposo. But what Snow doesn’t understand — and never understood — is that Lucia was only taking the heat, i.e. defending, Okposo too. By Lucia publicly stating that the Islanders were pressuring Okposo, he was trying to take the heat off Okposo from Minnesota faithful who were criticizing him. Who knows if Lucia really felt like the Islanders were unfairly pressuring Okposo.

Snow took it as a personal knock, and blew it back up as a personal attack on Lucia.  The whole thing was ridiculous.  And Snow taking Ness now only proves that Snow never really believed the nonsense he was spewing on Lucia to begin with.

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We were quite saddened, as were many around the world, at the news today of the unexpected passing of NBC political analyst Tim Russert at the young age of 58 following a sudden heart attack.

It was just two months ago that Russert closed the April 13 edition of Meet the Press by congratulating Boston College on winning the NCAA hockey championship the night before in Denver.

Russert’s son Luke was a student at BC, graduating this year. From all accounts, Russert mentioning BC hockey on such a national stage was truly reflective of how close he was with his family and sharing in the things that were important to them. As terrible as his passing is, it seems even worse that it happened on Father’s Day Weekend. And sadly, Russert suffering a heart attack was the same way we lost a great friend of college hockey, Jon Barkan, just back in December. Barkan was even younger, just 39.

I enjoyed Meet the Press mainly because of Russert’s presence and the way in which he did his job in as unbiased a fashion as I could imagine. He had a way of asking tough questions without displaying any meanness or prejudice towards one side or the other, and he asked them of everyone.

I had a great deal of respect for him as an analyst and looked forward to the show each week. And if I was changing tv stations and came across him talking about something on one channel, I almost always kept it on because I felt I was likely to learn something I didn’t know before. His tireless efforts at bringing the leaders in American politics to the viewers made us all more informed and helped keep attention on some of the most important issues of the day.

Our world will not be the same without him. We will miss him and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

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Today was a day for one of what might be many changes made to improve the game of college hockey for the 2008-09 season.

The first rule, mandated today, was the two referee, two linesmen system. This here will immediately change the game for a few reasons. Number one, it will allow the two referees to call penalties instead of one. With the one ref system while the two linesmen job(s) will remain the same.

Also a few other rules were proposed. You can read the staff report here on CHN for the exact details, but, here are some thoughts on a few proposed rules.

The “Kicking” Rule: As seen in this year’s national championship game between Notre Dame and Boston College, a call that could have gone either way in the third period hurt Notre Dame’s chances when Irish defenseman Kyle Lawson had the puck deflect off his skate and went in. Now, if passed by the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee, any deflection off a skate, as long as the player is not showing a kicking motion towards the goal, will count as a goal. This would be a good rule if it is passed, speeding the game up a little bit.

The Icing Rule: Like the NHL, the new Icing rule will state that the team that ices the puck will not be able to change lines. Maybe it will be a little too much like the “new” NHL, but it is a better rule than what I am going to discuss next.

The Shootout Rule: Many coaches are discussing how to eliminate ties in college hockey. However, ties have been part of the college game for a long time. Instead of this, maybe another rule that could be considered could be how the “old” NHL used to decide games. If a team goes into overtime, whether they lost or tied, a point was given to both teams. The shootout rule in the NHL does give points to both teams, however, for now, if teams want to decrease ties, maybe they should start with just a 5:00 overtime and guaranteeing a point to both teams for going into overtime.

Faceoff Locations: Finally, all the faceoffs will be done in the nine faceoff circles only. Don’t know how that will impact the game, but we will see if this rule gets passed.

We will wait and see if the four other rule changes go through, but I am already excited about the two ref, two linesmen system in 2008-09. Expect other major changes in the world of college hockey in the coming months.

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This article explains a lawsuit filed against the NCAA and Ticketmaster over their policy for earning tickets for the Men’s and Women’s Final Four (basketball), and hockey’s Frozen Four.

The NCAA has, for years now, held a lottery to determine who gets the tickets. It seems like a fair way, considering that demand is so high. The lawsuit alleges that this is like gambling — and I think that’s going over the top.

But … the NCAA also charges a fee simply to apply. It keeps the fee even if you don’t get the tickets. And you have to pay for the tickets up front. If you don’t receive them, the lawsuit alleges that it often takes a while to receive the refund.

On this score, the lawsuit does make a very good point. Likening the ticket lottery to gambling seems extreme, and maybe they just threw in the kitchen sink to see what would stick. But I would agree that charging people a fee to simply apply for tickets, is just not necessary.

I have a feeling the NCAA may be eventually forced to amend that policy.

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Things could get really ugly in college hockey. The annual argument to reduce ties in the game has come up again, as noted by Larry Mahoney of the Bangor News in his recap of the AHCA meetings in Naples last week. 

According to the article, Hockey East coaches voted 8-1-1 to reduce ties. But they can’t agree on the how. Yet each league remains free to experiment with its own methods of tiebreaking. After the standard 5:00 overtime, possibilities include playing several additional minutes of 4-on-4 or even 3-on-3, as Larry suggests. Or a shootout.

So you could have one league breaking ties in one way (regular season league games), and another in a different way. A game could go into the record books as a league win but an overall tie (as viewed by the NCAA for official stats and tournament selection).

This has all the making of an enormous mess.

Why not apply the same principle here as we do with instant replay. Is there sufficient evidence to overturn the call? If not, don’t do anything. The call on the field stands.

Likewise, there’s no consensus on how to reduce or eliminate ties. Some coaches would like to do it, but there’s no agreement on how to do it. So there won’t be any changes to the official NCAA rules.

Until that happens, let’s not change anything. Just keep playing the games by the official rules. Experimentation to this degree only causes confusion, as we saw in the mid-1990s when Hockey East tested the shootout for two years — quickly ditching it. People still look back at the standings from those years and say, “Wh-What?” 88 points for the first place team? That’s because during those years rather than the standard two points for a win, one for a tie and none for a loss, you got *five* for an outright win, three for a shootout win, two for a shootout loss (and none for an outright loss).

Hockey East Standings: 1994-95 | 1995-96 (PDFs)

This came about because as the first shootout season got underway, people started to realize that some games were worth more than others. A game without a shootout was worth a total of two points. Either one team gets two and the other none, or it’s a tie and both get one. But with the original plan of awarding an extra point to the shootout winner, some games would be worth three points. One team wins the shootout and gets two, and the SO loser gets one. Plus, a shootout win becomes worth exactly as much as a regular win. That didn’t make sense either.

The alternative, as it turned out, really wasn’t much better either. I’ll admit that — and I suggested that five point system that was adopted back then.

In short, until all of the issues can be ironed out and a consensus reached on how to do it, leave the ties alone. As it is I don’t see the problem. Some games should be ties. That’s one of the great things about hockey. On some nights both teams deserve something.

In other news, Hockey East coaches voted 10-0 to implement replay in all league games — this will cost $16,000 per school. Nice to see the unanimous agreement there. Coaches voted 7-0-3 in favor of the stricter standards on holding, hooking, interference, etc. similar to the NHL. They also suggested faceoffs following a penalty be held in the offending team’s defensive zone, calling icing when a shorthanded team ices the puck, and continuing to move to the two referee system. 

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