Posted: September 11th, 2006 / by ron
Adam tossed this one in front of us a week or two ago and we all kind of shrugged, but several weeks later and still no word on the University of British-Columbia’s pending application to join the NCAA. CSTV’s Rink Rat, Elliot Olshansky breaks it down a bit further, taking a look at some of the conference and recruiting scenarios UBC and other teams might face should their application get approved.
From a business standpoint this should be a no-brainer for the NCAA, whom many lurking in the forums lovingly refer to as the NC$$. When you’ve run out of revenue opportunities in your own country, it only makes sense to expand to other countries, just like many professional leagues in the US have with varying degrees of success. While this seems like a huge opportunity to expand college hockey, there’s also a lot of opportunities for other sports such as Football, Baseball and Basketball (come on, the MVP is Canadian!)
Still many questions remain: Would NCAA Hockey be the same with Canadian Schools? How would this change the recruiting landscape and the game itself in the US? My guess is that we would see a weaker all around game right off the bat. Expansion does this to every sport, yet at the same time in ten years if well played could we be the equivalent of juniors? Definitely a possibility.
A more pressing matter remains though: Who do we run up the score on in exhibition games if all of the CIS teams join the NCAA? The excitement of D-I v. D-III could be back!
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Posted in Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings | Comments Off on University of British-Columbia Coming to NCAA?
Posted: September 11th, 2006 / by ron
There’s a great article on ESPN.com about RPI captain Kirk MacDonald’s fight to overcome testicular cancer. Many who keep track of the ECACHL have been following this story closely, and Ken Schott does an excellent job of pulling it all together for us as MacDonald gets ready to take the ice for his senior season against York and then Boston University. Definitely something for all fans of college hockey to look forward to.
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Posted in News | Comments Off on MacDonald’s Comeback Almost Complete
Posted: September 8th, 2006 / by ron
A quick shout-out to Terrier Hockey covering Boston University and the Hockey East Blog which have both recently joined the blogosphere. It’s good to see more eastern schools getting involved in something that was previously reserved for parts of the country that win NCAA championships. Brutal? Yes sir! Regardless we hope to see more and more schools featuring some of that sweet sweet blogging action.
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Posted in Blogs | Comments Off on New Blogs
Posted: September 6th, 2006 / by brett
Mark your calendars and set your TiVo’s for the most intriguing match ups of the first half of the 2006-2007 season.
October 6th – Maine vs. Minnesota – “Hall of Fame Game”
The first game in the post-Kessel era, Minnesota will face a tough test from Ben Bishop and the sting Maine defense.
October 6th – Denver vs. Miami – “Ice Breaker”
Denver looks to get back into the NCAA tournament, Miami looks to repeat a stellar 2005-2006 season. This game will have repercussions come March.
October 13th – North Dakota @ Wisconsin
In the WCHA opener two powerhouses look to recover from off season departures.
October 13th – Nebraska-Omaha vs. Colorado College – “Nye Frontier Classic”
Colorado is looking to prove that they should remain in the class of WCHA elite. UNO is on the cusp of becoming a power in the CCHA a win here for the Mavericks would go a long way come selection time.
October 20th & 21st – RPI @ Denver
Seth Appert comes home and will see where his RPI team stands against the best of the college hockey world.
October 20th – Bentley @ Air Force
No this is not a joke, Air Force begins it’s Atlantic Hockey season at home against a Bentley team that almost spoiled many teams off season last year.
October 27th – Boston College @ Wisconsin
A rematch of last year’s national championship game. This game has been circled on Chestnut Hill for a long time.
November 17th – Clarkson @ St. Cloud State
Both teams are projected to climb out of recent slumps this season and this match up will provide a good barometer to where each team stands heading into the second half of the season.
November 25th – Michigan @ Minnesota – “College Hockey Showcase”
After the turkey and the football, tune into what could be a preview of the Midwest Regional final, and what always is a great match up.
December 1st – Boston University @ Boston College
Last season these teams met an unprecedented six times, this is the first of three scheduled meetings this year.
December 29th – Michigan State vs. Harvard – “Great Lakes Invitational”
Harvard is looking to reach the NCAA for a sixth straight year, Michigan State is looking to rebound in the CCHA. Another match up which will weigh heavy during selection time.
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Posted in Regular Season | 5 Comments »
Posted: September 6th, 2006 / by ron
You k
now it’s a slow time of year when dggoddard over at Lets Go DU, an always enjoyable blog / Colorado College bashing site, takes the time to breakdown the 2006 NCAA Champion Wisconsin Badgers championship ring. Of course he couldn’t help but put up comparison shots of Denver’s 2004 AND 2005 rings as well. Cubic Zirconia has never looked so good!
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Posted in Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings | Comments Off on Bling Bling!
Posted: September 5th, 2006 / by ron
While we were busy celebrating Labor Day Weekend by being as lazy as we possibly could, Adam was busy putting together this article on the NCAA Selection Committee changes for the upcoming season.
As the article points out, the biggest changes involve trying to remove negative-impact wins and doomsday scenarios. Last year, conference winners automatically became “Teams Under Consideration” and had Bentley defeated Holy Cross, would’ve created havok in the pairwise. This is no longer the case. In addition, The RPI weighting has now changed taking a significant portion of the RPI that was based on winning percentage and moving it over to strength of schedule. The committee believes this will encourage a wider variety of non-conference games.
Is it just me or am I missing something? I don’t see top-tier teams scheduling Atlantic or CHA teams more because of this, I actually see them scheduling them less. Adam is busy writing a manifesto on these changes (as well as expousing the virtues of KRACH i’m sure,) which may shed more light on this. In the meantime, my immediate reaction is to chalk this one up to the rich getting richer.
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Posted in NCAA Tournament | 1 Comment »
Posted: September 1st, 2006 / by ron
The folks over at Western College Hockey have taken note of some interesting recruits being picked up for the 2009 season as reported by the illustrious Chris Heisenberg
A quick glance at the list shows Nebraska-Omaha picking up two players already for the 2009 season. Let us remind you that those players are probably 15-16 years old. How much is a verbal commitment worth at this stage of the game? Is it really worth anything if the player turns into a blue-chip recruit and bolts for Minnesota, or if he bombs out and the team doesn’t want him anymore? Or will all teams just start establishing their entire rosters four years in advance and Nebraska is just getting a head start?
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Posted in Recruiting | Comments Off on Uh. 2009 is like THREE YEARS AWAY.
Posted: September 1st, 2006 / by ron
An interesting article today on Yahoo! Games providing some details on the new NHL 07 for the XBox 360, which should be pretty amazing, featuring a new control scheme that should create the most authentic ice hockey game since NHL 94′ for the Genesis. (Bleed Gretzky! Bleed!)
Of note in the article, at least three members of development team played NCAA Division I hockey or higher. The only identifiable name was Jason Wong, who played goalie for Dartmouth in the late 90’s. Still, the mention of some college hockey blood as part of the development squad can only mean that we have been successful in infiltrating the EA regime and that we’ll see EA NCAA Hockey ’15 someday.
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Posted in Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings | Comments Off on New NHL 07 has a little NCAA in it?
Posted: August 16th, 2006 / by adamw
College Hockey News’ new blog promises to be a gathering point of the college hockey community, a way to keep up with the pulse of what’s going on, and a conversation piece. Enjoy.
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Posted in Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings | Comments Off on Welcome!
