College Hockey News reported via Twitter today that Penn State is expected to announce their new coach this Monday. There may be no correlation to this, but UMD head coach Scott Sandelin reportedly interviewed in Penn State just a few days ago. Until further notice, he looks to be the most likely candidate.
There's been a lot of discussion about a "Secondary Six" conference made up of North Dakota, Nebraska-Omaha, Denver, Colorado College, Notre Dame, and Miami. From the limited investigating I did into the rumor, it seems like it's no more than just a rumor at this point, but a rumor that I'm sure will be investigated by those schools. CHN's Dan Myers talked to UNO AD Trev Alberts, who basically said the same thing, and said his program's biggest interest was remaining with North Dakota, Denver, and Colorado College.
Personally, I don't see the appeal of creating a conference based solely on who has been pretty good the past couple of years. Miami seems a particularly odd fit, having such a small arena and no traveling fanbase to speak of. Perhaps a bigger name conference keeps those schools slightly more competitive in the recruiting world--an argument I don't really buy-- but if a conference's real moneymaker is the conference tournament, how would that work in this conference? Denver and CC fans collectively probably wouldn't make the Pepsi Center viable. The best you could do is one team's home arena, which wouldn't be terrible at Ralph Englestad or the Qwest Center--assuming UNO stays there, which doesn't seem likely--but even that would be a huge step back from what those teams are used to making.
The Hockey News' Ryan Kennedy took in an NCAA hockey showcase for young Ontario players this week, and did a nice write-up on it. If you parse Max Domi's quote about "most OHL teams know I'm leaning towards Michigan..." you can see the direction this is heading. You can't blame Domi when he magically falls to London or some other team and magically "has a change of heart" since these tactics have been going on for years, but it should be interesting to see what happens now that more light is being shed on these charades.
Former Michigan State recruit Andrew Sinelli has committed to Michigan. Sinelli had visited Michigan years ago during his first recruitment, but was in that category of Rick Comley recruits that really wanted to play for Michigan, but got a substantially better scholarship offer from Michigan State.
The USHL announced their All-Rookie team. Jordan Schmaltz, Ben Marshall, and Jimmy Mullin are the western college recruits.
After being the home of budding country music star Chad Brownlee for four years, Minnesota State increased their country music street cred by playing some hockey with Dierks Bentley.
The USHL is looking to create a partnership with the Tier I Hockey League, though it sounds like an "official partnership" wouldn't really mean much, except the USHL playing a little more of a role in youth development for those teams.