
Members of Colorado College's last National Championship team swap stories and plan next season's 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Broadmoor Hotel
Dave Starman
"Very quiet weekend at Denver is disappointing, but his body of work doesn't get overlooked because he got outplayed by Ryan Potulny in one weekend. No knee jerk reactions here."
Scott Pellerin
"He has steadily improved and impressed me all season. Has the complete game and makes everyone on the ice better. "
Adam Zucker
"One of the smartest, and most accurate passers in the game, hence the 32 assists."
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ITHACA — Just like salmon returning to spawn (ok, what frustrated novelist wrote this crap), it happens every year — the throwing of dozens of dead fish onto the Lynah Rink ice by Cornell fans moments before the start of the Big Red's annual hockey showdown with rival Harvard.
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Sometimes, more than 100 fish, an occasional lobster (do you know how many children are starving in Africa?...Neither do I, but its probably a lot) or octopus, and a few goldfish (the few not swallowed by drunk frat boys on the way to the arena), have splatted onto the Lynah ice during pre-game warm-ups as fans taunt the smartest of the Big Red's rivals.
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Occasionally, a poorly aimed piscine has bonked the head of a Harvard player (ouch, thats gonna leave a mark), adding to the bad blood (DNA) between the two teams.
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Cornell University officials (who couldn't find employment in the private sector during the longest economic boom since the 1950's) have long grown tired of the tradition. In recent years, fans have been (illegally?) searched (& siezured) before they enter Lynah and all fish found have been confiscated (anybody want to guess whats for dinner on Sunday night in the dorms?). After all, the fish-tossing delays the start of the game and provides a health hazard for the players of both teams.
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Occasionally, a fish has been thrown during the game, and a 2-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty has been charged to Cornell (which only makes it harder for Cornell's pathetic offense to score goals). Big Red officials say they have been warned that a delay of Saturday's 5:30 p.m. game, which is being televised nationally on CSTV, will result in a penalty (we wouldn't want any of CSTV's 35 viewers to change the channel).
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As such, Cornell officials are taking their fish smuggling prevention to the next level (there's a "next level" in the fish-smuggling-prevention-business?). In a press release issued Thursday, Cornell officials warn that “those found with fish will lose their ticket to the game" (does this include students with Sushi spilled on their jackets from a previous meal?). As always, throwing objects onto the ice is prohibited, and violators are subject to expulsion from the rink (since there is nothing else to do in Ithica on a Saturday night, you might as well just shoot the offenders because their weekend is D-E-A-D).”
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The press release also warns fans that “shouting obscenities" (anyone heard of Freedom of Speech?) or using threatening language ("Hey Harvard, while you're wasting time playing hockey your classmates are studying. You'll never get hired on Wall Street"), signs or gestures will result in ejection from Lynah Rink and loss of playoff tickets (nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to miss that First Round "ESPN Instant Classic" against Brown).”
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Instead, fans are urged to bring stuffed toys (did you say Stuffed Flounder?) for the “Cops, Kids and Toys Program" (I prefer "Pigs, Kids & Vids Program"), a program that benefits more than 600 (police) families and 1,600 Tompkins County (police) children each year (Looks like Police Chief's son is gonna get a new X-Box on Sunday morning).
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Before all that, though, head coach Mike Schafer's club will take on Dartmouth (no wonder Cornell wins 25 games every year) at 7 tonight, with first place in the ECAC Hockey League on the line.
1 | Wisconsin | 29 | 3 | 20-7-2 | .7241 | 1 | .5869 |
2 | Minnesota | 28 | 4 | 19-6-5 | .7167 | 2 | .5821 |
3 | Miami | 27 | 1 | 21-5-4 | .7667 | 3 | .5779 |
4 | Boston University | 26 | 7 | 18-8-2 | .6786 | 4 | .5642 |
5 | Boston College | 24 | 5 | 19-7-2 | .7143 | 6 | .5517 |
6 | Nebraska-Omaha | 23 | 20 | 17-11-4 | .5938 | 7 | .5515 |
7 | Colorado College | 22 | 14t | 19-12-1 | .6094 | 5 | .5526 |
8 | Michigan | 21 | 14t | 18-11-3 | .6094 | 8 | .5498 |
9t | Michigan State | 20 | 16 | 17-10-7 | .6029 | 10 | .5432 |
9t | Cornell | 20 | 6 | 15-5-4 | .7083 | 11 | .5427 |
11t | Denver | 17 | 9t | 18-10-2 | .6333 | 13 | .5346 |
11t | Ohio State | 17 | 34 | 14-15-4 | .4848 | 17 | .5305 |
11t | Harvard | 17 | 17t | 14-9-2 | .6000 | 20 | .5271 |
Another youngster with shoulder issues hampering his play this year is Edmonton Oilers seventh round pick Matt Glasser of the powerful Fort McMurray Oil Barons. Glasser spent a couple informative and beneficial days at Oiler camp last fall where he received some bad news.
“It was actually determined at Oiler camp when I got my physical done that I have a piece of bone missing in my shoulder so I had to get an MRI done to have a look at that,” Glasser told Hockey’s Future in early January. “I might need a bit of surgery done on my shoulder which I could probably get done at the end of the year here. It hasn’t been bugging me too much but it is something that I do need to get looked at.”
At first Glasser said the problem wasn’t affecting his play but with a little prodding…
“When I throw it out I’d say there is a fair bit of pain for a few minutes but I never really took much notice of it until the MRI and they said there was quite a bit of damage done,” Glasser admitted. “It has been hurting me this last month but I don’t want to make it any worse so I know that something will have to be done to it.”
As a result of his concerns Glasser has not been the offensive force he was expected to be with the Barons this year. His 15 goals and 35 points are just enough for seventh in team scoring, and he has not been able to up his game much from a year ago.
“I think the shoulder is part of it but they’re not as high a scoring team as they were last year,” argued Oilers GM Prendergast. “I think he’s been a bit snake bitten too because (coach) Gord Thibodeau told me early in the year that he hit the goal post like nine times in the first few weeks of the season. I think we’ll find out what he’s made of at crunch time in the playoffs.”
The Oilers believe that Glasser’s development will blossom next year in Denver and already the player is looking ahead to those days too.
Paul Stastny Named INCH's Player of the Week
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His Statistics: 2 GP, 3-3–6
His Impact: The Pioneers have had their struggles this season, but it appears they aren't going to relinquish their status as back-to-back NCAA champions without a fight. Stastny has played a key role in Denver's current seven-game winning streak, scoring six goals and adding five assists during that span. Three of the goals and three assists came in DU's sweep of Minnesota State Mankato last weekend. The two wins allowed the Pioneers to move into sole possession of first place in the WCHA standings with three weeks left in the regular season.
If Minnesota players feel a bit cheated this week, they have a reason. Before their series against Colorado College three weeks ago, assistant coach John Hill said if the Gophers won their next four games, a stretch that also included a pair at Wisconsin, he'd get them on a chartered plane to Houghton instead of a bus.
The players held up their end of the bargain, but they're still on the bus this week. Apparently, budget concerns overruled Hill's deal.
DENVER - The No. 9 Denver Pioneers host Minnesota State in a two-game WCHA series on Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:37 p.m. MT on Friday and 7:07 p.m. MT on Saturday. The games will be televised live on FSN-Rocky Mountain and broadcast live on KCKK AM 1600 (Friday), KKFN AM 950 "The Fan" (Saturday) and DenverPioneers.com (both nights).
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DU's Weekly Comparison With CC
Colorado College | vs | Denver | ||||
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.5486 | 1 | RPI | 0 | .5298 | ||
8-7-1 | .5313 | 1 | TUC | 0 | .3750 | 4-7-1 |
14-8-1 | .6304 | 1 | COp | 0 | .6250 | 14-8-2 |
0-2-0 | 0 | H2H | 2 | 2-0-0 | ||
3 | TOT | 2 |
(Left) Engelstad Arena
Grand Forks, ND