2011-12 Season Preview Part 2: The Returning Forwards

Last week, we covered the guys that won't be returning. Last season, they accounted for 41.7% of Michigan's 146 goals and 50.6% of the assists. That's a lot, but Michigan has handled similar losses before (50% and 46% in 08-09 and 07-08). Here are some quick blurbs about the forwards who return:

Chris Brown: Really struggled to put the puck in the net for long stretches of last season. He had just two goals when he left to join Team USA for the World Juniors, but rebounded a bit in the second half of the year to finish with a 9-14--23 line. He was held scoreless in the NCAA Tournament, however.

Kevin Lynch: Lynch had a long drought last season as well, but his came in the middle of the year. After scoring 6-3--9 in the first 14 games, he was held scoreless for eighteen straight games. He didn't tally a point from November 21-February 17 before scoring 7 points in Michigan's final 12 games (including the game-winner as part of a two-goal effort against UNO in the NCAA Tournament). There are those who think very highly of his game, and I'd expect that he'll get plenty of chances to have a big season offensively.

David Wohlberg: Michigan's top-returning goal scorer (15) has been on a downward trajectory in terms of points (31, 27, 21 in his first three years), but he did match his freshman-year's goal total last year. Wohlberg was heating up at the right time last year. He has a four-game goal streak before a broken collarbone ended his season in the first round of the CCHA Tournament.

AJ Treais: A really offensively-gifted player who took a step up as a sophomore. He had 13 points as a freshman and increased that to 22 as a sophomore. He went 8 games without a point to start the year, but came on after that. He had 13 points in 16 games at one point during the season. Needs to be a little more careful with his breakout passes from the boards in his own end. I fully expect to see him up around 30 points this year.

Lindsay Sparks: Kind of an intriguing player really. He doesn't play all that often, but has looked really good at times. He had 3 goals and 4 points during the CCHA Tournament before finding a seat on the bench during the NCAA Tournament. Had 4-2--6 in 17 games. We'll see if he can gain the coaches' trust this year and find a spot in the lineup.

Luke Glendening: The captain has really turned into a nice player for Red Berenson. A one-time preferred walk-on, Glendening has scored 21 goals and 28 assists in 124 games, including 8-10--18 last year. This will be the third season he's worn a letter, and the second season he's had the C. He'll be a key player on the penalty kill, as we lost most of the guys that made up those units.

Luke Moffatt: A highly-regarded recruit, Moffatt struggled offensively for a good portion of last season after getting off to a pretty good start. He had 8 points in an 8-game span in November, before putting up just 3 goals and 2 assists the rest of the way. He'll at least get a shot to earn his way onto the power play and see more ice time. Time will tell if he lives up to the hype he had coming out of the MWEHL.

Derek DeBlois: I really kind of like DeBlois. He caught the "Hit people from behind" bug at one point last season, but I liked what I saw out of him. He ended up +8 on the year and didn't hurt Michigan when he was out there most of the time. Chipped in with 6 points.

Jeff Rohrkemper: He sure picked a good time to score a couple of his 3 goals last year. He put one in in the NCAA Championship and had the game-winner in the CCHA Third Place Game. I don't think he ever really looked out of place, despite being put into a tough position having played only 7 games all year before being pressed into service in the CCHA and NCAA Tournament. Outside of his boarding penalty against CC that darn-near killed me, you can't complain about his contributions in a very limited amount of ice time.


Hopefully sometime tomorrow, I'll have the defense and the goalies.

Having a Seat Over There: Jacob Trouba

The Wolverines have landed a "5-star" defenseman for the incoming class of 2012. Jacob Trouba posted on Twitter this evening that he has committed to the University of Michigan. Trouba, a 6'2", 191 lb defenseman from Rochester, MI, was reported to be deciding between Michigan, Notre Dame, and playing in the OHL (his rights are held by Kitchener). While most of the U-18 team has already committed to a college, Trouba was waiting. Why?

Jacob Trouba wants to be known as a man of his word.


So when the highly touted defensive prospect is ready to make his decision whether to play in the OHL for the Kitchener Rangers -- who hold his CHL rights --  or the NCAA, there won't be any late de-commitments or promises broken.

"That's sort of why I haven't (committed), because I don't want to make a commitment and then back down from it," said the 17-year-old on Wednesday, while in Toronto to take part in the NHL's Research and Development Camp.

It appears that he has finally decided on going the NCAA route.

It's hard to find an article about Trouba that doesn't gush praise. The Hockey News had a scout call him "Cam Fowler with more of an edge." The Prospect Blog called him "the next great American defenseman" and echoed the Fowler-with-an-edge comparison. Fowler, you may recall, played for the NTDP, broke his Notre Dame commitment to play in the OHL for a year, and scored 10-30--40 as a rookie for the Anaheim Ducks.

A poster at HockeysFuture compiled a list of the early 2012 Draft Rankings and had Trouba 4th overall. As I mentioned the other day, TSN has him tied for 10th in in their rankings. He's tied with Matia Marcantuoni, whose name might sound familiar to Wolverine fans. NHL Central Scouting ranked him as an "A" player on their watch list.

After he was given that distinction, the United States of Hockey chimed in:

Trouba was called up to the Under-18s and had a chance to showcase himself at the World Under-18 Championship. His booming shot and excellent skating are his most notable assets. He plays a physical brand of hockey in all areas. The only thing that happened to Trouba at the U18s is that a few of his flaws that he’ll need to work on this year were exposed. His hockey sense isn’t where it needs to be just yet, as he made a few poor decisions in Germany. That said, his tools are elite. He scored Team USA’s first goal in the gold-medal game against Sweden on a one-timer. Another year of development, and focusing on making good decisions, and he could easily find himself in, or around the top five.

This year so far Trouba has three assists in four games for the NTDP's Under 18 team. He had 6-13--19 in 37 games with the U-17s last season, made the USHL All-Star team, and was called up to the Under 18s at the end of the season. With the U-18s he had 6 points, including a goal in the World Under 18 Championship Game, which the USA won in overtime.

Connor Murphy played with Trouba on the U-18s last year. He gave a quick scouting report to McKeen's:

It's been good. He's a good, strong, energy defenseman. Like you saw last night, he always has a couple big hits. He's got a good shot. We try to work to get him one-timers on the power play. So, I think he brings energy with his speed and his physical nature into the game. It really helps us out. I'm kind of more of a smart playmaking defenseman, so I can set him up or angle guys toward him to make some big hits. So, he helps us out a lot. 

Robbie Russo (U-18 and Notre Dame defenseman) also chimed in:

He's got a lot of power in his game. He's got a massive one-timer. He'll knock some guys off their feet, even being a young player. He doesn't back down from any of that. I'd like to see him go to Notre Dame in the future (smiles). 

HUGE pickup, especially with the likely defection of Jon Merrill to the NHL after this coming season. He joins NTDP teammate Connor Carrick and possibly Spence Hyman as a defenseman in the incoming class of 2012.

2011-12 Season Preview: Comings and Goings

It's only a week until Michigan hockey fans get a first look at the 2011-12 Wolverines in an exhibition game against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. For the first part of my season preview, let's take a look at the departures and the players who will be joining the squad.

Departures: 
Scooter Vaughan, Chad Langlais, Carl Hagelin, Ben Winnett, Matt Rust, Louie Caporusso, and Bryan Hogan exhausted their eligibility. Brandon Burlon decided to forego his senior season and signed a professional contract. Also, Jacob Fallon and Tristin Llewellyn will not be back. Llewellyn was out of eligibility anyway, and it was determined that Fallon would not return. That's ten players gone from a team that made the National Championship game last season, and almost all of them were heavy contributors.

Scooter Vaughan was the most improved player on the team and one of the most improved players in the country. He really took to playing forward, and after scoring just 14 points in his first three seasons, he exploded for 14-10--24 as a senior. He also had a +15 rating, after being a +10 through his first three seasons. He scored some darn pretty goals as well.

Langlais was the iron man. The Wolverines played 173 games during his career and he was in the lineup for all of them, setting the Michigan record for consecutive games played. Only Ted Kramer suited up that many times for the Maize and Blue, and had that damn ref kept the whistle in his pocket two years ago, Chad would stand alone at the top. As it is, he played the most games of any Michigan defenseman in history and finished his career 16th for points amongst defensemen.

It almost completely goes without saying that Carl Hagelin is a huge loss. He was a staple on Michigan's penalty killing unit since he arrived on campus, locked down the CCHA's Best Defensive Forward award as a senior, won numerous academic awards, won the team MVP award twice, and, oh, just happened to put up 152 points in 171 games and registered a +78 rating. 6 of his 18 goals a year ago were game-winners. Who will ever forget his Senior Night magic against Western Michigan? Plain and simple, one of my favorite Wolverine players of all-time. He makes the pantheon with Ortmeyer and JMFJ. 

Winnett never put up the offensive numbers that were expected with him coming out of the BCHL and all (21-27--48 for his career), but he developed into a very-solid two-way player. He played his best hockey at the end of his career. He had the game-winning goal against North Dakota in the NCAA Semifinals this past season and also scored in the National Championship game.

Rust was just a solid all-around guy. He posted 111 points in 164 games, including 40 points as a junior. While he didn't have the kind of season offensively as a season that I'm sure he was looking for, he was an integral part of the team and still managed to end the year second in assists and third in points. He was also a killer faceoff guy, Camp Randall Hockey Classic not withstanding.

Hogan will go down as having had one of the strangest careers in the history of Michigan hockey. As a freshman, he was expected to come in and compete for playing time from the get-go. He caught mono, Billy Sauer got it together, and Hogan barely played. Then Sauer had another meltdown at the Pepsi Center and Hogan was thrown in in the Frozen Four. He had one of the best statistical seasons in the history of our program as a sophomore (24-6-0, 1.97, .914) and then was done in by his groin in back-to-back seasons. His injury against Notre Dame as a junior turned the reigns over to Shawn Hunwick and the magical run a couple years ago. Senior year, he split time with Hunwick but seemed to be in position to be named the full-time starter before he injured his groin again and Hunwick led the squad to the National Championship Game.

I don't know that we ever got the full story on Burlon. Various rumblings indicated that he was unhappy about being a healthy scratch in the Frozen Four after missing some time late in the season. Whatever the reason, he decided to turn pro. He had 5-13--18 last season with a +14 rating and ended the year as an All-CCHA Honorable Mention. It would've been really nice to have him back for his senior year, but I think the Wolverines will have an easier time handling a loss on defense than they would have been able to deal with David Wohlberg, for instance, turning pro.

(It's also worth mentioning that goaltender John Gibson never made it to campus. Apparently there's this league called the OHL. I hadn't heard of them either. Anyway, when he found out about that league, it proved to be too tempting and he decided to go that route.)

Incoming Players:
Looking to replace the excellent senior class are a group of nine freshmen.

Mike Chiasson was a late addition to the class. He committed in late-May, which pretty much put an end to the rumors that Burlon had a change of heart and was going to return for his senior year. He's the son of former NHLer (and Red Wing) Steve Chiasson, and wears #3 just like him. He's an older freshman (20) and brings 122 games of USHL experience to the table. He had 4-11--15 for the Omaha Lancers last season, and was unanimously selected as team captain. With the losses of Burlon, Langlais, and Llewellyn, there are some minutes to be had on the blue line. Given his age and USHL experience, I'd expect that he would be able to come in and play right away.

Brennan Serville is another defenseman, and a highly-regarded one at that. A former Canisius commit, he was a 3rd-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in the 2011 entry draft. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff cited his skating ability and his size as reasons that they drafted him fairly early on. Serville is listed at 6'3", 194. He played for the Stouffville Spirit of the OJHL and posted a 3-27--30 line in 36 games. He also represented Canada (along with Zach Hyman) in the 2010 World Junior A Challenge. He sounds like he has the potential to be a big-time player at this level. I'm looking forward to finally seeing him on the ice.

Phil Di Giuseppe really intrigues me. He was a member of the OJHL's Villanova Knights the past two seasons. Last year he scored 24 goals and assisted on 39 others in 49 games. He also posted 16 points in 10 playoff games. Those numbers were good for 29th in league scoring (47th in goals, 26th in assists), but now keep this in mind: Di Giuseppe is an October of 1993 birthday. Of the 28 players that finished ahead of him in scoring, there were 5 92s (including Zach Hyman, who we'll get to in a minute), 8 91s, and the rest were 90s. Not only was he the highest-scoring 1993 birthday in the league, he's almost a 94 birthday. That's why I'm really interested to see what he's going to become in his career. He put up really nice numbers and he'll only be 17 when he plays his first game for the Wolverines. He has good size (6'1", 200) as well. He's kind of an under-the-radar recruit because there isn't a ton of information out there about the OJHL and it wasn't his draft year, but he could be another guy that replaces some of that scoring that was lost in the offseason.

Zach Hyman is the third of our incoming recruits that played in the OJHL last year. Dominated might be a better word. He had 42-60--102 in 43 games, which was good for second in the league in scoring. (The kid that had 109 points played in 5 more games and was 2 years older). He was third in goals and second in assists. The accolades kept rolling in: He was named the Canadian Junior A Player of the Year, the top pro prospect, the most gentlemanly player, and the MVP of the Hamilton Red Wings. His story is well-documented: A Princeton commit, he decided to look around after Princeton's head coach took the top job at Penn State. He and his brother Spence (a 2012 or 2013 commit) both committed on the same day to Red Berenson. Hyman was a 5th round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2010, at least partially due to concerns about him continuing to play in the OJHL instead of opting for the OHL like former linemates Jeff Skinner and Tyler Seguin. As I mentioned when he committed, 8 of the last 11 players to win CJHL Player of the Year and then play college hockey scored 10 goals and 30 points as a freshman. One of the guys that didn't ended up winning the Hobey. All 11 ended up being productive college players (with at least one 30-40 point season to their credit). This is the guy to watch.

Andrew Sinelli is an interesting story. He committed to FYS a couple years back. At that time, he was right there with Luke Moffatt at the top of the MWEHL scoring ranks. Since then, he hasn't been nearly as prolific offensively, but it sounds like he's kind of reinvented himself. He calls himself a high-energy forward that likes to hit and likes to block shots. When he's in the lineup, I'd expect to see him spending some time on the penalty kill. He filled that role in the USHL and with Winnett, Caporusso, Vaughan, Hagelin, and Rust all graduating, there are plenty of spots available on the PK. He had 6-3--9 in 45 games last season and 6-11--17 the year before.

I cited Di Giuseppe as an intriguing prospect, but Travis Lynch might be right there with him. He, too, calls himself a fast player that likes to throw his body around. He comes from the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. Actually, he may have more offensive punch than has been previously thought. In the first 30 games for the Gamblers, he had 5-3--8 (he had 5 points through 24 games). That was right around the time he committed, so I had him pegged as a checker and penalty killer. He absolutely caught fire in the second half of the season and ended up second on the team in goals, 4th on the team in points, and rose up into the top-25 in league scoring. After scoring points in 8 of the first 30 games (which was the halfway point of the season), he was only held off the score sheet seven times the remainder of the year. In the final 30 games, he posted 15-21--36. If he had kept up that pace the entire season, he would've been 4th in the league in goals, sixth in assists, and fourth in points. Suddenly, the checker/PKer looks like another guy that could contribute offensively as well.

Mike Szuma is a preferred walk-on on the blueline. He hails from Novi and played for the Michigan Warriors in the NAHL last year. He posted 7-15--22 in 56 games and was invited to the NAHL Top Prospect Showcase. Coach Moe Mantha said that he can play both ends of the ice, and that he's a mobile defenseman.

Alex Guptill is the fifth forward in the class. He played in the OJHL for a couple of seasons before moving to the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks for the 2010-11 campaign. He's tall, if not big (6'3", 189). He fought through an injury-plagued season to score 13-12--25 in 43 games. The Dallas Stars made him a 3rd round selection in the 2010 Draft. I didn't have a link about this when I originally posted about it, and I don't see it in his MGoBlue bio, but I wrote before that he received a top prospect award from the OHA that was previously given to Mike Cammalleri, Andrew Cogliano, and Jeff Carter.

The final new Wolverine is goaltender Luke Dwyer. He's a sophomore that previously started for four years at Ann Arbor Huron and was all-state twice.

Melissa from The Yost Post has her take on the new defensemen and forwards.

Links

There's not a whole heckuva lot going on right now, but there have been some good articles out there over the past couple of weeks. It won't be too much longer until things start to ramp up. The kids have moved back to Ann Arbor, football season is just a few hours away, and we're closing in on the month-to-go mark until the Wolverines drop the puck for real against Niagara. I'm especially excited because I'm going to be able to attend the home-opener thanks to a well-timed career fair that my company is sending me to. I think this will only be the second or third game at Yost that I've been to since I moved back in 07.

First up, this might not be new, but it's the first time I've seen it. CBS Sports did a feature on Yost. I love that the C-Ya chant made it in there in full. (HT to Goon for that link)

John Bacon had a great article about Steve Kampfer's road from a broken neck to Stanley Cup Champion.

Speaking of, Kampfer brought the Cup to Yost and raised some money for charity while he was at it.

Chris from The United States of Hockey had a look at the players that will make up the NTDP's U-18 team this year. Here's the article about the goalies and defensemen, which includes Michigan-commit Connor Carrick and target Jacob Trouba. He also has some thoughts on the U-17s, including Evan Allen (who needs to get into a Twitter-battle with Bacari Alexander someday), JT Compher, and Tyler Motte. He also did commentary at the Five Nations event in Ann Arbor and had some thoughts on the team, including Michael Downing. Chris Dilks chimed in on Downing's play as well. The Observer interviewed Downing as well.

Not hockey-related, but I have to link to this M-Zone article, just because it's too damn funny not to. Say it with me: O-H!

NorthJersey.com talked with Justin Selman, who will spend this season with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL.


There have also been a couple of articles about Zach Hyman since I last posted. The Florida Panthers official site did a feature on him, as did ShalomLife.

Ryan Kennedy highlighted Boo Nieves. Just ignore the first part of the article where he talks about the goalie that was supposed to play for us this year. Kennedy also talked with Drew Cogs. CBC was impressed with Nieves when they saw him as well.

Lastly, yesterday's Inside The Fort ($ link) contained the names of five potential goalie recruits as well as a look at some potential lines.

Michigan Maize had an early preview of the team.

Also, congrats to one of my favorites--Mike Cammalleri--on the birth of his daughter.

Game On! The Frozen Diamond Faceoff is a Go

The rumored outdoor game between Michigan and Ohio State is a rumor no longer. Yesterday the Cleveland Indians officially announced the Frozen Diamond Faceoff. It will take place at Progressive Field in Cleveland on January 15th (which is a Sunday) at 5:05 pm. The teams will also meet in Columbus on the 13th of January.

The President of the Indians, Mark Shapiro, said that they think the game will be a sellout. The stadium holds 43,000 people for baseball. The rink will supposedly sit around home plate and stretch down the first base line.

Frozen Diamond Faceoff tickets will go on sale in November, but you can register here for a chance to win the right to purchase tickets via a pre-sale.

This will be the fourth outdoor game for Michigan, following the Cold War, Camp Randall Hockey Classic, and The Big Chill at The Big House. Michigan is 1-1-1 in the three games. Ohio State previously took on Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.

In other news, the USA Under 17s took the gold in the Five Nations Tournament at the Cube in Ann Arbor. They still have one game to play against Switzerland, but they've already locked up the top spot on the podium. Recruit Michael Downing had 1-1--2 in the opening win over the Czech Republic. He's also captaining the squad and has drawn rave reviews from the people in attendance. The M-word was even dropped.

The Under 18s didn't have nearly as much luck at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in Bratislava, which is nowhere near Berlin. They finished in fifth place despite just one loss. Boo Nieves, however, scored a ridonkulous goal.


Nieves had 1-3--4 in the four games. Matt Herr was an assistant coach for Team USA.

The World Junior evaluation camp is also on-going. Jon Merrill made it through the first cut, which should surprise absolutely no one. The camp also features Jack Campbell, John Gibson, and Jared Knight. I will now stab myself in the eye.

On a happier note, Kukla's Korner had a nice profile of the goalie who didn't abandon us and will be back for a fifth year: Shawn Hunwick. Melissa from The Yost Post did a quick interview with JMFJ over Alumni Weekend. Michigan Hockey Net had a great interview with Michael Downing after he committed.

Lastly, after winning CJHL Player of the Year, Zach Hyman's jersey now hangs in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Zach's dad was kind enough to pass along some photos of the exhibit, as well as a shot of Zach accepting the BJ Monro Top Prospect Award:

If you're wondering about goalie recruiting and don't subscribe to The Wolverine, now might be a good time. Supposedly in the next Inside The Fort, we'll get names of some prospective candidates for 2012-13. In this week's edition, they had Shawn Hunwick's thoughts on John Gibson.

Fighting Back

Let me preface this post by saying I have absolutely no idea if anything like this is even possible. I suspect there are plenty of reasons that it can't happen, but my mind has been spinning the past couple of days (for obvious reasons) about what the NCAA could do to, if not level the playing field, at least give their teams a little more protection from the John Gibson's of the world.

I don't know all the specifics, but when a player signs with the NTDP it's binding and a settlement is required for the player to break that agreement. Chris from The United States of Hockey  passed along some info to me last night about it. But the gist is that if a kid wants to play in the CHL after he signed with the NTDP, someone is ponying up.

So while colleges may not be bound by the same transfer agreement that kids for the NTDP are, I have a really hard time believing that some of the NCAA lawyers couldn't draw up a National Letter of Intent that would be legally binding and would hold up in court.

Essentially, in my fantasy land, it would go something like this: If you sign this LOI, you are playing for this college team for at least one season. If you break this agreement and go play in the CHL, you will compensate this school for the negative impact on their season by paying $X.

Then I'd open up the signing period. Right now, kids can sign over the course of a week in November and from mid-April through July. What if you just open it up? Say that you can sign anytime beginning with September the year before you are set to enroll? Again, there's probably a good reason it can't happen, but stick with me here.

So now we're a year out and it's time to start finalizing the recruiting class for the following season. You put the LOI in front of the kid and his parents and ask for the signature. The kid signs. Beautiful! He's locked in, and if he bails for the CHL the school is at least going to be compensated in some form. It at least makes it tougher to go. If he doesn't sign, then he's basically saying that he wants to keep his options open. Then the school is able to recruit as if he isn't coming because he's telling you that there's a decent chance that he isn't coming!

At least that way you're going to find out who is serious and who isn't. In the current state of recruiting, a kid isn't solid when he verbals (Jared Knight). He isn't solid when he signs his letter of intent (Alex Legion...ERRRRRR...John Gibson). He isn't necessarily solid when he sets foot on campus (no example, but I'm sure someone can throw one out there). He isn't even solid when he's played a year and change for you (Robbie Czarnik).

Something like the above would at least give the coaches notice if a player is committed to playing college hockey. If they aren't, then you have a year to find a replacement. You're more in a Jack Campbell position than a John Gibson. If they leave late in the game, at least the school is getting compensated.

There are still flaws: 1) I'm not sure it's even possible to do, which, clearly, is the big one. 2) In Gibson's case, I'm sure the Rangers would have had no problem ponying up to get their guy, which still leaves us sans-goalie. But Gibson also may not have ever signed his LOI, which would've been a clue that he wasn't coming.

In the end, these kids are doing what they think is the best for their career and it's hard to fault them for that. At the same time, when you're a guy like Gibson, the school is depending on you. They're passing up the chance to sign another talented goaltender. They're committing a scholarship to you. And really, the kid doesn't ever really have any skin in the game. He can flip at any second and leave the college in a horrible position.

Michigan now has to find at least 1 goalie for the 2012 season. Maybe two, depending on if Janecyk shows enough to count on him as a backup for a second season. What happens if they get left at the alter for a third-straight season? We're absolutely screwed.

At some point your word has to mean something. You're not just making a decision that only impacts yourself. There are people's livelihoods potentially at stake, twenty-five other kids whose team is hurt by your selfishness, plenty of blogging hours down the drain, etc. (I'm kidding about the last one. Kind of.)

The CHL can really do whatever the hell they want. Promise the kid anything. Keep talking to them after they're signed. Keep talking to them while they're playing for the college. Get in their ear during the summers. The NCAA can't do any of that. I'm not advocating that the NCAA open the door to CHL kids, as I agree with the point that it could actually lead to more top-notch players going to Major Junior. But there has to be some way that they can help their teams out, give them some more clarity as to who is coming and who isn't, and compensate them if a kid decides all of a sudden that the CHL is the way to go, even though theoretically they've had years upon years to think about it.

Feel free to tell me why this can't work. The whole premise depends upon being able to find a way to make the LOIs legally binding. Maybe it can't be done. Maybe there's a perfectly good reason not to try to implement something like this. I'm curious to hear what people think: Is there a way to help the NCAA fight back? Should they even try?

A couple of other things:
I mentioned this on Twitter, but I'd like to thank Stephen Nesbitt again for the new banner on the site. I absolutely love it!

The Big Chill was nominated for Best Collegiate Sporting Event by SportsTravel magazine. You can vote for it here. You should also vote for the Indy 500 as the Best Professional Sporting Event because it was amazing and Bryan Herta's driver won.

The Alumni Game will take place on August 5. JMFJ is in!

Having a Seat Over There: Michael Downing

Some good recruiting news has come out this week! 2013 defenseman Michael Downing has committed to Michigan! Downing visited Yost this week and announced on his Twitter feed today that he's "officially a Wolverine".

Downing is a 6'3" 185 lb defenseman that previously played for Detroit Catholic Central. He had 7-16--23 in 26 games this past season with 18 PIMs.

He was the 3rd overall pick (and first defenseman chosen) in the USHL Futures Draft. He was selected by the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

A poster on the Yost Post mentioned him awhile back and said that he played very well at the Select 16 Festival and was supposedly the third-best defenseman there.

An OHL scout that covers Michigan said that he is a "very good skating defender with high-end offensive capabilities". He was selected in the 8th round of the OHL Draft by the Sarnia Sting.

Edit: Downing will also be a member of the USA U-17 Select Team for the Five Nations Tournament that will take place at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube from August 9-13. Target Gabe Guertler will also be on the roster. Stick tap to The United States of Hockey Blog for that one.