College Players Playing For The Cup

Originally inspired to search by a comment thread on Goon's World (North Dakota - we'll see you in December!) I found that nearly half of the rosters (enough guys to field a team) playing for the cup this year are former college hockey players. Here they are (let me know if I missed anyone)

ANAHEIM

Andy McDonald - Colgate

Chris Kunitz - Ferris State

Dustin Penner - Maine

Todd Marchant - Clarkson

Kent Huskins - Clarkson

Mark Hartigan - St. Cloud

Drew Miller - Mich. St.

Joe Motzko - St. Cloud

Ryan Carter - Mankato

George Parros - Princeton

*Brian Salcido - Colorado College

Ryan Shannon - BC

Joe DiPenta - BU

Mike Hoffman - Univ. of Connecticut

OTTAWA SENATORS

Dany Heatley - Wisconsin

Joe Corvo - Western Mich.

Tom Preissing - Colorado College

Mike Comrie - Michigan

Patrick Eaves - BC

(* indicates on roster but has not played)

And though we've no 'Cats in the list...

Go 'Cats!

Wolves Last Game?

With a potential last period looming in front of them the Chicago Wolves have found themselves unable to find an answer to the Hamilton Bulldogs and are trailing 2-1 in the fifth game of the series, down 3 games to 1.

I'll recap the game as soon as anything changes.

It's

2-1 Hamilton

Final

3-1 Hamilton on an empty-net goal.

What a fantastic run for the Wolves, especially our very own Darren Haydar and Jason Krog - enjoy the off-season - see you guys at the Alumni Game!

Go 'Cats!

Endangered Wolves?

The Chicago Wolves will be putting on a last stand from here on in the series, do they have what it takes to avoid extinction like their namesakes and mount a comeback?

Darren Haydar still leads the league with 10 goals and 14 assists in 13 games. Jason Krog is second with 5 goals and 13 assists in 13 games and only had his scoring streak snapped in game two versus the Hamilton Bulldogs having managed at least a point in every game. He added an assist in the very next game.

Will Haydar take control? Will Krog start a new streak?

Tune in tonight to this same 'Cat Channel at the same 'Cat Time.

Game-time is 7:30 EDT - I'll post updates as available.

*I don't know what is happening to this excellent Wolves team. They have spent the first 10 minutes of the game amassing 6 penalty minutes already. Throughout this series penalties have been a problem for the Wolves as they've drawn an uncharacteristically high number of them including a 5 minute major to Jason Krog last game for high-sticking that led to the game winning goal. Hopefully they get their cool and start doing what they do best - finding the back of the net.

**Thus far into the second it is more of the same. Over the course of this game, Hamilton 6 powerplays, Chicago 0. Haydar got one at the 20 minute mark of the first, presumably for complaining about the reffing. The Wolves would spend the first 10 minutes of the second the same as the first with 6 minutes of penalty killing.

And the Wolves strike! On their first powerplay the Wolves bury one with Krog picking up an assist. Something the Bulldogs couldn't manage in 6 attempts. It took them a mere 26 seconds. Since the goal they were given another powerplay for exactly 11 seconds. Unfortunately, even this offensive juggernaut could not capitalize in their generous powerplay opportunity from the officials before the matching penalty was called to bring an end to their second powerplay of the evening.

1-0 Wolves!

Just for good measure the Wolves were given yet another penalty at the end of the second. So far powerplay time goes to the Bulldogs, 11:41 to :37. Chicago has been called for 11 infractions to 4 for the Bulldogs.

Still 1-0 Wolves after two!

Still 1-0 Wolves after three!

The Wolves stay alive! Back in action tomorrow night.

Go 'Cats!

Some Hockey Tonight

Jason Krog and Darren Haydar will battle tonight to get their Chicago Wolves back into this series after dropping two at home to the Hamilton Bulldogs who have pulled off two OT wins. I'll have an update later.

*Haydar was held pointless and Krog just one assist in another one goal loss to the Bulldogs. The Wolves are now down three games to one. They will take to the ice again on Friday night in a must win game.

Go 'Cats!

Lookee Lookee

Welcome to the Class of 2011! I've title-linked the Official Site's write-up and you can always see their stats from this past year and link to the Unofficial UNH Homepage further down this page.

I've been putting this post off for a week. So, to conclude the USHL season, Blake Kessel and Matt DiGirolamo and their Waterloo Blackhawks fell to the Sioux Falls Stampede in an upset in the Championship game for the Clark Cup. Look for them both to return to Waterloo next year and put up another strong season before coming home to Durham - have a great off-season guys!

As for tonight, the Chicago Wolves will take on the Hamilton Bulldogs, in the first of the best-of-seven series, for the right to contest the Calder Cup Championship. I will be bringing updates on our very own Darren Hayder (2007-2008 AHL MVP, Les Cunningham Point Leader in the regular season, and leading the league with 7 goals and 13 assists in 10 playoff games thus far for the Wolves) and Jason Krog (second in playoff points, 5-10-15, and scoring 26 goals and 54 assists in 40 games during the regular season with the Wolves).

*In a crazy start to the series Hamilton would rally to overcome a 4-2 Chicago lead to win 6-5 in double OT, after Chicago rallied from an early two goal deficit. The lion's share of that 4-1 lead would come from Darren Haydar as he scored the first and third goal. Jason Krog assisted on that first goal and the fifth goal, this one along with Darren, to finish the night with 2 assists. Darren dominated his way to his fourth game with more than two points in these playoffs and the first star in the losing effort.

Go 'Cats!

2007-2008 Schedule Is Out!

The schedule is title-linked and we have some very good non-conference games this year both home and away.

Check it out!

Go 'Cats!

Wolves Win - Haydar...

What can I say?

Darren Haydar once again leads the way along with none-other than Jason Krog.

Darren led his Wolves with a three point night, 1-2-3, and Jason had 1-1-2 in closing out their series versus the Iowa Stars, 4-2. For Darren it was his 7th multi-point effort in the 2008 Calder Cup Playoffs and his third campaign with more than two points this playoff season.

Haydar leads all playoff scorers with 7 goals and 13 assists in 10 games and is now less than 30 points from the career playoff scoring mark. Krog is second with 5 goals and 10 assists in those same 10 games.

On to round three.

Go 'Cats!

Hungry Like The Wolves!

Our 'Cats could learn a lot from this year's Chicago Wolves team. With two of our 'Cats, Darren Haydar and Jason Krog, leading the way, this Wolves team embodies the phrase "hungry like the wolf".

Looking for their third win of the series and a 3-1 series lead the Wolves got out to a quick start, getting on the board at 4:06 of the first on a Jason Krog goal from none other than Darren Haydar, with Brett Sterling also figuring on the play. They would relinquish the lead four minutes and twenty-five seconds later only to go on an unanswered five goal streak with one more in the first, one in the second and two in the first two minutes of the third period with the fifth coming off the stick of number 10, Jason Krog, at 5:59 of the frame - from Sterling and Haydar once more. Haydar, number 20, figured a first tonight - his first penalty of the 2007 Calder Cup Playoffs - two for slashing. Unbelievably not a single special team's goal tonight.

Go 'Cats!

The Darren Haydar Show

Simply unbelievable.

Darren Haydar scores his team's lone even-strength goal tonight, assists on the go-ahead powerplay goal and buries one of his team's two empty-net goals to finish the night with a Calder Cup leading, 14 playoff points in 7 games - 6 goals and 8 assists. Oh, and his even-strength goal was a go-ahead goal as well.

Oh yeah, Chicago won 5-3. They lead the series 2-1.

It seems the Iowa Stars tried to single out Jason Krog tonight luring him into an uncharacteristic 6 penalty minutes (nearly a third of his season total of 20 in 44 games) but, though pointless on the night, still a +1 in the Wolves victory.

They also picked on their line-mate, Brett Sterling (out of Colorado College), drawing 6 minutes out of the talented rookie and holding him to one goal on the night (fed by Haydar) - a task that many teams found difficult this season.

Haydar now possesses 87 career playoff points in 63 Calder Cup playoff games.

Amazing stuff. Did I mention Darren had just two shots on goal?

Go 'Cats!

Support UNH Hockey

I just wanted to let Wildcat Nation Hockey Fans know that now is a great time visit our NHPTV link and donate! New Hampshire Public Television's fiscal year comes to a close on June 30th and because of this are currently busy setting their broadcast schedule for the next year. So, get over there and tell them that you want to see even more UNH Hockey games and how about some re-runs of past seasons for a midnight run!

Also, if you scroll down a ways you will find the hockeysites rankings button. Get over THERE and tell everyone what you think about UNH Hockey and your UNH Men's Hockey Blog. From what I've seen, if everyone who regularly visits the site votes we will easily break into their top ten.

As you look around for more links on the page make sure you note the number UNH Hockey related links, the Firefox link (the browser that I design the page for), the Paypal Donate button for this blog and more.

So, even though the season is over there is still plenty to do to support UNH Hockey - speaking of which I will hopefully be adding a link to the excellent folks over at the Friends of UNH Hockey!

Go 'Cats!

Kessel and DiGirolamo Shine

Blake Kessel scored the first goal of the game and assisted on the last and Matt DiGirolamo stopped all thirty shots that came his way enroute to a 6-0 rout of the high-powered Cedar Rapids Rough Riders, home (now former home as he will shortly be on his way to Durham!) to fellow Future 'Cat, Dan Dries.

Dries was was a -1 with one shot and had 1 goal and 1 assist in these Clark Cup Playoffs.

As with last night there were numerous powerplay goals - half of them coming on the man advantage. Blake's goal was one such goal and his first of this playoff season giving him 1 goal and 5 assists, he was +1 on the night. Matt has three wins and one loss in the playoffs and two of the three wins were by shutout. He has a 2.46 GAA and a .889 Save-percentage. Matt was the first star of the game and Blake garnered the third star.

With the win Waterloo moves on and Cedar Rapids has their great season finally come to an end. Waterloo will face Des Moines in the Semi-Final next Saturday.

Go 'Cats!

More Playoff Action

The action will be starting in just a little while in the Mid-West.

Chicago will take on Iowa in the West Division of the AHL - featuring Darren Haydar('02) and Jason Krog('99).

And Cedar Rapids squares off against the Indiana Ice in their first game since sweeping the Ohio Jr. Bluejackets with a 5-2 win on April 21st! - featuring Dan Dries (due to arrive Fall '07)

I'll be updating. In the meantime cruise on down below the stats and click on the hockeysite ranking button and tell people whether you like the UNH Hockey Blog or not!

*USHL Update: Dan Dries assisted on the game's first goal and on all powerplay marks Cedar Rapids finds itself down 2-1 at the first intermission.
Through early part of the second the Rough Riders found themselves down 3-1 but would score the game's lone non-powerplay, even strength goal and yet another powerplay goal to bring the game to the 3-3 tie only to fall behind 4-3 on yet ANOTHER powerplay goal (that makes 10 in three periods of play so far tonight between these two games) after two.
And that's the way the game would end. Indiana has now beaten Green Bay, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids.

AHL Update: Chicago and Iowa trade two-pair of powerplay goals, in this night of the powerplay goal, and Darren Haydar and Jason Krog assisted on both Wolves' goals which bracketed the Stars' goals to end the first.
Krog scores, Haydar assists to tie the game at three all before the five-minute mark of the second period after their Wolves gave up a shorthanded goal - that's right, still no even strength tally in this game. Until Iowa buried one at just about the halfway point to go ahead again 4-3. Uh-oh, make that two - 5-3 Iowa - and then, you got it another powerplay goal and Darren and Jason chalk up point number four on the night, 4 assists for Darren and 1 goal, 3 assists for Jason after two.
And that's the way THIS game would end! What a crazy night.

Go 'Cats!

News and Games Tonight

I love the kid already!

Check out the incredible, title-linked article about Danny Vranek! Simply incredible - I can't wait till he gets here!

Look forward to seeing you play Danny-boy!

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Wildcat Nation - for real!

Thanks to NCAA Watcher over at the USCHO forums for putting me onto this story!

As well, James vanRiemsdyk blogs! Check it out!

Thanks to OvahInDovah for this one, also from the message boards.

You've gotta love UNH Hockey right now!


Next-Round Playoffs Commence Tonight:

AHL:

The Chicago Wolves with their two standouts Darren Haydar and Jason Krog will take on the Iowa Stars at home.

USHL:

The Waterloo Blackhawks with their two standouts Blake Kessel and Matt DiGirolamo will take on the Indiana Ice in Indiana.

Updates will be coming tonight.

*We'll start with the USHL and the Waterloo Blackhawks. DiGirolamo did not play but Blake certainly showed up with his game face on. Chalking up 2 assists on the night he did all he could but it was not enough as the Indiana Ice squeaked by 4-3 in this first of the Round Robin, Second Round of the Clark Cup Playoffs.

Now to the AHL where the Chicago Wolves come out of the gate like a rabid wolf! Blanking the Iowa Stars 7-0! Amazingly neither Darren, nor Jason, nor linemate Brett Sterling scored an even strength or powerplay goal tonight and of the three only Jason tallied a point, scoring an empty-net shorthand goal with just under four minutes to play to make it a 6-0 game. Whew! Imagine if they get it fired up!?

Go 'Cats!

USHL Round One

Phil DeSimone worked valiantly in the first round of the Clark Cup Playoffs but could not carry his Sioux City Musketeers to the series victory.

Having scored 6 goals and 6 assists in 7 games, Phil led the league in first round scoring but his Musketeers fell by a goal, 3-2, with Phil scoring the first goal of the game and assisting on the last goal of the game.

I want to congratulate Phil on an excellent season and postulate that the results of this series would surely have been different if his fellow Musketeer and Future 'Cat, Mike Beck (knee), had been healthy.

Look forward to seeing both of you in the fall!

As you may recall, Will O'Neill and the Omaha Lancers were eliminated as well after facing a tough Des Moines Buccaneers. Better luck next year although it's tough to imagine a better regular season than the Lancers had this year as they were just edged by the Waterloo Blackhawks for the regular season league title by the margin of one point - a tie as opposed to a win was the deciding factor.

Moving On:

Blake Kessel and Matt DiGirolamo with the Waterloo Blackhawks are moving on to Round Two where they will face the Indiana Ice, who eliminated Mike and Mike (Sislo and Borisenok) and their Green Bay Gamblers (look forward to seeing both of you in the fall!), in their first game of a new Round-Robin Second Round format.

Dan Dries with his Cedar Rapids Rough Riders will also pick up against the Ice after their long break from sweeping the Ohio Jr. Bluejackets.

Then Waterloo will square-off against Cedar Rapids.

Good Luck!

Go 'Cats!