The calendar turns over today, at least for most people. I think my America: The Calendar desk calendar is still on Tuesday. Anyway, it's September now, and I officially deem this the end of summer and the start of fall, meaning the start of the college hockey season starts soon. In retrospect, I really should have waited until today to start posting the season previews, but I got excited and posted them a little early. I set the standard pretty high, by posting two of them per day, which was all fine and good for the stuff I wrote over the summer, but now we're getting to the point where we're at the stuff I haven't finished, so they may be a little slower in coming. I think they're solid efforts though, and hopefully people enjoy reading them.
Shooter Walters says Minnesota defenseman Nate Hagemo has been cleared to play after missing the better part of a year and a half due to a shoulder injury. I'm still skeptical about Hagemo's return. Reports earlier this summer were that the shoulder hadn't really healed in the 15 or so months since he really hurt it at the World Junior Championships in 2005. I'd be surprised if it's miraculously healed over the past two months. I'd really like to be wrong about this and see Hagemo return at 100% this season, but given the nagging nature of shoulder injuries, I'm not confident it will happen.
I hope I'm not the only one noticing how underrated Elliot Olshansky is as a hockey journalist. His latest article deals with the recent trend this summer of goalies leaving due to lack of playing time(Vicari, Boron, and Keserich out here in the West). There's a lot of interesting quotes in there from coaches on whether it's better to rotate two goalies or have a clear cut starter. Growing up with the Sharples/Shields/Turco/Blackburn/Montoya succession at Michigan, I like have a clear cut starter, but there's also a case to be made for having two goalies.
George Gwozdecky had a particularly interesting quote:
Is that just his famous Gwozspeak to motivate his goalies, or will one of Denver's goalies this season(probably Glenn Fisher), not see as much playing time? I have a feeling it might be the latter.
How cool is this? A bunch of Badger fans carved out a nice little Bucky Badger hockey logo into a corn field in Wisconsin. Though I imagine it's less impressive from ground-level, I think that if you're ever near Deerfield, Wisconsin, you've got to check this thing out.
As an update on the press pass thing I posted about yesterday, Runnin' with the Dogs isn't a fan, and really, I can't blame her. I'm probably not applying for any Mankato games, because what fun would they be if I couldn't loudly proclaim what a failure at life referee Marco Hunt is? That said, I'm totally down for heading to some St. Cloud and Minnesota games on off weekends. My first attempt at real college hockey journalism will be October 6th at the XCel Center for the US Hockey Hall of Fame Game between Minnesota and Maine. So if I'm unnaturally nice to the fine, upstanding people at the U for the next month or so, you'll know why.
Shooter Walters says Minnesota defenseman Nate Hagemo has been cleared to play after missing the better part of a year and a half due to a shoulder injury. I'm still skeptical about Hagemo's return. Reports earlier this summer were that the shoulder hadn't really healed in the 15 or so months since he really hurt it at the World Junior Championships in 2005. I'd be surprised if it's miraculously healed over the past two months. I'd really like to be wrong about this and see Hagemo return at 100% this season, but given the nagging nature of shoulder injuries, I'm not confident it will happen.
I hope I'm not the only one noticing how underrated Elliot Olshansky is as a hockey journalist. His latest article deals with the recent trend this summer of goalies leaving due to lack of playing time(Vicari, Boron, and Keserich out here in the West). There's a lot of interesting quotes in there from coaches on whether it's better to rotate two goalies or have a clear cut starter. Growing up with the Sharples/Shields/Turco/Blackburn/Montoya succession at Michigan, I like have a clear cut starter, but there's also a case to be made for having two goalies.
George Gwozdecky had a particularly interesting quote:
"It's worked well for us," Gwozdecky said of his two-man system, "it's been a comfort for us, but it doesn't necessarily mean - and I want to emphasize that - that we will do that for this year."
Is that just his famous Gwozspeak to motivate his goalies, or will one of Denver's goalies this season(probably Glenn Fisher), not see as much playing time? I have a feeling it might be the latter.
How cool is this? A bunch of Badger fans carved out a nice little Bucky Badger hockey logo into a corn field in Wisconsin. Though I imagine it's less impressive from ground-level, I think that if you're ever near Deerfield, Wisconsin, you've got to check this thing out.
As an update on the press pass thing I posted about yesterday, Runnin' with the Dogs isn't a fan, and really, I can't blame her. I'm probably not applying for any Mankato games, because what fun would they be if I couldn't loudly proclaim what a failure at life referee Marco Hunt is? That said, I'm totally down for heading to some St. Cloud and Minnesota games on off weekends. My first attempt at real college hockey journalism will be October 6th at the XCel Center for the US Hockey Hall of Fame Game between Minnesota and Maine. So if I'm unnaturally nice to the fine, upstanding people at the U for the next month or so, you'll know why.