Archives
Categories
With football in swing and the leaves beginning to fall, it’s that time of year again when most sports fans finally realize that hockey started two weeks ago at most levels. It’s been a silent start for both college and professional play, and the small sample of games so far has of course yielded some unexpected results.
In college hockey, Colorado College is finding that they may have a new phenom in goal to replace the early exit of Richard Bachman. CC took 3 of 4 points last weekend from Wisconsin to get off to a nice start in conference play. North Dakota had a successful weekend by taking 3 of 4 points from the wiley Gophers. Mankato got off to a strong start against Bowling Green with a sweep two weeks ago, but then came crashing back down to earth after a weekend sweep in Duluth.
CHA spotlight teams Bemidji State and Alabama-Huntsville are taking advantage of their programs’ hype early in the season. Bemidji rattled-off a sweep against Atlantic Hockey stronghold Air Force, and Huntsville did the same in addition to taking care of business against a solid CCHA team in Notre Dame. Both teams will have something to prove all season long. Meanwhile, the Big Ten teams have looked less than dominant in the first two weeks of play.
The real season starts in November when everyone’s got a few games under their belts. Until then, hockey fans have the opportunity to scout out new faces and new talents.
Look for a weekly pick series in upcoming blogs.
Here’s my shot-in-the-dark picks for the 2009-2010 WCHA conference standings.
| 2009-2010 | |
| 1 | North Dakota |
| 2 | Denver |
| 3 | Minnesota Duluth |
| 4 | Colorado College |
| 5 | Wisconsin |
| 6 | Minnesota |
| 7 | Minnesota State |
| 8 | St. Cloud State |
| 9 | Alaska Anchorage |
| 10 | Michigan Tech |
I’ll pick Wisconsin to rally in the Final Five to take the Broadmoor Trophy, and North Dakota to go farther in the tournament than any other WCHA team.
1 – drop your gloves. 2 – catch the jersey, 3- over the head. And where I’m from, we call this the Inglewood Jack.
What I Say?!?! That’s the Way!!!!
After a summer of too much fun, it’s time to get excited about hockey again! There’s a lot to discuss regarding this upcoming season. The Penguins made a great run in the Stanley Cup playoffs, winning their first cup since the Lemiuex years in the mid-90′s. All kinds of off-season acquisitions throughout the league should again stir things up for the 09-10 season. In college hockey, we’ve seen some conferences plan for big changes in the 10-11 season, with certain teams announcing that they’ll be moving to different leagues. Hockey East has won the last two national championships, so will we see the mighty WCHA mount a resurgence next spring?
I’ve enjoyed my summer league play, and have also met some great guys in a local pickup league. My wife’s been active with hockey all summer, and we enjoy seeing the women’s league continue to grow.
I’m hoping that I can commit to posting at least once a week. Besides discussing my thoughts on the college hockey season, I’m hoping to cover some topics ranging from metrics/statistics, to early departures from college to professional, to what the people I know are doing to promote the growth of this great game.
Talent and Creativity, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. This is as sweet as it gets. We’ve gotta get this guy on our bar league team.
Bemidji State was hoping to keep its string of good fortune alive and well this week, as the WCHA meetings adjourned on Tuesday. However, Christmas is going to have to wait awhile, as the WCHA didn’t even elect to vote on a decision to induct Bemidji State to the conference at the annual meetings. A vote most likely will not take place until a candidate for a twelfth team is selected. The conference would like to stay with an even number of teams to facilitate regular head-to-head match-ups throughout the season. That definitely makes sense from a scheduling perspective, much like how Major League Baseball is split into leagues of 14 and 16 instead of 15 and 15.
So to find a twelfth team, it might require swiping a team from another conference. I suggest that all of the Division 1 men’s college hockey conferences work together to geographically realign, promoting closer travel and stronger rivalries. Here is what I would like to see.
- College Hockey America should disband, and they’re planning on it. The CHA currently consists of four teams, and one of those teams (Bemidji State) is proactively searching for a new home. Bemidji State should join the WCHA, Niagara and Robert Morris should join Atlantic Hockey, and Alabama Huntsville should join the CCHA.
- To get the WCHA and CCHA down to an even number of teams and to geographically align, Alaska-Fairbanks and Nebraska-Omaha should join the WCHA and Michigan Tech should join the CCHA. While this might not bode well for Michigan Tech’s travel arrangements, they’d be in a conference with all of the Michigan teams and could arrange home-and-home series’ with Northern Michigan, and could continue to play some WCHA teams in non-conference matchups.
This would put the WCHA, CCHA, and Atlantic Hockey all at twelve teams. While I’d like to see Air Force get into the WCHA to take on Denver and Colorado College on a regular basis, there don’t appear to be any logical swaps with the above proposal to get another Colorado team into the WCHA. I feel strongly that the changes I’ve proposed would be in the best interest of the conferences mentioned, would create new rivalries, and would be good for the sport in general.
Lori – thanks for helping me get my blog set up again! This video’s a tribute to you.
I’ll be doing a regular video posting on this site. Feel free to forward me any super sweet hockey videos and I’ll consider posting them.
