NoiseInsideMyHead

Ever vigilant, Columbia Mall has quietly been enforcing a 60-foot 'social distance' for years.

Would feel pretty stupid not to have touched the trophy at this point. Glad they celebrated the way they did.

THIS is why you can't have careers in sports journalism, kids. The jobs are being taken up by highly paid professionals from completely unrelated disciplines.

Normally I'd have gone to bed. But for some reason I'm glued to this Avs-Rangers regular season game as if it might be the last hockey for a while.

Loved Thome bowing to the UNO student section at the horn.

Credit where it's due...backup goaltender solid for the Mavs.

Even better. Two possible schools of thought with respect to managing the Department: 1. Hockey wins, we can exhale/slide. 2. Hockey wins, we need to press hard and shoot for blockbuster coaching hires and pull the stops to build a winning culture. I don't know where the current AD falls, but it seems a lot of people on here were quite unhappy with today's news.

For the public at large, and for non-FB die-hards, hockey success creates an aura of contentment and satisfaction and the tolerance for mediocrity in other sports will persist.

Lukewarm take: If hockey hangs no. 9 this year, or makes a really deep run, that buys everybody in the Department some time and space in which to deliver.

Did UMass really screw up their own graphic, or is “HOCKY EAST” a thing?

Optimism. Gotta love it.

How did only 4 '95 Central players make the 25th anniversary celebration? That's pathetic.

Just a head's up...tonight's game is on Midco 624 (in Grand Forks, at least), not 622.

The smart play in Omaha is to never spend two nights in the same place.

Profiting (or trying to profit) off of high school sports is pretty lame. If it's going out over the air later for free, these games should be free as well. I guess they really can't sell enough advertising to break even. In any medium.

In addition to the structural deficiencies (inefficiencies) of USA Hockey and ADM, youth hockey suffers from a lack of clear information and guidance for players and their parents. There are so many "paths" that it's darn near impossible to know which way is forward. Sure, you can listen to 'scouts" and "advisers" at camps all over the country, but good luck getting a straight answer about (1) whose interests are really being looked after, and (2) where the line falls between permissible "advising" and receiving services that jeopardize NCAA eligibility. Junior hockey can be a confusing morass, and parents are left wondering whether they'll be throwing money away by going all in with no meaningful chance of a scholarship, or whether they can help their child recognize any good opportunities at all. It's no secret (or surprise) that a lot of talented players simply fall through the cracks or never fall into the right pipeline, but I suppose that's why and where collegiate club and rec hockey thrives.