Lindsay Lohan’s Cousin Kevin Commits To Michigan

I mostly don’t touch recruiting here, but when said recruit is the cousin of actress (or “actress”?) Lindsay Lohan, I’ll make an exception.

6’5″ Kevin Lohan currently plays for Merritt in the BCHL, and at 6’5″ his best tool is his size. He has 14 points, including two game winning goals, in 40 games for the Centennials this year. He’s also played from coast to coast over the last three seasons, playing for Shattuck two years ago and then New York Apple Core (EJHL) before joining the BCHL this year.

Lohan is a ’93 so he has another year of junior eligibility remaining, and in a phone interview with the Michigan Daily he said he was unsure whether he would join Michigan in 2013 or 2014.

For the record, Red Berenson has apparently heard of Lindsay Lohan, but would not be able to recognize her. Though to be fair, everyone who saw her in Mean Girls would say the same thing if they saw her now.

For those who were wondering, Red Berenson has heard of Lindsay Lohan. Wouldn’t recognize her though.

— Matt Slovin (@MattSlovin) January 31, 2013

 

Report: Kitchener Offers Jacob Trouba $200k

Matt Slovin of The Michigan Daily has a pretty earth shattering report tonight that the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL have offered Jacob Trouba and his family $200,000 to break his commitment to Michigan and play for the club next season.

The earth shattering part isn’t that it happened. It is the worst kept secret in amateur hockey that CHL teams do this all the time, with the most famous recent example probably being Kitchener reportedly offering Cam Fowler just under half a million dollars. That of course was the event that prompted the threat of a libel lawsuit from Windsor and Kitchener, one which never came for some strange reason (hint: truth is an absolute defense to libel).

What makes this a pretty monumental event is that there is a sourced report with an actual dollar amount being reported. I can’t say it any more eloquently than Chris Peters of the United States of Hockey when he tweeted “Can’t put the toothpaste in the tube now.”

I don’t see much changing in terms of actual events on the ice. Regardless of what happens to Kitchener (probably nothing, as they have denied any wrongdoing and it goes against the OHL’s interests to say that they did anything wrong) teams across the CHL will still pay for top talent. But it does change the perception a bit. Rather than being the “best development league in the world” more people will realize they are good at buying college bound players and letting the Taylor Hall’s of the world beat the league up before going to the NHL, while college hockey develops hockey players. And, obviously, if you have to bribe players to come play there it doesn’t scream “best development league” to me.

CCHA Awards

Player of the year – Reilly Smith, Miami

It came down to Smith and Torey Krug, but Smith was incredibly impressive this year. Although he scored a boatload of goals last year there were whispers that it was mostly due to playing on a line with Andy Miele. This year he proved it was no fluke (and that maybe he was the driving force on that line last year) by scoring 18 goals in CCHA play, 5 more than anyone else in the league. Miami was 5th in the league in scoring, so you know just how important Smith was to that team as well.

Coach of the Year – Bob Daniels, Ferris State

Halfway through the year, Ohio State’s Mark Osiecki seemed to have a stranglehold on this award, but after finishing 5th last year Ferris State went on a 13 game unbeaten streak before losing their last game of the season to win the CCHA regular season title. Ferris has been a really balanced team all year, with just two scorers in double figures, and they came virtually out of nowhere to win the league and reach the national title game.

The End Of Huntsville?

The CCHA made a pretty surprising decision today, denying Alabama-Huntsville admission into the league. UAH will now be the only CHA team without a home when the league disbands. Niagara and Robert Morris will be absorbed into Atlantic Hockey, while Bemidji State will be in the WCHA. I, for one, am shocked. Think abou tthe “little guys” that were the foundation of the CCHA: Lake State, Ferris State, Northern Michigan, Bowling Green, etc. Now, the CCHA has decided they are too good for another little school in UAH. With Nebraska-Omaha moving to the WCHA, UAH seems a perfect replacement. For example, from Huntsville to Ann Arbor, Michigan it is 10 hours and 2 minutes (via Google Maps). From Omaha to Ann Arbor it is 10 hours and 36 minutes. And Huntsville is significantly closer to Miami and Ohio State. Huntsville would likely have no problem drawing fans, as Alabama is football country and everyone knows of Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Huntsville had tradition at the Division 2 level, and has had success in its infancy at Division 1. They won the CHA championship in 2007 and gave Notre Dame a run for its money in the first round of that NCAA Tournament.

CCHA bylaws required 9 of 11 members to vote yes (Omaha wasn’t allowed a vote) and it appears enough of the “little guys” said no. On the surface, I don’t have a huge problem with the big boys saying no. After all, they’re in the cat bird’s seat. Still, the little guys should have stepped up. Fairbanks, a place no one wants to go to, said no, citing a “lack of commitment.” Really? Huntsville has had to survive playing DII hockey, in Alabama. Not in Alaska, where it may be far flung but at least it’s cold and a traditional hockey market. Alabama. Huntsville was also a founding member of College Hockey America. Bowling Green, which just got funding for their arena, looks like they are a decent bet to still be in the league. So the CCHA will be an 11 team league, and Huntsville will be out in the cold.

Alaska AD Forrest Karr said “I hope this is not a death sentence for them, and I hope it’s not the end of their program. The last thing anyone wants to see is the loss of any Division I college hockey program.” That’s like President Truman voting not to send troops to liberate Europe, but saying he hopes the Holocaust ends.

Preseason Top 16: #9

Howdy, folks. It’s that time of year again. Every so often The College Hockey Blog will be unveiling our Preseason top 16 teams, one by one. If you want to see the top 16 in order, and links to each individual preview, click the tab at the top of the page. Today’s team is #9 Michigan

Last year Michigan made the CCHA championship game, losing to Notre Dame. For their efforts they were rewarded with the #1 seed in the Bridgeport regional. But they became the first of three #1 seeds to lose to a #4, when they lost to admittedly underseeded Air Force. The Wolverines lose their best player from last year, but return a good core of players and appear once again ready to contend for the CCHA crown.

Preseason Top 16: #16 Northern Michigan

Howdy, folks. It’s that time of year again. Every so often The College Hockey Blog will be unveiling our Preseason top 16 teams, one by one. If you want to see the top 16 in order, and links to each individual preview, click the tab at the top of the page. Today’s team is #16 Northern Michigan

Last year Northern Michigan went just 19-17-5 in the regular season, which could be considered a disappointment due to the high hopes they had at the beginning of the season, but they turned it on in the postseason, beating Miami in a CCHA playoff series and taking 3rd in the CCHA Tournament. The Wildcats were middle of the pack both in scoring (tied for 6th) and defense (tied for 5th) and look to take another leap forward with a talented and experienced roster.

Frozen Four Preview

This year’s Frozen Four is one that has blow-out potential, mixed in with possible intrigue. Two teams, Bemidji State and Miami, meet in the first Frozen Four for each of them, while the top overall seeded Terriers meet Hockey East foe Vermont in the second semi. While on paper BU appears to be the heavy favorite, Vermont is probably the last team they want to see in the semis, as I’ll get to later.

If BU can win their semifinal over Vermont, casual college hockey fans will have a team to cheer for in the finals, either the upstart Beavers or the RedHawks, although being out west I do know that a lot of fans are jealous of Miami’s success and resulted reputation over the past couple of years, so Vermont or BU could have some extra fans come Saturday night.

Bracket Breakdown: Northeast

So we come to our final bracket, in which the #1 overall seeded BU Terriers reside. BU is the 3rd ranked offensive and defensive team in America. They are also the 2nd best team in the country on the power play, and 11th on the kill. So as you can see, they’re going to be tough to beat. Led by the most talented player in the country in Colin Wilson, BU has a great mix of players up front with Wilson, Nick Bonino and Chris Higgins.

Not only do they have those guys, but they have a nice blend of youthful exuberance and veteran leadership. The guy I really love on their team is Senior forward Brandon Yip (19-20–39). Yip had tons of promise coming into BU, and he didn’t really blossom into the superstar everyone (or at least I) thought he would. But there’s no doubt he has been a very solid college hockey player and had himself a great career.

And I would be remiss if I discussed BU without talking about Freshman goalie Kieran Millan. Millan is trying to repeat the trick of crosstown rival John Muse by winning the national title as a Freshman goalie. And Millan’s numbers have been fantastic. Millan led Hockey East in GAA (1.84) and wwas third in save percentage (.932). No doubt BU poses a tough matchup to any team, but they could be vulnerable to a team with a great powerplay, seeing the amount of penalty minutes they take (18.7 per game).

The team assigned the task of beating them is Ohio State, the last at-large team in the field. The 5th place team in the CCHA has beaten some good teams this year (Denver, Notre Dame, Michigan, Miami) but are just 4-7-1 against the NCAA tournament field, and have also lost to teams like Michigan State, Western Michigan and Lake Superior State.

The Buckeyes leading scorer is Senior Corey Elkins (18-22–40) but their best player is Freshman Zac Dalpe. Dalpe has had some injury problems throughout the year, but when he is on the ice Ohio State becomes a completely different team. My X-factor for the Buckeyes in this game will be defenseman Shane Sims, a Sophomore who doesn’t get a ton of ink but he’s a very good offensive defenseman.

Although Ohio State possesses the talent to give BU a run, BU is just so much better at every part of the game and I think they’ll take it by a score of 5-2 or so.

Bracket Breakdown: East

It’s a couple years old, but damn I love that picture. It must be the helmets.

Anyways, the East regional in Bridgeport is definitely the most balanced of the four regionals. It features two conference champions, a team that was in the Frozen Four last year, and one that is back to the tournament after a looooooong absence.

The #1 seed Michigan Wolverines are incredible up front, led by a Sophomore trio that actually reminds me of North Dakota’s amazing trio two years ago of Jonathan Toews, TJ Oshie and Ryan Duncan. Aaron Palushaj and Louie Caporusso were each in the top 10 nationally in points per game, and this came in one of the most defensive conferences in the country this year. With Mark Mitera out for much of the year with a knee injury and Steve Kampfer out after being attacked by a Michigan football player Michigan survived defensively, especially once Bryan Hogan took over in net, and now that those two defensemen are back Michigan will be even tougher to crack defensively.

Hogan has had a couple of rough ones lately, however, including giving up 5 goals to Notre Dame in the CCHA title game. Michigan definitely won’t overlook Air Force given the Falcons’ last two efforts in the NCAA Tournament, but they will be in for a dogfight.

Air Force, on the other hand, comes into their third straight NCAA tournament after giving Minnesota a run for their money 2 years ago and Miami a run for their money last year. They of course are led by Sophomore forward Jacques Lamoureux, who leads the country with 32 goals, .82 per game. He also leads the country with 15 power play goals. Unlike the past couple of years, Air Force has more defensive help, led by Greg Flynn, and they have a great goalie in Andrew Volkening who has been great, especially lately with 2 shutouts in a row at the Atlantic Hockey semis and finals.

Oh and by the by, Lamoureux also leads the nation with 9 game winning goals. For that reason, I’m going with the shocker and taking Air Force to upset Michigan.

Bracket Breakdown: Midwest

Grand Rapids is the site of our Midwest Regional. It features three very good teams, three in fact who could win the regional, but it also features the best team in the country, and my pre-tournament pick for the national championship.

The Fighting Irish come in on a hot streak, having won both the CCHA regular season and playoff championships. The Irish can bring it both offensively and defensively. Although players like Erik Condra, Christian Hanson and Ryan Thang steal all the headlines, Calle Ridderwall is the player who leads this team with 17 goals. The Irish don’t have a player over a goal per game, but they have six guys who are in double digits in goals. Defensively they are led by first round pick, and one of my personal favorite players, Ian Cole. Cole does everything for this team. He can score (26 points) and he plays very solid defense. In net, Jordan Pearce has been fantastic, although it’s a bit easier for him to be given the defense he has in front of him. They’ll easily run Bemidji out of the building.