Rule changes: they are a comin’?

By Jason Paul | May 11, 2010

USCHO has an article outlining the areas of discussion for potential rule changes to NCAA ice hockey.  Seeing as the committee can only change rules every two years, it is important they get it right.

University of Alaska athletic director and former Notre Dame goaltender Forrest Karr heads up the committee and, based on the article, it appears player safety is the top concern, particularly injuries resulting from contact to the head.  Karr notes to USCHO that the number of CTH penalties has increased the past two seasons.

“We hope it’s not because more people are violating the rules, more people are hitting to the head,” Karr tells USCHO. “We hope it’s because officials are more aware of it and making the calls more often.”

Two options under consideration are giving officials discretion to call a major penalty and game misconduct or game disqualification, or making contact to the head a standalone penalty instead of having another penalty attached to it.

I’m not sure how that latter one would affect anything.  If I understand that correctly, they could just call a penalty for “contact to the head” rather than “contact to the head – roughing” or “contact to the head – elbowing.”  But typically any penalty involving contact to the head involves a fist, elbow, or stick to begin with, so it doesn’t seem like to me making it a standalone penalty would change anything.

Other issues of note:

• Half shields instead of full face masks, though Karr said it’s not likely to get decided this offseason.  However, Karr said nearly 100 percent (!) of coaches are in favor of half shields.  The players want it.  The coaches want it.  So naturally the NCAA probably isn’t going to go for it.
• Changes to the format of overtime hockey to reduce the number of ties. “My overall feeling was that coaches are not largely supportive of the shootout,” Karr said.  “But if we were going to go to a shootout, they’d like to follow the NHL model of a four-on-four followed by a shootout.” Emphasis mine.  I’m not a big fan of shootouts.  The CCHA was the only league to implement a shootout for conference games last season.
• The officiating system.  According to the article, the CCHA is the only conference opposed to the current two referee system.  Interesting.  I’d be interested in hearing more why, though if it reduces the number of times the referee at center ice blows the play dead when there is a loose puck in the crease rather than, you know, letting the official standing behind the net make the call (not that that has EVER happened to us…), I’m all for it.
• Changing the rule so all goals that go in off a skate count, rather than just those deflected in.  Karr said the “iconic” coaches floated this idea.  I’m in total favor of it.  The way the rule is right now, where you can deflect in the puck off a skate but can’t direct it in, has caused way too many controversies.  Time to simplify it—either count them all or don’t count any.
• Changes to penalty enforcement (player remains in box for full minor or double-minor penalty, penalized team can’t make line change—similar to a team who ices the puck, shorthanded team can’t ice the puck, etc…).
• Eliminating the player’s ability to leave his feet or slide to block a shot.  Huh?!  Who thought up this one?  Their theory is that it decreases scoring chances.  Well, DUH!  Maybe that’s because it’s the defense’s job to PREVENT scoring chances.  Hence why it’s called DEFENSE.  Seriously, can you imagine this while watching a game… “Penalty to Chris Summers, two minutes for sliding to block a shot.”  I’ll stop watching college hockey if this ever becomes reality.  Dumb…just dumb.

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Deblois to join U-M this fall

By Jason Paul | May 7, 2010

Michigan recruit Derek Deblois will join the Wolverines this fall instead of 2011.  Brian at MGoBlog has the details and scouting report.

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U-M freezes The Cold War II tickets sales at 100K

By Jason Paul | May 7, 2010

As first noted on my Twitter account last night via College Hockey News, the University of Michigan has frozen ticket sales for The Cold War II after they hit the 100,000 mark.  The remaining tickets are being held so students have a chance to purchase tickets to this historic event.

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JMFJ is Captain America; Cammy goal; NHL.com mock drafts

By Jason Paul | May 5, 2010

Former Wolverine defenseman Jack Johnson will captain Team USA at the IIHF World Championship, while former Wolverine captain Eric Nystrom will serve as an alternate captain.  Team USA opens against host Germany this Friday.  In their only exhibition action, JMFJ scored the game-winning goal as the USA downed France, 3-1.  Good luck to all our alumni playing in this event!

If you haven’t seen Mike Cammalleri’s awesome goal from Game 2 of their series against Pittsburgh, check it out NOW.  Cammy kicks the puck with his right skate up in the air and bats the puck in to the net.  Hand-eye coordination…yeah, Cammy’s got it!

NHL.com has released three new mock drafts.  Adam Kimelman has defenseman Jon Merrill going to Vancouver at #26.  Brad Holland has Merrill being selected by the Phoenix Coyotes at #13.  Why would that not surprise me?  And Mike Morreale has the Avs taking Merrill at #19.

The International Scouting Service recently released their newest Top30 for the NHL draft and listed Merrill the 11th best player after his big performance at the World Under-18 Championship.

Regarded as one of the best defenseman prospects coming out of the US this year, Merrill looks to have leapfrogged his competition and could be debated as being one of the top three best defensive prospects in the entire draft. Merrill was simply dominant in Belarus and his ability to play in all situations, including running the power play, certainly makes him all the more valuable. Merrill is explosive, gets the puck on net and creates lanes all over the ice. He is effective and reliable defensively and proves to be very difficult to win space against. Scouts are salivating at the chance to add Merrill to their rosters, as he is already a dominant player but still has a lot of room for improvement. This kid is for real.

So it’s looking like he’ll be a mid-to-late round pick with the potential to go higher.

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OHL draft update

By Jason Paul | May 2, 2010

Matia Marcantuoni, who was considered an easy top five selection that internet scuttlebutt had having a “deal” with Oshawa at No. 3, dropped to Kitchener at No. 18.  The Rangers, according to the guys at The Wolverine, are “very aggressive” in pursuing their prospects, but right now this has to be taken as at least a slight positive for Michigan’s chances of landing the star forward.

EDIT: I also just dug up this in an article by Peter Ruicci of The Sault Star from yesterday morning before the draft.  “Both” refers to Nick Ebert and Matia Marcantuoni:

A source says both have informed OHL teams they have

no interest in playing in the league and are considering National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) options.

I have no idea how reliable Ruicci and his sources are, and as always with kids this age, things can change, but it seeing as he posted his before the draft then Marcantuoni went from being a top three pick to No. 18, there might be some credibility to it.

DOUBLE EDIT: On the front page of the Kitchener Rangers website there is a photo of Marcantuoni wearing a Rangers jersey standing in front of a locker bearing his name.  While it could just be a photo op thing, it appears his chances of landing in Ann Arbor are very slim.

Defenseman Grant Webermin, who I believe had very strong Michigan interest, went 20th overall to Windsor.  Bob Miller of CollegeHockey247.com simply said, “No college for Grant.”

Kitchener took another prospect of interest in the third round when they picked defenseman Jacob Trouba.  It was also an interesting pick because Trouba recently committed to the U.S. NTDP and, as we know from some past cases, it’s not cheap for families to break that commitment.  The Wolverines are battling Notre Dame for his services.

Niagara nabbed 2012 Michigan commit Boo Nieves in the 10th round.  Definitely a good sign for Wolverine fans.  Boo was considered a first round talent, and after getting snubbed by the NTDP some thought he might be leaning towards going the major junior route.  If he was strongly considering it, he most likely would have been drafted in the top round.  Being taken in the 10th round is more like taking a flier on a player and hoping they can convince him but not really wasting a draft pick, either.  The Ice Dogs are also the team that drafted Michigan commit Lucas Lessio in the first round last year, but Lessio turned them down and remains commited to St. Mike’s and Michigan.

Michigan goaltender target Dalton Izyk went in the 11th round to Brampton, and defensive commitment Connor Carrick went to Guelph in the 11th round.  Carrick is committed to the NTDP.  Izyk turned down the NTDP, again leading some to believe he was leaning towards the OHL.  Being a late round flier seems to indicate his options are open.

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CCHA makes playoff format changes

By Jason Paul | April 30, 2010

To accommodate for having 11 teams in the CCHA next season, the league has made some changes to the playoff format.

The top five teams will receive first round byes.  The bottom six teams will face off in best of three game series in the opening round with the higher seed getting home ice.

The winners will be reseeded for the Quarterfinal round with the lowest seed advancing facing the No. 1 seed, the No. 2 seed vs. No. 7, No. 3 seed vs. No 6., and No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 (the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds get first round byes, so it will be known ahead of time who is playing this game). The Quarterfinal round is best-of-three and played on the home ice of the higher seed.

The winners will advance to the CCHA Championship at Joe Louis Arena.  Teams will be reseeded so the highest advancing seed will face the lowest advancing seed in the No. 1 vs. No 4 contest, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 will face off in the other semifinal.  The CCHA Third-Place Game and CCHA Championship will take place Saturday, March 19, 2011.

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