Brian's Corner Of Cyberspace

There's no doubt that this weekend defined the season for the Beavers. BSU had lost to Mankato right before Christmas...then tied Western...and split at Niagara.

Next up...#4 UMD!

Duluth was playing their best hockey of the season...and maybe even deserved to ranked higher than number four.

BSU won 4-1 at the Glas...then won 5-4 in overtime at the DECC. While the blog this summer is about what happened OFF the ice...this weekend was all about what happened ON the ice!

Here's the recap of the game...WITH HIGHLIGHTS!

My voice is still suffering!

I have to admit...I don't really like the trip to Niagara. Once you've seen The Falls...I don't much think you have to go back...EVER!

As it turns out, there's two reasons to go to Niagara. One, I already knew about. The other, I didn't until this trip.

If you ever go to Niagara, you HAVE TO eat at the Como. I don't really like Italian food...but I do like The Como Italian food.

The other reason to go to Niagara is to stay at the Barton Hill Hotel and Spa.

Considering that the "off-peak" rate at the Barton Hill is much cheaper than a "regular" hotel...Tom did good on this find!

http://uahhockey.com/blog/2010/07/09/chris-luongo-named-head-coach-of-uah-hockey/

While I really do hate the state of Michigan, this was a fun trip. I'm not a fan of long bus rides...and this was a LONG bus ride.

Everyone on the trip came back refreshed from a few weeks away from the rink. While Western Michigan wasn't a dominant force in the CCHA this year, their D-core was really good...and big!

Game one saw something I've never seen before...a scoreless draw. It's a cliche to say "both teams had their chances"...but they really did.

The most memorable thing from this trip was on the way home. It was 30 below in Bemidji when we got home. The heater on the bus couldn't keep up with that kind of cold (I'm not sure what would keep up with that kind of cold!)...so it was REALLY cold in the bus for the last hour or so.

Ryan Marvin (grad assistant coach) had flown home to California for Christmas. He met us in Kalamazoo. Needless to say, he wasn't dressed for the cold ride home!

All good things must come to an end. Isn't that the saying? BSU had their highest ranking...EVER...going into the weekend. They were ranked fourth in the country. That all came to an end after the Mavericks swept BSU 5-1 and 3-2.

Mankato did all the little things right ALL weekend long.

It's always nice to see the MSU-Mankato staff. Their Sports Information Director is Paul Allen. I like this Paul Allen. The announcer for the Vikings that goes by the same name...not so much!

After this weekend, it was nice to get a few weeks off. Everyone needed it!

Coach Danton Cole has accepted a job as the head coach of the US National Under 17 team in his home state of Michigan. Check USCHO for updates from UAH fans...but UAH has said that a replacement will be named later this week.

One has to wonder if this will hurt UAH in the long run...in fact I can't imagine that it won't hurt them in "Independent Land"...!!!

Boy, what a Beaver Pride luncheon. As usual, Dave Burkholder made an appearance at the Beaver Pride luncheon. Burkie was talking about how good BSU was playing...and that BSU had a chance at an at-large bid. I was the emcee of the luncheon, and was telling people about the trip to Grand Forks (check last weeks recap blog entry). The one thing that I didn't mention last week was a conversation that I had with Jim Scanlan (former BSU goalie...and current north Dakota TV analyst).

Jim and I were talking while we were in Grand Forks about how nice it would be...in the CHA's last year...to get TWO teams into the NCAA tournament.

While I was telling the story of that conversation to those in attendance at the luncheon, I said, "Wouldn't it be a giant middle finger to the hockey world to get an at-large bid. The hockey world doesn't want ONE team from the CHA in...much less TWO!"

To this...Burkie got up out of his chair...and clapped! He should know. His team was the first (and only) CHA team to get an at-large bid...and win. BSU got the second (and last) at-large bid in CHA history.

I don't like a lot of these...but I do like the delayed penalty still being called after a goal (imagine not shooting a free throw after being fouled in basketball after you make the shot).

Anyway, Brad Elliott Schlossman from the Grand Forks Herald had a nice story (with quotes from Tom)

College hockey: Coaches upset over proposals

Going against the wishes of the vast majority of Division I men’s coaches — and all 12 Western Collegiate Hockey Association coaches — the NCAA Rules Committee recommended major rules changes for this upcoming season.

Among others, the committee forwarded a suggestion that the NCAA no longer allow a team to ice the puck while killing a penalty.

News of the recommendation — which needs the approval of the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel in July in order to go into effect — caught coaches across the country off guard Friday. During their April meetings, the coaches resoundingly voted down the icing proposal.

WCHA coaches voted 12-0 against it. Atlantic Hockey coaches voted 12-0 against it. And Central Collegiate Hockey Association coaches voted 11-0 against it.

“I think it’s just a crime,” Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore said. “I’ve been in college hockey for 18 years and I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. It was almost unanimous for the entire coaching body. How can the committee overturn the entire coaching body? I think it’s sad, the lack of respect that the committee had for the coaching body.

“We didn’t spend any time even talking about it because it was so radical. We just voted 12-0 and moved on.”

Both Serratore and UND coach Dave Hakstol raised several concerns.

One is the safety issue. Since players are not allowed to change after an icing call, a player could be stuck on the ice for two or three minutes straight on a penalty kill.

Another concern is that the icing rule hasn’t been tried on an experimental basis to determine if it works. No North American hockey league uses it.

“It’s quite a shock,” Hakstol said. “I haven’t said much, but I’m going to speak my mind on this. I’m upset about us not having a say in it as a Division I coaching body. On a national basis, we were very strongly against it, if not unanimously against it.

“I’d be in favor of having some language that would allow us to experiment with a couple things in exhibition games. I’d like to be able to make some more educated decisions. But we haven’t tried these rules. They’ve never been tried at a high level. And if this change is made, it’s a two-year commitment.”

The NCAA is only allowed to alter the rules every two years. This offseason is one of those years.

Alaska-Fairbanks athletic director Forrest Karr, a former Notre Dame goalie, explained the committee’s decision in a statement.

“In keeping with the committee’s philosophy to encourage skill and create scoring chances, this will enhance power-play opportunities,” Karr said. “After lengthy discussion, the committee concluded that the previous rule inappropriately provided relief for a team that committed an infraction.”

The rule also would apply to the women, as the NCAA has a universal rulebook.

“I never thought in a million years that this would pass,” said UND women’s coach Brian Idalski, who also said this will likely slow down the game.

Serratore said he was on the phone with coaches for much of the day.

“I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way we can overturn this,” he said, “because this is preposterous. I can’t believe this went.”

Hits to the head

Another major recommendation is that the penalty of “contact to the head” becomes an automatic five-minute major and game misconduct, at minimum.

WCHA coaches forwarded the suggestion that referees have discretion whether to call a minor, a major or add an additional penalty on to the major, but that was not followed.

Hits to the head have come into focus after players in the NHL and college hockey suffered major injuries because of headshots, including UND captain Chay Genoway.

Genoway suffered a concussion in November last season on an illegal hit to the head and was unable to return for the rest of the season.

“There’s no easy answer to addressing the issue,” Hakstol said. “It is an important issue to deal with, but I’m very afraid of taking hitting out of the game. I don’t like jumping off the deep end. I think you have to address it with some very good facts and a certain degree of moderation. I’m not in favor of not leaving any options for our officials.”

Serratore agreed with Hakstol.

“It’s a situation that should be at the discretion of the referee,” he said.

Other changes

n The Rules Committee also proposed hybrid icing. Instead of touch-up icing, referees will determine which player is going to reach the puck first by using the faceoff dots as a reference point. A similar form is used in the United States Hockey League.

n It has been proposed that teams change sides for overtime.

n Another proposal calls for a team that scores on a delayed penalty to still get a power play. This rule is not used in other leagues.

“I’m not in favor of that either,” Serratore said. “I think if a goal is scored 6-on-5, that should wipe out the penalty. But that’s a situation that might happen once a year. I can deal with that.

“The icing, though. . . that’s too radical, too drastic. I’ve never seen something so far-fetched and so off-the-wall. I’m very disappointed in some of the rules and hopefully we can get some of them overturned.”

It goes without saying that the results of this tournament (at least the result against Miami) went a long way to defining the season for BSU. But this blog for the summer is more about what happened OFF the ice.

Off the ice, what a weekend it was. Biss and I drove over on Friday morning. Being the day after Thanksgiving, we didn't want to drive over on Thursday with the team. The team ate Thanksgiving dinner at the home of a girlfriend of one of the players.

After the game on Friday afternoon, Biss and I went to the team hotel to check in. They had overbooked...and had moved us to a hotel down the road. I've never stayed at this particular chain of hotels...but let's jsut say it's not the Holiday Inn!

The room was smaller than we were expecting...the wireless internet didn't work...the "security" door didn't close...and it was either REALLY hot, or REALLY cold in the room. The thermostat didn't work very well.

Biss' favorite eating establishment in Grand Forks is the Bronze Boot. It's an older steakhouse. Every entree comes with soup OR tomato juice...plus a salad...plus a vegetable and a HUGE steak! He can never remember the name though. He always calls it the Brass Boot. Anyway, the food was good (as always) and then we went out to a bar down the street from the hotel.

On Saturday morning, my wife and Biss' wife met us in Grand Forks. They wanted to do some Christmas shopping. Being that it was lunchtime...we met at the Red Pepper restaurant. Biss and Kristi had never eaten there. My wife (Kelly) had eaten there once.

If you've never heard of the place, or eaten there before...try Google. The place is a DIVE...but the food is unbelievable!

Biss and Kristi were a little scared of the place...and didn't know what to order. I ordered for them, and they were even more scared!

After eating (they loved the food!)...we went our separate ways. Biss and I went to the rink. The wives went to the mall. While walking out of the restaurant, we noticed something laying in the gutter right in front of the station's van. A condom (appeared to be used...but I didn't check that closely!) was in the gutter.

Good thing they didn't see that BEFORE we ate!

Going into the season, everybody knew that Huntsville was going to have a tough year. Not on the ice...but off. Without a home for 2010-2011, how would the team react?

Well, they reacted just fine. It all comes from the coach. Danton Cole spoke at the Beaver Pride luncheon and said all the right things. He talked about how he wants his team to play...and act...like BSU.

Nobody knows what is in store for UAH...but as long as Danton Cole is there, they should be in good shape.

Granted, their record isn't great in his tenure. Off the ice, though, he seems to be a good fit to lead UAH through the uncertainty that lies ahead.