NCAA division 1 hockey starts on Friday, Oct. 4. NCAA division 3 starts four weeks later on Friday, Nov. 1. But let me give a shout out to the around 12,000 students playing ACHA (club) hockey on 472 teams in all divisions, including 35 new teams taking the ice this season.
ACHA Men's Division 2 select team is playing in an international tournament right now in Russia.
They lost tonight 3-2 to Dinamo-Altai. If you want to watch (and practice your Russian) it is posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3hJ_34-Znc
(09-30-2019 04:43 PM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote: USCHO.com's Preseason Top 20
Pretty interesting to see tiny little AIC getting votes. I thought their program was going to be dropped at some point with how small their rink and enrollment were and how much they struggled on the ice.
(10-01-2019 07:52 PM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote: NCAA division 1 hockey starts on Friday, Oct. 4. NCAA division 3 starts four weeks later on Friday, Nov. 1. But let me give a shout out to the around 12,000 students playing ACHA (club) hockey on 472 teams in all divisions, including 35 new teams taking the ice this season.
I've posted pre-season polls for the NCAA D1 programs. Here is the pre-season poll for ACHA D1:
1. Minot State
2. Lindenwood
3. Iowa State
4. Mich.- Dearborn
5. Adrian
6. Ohio
7. Davenport
8. Liberty
9. Cent. Okla.
10. Arizona
11. Illinois
12. Stony Brook
13. UNLV
14. Missouri State
15. Oklahoma
16. Robt.Morris (IL)
17. Jamestown
18. Syracuse
19. Colorado
20. Western Mich.
21. Alabama
22. Rhode Island
23. Drexel
24. Colorado State
25. Indiana Tech
RV. Kent State, Ariz. State, Robt. Morris (PA)
PS. shout out to the Iowa State hockey fan I spoke with standing in line at the DQ tonight!
I'll have to give all my friends from Syracuse a shoutout and root for them here.
Also, I'd personally like to see (gross to say this) Rhode Island do well, and hopefully make it into the Hockey East at some point. Get all of the New England state flagships in the same conference together for at least one sport.
Also, I'm liking the AIC thing. Get it together and shift the power in MA from the East to the West (even though I live in Boston).
So let's take a look at the ACHA D2 select team playing a university student tourney in Russia. Yesterday they fell to a school from Prague (CZ) 4-3 in OT. Today they beat a school from Kazan 3-2 in shootouts. (I can't tell if they advance out of pool A into the semi-finals. I'm thinking they didn't.)
The University of Mary (Bismark ND) is off to an 8-0 start in ACHA D2, outscoring opponents 42-12. Last year's team went 39-6-2 in their 1st year of existence. I thought they must have brought in "ringers". But their roster is almost entirely North Dakotans, Minnesotans, or guys who played on a North Dakota team recently. For those who don't follow the Northern Sun Conference (D2), the Univ of Mary is historically... not real good. The football team is currently 0-4; following last year's 1-10 season. Basketball went 12-17 (previous year 6-21). Baseball was 17-32. But they found a sport they can excel in: hockey! This Saturday, UMary hosts last year's D2 champions- Florida Gulf Coast Univ.
(09-27-2019 11:46 AM)Gamecock Wrote: I wish SEC hockey was a thing
I hope the game grows in the area. There are some good/exciting pro teams in the area, including the reigning champs over in St Louis. Hopefully it'll help get the colleges involved some more.
I had to do a doubletake reading this, forgetting that Mizzou hockey would be SEC hockey. St Louis hockey has been tied to Chicago hockey for so long (Central District), it would feel weird for those kids traveling to Chicago and Detroit their whole youth to playing in SEC towns.
4 of the top 15 draft picks a few years ago were from STL. St Louis and Chicago have developed into huge hockey factories to go with Detroit (which has been one forever). And of course Minnesota too, but they do their own thing with high school.
It honestly took me like 10 minutes to be able to submit that post because it felt weird saying it.
But also the Preds are exciting and recently made it to a cup final, the Canes made it to the eastern conference finals, and Tampa has the best offense in the league.
There are pro teams in the right states to get some SEC Hockey going.
There's plenty of money to do it - the big issue is there is no arena on ice on campus or in most cases anywhere nearby.
But yeah, if I was the god of SC athletics I'd consider cutting mens soccer and adding a team
I posted above about Univ of Mary's ACHA team. I found a great video of their very 1st game last year. It's well worth a watch.
It's like a Disney movie. (Unless you are a North Dakota State fan - then you might want to look away and count your football trophies.)
(09-27-2019 11:46 AM)Gamecock Wrote: I wish SEC hockey was a thing
I hope the game grows in the area. There are some good/exciting pro teams in the area, including the reigning champs over in St Louis. Hopefully it'll help get the colleges involved some more.
I had to do a doubletake reading this, forgetting that Mizzou hockey would be SEC hockey. St Louis hockey has been tied to Chicago hockey for so long (Central District), it would feel weird for those kids traveling to Chicago and Detroit their whole youth to playing in SEC towns.
4 of the top 15 draft picks a few years ago were from STL. St Louis and Chicago have developed into huge hockey factories to go with Detroit (which has been one forever). And of course Minnesota too, but they do their own thing with high school.
i caught Missouri's high school hockey championship a few years ago and was really impressed with the level of play I saw. It makes the lack of college hockey along that corridor all the more puzzling.
If we're talking potential college hockey programs in the area, I'd say SLU fits the profile better than Missouri does. I'm not sure if Chaifetz can accommodate ice, though it looks like Disney on Ice performs there once a year.
For a final Pump Up video, instead of the stick handling magicians and long range snipers that make up most hockey highlight videos,
lets honor the men between the pipes keeping the door shut. (That last save...)
Duluth loses an exhibition to the Univ of Alberta: 5-3.
These exhibitions are basically "body bag games" or "buy games". As I understand it, the Canadian universities have peanuts for budgets and facilities.
The real talented Canadian hockey players are in the Canadian major junior leagues...or playing in American universities.
Most of these games with Canadian schools are blow-outs: Holy Cross beat Simon Fraser 9-0.
Not a good look for the defending champions and pre-season #1 team who are the favorites for a "three-peat".
(10-05-2019 11:28 PM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote: 1st Day of the Season Brings the 1st Shocker:
Duluth loses an exhibition to the Univ of Alberta: 5-3.
These exhibitions are basically "body bag games" or "buy games". As I understand it, the Canadian universities have peanuts for budgets and facilities.
The real talented Canadian hockey players are in the Canadian major junior leagues...or playing in American universities.
Most of these games with Canadian schools are blow-outs: Holy Cross beat Simon Fraser 9-0.
Not a good look for the defending champions and pre-season #1 team who are the favorites for a "three-peat".
It happens sometimes. A lot of those CIS teams are full of major junior washouts, and I want to say their season starts well before the NCAA's does. I've seen teams lose to a Canadian team to open the year and go on to make a tourney run.
(09-27-2019 11:46 AM)Gamecock Wrote: I wish SEC hockey was a thing
I hope the game grows in the area. There are some good/exciting pro teams in the area, including the reigning champs over in St Louis. Hopefully it'll help get the colleges involved some more.
I had to do a doubletake reading this, forgetting that Mizzou hockey would be SEC hockey. St Louis hockey has been tied to Chicago hockey for so long (Central District), it would feel weird for those kids traveling to Chicago and Detroit their whole youth to playing in SEC towns.
4 of the top 15 draft picks a few years ago were from STL. St Louis and Chicago have developed into huge hockey factories to go with Detroit (which has been one forever). And of course Minnesota too, but they do their own thing with high school.
i caught Missouri's high school hockey championship a few years ago and was really impressed with the level of play I saw. It makes the lack of college hockey along that corridor all the more puzzling.
If we're talking potential college hockey programs in the area, I'd say SLU fits the profile better than Missouri does. I'm not sure if Chaifetz can accommodate ice, though it looks like Disney on Ice performs there once a year.
SLU definitely fits the profile better as the state’s importer for college hockey talent (St Louis Jr Blues AAA) is based in St Louis and the suburbs.
SLU had D1 hockey ages ago but them and UIC dropped.
The feel good story of the first weekend is UAF's opening game against #2 Denver. Will all that the Alaska schools have been through in the last few months (state budget crisis, threat of no season, WCHA split, uncertain future), this is impressive:
No. 2 Denver 4, Alaska 3 Denver’s Cole Guttman scored with 1:03 remaining to break a 3-3 tie and give Denver a 4-3 victory at Alaska, avoiding a major upset for the No. 2 ranked team on the first night of the season. The game was back and forth with each teams holding a leads.
Great job Nanook coach's and players getting ready for the season!
(10-05-2019 11:28 PM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote: 1st Day of the Season Brings the 1st Shocker:
Duluth loses an exhibition to the Univ of Alberta: 5-3.
These exhibitions are basically "body bag games" or "buy games". As I understand it, the Canadian universities have peanuts for budgets and facilities.
The real talented Canadian hockey players are in the Canadian major junior leagues...or playing in American universities.
Most of these games with Canadian schools are blow-outs: Holy Cross beat Simon Fraser 9-0.
Not a good look for the defending champions and pre-season #1 team who are the favorites for a "three-peat".
It happens sometimes. A lot of those CIS teams are full of major junior washouts, and I want to say their season starts well before the NCAA's does. I've seen teams lose to a Canadian team to open the year and go on to make a tourney run.
Yes - Canadian University teams have often played 4-6 games before October when NCAA hockey starts, and many Canadian schools are comprised of ex-Major junior (and even some ex-minor league ECHL-type players) who now have 5 years of college eligibility to play in Canada. Thus while not as talented as the NCAA guys, they tend to be older and stronger than NCAA players and have chips on their shoulders, which can make for physical exhibition games at times.
Interesting games this weekend: 16 Wisconsin v. 10 Boston College
12 Ohio State v. 14 Western Mich.
AIC v. 9 Quinnipiac
11 Clarkson v. Michigan
Arizona State v. 3 Minnesota State
Interesting article: UConn loses recruiting battles to Boston College & Boston Univ., so goes fishing for players from Eastern Europe (Russia, Czech Repub., next year Belarus) https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2...g-Bloc.php
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College Hockey season has begun!
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