Sorry About The Late Call *UPDATE*

I was just double-checking that the volleyball webcast was tomorrow night, but nope, IT'S ON RIGHT NOW!

Sorry. They had changed the date to the 29th on UNHWildcat.tv (title-linked) and messed me all up!

Go 'Cats!

*And it's over - moments after I posted. I totally intended to remind everyone to check it out but I was sure it was tomorrow as that was the last date I had seen.

Those Wildcat women totally tore Bentley apart! Lookin' good ladies!

Go UNH Women's Volleyball!

The video:

From what I saw I think that it may not meet a certain level set by those who have high expectations - let's be realistic, webcasting is still in its infancy and the United States has just about the worst broadband access among industrialized countries - remember that 75 year old Swiss grandmother with a 5 GIG/s connection!? Anyhow, the video is slightly fuzzy (as is all internet streaming video) and would hitch at times. The audio would crackle at times but I'm not sure of the source of either disturbance (system at the game, transmission or user-side). I would definitely like to hear what others have to say about it!

As for me, I'm still considering.

Go 'Cats!

Micflikier Is, As Always, SOLID

From way back in the good ol' days of summer, that's right - it's back to school folks, it was announced that Jacob Micflikier had earned himself an AHL contract with the Springfield Falcons after his play down the stretch there. Springfield is the development team for the Edmonton Oilers. See the title-linked article for more details and while there observe the 'bigtimenews' article (#2) about the team song choice - you should recognize the player pictured above that article.

Congrats Jacob!

Go 'Cats!

Worth A Look

I title-linked a Union Leader article that covers a variety of topics gleaned from the 19th Annual Friends of UNH Hockey Golf Tournament.

This CSTV article from before the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

This bit from the Western College Hockey Blog II (two blogs!? you're crazy man!) - just search for McCarey with your browser's 'Find' feature.

All worth a look.

Let me know if you come across anything Wildcat Hockey related that you think is worth a look!

Go 'Cats!

New Stuff?

If you haven't seen it (I hadn't until today) the Official UNH Athletics Site (title-linked to the Men's Ice Hockey) has some seemingly new features.

There is the Wildcat Web Poll (look amongst the logos on the right-hand side).

And once you have voted on the poll look at the second, horizontal row of options and you should see 'Fan Zone' (almost right beneath the 'TV/Radio' option on the top row). Check out the 'Cat Pack, the 'Cat Crew and the Traditions link is a good read.

Let me and the rest of Wildcat Nation know what you think about these new programs.

Go 'Cats!

UNH Recruit Named To USNTDP U-18 Team

Future 'Cat, Kevin McCarey, due to arrive on the UNH campus in the fall of '08, was named to the 2007-2008 United States National Team Development Program Under 18 Team.

Having played with the USNTDP U-17 Team, Kevin tallied 14 goals and 14 assists in 63 games last year - the top goal scorer amongst the '90s playing for the U-17 Team.

Unfortunately, Kevin and his U-18 squad will not make the stop in Durham this year.

None-the-less, Congratulations Kevin!


Additionally a quick scan of this year's Under-17 Team shows that potential Future 'Cat, Ryan Bourque, will join the USNTDP.

Congratulations Ryan!


And finally, former USNTDP standout and incoming freshman to the University of New Hampshire Wildcats, James vanRiemsdyk, has been facing the bright lights. According to this Flyers article on the NHL Network - James has been hounded by the spotlight quite a bit recently. Let's all make sure that he gets a warm welcome here in Wildcat Nation, and while we're sure to recognize his tremendous skill, recognize him as just one of the boys as well.

Go 'Cats!

Regan Rules

The title-linked Boston Bruins Fan Zone article recaps Kevin's excellent play during the Bruins' Prospect Camp.

Hey Kevin, any time you want to drop by and give me some advice, I'd be more than happy to listen!

Go 'Cats!

USA Gets First Win In Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tourney

The US Under-18 Team, playing in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, garnered their first win of the contest, defeating Slovakia 5-3. Up next for the boys in Red, White and Blue? They will compete in the fifth place game Saturday versus the Czech Republic - who they narrowly defeated their exhibition game before the start of tournament play. Their first two games resulted in them falling to both Russia and Finland by a score of 5-3.

Potential Future 'Cat, Mark Goggin, notched his first point of the tourney, scoring near the halfway point of the game to increase the US lead to 3-1. Way to go Mark!

Interestingly enough, each of the games in which the US has participated have been decided with the winning team totaling five goals. See this post's title-link for more details and be sure to check out the new USA Hockey link that I added to the link section today.

Go 'Cats!

College Hockey Talking Points: League Shakedown

I wanted to post some recent work of mine that stems from a comment I posted on Goon's World (North Dakota Hockey Blog) in response to:

Goon's WCHA Pre-Season poll

And here's what I had to say:

Poll? What poll!? I thought you said there was a poll!

Now on to the debate:

"The WCHA top to bottom is the toughest league in all of college hockey"

I disagree.

Pure Parity.

There is so much parity between Hockey East, the WCHA and even the CCHA that, as we say in the east, it's not even funny. Let's look at the last 18 years of NCAA Champs and Runners Up...

2007 CCHA...HE
2006 WCHA..HE
2005 WCHA..WCHA
2004 WCHA..HE
2003 WCHA..HE
2002 WCHA..HE
2001 HE......WCHA
2000 WCHA..HE
1999 HE......HE
1998 CCHA...HE
1997 WCHA..HE
1996 CCHA...WCHA
1995 HE.......HE
1994 CCHA...HE
1993 HE......CCHA
1992 CCHA..*WCHA
1991 CCHA...HE
1990 WCHA..ECAC

So, hey, where was the WCHA last year? They've only ever cornered the bracket once since '90 - yeah, yeah, let's not get into the 'bracket was biased' debate. And while the WCHA admittedly and obviously owned the top spot from 2002-2006, Hockey East was right there every step of the way.

Championships Since '90

WCHA - 8
CCHA - 6
HE - 4

These three conferences account for every NCAA Championship since '90 (ECAC's Harvard won in '89)

Championship Appearances Since '90

HE - 16 (Out of 18)
WCHA - 12
CCHA - 7 (watch out if a CCHA team makes it to the Championship Game!)
ECAC - 1 (ah, how cute! Colgate in '90)

Hockey East has twice been the ONLY league in attendance at the final game since '90 and the WCHA managed that feat once near the end of it's five year reign in 2005.

So.

While the WCHA has owned the top spot of late there is no one league that rules the roost but a triumvirate - Hockey East, the WCHA and the CCHA.

We could all stake a claim for being the top league but any honest, impartial observer would see that these three leagues are truly equals - not that there are any honest, impartial observers within 500 miles of a college hockey rink! ;)

Hockey East Rules!

Go 'Cats!

So if anyone has any clever trash talking they want to dish out on North Dakota please get over there and do so as we'll be facing them twice in Grand Forks during Winter Break!

*I've added a link for doing just this in the link section. You can't miss it!

Go 'Cats!

Noisy Crickets

Yeah, it's been quiet around here lately - somebody shut those crickets up!

Given the quiet, I've made a few subtle changes and have posted a new poll which is showing high expectations of this year's team. The Wildcat Nation Frapper map is still exploding with new members - very nice of those who've introduced themselves and given a little shout out to the rest of Wildcat Nation. Any suggestions for improvement around here before the season begins would be welcomed.

Well, the rink I play at finally opened and I highly recommend that the playa's out there hit their respective sheets. Felt really good to be back out there with that good ol' vulcanized rubber bouncing off me. Still have a bit o' rust to shake off. To help shake off that rust I even hit a roller game last night after spending 2 hours on the ice yesterday - I feel great!

Whilst at the rink I learned that Alan Thompson has undergone yet another knee surgery and is recovering well but will most likely red-shirt this season. Not to blow his cover or anything but he is reportedly an excellent student and will most likely continue his education at our beloved alma mater into post-graduate studies allowing him to exhaust his eligibility. According to my source Alan is continuing to receive attention from professional clubs who are hoping, as are we all, that he will return to competitive form. Hopefully I'll get to test my skills against him again this year - more hopefully, I will be glad to see him testing our opponents. Wildcat Nation wishes you the best!

James vanRiemsdyk had a strong showing at the U-20 US Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp. He recorded 2 goals and 1 assist in the seven games, with the US coming out on top. His most impressive stat was going perfect throughout the ENTIRE camp on the shootout - WHICH WAS HELD AFTER EVERY GAME!

Here are the pictorals from Melissa Wade:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Solos

And a Hockey's Future Q&A with James, here.

Lastly, a piece of news that I'm loathed to discuss. Richard Osborne, "The Voice of UNH Hockey" has had his contract terminated for a class B misdemeanor offense committed far outside his duties as the announcer for Wildcat Nation Hockey. If you have not heard, which is the only reason I'm publishing anything here, and would like to know more about the incident that led to this terrible decision, this Boston Herald article discusses it well.

I want to personally thank you Mr. Osborne for all of the hard work that you have put in over the years for the University of New Hampshire Wildcat Hockey Team.

My Sincere Thanks, You Will Be Missed.

Go 'Cats!

2007 UNH Wildcat Hockey Alumni Game

The 2007 Alumni Game is in the books.

The White Team, in a tremendous lack of fact checking and lazy reporting by yours truly, won 13-5 or something thereabouts. Stocked with ringers like Glenn Stewart(hat-trick), Jim Abbott(2 goals), Josh Ciocco, Josh Prudden and Jeff Pietrasiak - Greg Rota and the Blue Team never stood a chance even with the defection of Andy Brickley(late as always) from White to Blue where he scored two goals.

It was great to see the various generations of UNH Wildcats interacting including some seemingly humorous words shared between Rota and Abbott after Greg stoned Jim on a breakaway in which Jim apparently let up on the 'old man'. I would hazard a guess that Greg told him that he's not THAT old.

Coach Umile was in attendance of course (come on Coach, lace'm up next year!) and as always was extremely pleased to see the faithful, old teammates and keeping that sharp eye on the minutia of this great game called hockey.

So, we'll look to next year to record some images and possibly some video from this great event and hopefully some 'Cat interviews to let everyone know what's going on with some of our hockey heroes. And now, we reach the roughest stretch of our journey - the wait 'til October - and not just because that's when my birthday falls!

So, stay tuned - I'll be updating regularly with any information I can come up with and I will try to attend some practices to brief the Nation on this year's team.

Go 'Cats!

UNHWILDCATS.TV

I'm not sold on it yet but I'll keep you posted if I decide to try it out. I thought I would spread the word - if you have the dough it's probably worth it.

Just so people know I have absolutely no affiliation with any organization at this point but I would like to begin the process of seeking sponsorship if this blog is well recieved in its first full season this year!

The UNHWildcats.tv site is title-linked and I will probably link it permanently in the future.

The free preview of the announcement of new Women's Basketball Head Coach, Kristin Cole, seemed very good on my system but we'll have to see how the streaming video goes. I would be very pleased to see a free streaming preview - if anyone else would like to see the same head on over to the site and let's see if we can request that they offer their first volleyball broadcast on the 29th of this month for free as a preview of what they have to offer.

Hope to see everyone at the Alumni game tomorrow as the weather looks great!

We need to start a cookout to go with it!

Go 'Cats!