Schroeder signs with Vancouver

The WCHA has its first early signing of the 2010 offseason.

Minnesota forward Jordan Schroeder signed with the Vancouver Canucks, giving up his final two years of pro eligibility. Schroeder will likely play for the Manitoba Moose (AHL), who could use a playmaker down the stretch to make the playoffs.

Schroeder was the 2009 WCHA rookie of the year, coming within a point of the league's scoring title as a freshman. His numbers dipped as a sophomore. Here's a story from the Vancouver Sun.

Early signings in the WCHA

Minnesota (1)
Jordan Schroeder, F, sophomore

Posted by: Schlossman on Wednesday, March 17 at 2:33 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Weekly Wednesday update

The weekly media session was this morning because the Sioux are heading down to St. Paul this afternoon.

One player was a little excited about the St. Patrick's Day holiday. Brad Malone is Irish, pretty much full-blooded, he said. He also referred to his hometown of Miramichi, N.B., as the Irish capital of Canada. He walked in to the media room and greeted everyone with a "Happy Holidays."

Coach Dave Hakstol, who is not Irish, said that defenseman Joe Gleason definitely won't be playing Thursday and is doubtful for this weekend. Beyond that, the team is taking it day-to-day, Hakstol said. That means we can expect to see Corey Fienhage and Brent Davidson back on the blue line. Hakstol discussed Davidson's play a little bit.

He also talked about the big weekend for Matt Frattin, who scored four goals in the three games. Hakstol said that Frattin is getting to a level of consistency that the Sioux haven't seen from him yet. Even if Frattin is not at the top of his game, his baseline level of play is still very high, Hakstol said.

UND will have to make an adjustment on his line, though. The team is 9-2 since putting Frattin with Evan Trupp and Brad Malone. That's the only line that hasn't changed during UND's late-season run. Expect them to be back together after Frattin serves his one game suspension for his hit on Kevin Wehrs.

If UND beats Duluth, the Sioux will have to play six games in nine days. So, UND has been very careful in trying to get players rested and healed up. Malone said the team is quite banged up right now, but they'll get the adrenaline going on game days.

Brad Eidsness trained heavily this summer in order to better condition himself. Hakstol said that's going to be very important for Eidsness right now. Eidsness certainly hasn't showed any signs of slowing down. UND could make the decision to play Aaron Dell this weekend, as the Sioux already know they are in the NCAAs.

Posted by: Schlossman on Wednesday, March 17 at 11:15 AM | Comments (4) | Permalink

Random updates

I have a few updates before heading off to the weekly floor hockey battles and I may add a few when I get back.

First off, UND will likely be without defenseman Joe Gleason for Thursday's play-in game. He's listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, but doubtful for Minnesota-Duluth. Gleason, who leads all WCHA rookie defensemen in plus-minus, appeared to be shaken up after blocking a shot on Sunday.

The monthly ISS draft rankings have UND recruit Derek Forbort at No. 10 and fellow recruit Brock Nelson at No. 22. Nelson appears to have helped his stock with a good state tournament. Nelson was featured by The Hockey News' hot list this week. They list him as the No. 1 player they can't wait to see in the NHL. Read more on that here.

The WCHA had its Final Five conference call today. All five coaches were on the call. The main topics were the contributions of seniors, which UND play-by-play guy Tim Hennessy saluted this week. There also was quite a bit of talk about goaltending.

The WCHA will announce awards on Thursday afternoon before the ceremony. The ceremony begins at 3:45. UND's Danny Kristo is top candidate for rookie of the year. Brad Eidsness also will likely be all-WCHA for the second year in a row.

Posted by: Schlossman on Tuesday, March 16 at 6:37 PM | Comments (8) | Permalink

Toews visits SportsCenter

Jonathan Toews visited SportsCenter's studios tonight along with Chicago Blackhawks teammate Patrick Kane.

The filmed a few intros into different segments. Perhaps they will soon wind up on one of the famous SportsCenter commercials.

They did a little bit where they were horsing around in the hallway and a SportsCenter anchor walks by and gives them two minutes in a room. Toews tells Kane, "I told you we'd get in trouble."

They also joked around on the set with their Olympic medals on. I couldn't find either of those segments on the ESPN site, but I did find their on-set interview. Watch it here.

Posted by: Schlossman on Tuesday, March 16 at 3:30 AM | Comments (5) | Permalink

Sioux women land area player

The UND women's hockey team made waves recently by signing up the Swedish Olympic team coach as its new assistant. It should open many doors in overseas recruiting.

That doesn't mean that the Sioux are going to ignore the talent in the area, though.

UND got a verbal from Warroad's Layla Marvin, who tallied 84 points in 30 games this season. Her father, David (Izzy), and grandfather, Cal, both played men's hockey at UND. Her cousin, Gigi, recently helped Team USA to silver at the Olympics.

UND also has a verbal from Warroad goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie, who posted 8 or 9 consecutive shutouts this season. Layla has a younger sister, Lisa, who will be a player to watch in the future as well.

One of UND's big downfalls in the past was the inability to lock down the best local players. It appears that this coaching staff is determined to change that.

Posted by: Schlossman on Tuesday, March 16 at 3:23 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

WCHA suspends Frattin for one game

The WCHA just issued a release, suspending Matt Frattin for one game under "supplementary discipline."

Rule 6, Section 6A of the NCAA rulebook defines charging: "A player shall not skate more than two steps or jump into an opponent. Charging is the action of a player, who as a result of distance traveled, checks an opponent violently in any manner from the front or side. A fair body check is one in which a player checks an opponent who is in possession of the puck, by using the hip or body from the front or diagonally from the front or straight from the side. Penalty -- minor or major at the discretion of the referee."

WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod declined to say what specific act of Frattin's that warrented a suspension over the penalty, but said it was "multiple things." Read his comment in this story.

My thought is that the screenshots show Frattin's arms down and feet on the ground at impact, but the "distance traveled" section of the rulebook is what got him in trouble.

You guys make the call....

Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, March 15 at 9:42 PM | Comments (78) | Permalink

UND will be a 1 or 2 seed

According to calculations by SiouxSports' Pairwise guru Jim Dahl, UND will be a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. UND will not fall further than No. 6 in the Pairwise this weekend. The highest the Sioux can go is third. Here are the final probabilities of the season.

I also see that USCHO's Jayson Moy, the longtime bracket expert there, has a blog post about a few scenarios in the week leading up to the Final Five. Read that blog post here. As for the polls:

Pairwise Rankings

1. Denver
2. Miami
3. Wisconsin
4. Boston College
5. UND
6. St. Cloud State
7. Bemidji State
8. Ferris State
9. Cornell
10. Yale
11. Minnesota-Duluth
12. Northern Michigan
13. Alaska
14. Vermont
15. New Hampshire
16. Michigan
17. Michigan State
18. Maine
19. Boston University
20. Union
21. Colorado College
22. Nebraska-Omaha
23. UMass-Lowell
24. Minnesota
25. RIT

USCHO poll

1. Denver (46)
2. Miami (4)
3. Wisconsin
4. Boston College
5. North Dakota
6. St. Cloud State
7. Cornell
8. Ferris State
9. Yale
10. Bemidji State
11. Minnesota-Duluth
12. Northern Michigan
13. New Hampshire
14. Vermont
15. Union
16. Michigan State
17. Michigan
18. Alaska
19. Maine
20. Boston University

USA Today

1. Denver (31)
2. Miami (3)
3. Wisconsin
4. Boston College
5. North Dakota
6. St. Cloud State
7. Cornell
8. Ferris State
9. Yale
10. Bemidji State
11. Minnesota-Duluth
12. Northern Michigan
13. New Hampshire
14. Vermont
15. Union

INCH power rankings

1. Denver
2. Miami
3. Wisconsin
4. Boston College
5. North Dakota
6. Cornell
7. St. Cloud State
8. Union
9. Ferris State
10. Yale
11. Northern Michigan
12. Bemidji State
13. Minnesota-Duluth
14. Michigan State
15. Alaska
16. New Hampshire
17. RIT
18. Michigan
19. St. Lawrence
20. Boston University

Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, March 15 at 11:43 AM | Comments (6) | Permalink

My bracket (reworked)

UPDATE: College Hockey News had a glitch in its Pairwise Rankings last night, therefore when I compiled the bracket before I went to bed, I was using the wrong PWR. Here is an updated look at my best guess. I think that right now, UND is most likely to go to Worcester.

ST. PAUL

1-Denver vs. 4-Alabama-Huntsville
2-Bemidji State vs. 3-Minnesota-Duluth

FORT WAYNE

1-Miami vs. 4-AHA champ
2-Ferris State vs. 3. Cornell

WORCESTER

1-Boston College vs. 4-Alaska
2-North Dakota vs. 3-Northern Michigan

ALBANY

1-Wisconsin vs. 4-Vermont
2-St. Cloud State vs. 3-Yale

Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, March 15 at 4:52 AM | Comments (14) | Permalink

Sunday night highlights

Again, courtesy FightingSioux.com.

Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, March 15 at 4:51 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Sunday night rewind

UND moved on to St. Paul and the Xcel Energy Center for the eighth straight year with a 4-1 win over rival Minnesota. The Sioux will take on Duluth at 7:07 p.m. Thursday, right after the WCHA awards banquet. Game stories from Sunday:

Grand Forks Herald
Grand Forks Herald photo gallery
FightingSioux.com
Star Tribune
Pioneer Press
USCHO.com

A few other comments:

• Jason Gregoire was sensational tonight, clearly the best player on the ice. He had two goals and an assist. He also screened Alex Kangas on Ben Blood's goal. Dave Hakstol mentioned last week that Gregoire is a guy who plays his best at big moments. He certainly was that all weekend. He was making great plays even when he wasn't scoring.
• Speaking of Gregoire, I got a laugh out of him passing the puck to Brett Hextall for the ENG. We gave him a hard time about not passing it to Hextall against Duluth for the ENG when Hextall was looking for the hat trick. I guess he owed Hextall one.
• Matt Frattin is playing like a man possessed. He has nine goals in his last 10 games and is showing off all of his tools: He's extremely fast, he's very physical and he has a very heavy shot. Someday, he'll probably play in the NHL.
• Frattin got a little carried away, coming from center ice to hit Kevin Wehrs in the second period. Don Lucia was upset about it after the game. Frattin said he was trying to get the boys fired up with a big hit, but it ended up being a potentially costly penalty. Minnesota got a five-minute major out of it and could have changed the game, but the Gophers did not.
• As that penalty kill wore on, the crowd kept getting louder and louder. By the time the kill was complete, there was a thunderous ovation for the penalty killers, the loudest ovation for PK that I've ever heard. The scripted Steamatic promo did its best to kill the energy after the PK, but not even that could slow it down.
• If UND beats Duluth on Thursday, the Sioux will have to play six games in nine days. It's not an ideal situation leading into the NCAA tournament. So, Hakstol said the team's practices and time on ice will be carefully monitored this week.
• Hakstol said that UND probably secured a spot in the NCAA tournament with Friday's win. He said the Sioux are definitely in now. They are ranked No. 5 in the Pairwise Rankings right now.
• On Minnesota's side, I thought that Aaron Ness might have been the Gophers' best player tonight. He tried to create offense, even if he had to do it himself. This might have been his best weekend against the Sioux in his career.
• I was told that nine hits in a game would rank among the best individual efforts of the season. Brad Malone had 10 in the first period alone, clearly setting the tone.
• It appears that Chelsea Dagger has caught on in Grand Forks now. I wouldn't be surprised if UND uses that as its goal song again next year. Incase you didn't hear the story behind it, I believe that the players requested it after going to Chicago over New Year's and attending the Blackhawks-Devils game. The Hawks have used it as their goal song for the last couple of years.
• Tim Hennessy mentioned this a while ago and I will agree with it: This has been the best coaching job by Hakstol, Cary Eades, Dane Jackson and Co. This team is very young and minus its captain. It certainly is not a buzzsaw like past Sioux teams. But you can guarantee that they are going to play as hard as they can every night and they are not going to be fun to play against.
• Brent Davidson may be earning a consistent spot in the lineup on D. Meanwhile, I'm guessing that Carter Rowney will be back in for the Final Five. Mike Cichy was on the ice for Minnesota's goal and I'm not sure if he returned. He didn't play many shifts.

Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, March 15 at 3:45 AM | Comments (18) | Permalink