Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City will be the new home of the ECAC Hockey Tournament starting in 2010. While fans of the central New York teams such as Union and Cornell will no doubt be unhappy with the longer travel, the truth is not a ton of those people were coming out to the tournament anyways. The Atlantic City area is a big alumni base for a lot of ECAC schools and, for the first couple years at least, will come out to see their teams play.
The financial package from Atlantic City will make this move worthwhile, and will help [...]

The USA Today Preseason Poll is out, and it looks pretty interesting. Miami is in first place, even though they received only 4 first place votes. Denver has 13, and BU has 12. 5th ranked Notre Dame also has 5. Evidently people had DU and BU ranked extremely low. BU I can understand, as the losses of Matt Gilroy and Colin Wilson could lead voters astray, but Denver is absolutely loaded, and should not be outside anyone’s top 3.
The full top 15 is such:
1. Miami
2. Denver
3. Boston
4. Michigan
5. Notre Dame
6. Minnesota
7. Cornell
8. North Dakota
9. Princeton
10. Lowell
11. Yale
12. Boston College
13. St. [...]

The CCHA has announced that they will award three points per regulation or overtime win this season. A shootout win will be worth two points, while a shootout loss will be worth one point. The CCHA is the only league to have a shootout.
“We also feel this will give teams an added incentive to win a game in regulation time or overtime because they will gain the maximum number of points for doing so.” Said CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos. The CCHA will not decide playoff games via the shootout, with the exception of the 3rd place game.
I still am not [...]

Former Vermont star Viktor Stalberg has made the Toronto Maple Leafs roster, according to David Shoalts at The Globe and Mail. Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson will both be with the Toronto Marlies. I think both Bozak and Hanson are good enough to make the Leafs, and will be up soon.
Elsewhere, former North Dakota player Taylor Chorney was assigned to the AHL, according to Grand Forks Herald writer Brad Schlossman’s Twitter feed. This move surprised me as Chorney was a very good defenseman in his days with the Sioux, and if Brian Lee can get time with the Senators, Chorney [...]

First, as I did over on Twinkie Talk, apologies for the sporadic posting. School has been ridonkulous the past week or two, but I’ll soon be back to normal. And hey, soon there will be actual hockey to write about so that’s nice. LINKS!
Why the Sharks shouldn’t be happy about getting former Badger Dany Heatley. (Hockey Numbers)
What is the value of a wide open shot? (Puck Prospectus)
Who are the top scorers in the NHL on rebounds? (Behind The Net)
A Mellon tribute (Pensblog)
UMass goalie Dan Meyers got arrested. (Fear The Triangle)
Way too much Islanders talk. (Gross Misconduct)
Great Website. Everyone go and [...]

Last night some former collegians got a lot of ice time as the Pittsburgh Penguins played the Toronto Maple Leafs in a preseason contest. For the Pens, John Curry played the 3rd period, OT and the shootout in net, and Alex Goligoski had a great game on defense.
The Leafs featured former Dartmouth star Lee Stempniak, as well as the all collegiate line (at least I think that’s what I saw on Sportscenter) of Viktor Stalberg, Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson. Tyler Bozak’s goal was #2 on Sportscenter’s top 10 plays (and even got a shout out from John Buccigross). The [...]

Unlike last season, there are a ton of teams that could have made the preseason rankings this year. So, to appease everyone, let’s highlight four teams that are knocking on the door of the rankings (two today, two tomorrow). And again, you really could rank any of these teams as high as 12 and wouldn’t get any argument from me. I think that “next tier” of teams is really deep this year.
Ohio State
The Buckeyes made some noise last year, making the NCAA Tournament before being disposed by the eventual national champs. And they did so with one of the youngest [...]

According to a variety of sources the Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired former Minnesota Golden Gopher Phil Kessel for for their 2010 and 2011 first round picks as well as their 2010 2nd rounder. Kessel then was inked to a 5 year, $27 million deal.
The Bruins were originally going to ship Kessel to Toronto on draft day for Thomas Kaberle and a pick but it fell through due to miscommunication over the pick. The Leafs won’t have Kessel in the fold until November however, as he is out with a stress fracture.
This will weaken the Bruins for this season, but [...]