The Rat Lives

Will Garth's new main man be a Maine man?

2008-07-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

OK, so Ted Nolan is out at the Mausoleum, and the Islanders need a new coach.

Let's deal with the first half of the statement: Supposedly, the issue was that Garth Snow thought the Isles were underachieving, and Ted didn't think he had enough talent to work with. Much as I'm no fan of Ted Nolan, I think it's pretty obvious who wins that argument.

Now, as for who gets the job. Write this down: John Tortorella.

Unlike Ted Nolan, who has shenanigans on his résumé involving the University of Maine (remember the Simon Danis-Pepin affair when Ted was at Moncton?), John actually went to the University of Maine, like Garth Snow. It also helps that Torts has a Stanley Cup on his résumé. I also think it's kind of funny that Ted didn't get pushed out the door on the Island until Torts was fired by Tampa.

It's a fairly obvious move for the Isles, but is it the right move? Torts isn't known for his patience with his players, and with a young lineup, whoever takes the reins on the Island will need a lot of patience. Bob Hartley, late of the Thrashers, may be a more natural choice, having both a Calder Cup and a Stanley Cup to his name with the Hershey Bears and the Avalanche, respectively.

Still, I think the Old (Orono) Boys Network is going to make it happen on the Island.

And since I brought up Simon Danis-Pepin, let's finish up with talk about who is changing where he plays his amateur hockey: Patrick Wiercioch, who changed his commitment from Wisconsin to Denver. I really don't have much of a problem with this. For him to be able to play at Wisconsin would involve putting off his college hockey, and probably, by extension, his pro career. Given the potential for injury in the sport, there's a limit to the amount of waiting that a young prospect should do at the junior level, where you're not getting your college education and you're not getting paid. If Wiercioch is ready now to play college hockey, he should be playing, and Mike Eaves should understand that. And if he's going to go someplace else, I'm glad that it's Denver, where they had a tough situation with David Carle.

And by the way, speaking of Carle, I love the new Lightning owner Oren Koules...good guy for drafting David Carle, and I think it was cool that the Lightning traded for Matt. And of course, I'm happy to see Barry Melrose back behind the bench.

Finally, a fond farewell to Ryan Hollweg, traded to the Maple Leafs, where he could resume his fine chemistry with Dominic Moore (recall the OHM line with Jed Ortmeyer in 2005-06), in exchange for a fifth-round pick. With the additions of Dan Fritsche, Pat Rissmiller, and Aaron Voros, not to mention the potential return of Brendan Shanahan (who's best suited to a third/fourth line role at this point in his career, plus special teams time), something had to give, and Hollweg, with his tendency for taking bad penalties, was the obvious choice. That said, I'll miss "Hollywood," with his personality and style (check out his pics from the Rangers' Casino Night), and I'll always remember that when the Canucks came to the Garden in December '05, he was the one who stepped up and fought that worthless scumbag Todd Bertuzzi. His brother, Bryce, is moving on after completing his career at Army, and Ryan is now moving on, too. So long, Hollywood, and thanks for the memories.

New Looks

2008-07-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Looks like my concerns about the Rangers were mostly unfounded. The team's acquisitions, for the most part, seem to make sense. The Rangers may have overpaid for Wade Redden, but he fills a definite need for the Blueshirts as a No. 1 defenseman and a quarterback on the power play.

The biggest concern I have is that the Rangers will be relying on Nikolai Zherdev for a lot of offense next season, and of all the adjectives that could be used to describe Zherdev, "reliable" is not necessarily one of them.

I like the signing of Markus Naslund. Yes, he's on the back end of his career, but so is Brendan Shanahan, and he's been a real asset to the Rangers the last couple of years. Besides, he's getting the $4 million per year that Sean Avery wanted, and if I have to choose between two years of Naslund and four of Avery - much as I like Avery - I take Naslund. He's a leader and a veteran, and he'll produce more than Avery without wearing out his welcome in the locker room. All that for less than the Oilers are paying Dustin Penner (speaking of which, memo to Gary Bettman: let Kevin Lowe and Brian Burke have at each other all they want. It's summer, we need the entertainment).

And yes, I know that Avery was a vital part of the Rangers' chemistry the last couple of years, but this is going to be a different team. Jaromir Jagr is gone to Avangard Omsk of the KHL, Martin Straka is playing in the Czech Republic, and we still don't know if Brendan Shanahan is coming back (probably not). This is going to be a different team, and if we're lucky, it won't be a team that needs Sean Avery in the lineup for the other guys to play like they give a hoot.

As Jagr goes "To Russia with Love," Ray Emery is going to Russia with glove, signing for $2 million, tax-free, with Atlant Mytishchi, also in the KHL. So, basically, with the exception of Jagr, who decided that exile in Siberia was preferable to Edmonton, the major KHL acquisitions out of the NHL are, for all intents and purposes, real exiles.

Of course, Emery only signed a one-year deal with Atlant, so he may be back someday soon. Still, when I think of Emery, and the fact that I am sorry to see him go, I'll always be reminded of this classic.

Of course, with Emery going to the suburbs of Moscow, he won't be going to Los Angeles, where I anticipated him being a holdover until Jeff Zatkoff is ready for the NHL. They may still go with Gatorade pitchman and "yo mama" joke master Jason LaBarbera, although it could also be a destination for Nikolai Khabibulin, whom the Blackhawks will likely need to move with Cristobal Huet coming on board. Of course, the Kings still need a coach, too.

Finally, while I'm digging into YouTube, it is my opinion that every WCHA arena with video capacity - except the Kohl Center, of course - should make this clip a regular part of programming when Wisconsin comes to town.

Here comes the money...

2008-07-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was my day off, and NHL free agency began. How did I mark the occasion? I slept until 3:30.

(In my defence - oh geez, "defence?" Reading TheHockeyNews.com is getting to me - I worked until 4AM last night, then went to the gym to pass the time until my 5:40 AM train).

Anyway, starting with the Rangers, the fate of Jaromir Jagr remains unknown. The interesting thing is the involvement of the Penguins, although I have doubts about how much Jagr actually wants to play in Pittsburgh again.

One way or another, I think things should happen pretty quickly with Marian Hossa landing in Detroit. HockeyOverstock.com has a great deal on Jagr replica jerseys right now, so if he stays in New York, I just might have to get one.

Meanwhile, the Rangers have made some nice moves already, headlined, of course, by Wade Redden. Redden will give the Rangers a real No. 1 defenseman and a quarterback on the power play, both of which the Blueshirts have sorely needed, and he'll be a good mentor to the Rangers' young D like Marc Staal, Bobby Sanguinetti and Dan Girardi. I also like the signing of Pat Rissmiller - nice to have Holy Cross' contribution to the NHL on the roster - and former Alaska Nanook Aaron Voros should fit in nicely as well.

Meanwhile, I now have to bid farewell to Sean Avery. It's not like we didn't know this was coming, and if he had to go somewhere, I'm happy for it to be someplace like Dallas, where it's not going to bite the Rangers too hard. Last night, it occurred to me that the Islanders might get him - they'd give him the money he wants because they have to overpay anyway, and he could still be close to New York and his society and fashion circles - but if he wants to go to Dallas, then I suppose I'll just say, "Thank you and Zach Bless." I guess the Stars make enough trips through

I think the Rangers will be OK without Avery. For all my talk about the Attitude ADJustment Line, Dubinsky and Jagr seemed to have the real connection there, as Jagr kept it up when Avery came off that line late in the season. Of course, the Rangers need to re-sign Jagr now, since most of the other options are off the table. And to be honest, as lukewarm as I was to the idea of signing Mats Sundin, if it's what the Rangers have to do to keep Jagr, then fine, as long as it's not some ridiculous multi-year deal. I'm still not sure it'd work, but I like the idea of having both Jagr and Sundin better than not having either of them.

In other news, I like what the Oilers and Blackhawks have done. Chicago, in particular, got the big blueline prize in Brian Campbell and a hell of a young goaltender in Cristobal Huet. With all due respect to Nikolai Khabibulin, he's on the tail end of his career, and Chicago should have a goalie who's going to be part of this team for the long run with this group of Kane, Toews, Jack Skille, etc. I like the young nucleus that Chicago has, and it should be a nice group together for the league to show off in the Outdoor Classic against the Red Wings.

Edmonton, meanwhile, gets scoring punch from the blueline with Lubomir Visnovsky - imagine how he'll look with Sheldon Souray on the power play - and Erik Cole should fit in nicely with the Oilers' forwards, and the young forwards like Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner will benefit from his Stanley Cup experience.

Finally, how about that Kings d-corps? Jack Johnson, Matt Greene, and Drew Doughty with Rob Blake as the elder statesman and mentor...that team is going to be nasty to play against. Sean Avery may want to watch his behavior in LA when he comes through with the Stars...

More to come, of course...let's hope it includes comments on Jagr re-signing.

Will They Ever Learn?

2008-06-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Of course, there's been plenty of activity since the draft, leading up to the July 1 start of free agency. Personally, I'm not looking forward to it all that much.

For starters, I'm very sorry to see the likely end of the Sean Avery era in New York. I'm going to try not to hate his guts when he goes back to another team, but if he goes to another team I am favorably disposed to - i.e. the Blues, Panthers, etc. - that should make it easier. I think it's most likely that Avery winds up back in his old stomping grounds in Los Angeles. Other than New York, I think it's the only city that really offers Avery the kind of life that he wants to have, including his new celebrity stylist business.

By the way, I also think Los Angeles is a sensible destination for the recently bought-out Ray Emery. The Kings are high on Jeff Zatkoff from what I've heard after a strong debut in Manchester following the college season, but he's obviously not going to step right into the NHL. Emery is a proven goaltender who can get hold down the fort until Zatkoff is ready, by which time Emery will have likely worn out his welcome in the locker room anyway. I have no idea if the Kings are thinking about this as I am, but it would make sense.

But enough about the Kings. The main thing I'm not looking forward to is seeing the Rangers make a play for Mats Sundin. Same old Rangers, going for the big name because they think that's what it takes. Just wait until it turns out Sundin and Jaromir Jagr have no chemistry and Brandon Dubinsky comes back to the top line, leaving Sundin centering the second line, Scott Gomez on the third, and - get this - Chris Drury on the fourth line. ARGH!

Of course, the other development, the one that's been getting most of the talk, is the hiring of Barry Melrose as the new coach of the Lightning. I think it's a great hire. Barry is being talked about as a players' coach, in contrast to John Tortorella, which should proabably make for a nice change and a sizable "new coach bump."

It's great for Barry, too. It's one thing to be ESPN's lead NHL commentator when you actually have NHL games. It's another entirely when the Mouse isn't doing games. Of course, his years with ESPN will instantly make him the second-most recognizable coach in the NHL (Wayne Gretzky, obviously, being No. 1 on that list).

It's also fairly obvious that since Barry and his mullet will no longer be calling college games for ESPN-U, and can no longer be considered part of college hockey, Don Lucia is left with an undisputed claim to the college game's most talked about hair.

Hey, I had to...

Uh Oh...

2008-06-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

With the 40th pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, the New York Islanders select Aaron Ness.

Something tells me that Don Lucia will be adding Just For Men to his list of hair care products.

A Disconcerting Level of Content Devoted to Other Sports...and the Draft

2008-06-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

I have a recommendation for the new owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Actually, I have several, not the least of which is that Barry Melrose should be hired as head coach on the condition that he keeps wearing those suits on the bench. However, this one concerns a new potential season ticketholder.

See, since Eldrick Woods is going to have a lot of time on his hands in Florida while he rehabs his knee, I think the new ownership should offer him season tickets, so that he can have something nicer to say the next time someone asks him about hockey (If I'm not mistaken, the Lightning are the closest NHL franchise to his home in Florida).

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't wish ill on Eldrick, I'm not celebrating his injury at all, and his performance this weekend was remarkable, to say the least. However, as long as he continues to show disrespect to hockey, he can suffer the small indignity of my calling him by his given name.

Moving on, there's been some talk lately on TV about Becky Hammon (a former guest commentator with my former employer) choosing to suit up for Russia in the Olympics when USA Basketball bungled things up (given what I've seen of the U.S. women's hockey program, I'm shocked, shocked that a U.S. sport federation could bungle something like that).

Now, while I'm sure that Bill Simmons is likely to compare this situation to Sgt. Slaughter becoming an Iraqi sympathizer in 1990-91 leading up to Wrestlemania VII - not that there's anything wrong with that; I'd enjoy reading that column - I'm reminded of one of my favorite athletes that I had an opportunity to work with when I was at CSTV: Nicole Corriero.

Nicole, as you may recall, is a tremendously talented player, who holds the NCAA single-season record for goals. She also has one of the best senses of humor I've ever seen, as exemplified by this article from the Harvard Crimson her senior year. She also has the ability to do something that I never thought possible: she got me to root for Harvard (yes, when I covered the 2005 Women's Frozen Four, deep down, I was hoping for Harvard to beat Minnesota during the championship game, but apparently, Harvard only wins when I don't want it to happen).

But anyway, I wrote this article about Nicole in 2005, and if you read it, you'd be inclined to agree that Nicole got as raw a deal from Hockey Canada as Becky Hammon got from USA Basketball, if not more so. She also had much more of a case to play for Team Italy at the Torino Olympics than Becky has to play for Russia. However, she chose not to.

In addition to being talented, funny, and charming, Nicole Corriero is a class act all the way. I can't say the same of Becky Hammon.

Of course, the Russians I should probably be writing about are Nikita Filatov and the other prospects who will be selected in this weekend's NHL Draft. I had previously written that I expected the Kings to take Filatov, but that was based on the lack of star forward prospects, and the Kings will likely be drafting for impact, which makes it more likely that they'll get one of the big defensemen to join JMFJ in the d-corps.

I was reminded by this by reading the excellent NHL Draft Preview materials over at Hockey's Future. I highly recommend D.J. Powers' article on the top current collegians available for the draft, particularly since she's been great at picking players who get drafted despite not appearing on the Central Scouting rankings (Ryan Maki comes to mind). There's also a very handy list of the college commitments of draft-eligible players, which I wish I'd had last year when I covered the draft for CSTV.

HF also has the Rangers going for a blueliner, and that sounds about right. The problem is that unless the Rangers trade up, there's not too much that they can do with this pick in terms of the 2008-09 season. They still probably go D, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them trade the pick, either to move up and get someone who can help immediately (because the blueline needs help), or to move down, get the player they want, and have an extra shot at getting the next Ryan Callahan or Nigel Dawes.

Finally, it's also been reported that the Rangers have shown interest in Blake Wheeler. I think Blake would be a great fit, as a hardworking winger who can get physical when the situation calls for it. Having interviewed Blake a couple of times, I also think he'd do well with the New York media. Plus, it'd be the best of both worlds for me: the Rangers can acquire a college player without screwing up his signing and development.

Will it happen? We'll have to wait and see.

Who's Gone and Who Isn't

2008-06-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, the Wings won the Cup. Congratulations to them. The Penguins, of course will be back...I always figured they were more Edmonton '83 than Edmonton '84.

And happy trails to Dominik Hasek and Trevor Linden, who have announced their retirements. Both are great players, and both have much to be proud of in their careers as they move on.

Speaking of moving on...I should do the same.

Well then...

So, it would appear that Don Waddell, if he was ever in danger of losing his job in Atlanta, is off the hook. It may be that the Chicago Wolves' victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the Calder Cup has gotten him off the hook for now, but it'll be interesting to see how that progresses.

Don is one of college hockey's best friends in the NHL, and I hope he can stay in a position of power somewhere in the league. We need more NHL executives with his attitude toward the college game.

Meanwhile, as Waddell tries to find the Thrashers' next coach, Marc Crawford is now available, having been let go as the Kings' head coach. Not that I'm expecting him to turn up in Atlanta, mind you, but it just seemed like a logical connection.

It'll be interesting to see what the Kings do here, as this is a young team that has potential to make a move. I like a lot of the Kings' young talent, and in the case of some of them, I mean that personally. Brian Boyle is one of my favorite players I had the opportunity to work with at CSTV, and Jack Johnson is one I've always regretted not interviewing (although I mostly consider it his fault for blowing off the Junior Evaluation Camp, twice). I also like the talent they have coming up, although it doesn't look like they have a true franchise player on the way at forward. Remember that if you see the Kings go for Nikita Filatov in the draft.

The problem, of course, is that the Western Conference is brutal right now, especially in the Pacific division with the Stars, Sharks and Ducks very strong, and the Coyotes also on the rise with a young team.

I'd be interested to see what Mark Morris, the head coach of LA's AHL club in Manchester, could do there. Given the success that Michel Therrien has had in Pittsburgh after being promoted from the Baby Pens, and the Capitals' Southeast Division title this year under former Hershey coach Bruce Boudreau, this could definitely be the right move for LA.

I had several conversations with Dean Lombardi and Ron Hextall when I was at CSTV, and I like what I heard from them, and I'm hoping that they make a good decision here and can get that franchise on the right track.

Does anyone else find it odd, by the way, that this has been a very quiet off-season so far on the coaching carousel? Just the one change at Alaska. Personally, I'd been sort of expecting a domino effect starting in the CCHA and extending through Hockey East and ECAC Hockey, but it appears that that won't be happening.

I'm being vague on purpose, because I've met so few people in college hockey that I haven't liked, and having been through unemployment recently myself, I don't speculate on other people's employment situations lightly. That said, I told several people to expect said chain - I may have even told them to write it down - and now, I'm going to have some egg on my face.

Oh well, it's OK...after all, I'm not making a career on my hockey musings anymore.

Finally, there's a lot of talk in the outdoor game department lately. Obviously, the big talk is of the Outdoor Classic at Wrigley, but I'm wondering why the NHL hasn't made an official announcement yet. Could Yankee Stadium still be in the mix? I'm still holding out hope until there's an official announcement, since they're not tearing down Wrigley anytime soon.

In the college ranks, they're talking about Minnesota and Wisconsin playing a pair of outdoor games in the next two years, one at Camp Randall and one at the Gophers' new football stadium. The obligatory joke about Don Lucia's hair has already been made, so I'll just say, "Bring it on." I really liked Camp Randall when I had occasion to cover a football game there in 2006 (it was against Illinois in the middle of the Wisconsin-BC hockey series), and as for Minnesota, well, when you talk about kids growing up playing on ponds and backyard rinks, what state better epitomizes that than Minnesota? And since I don't see the Wild being picked to host an Outdoor Classic in the near future - my guess is that they're going to go for classic venues like Wrigley, Yankee Stadium, Fenway, etc. for the next little while - this is something that ought to be done in Minnesota.

Trophy Season

2008-06-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

For starters, here's a Sean Avery update. He was at something that calls itself the Fifi Awards a couple of weeks ago, and he arrived with Vera Wang, who, as I understand it, is kind of a big deal.

As for the people who are still playing, we'll see if the Wings can do any better a job closing out the Penguins than they did with the Stars. I've been keeping an eye on the last couple of games from the office, and I've got a feeling that the Pens aren't done just yet. I think Detroit will win the series, I'm just not convinced that it's happening tonight.

Meanwhile, I ducked into the NHL Store yesterday - where I know I can see the NHL Network - to look in on the Calder Cup final between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Chicago Wolves. I could be happy with whoever wins, since both teams have Dartmouth alums on them - Ben Lovejoy and Nick Johnson on the Baby Pens, Grant Lewis on the Wolves - but since Lewis hasn't been playing lately (anyone who follows the Thrashers or the A know what's up with that?), I've been pulling more for WBS (especially with all-time All-Rink Rat goaltender John Curry in the nets). I was there to see the Baby Pens' two goals, but I had to get to work not too long after that. The Wolves won, winning the first two games at home. We'll see if Curry, Lovejoy, Johnson and the rest of the Baby Pens are any better at bouncing back after losing the first two than the parent club.

Meanwhile, back in the college ranks, the biggest surprise of late would be UMass recruit John Carlson opting to go to London of the OHL. Why is it always London?

Of course, one of the reasons a player goes major junior is when he's very close to being ready for the NHL, so even if the player went to college, he'd be a likely "one and done," and the value of that kind of player to a program like UMass - which is trying to build a consistently strong program over time - is limited.

Still, I'd like to know why it is that when a college player opts for the OHL instead, it's almost always London. I tried to ask them about that when I was at CSTV, but they really didn't want to talk. Just saying...

Finally, on a much more important note, I'm walking this Saturday in the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention's "Out of the Darkness" walk in New York City, where I'll be walking 20 miles overnight. I'm also responsible for raising $1000, which I haven't quite done yet. If you can donate, any donation you make is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law, and you can donate online. Here's the link:

http://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=10009276

Thanks for any help you folks can give.

Trophies, Trophies, Trophies...and the Draft

2008-05-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

You know, I've never been a huge fan of the NCAA's trophies - they kind of bore me, and I wish they'd give something at the Frozen Four that was a bit more unique - but at least the damn thing doesn't fall apart.

(Seriously, you know my take on major junior: different routes are best for different people. I just want everyone to have all the information they need to make the right decision.)

Speaking of championships, I haven't seen a lick of the Stanley Cup Finals so far. I work nights now, and the office doesn't get Versus. Thankfully, with the series moving to NBC tonight, I'll have my eye on things.

The best news so far, from where I sit, is that the ratings are up. Isn't it amazing what happens when the matchup isn't Secondary Canadian Market vs. Warm Weather City Where No One Cares? Seriously, as the Penguins finished off the Flyers in the last game I saw, I couldn't help but think of the sign above the entrance to the Penguins' locker room at Mellon Arena bearing Badger Bob Johnson's immortal "It's a great day for hockey!" quote.

The NHL is clearly getting what it wants here, and if NBC can spend some time with members of Chris Chelios' Malibu Mob - getting past the fact that Scrubs and John C. McGinley are moving to ABC - so much the better.

By the way, the Malibu Mob has to be one of the coolest things I've heard of all year, if only because my favorite movie actor (Cusack) and favorite TV actor (McGinley...although he was also in Office Space, which is awesome) are part of it, and I'm also a big fan of Kid Rock, who appears to be on the verge of joining. I think I officially have something to dream about: get rich, buy a place in Malibu, and join them.

However, on the more immediate - and real - horizon, I'm starting to look at what I'm going to be able to see in person next season. At the moment, I'm working a Thursday-Monday week, so as the schedules come out, I'm looking to see who's playing Tuesday night games that I can get to easily. UMass at RPI, RPI at Harvard, Holy Cross at BU, Providence at BU, Providence at Brown, Harvard at Brown...you get the idea. In other words, if you thought I was an "East Coast tool" or an "East Coast homer" before (holla if you hear me, SiouxSports.com message board), well, it's about to get worse.

Actually, since I plan on keeping up my Hobey Baker blogging with USCHO (among other things), I will probably take the plunge on a sports package to watch the FSN-North and FSN Detroit games (and maybe even the Big Ten Network, although I'm not sure if that's included). Heretofore, I'd never seen the point, because:

1) CSTV was not included in the package.
2) I was never home on game nights anyway.
3) It involved giving more money to Cablevision.

I have serious issues with Cablevision, and while they largely stem from the fact that they don't carry my former employer, I also have more general issues with Jim Dolan, a card-carrying member of the Lucky Sperm Club who has managed to screw up everything he touches, most notably the New York Knicks, although includes the Rangers, which needed the lockout and resulting salary cap to change the organization's philosophy on developing talent. Moreover, I have a feeling that Dolan does untoward things with farm animals, because the only possible explanation I can think of for Isiah Thomas' continued employment is that Zeke has photographs of such activiites taking place.

In fact, I actually considered not getting cable service at all when I moved out of the parents' place, and getting by with online streaming and iTunes and such, but then I realized I was going to be buying Rangers tickets anyway, so it was really kind of a stupid and futile gesture. Besides, as my financial future is no longer tied to a network that Cablevision may or may not choose to carry, I don't really see the point anymore (except for the whole farm animal thing).

Finally, bringing it back to hockey, I bought a copy of the Hockey News' draft preview, and I haven't finished with it yet, but at the moment, I have one main question: when did Steven Stamkos become a Greek god? I thought depth was the big thing this year, not a Crosby or an Ovechkin at the top, and that Stamkos would be a distant No. 2 in this draft if John Tavares had been born a week later. Guess I haven't been paying as close attention as I ought.

On the bright side, there aren't nearly as many disparaging comments about the college track this year as I saw in last year's issue, which may well mean they stopped using the scout who was saying such nasty things, although there is one shot at the USHL in their blurb on John Carlson (and even that had more to do with perception than reality). Nothing really major to report, except that BU's Colin Wilson is ranked No. 7 and Wisconsin's Cody Goloubef is No. 42, those two being the only current collegians in the Top 100.

Oh, and one last thing: Lee Stempniak was listed as the Blues' shrewdest pick of the last 10 years. Hell Yeah!

Guys Who Aren't Well-Liked

2008-05-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Memo to Chris Simon: Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out of the country. Now if only we could find a way to exile Jesse Boulerice and Steve Downie to Siberia as well (and yes, I know that it's actually Avangard Omsk that's in Siberia). I, for one, will still be chanting "Simon sucks" instead of "Potvin sucks" when the whistles start up at the Garden (I've always thought it better to yell about someone who actually did something dirty).

Speaking of the Garden, one of its most controversial denizens - for hockey, anyway - Sean Avery is now in his second week as an intern at Vogue. There have been a few news items about this, although the best comes from a publication that I probably won't ever link to from this blog again - Women's Wear Daily.

Personally, I wonder whether Avery's presence in New York this summer increases his chances of re-signing with the Rangers. Personally, I want him back in blue this fall. I think his presence really helps the Rangers, of course, but you don't have to be a genius to figure that out, just look at the team's record with and without him since the trade.

That said, I think Sean Avery is one of the most fascinating athletes to hit New York in some time. I mean, seriously. He's not just the guy who gets under opponents' skin. He's also the guy who challenges his teammates when they don't hold up their end (see his fight in practice with Marek MaWEAK this season). He's the guy who has significant passions outside sports (like Ricky Williams without the pot). He's the guy who transcends sports into society circles. And yes, he's the guy who takes an internship at Vogue.

In the end, though, Avery is mainly the guy that half the NHL wants to kill, because, by all accounts, he's an ass. Now, I won't deny that, having seen him breeze through a crowd of post-game autograph seekers outside the Garden, when Brendan Shanahan stopped and signed for everyone (I myself have three Shanahan autographs from this season: a ticket, my Rangers hat, and a puck from the '99 All Star Game).

All that said, though, if Sean Avery is an ass, he's like Jennifer Lopez's rear end: always attached to a beautiful woman, usually covered by something from a top designer, impossible to ignore, and a major asset to the complete package.

Ideally, I'd end things there, but I feel as if I'd ought to weigh in on the current issue surrounding Don Lucia. Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune isn't drinking the Kool-Aid when it comes to Mike Guentzel's resignation, and implies that Guentzel is gone because someone had to take the fall for Minnesota's disappointing season.

That may well be true. However, like Sean Avery and Jennifer Lopez's backside, I have to throw in a BIG "but(t)" here.

That the Gophers made the NCAA tournament this season may not impress the spoiled folks in the Twin Cities who are used to such things (I'd be thrilled for Dartmouth to have had Minnesota's season if it meant getting into the tournament, which the Big Green hasn't done since Bob Gaudet was in goal)...BUT, when you take into account that Minnesota lost a second-round pick (Ryan Stoa) in the second game of the season, lost Kyle Okposo to the pros over the Christmas break, and was without Mike Carman until after the World Juniors. making the NCAA tournament and losing to the eventual national champion is pretty darn impressive.

Can you blame Lucia for Okposo's departure? I don't think so. I think that Kyle wanted to turn pro last summer, and when he was told that he wasn't ready, he sulked being back at the U, especially with his good buddy Erik Johnson gone. If you take a look at his production in the AHL and in his late season call up to the Islanders, it suggests that Kyle's attitude was better suited to being a pro, and I'm not really sure how much Don could have done to change that.

Now, I'm not a huge Don Lucia guy. If you go back and look at my CSTV columns, you see a lot more of Red Berenson, Jack Parker, Jeff Jackson and George Gwozdecky, unless I'm specifically writing about Minnesota. All of that said, getting the Gophers to the tournament this year - especially when it involved winning a WCHA playoff series on the road - may have been his most impressive coaching job since winning his second national championship in 2003. After all, with the way Lucia is able to recruit, he usually has more difficulty getting his hair to look like that than he does making the NCAA tournament (come on, you know I hade to make a hair joke).

So yeah, maybe something needed to happen after last season - although, Jeff Frazee turning pro was good enough a "something," in my opinion - but to be honest, I really don't think Lucia and his staff did that bad a job last season.

Sioux-ner or Later

2008-05-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

The big signing this week isn't one we haven't been expecting, as T.J. Oshie is off to join Lee Stempniak and the Blues (and yes, Lee Stempniak gets top billing from me, deal with it). Of course, Oshie was ready to go, and will bypass Peoria completely and make an instant impact with the Blues

I made a comment in my Rink Rat Rankings last season, inspired by the Soulja Boy parody Crank Dat Kosha Boy that someone needed to do something similar with T.J. and write "Crank Dat Oshie Boy." What I never mentioned was that I had the chorus of such a song kicking around in my head, but didn't like the original enough to write the whole thing. Here it is.

Oshie Boy at North DakOOOOOOta
Skating in to score a goal.
Watch him Crank Dat Oshie Boy
Right to the Frozen FOOOOUR
With the SIOUX!!!
(Crank Dat Oshie Boy)
The SIOUX!!!
(Crank Dat Oshie Boy)
With the SIOUX!!!
(Crank Dat Oshie Boy)
The SIOUX!!!
(Crank Dat Oshie Boy)

Now that he's signed, though, you'd have to change it to something like this...

Oshie Boy from North DakOOOOOOta
Skating in to score a goal.
Watch him Crank Dat Oshie Boy
And thrill St. Louis, MO!
For the BLUUUUUUUUUUUES!!!
(Crank Dat Oshie Boy)
For the BLUUUUUUUUUUUES!!!
(Crank Dat Oshie Boy)
For the BLUUUUUUUUUUUES!!!
(Crank Dat Oshie Boy)
For the BLUUUUUUUUUUUES!!!
(Crank Dat Oshie Boy)

If you're curious, I also had a Counting Crows parody about Miami's Ryan Jones that I can post, and I have the makings of a Barenaked Ladies parody about BU's Colin Wilson. If you're interested, post a comment, and I'll see what I can do.

On a more serious note, Oshie's former linemate, Ryan Duncan - also known as the only non-telemarketer ever to call me "Mr. Olshansky" - is staying at North Dakota for his senior season. Ryan has been a class act as long as I've known him, and I think he's making the right decision for his life, and quite possibly for his hockey career as well.

You can make the argument that Duncan is costing himself money in the short term, but the fact of the matter is that barring some awful injury (G-d forbid...wishes for someone's health are important enough to invoke His name), Ryan won't have much different a pro hockey career based on his decision to play this coming season at North Dakota or in the minor leagues (with respect, he's not going straight to the NHL). With that being equal, Ryan is making the right move, because the long-term value of his UND diploma outweighs the difference between his first pro contract were he to sign it now and when he signs it after the season.

Looking forward to seeing Ryan skate for the Sioux again this seeason.

How Would a Red Neck Go With Those Suits?

2008-05-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

I have to confess that I haven't been watching much of the conference finals, as my new employment at an undisclosed media outlet (sorry folks, them's the rules) keeps me in the office in the evenings (I'm also becoming very well acquainted with the 24-hour New York Sports Club in the MetLife building), and I haven't checked to see if we get Versus at the office (maybe it's all that "No one can find Versus" propaganda emanating from The Mouse, but I'm not optimistic). However, the progression towards a Pittsburgh-Detroit final is cool with me.

What's also cool with me is seeing Don Cherry contributing to the Mouse. While I'm concerned that the wrong combination of suits from Don and Barry Melrose could cause a few TVs to go on the fritz, I love watching and listening to Don. Of course, he made a splash in his first ESPN appearance by calling Detroit a "redneck town" to explain why the current edition of the Red Wings isn't cleaning up at the box office. The comment didn't sit well in some quarters, but I do understand what Cherry was talking about.

I had a conversation a couple years ago with a scout from the Central Hockey League who's a regular at Princeton games. The first time I met him, we talked about Angela Ruggiero playing with her brother in the Central League, and a little bit about women's hockey in general, more specifically, why Angela's home state of Michigan has eight Division I men's programs (down to seven now, sadly) but only one women's program. The explanation given was that where folks in Minnesota appreciated the amateur/international style with its emphasis on speed, creativity, etc., folks in Michigan prefer the grittier, harder-hitting "old NHL" style. Seems to me like Don was saying the exact same thing, except that he used the word "redneck." And he may have a point.

Moving on, word is that Don Waddell has been asked to step down as GM of the Atlanta Thrashers. If this is the case, I'm sorry to see it. Don has been a great supporter of college hockey among NHL executives, with Dany Heatley being the one college player he signed early (and that Calder Trophy makes it look like that was a good move). I don't know who will take over in Atlanta, but I hope that policy is continued, and it'll be interesting to see if Don's reluctance to sign collegians before they graduate is blamed for Atlanta's lack of success. I hope not.

Finally, good luck to Sean Avery, who starts his career in publishing today as an intern at Vogue. I just want to know if he was in Crawford over the weekend, given the rumors linking him to First Daughter Barbara Bush.

Don't Look Back In Anger

2008-05-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't a post about the Rangers' season ending, although I suppose I should say a few things about that too...let's make it quick.

- There was a reason I didn't want to see Pittsburgh in the conference semis. Of course, I also thought it would have been great for the NHL to have Pittsburgh play Washington and have Crosby vs. Ovechkin. However, Pittsburgh has an amazing array of talent, and was truly the better team. If Hossa re-signs this summer, that's going to be one scary team for a long time. Of course, that could be what's needed to elevate the level of talent in the Eastern Conference as a whole, to have teams like the Rangers, Canadiens, etc. chasing Pittsburgh. Whether or not Crosby, Malkin, Sykora, Hossa, Staal et al (heh, that rhymes) raise the Cup this year, they're the best team the East has seen in years, and will be chased in a way that no top eastern team has been chased in years. The better team truly did win.

- Now, all of that said, the fatal flaw of this Rangers team is that the best defenseman was a rookie. You could make an argument that Paul Mara was the best defenseman on the team, I suppose, but Staal is going to be a mainstay on the Rangers' blueline for years. That said, he's not quite there yet. The Rangers could really stand to shore up their blueline this offseason, and while there's going to be a spot for Bobby Sanguinetti (adios, Marek MaWeak), the Rangers need an experienced top four defenseman to balance out the youth of Staal, Sanguinetti and Dan Girardi.

- Finally, a quick note on Jarmoir Jagr. I've been very critical of him in the past, and suggested that it took the youthful energies of Sean Avery and Brandon Dubinsky to make him work. In these playoffs, and the tail end of the regular season, Jagr did more than play like an All-Star. He played like a captain, and if he can play like a captain, then I'd be more than happy to see him spend the last two years of his NHL career in New York.

Now, to the real topic of this post. I'm in my second week of my new employment, and I think that it's finally time for me to write a thing or two about my former employer.

CSTV gave me a tremendous opportunity, and you will never, ever hear me say any different. Not many people get their first job out of college as an editor on a website and wind up producing segments for television, getting opportunities as on-air talent, and getting to any number of other things that I wound up doing in three and a half years there.

More than that, though, CSTV was where I really learned to love college hockey. Covering Dartmouth hockey as a student was fun, and Thompson Arena (STUPID WOODEN BOX and all) will always be home, no matter how many Agganis Arenas and Kohl Centers and Lynah Rinks I've worked in.

However, when I was a student covering Dartmouth hockey, I only saw the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the passion and tradition that makes our college hockey community so special. CSTV gave me the chance to see the fish fly at Lynah, feel the KurtCenter pressbox shake during "The Song" at the Beanpot, try to decipher the "Seeya" chant in Yost Arena (I've read it written down, but I never remember it), learn to sing "In Heaven There Is No Beer" (and for the record, it was in Mankato, at a game against Alaska-Anchorage), and

I also got to hear George Gwozdecky come out of left field (no pun intended) to compare Adrian Veideman to Cesar Tovar, Blaise MacDonald realize that he was watching a major sporting event on TV in Hanover for the first time since the 1986 World Series (and see the Patriots lose the Super Bowl to the Giants minutes later), Jack Parker jokingly question Brandon Yip's assessment of "probably, the biggest goal of my career" after Yip scored the overtime winner against BC for the Hockey East Championship, listen to Rick Comley make a snappy comeback after Tim Kennedy unwittingly call him old, and hear Mike Eaves try to find the right words after Wisconsin won the national championship. I even grew to appreciate some of Don Lucia's posturing, insofar as he was sticking up for his players and/or his program, deserved (defending the quality of the program in the wake of Kyle Okposo's departure) or not (calling Jeff Frazee's career save percentage "good" after the Ice Breaker).

Of course, it's really about the players, and I had the opportunity to work with some really extraordinary ones, on and off the ice. Whether it was Nathan Gerbe scoring a hat trick against BU (with two shorthanded goals, no less), Chris Lawrence winning a national championship in his last game of organized hockey, Eric Ehn becoming the first Hobey Baker finalist from a service academy or Nicole Corriero expressing no regrets about choosing her Harvard education over a future with Hockey Canada, John Curry and Matt Gilroy rising from walk-ons to All-Americans or Danny King getting his one chance to play for Denver - and seriously, I could go on for quite a while - I've been privileged to get to know some tremendous players and tremendous people.

I really have two major regrets about my time at CSTV, and they're kind of tied together.

The first real regret is that when the 2007-08 season began, I had set out to see all 59 men's Division I teams. I sat down with the schedules over the summer, looked at who was playing where and when, and submitted a schedule that would allow me to see all 59 teams. Until the end of January, I was basically on pace. There were some crazy things that I was going to have to do (including taking a train to South Bend to see Notre Dame play Ferris State, then stop in Buffalo on the way back to see Canisius play RIT...and wouldn't that have been an interesting game to see?), but I could have done it.

It was also how I intended to end my time at CSTV. I was going to leave after this year anyway, and wound up starting my new job right around the time I had intended to, only that I hadn't intended to be out of work for two months. It's a silly fantasy, but I had this Willy Wonka type fantasy...you know, "I can't go on forever, and I really don't want to try." There was at least one of the students I met along the way who expressed an interest (unsolicited) in doing what I was doing, and I had hoped that he or someone else would pick up where I left off.

Of course, that's not going to happen. CSTV is now CBS College Sports, and the online presence is obviously going to be different going forward (how different, I'm just not sure). But that said, if things were working as they were, this would be a much different blog post.

I suppose it'll sound hokey, but I felt like I had a mission when I was working for CSTV. There's something a lot more personal in college sports, and having covered football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, field hockey, lacrosse, softball and wrestling in addition to hockey while I was at CSTV, there's a spirit that transcends the individual sports that was very tied in to what I felt CSTV was all about. To me, that spirit was a big part of what drove CSTV, and to the extent that many of the wonderful people I worked with at CSTV are still there now at CBS College Sports, it will continue to be part of the renamed network. Just not in the same way.

Of course, at the end of the day, no matter how many hockey games are or aren't on CBS College Sports, or what's online, or anything else, that spirit belongs to us. And CSTV allowed me to become part of that us; it's the reason you're reading this right now. That's something I don't ever intend to lose, and it's something that CSTV gave me.

That's a lot for me to try to put into words, and I hope you'll understand why it's taken me this long.

Here We Go Again

2008-04-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

As the coaches finish up their meetings in Naples, I too am headed back north, looking forward to starting my new job on Monday. I'm also ready for more Rangers playoff hockey, as the puck drops tonight in Pittsburgh on the Blueshirts' series against the Penguins.

This was the matchup I was least looking forward to, because I feel like Pittsburgh is the toughest matchup remaining in the East where the Rangers are concerned. However, this is hardly impossible, and I would remind the naysayers that the Rangers won the regular-season series. And no, that doesn't mean the Rangers are going to win here. It just means that the Rangers are capable of beating the Penguins.

It's going to be a great series to watch, of course, with lots of starpower on both sides, the big storylines like Jagr vs. the Penguins (and their fans, the Boo-Birds) and Jordan Staal vs. Marc Staal, and two teams that have played good hockey against each other. However, for now, I'd like to look back to Tuesday night.

Yes, the Flyers won, and I hate the Flyers. Yes, Steve Downie played in the win, and I can't stand Steve Downie. However, it was the best NHL game I have ever seen in person. The atmosphere was everything I could have hoped for, right up until the moment when the life was sucked out of the building as the Flyers scored the winner.

And yes, I thought there was goaltender interference on Philly's second goal. In fact, Don Koharski was also officiating when I watched the Wolf Pack's game against the Pirates in Hartford last week, and he was awful then, too. How he got Game 7 of a playoff series is beyond me. Seriously. How does that happen?

(EDIT: My friend Ken Schott up in the Capital District, where the Albany River Rats went to five overtimes last night, pointed out that the Koharski in Hartford was Don's brother, Terry. I mused to Ken that apparently, every incompetent hockey ref has an equally incompetent brother, and called it "Murphy's Law." If you're an ECAC Hockey fan, you know why. Of course, you WCHA folks might have another name in mind.)

But I'm not going to let Don Koharski tarnish my memories of an absolutely amazing experience. The energy in the building was truly amazing, and Alex Ovechkin is a marvel to behold in person. His goal to tie the game in the second period...wow. Of course, one person I know is quite happy the Capitals lost because Ovechkin is now available to play in the World Championship (and with alll due respect to Tim Thomas, I have a feeling that we're really going to miss Rick DiPietro this year for the US...good to see Lee Stempniak getting another call, though).

I got my first practice giving the "Maaaaarty...Maaaaaarty" chant to Martin Biron, because we're going to need someone else to pick on once we start chanting "Faaaaaaaaatso....Faaaaaaaaaaatso" at Martin Brodeur, and the Caps fans next to me liked it. I think they may pick it up.

Cristobal Huet is also a fun goalie to get behind. I was even able to get a few people in my section to sing "Huet, Huet Huet Huet, Huet, Huet," soccer-style. That's one thing I'd love to see them add, especially during penalty kills (a nod to BU there). Also, as long as they're going to make "Rock the Red" into a big slogan, they might want to lift the Cornell/RPI practice of shouting out "RED" during the national anthem at the appropriate point. Then again, does anyone else find it funny that a hockey team starring Ovechkin, Semin, Fedorov and Kozlov is wearing red and playing in our nation's capital? Just saying.

OK, my BoltBus is about to reach the stop (for the record, I highly recommend it for travel between New York, Washington, Philly and Boston), so I'm going to end it here.

LET'S GO RANGERS!

Ducking Into The Phone Booth

2008-04-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Bolt Bus, everyone!

I'm heading down to Washington to visit some friends for a few days before I start my new job. Actually, I'd been planning this trip for a couple of weeks anyway, since my beloved New York Mets make their first visit to Nationals Park on Wednesday and Thursday, and I've been wanting to visit my friends in DC for a while. However, one of the things I did after I got my new job was buy a ticket for Game 7 of the Caps-Flyers series, just in case it went to a Game 7.

For a while, it looked as if all I did was pay Ticketmaster a convenience charge for absolutely nothing, but instead, I get to witness my very first Game 7 in person tonight at the Phone Booth. In addition, I also get to watch Alex Ovechkin in person for the first time tonight, and I visit my seventh different NHL team's home game this season (the other six: Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Bruins, Wild, and Lightning).

It's good to be able to take in a Stanley Cup Playoff game in person, especially a Game 7, since I wasn't about to pay the ridiculous marked-up price at the Garden (I'm pretty sure Isiah Thomas is to blame for that, because MSG is trying to make up for all the Knicks tickets they couldn't sell). Then again, it's not like I haven't had my fill of hockey in the last week.

Last Thursday, I drove out to Hartford to watch Hugh Jessiman and Mike Ouellette play for the Wolf Pack in their Calder Cup playoff game against the Portland Pirates. It was a good game, but unfortunately, the Pack lost 3-2 in double overtime. The truth is, there shouldn't have been a need for overtime, but Ouellette's would-be game-winner was neutralized when the referee missed a high stick to Mike's throat, and the Pirates tied the game on that same shift. The Pirates won both games in Portland over the weekend, meaning the Pack will need to win three straight to advance.

The next night, I went to the Ziegfeld Theater for the Rangers' Game 5 viewing party. It was fun to watch that game in the company of other fans, singing along with the Rangers' goal song when the team scored, joining the chants of "Maaaaaaaaaaaarty," and generally taking part in the atmosphere that comes from a large crowd of hockey fans.

Oh, and on the Big Handshake Snub: Truth be told, I don't entirely blame Martin Brodeur for not shaking Avery's hand. I love watching Avery, I'm glad he's a Ranger, and the team had damn well better re-sign him this summer, but there's no denying the fact that he's an @$$#0le. He's our @$$#0le, and I'm amused by his antics, but he's still an @$$#0le.

And for the record, there are players I wouldn't consider our @$$#0le if the Rangers acquired them, Steve Downie being one of them. Downie, as it happens, hasn't played for the Flyers in the playoffs, and that's just fine by me.

Oh, and it should go without saying, but I'm pulling for the Caps tonight. Not only do I hate the Flyers more than the Islanders and Devils combined (which isn't saying all that much, because I don't really hate the Isles or Devils), but I'd much rather the Rangers face the Canadiens in the second round than the Penguins. I think the Rangers can beat the Penguins, but that's the hardest matchup remaining. In addition, Gary Bettman is probably creaming himself at the moment in anticipation of a potential Penguins-Capitals series in the second round, and a matchup between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Snide comments aside, Ovechkin-Crosby would be great for the league, and I am, in fact, all for it.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful article in last week's issue of Sports Illustrated about Nathan Gerbe and his tour de force performance at the Frozen Four. It's great to see that kind of article on college hockey in SI, and Gerbe certainly earned it with his play. Of course, given how glowing an article it was - with nary a mention of the infamous spear and suspension - it's going to be an amusing article to look back at in a few years, when he's in the NHL and everyone outside of Buffalo hates his guts.

Well, everyone except those of us who knew him when.

Marc It Down

2008-04-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

With apologies to Humphrey Bogart, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, they walk into mine.

OK, fine, so Smith's Bar on 44th Street and 8th Avenue - where I went to celebrate following the news of my pending employment on Tuesday - isn't "mine," but I have been known to spend a few Tuesday nights there and sing karaoke. And no, I don't think I saw that much gin being served there, either - I myself went with a Coors Light while watching the Wild-Avalanche game.

However, when one of my fellow karaoke singers answered the KJ's question (KJ = karaoke jockey) about where he was from with "You wouldn't know it, it's way up in Canada," I had to ask where.

"Thunder Bay," he said, to which I asked, "Aren't the Staal brothers from Thunder Bay?"

And that was how I came to learn that I was sitting at the next table over from Marc Staal's uncle and aunt, in town to see the Rangers-Devils series, with a possible side trip to Pittsburgh to see Jordan play if the Senators could have forced a Game 5 (which, of course, didn't happen).

I chatted for about 20 minutes with Marc's uncle and aunt about hockey, New York, and what have you. Sure, he may have been BSing me, but really, who makes that up and why?

In any event, they certainly got something to make their trip worthwhile last night, when Marc scored the game-winner to beat the Devils at the Garden, his first career playoff goal.

Marc has played very well for the Rangers in this series, and may even be the Rangers' best defenseman at the moment. However, when you're looking to a rookie to lead your blueline corps, that strikes me as a sign of trouble.

Another potential sign of trouble: with the Flyers in the driver's seat in their series against the Capitals, Rangers-Penguins seems likely for the second round (and no, I'm not saying the series with the Devils is over, it's just likely that the Rangers will win one of the next three games). That, of course, would mean the second year in a row in which a Rangers player would face his brother in the playoffs, with Marc vs. Jordan Staal following last year's Marcel vs. Marian Hossa matchup in the first round.

I'm a bit concerned about how Staal would handle that level of media attention, being a focal point in the series when it's usually all about Jagr, Shanahan, Lundqvist, Avery, Gomez, etc. Then again, the Staal family has been getting plenty of attention for some time given the talents of the four boys, so this may not be something to be concerned about.

Thank You Tanner!

2008-04-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

You may notice that the picture that leads this site has been changed from your humble blogger alongside Lee Stempniak (former Dartmouth basketball center and Minnetonka, Minn. native David Gardner is the third person in that photo, in case you care to know), to a picture of yours truly with Tanner Glass.

This has been done because Tanner has officially gotten me a job. Well, I can't give him all the credit - I'd like to think that my own experience and work had a role - but Tanner certainly helped.

You may recall the circumstances, as discussed in this old post. Well, it has indeed worked out in the end that my good friend Tanner helped me get a job with the aforementioned paper, which I will still decline to name. In any event, I'm about to be gainfully employed once again.

Thanks, Tanner.

Ends of the Spectrum

2008-04-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

I must say that it was very cool hearing Tim Russert congratulate Boston College on the NCAA title at the end of Meet the Press on Sunday morning. Russert's son, Luke, goes to BC...although apparently, he didn't go out to Denver for the Frozen Four, despite the fact that he co-hosts a sports talk show with James Carville on XM. I wonder if anyone told Papa Russ who holds the NHL rights of the Frozen Four's Most Outstanding Player, Nathan Gerbe (that would be Russert's hometown Buffalo Sabres for anyone who didn't know).

It was significantly less cool, of course, seeing the Devils beat the Rangers on Sunday night. It's not like I was expecting a Rangers sweep, but getting beat on some tough bounces is tough to stomach.

What was also annoying was not being able to hear DOC~! call the game. I opted for the Rangers crew over Cangelosi and Chico, the one consolation being that I got to hear Sam Rosen's "It's a POWER PLAY GOAL" call a couple of times, knowing how much it pisses off a certain Isles fan I know, especially when Sean Avery was the goalscorer.

Speaking of Avery, the NHL has declared his little faceguarding technique on Martin Brodeur to be unsportsmanlike conduct. That's fine by me, since it looked like something out of a Mighty Ducks movie, but it was pretty funny. I'm sure Avery will continue to chirp at Brodeur whenever he's in front of the net (albeit without the arm waving), as reporters seem to be the only people that Avery won't talk to these days.

As someone whose seats at the Garden are in the zone the Rangers attack twice, I'm always happy to see someone yelling at the goalie. After all, yelling at goalies is one of my favorite aspects of college hockey fan behavior that doesn't really make the move to the NHL. Of course, the Rangers fans do enjoy taunting Brodeur, and as long as they like that, I have another couple of college chants that apply in this series with the Devils.

- The "KILL THE MIDGET" chant for Brian Gionta, as originated by the fans at BU. The Terrier fans - or as the one and only Pinhead Nation calls them, the "fanboys" - revived this one for the aforementioned Nathan Gerbe this season, but I think it's time to return the chant to its original target. Sadly, I didn't buy tickets for these games (the price jump from $36 to $84.50 is a little tough to stomach when you're unemployed), or I would try to get it going myself.

- RPI's 19:00 tradition of "Ooooooooooooone Minute, and CLARKSON STILL SUCKS!" I wonder if Paul Ranger takes it personally when he's at New Jersey for the "Rangers Suck" chant, or at the Mausoleum for "If you know the Rangers suck, clap your hands." I tend to doubt it, but that's no reason not to apply the same principle to the Devils' David Clarkson.

- Finally, since the Devils are emphasizing their red jerseys with these "Red-outs" and such at the Prudential Center, I'd be amused if some of the Devils fans picked up Cornell and RPI's tradition of yelling out the word "RED" at the appropriate point during the national anthem.

Getting back to the series, someone needs to remind the Rangers TV crew that Mike Mottau isn't the only Devil who went to Boston College...just the only Devil who won a Hobey Baker there. But seriously, it seems like the first mention of Mottau on the last couple of Rangers telecasts (which I watch when DOC~! isn't doing the Devils game) has been followed by a mention of "Mottau's Boston College Eagles" in the Frozen Four, but no mention of Gionta. And a mention of Gionta's history at BC would have been a nice touch in the third period, when he wound up as Chris Drury's dance partner during one of those scrambles in the third period last night.

And in case anyone's wondering, BU and BC never met in the postseason while Drury was at BU and Mottau and Gionta were at BC. BU won the Hockey East championship in 1997, beating UMass-Lowell after the River Hawks beat Mottau and the Eagles in the semifinals. In 1998, Mottau and Hockey East Freshman of the Year Gionta won the Hockey East title with BC, Drury's Terriers having been eliminated in the quarterfinals by...Merrimack in the 1-8 matchup.

I'm typing this as I watch the Wild-Avalanche game on Versus. This may well be the best series of the first round. Personally, I'm looking for the Avs to come out of this one, because with the great rivalries in the first round in the East (Rangers-Devils, Canadiens-Bruins), the Western Conference could use a good Wings-Avs series, especially if T.J. Hensick were to get a taxi squad call-up now that the Lake Erie Monsters' seeason is over.

In general, though, I'd just like to see Colorado win because of David Jones. It's good to see a Dartmouth product (can't call him an alum since he hasn't graduated yet) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It continues to solidify the wisdom of Jones' forfeiture of his last year of college eligibility, since I tend to agree with Red Berenson that a player shouldn't leave college early unless he's ready for the NHL. 27 regular-season games and a regular spot on the playoff roster is pretty darn good, even if it wouldn't have gotten over the threshold in my statistical analysis that I did for CSTV before last year's NHL Draft. Then again, Jones was drafted in 2003, and he would only have had a one-year contract if he'd signed this spring (I finally have a handle on that rule, having looked in the back of the Isles media guide a couple of weeks ago). He's even got a pretty decent playoff beard going.

OK, the game is over, the Wild having won on Pierre-Marc Bouchard's overtime goal, so I'll leave you with one final thought. And since a picture is worth a thousand words...

Sometimes, I Don't Love New York

2008-04-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

I'm never missing the Frozen Four again, if I can help it.

I had a job interview yesterday (Yes, if you're scoring at home - or even if you're alone, as Keith Olbermann used to say - I'm still pursuing new full-time employment), and decided to spend some time in Manhattan afterwards. Of course, with the Frozen Four going on, I'd have to find a place to watch it.

Chris over at Western College Hockey informed me of a Michigan alumni club viewing of the second game, but besides not wanting to crash and take advantage of someone else's drink specials, I was more interested in the first game, figuring BC and North Dakota would be the better matchup.

Ha. That's a good one.

You know, after I wrote my last post, I thought to myself, "Gee, now that I picked North Dakota, they're probably going to lose, and when they do, some Sioux fan is going to claim I gave them the Kiss of Death on purpose because I'm a 'a little East Coast homer' or an 'East Coast tool,' or some other phrase starting with 'East Coast.'" Then, I thought, "Nah," and laughed.

In any case, I settled on ESPN Zone, figuring that since the games were on ESPN2, they'd have to show them there. I was right, more or less, except that the game was on a small TV on the highest level of their big wall of screens, while the NHL Network, which was showing a replay of the NHL Live radio talk show with no sound, was on one of the big screens. I wasn't the only one annoyed - a lovely young woman from Fargo was two tables away from me - but despite our complaints to management, they couldn't change the arrangement, because the TVs are preprogrammed.

Yes, that's right. They can't change the TVs at ESPNZone, even if it's that kind of ridiculous situation. Now I ask you: What kind of Mickey Mouse organization is so unresponsive to its...oh, wait a minute....right.

I left ESPNZone at the second intermission, figuring I'd watch what was left of the game, along with the start of Michigan-Notre Dame, at the gym. I go to New York Sports Club, which has individual TV monitors attached to the top of most of the cardio equipment, but the location I went to doesn't have ESPN2 available. In any event, it's not like there was much game left anyway.

After I got out of the gym, I headed to my favorite bar in Manhattan, Keats on 45th and 2nd, where I figured to watch the rest of the game. Unfortunately, I hadn't planned on the Mets going into extra innings, so I didn't get to see the second period, either (good thing the Mets won, or I'd really have been pissed).

In any event, I got to see the third period and overtime, and it seems like it was one hell of a game.

So now, we get Boston College and Notre Dame for the national championship. Given my horrible prediction record in this tournament - somewhat surprising, since I won the USCHO Staff (and friends) bracket competiition in 2006 - I will refrain from picking a winner.

All of that said, it is worth noting that even in bad years, Notre Dame has had good success against BC. It's also worth noting that Notre Dame's arrival on the national scene really began with last October's 7-1 win over the Eagles at Conte Forum (a game that, like tomorrow's game, I was originally supposed to be at, but plans changed). Then again, the third time could wind up being the charm for BC.

In any event, it should be an interesting game tomorrow night.

Tonight, meanwhile, in what should be another great game, the Rangers go for a 2-0 lead against the Devils. For those picking the Rangers in five, this is the game I think the Devils would be expected to win. Both teams have things to improve on tonight - upon further review, Brodeur really did have a stinker of a game for the Devils on Wednesday - but if the Devils can't win tonight, the series is over. I don't mean that in the sense of a sweep, but that if the Rangers win tonight, they will be unbeaten in regulation against the Devils in 10 games this season, and New Jersey's big guns have never really gotten on track against the Rangers. If they don't do it now, they're not going to do it, and while New Jersey could certainly get one or two wins based entirely on the brilliance of Martin Brodeur, they won't win the series that way.

As a side note, does anyone find it somewhat odd that of the three coaches the Devils have started the season with since the lockout, Brent Sutter is the one who weent the distance? I always thought it was kind of an odd pairing, with Lou Lamoriello being a big proponent of college hockey (founder of Hockey East, former Providence coach, etc.) and the Sutters being a family of major junior hardliners. But go figure, Brent got out of the regular season in tact. If this is a short series, though, I don't know if he'll last the summer.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-04-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

The Stanley Cup Playoffs started tonight. The Frozen Four starts tomorrow.

Seriously, does it get any better?

Of course, I am in a much sunnier mood than I might be otherwise, owing to the Rangers' 4-1 win over the Devils tonight to take a 1-0 lead in the series and steal home-ice advantage.

To borrow from a New Hampshire fan's sign during the Hockey East playoffs, I present the following scoreboard for tonight.

RANGERS 4
DEVILS 1
ISLANDERS 5 OVER PAR

Scott Gomez was the big story, with three assists against his former team, but the players who stood out to me were Ryan Callahan, Henrik Lundqvist, Martin Brodeur and Brendan Shanahan.

I love Callahan's energy, and he seems to have a bit of a knack for turning that energy into shorthanded goals when given the opportunity on the penalty kill. Of course, on the play when he delivered his game-winner, the puck was pretty badly misplayed by Brodeur.

Now, in fairness to Brodeur, he played a fine game, and none of te other goals can really be considered his fault. But watching Brodeur mishandle the puck in most unBrodeurlike fashion is a reminder that he's on his way out. Coincidentally, Jeff Frazee left Minnesota to sign with the Devils this week, but the only Devils he'll play for in New Jersey are the Trenton Devils.

I actually do have one lingering question about Frazee...and no, it has nothing to do with whether the Islanders would give him problems. I do wonder whether he will have a better chance to be a success away from Minnesota. Some detractors of Miami have enjoyed pointing out that Jeff Zatkoff - also a recent departure from the collegiate ranks, having signed with the LA Kings - was Frazee's backup with the US Junior National Team at the 2007 World Juniors. What's often omitted in such discussions is that Frazee only took over the starting job after Zatkoff got off to a bad start, and played very well for the U.S. in that tournament, leading me to wonder whether Frazee may have just been a bad fit at Minnesota.

But I digress.

Getting back to the Rangers, Lundqvist was outstanding tonight, and how he wasn't one of the three stars is just a bit puzzling to me.

As for Shanahan, his goal and assist weren't enough to make him one of the three stars either, but he was involved in one of the best moments of the game. With time running out and the Devils' net empty, Shanahan passed the puck to Nigel Dawes as both players crossed the blueline, handing Dawes his first NHL playoff goal. It was a monumentally classy move by Shanahan, reminding me why, as much as I enjoy Sean Avery's antics (especially the way they piss off a certain Islanders fan I know), Brendan Shanahan is my favorite Ranger.

Shanahan, to me, represents everything that is good about hockey. The talent is obvious: that alone makes him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. However, the fact that he's still out there killing penalties at the age of 39, that he stops to sign autographs for just about everyone who wants one after games (his exit of choice is the Employee/Media entrance on 33rd and 8th; Avery uses that one too, but will only sign while walking, if at all), and that he thinks to give a rookie his first playoff goal when he has the opportunity are the things that show just how special he is. He's talented, tough, classy, and a great leader on a team that put its C on a guy who has turned out to be a captain in name only.

Finally, since I gave my Frozen Four picks this evening on Hockey On Campus, I may as well share them with you all as well:

Michigan vs. Notre Dame: To those who look to the regular season results to predict this one, I would remind you that the Irish hadn't beaten Michigan State in two regular season meetings, and that it took a late tying goal to force OT at the Joyce Center, and yet, the Irish topped the Spartans in Colorado Springs. I'd also point out that the Irish may be more acclimated to the altitude for having played in the Springs for the regionals...although that advantage is likely negligble, given how long it's been since the regionals. In the end, though, I still like the Wolverines. They have the goaltending (who woulda thunk it?), they have the veteran leadership from Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik, and I just think they're a team on a mission.

North Dakota vs. Boston College: If I were Adam Burish - who was forced to wear a Sioux jersey on the Blackhawks' plane to Detroit for this past Sunday's season finale, due to having lost a bet with Jonathan Toews - I would have said, "Ah, it doesn't matter, you'll just lose to BC again anyway." That said, however, I think the third time is the charm for Dave Hakstol's team against the Eagles. I think Jean-Philippe Lamoureux's dramatic improvement this season is going to make a difference (especially against John Muse as opposed to Cory Schneider), and the makers of the now-famous pact - Taylor Chorney, Joe Finley, Ryan Duncan, and T.J. Oshie - will make their presence felt in this one. Nathan Gerbe will probably have a goal or two in this one, but I think North Dakota pulls it out, likely in overtime.

Final: North Dakota over Michigan. The older, more physical Sioux will wear down the Wolverines, and the Sioux will break through and capture the championship.

Of course, you all know from the regionals what my picks are worth...

This Is Why I Don't Make Predictions

2008-03-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

I probably should have gone out on a limb and made some NCAA Tournament picks at some point this week. I was going to. I meant to. Other stuff kept getting in the way.

In the end, it's probably just as well. I would have wound up looking stupid.

OK, Michigan-Niagara was a slam dunk. That said, it's probably the only game I would have gotten right.

I would have figured the University of No Hardware to bow out early, but not in the first round against a Notre Dame team playing without its top forward.

I would have gone back and forth several times about Michigan State and Colorado College, but then I would have gone with the Tigers at home on the big sheet.

I would have picked St. Cloud to beat Clarkson...against my better judgement.

But now that I've said what I was expecting yesterday, here are a few thoughts for the rest of the weekend.

Denver beats Wisconsin, if for no other reason than that the Pioneers own the Badgers at the Kohl Center. If you need more reasons, try Peter Mannino.

North Dakota beats Princeton. Congratulations on returning to the tournament, Tigers, but it's time to go home.

BC beats Minnesota. I'd wonder how the Gophers would contend with the likes of Mike Brennan, Tim Filangieri, and all the other Eagle defensemen from Long Island, but Alex Kangas is the Gophers' starter these days, so I can't really make that joke.

Miami beats Air Force, despite the inspiring return of Eric Ehn. The Falcons are going to give the RedHawks one hell of a run, but Miami is too strong from top to bottom.

Michigan State beats Notre Dame As much as I'd love to call the revenge win for the Irish - who, of course, fell to the Spartans in last year's regional final in Grand Rapids - I think the champs get to try and defend their title, and Jeff Lerg may just play his way into the Hobey Hat Trick.

Michigan beats Clarkson. Clarkson is the first ECAC Hockey team other than Cornell to win a game in the tournament since 2000 (St. Lawrence), so good on them for that, but this Michigan team is just too doggone good.

And for tomorrow

Miami beats Boston College The RedHawks exorcise their demons...wait...demons? At a Jesuit school? How does that work?

North Dakota beats Denver I like Denver as much as the next guy, but I maintain that the Sioux are a Frozen Four team under Dave Hakstol until proven otherwise.

That gives us a Frozen Four of Michigan-Michigan State and Miami-North Dakota. Oh, wouldn't the CCHA-haters love that? I suppose it's only fair, though, after the WCHA had four teams in Columbus in 2005.

Michigan over MSU, North Dakota over Miami in a multi-overtime classic, Michigan over North Dakota for all the marbles.

One quick Rangers thought: I don't like Renney tinkering with the lines. It took most of the season to figure out how to get Jagr to work, and while the Rangers have taken three of a possible four points since changing things up (and having to because of the Gomez injury), I'd stick with the way things were now that Gomez is back in the lineup.

Catching Up

2008-03-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

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.

Oh Well

2008-03-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

You know those jokes about Florida being someplace where people go to die? A lot of those people happen to be New Yorkers, so it's only appropriate that the Rangers' point streak died in Florida.

Yep, the Rangers return to the Garden to face the Penguins on Tuesday night (with yours truly in attendance), looking to snap a two-game pointless streak. Ugly game against Tampa tonight. No real jump that I could talk about from the Rangers, although Lundqvist made his best effort to steal a point or two for the Blueshirts. Just hoping the boys can shake it off and get back at it in a huge game against the Pens on Tuesday, to be immediately followed on Wednesday by a game against the Devils in Newark.

Friday against Florida, I didn't mind so much, because I'd like to see Florida make the playoffs. For starters, Tanner Glass would be part of a taxi squad, I assume, which is his only real shot at the postseason since the Rochester Americans aren't making the Calder Cup playoffs. Also, the Panthers getting in would probably mean that Philadelphia would drop out, and if there's one team I can't stand, it's the goon squad known as the Philadelphia Flyers. There are things that have happened in Flyer uniforms this season that have no place in hockey, and I would rather not see them rewarded with a playoff berth.

Of course, they're the teams trying to get into the playoffs. In the college hockey world, we have playoffs going on right now, and two conference champs set to be crowned tomorrow. Bemidji State, having dropped the final curtain on Wayne State, will face Niagara for the CHA title, while Mercyhurst, having beaten Sacred Heart and Army, will look to post one more upset against Air Force for the Atlantic Hockey title.

I'm sad to see Army's season come to a close, but I'd love to see Air Force go to the tournament. Actually, I'd love to see a Serratore Sweep go down, with Bemidji and Air Force going to the tournament. Both Frank and Tom are great guys, even among college hockey coaches, who are pretty much good guys all around to begin with.

Meanwhile, in playoffs that end next weekend, there are some interesting Game 3 situations going down on Sunday night, with teams on the bubble potentially playing for their seasons. Notre Dame, sitting fourteenth in the Pairwise after Saturday's game, goes into a potential do-or-die situation against Ferris State, while Boston University, on the outside looking in at the moment, needs a win against UMass-Lowell to stay alive. I'd love to speculate on the implications of the Minnesota-Minnesota State game, but as we've learned, the Gophers are about as indestructible as their coach's hair.

Finally, there's Michigan Tech and North Dakota. Now, I doubt there's much in the way of implications here, because the Sioux are clearly in, and the Huskies are almost certainly out (if they take two out of three from North Dakota, who's to say they couldn't win the WCHA, you know?). However, I do think it's kind of funny that after handing North Dakota its first loss of the season, Michigan Tech snaps another North Dakota unbeaten streak.

Oh, and I've started doing some blogging for USCHO, speculating on the Hobey Baker race. You can read my first entry here.

Good Night For Green

2008-03-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

Quick thought on the Rangers: was it just me, or did they look better defensively against the Sabres on Monday night without Marek MaWeak in the lineup? Next question: think the Islanders can take him off the Rangers' hands sometime soon the way they did Tom Poti?

But that was Monday night. From Tuesday night, kudos go to David Jones, who scored his first NHL goal and handed out two assists as the Avalanche beat Atlanta, 5-2. I don't know Dave personally, just professionally, but it's another proud moment for the Dartmouth program.

Lee Stempniak, meanwhile, scored a third-period goal for the Blues Tuesday night, to help send their game in Edmonton to overtime. However, Andrew Cogliano is apparently Mr. Overtime these days, with his third OT goal in as many games to win it for the Oilers. I really had high hopes for the Blues this year, so seeing them basically playing out the string at this point is unfortunate. Of course, since my real team is on a 13-game point streak, I'm not going to spend too much time complaining.

In women's hockey news, congrats to the Dartmouth women on making the NCAA tournament. They managed to sneak in, and they draw Harvard in the first round. I can't say I have terribly high hopes for this one, given how good Harvard is this season, but the Big Green does have Carli Clemis, and as the Big Green learned in painful fashion last season, a career performance by a goaltender can make a world of difference in the NCAA tournament.

As for me, though, I'm actually taking the weekend off from hockey, at least Friday. Dartmouth tied for the Ivy League women's basketball title, and is in a three-way playoff with Harvard and Cornell this weekend for the right to advance to the NCAA tournament. It's being held at Columbia's Levien Gymnasium - aka The Bargain Basement (it is literally in the basement of Columbia's athletic center) - so I get to stay close to home this weekend.

I know I should be at a hockey game somewhere this weekend, but there are a couple of things here. First, no one is paying me to travel, so I may as well support the alma mater...especially since I get to be fully unbridled as a fan when I go to this game (as opposed to having to behave somewhat professionally). Second, I've seen Dartmouth at two Women's Frozen Fours (2004 and 2005). I have never been in the building for Dartmouth at an NCAA women's basketball tournament game. This is notable since every four-year Dartmouth women's basketball player since 1980 has won at least one Ivy League title except for two...those two were my classmates in the Dartmouth Class of 2004. I was working at CSTV when Dartmouth made the NCAAs in 2005 (when the Big Green got crushed by UConn) and 2006 (when Angie Soriaga gave Rutgers one hell of a scare), but this is a time when I plan on watching the Big Green dance. It starts Friday against Harvard.

Oh, one last New York thought, going back to the Rangers: the question of a game at Yankee Stadium. There seem to be two issues at the moment:

Should it Be Played?

I have two minds about this. The venue is a major part of an outdoor game, as far as I'm concerned. Of course, I covered the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic in 2006, and I can tell you that the venue of Lambeau Field made the game truly special. Obviously, it can be special without a storied venue - with all due respect to Spartan Stadium and Ralph Wilson Stadium - but it would be wonderful for the sport to play at Yankee Stadium.

There are also the people who insist - understandably and justifiably - that a baseball game should be the final event at The House That Ruth Built. It is worth noting, of course, that some serious college football games have been played in the Bronx over the years as well - the "Win One For The Gipper" speech was made there at halftime of an Army-Notre Dame game, for one - but it is a baseball stadium, the most famous one on the planet. If the Yankees want baseball to be the last event there, then so be it (I do understand, however, that Yankees management is on board).

I can see both sides here, but if the Yankees are on board, then I say go ahead. The Yankees were concerned in the past about the effects of building a rink on the field, so this is really the only time they could do this, with the stadium on its way out. The building is being torn down...is anyone really going to be offended in five years that hockey was the last event at the stadium?

Whom Should They Play?

Original plans called for the Islanders. Now, word is that the league and NBC want a different market represented, preferably one from the Western Conference and/or an Original Six team. Obviously, if you're talking Original Six and Western Conference, you mean either Detroit or Chicago. Detroit is a perennial powerhouse, of course, and Chicago certainly does have two of the NHL's stars of the future in Pat Kane and Jonathan Toews. However, I would actually stay away from either of those teams.

If New Year's Day is going to be the day for this game, I'd rather pick a market where minds are less likely to be on a bowl game. Do the names Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame ring a bell?

Staying with the Original Six, though, I like the idea of the Boston Bruins (since BC football isn't likely to play on New Year's Day). If a Yankees game isn't going to close the House That Ruth Built, I do like the idea of a New York-Boston game being the final event. This, of course, leads to talk of a return engagement at Fenway, but I'd want another team involved. Bruins-Canadiens would be my choice for Fenway, since bowl games aren't much of a thought up there, either.

Save that game for 2011, though. 2010: Wings-Blackhawks at Wrigley. It's their time.

Memo To The Mouse

2008-03-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

OK, here's a thought for the folks at ESPN, specifically the ones responsible for the ticker on ESPNews: if an NHL game is 0-0 after regulation and OT, and the shootout is won by a 1-0 score, maybe you should say who scored the goal on the ticker.

I was at a friend's birthday celebration during the Rangers-Bruins game, and I went to the gym afterwards. I watched ESPNews while on the elliptical (it was a non-lift day), and they kept showing:

BRUINS 0
RANGERS 1 NYR wins shootout, 1-0

and then

BRUINS 0 OTL Auld 35 svs
RANGERS 1 W Lundqvist 29 svs

It wasn't until I went to a bar later that I found out that Nigel Dawes was the shootout hero for the Rangers. I haven't said much about Dawes this season, but I love the Rangers' young talent in general: Dawes, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan. The energy they bring to the team - in addition to being fine players - is one of the biggest factors in the way the team is playing right now (10-0-3 in the last 13 games, heading into tonight's game with the Sabres).

That's an exciting game, but I'm still amazed at how exciting the Army-American International game on Saturday was. The Black Knights' 5-2 series-clinching win included the following:

a disputed goal

a power outage immediately following the disputed goal

the underdog leading 2-1 after the first

a penalty shot

two goals (including the penalty shot) on the same penalty kill in the last 45 seconds of the second period

The power outage was a pain, as West Point hosted the Patriot League women's tournament this past weekend in addition to the Army-AIC playoff series. It lasted about half an hour, and affected the entire post, not to mention the neighboring village of Highland Falls. During the break, I shared stories with the Yellow Jackets' SID, including the North Dakota-BC fiasco from the fall, and a multiple-overtime classic from 2002 between Dartmouth and Colgate. Then, the announcement was made over a barely-functioning bullhorn that the power would be restored in 15 minutes (listening to the megaphone, I couldn't help but think, "Our tax dollars at work.").

When the lights came back on, AIC led after the first, and was actually in pretty good position until the last minute of the second, when Owen Meyer scored on a penalty shot and Ken Rowe followed with a true shorthanded goal. Meyer almost added yet another shorthanded tally in the last few seconds, and AIC was just about done at that point.

I will say that AIC was much better this season than in the past. Gary Wright's coaching job this year was not reflected by the record, and Dan Ramirez in goal will give AIC an opportunity to move up in Atlantic Hockey in the next couple of years. Of course, there may not be much room to move up in the conference between Army, Air Force, RIT, Sacred Heart, Mercyhurst and Holy Cross. Those are six quality programs that will have staying power at the top, but they'll find themselves having more and more trouble with AIC in coming years.

Finally, Dartmouth's season ended last night in ugly fashion, in a 6-0 loss to Cornell that clinched the ECAC Hockey first-round series for the Big Red. It was an ugly year in confernece for my alma mater - although, oddly enough, the Big Green beat the top three teams in the Hockey East standings - owing largely to the graduation of Grant Lewis, Ben Lovejoy and Mike Hartwick, which left Dartmouth with a very young defensive corps. Of course, the departures of David Jones to the Colorado Avalanche and T.J. Galiardi to my favorite major junior team, the Calgary Hitmen, didn't help matters. (And yes, I do have a favorite major junior team, owing largely to the Hitmen's namesake, Bret Hart). Dartmouth will be back, though. You can count on that.

Never Say Never

2008-03-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

If we ever have a nuclear war, G-d forbid (I'm not about to go making Zach Parise jokes for something like nuclear war), I've got a sneaking suspicion that the Boston University and Minnesota hockey teams will be among the survivors. I mean, I always figured Don Lucia's hair could survive a nuclear war, but his team?

The latest edition of the PairWise Rankings sees the Terriers and Gophers as part of a four-way tie for 11th. While I was taking in Army's 4-0 win over American International, BU was finishing off a 2-0 win and a weekend sweep against Providence, while Minnesota beat Minnesota Duluth by a 4-1 margin.

It amazes me that those two schools could have the kind of disappointing seasons that they did and still make the NCAA tournament.

And you know what? Good for Minnesota. I know the Gophers are the team everyone loves to hate, and there was plenty of schadenfreude going around when the Gophers were really down and out. However, this is a team that got half a season from Kyle Okposo, is getting half a season from Mike Carman, and got all of two games from Ryan Stoa. Oh, and they lost half of their defensive corps - and the really good half, at that - from the 2006-07 season, not to mention a first-round draft pick who was supposed to move back to D to help alleviate the loss. Alex Kangas has made a huge impact in goal, and even though this will be the first Minnesota team in decades not to have a point-per-game scorer, they are on track to make the NCAA tournament. It's hard to envision the Gophers as underdogs, but if they do finish this off and get into the tournament, it may well go down as one of Don Lucia's best coaching jobs in his career, and this is a man who's won two NCAA championships, won 500 games, and been to the Frozen Four with two different programs.

BU, meanwhile, has won nine of its last 10 games and gone 13-5-2 in the second half of the season. One of those losses was the overtime loss to Boston College which would have been a tie if the Beanpot didn't have full overtimes. Pete "The Prophet" MacArthur and Bryan "Boomer" Ewing have had a great senior year, and Colin Wilson has contributed a point per game as a freshman. Wilson will be a first-round pick in the NHL draft, and if the team that drafts him is college-friendly (think Colorado, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, etc.), he could have the opportunity to be a very special player for BU.

Yes, I have a soft spot for the Terriers. Their fans were among the first to really embrace what I did at CSTV, and I've never forgotten that. I've also really enjoyed the atmosphere around the program: the way they make the balcony and pressbox shake at the KurtCenter when they do "The Song," the frequent appearances by "Sasquatch," the painted faces, and of course, the wit of Jack Parker (and it never hurt that BU's press meal is extremely consistent in terms of high quality). The BU players have also been a lot of fun to work with, although I wouldn't be surprised if Pete MacArthur was happy to see me gone from CSTV, given how often I've referenced his freshman year promise to deliver a national championship before he graduates.

I kid...Pete is a great guy, just like every other BU player I've been privileged to talk with. But I'm not too worried about BU right now, since the Terriers aren't playing tonight.

Army, however, is, and I'll be up at West Point again.

Attitude ADJustment on the Island

2008-03-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

How about that 4-1 win for the Rangers last night on the Island, huh? Two goals for Sean Avery as the Attitude ADJustment line, plus goals by Brendan Shanahan and Scott Gomez.

The Rangers have now gone 11 games without losing in regulation, and while I'm not a fan of one point for an overtime loss (certainly for a shootout loss, but not OT), I won't complain too mightily about 11 straight games with a point, especially when it puts the Rangers four points away from the top spot in the conference.

Not that I think the Rangers will capture the top spot; Pittsburgh is just plain scary, last night's loss to Florida notwithstanding.

Speaking of Florida, talk about lousy timing: I get my Tanner Glass jersey delivered exactly one day before he gets sent back to Rochester. Nothing he did, of course, just the fact that Radek Dvorak and Bryan Allen have returned to the lineup for the Panthers. I did say that it would take more than one player returning to Florida to return Tanner to the A, and so it did. Glass should be very pleased with his rookie season, as the 41 games he's played in the NHL are about 41 more than anyone expected him to play as a ninth-round draft pick right out of college. Jacques Martin has been very complimentary of Tanner while expecting that he would return to the A, so I doubt we've heard the last of him.

Now, though, with the weekend upcoming, I turn my attention back towards college. I'll be recapping Army's playoff games against AIC this weekend for USCHO, and I also make a guest appearance in Theresa Spisak's weekly WCHA column. Take a listen to the Army game if you can, I think I'll be making some radio appearances.

Oh, and one more semi-hockey related item...the trailer for The Love Guru is out:

Looks pretty good to me, although I still don't know about Justin Timberlake as a hockey player. At least he's a foofy Francophone player.

That's it...off to West Point with me.

Roger That

2008-03-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

As mentioned last night, it turns out that there never was a rule about needing to have a .500 record to be considered for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

I'm very sorry to hear that.

Now, in one sense, I suppose there are some benefits to not having such a rule. I can see some teams, being concerned about a .500 record, taking it easy in the non-conference schedule to compensate for a tough conference slate, and one thing I think we always want to see is non-conference games between top teams.

On the other hand, a team with a sub-.500 record making the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection doesn't sit right with me, and here's why:

You may or may not remember a former president of Union College by the name of Roger Hull. Dr. Hull - who happens to be a Dartmouth alum, class of 1964 - was president at Union College from 1990 to 2005, a period that included the 2004 vote on Prop 65. Prop 65, as you may recall, would have forced RPI, St. Lawrence, Clarkson and Colorado College to stop offering scholarships (along with other D-III schools that play up in a single sport, like Johns Hopkins and Hobart lacrosse).

Anyway, an amendment passed that would allow the D-III schools in question to keep their scholarships for the Division I teams, but ol' Roger voted against it, and afterwards, offered this comment, which Adam Wodon quoted in a column for USCHO (Hey, remember when Adam and the USCHO folks got along?):

“Let me tell you of my idea of being competitive: fielding a team that has a reasonable chance of winning every time it steps on the ice,” Hull said. “And when they got to 40 percent [winning percentage] , I was proud, and when they reached nearly 50 percent a few years ago, I was tremendously proud of them.”

Now, Dr. Hull does some excellent work, and is the founder of the Help Yourself Foundation, which helps underprivileged children prepare themselves for college. Dr. Hull deserves a world of commendations for that important work. However, he was roundly mocked for his comments on Prop 65, and rightly so. I think a Union fan on the USCHO board still uses the quote in his signature.

A sub-.500 record is nothing to be "tremendously proud" of. You can be proud improvement to get to that point - as Minnesota Duluth should certainly be, in light of losing Mason Raymond and Matt Niskanen - but I doubt you could get Scott Sandelin to say, "We are tremendously proud of our 12-14-6 record."

I know the WCHA is great. It's far and away, top to bottom, the best conference in college hockey right now. However, I don't think that means that you can justify an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament based on a sub-.500 overall record without getting very close to Dr. Hull's theory of competitiveness.

Now, the truth is this: Minnesota Duluth won't make the NCAA tournament with a sub-.500 record. Either they'll get it over .500 between the Minnesota series and the NCAA tournament, or their bubble will burst. Ditto anyone else who's hanging around the .500 mark, whether it's eastern teams like Providence and BU (who meet this weekend) or western teams like Minnesota and Wisconsin.

However, I like the idea of writing it into the rules: a winning record, or no at-large bid for you.

In other news, I got my Tanner Glass replica jersey delivered today. I tried it on briefly, but the only NHL attire I'm wearing right now is my Rangers Bluephoria t-shirt, although I may go to the hat as well when the puck drops on the Island tonight.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...

2008-03-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well, the bad news, of course, is that the Rangers lost to the Islanders last night, 4-3, in a shootout, with former Michigan Wolverine Jeff Tambellini getting the winner in the shootout. Also, Denver alum Wade Dubielewicz played a hell of a game for the Isles, although I refuse to concede that his stop on Brandon Dubinsky in the shootout gives him the exclusive New York rights to the nickname "Dubie." I think they should settle it over the summer in a penalty shot best-of-seven.

To be honest, I have very little animosity towards the Isles unless the Rangers are directly involved. For one thing, I spent Isles color commentator Billy Jaffe is one of the many outstanding people I had the opportunity to work with at CSTV...which is probably something I haven't made enough of a point of mentioning: in terms of the things I got to do and the people I had the opportunity to work with, I couldn't have asked for much better in terms of a first job out of college. One thing that I've tried to stress has been what a great community we have in college hockey (fans who call me a "little dweeb" and comment on my sex life notwithstanding), and my place in this community is something that CSTV gave to me (or at least, gave me the opportunity to take...I dare say that my willingness to work seven days and sleep on frat house couches and Greyhound buses had a role as well), and it's something that I plan to hold onto for a long time.

...but I digress.

Yes, unless they're playing the Rangers (or Panthers or Blues), I really don't care about the Islanders. Yeah, I have a slight distrust of Ted Nolan for the stunt he tried to pull with Simon Danis-Pepin when he was the coach and GM of the Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL, and of course, Garth Snow made a fool out of himself with his comments on Don Lucia and the Minnesota program after signing Kyle Okposo (although 21 points in 24 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers does suggest that the change itself did Okposo some good).

All that said, damn it, they did just beat the Rangers, although it did take a shootout loss for Henrik, which means the Rangers still haven't lost in regulation since February 7 against Anaheim, a streak I expect them to continue tomorrow night at the Coliseum.

In other news...Sidney Crosby came back last night and had a win in Pittsburgh's 2-0 win over the Lightning. I mention this for two reasons: 1) Sid is the star in the NHL right now, and it's good to see him back relatively quickly, just for the good of the game; and 2) I have tickets to the Rangers-Penguins game on March 18, and I'm glad to know that I'll be seeing No. 87 in action.

Meanwhile, how hot is Curtis Anderson right now? Two nights after stopping 53 shots in a 1-0 win over the Islanders, he stops 40 in another 1-0 win, this one in overtime against the Bruins. Tanner Glass played a little less than four minutes in the win. Lee Stempniak had a goal for St. Louis tonight, but unfortunately, it was the Blues' only tally in a 4-1 loss to the Red Wings.

In college hockey news, it's time for another comparison of the current projected NCAA Tournament bracket, as compared to what the bracket would look like using KRACH instead of the PairWise Rankings, comparing the bracket to Jason Moy's latest Bracketology column over at USCHO.

PairWise-Based Bracket

Worcester
No. 1 North Dakota vs. No. 15 Bemidji State
No. 6 Denver vs. No. 9 Boston College

Colorado Springs
No. 4 Colorado College vs. No. 14 Minnesota Duluth
No. 5 Miami vs. No. 12 Minnesota

Madison
No. 3 New Hampshire vs. No. 13 Wisconsin
No. 8 Michigan State vs. No. 11 Minnesota State

Albany
No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 16 Army
No. 7 Clarkson vs. No. 10 St. Cloud

KRACH-Based Bracket

Madison
No. 1 North Dakota vs. No. 16 Army
No. 8 St. Cloud vs. No. 10 Wisconsin

Worcester
No. 4 Miami vs. No. 13 Minnesota Duluth
No. 5 New Hampshire vs. No. 11 Minnesota

Colorado Springs
No. 3 Colorado College vs. No. 14 Clarkson
No. 5 Denver vs. No. 12 Boston College

Albany
No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 15 Bemidji State
No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 9 Minnesota State

A few quick notes:

Clarkson, the No. 7 seed in the actual projected bracket, is No. 15 in the KRACH system, and only gets into the "bracket" based on being the ECAC Hockey frontrunner (cue "EZAC" comments from the peanut gallery out west).

Wisconsin climbs from No. 13 in the PairWise to No. 10 in KRACH, which means that the NCAA could justify a bracket that makes actual geographic sense, because North Dakota can go to Madison without drawing Wisconsin in the first round. New Hampshire, meanwhile, is left to hold down the attendance fort in Worrcester, while Albany could be something of an attendance disaster (although I think Southwest flies from Detroit to Albany) and CC and Denver would keep things nice and exciting in the Springs.

Of course, the big subject of discussion this week is the "phantom rule" about a .500 record being necessary for at-large consideration. I'll comment more on this tomorrow, but I will say that I can see both sides of the issue, although I would certainly welcome this rule in the future if it ever is actually put into the NCAA rulebook.

Upon Further Review...

2008-03-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

You know, I was wondering where the reaction was when I suggested that teams that finished below .500 in conference play - including teams from the mighty WCHA - but I suppose all it took was Chris Dilks posting about it over at Western College Hockey to bring out the hate.

First, let me say it's amusing that one of those people called me "little." I suppose I should take it as a compliment, since one of the things I'm trying to do while I'm unemployed is lose some weight (having more time to go to the gym and fewer press meals to eat are two excellent conditions for trying to get back under 200 pounds). As for the post about my personal life...well, that's one of the other things I'm trying to improve on. And as for a girl who goes to a Western Conference school changing my mind, I'd be happy to arrange a trip to Oxford for myself (Oh, come on, that's funny).

However, all (half-)kidding aside, the overriding theme I sense here is one of my supposed East Coast Bias. I suppose I'll be hearing more of that now, since my travel will no longer be nearly as extensive. However, just because the comments will be more frequent doesn't mean that they're any more true.

I would hope that my commitment to college hockey - regardless of geographical location - would be beyond question at this point. I've traveled as much as budgetary factors would allow to cover college hockey on a national level. If, after three and a half years, you think I favor college hockey in the east over the west, then I suppose there's not much else that I can say, other than "You should take off the tinfoil hat...it looks kind of uncomfortable."

But this isn't about me, or at least, it shouldn't be.

I am more than happy to acknowledge that the WCHA is the best conference in college hockey, and has been for some time. Former Hobey Baker winner Tom Kurvers, now the director of player personnel for the Phoenix Coyotes, went so far as to call the conference the second best league in the country after the NHL, and he just may be right.

The thinking behind my comment is this: as nice as it is to have a perfectly transparent system to determine who gets into the NCAA tournament and who doesn't - with no talk about "who got screwed by the committee" - part of me likes the idea of achievement being rewarded at tournament time. If there's an argument that Minnesota's achievements this season deserve to be rewarded with an NCAA tournament berth - other than the PairWise itself, of course - I'd love to hear it. I would submit that Princeton and Providence (if not Notre Dame) have done more this season to deserve an NCAA tournament bid. Of course, no one sits around and decides who deserves to be in the tournament, and that's generally regarded as a good thing, by me and by just about everyone else. Still, I think that finishing .500 in conference play is a fair enough measure of achievement that making it a condition for at-large consideration shouldn't be all that mind-boggling.

All of that said, I have taken some time to think further on my controversial assertion, and I have a couple of additional thoughts.

Since this isn't actually a rule, and just my opinion, I'm making an exception in the case of Wisconsin. I will have no problem with the Badgers making the tournament if the PairWise puts them in. Yes, the Badgers' WCHA record is 11-12-5 with their regular season over. However, it is worth noting that Wisconsin has been screwed by WCHA officiating not once...

but twice...

If not for the crack officiating in the WCHA this season, Wisconsin would probably be at least .500, and also, the fact they're hosting this year makes their participation a little bit easier for me to handle.

However, on the subject of Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota, there's one little nugget in the NCAA manual that hasn't been talked about much until the other day, when it popped up on the USCHO board:

"To be considered during the at-large selection process, a team must have an overall won-lost record of .500 or better."

In other words, Minnesota can't lose any more than one more game than it wins between the series against Minnesota Duluth this weekend and the WCHA tournament, or else the Gophers are out of the NCAA tournament picture. Meanwhile, Minnesota Duluth needs to win two more games than it loses between the Minnesota series and the WCHA tournament, or it's bye-bye Bulldogs. Wisconsin can't get swept in the WCHA tournament, or else the Badgers are out. St. Cloud needs at least one point against North Dakota, or a sweep in the WCHA tournament knocks them out.

The eyes are growing wider at Notre Dame, Princeton, Providence, BU and Harvard. Now, in all fairness, BU has had a disappointing year by many measures - and is also in danger of falling victim to the .500 record rule, but the Terriers have taken care of business in conference.

I'm not sure exactly how any of this is going to play out this weekend, but I will take a stab at it later in the week, when I make a guest appearance in Theresa Spisak's weekly WCHA column on USCHO to make my predictions for the weekend. However, I will always say that I'd rather see teams that overachieve make the NCAA tournament as opposed to teams that underachieve.

Wow, that was more time than I expected to spend on this issue tonight. Brief NHL observations from yesterday.

- The Rangers beat the goon squad known as the Philadelphia Flyers yesterday, 5-4, in a shootout. Henrik Lundqvist allowed three goals in the first period before being pulled in favor of Stephen Valiquette, while Antero Niittymaki allowed four goals before giving way to Martin Biron early in the second. While Valiquette - or as I call him, "Prince Vali-ant" (since he backs up "King Henrik") - did give up the tying goal late in the third period, it was the one goal he allowed in his last eight periods of play against Philadelphia. It was kind of funny tonight, watching the Capitals destroy the Bruins and seeing Lundqvist talking about the rivalry tonight in an ad for the next Rangers-Flyers game (which, like the Caps-Bruins game, will air on Versus), knowing that the likelihood of Lundqvist starting that game is pretty low right about now. Of note: the Attitude ADJustment line did not score.

- While I watched the first two periods of the Rangers game on NBC - as called by DOC~! and Eddie Olczyk - I listened to the third, overtime, and the shootout on the radio as I headed for Long Island, where I saw the Islanders lose to Tanner Glass and the Panthers, 1-0. Tanner had seven shifts and 4:54 total ice time in the win, but the big story was Panthers backup netminder Craig Anderson, who outdueled Denver alumnus and fellow backup Wade Dubielewicz. Former Michgian State Spartan David Booth supplied the lone goal for the Panthers, who have a tough uphill climb to get a playoff spot.

I was also none too impressed by Wade Belak. His mobility is definitely an issue, and to be honest, I think Florida will need more than one of its five injured forwards back before Tanner can be sent back to Rochester. Just as the Wild cannot afford to have Derek Boogaard in the lineup every night, so too is Belak going to be a liability for the Panthers. There will be nights when a smaller, more mobile player (who can still drop the gloves when it's called for) will be necessary, and I think it's pretty obvious who that guy is.

Hopefully, he will still be up when the Panthers close the regular season against the Capitals, because I'm thinking of visiting some friends in DC that weekend. By the way, I got my New Era caps (Blues and Panthers) today (ordered during NHL.com's trade deadline sale), and they are really pretty nice (especially for the four bucks each I paid).

OK, that's it for now. Time for me to go and figure out which direction my bed points and which way I'd need to lay in it to...oh, never mind!

Taking In The Action

2008-03-02T06:27:00.000-08:00

I already don't like Josh Gratton.

Since I am no longer professionally responsible for college hockey, I decided to check out the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday night, driving out to Hartford to see my friends Hugh Jessiman and Mike Ouellette. The Pack beat Norfolk, 6-2, in a game that saw both Dartmouth alumni record an assist each.

Gratton got on my bad side with a really ugly boarding call early in the second period, the kind of hit, head first into the boards, that there's really no place for in hockey. Naturally, he was challenged to a fight all of five seconds after he got out of the box, and David Koci scored a pretty decisive win in that bout. Myself, I just sat back down and said, "Well, he had that coming."

Other observations:

I think it's horribly cruel what happens with visiting goaltenders in Hartford. Apparently, there's no room for them on the bench, so Norfolk's backup watched the game from a folding chair set up just outside the tunnel. Why is this cruel, you ask? Because loudmouths like me - and yes, I am a loudmouth when I go to a game as a fan - can chirp at the poor backup sieve the entire game. I didn't have too much to say to Jonathan Boutin, but I said enough that he turned around and stared at me.

Mike Ouellette will play in the NHL before he's done. He's not going to be a big numbers guy, but he's going to be a good role player for someone. The role he was in on Friday was largely a defensive one. He was Hartford's go-to guy on faceoffs in the defensive zone, and he was absolutely money on those faceoffs. The assist wasn't particularly notable - Mike's ontact with the puck came back in the defensive zone - but killing penalties and winning faceoffs in the defensive zone are skills that you can take anywhere.

Jessiman looked good as well, although he did wind up a -1 on the evening for being on the ice during Rob Klikhammer's goal. He was comfortable in the Wolf Pack power play unit, which is where he contributed his assist. He's maturing nicely, and I think he'll compete for a spot on the Rangers next season.

Always nice to hear Kevin Nash's shoutout of "WOLFPACK IN DA HOUSE!" That brings back memories...

Moving on...last night, I headed up to West Point for Army's game against Sacred Heart. I recapped the game for USCHO, and you can read that here.

If Army wins the conference tournament - hardly a given with RIT, Sacred Heart, and Air Force in the mix - Michigan will have one hell of a time with the Black Knights in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Atlantic Hockey has abeen a very tough out in the NCAA tournament in recent years, generally speaking.

2005: BC 6, Mercyhurst 5
2006: Well...you know.
2007: Minnesota 4, Air Force 3

Army will be in that mold if given the opportunity. Mark my words. The Black Knights check like the dickens, and I mean forechecking and backchecking. Their puck pursuit is relentless, and Army makes it nearly impossible to complete a pass cleanly.

The big problem for Army is that the Black Knight power play is one of the least efficient in the country, and special teams are such a key in playoff hockey. What Army does have, however, is a great top line, with Bryce Hollweg (yes, that's Ryan's little brother, or as I call him, "Little Hollywood"), centering Owen Meyer and Luke Flicek. That line has 40 of Army's 90 goals this year, and their chemistry will serve them well in the postseason.

In my first year at CSTV, I interviewed the five new D-I head coaches before the season: Dave Hakstol, Ted Donato, Guy Gadowsky, Tavis MacMillan and Brian Riley. When I wrote my article on Riley, one of my superiors at the time asked me what the heck he was doing at Army, having been successful as a head coach at Shattuck-St. Mary's.

The answer, by the way, is that Brian cares deeply about West Point. Obviously, he's the third Riley to be the head coach of the Black Knights after his older brother Rob and their legendary father, Jack (who was in attendance last night), and this is the job he wants. He's won the Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year award twice in a row, and he's earned it. I know I've said this before, but what you have at West Point is a world-class coach working with some of the most coachable and hardest working student-athletes you will find. The combination has been more and more successful each year, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of these guys next weekend, as I'll be covering their first-round playoff series against American International.

Oh, and I'd like to expand on my previous comments on at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. This isn't just Minnesota. It's Wisconsin, Minnesota-Duluth, and - in all likelihood - St. Cloud. I may need to think about this one a bit more, given that Wisconsin is one game under .500 with five ties, but generally speaking, I think that you should need a .500 record or better in conference play to make the NCAA tournament. For the record, taking out the three teams with sub-.500 records at the moment would put Providence, Notre Dame and Princeton in the tournament, and simply based on what the teams have done this season, I would much rather see those three teams make the tournament than a sub-.500 WCHA team.

Speaking of Notre Dame, SportsCenter had a great feature on Christian Hanson this morning. It's always great to see college hockey get that kind of airtime when it isn't the NCAA tournament or the Beanpot.

OK, that's it for now...time to get set to head for the Island, where Tanner Glass and the Panthers are in town. Hey, the man got me a job interview...you think I'm not going to go see him?

One Point

2008-02-29T10:47:00.001-08:00

One point.

That's exactly what the Rangers' 6-5 overtime loss to the Canadiens meant to them.

Let me repeat: one point.

After the Rangers wins over Buffalo, Florida and Carolina in their last three games - two of those coming on the road - I think it's safe to say that the collapse in Montreal last week won't have any long-term effects.

Fine, the competition hasn't exactly been the stiffest. However, if the Rangers were really going to go in the tank after choking away a 5-0 lead, it wouldn't matter who the opposition was. Instead, the Rangers won their third straight last night, 4-2, with the Attitude ADJustment line delivering two goals.

In collegiate news, my feature on Princeton is up on USCHO. Enjoy. I'll be taking in more collegiate action tomorrow night, when I head up to West Point for Senior Night at Tate Rink, and what could be one hell of a regular season finale.

Just to recap, Army leads Atlantic Hockey with 33 points, up two points on both RIT and Sacred Heart, the latter being the Black Knights' opposition in this weekend's home-and-home series. Tomorrow night could be crazy, and I'll certainly be following what happens tonight while I check out my buddies Hugh Jessiman and Mike Ouellette as they play for the Hartford Wolfpack against the Norfolk Admirals.

---------

Finally, something else that I had a mind to say in my previous employment, but didn't. It involves a pro wrestling reference, which I didn't want to make at CSTV, but this is my blog and mine alone, and I'll make as many wrestling references as I Zach-damn well please.

(Yes, I will make the "Zach Parise is G-d" jokes here, if for no other reason than that there's so much else going on in the world that I doubt The Genuine Article has time to worry about college hockey).

Anyway, this has to do with the subject of strength of schedule. I don't think it's meaningless by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think it means as much as it's being made out to by those who doubt Michigan, Miami, etc.

In the fall of 1996, with the cash cow known as the nWo having just been introduced, there was going to be a WarGames match between the nWo and a WCW team (WarGames: coolest gimmick match ever). Sting and Lex Luger proposed joining forces with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, who had been their rivals before the whole nWo business started.

Anderson, who is one of the best promo men who ever worked in wrestling, gave a long response that included a memorable (to me, anyway...sadly, it's not on YouTube) comment in the direction of Luger, who at that point had a real bodybuilder physique (not to mention better hair). He pointed at Luger's muscles and said that they were "show muscles," and no good in WarGames, but if Luger could bring the drive, intensity, and hard work that it took to get those muscles, that would be useful.

This is how I feel about teams that play "soft schedules." The record is like those "show muscles" that Arn Anderson talked about: it may look more impressive than it actually is, but the tools a team uses to win those games and amass that record? The skills, strength, speed, etc? Those are worth something, and just because those attributes have been tested against a less-than-impressive schedule, that doesn't mean that they aren't there.

I've seen Michigan, Miami, Michigan State and Notre Dame. I've seen what they bring to the table. Knock their schedules all you want, because it doesn't mean a thing about what kinds of teams they are.

I will say, however, that Miami will be much better off in the future if they can get out of the Ohio Hockey Classic. With Ohio State in its current condition as a program, that tournament does nothing for the RedHawks, and they should have gotten out of that instead of getting out of the Lefty McFadden.

If Miami is going to always be a road team in a holiday tournament, they'd do much better moving around, and going to the Denver Cup, Dodge Holiday Classic, one of the Florida tournaments, etc. At the very least, Ohio State should try to alternate Miami and Bowling Green as the second Ohio team in the tournament, so that each could move around in alternate years. Dartmouth is doing something like that since Vermont started hosting the Catamount Cup every year, as they host the Ledyard Bank tournament every other year, and are heading elsewhere at the holidays when they don't host.

There, I've said my piece on that.

Tanner, Gold and Green...Tanner, Gold and GREEN!

2008-02-28T14:29:00.000-08:00

For Anyone Who Cares: the aforementioned interview went well...thanks again to Tanner for "getting involved" and making it happen!

For Anyone Who Cares II: The title of this post is a play on "Karma Chameleon." Feel free to insult my taste in music.

Speaking of Tanner, he had his first NHL assist last night in the Panthers' 4-3 shootout loss to the Maple Leafs...good to see him still playing for the Panthers despite their trade deadline acquisitions. He also survived the first post-deadline round of AHL demotions - Rob Globke is headed up/down to Rochester - which is a good sign. Of course, with my luck, he'll get sent down after the game against the Isles on Sunday, which I plan on attending if he's playing.

I know that sounds good, in that I'd get to see Tanner play, but his first stint with the Panthers ended after I first dared him to fight Sean Avery, and his second ended after I went to see him in New Jersey on Jan. 2. He survived the game in Boston where the above photo was taken, despite the fact that he got burned by Glen Murray in that game, but if he gets sent down after I see his game against the Isles, then I may never go to see him again. Would it be my fault? Of course not, but we all know hockey players and their superstitions, right?

Actually, Dartmouth lost the first five men's hockey games I covered of theirs for CSTV.com, including the stunning 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac in October 2004, which saw the Big Green outshoot the Bobcats something like 44-13 (actually, it was 43-11, I just looked it up). Former Valley News beat writer Greg Fennel nearly convinced me that it was my fault, but then I was in Hanover when Bob Norton helped call a 5-1 win over Harvard in December 2005 (Billy Jaffe's flight was delayed, so Bob was called in on short notice). Once it became clear that Dartmouth was going to win, I wrote down "IT IS NO LONGER MY FAULT" on a sheet of paper, and shoved it in Greg's face about a second after the buzzer.

In other Ivy League news, I finished writing my feature on Princeton today. It's significantly longer than the 1,000 words I was asked for, but you don't get involved in this business if you don't have some affection for the sound of your own voice (in the literary sense), anyhow. I will say this. You know that line attributed to Chris Rock that goes on about all the ways in which the world has gone crazy? You know, "The best golfer is black, the best rapper is white, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss have the Americas Cup, etc.?" Let's add "Princeton is the Ivy League hockey champion and Cornell is going to be the Ivy League basketball champion" to the list.

Finally, a thought on the subject of the NCAA tournament. One of the suggestions I made at CSTV.com that was not taken was to show what the NCAA tournament would look like if KRACH was used instead of the Pairwise (I'm stunned that noted champion of KRACH Adam Wodon has never thought of this).

Well, I don't work for them anymore, and I can do whatever I damn well please here.

So, let's compare a KRACH-based bracket, using all the other rules employed by the NCAA, to the bracket from this week's Bracketology column by Jason Moy at USCHO.

PAIRWISE BRACKET

Albany
No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 16 Army
No. 8 Boston College vs. No. 9 Minnesota State

Madison
No. 4 North Dakota vs. No. 13 Wisconsin
No. 5 Miami vs. No. 12 Minnesota Duluth

Colorado Springs
No. 3 Colorado College vs. No. 14 Notre Dame
No. 6 Denver vs. No. 11 Clarkson

Worcester
No. 2 New Hampshire vs. No. 15 Bemidji State
No. 7. Michigan State vs. No. 10 St. Cloud State

KRACH Bracket

Albany
No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 16 Army
No. 8 St. Cloud State vs. No. 10 Minnesota State

Worcester
No. 4 Miami vs. No. 13 Minnesota Duluth
No. 5 New Hampshire vs. No. 12 Notre Dame

Colorado Springs
No. 3 Colorado College vs. No. 14 Minnesota
No. 6 Denver vs. No. 11 Boston College

Madison
No. 2 North Dakota vs. No. 15 Bemidji State
No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 9 Wisconsin

The quick impressions from me:

- I love how the supposedly more fair KRACH system rates Miami higher than the PairWise does, given all the flak they've taken from certain WCHA folks.

- It's also kind of funny how New Hampshire goes from second to fifth when you switch to KRACH, but still winds up it Worcester when you bracket the tournament. It's also kind of cool that Denver and CC both wind up in the Springs under either system. I'd love that to be a regional final.

- Of course, no matter how you slice it, eight WCHA teams wind up in the tournament going by the current records. This is, of course, likely to change, especially once they start beating up on each other in the WCHA playoffs. However, I finally identified my discomfort with the concept of Minnesota making the NCAA tournament this season, which also applies to Minnesota Duluth.

The Gophers are currently 7-11-6 in WCHA play, and the Bulldogs are 8-11-5. Given that they play on the last weekend of the regular season, at least one of those teams will wind up with a sub-.500 conference record.

Some time ago, my former colleague Eric Mirlis - who edited a fantastic book called
Being There: 100 Sports Pros Talk About the Best Sporting Events They Ever Witnessed Firsthand - wrote a column for CSTV.com on the subject of the NCAA basketball tournament, and suggested a rule that no team with a conference record below .500 should be allowed to receive an at-large bid.

I thought it was a great idea for the 65-team basketball tournament. It's an even better idea for the 16-team hockey tournament.

Look, I know the WCHA is great. Yes, it is the best conference, top to bottom in the entire country. I don't doubt that. Alaska-Anchorage is the best last-place team you'll find in the country, and while CC may not be the best firs-place team - remember, Hockey East leader UNH swept them - they're close enough. There's no denying the strength of the conference.

However, if you finish under .500 in your conference, you don't deserve to play in the NCAA tournament...unless, of course, you can win the conference tournament (love that 2006-07 Alabama-Huntsville team).

Leaving aside the question of Minnesota Duluth - which improbably lost its two best players over the summer and got better this season - Minnesota has underachieved this season, and underachievement should not be rewarded with an NCAA tournament berth.

There. Rant over.

Alive At The Deadline

2008-02-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

OK, I can't give too many specifics here, because it is a slightly sensitive situation, but Tanner Glass got me a job interview.

I'm assuming that will require some explanation.

You see, I was originally going to be unable to attend Sunday's Rangers-Panthers game because of a late night shift at CSTV, but...well, you know...

So I was a little late to the party acquiring tickets, and resorted to Craig's List. It so happened that one of the guys selling tickets in the blue seats was a media type, and when I contacted him, recognized my name from my former employer, and asked me if I could expense the tickets. I tell him of my situation, and we get to talking. He winds up recommending I get in touch with a former associate of his, who shares an alma mater with Your Humble Correspondent. I have an interview at a major paper in the area on Thursday.

And if it hadn't been for Tanner Glass, none of it would have happened.

I showed my gratitude by purchasing a personalized replica jersey from NHL.com today, taking advantage of their 20 percent off sale to get one of the old CCMs for 63.

Of course, there may be questions of how much we'll see of the Tan-Man after today's trades. I'm particlarly concerned by the Panthers' acquisition of Wade Belak, since fighting has been Tanner's specialty in the NHL so far, and that's presumably what Belak will bring to Florida.

The Rangers, meanwhile, acquired Fredrik Sjostrom, David LeNeveu, and Josh Gratton from the Coyotes for Marcel Hossa and Al Montoya, and also acquired Christian Backman from the Blues for a fourth-round draft pick.

Backman is a nice pickup: I don't know that he'll fill the blueline needs the Blueshirts have, but it's not like he could hurt the Rangers' power play any, right?

As for the Phoenix deal, Al Montoya had to go. It's unfortunate, because I would have loved to see Al become a star in New York, but King Henrik's contract extension meant the end of it for Al's hopes as a starter here. If I had to pick a destination for him, Phoenix would have been on the short list. I think that Al is in a unique position to help market hockey in communities that aren't naturally inclined toward it, and Phoenix certainly qualifies, as does San Antonio, home to the Coyotes' AHL affiliate.

It'd be nice to see Dave LeNeveu become the Rangers' backup keeper at some point. He was one hell of a netminder at Cornell, and one of my favorite college hockey memories not involving Dartmouth was watching Cornell beat Harvard in overtime for the ECAC title in 2003, the league's first year at Pepsi Arena (now the Times-Union Center). LeNeveu backstopped the Big Red to the Frozen Four that year and made the Hobey Hat Trick. His pro performance thus far has been disappointing, but Benoit Allaire likes him, and thinks he has potential.

And I'll admit it: I kind of have a soft spot for the Big Red. Few teams in college hockey are as much fun to cover. That was one great thing about being at Princeton on Saturday.

Goofy thing I do in the press box: gesture towards Cornell or RPI fans/band when they're about to shout, "Red!" during the national anthem.

I don't know as much about Gratton or Sjostrom, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do.

Meanwhile, we'll see what happens with Tanner. Let's hope his "good deed" goes unpunished.

I'm planning on checking out the Pack on Friday night - now that I know Hugh Jessiman isn't heading up I-91 to Springfield (I love how getting traded from New York to Edmonton means about a half-hour drive in the AHL) - so maybe we'll see something from LeNeveu and Gratton then.

Enter Tan-Man (Or Hooray For Holly-wood)

2008-02-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

It'd be hard to get more of what I wanted out of tonight's Rangers-Panthers game than I did. On the way in, I spoke to my friend about hoping for overtime, even a shootout, so that the Panthers could get a point out of the affair (being in a tight Southeast Division race) but the Rangers would still win. That might have been a bit much.

But how about this?

Rangers win: Check. 5-0 over the Panthers. The win keeps the Rangers solidly in sixth in the Eastern Conference, which really isn't a bad spot to be in, since it means drawing the Southeast champion in the first round.

Rangers play well: Check. The Attitude ADJustment line continues to impress, even with Dubie in the box (see below), as Sean Avery assisted on Jaromir Jagr's second-period goal. The power play remains putrid (27th in the NHL), but the penalty kill was solid, and Henrik Lundqvist got the shutout, his eighth of the season. The real surprise of the evening, though, was Marek Malik. I actually questioned a fellow Rangers fan for wearing (or even owning) a Marek Malik jersey, but I guess he had the last laugh on that one, as Malik had a goal and an assist, and was the second star of the game.

Tanner Glass ice time: Check. 5:36 total, not including five minutes spent in the penalty box (more on that below), and the first time that I've gone to see Tanner play where he's taken shifts in the third period. There was no particular infraction that kept him out of the third in New Jersey on January 2, but he sat the rest of the game on February 9 after getting burned by Glen Murray for a Bruins goal. Tanner was solid throughout.

Tanner Glass fight: Check. Of course, I'd been suggesting he take on Sean Avery, but instead, it was Ryan Hollweg who was Tanner's dance partner with 2:38 gone in the third period. Normally, I'd be all for Hollywood to kick some ass, but I stood up and cheered for the visitor to let him have it. I believe that the folks over at Hockeyfights.com will rule this one a win for Tanner. I'm watching the replay as I type this, and Sam makes mention of Tanner as a Dartmouth grad, and Micheletti even asked, "They don't do that at Dartmouth, do they?" Fun stuff.

Of course, it wasn't the first fight of the evening. That distiction went to Brandon Dubinsky and Greg Campbell. I have it on good authority that the scrap started when Dubinsky asked Campbell if he'd "run to daddy" if he were to slash the Panthers center. "Daddy," of course, would be league Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. Funny stuff.

Hangout Time With Tanner Postgame: As one might expect, Tanner had a pretty nice group of Dartmouth folk - led by former teammate and Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award Winner Dan Shribman - to see him after the game. The cool thing, though, was walking out the way the visitors exit. Interesting thing I never knew about NHL travel, although I probably should have guessed: they players are checked in and screened for security at the arena, so they don't have to do it at the airport. Kinda cool.

I don't have much to contribute on today's college hockey action - Colgate's win over Quinnipiac is probably the biggest surprise, except that Colgate should be much better than it has been this season - but I think it's kind of interesting that both Minnesota and BU are within striking distance of the NCAA tournament, given the way both teams have underachieved for so much of the season. I almost wonder whether it's good for the college game to have teams underachieve so dramatically and still make the tournament. I don't have anything against Minnesota, but if the Gophers make the tournament this season, it basically means that it is impossible for them to miss it. I don't like the sound of that, no matter which team it is.

Western Sieve-alization

2008-02-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

(On losses by two teams from western N.Y. and one from Philadelphia)

Quick and Dirty on the Rangers: They beat Buffalo, 4-3, with Sean Avery and Brandon Dubinsky each finishing with a goal and an assist, and Jaromir Jagr scoring a goal as well. If the Avery-Dubinsky-Jagr line is split up for any reason other than an injury to any of those three players (or the trade of Jagr), Tom Renney should be fired immediately. I remember discussing the Rangers' struggles with Barry Melrose about a month ago during an intermission of the Army-Air Force game, and Barry agreed that putting Avery on Jagr's line works because it means that Jagr has to work. Adding the youthful exuberance (and serious talent) of Brandon Dubinsky makes for one awesome line. As much as I loved the Shamrock Line of Shanahan, Avery and Callahan the couple of times it appeared last year, this line is exactly what the Rangers need to go with the rest of the way. I even have a name for it: Attitude
ADJustment (ADJ = Avery, Dubinsky, Jagr).

In other NHL news, the Panthers beat the Flyers, 2-1, in overtime. Tanner played about five minutes. Hopefully, we'll see more of him tonight.

But on to where I was last night: Princeton. I saw the Tigers put an emphatic stamp on their Ivy League championship by beating Cornell, 2-1...although it should really be 3-1. Cam MacIntyre clearly scored a goal - everyone in the press box agreed, but the puck bounced out off the spine of the cage, and the goal judge never turned the light on. Remember the other night, when I was commenting on how TV bailed out Union on the disallowed Clarkson goal? No TV Saturday at Princeton, so no video reiew.

This needs to stop, and it needs to stop right now. I don't know what the price tag is on the video review system the CCHA installed before the 2006-07 season, but it's a pretty basic system, and I'd have to imagine it's within the means of the ECAC Hockey schools, and the last two nights have shown they need it. I can understand not being able to mandate it league-wide when Quinnipiac was still playing in Northford, but now that every school in the league has an on-campus arena, it's time for the league to get replay in every game. Heck, unlike the CCHA, ECAC Hockey has a women's league that the system could be available for as well.

All of that said, Princeton did a great job of hanging together and showing mental toughness, not letting the BS call get them down. I like the way Princeton plays. They seem to always get to the puck, and break up a lot of plays. The Tigers are also one of the least penalized teams in the country, which shows how smart they are about what they're doing out there. Of course, it is Princeton, and there is a Rhodes Scholar on the team.

It should also be noted that two of the greatest goalie helmets in college hockey were in use at Baker Rink last night. Ben Scrivens gets high marks from me for incorporating that Lynah Faithful and the always-awesome Big Red Band into his helmet design, and Princeton's Zane Kalemba has the sort of helmet you'd only see in the Ivy League. The main element is a Tiger design, but the right side of the helmet features a photo of Hobey Baker, while the left has a picture of Albert Einstein. Gotta love it.

Having mentioned the Big Red band, they were in fine form last night, as always. I don't think there's a band that mixes the spirit of college hockey with a respectable level of musicality the way Cornell's does. I've heard bands that sound better, but they don't have the attitude.

Tonight, it's Rangers and Panthers at the Garden...will Tanner live up to the dare to fight Avery? Time will tell.

New York State of Mind

2008-02-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

One of my few major gripes about having gotten my own place about a year ago was that I had to give up the ability to watch CSTV (and most college hockey in general) at home. You see, my apartment building is serviced by Cablevision, which has stubbornly refused to add either CSTV or ESPNU to its programming options. Of course, the company man in me cared as much about ESPNU getting on Cablevision as Perry Cox cares about Hugh Jackman (Note: Scrubs is to me what The Office is to Chris over at Western College Hockey, although I also like The Office too, thanks in large part to the presence of my contemporary at Dartmouth, Mindy Kaling).

Of course, I currently have no company to be a "company man" for, and don't particularly like the fact that my options for televised college hockey are so limited. However, I did take the time to watch Clarkson play Union this evening, as SNY, home network of my beloved New York Mets, picks up Time Warner Cable's hockey broadcasts, which tend to involve the NY-based ECAC Hockey teams.

Of course, it's nice to see former RPI head coach Dan Fridgen on color commentary. Fridge, like just about every other coach I had the pleasure of working with (with one or two exceptions) is a great guy, and funny, too. When I covered ECAC Hockey media day for CSTV as well as CSTV.com a couple of years ago, in Fridge's last season, one of the questions I was given by the production folks was, "What TV character most resembles you?" Not many of the coaches thought much of the question, but Fridge delivered a very memorable answer. "You have three choices," he said, "Moe, Larry or Curly."

Well, if Fridgen and the rest of the Time Warner crew hadn't been there, it would have been Alex Dell and his officiating crew who looked like "stooges." With the game tied at three in the last minute, Clarkson appeared to score the go-ahead goal, but video replay showed that the puck slid under the cage as it was lifted up off its moorings. Since ECAC Hockey only has video replays for televised games, Union would have been screwed out of a point had this game not been on TV. As it was, the game went to overtime, where David Leggio made a great save in the waning seconds for the Golden Knights to preserve the tie.

With all the big breakout team stories this season - Northeastern, UMass-Lowell, Minnesota Duluth, Bowling Green, Providence, etc., it seems like the Dutchmen's season has been overlooked, along with Princeton's (although I'll do my share to remedy the situation with the Tigers tomorrow). At 13-11-6, the Dutchmen are within striking distance of the program's D-I wins record. To hit it, however, they'll have to win an ECAC Hockey playoff series, which they have never done. And as much as I like Nate Leaman (not to mention Union SID Hilary Haynes), I have this vision of the Dutchmen finishing fifth in the conference, drawing Dartmouth in the first round, and getting knocked out by a brilliant goaltending performance from Mike Devine (which is certainly possible...just ask UNH).

I do think there are bigger and better things ahead for Leaman, but it'd be nice to see him get that playoff series win he wants so badly. It is getting kind of ridiculous at this point.

On the professional front, I listened to the Melrose Line while I was at the gym last night, and Barry and Joy Russo discused the possiblity of the Rangers trading Jaromir Jagr. Melrose dismissed the possibility that a change of scenery would cure Jagr's ills, commenting that it didn't exactly happen when he came to New York.

Uh...Mullet-man...has it occured to you that Jagr could be like Joe Thornton, a supremely talented player who just plain wasn't cut out to be a captain? The Bruins put the C on him, and wound up having to trade him to San Jose, where he's been just fine, thank you.

Jagr is not a leader. He just isn't. It annoys me to no end that he wears the C for the Rangers, as he is, at best, the fourth-most qualified captain on the team behind Brendan Shanahan, Chris Drury, and Scott Gomez.

I have a theory about captains: you should not be the captain of a hockey team unless you play on the penalty kill. Why? Because the penalty killers are the hardest workers team, and if you're not one of the hardest workers on the team, you are in no position to lead.

Still, the Rangers are my team, and I'm going to see them on Sunday night. I bought tickets through Craig's List this evening while watching the Union-Clarkson game, on account of Tanner Glass (the gentleman on my left in that picture at the top of the screen) playing for the Panthers. I dared him back in November to fight Sean Avery (right before Tanner got sent down to Rochester for a while), and I'm waiting to see if he takes me up on it.

In this evening's NHL action featuring Dartmouth alumni, St. Louis fell to Anaheim, 2-1, in overtime. Stemper assisted on the lone Blues goal, scored by Erik Johnson. Meanwhile, Colorado beat Phoenix, 3-2, in a shootout. David Jones played 8:22 in the win, posting one shot on goal and taking a high-sticking penalty. He also got a turn in a 12-round shootout, but couldn't beat Mikael Tellqvist.

That will do it for the evening. Tomorrow, I head to Old Nassau.

Word Getting Out

2008-02-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I've never been the kind to keep my mouth shut...it's why my friends rarely, if ever, tell me secrets. Although, I can say proudly that anything a coach has told me after telling me to turn my recorder off (or otherwise telling me that I can't print it) has stayed with me.

Not that I spilled any state secrets or anything, but I did an interview over at Runnin' With The Dogs as part of the "Gauntlet" series.

Between that, the post I made at Miami Hawk Talk, and folks like Chris at Western College Hockey checking out the RWD interview, the truth is getting out there.

One note on the interview, by the way...on my comment about everything working out for Phil Kessel, and RWD's "[Except for the whole cancer thing.]" comment...I'm sure Phil wishes he'd never had cancer, but the reality is that may have been one of the best things that could have happened for his career. Not that I'd recommend it as a career move or anything, but now, Phil is on billboards for Vs. that say, "His story is inspiring...until he scores on you," instead of people wondering what happened to the guy who was supposed to be the best American-born player since Mike Modano.

In my experience with Phil, he's never been a big fan of media attention, and the kind he got before and during his brief collegiate career was generally scrutiny, and plenty of it. Even on the day he signed with the Bruins, someone on the media conference call asked him about the Blarney incident. Phil Kessel may be the first person to find the NHL media easier to deal with than college. Go figure.

Anyhow, in the discussion of my ouster from my former employer, it has come out that I will be doing some freelance writing for the folks at USCHO. Yep, that's true. In fact, I'm going to be going down to Princeton on Saturday to see the Tigers take on Cornell and write a feature on the breakout season for Guy Gadowsky's boys.

Of course, that's not exactly going to pay the bills, so I am naturally looking for more substantial employment. Quite conveniently, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers sponsored a job fair before last night's game agaisnt the Norfolk Admirals, so I headed out there last night.

Job fair went reasonably well...if nothing else, it was fun to stand in front of the folks from the Islanders (and then again with the folks from the Sound Tigers), and talk about working with the likes of Jeff Jackson, Greg Cronin and Billy Jaffe. Yes, I am an insufferable name-dropper...just ask my fraternity brothers how far out of the way I took a conversation to mention my first interview with Mark Johnson in '05 - at the Northford Ice Pavilion, Quinnipiac's charming home until the opening of the TD Banknorth Sports Center and a place where I imagine Johnson wondered why in the world he was there.

But the real highlight of the evening was the game, which the Sound Tigers won, 4-3, coming from behind. It was fun to see some of the college hockey notables on both sides, especially the Sound Tigers' starting line of UNH's Trevor Smith, Niagara's Sean Bentivoglio, and Minnesota's Kyle Okposo. The Admirals also had a nice college presence on their top line with Western Michigan's Paul Szczechura and 2004 Hobey Baker winner Junior Lessard.

The Sound Tigers do a nice job with their game production, including a pregame video where various current Isles boast that they were "Born in Bridgeport." The big thing, though, was that it was awesome to hear a pro hockey crowd engage in a "Sieve" chant, which is a nice staple of the college game that I always want to see more of in the pros.

Not being a member of the working media for the time being, I took the liberty of encouraging the abuse of Norfolk's Marc Denis. I found a group of fans who were being particularly abusive and taught them the "Sieve -> funnel -> vacuum -> black hole -> YOU JUST SUCK" taunt, which is one of those things I always wanted to do, but never really had company on.

Okposo, by the way, looked really good, scoring the game-tying goal for the Sound Tigers. Whatever you think of Garth Snow's comments following the Okposo signing in December - and I really hope the Isles don't look up my comments on what Snow said if they think of hiring for me to do anything - it's clear that Okposo is developing nicely in Bridgeport, and good for him.

Speaking of which, I have no clue why Garth said Lucia needs to "look in the mirror." The man's hair is clear evidence that he looks in the mirror just plenty as it is.

OK, maybe on that note, it's time to call it a night.

The Hockey Fan's Guide To iTunes

2008-02-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

I'll deliver the promised topic shortly, but first, an NHL interlude...

1) How on Earth did the Rangers manage to lose tonight? Giving up a 5-0 lead like that is absolutely disgusting. At least they had the decency to get a point out of the deal.

On the positive side, I do love the Avery-Dubinsky-Jagr line...surround Jagr with that much energy, and it makes him give a damn. Also on the positive side, the power play scored twice.

I suppose what it boils down to is a craptacular defensive performance, espectially on the fourth goal. Given that the blueline corps is hardly a star-studded outfit - and Marek Malik continues to find his way onto the ice at times that I really don't want him there - one of those is likely to come out every now and then, although not of such epic proportions.

2) In another annoying collapse, the Panthers surrendered a 2-0 lead to the homestanding Penguins in a 3-2 loss. Tanner had less than a minute of ice time in the loss, so we won't say much about this one.

3) The Blues, on the other hand, posted a 5-1 win over the Blackhawks tonight, which I caught bits and pieces of while the Rangers were breaking my heart. Stemper had one of three power-play goals for St. Louis, which was wearing its white jerseys tonight, a departure from the standard of the road teams wearing white as it has been, I believe since the lockout.

In discussing the game with a colleague, he said that the arrangement of the home team wearing white was as it should be, agreeing with INCH's Found On A Cocktail Napkin on things the NHL should borrow from college hockey. Personally, I don't particularly care, except insofar as my Stempniak jersey is in blue, not white, and I go to see the Blues on the road, not at home.

It never struck me as a huge deal. But now...as promised, my thoughts on what's out there for hockey fans on iTunes.

As one might expect, the Canadians - but not the Canadiens - lead the way when it comes to hockey podcasts. The Canucks and Oilers have great video podcasts with player interviews, both on game days and after practice, but they can't hold a candle to the Maple Leafs. Not only can you get the "Leafs Game in Six Minutes" podcast but you can also get "Marlies Game In Six Minutes," which is much more entertaining for the college hockey enthusiast. I find the Marlies podcasts more entertaining myself, seeing familiar faces like Jaime Sifers, Reid Cashman, and most of the time, Robbie Earl.

Sifers, for the record, is one of my favorite college hockey players that I had the pleasure to work with. Jaime is a great kid, a former Hockey Humanitarian finalist, and was a fantastic leader at Vermont, wearing the captain's C for two and a half seasons. One thing that I've noticed about the Catamounts is that they rarely, if ever, come out flat to start a game, and while a lot of that has to do with Kevin Sneddon as a coach, Sifers set the tone as captain early in the Sneddon era, and when UVM gets back into the NCAA tournament (and I believe that day is coming), their success will be traced back to Sifers' influence.

But I digress.

Hey, I wouldn't be me if I didn't do that, right? Anyway, moving right along...

As for college hockey video, Boston University does a fantastic job putting up the highlights from home games, a combination of the ultra-professional scoreboard feed and Bernie Corbett's calls from the radio broadcast.

My former employer also puts highlights from broadcasts up on iTunes, and I hope that continues once the name change goes into effect next month.

Finally, there's audio. There are a lot more options out there for audio-only podcasts, and chances are that whoever your team in the NHL, there's something out there for you. However, this is what I go with:

- The Melrose Line. Now that I no longer look at ESPN as the competition, I can say that I am a big fan of Barry Melrose, his involvement in the disaster that was Slap Shot 2 notwithstanding. His weekly exchange with ESPN.com's Joy Russo is exceptionally entertaining.

- Inside College Hockey podcast. Similarly no longer the competition, I get a kick out of these guys, especially the "deterioration" segment that closes the podcast.

- New York Hockey Report - It's nice to get converage of all three New York-area teams in one shot, not only because of the convenience, but because it allows for multiple perspectives on one podcast.

- TSN's NHL Insiders - Pierre McGuire and Darren Draper's segments are very brief, but worth hearing.

- NHL Radio - I generally go with DOC~!'s history segments and the Sam Rosen One-on-One interviews, but it's all good.

Personally, I wish there was more video out there, but the truth is, that there's plenty of material out there to keep hockey fans occupied.