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The CCHA became the first college hockey conference to officially announce that they will use an NHL-style shootout to decide tie games during league play.

This was almost a foregone conclusion after the NCAA rules committee approved shootouts to decide regular season games. Shootouts are a topic that has been beaten to death, but while they are gimmicky, this should make CCHA hockey even more exciting this year.

Ottawa-born forward Mitch Zion has chosen to play NCAA hockey and has committed to Clarkson for the 2010 season. Zion was selected first overall in the CJHL draft by the Ottawa Jr. Senators, and 88th in the OHL draft by the Sarnia Sting.

I think this is a step in the right decision I just hope the buffoons that run the WCHA follow suit soon. I don’t care what the hockey purest say. Also, I think it is a way to make the games a little more exciting. I find ties boring and love when the NHL regular season games go to a shoot out, just another element to the game. Obviously, this is not a good way to decide a playoff games and rightfully playoff games will still be played in sudden death like the NHL is.

There will be a few hockey puriests that are going to say that this will ruin the college hockey and they will no longer watch the game any more; fine… Have fun watching basket brawl or some other exciting sport. This rule change WILL NOT ruin the college game and it will actually make it better and the shoot out has been a huge success already in the NHL. It has been going on for three seasons while some have complained the fans have embraced it. I also believe this is a good way to decide a winner. Also, rightfully so the shoot out will not affect the PWR rankings and SOL will still count as a tie. So the so called purests will still have their sister kissing tie.

Shootouts will be used to break ties in the CCHA next season.
Aug. 14, 2008
Farmington Hills, Michigan - The Central Collegiate Hockey Association announced today that an NHL style three-player shootout will be used in the 2008-09 season to determine a winner for all of the 168 regular-season conference games that are tied after 60 minutes of regulation play and five minutes of overtime.

“The shootout has proved to be an exciting addition to hockey at a variety of levels and we are anxious to bring it into college hockey. The drama it creates is very popular with fans, and importantly, today’s players love it,” stated CCHA Commissioner Tom Anastos, whose conference becomes the first of college hockey’s six Division I men’s leagues to adopt the shootout. “At the same time, the NCAA rules and ice hockey committees have allowed us to implement this tie-breaker protocol so that every regular-season league game will have a winner while preserving the integrity of the national rankings because CCHA games decided by a shootout will still be considered ties for NCAA purposes. Bonus points awarded will impact the conference standings only.”

The shootout concept has been enthusiastically endorsed by Greg Hammaren, the Vice President and General Manager of FSN Detroit, which will televise 17 CCHA regular-season and playoff games in 2008-09.

“This is a bold decision and I think it’s a great one,” said Hammaren. “College hockey is already one of the most exciting sports in America, adding the shootout just adds to the excitement.”

The CCHA has also approved the following point system for regular-season play; Two (2) points for a win in regulation or overtime, one (1) point for each school if the game is tied at the conclusion of the five-minute overtime period and one (1) point is awarded to the team who wins the shootout.

I found this preseason top 16 ranking to be amusing. I would put UND in the top 10, Mankato, SCSU, Harvard and Cornell ahead of UND is interesting. 6 Teams from the WCHA…

The College Hockey Blog’s 2008 Preseason Top 16

Here they all are for quick and easy viewing… rankings by conference are below

1. Boston College

2. Minnesota

3. Michigan

4. Colorado College

5. Notre Dame

6. St. Cloud State

7. Wisconsin

8. Boston University

9. New Hampshire

10. Princeton

11. Denver

12. Cornell

13. Harvard

14. Minnesota State

15. Northeastern

16. North Dakota

Here is a rumor that I find very disturbing. If this happens I am going very disappointed in Doug Risebrough, because contrary to what the so called geniuses say, Gabby is worth the money he is going to be asking for, and probably more. The fair market value is going to determine his worth as well. What do you think the Wild look like without Gabby? They would look like a horse bleep team playing in a half empty building.

In my opinion I think Gaborik is worth every bit of 8-9 million a year and possibly more, the Wild have no one else that can match his offensive skills. What is Gabby is worth to the Wild if he walks away from the team? That is a night mare in the making. The Wild GM must make a very serious attempt in signing Marian Gaborik. Maybe there is a reason Hossa didn’t want to play for the Wild.

Easily the most alarming rumor is the one from the New York Times’ hockey blog that reported that Marian Gaborik’s agent was sort of out hunting for interest from Russian Superleague teams. Such an action may have seemed rather laughable; but with Russia enjoying the wealth of oil dollars fueling its pro hockey league ambitions they shocked more than a few when they brought Jaromir Jagr to Avangard Omsk. Why? Russian teams often to pay any taxes on the contracts allowing their star players to potentially make more than they would in the NHL. For years European leagues have felt picked on by the NHL but with a weakening U.S. dollar some of the European leagues are striking back and hoping to ’steal’ back talent. You didn’t think the Russian League was just going to stop by simply bringing in Branko Radivojevic and Chris Simon did you?

The Russian threat is a realistic one, and while Gaborik may not enjoy playing in front of as big of audiences in Russia as he would in North America the KHL would likely make a very lucrative offer towards him that perhaps the Wild cannot match. Even if this scouting for potential interest is simply a precaution it is one the Wild must take seriously.

Perhaps that is why Wild President and General Manager Doug Risebrough has gone to Europe, to Slovakia to ‘talk’ with his star player. You can be assured he’s not just going over there to have a cup of coffee at the Starbucks in Trencin. The team is hoping to sign him to an extension which would pay him a salary commensurate with the top players in the league like Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin and Vincent Lecavalier. This deal is said to be in the realm of around $8.5 million per season. Let’s hope the Wild’s plan to get a deal done with Gaborik isn’t just a rumor!

I forgot to mention this last week, but USA Hockey named their roster that will play at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament.

Here is the roster:

2008 United States Under-18 Select Team

No. Name Ht (cm) Wt (kg) Birthdate S/C Hometown 2007-08 Team
GOALTENDERS (2)
1 John Cullen 5-11 (180) 180 (82) 4/20/91 L Hamburg, N.Y. Maksymum (N.Y.) Hockey Club (Jr. B)
30 Casey DeSmith 5-11 (180) 160 (73) 8/13/91 L Rochester, N.H. Seacoast Spartans (N.H.)/Berwick Academy (Maine)

DEFENSEMEN (7)
2 Collin Bowman 6-3 (190) 200 (91) 6/13/91 R Littleton. Colo. Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
3 Brian Dumoulin 6-3 (190) 197 (89) 9/6/91 L Biddeford, Maine Biddeford (Maine) H.S./Seacoast Spartans (N.H)
4 Nick Leddy 5-11 (180) 180 (82) 3/20/91 L Eden Prairie, Minn. Eden Prairie (Minn.) High School
5 Eamonn McDermott 5-10 (178) 170 (77) 12/17/91 R Shaker Heights, Ohio Cleveland Barons (midget)
6 Paul Phillips 6-0 (183) 200 (91) 7/16/91 L Darien, Ill. Cedar Rapids Rough Riders (USHL)
7 Brendan Rempel 6-3 (190) 200 (91) 4/24/91 R Willington, Conn. Avon (Conn.) Old Farms School
8 Beau Schmitz 5-10 (178) 185 (84) 3/26/91 R Howell, Mich. U.S. National Under-17 Team

FORWARDS (12)
9 Shane Berschbach 5-9 (175) 140 (64) 5/19/91 L Clawson, Mich. Detroit Little Caesars (midget)
10 Tyler Brown 6-0 (183) 195 (88) 4/4/91 L Westland, Mich. Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
11 Zach Budish 6-4 (194) 225 (102) 5/9/91 R Edina, Minn. Edina (Minn.) High School
12 Caleb Herbert 5-10 (178) 165 (75) 10/12/91 R Bloomington, Minn. Bloomington Jefferson (Minn.) High School
14 Sean Little 5-11 (180) 185 (84) 4/15/91 R Fond du Lac, Wis. Madison (Wis.) Capitols (AAA)
15 Christopher McCarthy 6-1 (185) 175 (80) 7/30/91 R Collegeville, Pa. Berkshire School (Mass.)
16 Nick Oliver 6-2 (188) 195 (88) 5/4/91 L Wannaska, Minn. Roseau (Minn.) High School
17 Garrett Peterson 5-11 (180) 184 (83) 9/13/91 R Manhattan, Ill. Team Illinois
18 Tyler Pitlick 6-2 (188) 180 (82) 11/1/91 R Centerville, Minn. Centennial (Minn.) High School
19 Ryan Walters 5-11 (180) 185 (84) 7/30/91 L Rosemount, Minn. St. Thomas Academy (Minn.)
20 Steven Whitney 5-7 (170) 160 (73) 2/18/91 R Wakefield, Mass. Lawrence Academy (Mass.)
21 Alex Wideman 5-7 (170) 150 (68) 12/13/91 L St. Louis, Mo. St. Louis AAA Blues (midget)

This looks like a pretty good roster. The US doesn’t choose NTDP players for this event in order to give exposure to a different mix of kids, and it should do just that. It should allow a couple players like Zach Budish, Collin Bowman, and Walters a little more exposure for next summer’s draft, while allowing some lesser-known players the opportunity to wear a Team USA jersey overseas and hopefully get some more college exposure.

There’s two new blogs out there that are worth adding to our feed reader. The first is the blog Bronco Hockey, which covers Western Michigan. The content so far has been excellent, but I’m sure by mid-November, it will devolve into constant Culhane/Beauregard bashing.

The other is The World of Junior Hockey, which is great if you’re interested in following prospects, not just for college hockey, but all of hockey.

I may not be big in the United States, but I’m huge in Alaska. Ok, maybe not in Anchorage, where they’re not quite sure who I am, but definitely Fairbanks, where I’m apparently part of the Doc DelCastillo fiasco.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner has been fighting to get documents relating to the resignation of head coach Doc DelCastillo. There’s a lot of legal wrangling between the paper and the university over control of some emails and other correspondence in regards to DelCastillo. But regardless of what comes out, the fact that these documents exist lends credibility to the idea that DelCastillo didn’t just wake up one day and decided he didn’t want to coach in Alaska any more. On one hand, it’s probably in everyone’s best interest to just let this thing go and move on, but on the other hand, it’s the newspaper’s job to report news, so it probably will.

Speaking of Anchorage, Damon Whitten escaped, and was named Michigan State’s Director of Hockey Operations. Whitten has always been a fighter, just not a very good one.

Former St. Cloud State Huskies Duvie Wescott and Mark Hartigan will be playing for Dinamo Riga. That might be a good choice for them. In Mother Russia, you don’t play in playoffs; playoffs play you.

Robbie Bina signed with the Edmonton Oilers. He’s expected to split time between the AHL and ECHL, but still, it’s pretty cool that he’ll be collecting paychecks for playing hockey after coming back from such a horrifying injury as a sophomore.

The Select 14 Festival has the lowest profile of the four national Select Festivals, since obviously it’s the youngest group of players, and because players from Minnesota don’t participate, but it’s a national festival nonetheless, so worth taking a look at.

The leading scorers are here.

The leading scorer for the tournament was Ray Pigozzi of the Chicago Mission program. It looks like his linemates Frankie Vatrano of Boston and Brett D’Andrea.

Also among the top ten scorers were Nicholas Schilkey and Connor Wood of the Honeybaked program. They were part of the Honeybaked that won the Quebec International Tournament two years ago.

Dennis Kravchenko, one of the top players in southern California also had a good week with 8 points. Ulf Samuelsson’s son Henrik is regarded as a top prospect in his age group and had a respectable showing with 5 points.

St. Louis AAA Blues forward Alex Wideman committed to Miami for the 2010 season.

The small forward was outstanding at the Select 17 Festival two weeks ago, and was named to the US U-18 tournament team for this summer for his efforts. His playmaking ability should help the Redhawk offense in years to come.

Nebraska-Omaha defenseman Juha Uotila will be turning pro next season, it’s just not clear who he will he playing for. Regardless, he won’t be playing for Omaha next season.

The Finnish defenseman struggled with the academic side of things at Omaha. He wasn’t able to play with the Mavericks until after Christmas last season due to academic ineligibility, and apparently, some interest from NHL teams was all it took to convince him to test the professional waters. He will either sign with an NHL team, or head back to Finland to play in the Finnish Elite League.

The Omaha World-Herald also mentions that UNO forward Blake Martin has left the program to pursue other options after not playing much last year due to injuries.