Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Linkages: 'Cause I've Got Zip

We're in the doldrums. Other than Don Lucia bitching in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that UAA wouldn't give it's permission for them to talk to Walsky there's not much going on UAA-wise. Isn't that awful? It's a good thing that Head Coaches don't have to get permission to talk to other schools about Assistant Coaching jobs.

Over at the DU Blog, mah man dggoddard added a WCHA referee to his "All Bad Boyz" team. This particular ref has a resume' that includes a criminal record for Bookmaking and Gambling. EDIT: DG has added a post about Shea Hamilton's transfer to UND in which he characterizes Shea as a "penalty ridden, sucky underachiever". Harsh but funny.

MeanEgirl over at the Michigan Tech Blog put in a helluva lotta work to detail MTU's new skating treadmill. She's got pictures. She's got interviews with staff. She's got loads and loads of info all which she says indicates that MTU is "better" than UND (or anyone without a skating treadmill). I guess Uncle Ralph was satisfied with a $100 million in Italian marble and forgot about important stuff like teaching kids to skate uphill. I kid. It's a good post which required much more time and effort than I'm ever likely to put into a post.

Looks like goaltender Jordan Parise at UND is turning pro early (hopefully to a pro team that HAS a treadmill). Otherwise Goon is spending a lot of time hoping the 'Canes finish off Edmonton soon (which they probably will). Unfortunately, I cheer for underdogs and teams that don't have brutally ugly guys named Brindamour playing for them.

My favorite Minisoda Blog; RunningWiththeDogs has a post describing (with three top ten lists) why she likes Blogging. Good stuff but if she keeps up with the lists then I'll feel like I can't use the same "list" format. Sigh.

Gloryboy Bobby (Goepfert not Motzko) and his agent are apparently insisting that the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement should mean that he became a free agent on June 1st of this year. Pittsburgh holds his rights and says he doesn't become a free agent until next June 1st. Apparently nobody in St. Cloud seems to realize that if the kid and his agent are fighting for free agency status that means he's hot and bothered to get out of skankville (I mean St. Cloud).

So I think all this is confirmation that the offseason is not over yet.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

About Walsky. The NCAA has a "One-Time Transfer Exception". A player may be immediately able to play at their new school if he "receives a release agreement from the school from which he is transferring".

That release has not been granted, thus he sits a year. Like 99% of all transfers.

Suze

Eric J. Burton said...

Sweet post. Don complaining again, there is a huge shock.

Donald Dunlop said...

The Big Bad World of College Hockey is sooooo mean to the Go-fers.

DC said...

Sorry, I'm obsessed with lists.

Anonymous said...

And from what I have heard, the NCAA is still investigating the drinking scandal. It is not quite over and forgotten yet.

Anonymous said...

it says that in one of those articles. i think the shea hamilton one... that walsky and smith are interested in transferring??? where is walsky going or smith. is smith staying or leaving.

Donald Dunlop said...

There aren't ANY rumors regarding Smith. He's on the recently updated roster and in my mind he is a FIRST line player in 06-07.

Donald Dunlop said...

RWD:
I was obsessed with lists before you were born. But feel free to continue with your excellent "homage" to the very first list-making cavemen (in distinctly NON-Letterman style).

1. Keep friggin fire goin ...
2. Find a cave with a nice stream in it ...
3. Get some meat ...
4. Bonk a female on the head ...
5. Hey, keep THE friggin fire goin ...
6. Get some meat ...
7. Ponder the meaning of existence ...
8. Bond a female on the head ...
9. Get some meat ...
10. Bonk a female on the head ...

Anonymous said...

Walskers is playing over @ Subway Centre (South Anchorage) if you want to say 'hey' to him.

Check him out on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Said he's having 2nd feelings about leaving Anchor-town. Boy had better figure it out pretty quick.

I guess when you're playing summer hockey in your beautiful hometown with Scotty Gomez, Matt Carle, Brian Swanson, and too many UAA former and current players, as well as Aces, etc. -- what can you say - the dude is happy to be home.

Erik Felde is fun to watch!! Waldrop is on fire, as is former UAA'er, now Ace, JJ Johnson.

Both ex-goalies are also here; Reiter and King. And it's looking like DeCaro may be staying on with the Aces next season.

If anything, Walsky is having the time of his life with all these hometown boys!

LK

Donald Dunlop said...

UAA will have improved greatly by the time Eric laces em up for UofM. Those future series will be very interesting and hopefully the results will be a reason for Eric to second guess himself even more.

The SEHL is a great thing and shows what a tight knit hockey community there is in Anchorage. Even though there are some serious rivalries between all the different outfits in the area they come together for everyone's benefit. Lars (and everyone associated) is to be congratulated for making it happen.

There's also some Junior players I'd like to get a look at. I don't often get off work earlier than 9pm but I'll definitely go by at my next chance.

DC said...

Are you old? I was unaware.

Donald Dunlop said...

RWD:
Yes. Some days. Other days ... not so much.

Anonymous said...

the seawolves are gonna be better than everyone thinks next year. with the freshman coming in ,some of them could make a huge impact right away. felde,clark???? there gonna be fun to watch these new kids. add a new waldrop, and smith on the backend. too bad walsky wasn't staying.

Anonymous said...

Felde will be making a difference with the team he will be playing for in the WHL. He will not be on campus come september. Watch for him in Tri-City.

Donald Dunlop said...

If Erik were an NHL sure thing then maybe he'd go play in the WHL for a year. But he's 19 and the WHL cutoff is 20.

Foolish Buttwiping trolls from Circle Pines, Minnesota should just shut their festering gobs.

Anonymous said...

DTP:

Correction on my post @ 0100 hours last night. Meant to say that the SEHL play on Wednesdays & Thursdays. (I said Tues/Wed)

I have a hunch you already knew that though. ;)

To Anonymous @ 4:34: I sure hope you're correct that the Seawolves may be better than anticipated.

If you're in Anchorage then I'm sure you're aware of our other local team, the Alaska Aces of the ECHL (formerly WCHL). Kudos to the former Seawolves (now Aces) who helped them win the national championship this year!! It took years, but hey- anything can happen.

Photo of the seven Alaska born players on the Aces- (Matt Shasby, JJ Johnson, the Heisten bros, Louie Mass, Mike Lee, Corbin Schmidt)- http://myspace-991.vo.llnwd.net/00809/19/95/809185991_l.jpg

As far as Walsky heading out, just be glad it wasn't Waldrop! =WHEW=

Thank you to "Drop the Puck" for maintaining such a great blog!

Larissa

Donald Dunlop said...

Larissa
Thanks for the comments. I think the SEHL is the coolest thing since sliced bread. I'm also glad to see a team that was originally formed (and often stocked) by former UAA players have the success they've had the last couple of years. I wouldn't call me an "Aces fan" though because I just can't walk into a rink where Bob Lester is the announcer.

Just so nobody misunderstands ... I'm all about Alaskan grown hockey players and thought long and hard about calling this Blog "Alaska Hockey" but in the end I decided to make the focus exclusively UAA since I don't have the time to follow all the hockey in Anchorage.

Thanks again and keep reading and commenting!

Anonymous said...

Hunter Bishop to UND. Another Alaska kid going elsewhere.

Donald Dunlop said...

I would have thought that UAF had the better chance to land Hunter so it isn't really a "loss" for UAA especially considering the UAA roster is already full. Of course, it

Anonymous said...

Why didn't UAF recruit Bishop?

Its seems obvious once you look at their class for 2006. They have 3 scholarship forwards coming in. Knelsen(89) Lee (88) and Campos (87). All three are better and younger than Bishop. Campos who played in the same league had better numbers, Lee is ranked in NHL Central Scouting and Knelsen will be the best player ever recruited to either Alaska School! It's too bad for Hunter but his timing was very unlucky.

Donald Dunlop said...

While UAF's incoming class certainly looks nice on paper it's a bit much to call a player that hasn't even laced them up in D-1 better than any other player for two teams that have had a pretty fair number of good players in their histories.

Anonymous said...

Knekson's numbers do look impressive, with 39 goals and 35 assists in 60 games. However, UAA's Kevin Clark is coming in with even better stats. He had 40 goals and 36 assists in 50 games.

Lunden is not too shabby with 34-47 in 56 games. UAA's incoming class is one of the best I've seen from any Alaska University in a long time.

Suze

Anonymous said...

Suze,

Its very important to look at the age of the player. Knelsen did what he did as 16 yr old in a very good league. I agree UAA has some talent coming in, better than they have had recently. You should also remember that Clark was cut by the Omaha Lancers last year and ended up back in the MJHL. Good numbers in the MJHL don't alsways translate well to the NCAA. Just ask Adam Corrin.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

Good numbers in ANY junior league don't always translate into goals at the college level. Sometimes guys try to make the jump to college TOO soon, and find it was a big mistake. It's a gamble.

Suze

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link to the DU blog. That write up on Shea was precious!

Anonymous said...

I just learned that if Walsky is not given his transfer, he cannot get any scholarship money for a year, nor can he practice with the team for that one year. No wonder Lucia is mad. Too bad.

Eric J. Burton said...

One would bet that Lucia isn't too happy.

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