Minnesota-Duluth has suffered their first early departure after winning the national title last week. Mike Connolly signed a free agent deal with the San Jose Sharks. It's hard to believe nobody ever drafted him, except for one sage writer. Mark your calendars for his first annual dive-off with Robbie Earl in the AHL next year.
The next question is how many more will follow? I mentioned before the Frozen Four that this year was probably going to be Duluth's best shot for a while. There are some players on that team whose stock will never be higher, especially since Duluth would seem primed for a more average season next year.
The Denver Post created a bit of a fury in North Dakota when they printed an article with this headline because.....that didn't happen? That's just the way it goes sometimes. Malone threw so many illegal checks that didn't break anyone's neck, but everyone just wants to focus on the one that did. Of course, this is also example #1000 of the Denver Post being totally dickish for the sake of controversy. In fact, "Totally dickish for the sake of controversy" should probably be on their masthead. Like that Bernie McBain story yesterday, nobody really looks good here.
Denver recruit Garrett Allen was considering playing D-3 hockey next year, but ended up signing his letter of intent with Denver instead. Allen had a disappointing year this year in the USHL after a big season in 09-10.
Blaine's Jonny Brodzinski followed in his father's footsteps by committing to St. Cloud.Other Minnesota high school players to make commitments recently: G Alex Lyon-Yale, F Justin Kloos-Minnesota, F Bob Kinne-Bemidji State
Also, if there are any Harvey Birdman fans out there, Boston College got a commitment from kid named Spiro, that went to an East Coast prep school. That's just fantastic.
Tom Miller of the Grand Forks Herald reported via Twitter yesterday that East Grand Forks defenseman Gage Ausmus committed to play for the NTDP U17s next year. Ausmus will bring a lot of size to the blueline.
Finally, I've been a little light on CCHA news lately, so here's all the news going on at CCHA schools: Spring football practice started.