...per MGoBlue.com
Billy Powers cited Moffie as a potential power play quarterback, who comes in with credentials similar to Chad Langlais (except younger than Chad was when he came in). He cited Sparks's skating ability as a strength.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
A Couple of Interesting Links
First up is a great article in the New England Hockey Journal about 2010 commits Mac Bennett and Derek Deblois. They're both cited as being great skaters. DeBlois came in with the reputation of being a scorer but it sounds like he really made his mark on the forecheck and on the boards.
Bennett? Well:
Bennett’s skating is his hallmark, with the kind of speed and east-west agility that some players can only dream about. When at the top of his game, Bennett is like an untamed colt, using his powerful mobility and offensive instincts to push defenses back on their heels and lead the attack.
Western College Hockey has a draft profile on Bennett.
Next is a nice find by Goon about the ongoing saga of how the conferences will end up being aligned. Finally something that makes sense! Straight from the horse's mouth (the AD), the University of Alaska is now exploring the possibility of joining the WCHA. It sounds like we should be hearing more about this story fairly soon as the Chancellor was briefed on May 27.
It really does make sense on a lot of levels. As it is, seven CCHA teams make the trip to Alaska every season. This past year, 7 of the other 9 WCHA schools made the trip up there. So out of the conferences affected by the Alaskan teams, 14 out of the 20 schools had to go up there for conference regular season games. If you get them both in the same conference, you'd cut that number in half. It really wouldn't be that bad. You'd have one two-week trip to Alaska two out of every three years. It makes a lot more sense than what we've got going on right now. Alaska gets a natural rival in conference, UAH gets to keep their program.
For the record, I'm not only behind this move because it would put both Alaskan teams in the WCHA. I'd be just fine if the WCHA took Huntsville (or UNO) and we ended up with Anchorage. It makes a ton of sense to get those two schools in the same conference.
Bennett? Well:
Bennett’s skating is his hallmark, with the kind of speed and east-west agility that some players can only dream about. When at the top of his game, Bennett is like an untamed colt, using his powerful mobility and offensive instincts to push defenses back on their heels and lead the attack.
Western College Hockey has a draft profile on Bennett.
Next is a nice find by Goon about the ongoing saga of how the conferences will end up being aligned. Finally something that makes sense! Straight from the horse's mouth (the AD), the University of Alaska is now exploring the possibility of joining the WCHA. It sounds like we should be hearing more about this story fairly soon as the Chancellor was briefed on May 27.
It really does make sense on a lot of levels. As it is, seven CCHA teams make the trip to Alaska every season. This past year, 7 of the other 9 WCHA schools made the trip up there. So out of the conferences affected by the Alaskan teams, 14 out of the 20 schools had to go up there for conference regular season games. If you get them both in the same conference, you'd cut that number in half. It really wouldn't be that bad. You'd have one two-week trip to Alaska two out of every three years. It makes a lot more sense than what we've got going on right now. Alaska gets a natural rival in conference, UAH gets to keep their program.
For the record, I'm not only behind this move because it would put both Alaskan teams in the WCHA. I'd be just fine if the WCHA took Huntsville (or UNO) and we ended up with Anchorage. It makes a ton of sense to get those two schools in the same conference.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Schedule Released; The Rich May Get Richer?
The 2009-2010 hockey schedule is out (and it's only out a week earlier than last year, folks)! 16 home games out of 37 does seem like a low number, but last year we had 36 regular season games with 17 at home, so it's not that different from usual. The Wolverines open with an intrasquad scrimmage--or at least that's what it will seem like when they play the USA U-18 team. The first regular season game is up in Anchorage against the Nanooks. Another trip to BU is the highlight of the non-conference schedule. Hopefully that'll go better than last year.
The regular season closes with a Thursday-Saturday home-and-home against the Fighting Irish, with the Thursday game being at Yost. Fantastic. While I like the idea of playing ND the last weekend of the season, I don't like the fact that it will more than likely be over the students' Spring Break. I haven't confirmed that, but it seems like Senior Night is almost always sans students. FYS, Notre Dame, and BGSU are in our cluster this year. Advantage: Miami.
MHNet provided some thoughts on the schedule in a couple of posts.
The other news is that we might be adding another high-profile name to the ridiculous Class of 2010. Mike Spath posted that Lucas Lessio, a first-round pick in the OHL Draft, may become a Wolverine. He would then play at St. Mike's (The school that produced Caporusso, Cogliano, and Burlon) next season. His source told him that Lessio would be the best player to come to Michigan out of Ontario in the last decade (which includes the names listed above as well as Mike Cammalleri). Lofty praise. He's been compared to Rick Nash in the past, according to that thread.
He's 16 years old and currently stands 6'1", 178. He was named MVP of the OHL Cup this past season after scoring 11 points in 7 games. He had a 53-60--113 line with 123 PIMs in 72 games for the Toronto Marlboros.
Thoughts from his current coach:
Here are some quotes from the Niagara GM, who picked him in the OHL Draft:
Michigan's interest is mentioned in a number of the articles about him. Pretty clearly he'd be a HUGE get for a class that seems to only be getting better and better.
The Cedar Rapids Roughriders have set their preliminary 30-man roster for the upcoming USHL season. They'll have to trim to 25 later in the summer, but at the moment, both Derek Deblois and Mac Bennett are on the roster. If they both decide to go the OHL route and make the team, when Cedar Rapids plays the NTDP, all currently-committed members of the 2010 recruiting class would be on the ice at the same time. I smell road trip. To Iowa. (No link, accidentally closed the window...take my word for it.)
Ticket sales for the Camp Randall Hockey Classic pretty much suck. Just over 18,000? I wonder how many tickets they have to sell for the game to turn a profit? They're still hoping for 40k.
The regular season closes with a Thursday-Saturday home-and-home against the Fighting Irish, with the Thursday game being at Yost. Fantastic. While I like the idea of playing ND the last weekend of the season, I don't like the fact that it will more than likely be over the students' Spring Break. I haven't confirmed that, but it seems like Senior Night is almost always sans students. FYS, Notre Dame, and BGSU are in our cluster this year. Advantage: Miami.
MHNet provided some thoughts on the schedule in a couple of posts.
The other news is that we might be adding another high-profile name to the ridiculous Class of 2010. Mike Spath posted that Lucas Lessio, a first-round pick in the OHL Draft, may become a Wolverine. He would then play at St. Mike's (The school that produced Caporusso, Cogliano, and Burlon) next season. His source told him that Lessio would be the best player to come to Michigan out of Ontario in the last decade (which includes the names listed above as well as Mike Cammalleri). Lofty praise. He's been compared to Rick Nash in the past, according to that thread.
He's 16 years old and currently stands 6'1", 178. He was named MVP of the OHL Cup this past season after scoring 11 points in 7 games. He had a 53-60--113 line with 123 PIMs in 72 games for the Toronto Marlboros.
Thoughts from his current coach:
“He’s got great skill, great hands and great speed,” said Marlboros coach Ken Strong. “He really handles the puck well. As a left shot, he’s probably one of the best I’ve seen beating the defenseman wide and cutting in on the left side, which is really hard to do because your body wants to go the other way.”
Here are some quotes from the Niagara GM, who picked him in the OHL Draft:
“He’s a big time sniper,” Brown said. “He reminds me of Luca Caputi in his 19th year, but I think he’s far advanced as to where Luca was when he came into the league. He’s definitely 100 per cent the best player available with that selection.”
Brown sees Lessio as an immediate impact player.
“We’re going to put him in position to succeed. I’m real excited about the future with him joining our young forwards,” Brown said. “He’s got natural savvy. He goes to the net with his stick on the ice and in the lane all the time. He’s deflected more meaningless pucks toward the middle more than anyone I’ve seen in the draft in six or seven years.
“I don’t want to say he’s a highlight guy, but he’s a real high-end offensive player.”
Michigan's interest is mentioned in a number of the articles about him. Pretty clearly he'd be a HUGE get for a class that seems to only be getting better and better.
The Cedar Rapids Roughriders have set their preliminary 30-man roster for the upcoming USHL season. They'll have to trim to 25 later in the summer, but at the moment, both Derek Deblois and Mac Bennett are on the roster. If they both decide to go the OHL route and make the team, when Cedar Rapids plays the NTDP, all currently-committed members of the 2010 recruiting class would be on the ice at the same time. I smell road trip. To Iowa. (No link, accidentally closed the window...take my word for it.)
Ticket sales for the Camp Randall Hockey Classic pretty much suck. Just over 18,000? I wonder how many tickets they have to sell for the game to turn a profit? They're still hoping for 40k.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Future Wolverines Fare Well at Draft Combine
The NHL's Draft Combine is underway and a couple of future Wolverines did very well. THN cites freshman-to-be Chris Brown and 2010-commit Mac Bennett as "particularly impressive" in the vertical leap challenge, and Bennett killed on the Wingate bike, said to be one of the more difficult tests.
Edit: Bennett was also second in the push-up competition, doing one fewer than Kyle Palmieri. He won the standing long-jump competition.
MGoBlog found some more stuff about Kevin Lynch, who really helped his stock with his performance at World Under 18s.
And, for a lack of anything better to talk about, I have to comment on the schedule for the Stanley Cup Finals. It's been covered by a lot of people already, but the more anti-Bettman stuff out there, the better, so here's my take:
If you want proof that the NHL is a second- or third-rate sport in this country, look no further than to the fact that they bent over and grabbed their ankles for a TV network that doesn't pay them any money. The state of hockey in this country is so piss-poor that they were willing to compromise the integrity of their championship series just to get two of their games on network TV. Sad.
They're playing back-to-back nights (for the first time in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1955--good omen?) because NBC is scared that if a game went to overtime, it would bump Conan's debut on The Tonight Show? Let's say that again. They're playing back to back nights because if the game ran long, Conan would be delayed if it was played during the week.
If Bettman had any balls, he would've told them, "Our game is Monday. You can show it. You can let Versus have it. You can show it and if the game runs over, you can move the game to Versus like you did last year with the Preakness coverage. But we're not forcing our players to play back to back nights in the Stanley Cup Finals." That's what David Stern would have done, considering he basically just did the same thing to one of his owners. "Our game is Monday. I don't care if you've rented out the arena for that night. We're playing."
It says something that the concern with overtime is "What will happen to Conan?" and not "What will happen to our players?" They were so worried about Game 2 bumping back a TV show if the game ran long. What will happen to the players--more specifically the quality of the event--if Game 1 goes triple overtime? You're going to have the players play the equivalent of three games in 27 hours? That's really smart, Gary.
I'm not even coming at this from a "The Red Wings are getting screwed" viewpoint that I've read quite a bit. I don't see it that way. Yes, the extra rest would have helped. Yes, Datsyuk is hurt and Lidstrom is banged up. No, I don't think they would have bumped up the start of the series if it was Pubestache that was nursing an injury. That being said, the teams are getting a pretty equal amount of rest. Both teams have to play three games in four nights, and four in six nights. Both teams will be hurt if the first game goes overtime. And, in fact, I believe the Wings have an advantage in terms of quality depth, so it might hurt Pittsburgh worse (Datsyuk-injury aside--though if he has a broken foot, as have been the rumors, would an extra day really help that much?). This is just a flat-out moronic decision all around.
Does it really help the league to get Game 2 on national TV when it's probably not going to be a showcase of the best the NHL has to offer? Who cares about the quality of play, we're on a TV station that the whole country gets--therefore more people have the ability to make the decision not to watch!
It'd sure be a shame if Joe Louis just happened to have a Yost-like building problem that forced the game to get postponed until Monday.
This is the effing Stanley Cup Finals. The conclusion of the best postseason of any sport. It's not a regular season game that's getting its start time changed. You're lubing up for a TV network that doesn't pay you. They're supposed to get the first two games of the SCF and you let them tell you "But, we don't want to have a game during the week because we have more important things to show."
If you want to be a major sport in this country then act like you're a major sport. Don't beg a TV network to pretty please air your game and we'll accomodate your ever request to get you to put it on. It's pathetic. But not at all unexpected from a league that insists on having as many teams in California, Florida, and Arizona as Canada. And from a league that can't figure out how to get every player in every building once a year. And from a league that continues to employ Dan O'Halloran. And from a league that lets officials change calls based on their intent because they aren't capable of blowing a whistle (I bet Buttman could help out with some pointers). And whose philosophy of "A penalty is a penalty is a penalty" doesn't apply to the Anaheim Ducks. And who can't make up their minds what goalie interference is. (Considering Holmstrom has been called for it when he wasn't in the crease and didn't touch the goalie.) Shall I continue?
They've got the best sport in the world, the best postseason in the world, the best trophy in the world, and yet I've said no less than five times this playoffs "Why do I even watch the NHL?" Even Isiah Thomas couldn't run a league into the ground this badly.
Oh, and lastly, to that d-bag from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo back in 2003 who said the Wings just buy their championships.....enjoy the Wings going for two in a row in the salary cap era. Same playing field, still dominant. Right here, buddy.
Win it for 81!
Edit: Bennett was also second in the push-up competition, doing one fewer than Kyle Palmieri. He won the standing long-jump competition.
MGoBlog found some more stuff about Kevin Lynch, who really helped his stock with his performance at World Under 18s.
And, for a lack of anything better to talk about, I have to comment on the schedule for the Stanley Cup Finals. It's been covered by a lot of people already, but the more anti-Bettman stuff out there, the better, so here's my take:
If you want proof that the NHL is a second- or third-rate sport in this country, look no further than to the fact that they bent over and grabbed their ankles for a TV network that doesn't pay them any money. The state of hockey in this country is so piss-poor that they were willing to compromise the integrity of their championship series just to get two of their games on network TV. Sad.
They're playing back-to-back nights (for the first time in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1955--good omen?) because NBC is scared that if a game went to overtime, it would bump Conan's debut on The Tonight Show? Let's say that again. They're playing back to back nights because if the game ran long, Conan would be delayed if it was played during the week.
If Bettman had any balls, he would've told them, "Our game is Monday. You can show it. You can let Versus have it. You can show it and if the game runs over, you can move the game to Versus like you did last year with the Preakness coverage. But we're not forcing our players to play back to back nights in the Stanley Cup Finals." That's what David Stern would have done, considering he basically just did the same thing to one of his owners. "Our game is Monday. I don't care if you've rented out the arena for that night. We're playing."
It says something that the concern with overtime is "What will happen to Conan?" and not "What will happen to our players?" They were so worried about Game 2 bumping back a TV show if the game ran long. What will happen to the players--more specifically the quality of the event--if Game 1 goes triple overtime? You're going to have the players play the equivalent of three games in 27 hours? That's really smart, Gary.
I'm not even coming at this from a "The Red Wings are getting screwed" viewpoint that I've read quite a bit. I don't see it that way. Yes, the extra rest would have helped. Yes, Datsyuk is hurt and Lidstrom is banged up. No, I don't think they would have bumped up the start of the series if it was Pubestache that was nursing an injury. That being said, the teams are getting a pretty equal amount of rest. Both teams have to play three games in four nights, and four in six nights. Both teams will be hurt if the first game goes overtime. And, in fact, I believe the Wings have an advantage in terms of quality depth, so it might hurt Pittsburgh worse (Datsyuk-injury aside--though if he has a broken foot, as have been the rumors, would an extra day really help that much?). This is just a flat-out moronic decision all around.
Does it really help the league to get Game 2 on national TV when it's probably not going to be a showcase of the best the NHL has to offer? Who cares about the quality of play, we're on a TV station that the whole country gets--therefore more people have the ability to make the decision not to watch!
It'd sure be a shame if Joe Louis just happened to have a Yost-like building problem that forced the game to get postponed until Monday.
This is the effing Stanley Cup Finals. The conclusion of the best postseason of any sport. It's not a regular season game that's getting its start time changed. You're lubing up for a TV network that doesn't pay you. They're supposed to get the first two games of the SCF and you let them tell you "But, we don't want to have a game during the week because we have more important things to show."
If you want to be a major sport in this country then act like you're a major sport. Don't beg a TV network to pretty please air your game and we'll accomodate your ever request to get you to put it on. It's pathetic. But not at all unexpected from a league that insists on having as many teams in California, Florida, and Arizona as Canada. And from a league that can't figure out how to get every player in every building once a year. And from a league that continues to employ Dan O'Halloran. And from a league that lets officials change calls based on their intent because they aren't capable of blowing a whistle (I bet Buttman could help out with some pointers). And whose philosophy of "A penalty is a penalty is a penalty" doesn't apply to the Anaheim Ducks. And who can't make up their minds what goalie interference is. (Considering Holmstrom has been called for it when he wasn't in the crease and didn't touch the goalie.) Shall I continue?
They've got the best sport in the world, the best postseason in the world, the best trophy in the world, and yet I've said no less than five times this playoffs "Why do I even watch the NHL?" Even Isiah Thomas couldn't run a league into the ground this badly.
Oh, and lastly, to that d-bag from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo back in 2003 who said the Wings just buy their championships.....enjoy the Wings going for two in a row in the salary cap era. Same playing field, still dominant. Right here, buddy.
Win it for 81!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Timbits
There's really nothing going on right now. Given the way Michigan's summers normally go, I suppose that's a good thing, but it's definitely slow around these parts. A few timbits (because I miss Tim Horton's):
-2010 verbal Derek Deblois had his USHL rights traded from Tri-City to Cedar Rapids. If he ends up playing for them, that could be a potential road trip destination next year when the U-18s are playing there. Yes, I did just throw out the idea of taking a road trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
-Youth hockey in Texas is taking off. Contains quotes from Chris Brown and a Jacob Fallon mention.
-Here's another article about Brown that I'm pretty sure I linked, but just in case I didn't.....
-Stats weren't easy to come by for the prep school kids. NHL.com's draft page has Bennett's stats as 2-9--11 with 10 PIMs in 15 games and Deblois's stats as 10-21--31 and 16 PIMs in 23 games.
-Need a gag gift for your favorite FYS hockey fan?
-MHNet found a clip about Kevin Lynch.
You stay classy, Anaheim. What I'd like to know is how could anyone actually swing a chair in the Red Wings' press box? The Ducks' GM claims that it was "a complete accident". It was also a complete accident that Cory Perry wouldn't attempt to fight anyone taller than 5'10". And Scott Niedermayer accidentally elbowed Pavel Datsyuk. Pronger's hits from behind? All accidental.
I've never been entirely sure how I feel about teams using Native American mascots. It doesn't bother me, but then, I'm also not Native American so far be it for me to decide if it should be offensive to them or not. I do know that it makes me sad that North Dakota might have to give up their nickname/logo. They've got a lot of tradition with that name, they've quite possibly got the second-best-looking jerseys in college hockey, and it's a classic logo.
They might come up with a new name that doesn't sound stupid (they used to be the Flickertails....probably not going back to that) but nothing will sound right. The suggestions that they become the Soo, Sue, or Sault make me laugh, but realistically they aren't going to do that. I kind of like the idea of not coming up with a new nickname. Just be the University of North Dakota.
-Mike Kemp stepped down as UNO's hockey coach to take a job in their athletic department. He sure didn't put the kabosh on the idea they might end up in the WCHA.
-It sure doesn't sound like the Michigan/FYS Cold War record will be broken by the Camp Randall Hockey Classic. As of last week, only 16,000 tickets had been sold. I bought 1/5 of a percent of those.
-2010 verbal Derek Deblois had his USHL rights traded from Tri-City to Cedar Rapids. If he ends up playing for them, that could be a potential road trip destination next year when the U-18s are playing there. Yes, I did just throw out the idea of taking a road trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
-Youth hockey in Texas is taking off. Contains quotes from Chris Brown and a Jacob Fallon mention.
-Here's another article about Brown that I'm pretty sure I linked, but just in case I didn't.....
-Stats weren't easy to come by for the prep school kids. NHL.com's draft page has Bennett's stats as 2-9--11 with 10 PIMs in 15 games and Deblois's stats as 10-21--31 and 16 PIMs in 23 games.
-Need a gag gift for your favorite FYS hockey fan?
-MHNet found a clip about Kevin Lynch.
You stay classy, Anaheim. What I'd like to know is how could anyone actually swing a chair in the Red Wings' press box? The Ducks' GM claims that it was "a complete accident". It was also a complete accident that Cory Perry wouldn't attempt to fight anyone taller than 5'10". And Scott Niedermayer accidentally elbowed Pavel Datsyuk. Pronger's hits from behind? All accidental.
I've never been entirely sure how I feel about teams using Native American mascots. It doesn't bother me, but then, I'm also not Native American so far be it for me to decide if it should be offensive to them or not. I do know that it makes me sad that North Dakota might have to give up their nickname/logo. They've got a lot of tradition with that name, they've quite possibly got the second-best-looking jerseys in college hockey, and it's a classic logo.
They might come up with a new name that doesn't sound stupid (they used to be the Flickertails....probably not going back to that) but nothing will sound right. The suggestions that they become the Soo, Sue, or Sault make me laugh, but realistically they aren't going to do that. I kind of like the idea of not coming up with a new nickname. Just be the University of North Dakota.
-Mike Kemp stepped down as UNO's hockey coach to take a job in their athletic department. He sure didn't put the kabosh on the idea they might end up in the WCHA.
-It sure doesn't sound like the Michigan/FYS Cold War record will be broken by the Camp Randall Hockey Classic. As of last week, only 16,000 tickets had been sold. I bought 1/5 of a percent of those.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Friday, May 01, 2009
Camp Randall Hockey Classic Tickets on sale Monday
Just a reminder that tickets for the Camp Randall Hockey Classic go on sale Monday at 9:30 am EDT. You can get them at the linked site. I've got 31 people confirmed to be going, so there will at least be one Michigan section!
There were lots of JMFC links in the aftermath of the US victory at U18s and MGoBlog pretty much covered them in this post and this post. The interview from The Wolverine (linked in post 2) was pretty awesome. He referred to Jon Merrill as "the next JMFJ" and jokingly referred to himself as JMFC when thanking Bob Miller for doing the interview, which is awesome on a lot of levels. I also thought his comments about Adam Murray were really classy.
The Port Huron Times Herald had an article about him as well, talking about what a classy kid he is.
Mike Brown is fitting in well with the Ducks. That'll probably be a suspension......
Al Montoya was in net for USA's 6-2 win over France at the World Championships today. They've been going with Robert Esche, but wanted to make sure that Montoya got in for a game. JMFJ is tied for the team lead in goals (4) and points (6) and is playing a team high 19:37 a night.
There were lots of JMFC links in the aftermath of the US victory at U18s and MGoBlog pretty much covered them in this post and this post. The interview from The Wolverine (linked in post 2) was pretty awesome. He referred to Jon Merrill as "the next JMFJ" and jokingly referred to himself as JMFC when thanking Bob Miller for doing the interview, which is awesome on a lot of levels. I also thought his comments about Adam Murray were really classy.
The Port Huron Times Herald had an article about him as well, talking about what a classy kid he is.
Mike Brown is fitting in well with the Ducks. That'll probably be a suspension......
Al Montoya was in net for USA's 6-2 win over France at the World Championships today. They've been going with Robert Esche, but wanted to make sure that Montoya got in for a game. JMFJ is tied for the team lead in goals (4) and points (6) and is playing a team high 19:37 a night.
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