3. An unscientific sampling of fan opinions about college hockey realignment
(USCHO)
This just in: some people are rather displeased about Penn State's very existence in their precious realm. Here's one opinion taken from the article which, by the way, very accurately captures the range I've observed.
Chris, a Minnesota fan: “It’s [expletive removed]. Look, we have years and years of alignments. We’ve got teams that we’ve played, teams that are rivals, teams that are together. Minnesota is all of a sudden the most western team and at least four hours away from its closest rival and [now will travel] all the way to Pennsylvania? Penn State decided that all of a sudden they want a team? No. Look, be in Hockey East. I don’t care. It’s very simple.”I think Boston College just scored again. I guess maybe we should go to Hockey East if we want to compete with the best.
2. Gadowsky chooses 11 Icers for Division I squad
(The Daily Collegian)
Christine Newby does her usual fantastic work in providing the most depth of anyone out there regarding the selection of 11 Icers to next season's roster. To be specific, she got quotes from one of the cuts (Josh Daley, who sounds like he's headed elsewhere) and examined the Title IX implications of the roster's size.
1. Boston College Wins Third Title in Five Years
(College Hockey News)
Helped by Pittsburgh native and Most Outstanding Player Parker Milner, BC (yawn) won yet another national championship. Other takeaway: the last NCAA Division I season without Penn State is now complete.
Best of the Rest
Campus Athletics Announces New Head Coach for Ice Hockey A Team
(lehighsports.com)
Congratulations are in order to Tom Laessig - father of Ice Lions T.J. and Neil - on his new gig as the boss of Lehigh's ACHA Division 1 hockey team.
Men's Hockey Season Tickets
(gopsusports.com)
Guess what? They're taking down names of those interested in season tickets for the inaugural season at Pegula Ice Arena. If that doesn't blow your mind, I'm not sure what will.
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| Click to view. |
Where Do D1 Hockey Players Come From?
(sixteenwins.com)
This is brilliant. And as I've been saying all along, Pennsylvania rates extremely well - perhaps second behind Illinois - when looking at player production per major-conference program.
Fight on State
(ESPN)
I'm sure most people associated with Penn State have read this article by now, but if you haven't, it underscores - in thick, black Sharpie - how little regard Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has for PSU, or even morality and common decency. Why do I bring this up? Well, if you're not aware...
Corbett's leading donors are Terrence and Kim Pegula, who have given $280,000.I realize that the Pegulas don't owe me anything, and they're certainly free to support whichever politicians they prefer for whatever reasons matter to them. At the same time though, I would like to see some evidence that Corbett's treatment of PSU (not to mention his other shortcomings) bothers them more than they value his protection of hydrofracking. That said, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting. If it didn't happen when Corbett tried to slash the school's appropriation in half (that's $88 million times two per year if you're keeping score), it certainly won't happen over the ouster of a coach TPegs evidently didn't care for anyway (at the very least, he didn't hesitate to throw Joe Paterno under the bus in an ill-conceived interview with TSN while simultaneously trying to bury his own skeletons).
M.F. Schurman named ACHA D1 National Coach of the Year
(delaware.goalline.ca)
A little late on this, but Delaware's Schurman took home well-deserved coach-of-the-year honors. He's UD's first with the accolade since...Josh Brandwene.
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| Here's an unexpected surprise, from the display of all NCAA Division I jerseys that appears annually at the Frozen Four. I didn't expect PSU's inclusion due to not actually participating in this NCAA season, but I'll take it. Courtesy of former Delaware forward Dave Lombardi's locked Twitter account. |
UAH will be seeking conference affiliation while serving as NCAA Frozen Four host
(al.com)
Alternate headline: other than the whole "the program was killed, then un-killed thing, nothing's really changed in Huntsville."
Losing Daley is going to be big. He was never given a chance. Even the games he played, he was short shifted or the extra forward. He's a proven goal scorer, scoring 30 in a tough Canadian league. Next year the "grinders" that Gadowsky likes, will be neutralized by the Big 10 teams. They will need a finisher like Daley. He was one of the only forwards that would plant himself in front of the net. Good luck, Daley, wherever you end up.
ReplyDeleteThe Josh Daley Saga is still such a great mystery to me. I was as excited about his arrival as anyone else this year, NCAA transfers included. Then...nothing. Like you said, he was the spare forward in most of those 11 games. Considering that, he certainly wasn't unproductive when in the lineup. He played five fewer games than any forward on the team (excluding Nick Seravalli for obvious reasons). He was the one guy who seemed to be excluded when Gadowsky rotated almost the entire bottom six from Friday to Saturday, especially later in the season. As far as I'm aware, he wasn't injured. I don't get it. There HAS to be more to the story than what we know (Grades? Hanging out with Russo too much?) but I'm not sure we'll ever find out.
ReplyDeleteI played with and against Daley and know what kind of force he could be. He did have some trouble with his grades, but they are improving this semester. He wasn't a partier when I knew him and I hear that he still isn't. Definitely not a person who would hang out with Russo.
ReplyDeleteI knew of a kid that traveled from Saskatchewan to Manitoba just to see him play. Daley gave him a stick for doing it. The mother said that the kid cried for days when he heard Josh was traded. That's the kind of guy that he was.
I know for a fact that Josh only had trouble in one class, which brought his GPA down last semester. His grades are great now. He is a hard worker, one of the nicest kids you will ever meet, extremely talented, and is not a partier at all. I believe he never got a chance this year because Coach Gadowski knew if the fans of PSU hockey truly had the opportunity to see all that Josh had to offer to the team, there's no way he would have been able to cut him without more questions that there already are. It's a shame he was never given the opportunity he deserved, I know he would have liked nothing more than to be apart of this team and I think coach made a BIG mistake.
ReplyDelete