The United States of Hockey

It’s been ridiculously difficult to keep up with all of the college signings of late, but I figured I’d do my best to help you NHL fans out. You might not know much about your team’s newest acquisition, especially if he wasn’t drafted. So hopefully you’ll find this guide useful.

Since it seems there’s about a dozen college players signing contracts per day, I wanted to keep an open post, something I’ve never done before, to continually update with notes on each of these signings, if only to give you a small taste of the player your favorite team just picked up. This will be broken down by NHL team in alphabetical order, to make it easy for you to check in on how your favorite team or their biggest rival has been doing so far on the market.

You can also check out College Hockey, Inc.’s handy college signing tracker, which has a running list of player’s signed to professional contracts in the NHL, AHL and ECHL.

Coming up after the jump, notes on every college player signed to an NHL contract so far this year. (Last Updated: 4/13)

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The last three weeks of college hockey have had a little bit of everything. From upsets to overtimes, there’s nothing quite like playoff hockey. This past weekend was nothing short of manna for college hockey fans.

It’s been a year of uncertainty, where what has happened off the ice seemingly overshadowed what was happening on it, but not last weekend and certainly not for these next two weeks leading up to the Frozen Four.

Hockey fans were treated to the best that college hockey has to offer in the four regionals. Coming up after the jump, a recap of the weekend’s exciting regional action, notes on top performers and a (very) brief look ahead to the Frozen Four.

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Here it is. The West a.k.a. The Region of Doom. The folks in St. Paul are going to get quite a show with the CCHA playoff champion (Western Michigan), WCHA regular-season champion (Minnesota), WCHA playoff champion (North Dakota) and Hockey East regular-season runner-up (Boston University, which tied for second in HEA with UMass-Lowell) all in this regional.

From top-to-bottom, this is the toughest of the four regionals. It has everything you’re looking for: good teams, great coaches, grade A prospects, big-name programs. Though WMU has never won a national title, the other three schools have won a combined 17 over the history of college hockey. That’s a lot of hardware.

This should be an incredibly thrilling group to watch.

Here is the schedule for the West (all times EDT):

Saturday, March 24
No. 1 North Dakota vs. No. 4 Western Michigan — 1:30 p.m. (ESPN3.com* — LIVE)
No. 2 Minnesota vs. No. 3 Boston University — 5 p.m. (ESPN3.com# — LIVE)
*- Game will air live on Fox Sports North and CW7 in Kalamazoo
# –Game will air live on Fox Sports North+ and NESN
Both games will air on Tape Delay on ESPNU Sunday. UND-WMU at 12:30 p.m., Minn-BU at 3 p.m.

Sunday, March 25
Regional Final —  5:30 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN3.com — LIVE)

Broadcasters: Clay Matvick (pxp) and Dave Starman (color)

Coming up after the jump, a look at each team, their NHL prospects to watch, chances of making it to the Frozen Four in Tampa, and so much more.

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When the final pairings were announced, the East was appeared to be the region that may have been least compelling in terms of match-ups. All things considered, this is the weakest of the four groupings.

There are areas for concern with each of the teams in the East, but that doesn’t make this regional any less intriguing. The uncertainty surrounding these teams almost makes it more interesting. There are some great storylines and some really good hockey players to watch when college hockey comes to Bridgeport, Conn.

Here is the East schedule (all times EDT):

Friday, March 23
No. 1 Union vs. No. 4 Michigan State — 3 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN3.com — LIVE)
No. 2 Miami vs. No. 3 UMass-Lowell — 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN3.com — LIVE)

Saturday, March 24
Regional Final — 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN3.com — LIVE)

Broadcasters: John Buccigross (pxp) and Barry Melrose (color)

Coming up after the jump, a look at each team, their NHL prospects to watch, chances of making it to the Frozen Four in Tampa, and so much more.

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The Midwest is a highly unpredictable bracket. With four teams that have shown varying degrees of consistency throughout the year, it’s hard to tell which of the quartet will get hot at the right time.

Michigan is the top seed, but will meet a pretty solid opponent from Cornell in the first round. Meanwhile, No. 2 seed Ferris State will have to take on a more battle-tested Denver squad.

Green Bay seems to be one of the brackets where anything can happen.

Here’s the Midwest schedule (All times EDT):

Friday, March 23
No. 2 Ferris State vs. No. 3 Denver — 5:30 p.m. (TV: ESPN3.com* — LIVE)
No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Cornell — 9 p.m. (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3.com — LIVE)

Saturday, March 24
Regional Final — 9 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN3.com — LIVE)

Broadcasters: Ben Holden (pxp) and Sean Ritchlin

* – Game will also air live on Altitude in the Denver area and will be shown on tape delay on ESPNU at 11:30 p.m. 

Coming up after the jump, a look at each team, their NHL prospects to watch, chances of making it to the Frozen Four in Tampa, and so much more.

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The Northeast is going to be a pretty exciting region. Why wouldn’t it be? With each of the last two Division I national champions as the top two seeds playing in Worcester, Mass., there are sure to be some fireworks in this bracket.

Boston College, the 2010 national champs and inarguably the best team in college hockey right now, is the tournament’s top seed and as such will face No. 16 Air Force. Defending national champion Minnesota Duluth will meet Hockey East runner up Maine.

Here’s the Northeast schedule (All times EDT):

Saturday, March 24
No. 1 Boston College vs. No. 4 Air Force — 4 p.m. (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3.com –LIVE)
No. 2 Minnesota Duluth vs. No. 3 Maine — 7:30 p.m. (TV: ESPN3.com/ESPNU*)
Sunday, March 25
Regional Final (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3.com–LIVE)
Broadcasters: Joe Beninati (pxp) and Billy Jaffe (color)
* – UMD-Maine will air on ESPNU on tape delay at 11:30 p.m. Saturday, but will still be shown live on ESPN3.com

Coming up after the jump, a look at each team, their NHL prospects to watch, chances of making it to the Frozen Four in Tampa, and so much more.

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After a weekend of crowning conference champions, the field is set for the 2012 NCAA National Tournament. Only 16 teams remain on the road to the Frozen Four and it’s a highly intriguing group.

Today, I’ll take a look at the tournament field overall,  but will have more in-depth posts on each of the four regionals throughout the week.

Coming up after the jump, a look at the 16-team national tournament, which regional is most intriguing, which team could make an unexpected run, who is the top prospect to watch in each region and I rank each game in terms of watchability.

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