Official 2006-2007 College Hockey Thread

[damaniac]

There's a good chance this goes by ignored and vanishes into obscurity. However, I figured it was worth a shot.

Who here follows college hockey? Anyone? Let's get some discussion going.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

I'm going to make a better effort to follow this year. I've always been a fan of college hockey, but the last couple years, I haven't really been able to follow. Who's going to be good this year?

How's UM this year? Since I moved to Denver, I haven't really been able to follow much. I just can't get myself to care about DU, so I end up only going to a few games each year - usually MTU, Minnesota, and maybe UMD or Wisconsin.

[kidcolin]

I went to BU and never bothered. I probably missed out. Hockey's a fun sport to watch live.

[MrFeelNothin]

YES this is awesome! College hockey is my favorite sport- the games are fast, the best players are truely dominant and fun to watch, and the atmosphere at UofM(innesota) is loud and happy.

Go Gophers!!!

[JordanIB]

Damaniac - Love that you started this. I hope it catches on.



This feels like it was just a couple of weeks ago, and unfortunately I was on the wrong rooting end of it. Was in a bar on the UES with about 150 other fans and it was so intense for 3 OT's, and then unfortunately you could hear a pin drop and all the air go out of the place when it ended.

It's been a great run the last 5-6 years for the Big Red, although given the rash of talent that we lost this summer -- McKee, O'Byrne, Moulson, Pokulok, Cam Abbott, Chris Abbott, Gleed -- it may be a bit of a rebuilding year. I think all of the Lynah Faithful would be ecstatic with just an NCAA appearance.

That said, it should be an exciting few years ahead with some great freshman and sophomore talent. Looks like Schaefer might be forced to open up play a bit with a lot of offensive talent now on board, but I'm sure he will still be poudning the defensive, wear-em-down style into the new guys.

Living in NYC now, I try (always successfully) to get to the games @ Yale/Princeton/Harvard every year. Flew out to Minnesota on a whim for the NCAA regionals a couple years ago (for yet ANOTHER heartbreaking OT loss). And this year I'll probably go up for a weekend at (renovated) Lynah for the first time since graduating, so I'm stoked for that.

I'd love some good college hockey discussion around here. While I bleed Big Red, I often don't know enough about the other happenings across the country, and I feel this board would be a lot less trollish than USCHO in trying to get a feel for other teams and fans.

So that's my deal...

LET'S GO RED!!!!!

[damaniac]

Michigan is looking a lot like last year- tons of talent, but very sloppy. Last year there was an excuse: the team was young and there were late August defections. None this year. Most everyone is back. The team is very talented, but commits bad penalties, makes poor passes and poor clearing attempts. Sauer in goal is hardly a rock either, although I think he's still not that high on the list of problems.

It is particularly disturbing for me since they have a front-heavy home schedule. Something like 12/14 home games by Thanksgiving, and I think a total of 6 after Christmas. If they don't get it together in a hurry, they are going to be scrambling to catch up on the road.

They College Hockey Showcase is west of the lakes this year, so they have to travel to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Joy.

[JordanIB]

And let's never forget which fanbase taught the folks @ Yost how to cheer and really build a college hockey atmosphere [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Always a fun read:

[ QUOTE ]
'91 Series set tone for U-M fans


A successful program can more or less point to a date when things started to come together.


For the Michigan hockey team, that turnaround came during a 1991 NCAA tournament series against Cornell. The Wolverines were finally beginning to put together a team that could compete with the best teams in the nation, but its first tournament appearance under coach Red Berenson brought forth an additional ingredient.


Hosting the best 2-of-3 series at Yost Ice Arena created a general exitement around the hockey program for the first time in years. A large contingent of Cornell fans and its band made the trip to Ann Arbor and did their best to try to take over the building.


Berenson believes that's when U-M fans really developed into a college hockey crowd. "Our program was coming but when we played Cornell, our building just changed," Berenson said. "The Cornell fans brought a lot of theior chants and their tradition to this building. From then on our crowd has taken off."


U-M (18-1-1) hosts Cornell (8-4-2) for the first time since that series at 7 p.m. tonight.


The 1990-91 season was the last time the NCAA used the best 2-of-3 series format to decide the first two rounds of the tournament. U-M and Cornell went the full three games before the Wolverines advanced with a 9-3 victory in Game Three.


U-M fans first heard the cries of "Sieve, sieve, sieve" and "It's all your fault" directed at their goaltender during the series. Now, U-M fans use those chants to help turn Yost into one of the toughest places for the opposing team to play.


"I think it's probably one of the noisier rinks in college hockey," senior forward brendan Morrison said. "I couldn't imagine being a freshman goaltender out there. It's a great advantage for us."


Yost hasn't been a place for most netminders lately as 12 of the last 22 games have seen the visiting goaltender pulled early. Visiting squads in general haven't had much luck either, as U-M has lost no more than twice a year over the past five seasons.


The U-M faithful listened to Cornell fans count up the goals after each score, antagonize the goaltender from the start and even anger the crowd by playing the Michigan State fight song.


U-M adopted and altered many of the cheers, including some of the profane ones.


Jon Wardener [Pep band french horn player class of '79] , an Ann Arbor resident who is president of the Cornell Club of Michigan, recalls his days of watching Big Red hockey as a student in the 1970s. He and 99 other members of the club have tickets for tonight's game.


"Thinking back to some of the things I did as a student, I'd be embarassed to do them now," Wardner said. "We expect to hear the same stuff from the Michigan fans (tonight), though."


Now an avid Wolverine fan - except when they play the Big Red - Wardner sees many similarities between the Yost crowds and the fans at Cornell's Lynah Rink.


"Yost is louder and larger but the spirit and intensity is similar," Wardner said. "The fans in both places are frenzied."


One of the U-M fans' fovorite cheers - a forceful "See-ya" given to an opponent as he enters the penalty box - actually made its arrival before the Cornell series. it had long been used by Duke basketball fans before becoming one of the most enthusiastic chants at Yost.


"I think it's a real effective cheer," U-M fan Mabelle Kirk said. "It emphasizes the fact that we're going on a power play and that the other team did something bad."


Most of the cheers and chants begin with the pep band in the south end zone. it initiates the counting of the goals, antagonizes goaltenders, and sends penalized players away with a drumroll. Berenson claims that the band makes his team a goal or two better at home by helping the crowd get into the game.


"I just love that pep band," U-M fans Mickey Grant said. "That's what really makes these games for me."


"In their fiorst tournament appearance in 14 seasons, not only did the Wolverines learn how tough playing in the tournament was, but the fans realized what it would take to give Yost a real home-ice advantage.


"We learned how good and how hard you have to play to be successful in the NCAA's," Berenson said. "It seems like everybody turns it up another notch."


U-M would get swept by Boston University in the next round but the Wolverines had finally gained an essential piece that would help the program for years to come.

[/ QUOTE ]

[MrFeelNothin]

Oh, by the way, any Maine fans in here?

[MrFeelNothin]

How about UNH?

[JordanIB]

Well, maybe I was wrong about this being less trollish than the USCHO boards. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]