Catching Up

Yeah, I know, I haven't posted in a while...although I have posted a couple of entries at my blog over at USCHO, so hopefully you haven't missed these entries too much.

In my sort-of-silence, the Rangers have amassed five points in three games, making it 28 points in 18 contests for the Blueshirts. Sadly the one game they didn't win was last night against the Flyers, and as you know, I can't stand the Flyers, particularly in their current form.

It'll be interesting now to see whether Prince Vali-ant, previously thought to be a Flyer-killer, will get the start for the return engagement on Tuesday at the Garden. Of course, the more pressing concern will be the center position, with both Scott Gomez and Blair Betts out of the lineup. Greg Moore, Artem Anisimov, come on down...

Meanwhile, in the college ranks, there's an interesting day of action on tap in conference championships. Miami gets one more shot at Michigan, the top national contenders out of the WCHA will meet in the consolation game at the Final Five, Princeton has a chance to make the NCAA tournament by beating Harvard for the ECAC Hockey title, and Vermont gets to play for the Hockey East title against a Boston College team that played into triple overtime against New Hampshire before pulling out a 5-4 win in a game they trailed 4-1.

Of course, that means Boston University is done for the year, which is quite a shame given their admirable second half run. Speaking of admirable runs, Minnesota has a shot at the WCHA title, and if the Gophers pull it out against Denver tonight, someone should look into getting Don Lucia an at-large berth as a Spencer Penrose finalist (only conference Coach of the Year winners and Frozen Four coaches are nominated). Given how the Gophers had been left for dead after everything that happened in the first half of the season, this is really an impressive accomplishment.

That doesn't mean I'm rooting for them tonight, though. I really have no preference in that WCHA game, although I do have a soft spot for Denver and George Gwozdecky. I like both Michigan and Miami, too, although Miami has much more to lose in that game, since the RedHawks' ability to beat the Wolverines and Jeff Zatkoff's ability to "win the big one" are both in question.

In the east, I'm for Princeton and Vermont. Besides my not-so-warm feelings toward Harvard, it'd be great to see this Princeton team that came from out of nowhere win the ECAC and make it to the NCAA tournament. As for Vermont, my dislike for Harvard seems kind of odd in light of the fact that Crimson alum Kevin Sneddon has long been one of my favorite coaches to work with, and I think he runs a great program. It'd be good to see this team get into the NCAA tournament.

Like this blog entry, it's been a long time coming.