Andy's Weekly Hockey Extravaganza Week #1

All the preseason hype is over, the exhibition games played, and this weekend it finally counts. Every WCHA team is in action except Bemidji State, but a vast majority of teams aren’t playing in traditional series. Nebraska-Omaha hosts a tournament with RIT, #6 St. Cloud State, and Clarkson. #2 North Dakota heads to the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage to face Air Force, Alaska, and Alaska-Anchorage. #9 UMD and Michigan Tech go to the Superior Showcase to play Northern Michigan and Lake Superior, while #13 Wisconsin goes to St. Louis to play in the IceBreaker with #14 Boston University, Norte Dame, and Holy Cross.
In the traditional series this weekend, Denver visits Vermont, Minnesota hosts Massachusetts, RPI goes to Colorado College, and the Mavs host St. Lawrence. For the brevity of space and numerous possible tournament matchups this week I’ll only analyze the series.
St. Lawrence vs. MSU-Mankato
Game Times: 7:37 PM CT Friday, 7:07 PM CT Saturday; TV: CHW, check local listings for channel. Coverage starts at 7 PM CT both nights.
Players to Watch: G Phil Cook (MSU), F Kyle Flanagan (STL). Both sophomores made great strides last season as they either led or were close to the lead in many positional categories and will be crucial to their team’s successes.
Analysis: This series will be a tale of two programs. The Saints are coming off a 20-15-6 campaign with a fourth place finish in the ECAC Tournament. The Mavericks however are coming off a disappointing 16-20-3 mark while losing to St. Cloud State in the first round of the WCHA Tournament. Look for the strong MSU defensive corps lead by seniors Ben Youds, Kurt Davis, and Channing Boe to help control the tempo of this series for the Mavericks. However, the bigger story line may be the lack of offensive play by both teams. The Saints finished last year with 2.77 GPG, 10th in the 12 team ECAC, while the Mavericks did not fare much better with a 2.82 GPG which ranked 7th in the then 10 team WCHA.
Prediction: Split series, these are two very evenly matched teams statistically.
Massachusetts vs. #15 Minnesota
Game Times: 7:07 PM CT both Friday and Saturday; TV: FS North
Players to Watch: F Mike Hoeffel (MIN), F T.J. Syner (MASS). Hoeffel and Syner are the leading returning scorers for their respective programs.
Analysis: Once again, offense will be at a premium for both teams. While the Gophers do return a majority of their starters, their offense was towards the bottom of the WCHA while suffering their first losing season in over a decade. UMass on the other hand lost a lot of their offense from last year and will be required to pick up the pieces from an already struggling Minutemen team from last year.
Prediction: Gopher sweep. In my opinion, Alex Kangas will be the difference maker in this series as the Gophers try to remove the bad memories of last season.
#11 Denver vs. Vermont
Game Times: 7:05 PM ET both Friday and Saturday; Internet video: CatamounTV ($4.99 per game)
Players to Watch: F Jason Zucker (DEN), D Kyle Medvec (VER). Although the preseason stats don’t count, both Zucker and Medvec had memorable preseasons. Zucker scored a hat trick in his first ever collegiate hockey game in an 8-1 defeat of the US Under 18 team, while Medvec picked up two assists in a 3-2 loss to New Brunswick.
Analysis: As I said in my WCHA season preview, Denver may be one of the more intriguing teams in the conference. The Pioneers lost a lot of talent from last year’s squad but their recruiting class looks very promising with such names such as the aforementioned Zucker, 1st round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Beau Bennett, and Nick Shore. Vermont is a very interesting squad as well. In the preseason Hockey East coaches’ poll the Catamounts got 6th place, a point behind Northeastern. They’re coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance but lost their three biggest offensive playmakers to graduation. While the Catamounts have the core returning to threaten another NCAA appearance, they have to step up in a challenging Hockey East conference to make an impact.
Prediction: Denver sweep. At this point the Catamounts have more questions than the Pioneers do, although a split isn’t out of the question.
RPI vs. Colorado College
Game Times: 7:37 PM MT Friday, 7:07 PM MT Saturday; Internet video: B2 Networks
Players to Watch: Rylan and Jaden Schwartz (CC), Allen York (RPI). The Schwartz brothers are once again reunited after a year hiatus, but its younger brother Jaden, a first round selection by the St. Louis Blues and an incoming freshman who steals the spotlight from Rylan, a sophomore. Jaden is much more of a polished playmaker than his brother, but Rylan is known to make the big play as well. Jaden can also score buckets of goals; in midget hockey he broke team records previously held by NHL scoring machines in Vincent Lecavlier and Brad Richards. The Engineers send out junior Allen York between the pipes, and York has stepped up to the challenge. This Blue Jackets prospect shaved almost half a goal off his goals against average from his freshman year to his sophomore year while also boosting his save percentage by nine tenths of a percent. He could very well be a household name in his own right by the end of the season.
Analysis: RPI has many returning players for an Engineer squad that suffered a first round exit in the ECAC playoffs. Barring injuries, I see them making a deeper run into the conference tournament as along as York stays healthy. As for Colorado College, if they want to stay relevant in the McNaughton Cup conversation, they must rise to the challenge and avoid a collapse much like last season in Colorado Springs.
Prediction: Split. These teams match up quite well. Look for a fun series in the Rockies this weekend.

In the Begininng

In remembrance of Charles M. Schulz and the work he did, I present to you via comics.com, the inaugural Peanuts strip that ran 60 years ago today in eight newspapers across America:


Of course, what would a Peanuts post be without some music? I present the song that was what inspired Vince Guaraldi's involvement with the television specials, Vince's own "Cast Your Fate to the Wind". As legend has it, Lee Mendelson, the longtime producer of the television specials was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge when he heard this song on the radio and decided to give Vince a call. Vince later performed the piece that would become known as "Linus and Lucy" over the phone that day.


Have a good weekend!

And the Emmy goes to...

First off, check out my WCHA preview over at:
http://collegehockeyweekend.blogspot.com/2010/09/wcha-preview.html where I am a blogger this season.

With College Hockey Weekend up for two Upper Midwest Emmy awards tomorrow, this marks the second time in three years that I have had my work honored by the NTA. The first was in 2008 when I won their scholarship as a college freshman for my reporting work in high school for my reporting both on my high school's news show but also for my work on a public access news show. It just reminds me of the great talent I've been given and the great quality of the projects I work on. Even if CHW gets shut out tomorrow night, I'm still proud of the crew that puts an insane amount of hours in every week to give you WCHA coverage across the Upper Midwest.

In other tidbits:

• I called the Melo/Nets deal right out of the gate, and it appears it'll soon happen.
• NHL preseason is underway, and it's great to see hockey back. Will the Hawks repeat as Stanley Cup champs? Wait for my NHL preview and see.
• If you're familiar with the ESPN program "Around the Horn" you certainly know about Denver Post columnist Woody Paige and his role as a jokester on the show. Woody comes out in yesterday's Post with what possibly could be the most moving and better columns of the year about his battle with depression in the wake of Bronco Kenny McKinley's suicide: Woody's Story
 

The Sorensen Poll will be out on Sunday. Have a good weekend!

Sorensen Poll Week #3

Bama stays #1 for another week
1. Alabama
2. Boise State
3. Ohio State
4. Oregon
5. TCU
6. Nebraska
7. Texas
8. Oklahoma
9. Arkansas
10. Florida
11. South Carolina
12. Wisconsin
13. Utah
14. Arizona
15. LSU
16. Auburn
17. Stanford
18. Miami (FL)
19. Iowa
20. Michigan
21. West Virginia
22. USC
23. Penn State
24. Michigan State
25. Air Force

Remembering Terry Fox

Canadian Terry Fox on his "Marathon of Hope" in 1980

Tomorrow millions of Canadians  will hit the ground running in honor of one Terry Fox. For those who don't know this inspiring story, Terry was a cancer patient which had taken his left leg and during his treatment he was disappointed with the amount of money that went towards fighting cancer. He was a runner and originally told friends and family that he wanted to run a marathon to raise funds. Secretly though, he had a grander plan: He wanted to run across Canada, from the Atlantic Ocean in St. John's, Newfoundland to the Pacific Ocean in Victoria, British Columbia while running a marathon (26 miles) every day.

Terry Fox left St. John's on April 12, 1980. During the first part of the run through the Maritimes (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) and Quebec Terry was disappointed with how the run was going. However, by the time he arrived in Montreal on June 22nd, a third of the way through his journey, he had raised over $200,000.

The tide turned however when he crossed into Ontario. Throughout the province, he received a police escort and was received to large crowds in both Ottawa and Toronto, all while not taking a day off during his run. The Canadian Cancer Society estimated they had collected $100,000 from Terry's run in Toronto alone, including a $25,000 check from hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr. Sadly, just outside of Thunder Bay on September 1st, Terry stopped running because of chest pain and coughing. The next day, Terry broke the tragic news: His cancer had returned and had spread to his lungs. Terry Fox had raised $1.7 million on his "Marathon of Hope".

Despite the fact that Terry did not want anyone to continue his run, the people of Canada figuratively continued his mission. A week after Terry ended his run, a telethon was broadcast across Canada and raised $10.7 million, including $1 million donations each from the province of Ontario and his home province of British Columbia that would further cancer research. Terry was also honored with many honors, including a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest honor a civilian Canadian can receive, and the Lou Marsh Award for 1980 as Canada's top sportsman. A year after Terry started his marathon, he had helped raise over $23 million.

Unfortunately, the success could not translate to help Terry's health. He was not responding well to treatments and he was hospitalized with pneumonia in June 1981. Terry fell into a coma and died on June 28, 1981. The Canadian government lowered flags to half staff, an honor unheard of for civilians while his funeral was broadcast on national television and is beloved to this day by the Canadian people for his heroism, determination, and courage.

Before Terry died, businessman Isadore Sharp contacted Terry about doing a fund raising run in Terry's name. Terry agreed with two conditions: 1) The run would be non-competitive and 2) Like his run, there would be no corporate sponsorship. This year is the 30th anniversary of the run and the Terry Fox Foundation has raised more than $500 million for cancer research worldwide.

(DISCLOSURES: My aunt and cousin are running in the 30th Terry Fox Run in Waterloo, ONT tomorrow. Also, if you're interested in learning more about Terry's story visit www.terryfox.org or check out the ESPN "30 for 30" documentary entitled "Into the Wind" directed by Steve Nash and Ezra Holland premiering Sept. 28th at 8 PM ET on ESPN and repeating at 11 PM ET on ESPN2.)

Sorensen on Sports-Behind the Scenes

Since we're about 10 minutes out from taping from this week's show, I wanted to give you an idea along with some insight of how this cool little podcast is made.

1. Pick show topics
This may seem pretty easy to do, but actually, it's one of the harder things to do. You want timely material, but not too timely or as Coach Chili calls it "a fluid situation". We don't want a story to be obsolete. If that were the case, we'd be more historians than reporters!

2. Record the show
Honestly, not that hard to do. Just talk and make sure your microphones are working.

3. Convert the files so they can be published
We use a piece of software called ProSonus Capture compared to Audacity last year. Since I'm the technical one, I find Capture WAY better than Audacity at least in my opinion. The rule of thumb with Audacity is that it takes real time to convert your show (i.e. 30 minutes for a half hour show, hour for an hour, etc.). Capture is a lot better. For a show that clocks in around 50 minutes, conversion usually is 15-20 minutes so its a lot less man hours to use Capture and honestly easier, despite the fact you use two programs to convert.

4. Submit
Since we're switching back to Bethany's page, the episode is submitted to a server, where in a perfect world its uploaded in 1-2 business days so you can enjoy it.

Who are you?

I know you're out there readers, and I thank each and everyone of you. Since you do read this little blog, I want you to comment in the posts with the kind of content you want me to write about. In the world of journalism and media, I view that the consumers are your boss, and I want to know what kind of content you want to read about or if I should stay the course with what I'm doing.