My Guys!

So we only have 8 days until hockey begins! Isn't that amazing?!

Actually, it's not. Everyone else gets to play some ancient Canadian senior league team. We do not. Annoying.

But I've gotta pick my guys! They need to be prepared for next week!

Back for more:
1. Jack Connolly
2. Mike Seidel
3. Brady Lamb

Everyone gets renewed! Yeah!

And we've got some new guys!
4. Drew Olson
5. JT Brown

I think I've decided to throw my "no freshmen" rule out the window. Obviously. Since I've picked a freshman Guy three years in a row.

All right, Guys, you've got your assignments, now go out and kick some butts!

666

This is my 666th post on RWD. It's so metal. I'd like to dedicate this post to the late Earl Root.

So, the insiders voted in their respective polls recently (the 94X WCHA Media Poll, conducted by the man who will be hiring me to do colour commentary this fall, Bruce Ciskie; and the Grand Forks Herald Coaches’ Poll, conducted by the always delightful Brad Schlossman), and I have to say that these folks need to read RWD. Then they would know of my clairvoyance and all make the same picks as I did.

Here are the media poll results:

1. North Dakota (28) 347
2. Minnesota Duluth 300
3. St. Cloud State (1) 295
4. Denver 242
5. Wisconsin 218
6. Minnesota 203
7. Colorado College 182
8. Bemidji State 156
9. Nebraska-Omaha 125
10. Minnesota State 97
11. Alaska-Anchorage 51
12. Michigan Tech 46

Preseason WCHA Player of the Year
Chay Genoway, UND (10)
Garrett Roe, SCSU (5)
Justin Fontaine, tUMD (4)
Jack Connolly, tUMD (3)
Jason Gregoire, UND (2)
Mike Connolly, tUMD (1)
Matt Read, BSU (1)
Evan Trupp, UND (1)

This is like Sesame Street. One of these players is not like the other. 8 people cast excellent votes. Fascinating there are no Gophers, Badgers or Pioneers represented. That’s the state of hockey, folks.

Preseason WCHA Rookie of the Year
Jaden Schwartz, CC (10)
Derek Forbort, UND (6)
Beau Bennett, DU (4)
Nick Bjugstad, Minnesota (2)
Tyler Barnes, Wisconsin (1)
J.T. Brown, Minnesota Duluth (1)
Rob Gunderson, Alaska-Anchorage (1)
Radoslav Illo, Bemidji State (1)
Jason Zucker, Denver (1)

I don’t know who Rob Gunderson is. Chuck from 60MNANR Googled him for me last night. Rob Gunderson for Hobey!

I can’t quibble with the near-omission of tUMD players (fortunately there’s another J.T. Brown groupie out there) because there isn’t an incoming freshman from the Bulldogs projected to have a significant impact on the game. tUMD is an upperclassman’s team; so is St. Cloud, and though they allegedly have some notable recruits (doubtful), those players didn’t receive any votes either. The three players most likely to have an impact on their teams immediately are Jaden Schwartz, Beau Bennett, and Nick Bjugstad: players whose teams don’t have any guys on player of the year list. Teams like UND, St. Cloud and tUMD have their top lines filled with seasoned veterans and their freshmen, talented as they may be, won’t see the ice time that their counterparts on other teams will.

Here is the esteemed panel of judges:

BSU
Brian Schultz, KKBJ (hehehe)
Eric Stromgren, Bemidji Pioneer

CC:
Ken Landau, KRXP
Joe Paisley, Colorado Springs Gazette

DU:
Mike Chambers, Denver Post
Jay Stickney, KXDP

MSUM:
Shane Frederick, Mankato Free Press
Mike Sullivan, KTOE

MTU:
Dirk Hembroff, WKMJ
Brandon Veale, Daily Mining Gazette

SCSU:
Mick Hatten, St. Cloud Times
Don Lyons, KNSI

UAA:
Kurt Haider, KENI
Doyle Woody, Anchorage Daily News

UMD:
Bruce Ciskie, KZIO
Kevin Pates, Duluth News Tribune

UMTC:
Roman Augustovitz, Minneapolis Star Tribune

UND:
Tim Hennessy, KQHT
Brad Schlossman, Grand Forks Herald

UNO:
Dave Ahlers, KKAR
Chad Purcell, Omaha World Herald

UW:
Andy Baggot, Wisconsin State Journal
Brian Posick, WIBA/WTSO

Officially Unaffiliated Though Possibly Unofficially Affiliated:
Chris Dilks, Western College Hockey
John Gilbert, WCHA.com
Todd Milewski, USCHO
Dan Myers, College Hockey News
Jess Myers, INCH
Theresa Spisak, USCHO

And then the coaches voted, too. From what I understand and then mathematically proved, coaches cannot vote for their own teams, and rank the others from first through eleventh. So, obviously one St. Cloud vote is from Hakstol, and one UND vote is from Motzko. That doesn’t explain why the coaches weren’t smart enough to pick the eventual winner, tUMD.

1. UND (10) 120
2. St. Cloud State (2) 105
3. Minnesota-Duluth 100
4. Denver 88
5. Minnesota 82
6. Colorado College 67
7. Wisconsin 64
8. Nebraska-Omaha 55
9. Bemidji State 46
10. MSU-Mankato 41
11. Alaska-Anchorage 19
12. Michigan Tech 15

Player of the year:
Jack Connolly, tUMD (5)
Chay Genoway, UND (4)
Garrett Roe, SCSU (3)

Fortunately, the most votes for player of the year went to the correct person, although it should have been unanimous.

The voting for rookie of the year is so obvious I can identify who voted for whom.

Rookie of the year:
Jaden Schwartz, Colorado College (9) (Hakstol, Motzko, Sandelin, Gwozdecky, Owens, Serratore, Jutting, Shyiak, Russell)
Nick Bjugstad, Minnesota (1) (Lucia)
Tyler Barnes, Wisconsin (1) (Eaves)
Matt White, Omaha (1) (Blais)

1.21 Jigowatts

Greetings, comrades. I have traveled into the future; one hour, to be exact. I am somewhere in Pennsylvania, home the Ruiners of College Hockey. Whee!

I was hoping to have some posts while on vacation but I really don't. Driving through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and now Pennsylvania has been uninspiring, to say the least. Sorry. 3 weeks and one day and we are in college hockey nirvana, so hold fast.

M'aidez!

Anyone got any ideas on Gauntlet victims for this year?

Comment with suggestions.

Sneaky!

Nice try, tUMD. Did you think I wouldn't find out?

No one bothered to give me the memo that Justin May isn't the strength and conditioning coach for hockey anymore. I had to find out when I was messing around on the website and happened to see that there was a blank picture and this guy Blake Palmer's name underneath it.

Let me copy word-for-word what tUMD's website says about Mr. Palmer:

Making his debut with the UMD hockey program this fall is strength and conditioning coach Blake Palmer, who spent the past three years handling that same role with the United States Hockey League's Waterloo Blackhawks.

While working in Waterloo (where he also served for two seasons as the team's equipment manager), Palmer helped over 50 athletes realized their dream of playing NCAA I hockey and nine get selected in the National Hockey League draft. He also spent two years as a strength & conditioning coach for the XL Sports Acceleration Program while also working with the Blackhawks. While working here he had the opportunity to train current San Jose Shark Joe Pavelski. Before and during his first season with the Blackhawks he was also a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach with the Division-I University of Northern Iowa. As a graduate assistant he worked with extensively with Women’s Softball and Men’s & Women’s Track & Field with the men’s program being a perennial top ten program. While also spending time with Men’s & Women’s Basketball and Football. While working as a graduate assistant he had the opportunity to train and coach with one of the world’s foremost Olympic weightlifting minds and former Chinese Olympic Weightlifter Jianping Ma who has coached three world record holders in Olympic weightlifting.

Palmer, a native of Northwood, Iowa, earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of Northern Iowa in 2006 in exercise science and completed his coursework for his Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology in 2008.

Palmer is originally from Northwood, Iowa, In his spare time he enjoys traveling, biking, the outdoors, and Olympic Weightlifting. He resides in Superior, Wis. with his dog Maverick.

Well then, welcome, I guess, although I WOULD HAVE LIKED AN INFORMATIVE ARTICLE ABOUT THIS.

Another problem: I noticed that not only does Mr. Palmer not have a photo, but neither does Brett Larson. I do NOT like to be deprived of photos of Le Larson!!!

You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

I have spent far, far too much time humiliating my poor little Jacky with Photoshop, while neglecting my other Guys.

Those days are over.

I use the Google Images search engine a lot to try to find random photos of Bulldog players other than their roster pix to use in various ways. So one day I was Googling Mike Seidel, because one cannot possibly have enough pictures of the hottest hottie to ever wear a Bulldog jersey, I learned that the Weather Channel has a meteorologist also named Mike Seidel.

So, the newest RWD feature is the Mike Seidel Travel Advisory. Mike will be bringing you the weather for the weekend, wherever the team might be. Exciting!

The Hangover

2004-2005 was the most depressing Bulldog season in this Modern Era. (Meaning since RWD was invented.) It is worse than the vast wasteland that was 2005-2008. We knew those would be dark times, but the 04-05 team had everything and gave us nothing.

An esteemed reader of RWD (all readers of RWD are esteemed) fears that this season might turn out that way. Certainly the 03-04 season was filled with more successes and that team was more dominant in the league. But the expectations are high this year, and expectations are a heavy, heavy burden.

I think it's a legit concern, but I also think that all is going to be well. (Unlike les Vikings.) And now I shall list my reasons!

1. The Bulldogs are led by three players who have had to bust their butts.
Mike Montgomery was a walk-on who played 9 games at forward his freshman year, and is now a captain and top defenceman who we nearly lost to the pros. Jack Connolly and Mike Connolly are ridiculously talented but have to continuously prove themselves because of their size.

2. There are lots of guys hungry for playing time.
There are 10 defencemen. 6 can play each night. There are 14 forwards. 12 can play each night. Better come to play every day, boys.

3. No reports about anyone coming back to school weighing 800 lbs or smoking pot or whatever.
One person is injured, yes, but other than that, it sounds like everyone's in good shape. Of course, it could be on the double secret down low.

4. The freshmen coming in are excellent.
The freshmen in '04-'05 were sort of exciting. THESE freshmen are blowing my mind. (Not as much as '05-'06 freshmen, but still, awesome.)

5. The new arena is going to invigorate the team mid-season.
EVERYONE is pumped for this new arena. The team, the school, the fans, me. Especially me. It means more sell-outs, more excitement and buzz in the community, and I hope they can ride the wave of invigoration through the grueling second half. (Wave of invigoration? Meh. I'm leaving it in.)

Ticket to Ride

Anyone else get a nice present in the mail today like I did? First half season tickets arrived!!

RWD fans, be advised: when I can't make games, I sometimes give away tickets on the site. I sit at the top of section 21, so they're not amazing seats or anything, but hey, they're free.

Prescience

So, folks are trying to take a stab at predicting the WCHA standings. I like stabbing, so let's go!

Most "predictions" are "guesses," but not mine. I have awesome clairvoyant powers. Are you ready to be amazed? Well then.

I must have absolute silence.

















1. tUMD
2. UND
3. St, Cloooud
4. Denver
5. Wisconsin
6. UMTC
7. CC
8. UNO
9. Buttmidji
10. Michigan Tech
11. Mankato
12. UAA

And thus it was written!

Picture Perfect

Blah almost forgot to post.

Last night I had a dream about AMSoil Arena! But not a good one! I had seats in the front row of the balcony, but 1. they were really up high 2. every time I cheered I almost slipped through the railing and 3. the seats were really bad as they were looking down on the rink through a large square hole, so some action was obscured. Also no one was there, no one was cheering, and tUMD was playing like crap. Argh.

Anyway, tUMD's roster pics are out, and guys, you have outdone yourselves. Best collective roster pics of ANY tUMD team since I have been judging appearances. No one looks crazy! People who had bad hair have better hair now! If only Jacky had grown his hair out again, then everything would be perfect. (And DON'T THINK I DIDN'T NOTICE guys wearing the same suit... seniors, come on.) Bergman wins best dressed. Kenny Reiter and J.T. Brown were unable to keep a straight face. Wonder what was going on in the background, hm?

And... holy crap. Montgomery cut his hair.

What's Your Fantasy?

It was a tough draft for Team Cougar. We picked 5th of 7, and my darling little Jacky slipped out of our grasp ONE PICK before we were going to take him. We also did not get shorthanded goal superstud Brett Olson, Brady Lamb, or Kenny Reiter. Depressing.

Thanks to Bruce Ciskie and Brad Schlossman for their suggestions. All of Bruce's selections were taken before I could get them, but I was able to take advantage of a few of Brad's.

Here is Team Cougar 2010-2011!
1. Scott Gudmanson, G, UW
2. Danny Kristo, F, UND
3. Jay Barribal, F, UMTC
4. Gabe Guentzel, D, CC
5. Alex Hudson, F, UNO
6. Jason Zucker, F, DU
7. Dylan Olsen, D, UMD
8. Mark Zengerle, F, UW
9. Jordan Baker, F, MTU
10. William Wrenn, D, DU
11. Deron Cousens, D, MTU
12. Derek Forbort, D, UND
13. Mike Seidel, F, UMD
14. Nick Bjugstad, F, UMTC
15. Wade Bergman, D, UMD
16. Luke Salazar, F, DU

Here are the other teams, in draft order. Names have been changed to protect Weldie.

Team #1
1. Brad Eidsness, G, UND
2. Brett Olson, F, MTU
3. Tony Mosey, F, SCSU
4. Brad Hunt, BSU
5. Kurt Davis, D, MSUM
6. Rich Purslow, F, UNO
7. Travis Oleksuk, F, UMD
8. Mike Montgomery, D, UMD
9. Tommy Grant, F, UAA
10. Jordy Murray, F, UW
11. John Lee, D, DU
12. Curtis Leinweber, D, UAA
13. William Rapuzzi, F, CC
14. Kyle Schmidt, F, UMD
15. Aaron Marvin, F, SCSU
16. Joe Faust, D, UW

Team #2
1. Alex Kangas, G, UMTC
2. Jason Gregoire, F, UND
3. Justin Schultz, D, UW
4. Jesse Martin, F, DU
5. Rylan Galiardi, F, MSUM
6. Zach Budish, F, UMTC
7. Brad Malone, F, UND
8. Joey Martin, F, UNO
9. Aaron Ness, D, UMTC
10. Mario Lamoureux, F, UND
11. Sean Wiles, F, UAA
12. Channing Boe, D, MSUM
13. Zach Lehrke, BSU
14. Doug Leaverton, D, CC
15. Patrick Johnson, F, UW
16. Joe Gleason, D, UND

Team #3
1. Kenny Reiter, G, UMD
2. Anthony Maiani, F, DU
3. Matt Read, F, BSU
4. Ben Youds, D, MSUM
5. Ryan Lowery, D, CC
6. Jacob Cepis, F, UMTC
7. Beau Bennett, F, DU
8. Eric Olimb, D, UNO
9. Stephen Schultz, F, CC
10. John Faulkner, G, UNO
11. Sam Zabkowicz, D, SCSU
12. Drew Shore, F, DU
13. Brock Nelson, F, UND
14. Luka Vidmar, D, UAA
15. Matt Ambroz, F, UNO
16. Taylor Dickinabox, F, UND

Team #4
1. Mike Lee, G, SCSU
2. Mike Connolly, F, UMD
3. Evan Trupp, F, UND
4. Craig Smith, F, UW
5. Drew LeBlanc, F, SCSU
6. Rylan Schwartz, F, CC
7. Jake Marto, D, UND
8. Kane Lafranchise, D, UAA
9. Jake Gardiner, D, UW
10. Ben Hanowski, F, SCSU
11. Tim Hall, F, CC
12. Mike Dorr, F, MSUM
13. Travis Novak, F, SCSU
14. Jamie MacQueen, BSU
15. Nico Sacchetti, F, UMTC
16. Dillon Simpson, D, UND

Team #6 (Remember, Cougs drafted 5th)
1. Joe Howe, G, CC
2. Jack Connolly, F, UMD
3. Jordan George, F, BSU
4. Tyler Johnson, F, CC
5. Cade Fairchild, D, UMTC
6. Ian Lowe, BSU
7. Jaden Schwartz, F, CC
8. Dan Bakala, G, BSU
9. Derrick Lapoint, D, UND
10. Jared Festler, F, SCSU
11. Ryan Cramer, BSU
12. Taylor Johnson, D, SCSU
13. Michael Young, F, UNO
14. Erik Haula, D, UMTC
15. Kevin Wehrs, D, UMTC
16. Mark Alt, D, UMTC

Team #7
1. Phil Cook, G, MSUM
2. Chay Genoway, D, UND
3. Mike Hoeffel, F, UMTC
4. Kyle Ostrow, F, DU
5. Ben Blood, D, UND
6. Shawn Ostrow, F, DU
7. Patrick White, F, UMTC
8. Oliver Lauridsen, D, SCSU
9. Justin Faulk, D, UMD
10. Mike Louwerse, F, MSUM
11. Derek Lee, F, UW
12. John Ramage, D, UW
13. Andrew Hamburg, F, CC
14. John Kemp, F, UNO
15. Brett Bennett, G, UW
16. Kyle Brodie, D, BSU

Team #8
1. Justin Fontaine, F, UMD
2. Garrett Roe, F, SCSU
3. Matt Donovan, D, DU
4. Brady Lamb, D, UMD
5. Brett Hextall, F, UND
6. Steven Seigo, D, MTU
7. Matt Frattin, F, UND
8. Dan Dunn, G, SCSU
9. Adam Murray, G, DU
10. Sam Brittain, G, DU
11. Terry Broadhurst, F, UNO
12. David Makowski, D, DU
13. Matt White, F, UNO
14. Tyler Barnes, F, UW
15. David Eddy, F, SCSU
16. Nate Schmidt, D, UMTC

Have a Seat

My acquaintance, Dave, a master sports photographer, was kind enough to upload a scanned photo of the AMSoil Arena seating arrangements to the UMD Hockey fan group on Facebook. (I am sure you are all members.) So now I don't have to scan it myself! Thank you, Dave!

Behold:
























I made some adjustments:

Going Once... Going Twice...

As promised, a small update on the auction to benefit UMD equipment manager Chris Garner. It sounds like the online auction will start in October.

On his Facebook page there's a video of some of the items donated to the auction. I was hoping to embed the video but I'm not able to. So here it is.

For those of you not interested in clicking on the link, I'll give you a rundown of what's included on the video.

Hockey Sticks
Alex Stalock
Paul Stastny
Lord Parise
Tyler Bozak
various others

Signed Jerseys
Joe Sakic (Avalanche)
Mike Modano (Dallas)
Alex Stalock (tUMD)
Red Berenson (Michigan)

College Jerseys
St. Lawrence
Denver
UCONN (3)
RPI
Notre Dame (2)
Cornell
UND (2)
Alaska
Vermont
Brown
Buttmidji
Mankato
Michigan Tech
tOSU (2)
3 that I can't identify. They might say in the video but I've only watched on mute. (Bruce helped me; they are Miami, Merrimack and Army.)

Other Jerseys
Peoria Rivermen (AHL)(2)
Southern MN Express (NAHL)

This is an awesome opportunity for jersey enthusiasts to add to their collections while supporting an awesome person. The hockey world is full of top-notch individuals and institutions with generous hearts and minds!

Now We Are Six

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

-A.A. Milne

Huh. Here we are again, another season.

Letters of Recommendation

***UPDATE*** I emailed the DECC staff last night and got an awesome response today that they had received my postcard. Can I just say again that I LOVE the DECC staff?

Exciting news!!!

Yesterday I got my seat selection information for AMSoil Arena!

I am practically last on the list. I pick 26 October at 4:45 PM. I should have donated some money earlier so that I could increase my priority points. However, that donation request came during the Buttmidji series. Recall here. Anyway, I don't really care except since I have to take time off work to drive up, I'd prefer to have picked on the 25th, which is a Monday. Or on the 27th, which is my birthday. Whatever. The things I do for this team...

Anyway, I got an entire master's thesis on ticket ordering from the ticket office. It included a gold postcard that I MUST SEND BACK BY SEPTEMBER 10TH OR I WILL BE KILLED AND MY SEASON TICKETS GIVEN TO WAR ORPHANS, a hand-coloured map map that I thought was hand-coloured but I believe was either scanned or photo-copied in colour, a money-grubbing form and self-addressed (but not stamped!) envelope, a Threatening Letter, and a set of frequently asked questions.

They should have included a cute little note signed by the team or something else fun. I wonder if there will be refreshments or something. I hope so. I'm feeling entitled.

This is sort of irrelevant because readers fall into one of two categories: recipients of the letter (as STHs) or unaffected persons (who are not STHs and in fact may not even be Bulldog fans), but whatever. I'm on a posting roll here. Maybe I will make it to 40 nonstop days again.

First, the map. I wish I had a scanner. I think the library does. Perhaps I may go there this weekend. Maybe let's save that for another post.

Then, the Threatening Letter. Threatening Letter tells me (in BOLD font, RED font and BOLD RED font) only decision makers are allowed to attend. Perhaps I should bring a team of psychiatrists. I have to send the postcard back, which is small and flimsy, and if I don't send it then I am screwed and they will just tell me another day to come, but they also won't confirm they got it. Marvelous. I cannot wait to drive up to Duluth after taking a vaca day only to be embarrassed as they tell me they didn't receive my postcard. Well, I emailed the ticket office already to see if I can get an exception and be allowed one phone call. Surely if a prisoner is afforded one, I can be too. I also MUST arrive 20 minutes early (which is really, really hard for me to do), be of legal age, and wear a hard hat, long pants, glasses/goggles, and hard-soled shoes. They specifically say no Crocs. I love it. Also, I will be topless.

The Money-Grubbing Form (which is really hard to read because it's printed on top of a collage of photos) tells me that each year, Bulldog fund contributions raise $425,000 for athletic scholarship funds. I wish they did this in a different format. Perhaps there would be a photo of a Bulldog athlete, with their stats and such, and a sob story about how they are very poor and need my money, and then a has-been celebrity could start begging. It doesn't say whether my name will be listed in the program or ask me how I want it to appear. I need to investigate this because I totally want it to say Runnin' with the Dogs.

The FAQ are four pages long. They includes "Will there be an area in the new arena that serves alcohol?" Amazing. I really love tUMD fans AND the DECC/ticket office staff for knowing us so well. You think this would be included in a letter to Rodent STHs? There will be a bar outside the arena which appears to be called the DECC Bar. Creative. I should buy the naming rights. There is no membership fee for it or anything. Also you can buy a membership to the Bulldog Club for $300. It is actually called the Bulldogs Club Members ONLY Lounge, which sounds both 70s and 80s at once. Only 250 people can do this, though. Sucks to be me, I guess. Another question: "Will I have to climb any stairs?" God forbid. It also states that we will have 20 minutes to select seats before they release the hounds, but in the Threatening Letter it says 15 minutes. Odd. The FAQ also notes that the upper bowl is not wheelchair-accessible, yet there is a small section of seats labeled wheelchair accessible in section 227, which would denote an upper bowl seating. Hmm.

Good times. I can't WAIT to see this for myself. Provided the golden postcard arrives.