U.S. World Junior Watch: Candidates in the Pros, Early Stock Watch

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Chris Peters

Saturday represented two months to the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden. During the excitement of the early season, it’s easy to forgot just how short these two months will be.

Logo_USA_hockeyMost candidates for the U.S. National Junior Team are already at least three weeks into their season, which combined with their time at the National Junior Evaluation Camp in the summer is starting to clear up the picture of who might be making Team USA.

There’s still plenty of work to be done, but the next five weeks will be crucial for any player with hopes of making Team USA.

The preliminary roster, which can vary in size, usually between 25-29 players, will be announced in early December, with the pre-tournament camp being held at the University of Minnesota Dec. 15-17 before moving on to Sweden.

So while it may seem early to start the WJC watch, it’s not as early as you think. So (almost) every week from now until Team USA’s preliminary roster, we’ll have the U.S. World Junior Watch, often highlighting a few particular candidates and checking whose stock is rising or falling as of that week.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, U.S. National Teams, World Junior Championship | 1 Comment

College Hockey Roundup: Weighing October Results, Hinostroza Spotlighted, Weekend Viewing Guide & More

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Chris Peters

October is neat because hockey is back, but October in college hockey can be a real drag from a competition standpoint. It’s even more of a drag from an analysis standpoint.

Considering how great college hockey gets over the course of the season, it’s a bit of a shame it is so slow going out the gates. A big part of that is due to the lack of contact coaches can have with their teams prior to the season.

The official practice start date this year was Oct. 5. There were teams playing real games days later. The unfortunate thing is that regardless of when these games are played, they still count and are part of the big pool of data collected by the Pairwise. So struggling in October is not ideal, but obviously it isn’t a death sentence either.

The competing teams in the 2013 Frozen Four went a combined 9-7-3 in the month of October. Not great for the four best postseason teams in college hockey, but a sign that what a team does in October isn’t a true sign of what they are.

Coming up after the jump, more on the October doldrums, a spotlight on Notre Dame freshman Vincent Hinostroza, what to watch for this weekend in college hockey and more.

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College Hockey Roundup: Weekend Viewer’s Guide, Riley Barber in Spotlight, UND Loses Gropp & More

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Chris Peters

Feels good to be back. College hockey season opened up in earnest last weekend and with that, the College Hockey Roundup makes its return to USofH on a new day. Usually a Monday or Tuesday piece, I’m moving the CHR to Thursdays for the time being.

With so much college hockey on TV this year, I figured I’d switch up the format a little bit and do more of a weekend prep than a weekend review. This weekend’s TV schedule is relatively light compared to some weekends this fall, but it does feature one of the most intriguing match-ups of the young season.

Additionally, a new weekly feature of the College Hockey Roundup will be a player spotlight, focusing on a particularly great performance from the previous weekend, as well as why that player is worth watching going forward.

Then we get back to our regular roundup of bigger news elements from the week in college hockey, in addition to one new twist. I’ll also have a “Five Thoughts” every week, which is a blatant rip-off of Elliotte Friedman’s brilliant weekly 30 Thoughts column on the NHL for CBC. Five Thoughts will usually just be a random smattering of brief musings on news items and various opinions.

So enough explaining, let’s get to the meat…

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Posted in NCAA | 1 Comment

PHOTO: Princeton to Wear Hobey Baker-Era Throwback Jerseys

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Chris Peters

The Princeton hockey program is one steeped in tradition. The school’s hockey team was established in 1900, making Princeton the fourth oldest college team in the country (Yale, Brown and Harvard are older). It was also the school of college hockey’s greatest legend, Hobey Baker.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the final year of Baker’s Princeton career. To honor the century since Hobey, the current Tigers will wear throwback jerseys similar to those when Baker played. Here, head coach Bob Prier models the throwback threads, which will be worn on Nov. 16 when Princeton meets Ivy League and ECAC rival Harvard.

PrincetonThrowback

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Posted in NCAA | 3 Comments

The Big Ten: College Hockey’s Grand Experiment

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Chris Peters

The dust has settled, mostly. It’s safe to come out. Realignment is here in college hockey. It happened and there’s no going back.

B1GHockey_Crop

Photo via @B1GHockey

The wheels of realignment started turning when Terry Pegula backed a dump truck of money onto the Penn State campus, granting the school the means to build men’s and women’s hockey programs. It also made hockey’s membership in the Big Ten a reality when Penn State became the conference’s six team to adopt hockey, the minimum the conference requires to affiliate a sport.

The WCHA and CCHA dominoes then fell after the Big Ten’s announcement of existence. The NCHC was born, the CCHA died and the WCHA will never be the same.

The fallout of realignment is still very much in flux. How deeply it impacts the college game may take several years to truly know. It will also take several years before we find out just how successful the new conferences are.

The Big Ten, however, is uniquely positioned. It isn’t a new conference, it’s just new to hockey. It is that distinction that makes the future of the conference and college hockey as a whole so intriguing and potentially better.

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2013-14 College Hockey Preview: 25 Players to Watch

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Chris Peters

The weeks have finally become days before the college hockey season begins. There will be a lot of new faces in new places, but at the center remains the college game, same as it ever was: fast, physical and full of intrigue.

Gaudreau

Johnny Gaudreau (Photo: BC Athletics)

Perhaps over the last several years the level of skill has ebbed and flowed, but the college game has seemingly never been so full of exciting players. Nor have they been spread out further across the country as parity becomes more of college hockey’s reality.

There is a lot of excitement heading into 2013-14 as realignment takes hold and a new era of college hockey begins. Part of that excitement stems from the number of players that will be returning from terrific performances last season.

We already covered every team and which freshmen to watch, so I decided to put together a list of 25 players across college hockey, and some honorable mentions as well, that I find most intriguing coming into the year.

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Posted in American Prospects, NHL Draft | 6 Comments

College Hockey Preview: Freshman 15 — First-Year Players to Watch

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Chris Peters

With the team-by-team preview out of the way, it’s time to take a look at some of the individuals worth keeping a close eye on this college hockey season. The level of talent across the college ranks is as high as ever, but there is a number of intriguing first-year players that are worth highlighting.

Boston College freshman G Thatcher Demko (Photo: Tom Sorensen)

Over the last several years, freshmen have made a larger impact on the college game. Since a four-year stay in college is becoming increasingly rare for the higher-end players, the best freshmen tend to land significant roles rather immediately. Additionally, since many are fresh off their NHL Draft season, there is a little more of a spotlight on them.

Last year, freshmen made a huge impact. One such rookie was Michigan’s Jacob Trouba, who was the top-billed player on our Freshman 15 list and dominated the  competition last season. He impressed the Winnipeg Jets enough for them to urge him to go pro after just one college season.

Tuesday night, Trouba made his NHL debut and made an immediate impact once again. The 19-year-old defenseman scored his first NHL goal, which tied the game, and was on the ice to protect a one-goal lead, shorthanded and against an extra attacker. In total, he logged 25:02 of ice time and also added an assist to make one of the best NHL debuts you’ll see out of a defenseman.

So is there a player that can make that kind of impact this year? Probably not that much, but there’s a great group of high-end talent at every position. So here’s a look at United States of Hockey’s Freshman 15.

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Posted in American Prospects, NCAA | 8 Comments

2013-14 College Hockey Preview: Conference-By-Conference Rankings

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Chris Peters

Though the NHL will grab the hockey headlines all week, college hockey is also on its way back. As most teams fill their schedules with exhibition games this weekend, Ferris State travels to Colgate Saturday for a non-conference game that will officially open the 2013-14 college hockey season.

Who will celebrate this year? (Photo: Larry Radloff)

When the puck drops, a new era in college hockey will have officially begun. Realignment has forever altered the landscape, but that’s been beaten to death over and over and you’re all probably sick of hearing about it. Well, now we get some actual hockey to talk about.

If the 2012-13 season taught us anything, it’s that nothing should surprise us anymore. The tables have turned in college hockey and parity is at an all-time high. Trying to predict the season is basically throwing darts blindfolded. Part of that is what makes college hockey so fun.

With that in mind, United States of Hockey has plenty of college hockey related content coming at you this week, starting today with ranking each team conference by conference.  Continue reading →

Posted in American Prospects, NCAA | 8 Comments

2013 CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game Recap

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Chris Peters

The 2013 CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game, the second edition of the event, was mostly another success. The game was moderately entertaining and a lot of players showed off some solid skills at this early stage of their draft season.

I’ve liked the idea of this game since it was introduced last season and I hope it’s something that continues. It’s great for the players and scouts, but also for USA Hockey to showcase its best young talent and gather them from the various leagues and teams that are developing them. This year’s event certainly accomplished all of that well.

Prospect games overall are tough evaluation events, particularly when they’re held this early, but this year’s game had plenty of intrigue.

Team Johnson bested Team Mullen 5-2 in front of a modest crowd at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Coming up after the jump, a quick scoring summary and a look at some of the players that stood out.

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Posted in American Prospects, NCAA, NHL Draft, NTDP, USA Hockey | 3 Comments

2013 CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game Preview

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Chris Peters

On Thursday night in Pittsburgh, 40 39 of the best American-born players eligible for the 2014 NHL Entry Draft will take the ice at the CONSOL Energy Center to compete in the 2014 CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game. It’s the second year for this event and should be a really entertaining appetizer for the NHL season which begins on Oct. 1.

There are several headliner prospects in the group, as well as a great stage for the second edition of the All-American Prospects Game. Many NHL scouts will be in attendance as the U.S.-born players get a shot to show what they’ve got in an incredibly unique setting.

The thing that makes the AAPG special is the fact that it brings together players from a wide array of teams and leagues and for one night puts them all on the same ice surface. In many ways, it’s a celebration of the vast landscape in which American players develop. There aren’t many opportunities to see prep school players on the same ice as kids from leagues like the USHL and OHL.

The game, which will be streamed live on USAHockey.com at 7 p.m. ET, will give a lot of scouts a good early look at what some of these guys are capable of. It will also give fans a taste of what’s to come for the American Draft Class of 2014.

Coming up after the jump, a look at what to watch for when the American prospects hit the ice Thursday.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL Draft, NTDP, USA Hockey | 1 Comment