Why hasn’t the Colorado College hockey team won a National Championship since 1957? Well the folks at LetsGoDU have compiled some impressive and entertaining information, and their deeply-dug research suggests that CC may be cursed. Click here for the full story, and kudos to LetsGoDU for providing a welcome hockey diversion this summer.
Category Archives: College Hockey
Another Ref in NCAA Division I Hockey
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Frozen Four in Washington, D.C., will feature two days of thrilling competition . . . as well as two referees on the ice.
While the NCAA’s decision is hardly breaking news — it was announced in June that they would implement the system for all games this season — it is interesting to see former assistant coach for the Washington Capitals and current Providence College head coach Tim Army firmly in favor of adding a referee. After all, Army was with the Capitals in 1998 when the two-referee system debuted in the NHL so he’s had ample experience with it. Per the Friartown Free Press:
“This system will allow for a stricter enforcement of the rules, thus enhancing the overall speed of our game,” [Army] said this week. “The emphasis on speed will create more open lanes that can be exploited with quick puck movement. Speed and possession will produce better transitional and cycling play which will increase offensive activity in the scoring areas resulting in greater goal production.”
Army clearly feels that, after working out some initial kinks (e.g., a significant spike in penalties called), the two-referee system has helped the game more than it has hindered play.
The extra body on the ice does create more traffic . . . something that switching to an international-sized rink would remedy, of course, but that change will likely never happen due to the expense of changing arenas and the lost revenue from having fewer 100-level seats. Yet if the referee pair works well together and calls games consistently (granted, a big “if”), away-from-the-puck infractions are more often caught due to the extra man with the orange armband.
Regardless, the additional ref has certainly doubled the opportunity for clever referee taunts.
Frozen Fortune in Summer
By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Although he is in his middles sixties, my father skates with the over-70 set of GeriHatricks; he has a medical exemption to “skate up” with the “vets,” as he had knee replacement surgery earlier this summer. He told me it was a pretty big deal being able to go in the room this week and announce to the fellas that his son would be taking him to the Frozen Four in Washington next spring. Like Dad, a few of his teammates played a bit of hockey in college.
A healthy number of our readers won college hockey’s big lottery last week and secured their own tickets to the 2009 Frozen Four. Others will join in the party via other avenues. We wish there was a way for every one of our local readers to be so lucky, but we’ve really enjoyed reading the elation-laden accounts of those who have. Keep ‘em coming.
One Washington Hockey Fan’s Very Good Fortune
By pucksandbooks
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Letter received today from the NCAA:
“Dear pucksandbooks:
We are pleased to inform you that your offer to purchase tickets contained in your application for tickets to the 2009 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., has been accepted. The semifinal games will be played at 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, Thursday, April 9, and the championship game will be played at 7 p.m. Eastern time, Saturday, April 11. Please note that game times are subject to change.
You will receive 2 all-session tickets . . . Tickets and seat locations will be distributed in March 2009 . . .
The seating capacity for the 2009 Men’s Frozen Four will be 18,875 [interesting, that]. Priority ticket applicants and those individuals applying for the first time have been allocated 9,626 tickets. The remaining tickets are reserved for the four participating institutions, the NCAA membership (e.g., athletic directors, coaches and various committee members), the host institution, the local organizing committee and other groups affiliated with the NCAA . . .
We thank you for applying for tickets to the 2009 Men’s Frozen Four and appreciate your interest in and support of NCAA ice hockey.
Sincerely,
NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship Staff
More Ammunition for Finley To Go Pro
By pucksandbooks
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The last two weeks have seen two more members of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux sign pro hockey contracts. Senior defenseman Robbie Bina inked a deal with Edmonton this week, and earlier this month, senior Kyle Radke signed with the Idaho Steelhounds of the ECHL.
Five members of the Fighting Sioux have signed pro hockey contracts this summer. In addition to Bina and Radke, Taylor Chorney (Edmonton), Rylan Kaip (Atlanta), and T.J. Oshie (St. Louis) have all departed. The Sioux also lost starting netminder Jean-Philippe Lamoureux to graduation.
Perhaps Caps’ prospect Joe Finley had designs on visiting Verizon Center as a senior next April for the Frozen Four. It’s hard to see that happening now. Indeed, Inside College Hockey’s 10 teams to watch for 2008-09 didn’t include the Sioux, before this month’s defections.
So BigJoe, what’s the holdup on starting your pro career?
Ahead, a Promising Harvest on the Farm
By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Development camps such as that recently completed by the Capitals have a way of imbuing DraftGeeks and even the more balanced of hockey fan with horizons of heightened optimism. Always it seems there are a handful of young standouts there, among them compelling stories of no-name collegians or free agents making next-season names for themselves. This July’s camp in Washington was no different. Jake Hausworth, a USHL graduate (Omaha) headed for Michigan Tech this autumn, may in his hockey career make no greater imprint than what he did in Washington this past week. All that would make him, then, would be a special hockey player.
Capitals’ fans, I think, ought to delight in the accomplishments of the team’s scouts — high in drafts with lottery selections but also deep into draft Saturdays (Perreault, Gordon). Hershey Bears’ fans, however, ought to be downright giddy at what’s coming their way this autumn, in year four of the team’s affiliation with the Caps.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility, for instance, that Hershey hockey fans could see more of Eric Fehr this coming season. The injury-hampered right wing signed a two-way deal with the Caps last week. He gave great effort in D.C. upon his recall last spring, but a full season of apprentice seasoning in Hershey, earning top line minutes, may not be the worst thing for his career development.
I’m imagining an Eric Fehr, Chris Bourque, Mathieu Perreault, Sami Lepisto, and Andrew Gordon Bears power play at the moment . . . Fehr and Gordon owning the corners, Perreault and CBourque with the puck Krazy-Glued to their sticks, Lepisto making like Mike Green with his passing and hockey sense on the point . . .
Mother, hold me.
Oh, and there’s a bit of a talent infusion in net in the organization to discuss this summer.
Last September, Capitals’ rookies reported first to fall camp and, on Saturday, September 8, skated an exhibition game at the Philadelphia Flyers’ practice facility in Voorhees, N.J. Plans call for the Flyers to reciprocate, and visit Kettler Capitals this September. The Caps haven’t finalized a date for that game yet, but it promises to be a spirited, first-of-its kind event for the facility. If this past Saturday’s SRO turnout for Development Camp’s concluding scrimmage is any indication, Craigslist and or eBay may be involved in admissions with that Rookie Camp tilt.
That game may also inaugurate a season-long intrigue affair between Washington hockey fans and the team’s prospects in Hershey. It’s no secret that the affiliation between the Caps and Bears has been a fruitful one — really a perfect one in terms of the parent club drafting well and feeding quality to the farm, as well as offering fans a friendly proximity by which to travel to one another’s games. But what’s in store this coming season on the farm may be the most appealing that the affiliation has offered to date.
For this coming season in Hershey there will be bluechip prospects for the Caps dressed in Bears’ sweaters at virtually every position, from the goal cage on out: a Rookie of the Year in Finland’s top professional league; an MVP of the QMJHL; the two most recent scoring champions from the Q; at least one member of Team Canada’s gold-medal-winning World Junior champions last year; the backstopper of five shutouts in Russia’s top professional league this most recent postseason; potentially two OHL All -Stars. In other words: fairly an embarrassment of prospect riches.
We live-blogged from Kettler this past Saturday, and joining us in the fun was Bears’ PR guy Chris Poisal. If you followed our musings you absorbed Chris’ significant enthusiasm for the coming campaign. Last year’s Bears may have been somewhat short in the leadership department, and ravaged by injury beyond belief, but this summer’s signings of Dean Arsene, Keith Aucoin, and Hershey 2006 Calder Cup hero Graham Mink have vanquished any leadership concerns. They’ll be expected to mentor a crop of recent Caps’ draft picks abundant in skill but relatively short on pro league experience.
Alluding to Hershey’s offseason signings, and the promise of more help arriving from the parent club, Bears’ head coach Bob Woods on Saturday said, “Leadership was the big thing we were looking to move on, and while we don’t know what’s going to happen here [in Washington] in the fall, you get a [Keith] Aucoin, you get a [Graham] Mink, a healthy [Dean] Arsene back, now you’ve filled a lot of those voids.
“We’ve got a great group of young guys returning,” he added.
Woods admitted that in net, “we’re gonna be young, but from what I’ve seen this week, there’s a lot of promise there.
“Look at a team like Wilkes Barre last year,” he added, “They had two rookie goaltenders and they went right to the finals.”
The ride ought to be fun, and entertaining. A potent potential lineup could include a lot of these names:
| Alexandre Giroux | Keith Aucoin | Eric Fehr/Graham Mink |
| Chris Bourque | Kyle Wilson | Andrew Gordon |
| Oskar Osala | Mathieu Perreault / Jay Beagle | Francois Bouchard |
| Maxime Lacroix | Andrew Joudrey | Scott Barney |
| Dean Arsene | Sami Lepisto | |
| Josh Godfrey | Tyler Sloan | |
| Patrick McNeill/Sasha Pokulok | ||
| Machesney / Varlamov |
Should Big Joe Go Pro?
By The OFB Team
Friday, July 11, 2008
For a promising athlete, the decision on whether to remain in college or depart early before earning a degree, in pursuit of pro sport riches, is an intensely personal and private endeavor — and not a subject fit for whimsical debate in Internet forums. It may well be the case that today Joe Finley (first round, ‘05) is in his hockey development absolutely ready to commence a career in pro puck. Nonetheless, that is a decision for him to make, perhaps in consultation with his family. We would do well to keep our worthless opinions on the matter to ourselves.
However . . . were he interested in outside opinion on the matter, and specifically, solicitious of the views of a set of sometimes respected bloggers who monitor the state of his drafting organization, we’d offer the reflection that his prowess as a purveyor of intense pain is one that would be well directed, shift after shift, at the Penguins’ crybaby captain. Beginning yesterday.
To amplify this general viewpoint, we’ve devised a table of pros and cons related to the decision. We’ve assigned value checks to an array of priority criteria, and we’ve tallied them. Tell us if you would have arrived at a different recommendation.
| Evaluative Criteria | Senior Year, U of North Dakota |
Pro Hockey in Hershey, PA |
| Temperate winter weather |  |
|
| Writing papers, taking exams, rising for morning classes | |
|
| Proximity to clustered living by hard-bodied, experimentally inclined women under the age of 22 | |
|
| Keggers | |
|
| The Ralph vs. Giant Center | |
|
| Called Up to Skate on a Sheet with Ovechkin | |
|
| Thursday (sometimes Wednesday) Starts to Weekends | |
|
| Ditching Mandatory, Full-Face Shields, Immersion in Fighting Friendly Culture | |
|
| Booze-Induced, Care- and Consequence-free Hookups | |
|
| Playing for the Jacks Adams-winning Coach | |
|
| Chance, if Called Up, to Bloody Crosby | |
|
| Having John Walton Narrate Your Beatdowns of Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins for Central Pa. Radio Listeners | |
Recommendation: Go pro, Joe!
Ten Top Storylines for Development Camp 2008
By pucksandbooks
Monday, July 7, 2008
This morning the Capitals welcome 21 skaters and 4 goaltenders to their 2008 Development Camp. Almost all of the campers are recent Caps’ draft picks, and first-rounders from each of the the team’s past four drafts are present (Alzner, Varlamov, Carlson, Pokulok).
Camp will culminate with a 10:00 scrimmage on Saturday. Hockey is back! Herewith, 10 top storylines to follow at this July’s camp:
(10) All Eyes on Alzner. 2007 first round pick Karl Alzner impressed observers of Development Camp last July, and then he went on to captain the gold medal winning Canadians at the World Junior Championships in December and earn WHL Defenseman of the Year and Player of the Year honors with the Calgary Hitmen. Not a bad season, huh? As soon as his season in Calgary was completed he was called up by Hershey, but the Bears didn’t advance out of the American League postseason’s first round, so he’s yet to get a taste of pro hockey. He’ll get a chance at training camp in September to crack the Caps’ opening night roster, but he can make a real strong impression on and off the ice this week.
(9) Souring on Sasha? No team got screwed more by Gary Bettman’s inane Entry Draft scheme during the summer lockout of 2005 than the Caps. The league all but came out and said that by virtue of having had the first pick in 2004, the Caps shouldn’t have a reasonable shot at it again. But outside the top 10? A pre-lockout cellar dwellar, the Caps drew the 14th pick in the first round in the ‘05 draft. A lot of quality was already off the table by then, including Sidney Crosby, Carey Price, Anze Kopitar, and Jack Johnson. The Caps took a gamble on Cornell defenseman Sasha Pokulok. He hasn’t impressed. This could be a make-or-break year for him. He’d do well to have a solid week.
(8) College Hockey’s Biggest Weekend Isn’t that Far Away. Washington will host its first-ever Frozen Four next spring, and the Frozen Four Organizing Committee will visit Kettler on Wednesday, conduct a meeting there, and take in that day’s scrimmage. I have plenty of questions I’d like to put to them.
(7) The Big Finn with the Big Game. Oskar Osala had a big year in 2007-08 with 18 goals and 35 points in 53 games with the Espoo Blues in Finland’s top pro league. The 6 ‘4, 217-lb. left wing was named the Finnish League’s Rookie of the Year. He also shined at the 2007 World Junior Championships, where he shared the lead in goal scoring with 5 goals in 6 games. A lot of folks from Hershey are excited to see him.
(6) Not that Carlson, but John’s Big and Physical Too. No relation to Jack, but John Carlson may well make a name for himself in pro hockey, too. The Caps may have landed another late first-round blueline gem last month with Carlson, who’s already blessed with a pro physique. His coach with the Indiana Ice of the USHL said of his defenseman, “without a doubt, he’s going to be a star in the NHL.”
(5) Media Matters. All of HockeyWashington was stunned by the breadth, depth, and overall quality of media coverage of the Caps this past spring. This week at Kettler — where there will be stories to tell — is an opportunity to see if that was anomalous. After all, the Redskins don’t report to training camp for another two weeks. Bloggers will be out at Kettler covering, and we hope to reprise our coalition from Entry Draft Friday and live blog this Saturday’s camp-concluding scrimmage.
(4) Where’s Big Joe? Joe Finley, Hurting Force, isn’t in town this week. The 2005 first-rounder showed a lot of promise at last summer’s Development Camp, and he also shook a lot of plexiglass with his corner work. The Capitals are going to great lengths to make this week appealing to Washington youths, and Finley’s instincts for violence may not have been a good fit for that agenda. He’ll be returning to North Dakota for his senior season with the Fighting Sioux this fall.
(3) They Harken from a Scorer’s League. The leading scorers from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League each of the past two seasons, Francois Bouchard and Mathieu Perreault, will be present. Perreault in particular, with his dazzling stickwork-in-a-phone-booth and world-class agility and hockey sense, ought to be a fan favorite this week.
(2) Prior a Priority. Capitals’ Goaltender Coach Dave Prior has spent 11 seasons in Washington. He may not have a more important one than the one ahead. He will break in yet another no. 1 goalie in Jose Theodore — the team’s third in just the last six months — and perhaps just as importantly, in Simeon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth tutor two of the organization’s finest goaltending prospects in 15 years. That work begins this week.
(1) Speaking of Goalies . . . It would be comforting for Capitals’ fans to see both Varlamov and Neuvirth stop every shot that each faces the entirety of this week.
In Phoenix, Wheel(er) of Misfortune
By pucksandbooks
Monday, May 19, 2008
Remember the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and the heads that turned — swiveled fully a la Linda Blair in ‘The Exorcist,’ actually — when Phoenix selected Minnesota high school junior Blake Wheeler with the 5th overall pick? Wheeler that spring was a riser of a prospect, but Phoenix — to wide and loud ridicule from the TSN commentators at the time — slotted the big wing about 20 places higher than on any other NHL team’s draft board. At least. His development over the four hockey seasons since can be said to have been steady if unspectacular. Meaning: about 29 NHL clubs probably got a pretty good read on Wheeler while the ‘Yotes, drafting at 5th overall . . . not so much.
First-rounders Phoenix passed on back in ’04 include Rostislav Olesz; Drew Stafford; Alexander Radulov; Andrej Meszaros; and Mike Green.
Well what seemed a bizarre pick four summers back turned, this past weekend, into a superbly lousy one for the Desert Dogs.
In a first instance of exercising a provision brought about by the new CBA, Wheeler informed Phoenix of his intention to become a free agent this June 1, spurning Phoenix’ recent contract offer. Wheeler was able to pull this off because rather than return to the Breck Academy for his senior year of high school (he led all Minnesota high schoolers in scoring his junior year), he bolted for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. The new CBA allows NHL clubs the rights to picks who go on to college a total of four years to sign them. Not four years of college, four years of rights. Blake left Minnesota this spring after his junior season to turn pro.
Wheeler’s case represents something fundamentally different from say R.J. Umberger, drafted 16th overall by Vancouver in 2001. Umberger, beholden to the old CBA, completed all four years at Ohio State before coming to a negotiations impasse with the Canucks. He was first dealt by Vancouver to the Rangers, who fared no better in their negotations, and eventually he signed as a free agent with the Flyers.
Capitals’ Director of Media Relations Nate Ewell informed me today that the Caps have a set of comparable challenges, potentially, with 2007 draft picks Brett Bruneteau and Andrew Glass. Bruneteau has two seasons in the USHL under his belt, and he’ll join the North Dakota Fighting Sioux this fall. Glass, like his draft classmate, won’t enter college as a freshman until this fall, joining the BU Terriers. For drafted players who go on to college, years spent in the USHL or simply as a year or two off to gain maturity and strength count in the four-year window of rights eligibility. Wheeler is the first player to exercise this out clause, if you will, within the new CBA.
As compensation for Wheeler Phoenix will receive the fifth pick in this year’s second round. The Coyotes can only hope that Wheeler doesn’t turn out to be anywhere near the player that Umberger is.
U.S. Youth Not Yet Serving up Medals at the Worlds
By pucksandbooks
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Since the American entry in the 2004 World Hockey Championships finished with a bronze medal, the U.S. has finished 6th, 7th, 5th, and, most recently this past week, 5th in the tourney. Not so good.
“Young” seems to be the springtime flavor of excuse for middling showings by the Americans in this tournament. Yes the Americans are comparatively young in the tourney, but they are also highly skilled, annually one of the fastest teams, and always carefully assembled by a blue ribbon advisory group. And even with their youth most of the American roster each spring possesses notable international hockey experience, gained particularly from the World Juniors tourneys. They are losing games in elimination play in excruciating fashion: in overtime.
Beginning with 2009, it’s time to begin expecting better.
USA Hockey has made it abundantly clear that it wants to compete for championships in this event every bit as much as with the World Junior Championships and the Olympics. Of the three most prestigious international competitions, year in and year out this will always be the toughest for the Americans to contend in. The Americans with the National Development Team Program have a rigorous and committed program priming young hockey talent for the World Juniors. It’s a built-in advantage, I think. Additionally, the Junior team rarely has significant injuries to deal with, as that tournament is contested relatively early in the hockey season. The Olympic teams, too, also benefit from the calendar, and never have to worry about the best American players still competing in the NHL palyoffs.
To be fair, with very limited depth in terms of impact players, the U.S. cannot endure injuries like say Canada can and compete seriously at either the Olympics or the Worlds. This year’s American Worlds entry would have had a decidedly different look to it in terms of skill and experience had it been able to roster just say Eric Cole, Chris Clark, and Rick DiPietro and or Ryan Miller.
Indeed, if there’s anything particularly promising as American hockey fans look ahead to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, it’s that that American team will not have Tim Thomas, Robert Esche, or Craig Anderson between the pipes but most likely rather the tandem of Miller and DiPietro. Esche actually had moments of surreal brilliance at this year’s World’s — most especially in games against the Finns — but neither he nor his 2008 netminder teammates are a trio with which a nation pins medal hopes on.
There were also huge American names absent from this Worlds’ rsoter because of the NHL playoffs: Drury and Gomez, Mike Komisarek and Chris Higgins in Montreal, perhaps Dallas’ Matt Niskanen, certainly Paul Stastny. You have to think Higgins is a prime candidate for the 2010 team. I was especially disappointed to see neither of Erik or Jack Johnson rostered for the Americans this spring — both competed for the Americans in Moscow last year. Those two, along with Komisarek and Niskanen, you have to think would play important roles on the Olympic team in two years. After goaltending, the biggest difference we may well see between this year’s Worlds team and the Olympic one in Vancouver likely will be on the blueline. An entirely different top 4, for instance.
Up front, there appears to be greater certainty. Peter Mueller, Patrick Kane, Zach Parise, Phil Kessel — the latter distinguishing himself now in consecutive World Championships — along with Stastny and perhaps Cole and Higgins, that’s a lot of skilled MoJo seriously on the move. And I began getting excited about David Booth’s game very early his past season with the Panthers. He’s likely to be a super quick skilled pest on the Americans’ third or fourth line in Vancouver. One very young American player I’m eager to watch next season with an eye on the 2010 Games is the Islander’s Kyle Okposo.
The Americans almost certainly won’t enter the 2010 Olympics on hockey folks’ list of medal contenders, but as with the Worlds, you need win only one game against a great team on a given night, and that’s where someone like Ryan Miller can elevate American hockey dreams. Next year’s American Worlds roster, to the extent that the NHL playoffs and injuries allow, ought to be assembled as a test run for 2010. This year’s simply couldn’t be.
But looming large as a challenge for USA Hockey is finding the right guy behind the American bench. It’s fair to say, I think, that a new name needs to be considered. The last three years American Worlds teams have been led by Mike Eaves, Mike Sullivan, and John Tortorella. Shouldn’t USA Hockey name a coach for next year’s Worlds with an eye on having that man guide the Americans in Vancouver as well? If so, I have an outside-the-box pick. A man with significant ties to USA Hockey, a man with an unrivaled record in winning with young hockey players and one who may just well be the best hockey coach outside of the NHL right now.
Jeff Jackson.
Swan Song for the Skilled Sioux?
By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A number of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux’ top players made a pact after the 2006-07 season to remain on campus and pursue a national title in 2007-08. They did, and the Sioux advanced to this April’s Frozen Four in Denver, where eventual national champion Boston College smashed them in the semis.
Caps’ 2005 first-round draft pick Joe Finley, a junior this season, was a part of that impact core for North Dakota. Such a commitment by the team’s upper classmen will be a lot more difficult for next season, as on Tuesday the St. Louis Blues announced the signing of T.J. Oshie, North Dakota’s leading scorer last season. The Sioux also lose senior starting goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux.
Is this the impetus for Joe Finley to begin his pro career in the Capitals’ organization? If you’re a Hershey Bears’ fan, you sure hope so.
2009 Frozen Four Ticket Application Window Open
By The OFB Team
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
While the puck hasn’t been dropped on the 2008 edition of the NCAA Frozen Four in Denver, the NCAA is now accepting applications for tickets for the 2009 Frozen Four in Washington, DC.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The NCAA is accepting ticket applications for the 2009 Frozen Four, which will be held at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., April 9 and 11, 2009. Tickets for the event — which will be sold out for the ninth straight year when it faces off next week in Denver — are awarded through a lottery system, and applications are being accepted online at the NCAA website (https://ebill.securebills.com/FrozenFour/) from today through June 1, 2008.
The NCAA ticket application process includes a priority system rewarding those who have purchased tickets for previous Frozen Fours, but a number of tickets are set aside for first-time attendees as well. The ticket application process is the only method of purchasing tickets for the general public.
The U.S. Naval Academy, the Greater Washington Sports Alliance and the Washington Capitals will host the 2009 NCAA Frozen Four, which brings the country’s best college hockey players to the nation’s capital for the first time. The Frozen Four is the culmination of the 16-team NCAA tournament.
Here’s the rub, tickets are $177 per seat (2 semifinal games plus the final) and pre-payment is required at the time of the application submission. Refunds will be issued in mid-August of this year if your application is not selected for tickets.
2008 Frozen Four
By Gustafsson
Monday, March 31, 2008
The 2008 Frozen Four is set.
The semifinals take place on April 10th with North Dakota defenseman and Washington Capitals’ draft pick Joe Finley skating against Boston College at 6pm EDT. The second game is at 9pm EDT with Michigan against Notre Dame, the only four seed ever to make it to the Frozen Four. Both semifinal games will be televised on ESPN2. The National Championship game is on the 12th at 9pm EDT on ESPN.
After this year in Denver, the Frozen Four moves East to the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., for the 2009 edition of the Frozen Four.
Virginia Hockey Natives in NCAA Men’s Frozen Four
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
College hockey is about to begin its annual best-of-the-best tournament; two Virginia-born hockey players are gearing up for their respective schools during this weekend’s first round on the way to the NCAA 2008 Men’s Frozen Four.
Sophomore Matt Fairchild, of Ashburn, Va., is a forward for the Air Force Falcons. After 36 games he was fourth on the team in scoring (9-17-26). The Falcons face No. 1 seed Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, March 29, at 4:05 p.m. ET; the game will be televised on ESPN U. According to Fairchild’s bio, his favorite team is the Washington Capitals and favorite player is Alex Ovechkin–choices with which I think we can heartily agree.
Garrett Roe, a forward at St. Cloud State, is a native of Vienna, Va. Roe, a freshman, is already ranked fifth all-time in points-per-game at St. Cloud State, averaging 1.16 points each outing (18-26-44). He was also an invited attendee at the Capitals’ summer camp in 2004 at the age of 16. The Huskies take on Clarkson University on Friday, March 28, at 4:00 p.m. ET, also scheduled for broadcast on ESPN U.
It is heartening to see local-born hockey players playing in college hockey’s ultimate competition–we wish the best of luck to both Fairchild and Roe in the tournament.
[Tap of the stick to OFB reader Big Sexy for the tip]
The “Other” Bracket - Road to the Frozen Four
By Gustafsson
Monday, March 24, 2008
Here are the matchups for the 2008 NCAA Hockey Championship.
Albany (East)
No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Niagara
No. 2 St. Cloud State vs. No. 3 Clarkson
Colorado Springs (West)
No. 1 New Hampshire vs. No. 4 Notre Dame
No. 2 Colorado College vs. No. 3 Michigan State
Madison (Midwest)
No. 1 North Dakota vs. No. 4 Princeton
No. 2 Denver vs. No. 3 Wisconsin
Worcester (Northeast)
No. 1 Miami vs. No. 4 Air Force
No. 2 Boston College vs. No. 3 Minnesota
This year’s Frozen Four will take place in Denver, Colorado on April 10th and 12th with the First Round on March 28th & 29th and the Quarterfinals on March 29th & 30th.
Blame the Rapid Change in Weather for Your Friday “Illness”: Must-See Postseason Puck TV
By pucksandbooks
Friday, March 21, 2008
If you labor in an office setting, you’re no doubt familiar with the “creative” excuses some co-workers have used this week to excuse themselves from work to follow Thursday and Friday play in the NCAA hoops tourney. It’s a common pursuit by the common man.
The uncommon sport’s fan, however, appreciates alternative television viewing this weekend.
College hockey — far less exploitive of its student athletes insomuch as its postseason games, like its regular season ones, are contested on actual weekends — offers this afternoon semifinal play in all of the sport’s power conferences, and there’s ample cable television coverage of it. This year Hockey East (NESN), the CCHA (FSN/FoxCollegeSports), and the WCHA (FSN/FCS) are on TV and available in numerous cable markets and on satellite.
The Caps play only tonight this weekend, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of great puck to view. If you’re late arriving to the great party that is college hockey, watch a few of these postseason games this weekend, replete with their multiple overtime, sudden-death drama, and you’ll be hooked.
Even if you aren’t feeling under the weather at the moment, it’s a good time of year to take precautionary measures, and extend your rest time this weekend with an early office depature this afternoon.
So start coughing around 2:00 and try this prescription:
(All times Eastern Daylight)
3:00 p.m.: Fox College Sports – WCHA semifinal game 1
4:30 p.m.: Fox College Sports — CCHA semifinal game 1
5:00 p.m.: NESN — Hockey East semifinal Game 1
7:00 p.m.: Fox College Sports — WCHA semifinal game 2
8:00 p.m.: Fox College Sports — CCHA semifinal game 2; NESN — Hockey East semifinal game 2
On Saturday, you can see re-broadcasts of many of Friday’s semifinal games in the afternoon before the finals in the evening. And one or two Saturday night finals’ games will be re-broadcast on Sunday.
A Spiritual Streak Remains Intact, and Adherence to It Pays Off Large
By pucksandbooks
Friday, March 21, 2008
My boss gave me an unpleasant assignment at week’s start: take a reporter to the NCAA basketball opening round’s evening slate at Verizon Center Thursday, for a schmoozing session with the press. That’s unpleasant for me cause it isn’t just that basketball isn’t my bag, but to be in a multi-use venue like Verizon Center and not see the ice sheet saddens my hockey heart. Even if I’m in a big building like the Phone Booth for a rock concert in the dead of summer my thoughts always gravitate to the cement slab covered up for the offseason.
I find monogamy sexy.
Also adding to the inventory of my Thursday melancholy was this consideration: I’d yet to set foot in Verizon Center, since its opening, for a hoops game. This was partly a bias I’d maintained because I’m hardcore about my hockey, but as the middle ’90s of Abe Pollin puck poison yielded to tough times of mess cleaning up by the liberated and Leonsis-led Caps, I developed a deep and lasting resentment for the half-hearted attentions old ownership ever showed the hockey team. And when under false and ludicrous pretenses the old man took away the name of the title-winning basketball team, that was the deal-sealer.
Call it a sh*t list. He and his team ain’t the only one on it. (How sad a thought: there are scores like me around town that have such bans imposed on multiple teams in the region, often for the same reason. We seem to have two extremes of sports team ownership in this town — the really, really commendably, personably engaged and competent, fellas you’d like to have a beer with, and the you-know-whos.)
It was a spiritual, devotional ban-streak I maintained. Cal had his streak, I have mine.
I messaged the reporter, Jeff, intermittently throughout Thursday, setting up a meeting point and dinner arrangements and such. I learned that he hails from Vermont. Which led me to ask him the inevitable question.
“Oh I’d much rather attend a hockey game than basketball,” Jeff told me. “We can use the tickets for a few minutes then go grab some beers,” he added. Suddenly, my evening assignment seemed a lot more pleasant.
My boss, using a boss’ prerogative, attended Thursday afternoon’s session at Verizon Center. He’d forked over some pretty serious dough for the tickets ($600+) and was under the understandable impression that his investment was good for the entirety of Thursday’s games. I found out otherwise at Will Call near 6:00.
When I called my boss to explain the oversight, he was crestfallen with embarrassment. Six hundred dollars (admittedly in pretty premium seating) apparently doesn’t buy what it once did. He made all manner of apologies to me, none of which of course were necessary. I was smiling widely. I assured him that I’d get a hold of Jeff and extend his heartfelt apology.
Then I suggested that we make it up to our reporter friend, at a future date, which at the moment was an immensely easy sell to my boss.
“Jeff is from Vermont and a big nut about hockey like me,” I began. “We do have college hockey’s final four coming to Washington next April. I’m sure Jeff would get a kick out of that.”
“Make it happen,” my boss replied.
Loyalty has its rewards.
INCH Podcast
By The OFB Team
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
No, we’re not referring to a podcast of the Pacino speech from Any Given Sunday, but a weekly podcast from the good folks at Inside College Hockey.
Here is a snippet from yesterday’s podcast where the guys discuss the Caps’ games from the weekend along with an invitation to join the Brooks Laich Fan Club via email.
If you enjoyed the snippet with the Caps talk, you can hear the whole podcast here:
Just make sure you email Gladdy to join the Brooks Laich Fan Club. Remember, he asked for it.
Thanks to resident INCH expert Nate Ewell for the tip.
Son of Slap Shot
By The OFB Team
Monday, March 3, 2008
Son of a Hanson brother winning an award for sportsmanship? It’s true:
“Outdoor Hockey Is Beautiful”
By The OFB Team
Monday, January 28, 2008
That’s the sentiment of a couple of Minnesotans behind the making of the documentary ‘Pond Hockey’, now in final editing and awaiting a distributor. The filmmakers believe it’s mere weeks from showing at a theater near you. Eighty minutes of cinema we can’t wait for; sure looks like we have another OFB night at the movies looming. The trailer suggests that the filmmakers have honed in on the heart of the matter:
As you might expect, Minnesota television stations are on this story like black on fresh lake ice. One treatment can be found here. Still another can be found here.
But it isn’t just in Minnesota where outdoor puck is being pursued these days. Jeff Jackson’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish got swept by no. 1 Michigan last weekend, so on Monday of last week, with his charges’ spirits slumped, he took them outside for practice, where it was a not so balmy 12 degrees. That story is chronicled here. The Irish, incidentally, rebounded and swept Bowling Green this past weekend.
Update: We heard this afternoon from Andrew Sherburne, ‘Pond Hockey’s’ Producer. The first closed screening for cast and crew will take place in a matter of weeks, while the actual release isn’t quite that close. We’ll keep you informed.
Prospect Progress on the Farm
By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Very quietly — though less so after this past weekend — Andrew Gordon is ascending in the hierarchy of Caps’ prospects in his first season of pro hockey. But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the smooth-skating rookie this season. Back in the fall, he was demoted to South Carolina.
But he didn’t sulk. He scored. Lots. He tallied 8 goals and 6 assists for the Stingrays in 11 games before being recalled to Hershey early in December. Then he scored lots more Saturday night — a hat trick in the Bears’ 6-4 win over Lake Erie. He ended up being named the AHL’s First Star of Saturday night. He also scored the Bears’ lone goal Sunday in a 3-1 loss to Hartford.
Gordon’s hat trick this past weekend was his first as a pro. His previous one was as a St. Cloud St. sophomore, in a blowout win over Michigan Tech. “I really pick my spots, I guess,” he said with a chuckle.
Gordon, a Caps’ 7th rounder in 2004, has been a prospect favorite of mine from the last few years of my watching him dominate college hockey’s best conference, the WCHA. Gordon’s Huskies were a broadcast favorite of the Fox College Sports package I had at home, and I saw fantastic progress in each of his three seasons at St. Cloud. Gordon scored more than 100 points in his career with the Huskies, and as a junior he was named First Team All-WCHA. Just days after the Caps inked him last April, I asked General Manager George McPhee about his newest asset.
“We think there’s a real chance he can help us as early as next season,” McPhee said.
In 21 games with the Bears, Gordon has 5 goals and 14 assists, meaning that combined with his production in the ECHL, Gordon’s averaging over a point per game in his first year of pro hockey. After Saturday’s breakout performance, he was asked by a reporter what accounted for his turnaround from a disappointing start in Hershey this season.
“Not being afraid to try things,” he said. “I’ll turn a few pucks over, but I try to make plays. It’s a confidence thing. I’m not afraid to go out there on the power play with a lot of minutes and try to make a play . . . and I know Woodie’s [head Coach Bob Woods] gonna have a lot of faith to put me back out there the next power play, the next shift.”
Gordon’s a favorite with the Pennsylvania hockey press corps that covers the Bears. A handful of them took turns assuring me how nice a kid he is and how much they enjoy working with him. One of them described Gordon as “the kind of kid you’d like to see your daughter marry.” He answers all post-game questions patiently and with deliberation and candor and even self-effacing humor. One reporter Saturday wanted to know if this turnaround in his season had caught Gordon blinking his eyes in disbelief.
“I tried to blink my eyes and think twice when I went down [to South Carolina], so there’s a lot of blinking going on,” he joked.
“It’s just another hockey game,” he added. I’ve been doing this since I was four years old.”
His Bears’ teammates passing the newcomer’s Hockey Night in Hershey media hubbub took turns poking fun at it all.
“Somebody’s going up to Washington,” Louis Robitaille needled as he passed. Chris Bourque offered a crack about the rookie getting a big head.
The post-game press pack that surrounded Gordon Saturday night might have been new to him, but I got the feeling his future was going to include more of them.
A sidebar to Saturday night’s breakout party for Gordon was Eric Fehr’s return to the team after being out nine months with a frustratingly slow-healing compressed nerve affecting his lower back and hip. He sat out the middle game of a three-game weekend, but he told me that his first two games had him feeling pretty good and strong.
“I didn’t want to rush back too quickly and play all three games this weekend. I gotta get back up to speed — when you’re tired, that’s when injuries happen,” he said.
Fehr’s injury was rare and laden with setbacks. I asked him if his physicians had said anything to him about a likelihood of recurrence, or if his treatment and rehab and the nature of the injury made it more likely that it was beaten back once and for all.
“From what I know I think it’s the kind of injury that’s very rare, you don’t see a lot, and from what the doctors say they think it won’t be coming back. It’s such a freak thing it’d be tough to come by it twice, I think.”
I also wanted to know what kind of goals Fehr might have after missing so much hockey, missing training camp and attempting to join a surging team smack in the middle of a season.
“For the next couple of games I think it’s just get up to speed, get back in shape and try to produce offense for this team, and after I start feeling better I’ll maybe re-evaluate and maybe set a goal for the rest of the season.”
I asked him if hockey in Washington this season was in his thoughts at all these days.
“In the back of your mind you wanna get into Washington — that’s the goal of every player that plays in the AHL is to get called up, and I’m no different. Right now though I just gotta focus on competing and playing at a high level in Hershey.”
