1st Men's Hockey meeting, Mike Valley's new job, and other items . . .

• Coinciding with the 1st day of classes, the Badger Men's Hockey program held its 1st meeting of the year. Paul Capobianco shares his thoughts on the meeting and also tells us a bit about upcoming practices:

  Physical testing begins tomorrow with strength coach Jim Snider and then small group practices with the coaches begin next week. They'll be various captain's practices and on-ice instruction from the coaches from then until Oct. 3, when the first official practice opens at the Kohl Center.

• Mike Valley is the new primary goaltender coach for the Dallas Stars. I like Valley a lot; I was very pleased when he took the volunteer position with the Badgers, and I was quite disappointed when he had to step down. I'm glad to see that an NHL organization recognizes his coaching talents, and I wish him the best of luck. Congratulations, Mike!

• Yet another "update" on Chris Chelios's waiting game . . .

  "After talking with agents and general managers, they all said to be patient, sit tight and see how teams open up. Whether it's through injury or kids not being ready, that will be my best hope. It's not that teams don't think I can play, it's just a matter of opportunity."

• The Blackhawks' training camp starts on Sept 13 and runs through Sept 29. The 6-game preseason schedule closes out with 2 games in Switzerland. Looking at the TC roster, it appears that a couple of Badgers have switched numbers with the Hawks. Jake Dowell, who previously wore #49 for the Hawks, has switched to #28, which was also his jersey number with the Rockford Icehogs. Jack Skille, who previously wore #11 for the Hawks, has switched to #20. Didn't he used to wear #20 with the NTDP, or am I making that up?

• The IIHF has an article about this year's test event for the 2010 Olympics, the Hockey Canada Cup. Not really any new info, but hey, I'll take whatever I can get, as I haven't been able to find a whole lot of coverage of this event.
  

• Madison Newspapers has overhauled their website, and I think it'll end up being a lot easier to use. Unfortunately, right now their "Hockey" link doesn't appear to be working (I get football stats when clicking on it), I can't find a direct link for Baggot's blog (but I could be an idiot), and much of their archives seem to be gone (as a search for "Shuchuk" or "Tancill" doesn't net me anything before 2006, putting a serious crimp in a fun little project I had planned for this year). When the links get sorted out, I'll update the links on the left of the blog.