I liked this article by Bruce Ciskie, pointing out the irony of the New York Islanders selected highly-touted Minnesota recruit Aaron Ness in the recent NHL Draft. We pointed that out, too, in our Draft Roundup. Ciskie expands and opines on that, and gets a comment from Snow, where he mentions he’s not concerned about Ness playing for Don Lucia.

There are only two conclusions to reach about that … either a) give credit to Snow for overlooking his past issues with Lucia and take the best player … or b) it points out the folly of Snow ripping Lucia to begin with.

I go with the latter.

Snow said he was only “defending his guy (Kyle Okposo)” last December, in response to Lucia’s initial comments about the Islanders pressuring Okposo. But what Snow doesn’t understand — and never understood — is that Lucia was only taking the heat, i.e. defending, Okposo too. By Lucia publicly stating that the Islanders were pressuring Okposo, he was trying to take the heat off Okposo from Minnesota faithful who were criticizing him. Who knows if Lucia really felt like the Islanders were unfairly pressuring Okposo.

Snow took it as a personal knock, and blew it back up as a personal attack on Lucia.  The whole thing was ridiculous.  And Snow taking Ness now only proves that Snow never really believed the nonsense he was spewing on Lucia to begin with.

We were quite saddened, as were many around the world, at the news today of the unexpected passing of NBC political analyst Tim Russert at the young age of 58 following a sudden heart attack.

It was just two months ago that Russert closed the April 13 edition of Meet the Press by congratulating Boston College on winning the NCAA hockey championship the night before in Denver.

Russert’s son Luke was a student at BC, graduating this year. From all accounts, Russert mentioning BC hockey on such a national stage was truly reflective of how close he was with his family and sharing in the things that were important to them. As terrible as his passing is, it seems even worse that it happened on Father’s Day Weekend. And sadly, Russert suffering a heart attack was the same way we lost a great friend of college hockey, Jon Barkan, just back in December. Barkan was even younger, just 39.

I enjoyed Meet the Press mainly because of Russert’s presence and the way in which he did his job in as unbiased a fashion as I could imagine. He had a way of asking tough questions without displaying any meanness or prejudice towards one side or the other, and he asked them of everyone.

I had a great deal of respect for him as an analyst and looked forward to the show each week. And if I was changing tv stations and came across him talking about something on one channel, I almost always kept it on because I felt I was likely to learn something I didn’t know before. His tireless efforts at bringing the leaders in American politics to the viewers made us all more informed and helped keep attention on some of the most important issues of the day.

Our world will not be the same without him. We will miss him and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

Today was a day for one of what might be many changes made to improve the game of college hockey for the 2008-09 season.

The first rule, mandated today, was the two referee, two linesmen system. This here will immediately change the game for a few reasons. Number one, it will allow the two referees to call penalties instead of one. With the one ref system while the two linesmen job(s) will remain the same.

Also a few other rules were proposed. You can read the staff report here on CHN for the exact details, but, here are some thoughts on a few proposed rules.

The “Kicking” Rule: As seen in this year’s national championship game between Notre Dame and Boston College, a call that could have gone either way in the third period hurt Notre Dame’s chances when Irish defenseman Kyle Lawson had the puck deflect off his skate and went in. Now, if passed by the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee, any deflection off a skate, as long as the player is not showing a kicking motion towards the goal, will count as a goal. This would be a good rule if it is passed, speeding the game up a little bit.

The Icing Rule: Like the NHL, the new Icing rule will state that the team that ices the puck will not be able to change lines. Maybe it will be a little too much like the “new” NHL, but it is a better rule than what I am going to discuss next.

The Shootout Rule: Many coaches are discussing how to eliminate ties in college hockey. However, ties have been part of the college game for a long time. Instead of this, maybe another rule that could be considered could be how the “old” NHL used to decide games. If a team goes into overtime, whether they lost or tied, a point was given to both teams. The shootout rule in the NHL does give points to both teams, however, for now, if teams want to decrease ties, maybe they should start with just a 5:00 overtime and guaranteeing a point to both teams for going into overtime.

Faceoff Locations: Finally, all the faceoffs will be done in the nine faceoff circles only. Don’t know how that will impact the game, but we will see if this rule gets passed.

We will wait and see if the four other rule changes go through, but I am already excited about the two ref, two linesmen system in 2008-09. Expect other major changes in the world of college hockey in the coming months.

This article explains a lawsuit filed against the NCAA and Ticketmaster over their policy for earning tickets for the Men’s and Women’s Final Four (basketball), and hockey’s Frozen Four.

The NCAA has, for years now, held a lottery to determine who gets the tickets. It seems like a fair way, considering that demand is so high. The lawsuit alleges that this is like gambling — and I think that’s going over the top.

But … the NCAA also charges a fee simply to apply. It keeps the fee even if you don’t get the tickets. And you have to pay for the tickets up front. If you don’t receive them, the lawsuit alleges that it often takes a while to receive the refund.

On this score, the lawsuit does make a very good point. Likening the ticket lottery to gambling seems extreme, and maybe they just threw in the kitchen sink to see what would stick. But I would agree that charging people a fee to simply apply for tickets, is just not necessary.

I have a feeling the NCAA may be eventually forced to amend that policy.

Things could get really ugly in college hockey. The annual argument to reduce ties in the game has come up again, as noted by Larry Mahoney of the Bangor News in his recap of the AHCA meetings in Naples last week. 

According to the article, Hockey East coaches voted 8-1-1 to reduce ties. But they can’t agree on the how. Yet each league remains free to experiment with its own methods of tiebreaking. After the standard 5:00 overtime, possibilities include playing several additional minutes of 4-on-4 or even 3-on-3, as Larry suggests. Or a shootout.

So you could have one league breaking ties in one way (regular season league games), and another in a different way. A game could go into the record books as a league win but an overall tie (as viewed by the NCAA for official stats and tournament selection).

This has all the making of an enormous mess.

Why not apply the same principle here as we do with instant replay. Is there sufficient evidence to overturn the call? If not, don’t do anything. The call on the field stands.

Likewise, there’s no consensus on how to reduce or eliminate ties. Some coaches would like to do it, but there’s no agreement on how to do it. So there won’t be any changes to the official NCAA rules.

Until that happens, let’s not change anything. Just keep playing the games by the official rules. Experimentation to this degree only causes confusion, as we saw in the mid-1990s when Hockey East tested the shootout for two years — quickly ditching it. People still look back at the standings from those years and say, “Wh-What?” 88 points for the first place team? That’s because during those years rather than the standard two points for a win, one for a tie and none for a loss, you got *five* for an outright win, three for a shootout win, two for a shootout loss (and none for an outright loss).

Hockey East Standings: 1994-95 | 1995-96 (PDFs)

This came about because as the first shootout season got underway, people started to realize that some games were worth more than others. A game without a shootout was worth a total of two points. Either one team gets two and the other none, or it’s a tie and both get one. But with the original plan of awarding an extra point to the shootout winner, some games would be worth three points. One team wins the shootout and gets two, and the SO loser gets one. Plus, a shootout win becomes worth exactly as much as a regular win. That didn’t make sense either.

The alternative, as it turned out, really wasn’t much better either. I’ll admit that — and I suggested that five point system that was adopted back then.

In short, until all of the issues can be ironed out and a consensus reached on how to do it, leave the ties alone. As it is I don’t see the problem. Some games should be ties. That’s one of the great things about hockey. On some nights both teams deserve something.

In other news, Hockey East coaches voted 10-0 to implement replay in all league games — this will cost $16,000 per school. Nice to see the unanimous agreement there. Coaches voted 7-0-3 in favor of the stricter standards on holding, hooking, interference, etc. similar to the NHL. They also suggested faceoffs following a penalty be held in the offending team’s defensive zone, calling icing when a shorthanded team ices the puck, and continuing to move to the two referee system. 

As we wrap up our coverage of the 2008 Frozen Four, I wanted to add a few final thoughts.

First, thanks to everyone for reading and we hope you enjoyed the coverage we provided. But also, we hope you’ll check out the terrific coverage of our colleagues and friends at the other national sites, Inside College Hockey and USCHO. They’re also blessed with talented writers and photographers, and all of us do what we do for the love of the game. You could probably spend the next week at work poring over the incredible mass of work produced by all of us this weekend. But you could also find worse ways to spend your time than reading about college hockey.

Next, thank you to everyone associated with the 2008 Frozen Four for making it such an enjoyable time and helping us to do our job as best we could. There are too many people to thank all by name, but the people at the NCAA, the Pepsi Center and the University of Denver, all were so helpful and did a great job. 

Thanks also to the coaches, players and staff from the four schools this weekend. Both for the games on the ice and your help off the ice. There’s an immense amount of pressure and request for time from the teams that make it this far with the incredible quantity of media that covers this event, and to the last man or woman, everyone was as helpful as they could be and we thank you for that.

Finally, congratulations to the 2008 NCAA Champions, Boston College. This was an Eagle team that was a lot of fun to watch and cover, and they won this championship with a terrific mix of talent and hard work. After so many years of late getting close only to fall short, it was nice to see Jerry York and his team get to enjoy everything that comes with finally winning the title. They had to go through four very good teams to get there, and they wouldn’t have done it without playing as a team and working as hard as they did.

Thank you everyone, and we’ll see you this time next year in Washington, DC!

Be sure to check out audio of Notre Dame defenseman Kyle Lawson talking about his goal that was disallowed against BC, the game plan of the team against the Eagles, and thoughts on the Irish’s season as a whole.

Among other things, Lawson makes it clear that contrary to some views, he was not trying to kick the puck to his stick. The play happened just too fast for that.

Notre Dame’s Kyle Lawson

7:55 p.m. MDT — And the Eagles soar, for the first time since 2001 and third time in their history. All-Tournament Team: forwards Gerbe, Smith, Deeth, defensemen Lawson and Brennan, goaltender Muse. Most Outstanding Player: Gerbe. Good night from Denver and congratulations to Boston College, 2008 NCAA Champions!

7:39 p.m. MDT — Official quote via the NCAA’s Mark Bedics from video replay official Greg Shepherd: “The puck was kicked in the net by the Notre Dame player’s right skate. The skate was moving toward the goal line. There were sticks in the crease, and we needed to make sure there wasn’t a deflection off the sticks or the defender’s skates after it was kicked.” 4-1 BC now with under 4:00 to play.

7:19 p.m. MDT – The Irish just had a goal waved off that would have cut their deficit to one. This one will be talked about for a while. A pass from Ian Cole to Lawson hit both of Lawson’s skates and went in, but after a five and a half minute delay, referee Todd Anderson waved it off. It could have gone either way, but I think the fact that the replay seems to show Lawson’s right skate moving towards the net was what clinched it for Anderson. And now just after that, Gerbe feeds Smith from behind the net to make it 4-1, so with that two-goal swing, it looks like it’s just about over. I can’t see how any team could bounce back emotionally from that.

7:05 p.m. MDT — Special teams are the story so far (along with Nate Gerbe). BC 2-for-5 on the power play, Notre Dame now 0-for-6 after a Nick Petrecki penalty gave the Irish another opportunity that went by the boards. 16:21 left in the third, 3-1 BC.

6:46 p.m. MDT – End of the second now, still 3-1 BC.

6:39 p.m. MDT – That Irish goal has turned this into a pretty good game. It was looking like BC had it all but wrapped up, but Deeth’s goal gave ND life and they’ve dominated play since.

6:24 p.m. MDT – 10:53 left second, now 3-1 BC. Gerbe set up Smith on the power play for a slapper in the slot to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead, but the Irish responded less than a minute later to keep their hopes alive — Kevin Deeth taking a return pass from Kyle Lawson on a rush across the zone and lifting it over Muse’s glove. Needless to say, a LOT more action this period.

6:14 p.m. MDT – This is Nate Gerbe’s world. We’re just living in it. Gerbe has just scored two goals in 3:14 to give BC a 2-0 lead. First, Ben Smith worked it off the boards behind the net to Gerbe bottom of the left circle for a quick shot that beat Pearce far side. Then on the power play, a shot by Smith went wide, but Gerbe raced to the post and banged in the rebound short side. 14:23 left, 2-0 BC. Gerbe now has five goals in the Frozen Four — most since BU’s Dave Silk in 1977. He also has seven in the tournament, tied for the all time record with three others. Last to do it was Tony Amonte of BU in 1990. But Amonte did it in seven games, while Gerbe has only played four — back then during the 12 team tournament, the first and second rounds were both best-of-three series. BU played three against North Dakota and then three more against Michigan State before falling in the semifinals to eventual NCAA runner-up Colgate.

5:50 p.m. MDT – End of the first, no score. Shots favor BC 7-5 — but it was a very defensive period with few good chances. 

5:38 p.m. MDT – Another ND power play after Matt Greene cross-checks Garrett Regan into the crossbar on a rush and shot by Christian Hanson. Best chance of the period for ND came on that man advantage when Ryan Thang took a feed at the bottom of the left circle from Mark Van Guilder and fired it quickly on net — but Muse made a great right pad save. 3:24 left 1st, 0-0. We’ll keep an eye on BC D Carl Sneep, who went down after blocking a shot and seemed to be in some pain.

5:30 p.m. MDT – First power play of the game goes to Notre Dame, after Kyle Kucharski of BC goes for obstruction holding the stick. But the Irish aren’t able to land even a single shot on net. Still 0-0 with now 7:42 to play in the first.

5:12 p.m. MDT – The Irish have come out hitting. After Gerbe was checked effectvely in the ND zone, Brock Sheahan used the forearm to knock down Brian Gibbons in front of the Irish bench. 15:39 left 1st, 0-0.

4:58 p.m. MDT – Game time is 5:05 p.m. MDT. The Minnesota Wild are here — I passed a load of their bags in the hall on the way to the elevator to the press box. That Stanley Cup series is tied 1-1 and resumes Monday night here at the Pepsi Center.

10:23 p.m. MDT – Irish win it on Calle Ridderwall’s goal from high in the slot, 5-4, at 5:44 of overtime. The Cinderella run continues! And for Ridderwall, who entered the game with three goals this year, it’s his second of the evening. You never know who the star will be. Good night from Denver.

10:21 p.m. MDT – Five minutes into OT and nothing decided yet. Both teams have played to win here early on — and Notre Dame has had the better of the play. Nothing to lose.

9:57 p.m. MDT — And we’re headed to overtime. It’s after midnight on the East Coast, but we’ve got all kinds of time here. Can’t really say how this one will go. It seemed as if the Wolverines had all the momentum and it was just a matter of time, but then the Irish got a big one from Deeth to regain the lead, and it had the feeling of them holding on for the win. But then Michigan ties it on a fluke goal and we go to OT. Shots in the third, 9-6 Michigan and 29-21 for the game. On another note, the maintenance guys here come out at every TV timeout and sweep up the snow — turns out it’s something they do at every Avs game and indeed according to the guys, it’s happening at every NHL rink as well. We just haven’t seen it in the college game — at the least, I haven’t seen it in college games played in NHL arenas before now.

9:45 p.m. MDT — Hold the phone! Michigan ties it on one Pearce would certainly like back. Carl Hagelin just throws it towards the net from below the goal line, and it hits the skate of Pearce and goes in with 5:21 left. That makes it 4-4, and it’s been a heck of a game.

9:38 p.m. MDT — Just as we were wondering if Hogan could possibly get the start Saturday if Michigan completes the comeback win, he gives one up as the Irish regain the lead. Nifty move by Kevin Deeth to cut in front on a rush and beat Hogan high stick side. That makes it 4-3 UND with 8:30 to play, and boy did the Irish need that goal. It certainly didn’t look good for them the way Michigan has carried play the last two periods. But Notre Dame just might pull this one out after all.

9:21 p.m. MDT – Wolverines tie it up, 3-3, as Kolarik knocks his own rebound out of the air for a power play marker at 2:16. Looks like Cinderella’s luck has run out.

9:03 p.m. MDT – Looks like we’re ready for a good third period. Michigan certainly did get a lift in that period, and it’s now a one goal game after two (3-2 Irish). Hogan hasn’t really been tested, but he’s done what he has had to do as his team forges the comeback. 

8:39 p.m. MDT – All similarities to Game #1 are over. Michigan strikes for two goals in :13 to cut the lead from 3-0 to 3-2. Chad Kolarik took a feed from Kevin Porter and scored his 29th from the high slot at 8:48. Then off the ensuing draw and a rush up ice, Matt Rust knocked in his own rebound. I’m a little surprised Jeff Jackson didn’t use his time out here, but he probably figures that with the change in tone this game has taken, he’ll need it later.

8:24 p.m. MDT – Sauer is replaced in net by freshman Bryan Hogan (5 GP, 3-1-1, 2.54, .904) for the start of the second. Red’s obviously looking for some sort of a spark and I have a feeling he’ll need to get it in a hurry. They need to turn this around quick. 

8:07 p.m. MDT – Are we watching a replay of the first game? It’s 3-0 Notre Dame after one, as Ryan Thang just scored another short side goal on Sauer. That came with just :34 remaining in the first on the shorthand. In both semifinals, the underdogs have taken a huge lead after one, and in both games, the favorite’s goaltender has not had his best period. If this one holds up too, who does God cheer for in the final? Shots in the first: 11-9 Michigan.

7:49 p.m. MDT – Two goals in :42 have given the underdog Irish a big 2-0 lead over top ranked Michigan. Mark Van Guilder just made it 2-0 at 5:42 when he scored short side on Sauer from the bottom of the left circle. That followed a shot from the slot on a rush by Calle Ridderwall at 5:00 that went over the shoulder of the Wolverine netminder.

7:34 p.m. MDT – Semifinal 2 is just about underway, with CCHA foes Notre Dame and Michigan facing off. Michigan owns a 2-0 record against UND this year. Jordan Pearce in net for the Irish and Billy Sauer for the Wolverines in a battle of the schools with two of the best fight songs in college sports.

6:40 p.m. MDT — Eagles win, 6-1. North Dakota’s Jake Marto broke Muse’s shutout bid with 1:16 to play, firing the puck over the left shoulder of the BC dufflebag. BC goes back to the championship game for the third time in three years, and we will see if that third time is the charm. For the Sioux, possibly the most shocking and frustrating of the three straight semifinal losses to BC, as it didn’t look like any of the UND players had their best game. This will be the second straight year without a WCHA team in the final, following seven straight years with one from 2000-06 (and six titles). And, it will be the second straight matchup between BC and a team from the CCHA. That’ll do it for Semifinal One.

6:10 p.m. MDT – 14:17 left now and still 6-0 Eagles. A high-stick called on BC’s Carl Sneep gives the Sioux their sixth power play of the game. 

5:45 p.m. MDT — End of two now, BC ahead 6-0. In the department of “Stat of the night that doesn’t mean anything”, shots in the game are now 21-17 Eagles after an 8-5 edge in the second. This is only the second time all year that Lamoreux has given up five or more goals (UNH, 7-4 loss w/two empty-netters on Dec. 29) and just the third time he has even been beaten three times. I have to think even the most ardent Eagle followers didn’t see this coming. By the way, the Notre Dame-Michigan semifinal will start a half hour later than expected, at 7:30 p.m. local time (8:30 Central, 9:30 Eastern). This one should end around 6:45 and they’ll need about 40-45 minutes for the second game warmups and then to make ice. 

5:39 p.m. MDT — Not letting up, BC has gone up 6-0 now as Gerbe fed Ben Smith on a 2-on-1 for Smith’s 24th of the year. That came at 11:58, and we now have 2:05 left in the second. We’ve been poring over the record books, and the last time a team won by six or more goals in the semifinals was 25 years ago — ironically, BC lost to Denver, 10-4, in Boston on March 17, 1973.

5:19 p.m. MDT — It’s the Nathan Gerbe show. Mr. Hobey Hat Trick has seemingly dashed any hopes of a Sioux comeback by scoring his third of the game, a power play goal at 6:37, to make it 5-0. Gerbe lifted a backhander over Lamoreux’s stacked pads from the side of the crease for his 33rd of the year. He has a goal of each type in this game — shorthanded, even strength and power play. Of note, the Sioux lost junior D Taylor Chorney to a leg injury early in the period following a collision with an Eagle.

4:54 p.m. MDT — Mercifully for the Sioux and Lamoreux, the first period comes to an end with BC ahead by a commanding 4-0 lead. North Dakota had not allowed more than one goal in the first period all season. And, four goals is the magic number for the Eagles — scoring four or more, BC is 22-0 this year and 88-0-1 since Oct. 17, 2003. The last time BC lost when putting up four goals, the team that beat them was…you guessed it, North Dakota. 6-4 was the score. Shots in the first were 13-12 BC. 

4:51 p.m. MDT – Holy cow! Two more BC goals and it’s a one-sided game just like that. Lamoreux has had probably his worst period of the season. First it was Gerbe scoring again with a shot from the goal line extended that snuck through Lamoreux’s pads at 15:13 — the Hobey nominee tallied his second in less than two minutes. That came after a shot off the wing that hit Lamoreux in the shoulder, seeming to catch him by surprise. (Should have been a 4-on-4 situation — with the teams skating 5-on-5 but each with two players in the box, referee Shegos then sent off a player for each team at 14:59, but manpower didn’t change.) Then with just :15 remaining in the period, the Eagles’ Pat Gannon stole the puck behind the Sioux net and sent it out to Dan Bertram high in the slot for a quick one-timer that made it 4-0. 

4:37 p.m. MDT — BC has struck for two goals to take a 2-0 lead. Andrew Orpik converted a 2-on-1 feed from Kyle Kucharski at 7:08 to make it 1-0. Then Hobey Hat Trick honoree Nathan Gerbe scored on a shorthanded breakaway for a 2-0 lead at 13:14. That goal came just after some good chances on a Sioux power play — North Dakota’s power play has been very good this period, but they’ve hit a post and John Muse has been strong for BC.

3:53 p.m. MDT – We’re just about ready for the first semifinal here in Denver. John Muse gets the start in net for BC, while it’ll be Jean-Philippe Lamoreux for North Dakota. BC will start its second line with Dan Bertram centering Matt Price and Pat Gannon, and Nick Petrecki with Carl Sneep on defense. For the Sioux, it’ll be their second line as well, Rylan Kaip between Matt Watkins and Matt Frattin, and Joe Finley and Chay Genoway are the defensive pair. Matt Shegos of the CCHA will be the referee.