Similar to one of the early scenes in “Miracle”...
The son of a friend of mine from high school is playing for St Cloud (he transferred in for this season for what is actually his fifth season (got injured after 7 games one year). We’ll see if maturity counts in hockey because St Cloud has a very mature team (many 24+ year olds) with few NHL draft picks but with big dudes at the back end and enough elite talent at forward to put up goals. I bought my first set of ice hockey gear from my bud for $20...all his old stuff he didn’t need any longer...so I have a rooting interest...
My Son’s college teammate is from Minnesota and he told me he was going crazy in their team group chat last night. LOL
Arizona St had a bunch of sons of ex-NHLers on their squad in ‘19. Legit college hockey squad. They had a Doan, Niedermeyer, Lemieux, Briere... All those guys have moved on.
I thought Illinois would be the first of the B1G schools.
I know that school from my college roller hockey days. They were I'm pretty sure the only school to give scholarships for roller hockey. The US national team always has a bunch of guys who are Lindenwood students/alumni. I'll never forget this scene in the parking lot at nationals one year--players getting into and out of cramped cars, carpooling with teammates and stuffing all our sticks and equipment bags however we can fit them, and then in rolls the Lindenwood roller hockey team bus. It parks, and they all come walking off the bus with their "7-peat" hats. It was great to see them actually lose in the final that year. Guess they had to cancel the order for their 8-peat hats.
Minnesota St is one of oldest teams in D1 while Minnesota is one of the youngest. BC who has like 13 drafted kids (but just got dominated physically by St Cloud) is the youngest D1 team at avg age of 20 yrs and four months.
Meant average player age. Didn’t know they started in ‘21. That’s a cool factoid.
The Gophers aren't what they used to be since the creation of the Big Ten hockey conference. The fans were pissed off about not being able to stay in the WCHA, the arena isn't the packed house it used to be, and recruiting has taken a step backwards. A few years ago when Rutgers played Minnesota in football, I went out there for that and also caught a Minnesota and St. Cloud State game while I was there. Pretty much everyone I talked to mentioned how much better things were before the Big Ten hockey conference.
