The Exiled One

The world's worst kept secret is now officail, Blais will be the head coach for World Juniors. I imagine Lee is a shoe-in for starting goaltender now. The only other Husky I think has an outside shot at making it is Hanowski. Who'll represent the Sioux?

Looks like Nick Mattson will be in Youngstown next year... http://ushl.com/news/story.cfm?id=2539

http://kitchenerrangers.com/main.asp?page_...asp?newsid=1490 Finally, it's official.

No definition needed... "This long offseason is driving me Hirsch." "I have to replace the Hauser I use to strain my pasta because this one is way too Frazee." "You'll break your neck if you Lasch into shallow water."

Looks like he has to settle for AP Player of the Year.

That's three years in a row of losing to the eventual winner. Oh well, 30-1-0 is a pretty good season. Hano still leads the tournament in scoring. Let's see if he can tie up Mr. Hockey and call it a career.

It's on like Donkey Kong!!

For Schmidt, it was down to Minnesota, SCSU, and CC.

I'll see your three against Hutchinson and raise you two more against Virginia.

Later proven false.

Will he? What about his twin brother Curt? Curt is on the cusp of being a D1 prospect, but he's got a lot more to prove yet than does Kyle. Is the team that lands Kyle the team that's willing to take both Rau's as an inseparable set? Henrik and Daniel agreed to take less money than they could have made if they split up. So then the real question then becomes, have they been seen taking recruiting trips together? The answer to that question is... yes, and I know where.

No, Cody Campbell isn't from Roseau. Seriously, Mike Lee isn't eligible. The tournament is for 1991 birthyears, Lee is a late 90. I suspect they'll pick up Nick Leddy though, and maybe Patrick Wey. I can't think of any fowards they'd want to add outside of Chris Kreider, unless they sniped a '92 like Nieto or Saad.

A few more... 19. Garrett Sparks - Team Illinois 20. John Gibson - Pittsburgh 21. Nicholas Kulmanovsky 22. Michael Paliotta - Choate Prep 23. Andrew Ryan - Victory Honda 24. Colin Sullentrop - Compuware 25. Alex Lepokowski - Buffalo Saints 26. Jordan Schmaltz - Mission 27. Kyle Sucher - St Louis Selects 28. Colin Sullivan - CI Wolves 29. Jacob McDonald - Compuware ...only missing about 11 now.

Just got confirmation, add to the list... 13. Seth Ambroz - Omaha-USHL (thought this would have been a given) 14. Max Everson - Edina HS 15. Jokie Ryan - New Jersey 16. Dan Carlson - Maple Grove HS 17. Matt McNeely - St. Thomas (Maine recruit) 18. Dan Molenaar - Eden Prarie HS

Here's 12 of the 40 or so 1993 born players trying out for the NTDP... 1. Travis Boyd

I believe Omaha owns his rights.

Did you miss the part about the two way contract? I guess we'll have to wait and see. I just think that if any of these kids were good enough to get into the USHL, that's an avenue they would have pursued. I don't think this would have made a difference for any of the five Minnesotans who turned down the program this year.

So I'm starting to revise my graphic on the American Development Model, and it occurs to me that this is REALLY BAD for NCAA hockey. Why, you ask? Well, it's not unheard of for a very talented and physically mature 18 year old to go straight into the NHL. However, following the track of NTDP U17 in the NAHL to the NTDP U18 playing against some D1 opponents and being ready for the NHL at 18 was just too steep of a learning curve (like a JVR or a Colin Wilson). It's the same reason you rarely see kids go straight from the USHL to the NHL, even if they were drafted in the first round and appear physically mature (like a John Carlson). Now, however, they'll go from the NTDP U17 in the USHL to the NTDP U18 playing a (presumably more difficult) NCAA D1 schedule. The NTDP U18 studs will now be deemed MORE proven and NHL worthy than before, so I think you'll see a greater push to get them into a two-way AHL/NHL contract, because now there's a better chance that they can help the NHL squad. In other words, I think USA Hockey and the NHL are conspiring to bypass the NCAA all-togheter. In retrospect, that seems to be the ultimate goal of the NHL's $8 million dollar investment. Besides the money, USA Hockey also benefits by keeping more kids out of the CHL and by putting out better teams for international tournaments. I don't like it. There's no reason to remove the NTDP U17 team from a league where they currently hold the 6th best winning percentage. I smell a rat.

Crap, I'm going to have to revise my graphic. I do think that the U17 team (without the U18's helping out) will REALLY struggle in the USHL. It's not the same league it was ten years ago. Seth Ambroz is a shoe-in for the NTDP now (as if he wasn't before)... considering he's already having a lot of success in the USHL.

Damn! Maybe I should let CC get one more point!

UND 28 39 Denver 28 36 UW 28 32 SCSU 28 30 CC 28 30 UMD 28 30 UMN 28 28 Mankato 28 23 AA 28 21 MTech 28 11 I think 5 points from two teams the Huskies took 8 points from earlier in the season is realistic! SCSU has the tiebreakers over UMD and CC too!

Kyle Woodlief is a CHL shill and it wouldn't surprise me if he made up crap like this to make the CHL look better. Compare his rankings to the CSB rankings or (more importantly) actual draft day results, and you can easily see the pattern of undervaluing college bound talent. Despite that, he's probably accurate on Morin and Fowler.

They should have seen that coming! Maybe Michigan should avoid recruiting Zach Ranger and Tyler Spitfire just in case. My backup joke was: Breaking News - Zach Budish backs out of his committment to the University of Minnesota to play for the Medicine Hat Budishes.

He's a junior. Mr. Hockey is only awarded to seniors.