Various WCHA-related (and other) news

• Earlier this week we posted a link to a Mike Chambers' post of WCHA coaches' base salaries. Apparently the salary listed for Gwozdecky actually included incentive-based compensation, which explains why it was so much higher than the rest of the base salaries listed. Gwoz told Kevin Pates that his base salaray puts him 5th in the WCHA. Chambers has since updated his post to indicate that Gwozdecky's base salary is undetermined.

• I normally don't post about early departures (or lack thereof) from other WCHA teams. Because honestly, I just don't put a whole heck of a lot of thought into the other teams -- I don't care who plays for them, I just care how the Badgers play against them. But I knew that Gandalf , and perhaps some of our readers as well, would be interested in this -- Denver defenseman (and one-time Badger recruit) Patrick Wiercioch has decided to return to Denver for another year. Here's an interesting article from earlier this month about Wiercioch's choices.
  

• I may as well also mention that CC recruit John Moore, who had committed to the Tigers for the upcoming season, has signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets and will play this season for the OHL's Kitchener Rangers. Moore talked to the Pipeline Show last night about his decision.
  
  Not too much of a surprise, as there had been a lot of speculation this summer about him going to Kitchener. Apparently Moore, who says he didn't make his decision until Columbus made their official offer yesterday, thinks the OHL will give him a quicker path to the NHL.
  
  I don't care about CC, but if Moore sees the OHL as a better route to the NHL, he sure could've made the decision to go that route earlier, although in all fairness it sounds like he didn't really start looking at the OHL until relatively late. Regarding not being able to enroll in college after signing a pro contract, Moore said, "I wish the rules were different. Unfortunately, I won’t be coming to CC in the fall."It's hard not to find that statement a bit disingenous, but what else is a kid supposed to say to the school he just skipped out on? Here's Bruce Ciskie's take on the situation.

• Speaking of the Pipeline Show, I noticed that they also interviewed Slapshot's Dave Hansen last night (Part 1, Part 2).

• Have a question for US Men's Hockey Olympic head coach Lou Vairo? Usahockey has a new feature called Ask the Coach. You can start emailing your questions now, and answers will be posted on the site beginning in August and running through April.

• Looks like Team USA will be playing the opening game of the 2010 IIHF World Championship (May 7-23, 2010 in Germany) in a football stadium. Unless it's a fun outdoor exhibition game like the Badgers @ Lambeau or Camp Randall, I'm not a huge fan of this trend to play games in football stadiums. But this decision isn't nearly as bad as holding the FF @ Ford Field. In fact, it might not be bad at all. At least it's just opening day, not the championship game. And since Team USA will be playing Germany in this game, it gives a lot of citizens of the host country a chance to see their team play in the tourney.