WCHA, Best in College Hockey?

I've been thinking about the topic of the supremacy of the WCHA in the College Hockey landscape since last season following the debacle in Denver where Randy Schmidt presumably cost Wisconsin points on Matt Ford's late disallowed goal. Obviously there was no guarantee that Wisconsin would have won or tied in OT, but they had Denver on their heels, and the WCHA officials took that chance away.

Those thoughts were revived last week when the WCHA killed a potential Camp Randall game between Wisconsin and minnesota. In the Badger Blog, Andy Baggot has more on this after talking w/ the minnesota's athletic director. More on this toward the end.

So lets take a look at why the WCHA should be considered the elite conference of NCAA Hockey, starting w/ the positives.

The obvious start to this discussion is the WCHA's dominance in NCAA Championships. Sure the CCHA and HE took the last two, but the WCHA took the 5 before that. Out of 61 NCAA Championships starting in 1948, current WCHA teams have notched 31 of those by my count, so basically half, and doesn't include the combined 7 from Michigan, Michigan State and Northern Michigan when they were part of the WCHA. North Dakota and Denver lead w/ 7, while Wisconsin has 6. Over those 61 seasons, current WCHA teams have made 86 Frozen Four appearances or roughly 35% of the spots including the all-WCHA Frozen Four in 2005. Since 2000, the WCHA has not missed the Frozen Four.

None of that even mentions the success WCHA Women's teams have had dominating College Hockey.

The WCHA features 5 traditional powerhouses: North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College, Wisconsin and minnesota. CC hasn't done much in the post season lately, but they sure are a regular season contender, so I'll throw them in. Duluth has had some good teams in the recent past, and St. Cloud may someday actually win an NCAA tourney game, but are a rising program. The depth of the WCHA is unbelievable. Last season, the WCHA had 8 legitimate teams for most of the season, until Duluth really tanked in the 2nd half. The WCHA sent a record 6 teams to the NCAA tourney. While UAA will probably never amount to much, Mankato has been moving in the right direction, and Michigan Tech has slowly been turning the program around. Night in and night out, there are no easy match ups on the schedule.

Off the top of my head, I can only name 5 other traditional powerhouses in College Hockey: Michigan, Michigan State, Boston U., Maine and Boston College. There are some other great teams out there on the rise that are of similar caliber to the better teams of the WCHA including Miami (OH), Notre Dame, New Hampshire, perhaps even Clarkson. That is 9 other teams across the country in comparison to 6 or 7 teams alone in the WCHA that have the same status. While B.C. or Miami (OH) get to play cupcakes half their schedule, Wisconsin rarely gets a night off in conference play.

Behind the 10 teams in the WCHA, are arguably a large percentage of the best players in the entire country and those who choose the NCAA route from Canada. Roughly 6 or 7 of those teams listed above outside the WCHA regularly produce a decent amount of pro talent. In the WCHA, North Dakota, Denver, Wisconsin and minnesota alone are regularly sending kids to the pros. Every spring the feeding frenzy of kids leaving early for the pros hits which conference the hardest? That's right the WCHA by far. I think this past season, every single WCHA team, including UAA, had someone leave early. Michigan, Michigan State and Boston College seem to get hit hard as well, but not most of their conference mates. Its constantly a struggle for the WCHA powerhouses to stay on top w/ the mass migration of talent to the pros, but the various coaching staff keep reloading.

In addition, the WCHA has done rather well in Hobey Baker award winners. While I don't hold much stock in the award (no Badger has ever won the award started by some rodent to the NW) it still shows that a lot of talented young men have came through the WCHA and succeeded at a high level. Approximately 25% of the Hobey finalist are WCHA kids, featuring 13 winners out of 28, just under 50%, including 6 in a row between 2002 and 2007.

The next aspect separating the WCHA from the rest of College Hockey is the quality of arenas that are featured throughout the league. Though I've haven't been to many arenas east of here, I would think the CCHA and HE have a hard time comparing to the Kohl Center, Ralph Engelstad Arena and Mariucci. I have been to Notre Dame's rink; what a dump. I know it will be getting a face lift in the near future, but they obviously aren't selling recruits on the excitement of playing there currently. Even the World Arena, Magness Arena and the National Hockey Center sound like decent enough rinks though I haven't been to any to confirm this (give me a few more seasons). I'm sure the new DECC in Duluth will be a top notch facility as well.

Lastly, I think the fans that fill those arenas each weekend make the WCHA what it is. According to this article (College Hockey vs College Baseball attendance), the WCHA has 6 of the top 10 average attendances in College Hockey w/ Wisconsin leading the way. Nebraska-Omaha really doesn't belong on that list, their arena is still not even half full on average. Wisconsin, minnesota and North Dakota fans will travel a long way to see their teams play. How many of us traveled to Dayton, OH last year for the Lefty McFadden to watch our Badgers? All I know is their beer supply was not ready for the influx of thirsty Wisconsin fans. The Final Five is always packed w/ fans from all over the WCHA, well maybe not UAA and there are way too many goofs in attendance, but a good showing overall.

All in all, those 4 reasons make the WCHA pretty hard to beat overall. Two main things are holding the WCHA back though: officials and administration.

Officiating, what can I say about the Sheppard family. Not much in the way of positive things really, which is kinda sad. That is not just for people named Sheppard though, Adams, Schmidt. I can't think of one on ice official who I really like in the WCHA, and by like I mean that I wouldn't want to see fired immediately.

There really is no need to rehash the past w/ these jokers. I can count more than one game where a blown call decided the outcome of the game last season, and one is probably too many to begin with. It goes way beyond that though. How many games got out of hand last year due to the officials losing control of the game? Joe Finley pulling Blake Wheeler out of the handshake line and all the BS that led up to that event. The fights in the DU/North Dakota series where a NoDak player threw a punch and wasn't ejected. Beyond that even to the complete inconsistency in which they call the games. You never know what you are going to get on any given night. Is it time for obsessive obstruction calls destroying the flow of the game, or perhaps is it a good night to shallow the whistle, burn a few calories and call it a night letting the game get out of hand. Probably somewhere in between or to one side or the other. I'm honestly shocked that Bill Howard is still as vital as he is watching this mess over the years from the press box.

You don't hear about these kind of problems in other conferences, at least not on a nightly basis.

On top of that, the WCHA is lucky enough to have Bruce McLeod, our fearless leader who guides the WCHA from his chair at Denver University. Bruce really doesn't do much, he created a standardized apology letter a long time ago to send out to schools like Wisconsin and St. Cloud when his officials make mistakes that could cost a team an NCAA berth or home ice in the WCHA 1st round. When the WCHA has a chance to really do something spectacular, like an outdoor game at Camp Randall, he squashes it because he is worried about the Herb Brooks Foundation screwing something up. Like Chris posted over on Western College Hockey, "if anybody is going to screw-up a WCHA game...it's going to be the WCHA." Some quotes from Baggot's article linked earlier in the article:

"Maturi said McLeod was concerned about the fact the game would count toward the MacNaughton Cup. Why would that be a problem when NHL teams are playing outdoor games that count in the league standings?

Maturi said he spoke with McLeod, whose reply was that the NHL has an 82-game schedule and the WCHA plays 28 games. In other words, there is a much smaller margin for error in the WCHA."

So if there is a small margin for error, why does Bruce continue to allow the WCHA to be officiated by the biggest bunch of clowns this side of Circus World Museum? Does he not realize that literally every fan in the WCHA thinks the zebras out there are consistently good at doing one thing and that is a horrible job officiating WCHA hockey games? Its funny that while WCHA fans have some bitter disdain toward each other (I'm pretty sure DU fans will leave a lost CC fan for dead on a lonely highway), when it comes to thinking Bruce McLeod, Greg Sheppard and the officials of the WCHA are idiots, it doesn't matter what colors you wear, we all nod our heads in agreement and raise a toast like we are all long lost friends.

One last beef I have w/ McLeod, is that he works for a WCHA institution. The WCHA is big enough now, and important enough in the landscape of NCAA Sports, that it should have its own independent league commissioner and staff. The WCHA Final Five alone should be able to pay the wages of these people. I know the Big 10 is gigantic compared to the WCHA, but for the best of the conference, its time for the league to be run by persons not directly affiliated with any WCHA school. Jim Delaney, Big 10 Commissioner, went to North Carolina and was a commissioner of smaller conferences before landing in the Big 10. A little outside opinion and perspective is never a bad thing, and the WCHA really needs that right now in the worst way, along with a whole new set of officials.

Well, let's try to sum this whole thing up. At the end of the day, I still think the teams, their collective traditions and fans that support them, out weigh the idiocy of the WCHA administration and officials, making the WCHA the elite conference in College Hockey. But every season that gap is growing smaller and smaller. How many more games are going to have to be screwed up and how many big events to promote not only the WCHA, but College Hockey, have to be squashed by the people who run this conference before things are going to change. Its hard for the top teams in the WCHA to be wholly prepared for the NCAA tourney, when the officials in other conferences are calling games consistently and well, compared to the side show Greg Sheppard allows to exist every weekend in arenas throughout the WCHA. I'm glad Wisconsin is part of the WCHA, and I'm glad that all the games they play in conference mean something, I just hope that someday that the quality of the administrative heads of the conference catch up with the bodies making it so much money and bringing it so much success.

Playing your Seniors Part II: Tom Gorowsky

Earlier this month in his post "Playing your Seniors", Gandalf talked about Eaves' decision to play defenseman Josh Engel at forward in order to give the senior more ice time. As Gandalf mentioned, using Engel at F pushed the forward who would otherwise have played out of the lineup, and the most likely suspects for that spot were Tom Gorowsky and Andy Bohmbach. I'd like to think that both players would have had something to offer -- perhaps some scoring from Gorowsky, and perhaps some physical play from Bohmbach -- and I'd also like to think that their play would have benefited from the additional playing time.

Don't get me wrong; I have no problem with Eaves' desire to get Engel on the ice -- IIRC, he was the oldest player on the team, and last year's team was quite young and in need of experience and leadership from the older players on the team. Nor do I have a problem with Engel's overall performance, as he acquitted himself fairly well. However, I do think that other players would have been more offensively effective than Engel, and I think the team would have benefitted more from Engel's presence on the blueline. The blueline was extremely young last season, and Brendan Smith struggled quite a bit, especially as he seemed to lose confidence. Other defensemen also struggled, and while Eaves seemed to have no problem sitting forwards to send a message, I wonder why he hesitated to sit certain defensemen (and instead play Engel) when they appeared to be underperforming.

Now let's move on to the real topic of this post: Tom Gorowsky. As a senior, would his presence on the ice provide stability and leadership? Or would it push more deserving players off the ice? If given more playing time last year, would Gorowsky have been able to better step up his game? If given the opportunity this year, will he take advantage of it?

Before trying to answer these questions, let's take a look at Gorowsky's career with the Badgers so far.

Freshman year: Following up an excellent high school career with a pretty good season in the USHL, Gorowsky came to the Badgers with high expectations. Fellow freshmen that year included Jack Skille and Ben Street. All 3 played opening night v. SLU. Ben Street scored a momentum-changing goal , and Jack Skille scored the overtime game-winner. Skille and Street continued to play well, and Gorowsky seemed to be the odd man out. Given the Badgers' depth at F that season, it's not too much of a surprise that he was unable to earn a regular spot in the lineup. He played in only 18 games that season, and only 2 of those games were in the final 24 games of the season. In all but 2 of those games, he played on the 4th line. He finished with 0 G and 2 A for 2 pts.

Given the Badgers depth at forward and the results of the season, I have no inclination to argue with Eaves' lineup decisions. But that doesn't stop me from wondering what Gorowsky might have done if given playing time on the 3rd line as opposed to the 4th line, as I think perhaps his game is not best suited for the 4th line. Nor does it stop me from wondering what Gorowsky might have done if given more playing in time in the second half of the season after he had more of a chance to settle in as a freshman.

Needless to say, Gorowsky would have liked more playing time, but despite being frustrated he continued to work as hard as he could. Todd Milewski of The Cap Times had a nice article about Gorowsky's work ethic during his freshman year.

Sophomore year: Gorowsky entered the season disappointed about his freshman season and looking to make an impact his sophomore season. Milewski had a nice article about Gorowsky's mind-set coming into the season.

I remember watching the opening series v. Northern in GB, and I remember thinking that Gorowsky looked quite good. He looked like he was trying to prove he belonged in the lineup, and he looked like he was having fun. Playing on a line with Matt Ford and Mike Davies, he looked especially good on Friday night, finishing +3 with 3 assists and 3 SOG. (We all had a lot of fun that night, and I suppose that's when I became a Tom Gorowsky fan.) He scored his first goal as a Badger just 2 weeks later -- a power play goal v. Duluth.

Unfortunately, while being more productive than the previous year, Gorowsky didn't score as much as I (or he, I presume) would have liked. In 33 games, he recoreded 5 G and 7 A for 12 points. I'm a bit puzzled, as Gorowsky played in 33 games and was scratched for 8 games, but for some reason I had the mistaken impression that he sat for more than 8 games. I suppose it's because most of the scratches came during the second half of the season.

Gorowsky finished 10th on the team in scoring that year -- ahead of fellow forwards Andy Brandt, Blake Geoffrion, Ben Grotting, John Mitchell, Aaron Bendickson, Andy Bohmbach, and Zach Bearson. Of course, with the exception of Brandt, all of those players were freshman. And most of them can play on the 4th line, whereas it appears Gorowsky does not necessarily play well on the 4th line. My impression is that Gorowsky had a decent sophomore year but was not an impact player and perhaps did not fully take advantage of his opportunities.

Junior year: Gorowsky entered his junior year expecting to be able to earn regular ice time. Which is understandable, given that he was entering the year as the 4th returning scorer among forwards. However, the Badgers had some pretty good freshman entering the program, guys like Blake Geoffrion and John Mitchell stepped-up their games big time from the previous season, and guys like Grotting, Bendickson, and Dolan worked very hard and were very consistent in their play.

Before the season began, I had the opportunity to stop by a couple of the summer practices at Cap Ice. Gorowsky looked like he was having a pretty good time -- smiling a lot and scoring lots of goals. Was he smiling because he was scoring, or was he scoring because he was smiling? I'm tempted to believe the latter -- I like to think that he plays well when he's relaxed and confident and having a good time. And needless to say, I was quite excited about seeing how Gorowsky fared during the upcoming sesaons.

Starting out the season, Gorowsky actually got a decent amount of playing time. He played the first 6 games before being scratched for a few games, and he played in 11 of the 16 games before Showdown. So it seems he had the opportunity to earn ice time, and it appears that perhaps he did not take advantage of the opportunities, recording just 2 assists in those 11 games.

The Sat, Dec 1 game @ Mankato sticks out as the turning point where it became clear that Gorowsky was once again going to be the odd man out of the lineup. During the 3rd period, Eaves double-shifted Turris, and Gorowksy was the player who ended up on the bench. Not sure if Gorowsky got a shift at the beginning of the 3rd, but I do know that he did not play the final 15 minutes, as he stood in the exact same spot on the bench for those 15 minutes. Had to be frustrating for him, but to his credit he stood and watched the play throughout -- didn't see him sitting with his head down even once during that time.

Based on Eaves's comments following the game, it appears that Eaves was not comfortable with Gorowsky's ability to keep up in the fast-paced game. Gorowsky's skating and speed seem to be one of the main things holding him back, and while he worked on it quite a bit during the offseason, he still needs to make improvements.

Gorowsky played during the Badger Hockey Showdown, as a number of players were off at the World Junior Championships. He was the hero on Saturday, scoring 2 goals to salvage a 3rd place Showdown finish for the Badgers. It was Gorowsky's first 2-goal game, and I remember thinking that Gorowsky had finally taking advantage of his opportunity and showed that he deserved regular ice time. Unfortunately, Eaves comments in the former article indicate that perhaps he didn't see it that way -- his comments seem to suggest that he saw Gorowsky as a temporary fill in during the WJCs, regardless of how well Gorowsky played during that time, but perhaps I'm inferring too much.

I belive the following 2 games v. CC were also during WJCs, but Gorowsky was held off the scoresheet. Afterwards, Gorowsky played in only 2 of the remaining 20 games. I'm wondering if he would've gotten the opportunity to play in more games if he had more success in the Friday night Showdown game (in which the whole team played rotten) or the 2 CC games, but the point is moot given that he was held of the scoresheet in each of those 3 games.

Gorowsky finished the season with 2 G and 2 A for 4 points in 16 games, and as mentioned, most of those games were in the first half of the season.


So, where does that leave us? Let's look at the questions I posed earlier.

As a senior, would his presence on the ice provide stability and leadership? He doesn't have a ton of on-ice experience, but neither did Engel coming in to last year. It appears that Gorowsky has been fairly mature in handling adversity -- he worked hard his freshman and sophomore years despite his lack of playing time, and he tried to be a positive force on the team despite his frustrations. Becuase he was aware of his opportunity to play during the Showdown in his junior year, he worked during the Christmas break to be ready for the opportunity. Andy Bohmbach said "He never hangs his head. He's the first guy on the ice and the last guy off."

So while Gorowsky may not be the first name that comes to mind when thinking of the leaders on the team, he might just be a quiet leader who leads by example and who could be a good positive force on the team.

Of course, the team is older this year as compared to last year, and perhaps Gorowsky's leadership and presence as a senior is less crucial than Engel's presence as a senior last season.


Or would it push more deserving players off the ice? The Badgers have a ton of forwards this year. A TON. I count 17, meaning 5 forwards have to sit each night. And further meaning that Gorowsky has a lot of competition for ice time.

If given more playing time last year, would Gorowsky have been able to better step up his game? Given his performance in the Showdown consolation game, I'd like to answer "yes". That game shows that the potential is there, but there's no guarantee that he could play like that on a regular basis, and it's hard to expect a player to show that level of play afterwards when only playing sporadically.

If given the opportunity this year, will he take advantage of it? Again, I'd like to say "yes", but given the depth at forward, I'm afraid it will be a struggle for Gorowsky to get ice time to take advantage of, and I think it's hard for any player to play well consistently if he does not get consistent ice time.


So, what will this upcoming season hold for Tom Gorowsky. I guess we'll just have to wish Tom the best of luck and wait and see . . .

Jeff Likens, Augsburger Panther

We recently reported that Jeff Likens would be playing in Germany next year, but we didn't have any details. Luckily, puckembucky is on the ball and found Likens on Augsburg's roster. Also playing for Augsburg is Wisconsinite Brett Engelhardt who played 4 years at Michigan Tech.

Photo courtesy of Neil Ament.

A few random items

• As you know, Cody Goloubef, Brendan Smith, and Kyle Turris were invited to participate in Canada's U20 Development Camp that is currently underway (July 25-30). However, Goloubef will only be attending the first 2 days and will not participate in any on-ice sessions, as he is reportedly recovering from an injury. According to this article, the final U20 roster will be announced later this year in early December. In addition to being evaluated at the Development Camp, the players will also be scouted this fall.
  


• On HIW, DPlaya shares an interesting conversation he had recently regarding Badger recruiting. I'm not surprised to hear "over-recuriting" being used by other teams against the Badgers, but I'm a bit surprised that the "defensive style of play" was not used. Anyway, thanks for sharing, DP.



• Adam Burish can't wait to play at Wrigley field.



• And in the "just plain goofy" department -- apparently the Iowa Chops (AHL) have offered Brett Favre a hockey contract. Thanks to Mirtle (who wonders if Favre can even skate) for the link.

Vacation Recap Part I

Figured its high time I get some pictures up from my Oregon/Washington vacation in June before the season really gets close and news rolls in left and right.

The first day of adventuring took us to Silver Falls State Park. Silver Falls is one of the top State Parks I've ever been too, I would put it in the same class as Devil's Lake. The park's main atraction is the Trail of Ten Falls, which as you might guess takes you by 10 waterfalls, here is five for your enjoyment.

All pictures are courtesy of my friend Roger who lives in Eugene, OR. He took the pictures, I shot video w/ my new camcorder. I hope to produce a DVD yet this summer.

South Falls, 177 feet tall.


















Lower South Falls, 93 feet tall.


















Lower North Falls, only 30 feet tall, but a lot of nice debris.













North Falls, 136 feet tall. This is one of my favorites. You can walk behind North Falls, and its deafeningly loud.













Upper North Falls, 65 feet tall.

Jefferson Dahl Recruit Recap

This spring/summer I plan to do an update on every currently known UW committed recruit. (I'm going to try and do it alphabetically by last name if possible) I have no idea if that will be once a week or once a month, it all depends on my free time. The first recruit we profiled was Tyler Barnes from Burnsville high school in Minnesota. We've also done goaltender Aaron Crandall. Todays profile is forward Jefferson Dahl who played this season with Eau Claire Memorial High School and will play next season for the Green Bay Gamblers (USHL).





Name: Jefferson Dahl
Position: Center
2008 Team: Eau Claire Memorial High School (WI)
2009 Team: Green Bay Gamblers (USHL)
Commit date: 5/28/2008
Season entering Wisconsin: 2010
Height/Weight/Birth year: 5'9/165/1989

Last Seasons Stats

Games: 26
Assists: 40
Points: 76
Plus/Minus: +59

Jefferson Dahl is one of my favorite recruits not only because he's an excellent hockey player and from my hometown, but he's one of the nicest people I have ever met. I wrote an article on that which you can find here.

Last season Dahl lead Eau Claire Memorial to one of the most successful seasons in the history of Wisconsin high school hockey. Eau Claire Memorial went 26-0 en route to their first state championship. While the team had many great players, no one was more important than captain Jefferson Dahl. Averaging nearly 3 points per game is an absolutely ridiculous feat even at the high school level.

As a player Jefferson is outstanding. A lot of people look at his physical stature which, depending on who is reporting it, could change within a few inches and 20 pounds, and they don't think he can succeed at the next level. After watching him play, you will realize that couldn't be further from the truth.

UW-Eau Clarie used to have a coach named Marlin Muylaert who ran camps in Eau Claire and he taught the European ways to give and take ice. If you have never heard of that term, it's all about timing and flow. It's learning how to be in the right spot at the right time by taking the right angles and paths to the right spot. I'm not sure If Jefferson was too young when these camps were in Eau Claire but I've never seen someone who can give and take ice the way that he does. It seems like he always is in the perfect spot to catch a a breakout pass or in the right spot when the puck is getting there. That is the reason why he puts up the points that he does because he seems to always be in the right spot to make a play. Quoting myself from the earlier article I did, I think this sums up his his play the best. "Jefferson reminds me a lot of Garrett Roe when I watch him play. Maybe it's a little to do with the size. (Roe is 5'8 160, Dahl is 5'9 165) More I think it has to do with his ability to see the ice and see the play happening before it does. He's not going to take that straight line bull rush you way to the net in the way that Jack Skille plays, but his ability to maybe circle back and allow his teammates to come into the play and get themselves open is something that can't be taught. Being a smaller player he has done a very good job of learning to control the puck while taking contact. He's very good when in the corners with bigger stronger players. He'll never be confused with Matt Ford in terms of shot velocity, but he's very quick with it and always puts him self in good shooting lanes and is very good at hitting his spots. His play making ability is probably ahead of his goal scoring ability at this point but hes no slouch lighting the lamp."

Another feature that Dahl possesses that you don't see on the stat sheet is his leadership ability. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jefferson will captain the Badgers before his career is over. He might not be the best player on the team in his tenure at Wisconsin but I promise you he will be the most respected. He's very well spoken and commands respect of his peers in the locker room and on the ice.

I'm very excited to see how Jefferson transitions into the USHL next season. I have no doubt that he will be fine but it's a totally different game then the high school game. Unfortunately he was injured and couldn't play for Team Wisconsin majors in the Minnesota Elite League to see how his game would have played at that level, but he was able to compete with Team Wisconsin at the Chicago Showcase and did very well there teaming up with another future Badger Gavin Hartzog to win the championship.

Tyler Barnes recap
Aaron Crandall recap

WCHA Squashes Camp Randall Outdoor Game

Wisconsin and minnesota will not participate in an outdoor game at Camp Randall during the 2008/2009 season.

Worried about losing control, Bruce McLeod didn't want a WCHA game transferred to the Herb Brooks Foundation who was looking to put the game together. Apparently Bruce missed the 2007/2008 season where he already lost control of several WCHA games including several involving Wisconsin, St. Cloud and Denver (who came out on the positive end of things, funny that McLeod works there). Being a regular season game, I think the WCHA just cost themselves some money. Even if the Herb Brooks Foundation was going to run things, the WCHA would have done pretty well packing 80,000+ into Camp Randall for one of the biggest rivarlies in all of college sports.

Some quotes from the article:

"The foundation's mission is to broaden the shrinking base of hockey's participation pyramid and keep kids involved in hockey. To that end, it proposed a three-day event in Madison that would include a hockey expo and clinics in addition to the game."

""Minnesota was going to play Wisconsin home and home, two games (each). Nothing changed for Minnesota and Wisconsin. What changed was the environment of the game, going back to the way the game was originally introduced to North American players -- outside. That's kind of a fresh look for a lot of people.""

"Even though that appears to be off the table, the teams share an off weekend in the 2009-10 season, Peltier said, and the group is eyeing Feb. 6, 2010, as a possibility."

Overall it sounded like a great event, and I loved the Lambeau Field game, and can't wait for the Wrigley Field Wings/Hawks this New Year's. I hope it does happen in the future, because it would be great for College Hockey and the rivalry. I think the planning for the event was a little late for the upcoming season and that might have killed things as much as the WCHA whining about control. Also, moving a game from the first home series (during homecoming) to this weekend wasn't high on my list of good ideas. The team is on the road a ton to start 2008 and needs that weekend, and two packed houses at the Kohl Center, to fight through the early part of the schedule.

Update to the Women's Schedule

Though the offiicial schedule is not yet released, USCHO poster sunprairie has kept things up to date over there, big thanks for that. Since I posted a schedule last month the Bemidji State dates have been added along w/ a home series againt Syracuse (it's their first season as a DI program). The only dates left are against minnesota, and rumor has it that they are trying to figure out the Camp Randall game before finalizing the schedule.

Also season ticket renewals for Women's Hockey are available. www.uwbadgers.com also has the updated roster for the Women's team w/ info on the incoming frosh.

Here is the preliminary schedule:

Sept. 26 – Quinnipiac 7:07
Sept. 27 – Quinnipiac 7:07
Oct. 3 – Syracuse 7:07
Oct. 4 - Syracuse TBA
Oct. 10 – at OSU 7:07
Oct. 11 – at OSU 7:07
Oct. 17 – at Bemidji State 7 p.m.
Oct. 18 – at Bemidji State 6 p.m.
Oct. 24 – Open
Oct. 25 - Open
Oct. 31 – UMD 7:07
Nov. 1 – UMD 7:07
Nov. 7 – Open
Nov. 8 - Open
Nov. 15 – at UND 2:07 p.m.
Nov. 16 – At UND 2:07 p.m.
Nov. 21 – UNH in Ft. Myers, Fla.
Nov. 22 – UNH in Ft. Myers, Fla.
Nov. 28 – MSU time tba
Nov. 29 – MSU time tba
Dec. 5 – SCSU 2:07
Dec. 6 – SCSU 2:07
Dec. 12 – Open
Dec. 13 – Open
Dec. 19 – Open
Dec. 20 – Open
Dec. 26 – Open
Dec. 27 – Open
Jan. 2 – Open
Jan. 3 - Open
Jan. 9 – UMD 7:07
Jan. 10 – UMD 7:07
Jan. 16 or 17 - UND time tba
Jan. 17 or 18 – UND time tba
Jan. 23 – at SCSU 7:07
Jan. 24 - at SCSU 2:07
Jan. 31 – OSU 2:07
Feb. 1 – OSU 1:07
Feb. 6 – Open
Feb. 7 Open
Feb. 13 – at MSU
Feb. 14 – at MSU
Feb. 20 – Bemidji State TBA
Feb. 21 – Bemidji State TBA
Feb. 27-March 1 – WCHA First Round
March 7 – WCHA Championship
March 8 – WCHA Championship
March 13 and 14 – NCAA Regionals
March 20 – 22 – NCAA Frozen Four in Boston.

Remembering Badger Bob from a Penquins' Fan Prespective

Dplaya over at HIW is damn good at finding good Badger Hockey related articles. Earlier today he posted a tribute to "Badger" Bob Johnson from the Bleacher Report. Here is the post from the Pens Evolution blog that it originated from. I like it more because it has pictures.

Probably nothing new for long time die-hard Badger Hockey followers, but I liked the different prespective of the writer.

Ford headed to the ECHL

Nice logo, eh?

Todd at the TCT reports that Matt Ford has signed a contract w/ the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL.

As 60 reported yesterday, the Chicago Blackhawks organization chose not to sign him, but he has officially found a home for the 2008/2009 season. Congrats and GL to Matt on the start of his pro career.

RLR: Simonelli, Mersch

Andy Baggot reports that, according to the latest Red Line Report, future Badgers Frankie Simonelli and Michael Mersch performed quite well at the USA Hockey Select 16 Festival:

On Simonelli: "Sleeper just continues to get better every game and has made a believer out of us. Plays with an edge and is tough to play against. Work ethic is exceptional and his skills have improved dramatically. Has turned into a premium blue-liner in his class with the skills to be offensive and yet still get back to defend. Solid, steady, consistent player does everything well.

Yeah, I'm pretty fired-up about Frankie Simonelli!

On Mersch: "Has great hands, vision, and can flat-out score goals. Past Festival performances rival anyone as he's been a top-10 scorer for three straight Festivals. Needs to work on his skating. . . . needs to balance his terrific offesnive insticts and skills with more energy and passion."

Ok, so he has some things to work on, but I sure do like the first 2 sentences of that review!

Baggot's article also has RLR evals of potential recruit Max Gardiner and Wisconsinite Aaron Harstad.

A couple of alumni updates: Matt Ford, Jeff Likens

• The Blackhawks organization has declined to sign Matt Ford, but he has a tryout coming up with the Rangers organizations (AHL Hartford Wolf Pack and ECHL Charlotte Checkers). We here at No Alibis No Regrets are disappointed that the Hawks didn't pick him up, as we had been looking forward to watching him play in Rockford (Go Hogs!). On the other hand, we're excited about his upcoming tryout and wish Matt the best. Good luck, Matt!


• Jeff Likens has opted to play this coming season in Germany. We don't yet have any details, but we'll keep you posted if we hear anything further. A number of Badgers have been quite successful in Europe (being who I am, Chris Tancill, Gary Shuchuk, and Barry Richter are the first who come to my mind -- and let's not forget guys like Brian Rafalski who were successful in Europe and then returned to a successful NHL career), and we wish Jeff the same. Good luck, Jeff!

Eaves Rumor Mill

Earlier this month, Mike Eaves was rumored to be up for the LA Kings head coaching position. Eaves, however, said he had not been contacted by the Kings and was not interested in that positon. And, as you may already be aware, the Kings hired Terry Murray.

In the Badger Blog today, Baggot has a bit more of the story. Apparently, several UW officials said that they had heard Mike Eaves would be announced as the Kings' new head coach at a press conference in LA. Nice. *rolleyes*

It's somewhat interesting that 2 days prior, "nearly a dozen NHL types had approached UW assistant coach Mark Osiecki, on a recruiting trip in Calgary, to say they had heard varying versions of the rumor". Of course, I'd imagine that Eaves' name is one that will come up pretty much every time there's an NHL head coaching vacancy, so I suppose that isn't all that surprising.

Anaheim Badgers - 2008 Draft Review

Hockey's future has posted it's review of Anaheim's 2008 draft selections. Included, of course, are incoming Badger Jake Gardiner and and '09 recruits Justin Schultz and Nick Pryor.

Jake Gardiner, D - MN-HS Minnetonka
17th overall
Jul. 4, 1990, 6'1, 173

Gardiner is a converted forward who has only been playing defense for one season. He played the 2007-08 season on his Minnetonka High School team in Minnesota, where he was one of the finalists for the Mr. Hockey award for the top high school player in the state. Gardiner is a very fast and explosive skater, who projects as an offensive blue liner in the NHL. He scored 16 goals and added 27 assists last season in 25 games.

He is committed to playing for the University of Wisconsin Badgers this fall, a program coached by Mike Eaves that is well respected for producing and recruiting top-notch defensemen. Badgers' assistant coach Mark Osiecki works with the defensemen, and he is one of the best college coaches for tutoring young defenders and preparing them to play the pro game. Gardiner should have a great opportunity to learn his new position with the Badgers. He will need a few seasons of development, but when he emerges, Gardiner could well be a real gem.

Justin Schultz, D - BCHL Westside
43rd overall
Jul. 6, 1990, 6'1, 163

An offensive defenseman from the BCHL, Schultz continues Anaheim's trend of choosing players who were big risers in the draft. Little known at the start of the season, Schultz's offensive upside was high enough that some experts were seeing him as a potential first rounder in the draft. Schultz had 40 points in 57 games for Westside, and was named the Top Defenseman of his conference in the BCHL, which is no small feat for a 17-year-old.

Schultz has really good hockey sense, is very good at moving the puck, and has a special knack for creating offense from the back end. Obviously, the big knock on Schultz at 6'1, 163 is his size. He will have to get stronger and prove himself capable of handling bigger opponents before he is ready to play pro hockey.

Another University of Wisconsin recruit, Schultz will return to Westside next season for another year, before joining the Badgers for the 2009-10 season.

Nick Pryor, D – USNTDP U-18
208th overall
Sep. 9, 1990, 5’11, 184

Pryor is a 5'11 offensive defenseman. He is a very good skater and moves the puck well. He needs to get stronger in order to be able to handle larger forwards down low. Pryor had 14 points in 53 games with the National Development Program’s U-18 team. At the the U18 Championship in Kazan, he was held pointless in seven games.

One of the youngest players eligible for this year’s draft, Pryor will play for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL this season before attending the University of Wisconsin in 2009. Pryor was the third Badgers recruit selected by the Ducks in 2008.

Friday Evening Odds & Ends

• Brian Fahey has signed with the New York Rangers.



• The Badger Women have reportedly been recruiting B.C. player Kayleigh Fratkin. DPlaya indicates she's a 2010-2011 goaltending recruit, but the article indicates that she's a defenseman.



• The June/July issue of USA Hockey Magazine has a nice article about the US team that won the IIHF World Women's Championships earlier this year in Harbin, China. That team included Badgers Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, Erika Lawler, Molly Engstrom, Kerry Weiland, and Jessie Vetter.



• The June/July issue of USA Hockey Magazine also has a nice feature on Jake Gardiner, as well as a story on Jordy Murray at the national championships (scroll down a little bit).

Badger Hockey Paddle and Portage Team

Coaches Mike Eaves and Mark Osiecki will be part of a team in Madison's annual Paddle and Portage across Lake Mendota, portaging past the Capital, and then finishing across Lake Monona. The event takes place tomorrow. GL to both coaches and make sure to stretch out, don't want the kids laughing at you for pulling a hamstring or something.

Hockey after High School

Not exactly Badger Hockey related, but interesting nonetheless . . . Ryan at the USHL blog was kind enough to send me this article about Oshkosh hockey player Jake Rudd. Rudd played high school hockey for the Oshkosh Warbirds and graduated this spring from Oshkosh West. He's now looking to make a USHL team for next season and after that play college hockey.

The article talks about why Rudd stayed in Oshkosh, his work-out regimen, and his chances of making a USHL team. I don't follow prep hockey or recruiting very much, so I was immediately interested by this article. Then I saw that DPlaya had also stumbled upon the article, and his observations are quite interesting as well.

St. Louis Badgers?

Yesterday, Brad Winchester signed with the St. Louis Blues. Today, it's Andy Wozniewski. Contract details aren't yet available.

I wonder who St. Louis will sign tomorrow . . . (because we'll need at least 1 or 2 more before we can really call them the St. Louis Badgers, hence the "?" in this post's title . . . )

Playing your Seniors

The season is a few short months away, but I thought it was as good a time as any to discuss this topic. Last season, Mike Eaves and the coaching staff made a concerted effort to put Josh Engel, a senior, in the lineup every night. That effort included converting Josh to forward to start the season. The other seniors on the team had regular roles and played every night included forward Matthew Ford, and defensemen Davis Drewiske and Kyle Klubertanz.

Last year's team featured a wealth of defensemen talent, or at least heading into the season it appeared that way. Klubertanz and Drewiske were there to lead the way as seniors and captains, and Jamie McBain was a sophomore coming off a strong freshman showing. First round picks Ryan McDonagh and Brendan Smith were in the fold along w/ Cody Goloubef who, while too young for the 2007 NHL Draft recently went early in the 2nd round to Columbus in this year's draft. In addition, Craig Johnson was available for the WJC and in case of injuries.

Looking at that list, aside from Craig Johnson, Josh Engel was the odd man out. Based on potential, prehaps the coaching staff found it hard to sit Smith or Goloubef early in the season. Also, the loss of Nigel Williams early in the 2006/2007 season for lack of playing time, might have weighed into their decisions.

During the 2007 half of the season, I thought Josh played pretty well at forward, notching a goal right out of the gate in Dayton, OH, and adding a two goal game later in the Fall after returning from an injury. Not to mention, he added some versitility on the penalty kill by allowing three defensemen on the ice, one in the guise of a forward.

At the same time that Josh filled a forward role, several young forwards were consistently healthy scrathes including Tom Gorowsky, Zach Bearson and Andy Bohmbach.

During the WJC, Jamie McBain left the team for 4 games to represent the U.S. and Craig Johnson stepped into that spot. As McB returned to the lineup, Brendan Smith went out w/ an injury and Craig Johnson continued as the 6th Dman, while Engel continued at forward.

In the 2008 half of the season, I thought Josh didn't play as well at forward, and when he was finally moved back to Dman in place of Craig Johnson, I thought Andy Bomhbach's addition to the lineup, and Engel's move to his natural position, were a boost to the team. After this point, Engel finished out the season on defense where I thought he played rather well.

Where is all this leading? Simple, what role will Tom Gorowsky have w/ the team during his fast approaching senior year? Last year the coaching staff was intent on playing Josh Engel, because they wanted his senior leadership on the ice. Engel's conversion to forward meant that other players would sit. If necessary will other forwards sit in 2008/2009 for no other reason so that Tom Gorowsky can bring additional leadership to the lineup?

Now I'm not taking anything away from Josh Engel (or Tom Gorowsky), I think Josh should have been in the lineup, but he should have been returned to D much earlier in the season than he was. Josh provided a stay at home type defenseman, on a team that had a lot of touted "offensive" defensemen. I think the team's defensive play improved when he was moved back to D.

To start the season, Josh Engel could have easily split time w/ Cody Goloubef and Brendan Smith at D, and as the season went on, he should have returned full time to defense as the team needed the "defensive" defenseman skill set that he provided. I would also argue that there were times when Drewiske and Klubertanz could have used a night off, but they weren't going to sit because of the captain's letters on their chest. While the coaching staff wasn't afraid to sit Podge Turnbull or Michael Davies for a lack of effort, the same was not applied for a few of the team's defensemen.

Unlike Josh Engel who played a ton during his junior year of 2006/2007, Tom Gorowsky's time was limited last season. At the same time, depth at forward this season will heavy. Blake Geoffrion, Ben Street, Michael Davies, Ratty Johnson, John Mitchell are locks to play every night. Sean Dolan, Ben Grotting and Aaron Bendickson should be as well after playing well this past season. The freshman (Derek Stepan, Matt Thurber, Jordy Murray and Chris Hickey) will all compete hard for spots, w/ all but Hickey likely being locks most nights. Podge Turnbull played a lot last season, and when given a chance the Andy "Bomber" Bohmbach impressed me in the 2nd half. After transferring, Tom Bardis will want to show off what he can do, and Zach Bearson is still working to get his chance to consistently break into the lineup. In between all that, senior Tom Gorowsky fits somewhere into that picture.

Tom wasn't a regular in the lineup last season, playing early in the season and again while players were gone for the WJC. At the end of the season when a spot opened at forward, Bohmbach filled that spot. Tom will have to fight his way into the lineup, unless his game accelerates to another level in the offseason, which would be great to see. Tom had some hype coming here including being Mr. Hockey in Minnesota and good production in the USHL.

Tom is only one of 3 scholarship seniors on the team next season, along w/ Street and Shane Connelly. Despite the large junior class of Grotting, Bohmbach, McBain, Mitchell, Bendickson, Bearson, Davies and Geoffrion, it could easily be argued that Tom's leadership will be needed on the ice as much as Josh Engel's was this past season.

So what is it going to be for the coaching staff? Will we see a lot of Tom Gorowsky this season instead of him sitting above Section 202? Prehaps Tom's play to begin the season will take the decision of playing your seniors out of the coaching staff's hands, and Tom will end his Badger career w/ a bang.

Carolina's Top Defensive Prospect: Jamie McBain

Lord Stanley's Blog caught up with Carolina's top defensive prospect at the Canes prospects conditioning camp. In a brief Q&A, McBain talks about why he attended the camp, his decision to return to Wisconsin this season, and his goals for the upcoming season. (Thanks to GSOBadger for the links.)

Personally, I can't wait to see McBain play this year. He was very good last season, and I think he'll be outstanding this season.

A few videos: Davis Drewiske, Tom Gilbert, Jack Skille

• Davis Drewiske talks about his experiences during the Kings development camp and lets Kings fans know what they can expect from him.



• Tom Gilbert apparently got some new shoes (I can't believe Principe asked him about that) and is pretty happy in Edmonton.



• This video is a bit older -- in the 2/27/08 "Bacon Bits" segment, Jack Skille talked a bit about Icehogs and Blackhawks hockey. (The video was passed on to me by Redheat15 from a friend of hers -- thanks to Redheat and friend!)

KT wouldn't give up year at UW for anything

Thanks to Todd at TCT for nice article about young Kyle Turris. It's a little review of KT's past 12 months from #3 overall pick to his season at Wisconsin to getting ready for his first full season in the NHL w/ the Phoenix Coyotes.

A nice quote: "The atmosphere and the school spirit were out of this world. I wouldn't have traded that year for the world."

Though I'm sure there will be a lot of people at his games in the NHL, fans won't be cheering for him quite as diehardedly as they did at Wisconsin.

KT has added on 10 lbs during the year and should start the season as Phoenix's 2nd line Center. KT's thought on the upcoming season, "I'm just going to go out and work as hard as I can, and try to do everything I can to help the team win. I'll try to chip in offensively and not be a liability defensively."

More Signings: Winchester, Piskula

Madison native and Badger alumnus Brad Winchester has signed a 1-year deal worth $600,000 with the St. Louis Blues. Last offseason he signed a 1-year deal worth $475,000 with the Dallas Stars after the Edmonton Oilers did not extend a qualifying offer. In 41 games with the Stars, Winchester had 1 goal and 2 assists.

Winchester previously played for the Edmonton Oilers, where his best career season so far was the 2006-07 season in which he scored 4 goals and 5 assists in 59 games. My recollections (which could be incorrect) are that he played pretty well in the '06 playoffs and pretty well to start the '06-07 season before fading for the rest of the season.

In his 4-year career with the Badgers, he had 40 goals, 44 assists, and 215 penalty minutes in 150 games.

For what it's worth, I think Winchester can make a go of it in the NHL as a 4th-line winger, but it certainly appears that he needs to find some consistency in his play and his goal-scoring. Anyway, hopefully he will step things up with St. Louis so that they'll want to hang on to him after this season.


Antigo native and Badger alumnus Joe Piskula has re-signed with the LA Kings. It's a one-year deal, but I don't have any salary information. I'd expect he'll spend much of the season in Manchester, which is where he spent most of last season. With Manchester, he had 6 points (0G, 6A) in 55 regular season games. He was held of the scoresheet in 4 playoff games. He did appear in 5 games with the Kings but did not record any points.

I'd like to see Piskula do well, but I think it may take a bit longer for him to develop. In general, it tends to take defensmen longer to develop, and I think perhaps Piskula left the UW a bit early on his development curve. I look forward to following his development and the progression of his career.

4 Badgers make Canada's U-22 selection camp

Team USA's U-22 team is set (including Erika Lawler, Hilary Knight, and Meghan Duggan, just in case you forgot), but Canada is still selecting their team. 5 Badgers attended Canada's strength and conditioning/skating camp that took place in May, and 4 of them will now attend the U-22 Selection Camp that runs Aug 12-19. Defenseman Brittany Haverstock and fowards Mallory Deluce, Jasmine Giles, and Carolyne Prévost have made the 40-player selection camp roster.

Hockeycanada.ca has the announcement, camp roster, and camp schedule.

The US and Canadian U-22 teams will play a 3-game series Aug 20-23.

Prospect camps: Wings, Wild

• Thanks to NEWI Badger Fan for spotting this article about Brendan Smith at the Red Wings' prospects camp. (I think NEWI must be a Wings fan, because he also gave us an article previously. But hey, I'm a Wings fan, too, so I'm not going to complain.) The latest article has a number of nice quotes from Smith and Detroit VP Jim Nill -- Nill has some nice things to say about Smith, and Smith talks about what it's like to play in front of 15,000 fans at the KC, the areas of his game that he's working on, and how long we might see him wearing the Cardinal and White. (I don't believe the last part for a second!)

• Thanks to DPlaya on HIW for sharing this article about Chris Hickey at the Wild's prospects camp. Hickey talks about what he's been working on in camp and why he wants to play for Mike Eaves at Wisconsin.

Jake Dowell: growing up with pro aspirations

The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram has a fantastic article about Jake Dowell (and fellow EC native Derek LaPoint.) I see now that the article is a year old (apparently I wasn't really paying attention yesterday), but I like the article, so I'm keeping it here. The article talks about Jake's determination as a child, sacrifices made along the way by him and his parents, what made his family realize an NCAA scholarship might be a possibility, and what made them realize an NHL career might be feasible. It also has a nice recap of Jake's career highlights. (Photo by Dan Reiland of the Leader-Telegram)

Let's help Gandalf . . .

I'm a bit worried about my friend Gandalf; he's lost his favorite recruit. I thought it'd be nice if we all help him pick an new favorite. And therefore I started a poll (on the left below the other poll) where you all can vote. For further persuasiveness, you can give your reasons in the comments section here if you'd like. (I hope I didn't miss any recruits in my list -- please let me know if I did!)

EDIT: My apologies to the person who voted earlier -- I had to redo the poll, as Gandalf informed me he wouldn't consider the 7 kids coming in this Fall. So, sorry, and please re-vote!

New Poll Question

Something new for the blog, want to know where the readers think Wisconsin will finish in the WCHA this season. Take a look in the upper left hand corner and vote away (no worries about hanging chad).

Yesterday was the 90 days to go mark before the Badgers open up at Boston College. The season is right around the corner, as much as I don't want summer to end, I'm really looking forward to hockey.

Eaves Perplexed about Wiercioch

Andy Baggot has a piece about this recruiting "fiasco".

Baggot also mentions that there are rumors about Eaves being considered for the LA Kings head coaching job, but Eaves has not been contacted.

Edit: Todd at TCT has more about Wiercioch and Coach Eaves.

Another Edit: Mike Chambers at the Denver Post further clarifies the Wiercioch situation.

Job Opening: New Favorite Recruit

Well yesterday was lame. My favorite recruit decided to change plans and head to Denver this Fall instead of waiting til 2009 to attend Wisconsin. Not to mention I want Brett Favre to return to the Packers, but that is a whole different story not related to Badger Hockey.

It appears that Patrick Wiercioch asked Wisconsin for a release from his verbal commitment, and was the initiator in contacting Denver and inquiring about a spot for this season. For now, I won't fault Coach Gwozdecky too much. He probably could have told Patrick he should honor his commitment, but than NCAA Hockey would have lost another top player to the CHL. Though I'm very disappointed Patrick decided to change plans, at least he will pursue an education and play NCAA Hockey.

Todd Milewski at TCT added his thoughts on the situation yesterday. I certainly can't blame a kid who in the second half of the USHL season (and playoffs) was probably the best Dman in the league. After vaulting up the NHL Draft board, he probably needed a higher level of play to compete at this season. Todd's piece reminded me that Patrick was a 2008 or 2009 recruit; I'm sure Patrick was hanging his hat on coming in this year. To be realistic, raise your hand if you thought McB and McD were both coming back this season. Not too many people out there I would guess, I didn't raise my hand. To further play devil's advocate, there is that remote chance (better chance of winning powerball) that McB, McD, Smith, Goloubef and Gardiner will all be back in 2009 (to defend UW's 7th National Title). Where would the open spot be then?

Still, Patrick knew that he "could" be 2009, and still made the commitment. If he wanted to play in 2008, he should have made that clear in January to Coach Eaves and staff. If they couldn't guarantee that, he should have chosen a different school out of the gate, and saved any hard feelings Badger fans might have. In the end, I know he is just a kid, I remember being 18 years old (only 10 yrs removed from that), and so I cut him some slack.

Its interesting what role the Ottawa Senators played in all of this. NHL teams have a long arm in influencing their draft picks, which is only fair since their rights are their property. They probably wanted Patrick at a higher level this year, so they can get him in the pros sooner. After all when you have arguably the worst minor league system in the NHL, you need to try to correct that. There is more to this story and hopefully we'll find out more in the coming days.

The Badgers really aren't any worse off than they were thursday before all this happened. Sure Patrick is a blue chip recruit, but its not like we don't have other guys waiting in the wings as well. If three underclassmen leave after the season, perhaps Chase Drake (along w/ Schultz and Pryor) gets to start his UW career earlier than expected, or perhaps the Badgers land someone else who makes leaps and bounds in his development. I know Dplaya at HIW is very high on Ross Henry of the Lincoln Stars of the USHL. He is a defensive defensemen who flys under the radar from everything I read.

Its the dangers of over recruiting, which until now, has not reared its ugly head. The coaching staff knows that there are no Dmen graduating this season, yet we still had 3 recruits lined up. While its possible (probable more likely) we lose some underclassmen, its not set in stone either.

I followed Patrick pretty devoutly the past 6 months, and its a tough pill to take. I wish Patrick well in the future, except when he plays Wisconsin. Other Badgers fans might disdain him, but I find it hard to. I will cheer loudly though when Ratty Johnson tells Wiercioch that he owns him, which will happen, and Ratty will own Patrick Wiercioch in their WCHA matchups.

So I guess I'm looking for a new favorite recruit, luckily I have a ton of options.

Chris Hickey

There are a lot of good quotes in this article about Chris Hickey and the Wild. (Thanks to DPlaya for spotting the article.)

"This year will be a much better test, to see him at a higher tempo on a well-run team," said Tommy Thompson, Wild assistant general manager for player personnel. "We'll see how he does there."

So, it sounds like the Wild are happy that Hickey is headed to Wisconsin, and it's nice to see that they have a high opinion of the Badgers.

After tearing a ligament in his left knee as a senior with the Raiders, Hickey said he felt behind in his development and joined the USHL to "touch up on everything."

"It was really good for me," he said. "Now I feel like I'm all the way ready to play in the WCHA and make an impact right away."

I hope he is able to make an impact right away, and it's nice to hear that that's his plan. The Badgers could definitely use his scoring touch. I also like his response to his injury and playing in the USHL.

A seventh-round pick in the 2006 entry draft, Hickey played on state championship teams in hockey, baseball and football at Cretin-Derham Hall but chose to pursue hockey when the Wild drafted him after his junior season.

Hickey was available late because of questions about his skating ability. "I think it's fair to say the question mark is still the same," Thompson said. "Is he going to be quick enough to play at a higher tempo?"

Well, not everyone is the fastest skater. Joe Pavelski isn't the quickest guy, but he sure gets things done. The question is whether his skating will be merely a hindrance or an actual liability. And, of course, at this point I can't help but think about Tom Gorowsky. It seems like Goro's skating has held him back with the Badgers. Goro's skating did improve last year, but it appears the coaching staff is still not comfortable with his ability to keep up in fast-paced games. (More thoughts on this later.)

"My skating is probably my weakest part of my game; I definitely need to improve," he said. "I need to get a lot stronger in my lower body. ... I really didn't have the time to get that strength because of that injury to my left knee, and I really couldn't work on it. So this past year in the USHL, I really worked hard on my lower body strength.

"I'm getting faster. We had the testing (Wednesday), and I saw a significant improvement in my quickness. My speed still needs to improve. ... I feel like if I can get faster and quicker, I can make it (in the NHL) someday."

Nice to see that he recognizes his weaknesses and has already started to make improvements. I know I say this about all of our recruits, but I'm looking forward to seeing him play.

A big framed wrecking ball?

I have a fun little quote, and I removed the player's name so that I could ask you who you think this quote is regarding.

If you have had the opportunity to watch any of the Badgers’ games this year you would know this player is a big framed wrecking ball on the ice who loves to throw his body around to punish opponents. The Wild could use some grit as well as an element of nastiness to its prospect pool. He is another tryout who will garner some long looks by the team’s management.

Any guesses?

Of course, if you've been following the Wild's prospects camp, you know that John Mitchell is there. And yes, Mitchell is big-framed. But I don't think he's a wrecking ball who loves to throw his body around to punish opponents, nor do I think he provides an element of nastiness. In fact, I think he could use his body a bit more than he does.

Don't get me wrong; I'm a John Mitchell fan. I love how hard he works, I love his long reach, and I love how he elevated his game last year over the year before. And I'm looking forward to watching him play again this year. But I think the above quote misrepresents who John Mitchell is as a player. And it makes me want to ask the author, "Did YOU have the opportunity to watch any Badger games last year."

Props (again) to DPlaya for finding this article.

Bye Bye Patrick Wiercioch

Yesterday, Gandalf posted that Patrick Wiercioch was on the Hot List again. Today, Patrick Wiercioch signed a LOI with Denver. Oops.

As you know, David Carle's hockey career is over due to a congenital heart disease, and therefore Denver has an opening on it's roster. Apparently, Wiercioch saw an opportunity and went for it. Based on the article, it sounds like Wiercioch wanted to start his college career this year rather than next year, and he would have had to wait 'til next year to play for the Badgers. It also sounds like he expects Denver to be able to offer more ice-time. Which may or may not be the case -- you can argue that Wisconsin's blue-line is deep and that the competition for ice-time will be tough, but you can also argue that Wisconsin would be unlikely to sit Wiercioch very much. (I don't think Wisconsin wants a repeat of the Nigel Williams situation, and heck, if the didn't sit Brendan Smith last year before he got injured, I can't imagine they'd sit Wiercioch even if he struggled.)

I'm not hugely surprised that Wiercioch has gone to Denver. IIRC, Denver recruited him pretty heavily. I'm disappointed that he backed out of his verbal commitment, but I suppose the draw of playing a large role in Denver starting this year was just to much. And, with all the discussion among WCHA coaches about their "gentleman's agreement", I do wonder who initiated contact at this time -- Gwoz, or Wiercioch?

Props to DPlaya (who apparently wants to erase all record of Wiercioch from his blog) on HIW for breaking the story.

Brendan Smith at Red Wings' Camp

Thanks to Newi Badger Fan on the uscho forum for the link to this article about Brendan Smith's time at Detriot's prospect camp.

Had to pull this out of the article.

"Eaves is basically an NCAA version of Babcock.

If a player is lacking in intensity, "You'll get a kick in the butt," Smith said.

Smith and McCollum are both several years, at least, from possibly becoming NHL regulars."

Eaves gets so much good press w/ the NHL crowd, when is tDon going to get some good press?

Anyway, I think its likely that Brendan will be in the Cardinal and White for two more seasons, prehaps even see his senior year. As the article said, his season was halted by injury. I'm expecting a lot out of Brendan Smith this season. In my mind, Brendan will either be paired w/ his good friend Cody Goloubef, or as part of the 3rd pairing w/ either Johnson/Little/Springer. Either way he needs to step it up this season. I saw a lot of head hanging out there when he made bad plays last season, there isn't time for that, since he will be expected to increase his leadership role this year. His offensive game is just fine, hopefully he has been busting ass on improving his defense.

Wiercioch on NHL Hot List (again)

Photo from NHL.com

Patrick has made the Hockey News hot list again, this time the NCAA version. He ranks #5.

The Hockey News sounds like they expect him in Madison this season, which I find highly unlikely unless we have a late departure from our blue line.

Badger Men's Hockey: schedule updates

• The match-ups have been officially set for the opening night of the Badger Hockey Showdown. At 4pm, Harvard will open v. Lake State. At 7pm, the Badgers will take on Alabama-Huntsville.

• The Saturday, March 7th game v. North Dakota has been moved back to 8pm.

Playing Catch-up

Since I've been AWOL for a couple of weeks, I thought I should do a little link-o-rama to post the random items that have escaped our attention here on the blog.

I have a number of links from HIW, which just goes to show that if you haven't been reading that blog, you probably should be.

• As you may be aware, Rene Bourque has been traded to the Flames. Regarding the acquisition, Flames GM Darryl Sutter said, "Rene is a young player with size who will play in our top nine forwards. He will be an important part of the remaking of our left side along with other young players already under contract."

• Blake Geoffrion has been making adjustments to his workout regimen and has been doing a lot of little extra things.

  "The biggest thing was that I got back in the weight room and got in the best shape I could,'' Geoffrion said. "There were a lot of little things, too — eating a lot healthier, working out hard and going in with a positive attitude at the beginning of a new year.''

  "I did all the extra little workouts after practice — putting pucks in from (close range) and putting shots upstairs,'' said Geoffrion, elected by teammates as one of Wisconsin's captains for the coming year. "I was always one of the shooters in goalie practice. All those things can be kind of annoying to do, but they really pay off and I really saw that this year.''
  

  I'm impressed by Geoffrion's attitude and work ethic, and I'm excited to see his game further elevated to another level this upcoming season.

• Mike Davies is now apparently off of goaltender Charlie Effinger's family Christmas list. Back home in St. Louis, Davies played in the Blues Future Stars scrimmage at the Scottrade Center, and he scored a goal off a face-off just after Effinger entered the game in the 2nd period. Davies reportedly had another nice scoring chance later in that period.

• Here's another nice article about Justin Schultz. (In case you missed it, Gandalf had recently posted this article about Schultz, and I had previously posted a nice little feature on him.)

• Derek Stepan participated in the NY Rangers Prospects Camp, and you can find video footage on Rangers NHL TV.

• The Daily Telegram has a nice article on Dave McNab and the Anaheim Ducks, asking the question "when did University of Wisconsin become an unofficial farm team of the Ducks?". McNab, a longtime assistant manager for the Ducks, was a goaltender for the Badgers 1973-78.

And here are some links that we haven't yet mentioned from Capobianco's blog:

• Curtis Joseph has been picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Says GM Cliff Fletcher, "Curtis will bring great character to the locker-room. We're going to have a lot of young players in there next year. His leadership will be invaluable.''


• Kyle Turris participated in the Coyotes camp, and you can watch an interview with KT on Coyotes NHL TV.

I also have some links from the LetsGoDU blog. This is not strictly related to Badger Hockey, but LetsGoDU has been doing a nice job following the David Carle story.

• David Carle story at ESPN.com
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy often misdiagnosed
• David Carle: News, Notes & Articles

Derek Lee now a Grizzly

Derek Lee will be entering his last season in the BCHL this Fall, but not w/ the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (thanks to Todd at TCT for the info). Derek was traded to the Victoria Grizzlies and will play this season for the host of the 2009 RBC Cup, meaning his team automatically qualifies for this national tournament. Derek had 77 points in 52 games last season w/ the Silverbacks.

Nice quote from Derek: "I get to play in a national championship and then go to play NCAA hockey at a really good school that gets up to 15,000 fans at home games."

Good luck to Derek on his new team!

USHL Schedule Released

Last week the USHL Schedule was released. You might ask yourself, so what? W/ 10 Badger recruits currently slated to spend next season in the USHL, its worth mentioning.

Below is the home schedule for the Green Bay Gamblers. I would think GB is the closest USHL town for most Badger fans, providing the best opportunity to see our future Badgers in action. The link at the beginning of the post includes the schedule of all 12 teams.

Green Bay Gamblers 2008/2009 Home Schedule

10/4 – Waterloo
10/24 – Fargo
10/25 – Fargo
10/31 – Chicago
11/15 – Cedar Rapids
11/22 – Omaha
11/26 – Chicago
11/28 – Indiana
12/5 – Waterloo
12/12 – Lincoln
12/19 – Sioux City
12/20 – Sioux City
12/31 – Cedar Rapids
1/9 – Omaha
1/10 – Chicago
1/23 – Tri-City
1/24 – Tri-City
2/21 – Sioux Falls
2/22 – Des Moines
2/27 – Lincoln
2/28 – Waterloo
3/4 - Cedar Rapids
3/17 – Indiana
3/24 – Cedar Rapids
3/27 – Indiana
3/29 – Des Moines
4/3 – Chicago
4/4 – Des Moines
4/5 – Des Moines

The games in bold feature opponents w/ Badger recruits.

Waterloo: Brock Montpetit, Craig Smith & Tyler Barnes
Fargo: Gavin Hartzog
Omaha: Patrick Wiercioch
Lincoln: Travis Erstad
Des Moines: Aaron Crandall and Nick Pryor

Of course the unbolded homes games include Badger recruits Chase Drake and Jefferson Dahl for the Gamblers.

While Badger Hockey takes precedent, I've highlighted about a dozen games that I could make, see what happens. I'll provide some scouting reports as I go, hopefully a few of our readers can provide commentary as well.

Senator's Propsects

Patrick Wiercioch was recently drafted in the 2nd round of the 2008 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators, and Hockey's Future has a review of their draft. They don't say much about Patrick. He has NHL size, though he needs to fill out, and a lot of potential, but things to work and improve on as well.

The Universal Cynic blog also reports Patrick and Badger alumni Brian Elliott recently praticipated in the Senators' prospect camp. That blog's thoughts on the camp were not glowing. It appears that Ottawa does not have the best farm system. The AHL Binghamton Sens sound like a woeful defensive team outside of their goaltending. Hopefully Ottawa doesn't rush Patrick and he doesn't leave until he is NHL ready. Possibly Coach Osiecki can do more for his development in Madison then in the minors.

Speaking of Brian Elliott, there was talk that he could be in line for the backup job in Ottawa next season w/ the departure of Ray Emery. That does not seem very likely now that the Sens have signed another goalie to compliment Martin Gerber. The one positive this affords Brian is a lot of playing time in the AHL, though he regularly had to make 40+ saves a game last season on the above mentioned woefully defensive team. He still managed some good numbers (44 games, 18-19-1, 2.81 GAA, 0.915%), especially after a rather rough start to the season.

This is kinda old news, but Hockey In Wisconsin posted an article on Brian in the past month which are worth mentioning again.

Future Badger: Rebecca Ruegsegger

Our friends at Beyond the Dashers have confirmed that goaltender Rebecca Ruegsegger (Lakewood, CO) has committed to the Badgers for the 2009-10 season. (Thanks, BTD!) She's the 1st commitment that the Badgers have received for that season. The Badgers are slated to have 3 goaltenders in 09-10 -- Alannah McCready will be a senior and incoming Badger Nikki Kaasa will be a sophomore -- so I would not necessarily expect to see much of her during her freshman year (although I wouldn't count her out, either). However, I have great expectations for her career as a Badger, and I'm pretty excited about this commitment. I'm not qualified to assess Ruegsegger's play or rank her among other recruits, but I would think that she would be one of the top goaltender recruits in the country.

Rebecca will be a senior this year at Shattuck-St. Mary's, where it appears she also plays lacrosse. In 30 games as a junior, she had a 27-1-1 record, with a 1.53 GAA, a .93 SV%, and 4 SO. As a sophomore, she played in 20 games for SSM's U-16 Team and had a 9-8-3 record, with a 1.55 GAA, .94 SV%, and 7 SO.

She played on the 2008 US U-18 team that competed in January at the IIHF U-18 World Championships in Calgary, although her playing time was limited by injury. Between the 1st 2 games of the tourney, she played 59:43 and had 4 saves on 4SOG. The Rocky Mountain News did a little Q&A with Rebecca following the tourney. Rebecca was also a member of the 2007 US U-18 Team that played in the U-18 series v. Canada. (You might remember that incoming Badger Brooke Ammerman also played on both US U-18 teams, and incoming Badgers Carolyne Prévost and Brittany Haverstock played on both CAN U-18 Teams.)

Rebecca is also the sister of Denver Pioneer Tyler Ruegsegger.

And for what it's worth, I wonder if, as a kid, she wrote this book?

Welcome to the Badgers, Rebecca. We look forward to seeing you in the Cardinal & White!

Sara Bauer named Remington Scholar

I'm absolutely horrified that I slept through this. Sara Bauer was recently named a 2007-08 Remington Scholar. This honor is awarded to one male and one female student-athlete at the UW every year. The recipients are student-athletes who have completed their eligibilty and have the top cumulative grade point average of all male or female student-athletes.

Sara's accomplishments are quite impressive -- in addition to winning 2 national championships with the Badgers, she won the Patty Kazmeier Award (analogous to the Hobey Baker Award in men's hockey) in 2006, was a top-three finalsit for the Patty Kaz in 2007, was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2007 FF, was named 1st-team All-American twice, and was named the 2007 WCHA Player of the Year and the 2007 USCHO National Player of the Year. She was also the 2007 UW Women's Athlete of the Year. And she did all this while earning a degree in kinesiology with a 4.0 cumulative GPA. WOW.

In addition to the Remington award, other academic recognition that she has garnered during her career at the UW include receiving the 2007 Medal of Honor and being named the 2006 and 2007 At-Large Academic All-American of the Year in the University Division awarded by ESPN The Magazine.

Congratulations, Sara!

(photo from uwbadgers.com)

3 Badgers selected to the US Women's U-22 Team

Left photo: Meghan Duggan. Right photo: Erika Lawler and Hilary Knight. Photos courtesy of Redheat15.

I would like to congratulate Meggan Duggan, Erika Lawler, and Hilary Knight for making the US Women's U-22 Team. The U-22 Team will participate in the USA Hockey Women's National Festival in Lake Placid starting August 12 and a 3-game series against Canada's U-22 Team August 20-23 in Pierrefonds, Quebec. All 3 players also participated in the 2007 National Festival and made the 2007 U-22 team, not to mention playing for the 2008 US team that won the gold in the IIHF World Women's Championships earlier this Spring.

With 20 goals and 23 assists as a sophomore last season, Duggan tied Jinelle Zaugg to lead the team with 43 pts and was tied for 2nd on the team in goals with Hilary Knight. As a junior this season, she'll be the Badgers' top returning points-scorer and, along with Hilary Knight, will be the top returing goal-scorer. Meghan made this year's U-22 team despite being unable to attend the U-22 camp. (Brooke Ammerman, who also was unable to attend the camp, did not make the team.) As mentioned, Meghan also participated in last year's Festival and played on last year's U-22 team. She wrote a blog during last year's Festival, and based on her blog, it appears that the U-22 team was not selected until the end of the Festival, whereas this year the team was chosen based on a the U-22 camp held previously this summer. During the 2007 Festival, she had 1 goal and 1 assist in 4 games. During the 2007 U-22 series v. Canada, she had 1 assist. And if I've done my math correctly, at the IIHF Championships she finished + 6 with 4 goals (including a game-winner), 1 assist, and 21 SOG.

With 12 goals and 28 assists as a junior last season, Lawler led the Badgers in assists and was 3rd on the team (behind Duggan and Zaugg) with 40 points. During the 2007 Festival, she had 1 assist in 4 games. During the 2007 U-22 series v. Canada, she was held of the scoresheet. At the 2008 IIHF Championships, she finished + 3 with 2 assists and 8 SOG. But clearly stats don't tell the whole story about her performance at that series, as fellow (but more reputable) bloggers at BTD gave Ms. Lawler the Unsung Hero Award.

With 20 goals and 18 points as a freshman last season, Knight was 4th on the team in points and tied (with Meghan Duggan) for 2nd on the team in goals. During the 2007 Festival, she had 1 assist. During the 2007 U-22 series v. Canada, she had 1 assist. At the 2008 IIHF Championships, she finished even with 1 assist and 9 SOG.

As mentioned earlier, the National Festival begins on August 12. The team leaves for Pierrefonds on August 18th and will play Canada Aug 20th at 7pm, Aug 22 at 7pm, and Aug 23 at 9:30 pm. (I don't know what time zone that is, so hopefully a reader will help me out?) Not sure if any broadcasts will be available, but I'd imagine the kids on the uscho women's fan forum will let us know, as they're always on top of that type of thing.

Hopefully our American U-22 Badgers will fare better this year than last, as Team Canada swept the series last year. (I have not yet heard anything about the selection on Canada's U-22 team, although 5 Badgers participated in the summer camp.)

Awakening (again) from (another) Temporary Hibernation

As I've mentioned before, Badgers aren't true hibernators, but depending on the climate, they may "temporarily hibernate", and I suppose that's what I've been doing the past couple weeks. Something about an 11-day stretch of 9-10 hr days at work and working 14 out of 15 days, coupled with 1-hr commutes each way and feeling a little under-the-weather to begin with, has caused me to sleep quite a bit when I've been home.

But now I've decided to crawl out of my burrow and see what I can write about Badger Hockey. I'm working on a couple of things, so keep your eyes open. I expect to have a little something on the US Women's U-22 team, a little something about Tom Gorowsky, and (given that I have a lot of catching up to do) who knows what else. :-)

Last Day to Renew Season Tickets

Last chance to renew your season tickets if you haven't already done so.

I've locked in both nights of tickets again and can't wait until October 24th to see Alex Wangas pulled in the 1st period after giving up several soft goals.

Mitchell invited to Wild Prospect Camp

I've been meaning to put together info on the various NHL Prospect Development Camps, but haven't had the time.

I figured it was worth mentioning though that "Big" John Mitchell has been invited to the Minnesota Wild's camp, along w/ 2008 recruit Chris Hickey.

Pretty cool to see "Big" John getting some NHL attention. He made huge strides this past season. If he makes similar strides next season, it could very well be his last in the Cardinal and White. It was rumored he was drawing attention from a few NHL teams to sign as an undrafted free agent, but Coach Eaves and "Big" John both agreed another season at UW was in his best interest.

Oilers blogger's thoughts on Tom Gilbert

W/ Tom Gilbert's emergance as an NHL star this past season, my interest in the Edmonton Oilers has also increased. I've even taken to reading several Oilers blogs (thanks for the suggestion 60).

Today the Lowetide Blog had some nice thoughts on Tom Gilbert's season offensively. Tom was one of the highest scoring Dmen 5x5 in his division per 60 minutes of play, which is pretty impressive for a rookie season. I have been impressed w/ his shooting % all season, which ended at 13.5%.

Tom should continue to get PP time on the second PP unit for the Oilers this season, where a lot will be expected of him based on his outstanding rookie season and large contract that he signed. Tom has an outstanding sense on when to jump up into the play and contribute offensively, and doesn't waste shots, while providing a steady defensive presence on his own end.

July 4th

Happy 4th of July Badger Fans!

I was just thinking as I post this that we often forget all the freedoms that we have in the United States. Even as gas prices reach ever higher and higher, and politicians do things that make us roll our eyes, we are still the freest country in the world and we shouldn't take that for granted.

Be safe and enjoy the holiday weekend!

A .500 record is needed...

... for an at large bid to the Men's and Women's NCAA Hockey Tournament going forward.

No on should really be surprised by this announcement w/ all the complaining around College Hockey w/ Wisconsin's inclusion into the NCAA tourney this past season. The best complaining came from the people who said that Wisconsin got in because they were hosting a regional and the NCAA didn't want to lose $$$, when in fact Wisconsin made it because the pairwise rankings said they were the 13th ranked team after all the dust had settled. Just a refresher to the Mankato fans out there, Notre Dame was actually the last team in.

Personally I don't have any problems w/ this rule. In the Badgers last 8 games leading up to the NCAA selection, they certainly had every opportunity to lock up a bid and take themselves off the bubble. This included getting just 1 more point, which would have filled the Kohl Center for the 1st round of the WCHA playoffs, instead of St. Cloud's arena. The Badgers probably didn't deserve a spot based on the late season slide.

Of course once the Badgers skated out onto the ice for the Regional they played like a team no one had seen all season, and really removed all doubt that they belonged in the post season.

Their selection was based on the existing rules, plain and simple. Now the rules are changed, for the better.

One thing that Wisconsin's inclusion showed last year, schedule good opponents and build that strength of schedule. This year is no different, in regards to the schedule, but unlike last year Wisconsin's NCAA bid will be wrapped up long before selection sunday.

Edit: I forgot to say there is more to the article than the 0.500 record thing. This committee also recommends that all 6 conferences receive auto bids for the tourney winners again next season. It should be noted that the CHA is now down to 4 teams. Also, they will be selecting the hosts for the Midwest and West Regionals for 2010 and 2011 in September. Hopefully the Kohl Center appears on there for one of those seasons. The 0.500 record and the auto bids need to be approved in September, so they aren't set in stone.

Matt Ford Q&A

Today's preview video at uwbadgers.com is an interview w/ recent UW graduate Matthew Ford.

One thing I'm going to miss about Matt was whenever there were extracurriculars after the whistle, when the dust settled Matt was always in the middle of things mixing it up w/ the opponent. I guess we have Ratty Johnson to play that role now, but Matt always brought a smile to my face when he would skate back to the bench jawing w/ someone.

I think a lot of fans expected Matt to score more goals during his career, and he would have had one more if Randy Schmidt was capable of doing the job he was paid to last January in Denver.

Matt says he'll be playing in the Blackhawks system somewhere next year, and best of luck to him w/ his future pro career. If he's in Rockford, good chance I'll see him play a few times.

Another Hockey's Future Review

This time Hockey's Future reviews the draft of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

In case you haven't been paying attention, the Jackets drafted UW's own Cody Goloubef in the 2nd round, and they have 3 paragraphs about him. They say he will most likely be back in Madison, I would hope so, while Cody definately progressed very well last season, he still has more room to grow at the NCAA level, and I expect him to dominate along w/ McB and McD this season.

Mersch to NTDP?

Dplaya is reporting on the HIW Blog that Michael Mersch has been offered a spot on the NTDP and will accept the offer. Ryan of the Unofficial USHL Blog had posted earlier today on Buckyville of Michael's offer.

Frankie Simonelli reportedly accepted an offer previously. Good to see the friends will continue to play together for the next two seasons, and at the NTDP no less.

Congrats to Michael!