A few thoughts in an abbreviated (and delayed … thanks, Sunday tournament games) edition:
* Here’s a good read from Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail about the college-vs.-major junior issue, tied to the differences in the United States and Canadian World Junior Championship teams.
In the end, the choice between the two routes to the NHL will always be an individual one. But one with ties to college hockey indeed has to hope the message of Paul Kelly and College Hockey Inc. get through.
* I don’t believe I had ever personally seen a coach throw a stick on the ice in anger before Yale’s Keith Allain did so Sunday night against Wisconsin. On TV, sure. That and a garbage can, I think. But never in person.
It was obviously not the right thing to do by Allain, and he saddled his team with a bench minor.
But his gripe — if not his action — sure appeared justified. A Wisconsin player more or less tackled a Yale player and neither of the referees raised his arm. I usually give referees the benefit of the doubt, but that one didn’t even look close to being a no-call.
* Here’s my try at this week’s top 20:
1. Miami
2. Denver
3. Colorado College
4. North Dakota
5. Boston College
6. Wisconsin
7. Ferris State
8. Bemidji State
9. Quinnipiac
10. Yale
11. Michigan State
12. Cornell
13. Vermont
14. Minnesota-Duluth
15. St. Cloud State
16. Massachusetts
17. Notre Dame
18. Massachusetts-Lowell
19. Maine
20. Union
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