Wednesday Reset

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Big show last night as Millard made a pit stop appearance between weeks off and we talked with some pretty interesting guests.

We began the program as we usually do with some back and forth discussion on some current topics of the day. Was Patrick O'Sullivan deservedly left off the Olympic camp roster by USA or should he have been there? The Ivan Hlinka domination by Canada and specifically the OHL contingent. The Colten Teubert hit on Jordan Caron - was it necessary? Marty Murray signs with Manitoba. Oil King camp beginning soon and the P.A. Raiders lose out on a 4th overall pick as he declines to attend camp. Hear the opening segment HERE.

Next up was a conversation with Air Force head coach Frank Serratore. This is a really unique and interesting program considering the limitation they have when it comes to recruiting players. Coach Serratore talked in depth about the process and how they find quality players who are also focused on giving 5 years of their post-college life to the military service for their country. You can imagine that can be a tough sell but some how they've managed to do it and have developed into a successful NCAA Hockey program. We talked about specific players and about coach Serratore's personal development behind the bench and away from the rink since joining the Air Force Academy. A highly recommended listen that can be found HERE.

We played a quick round of Bad Ass Trivia to take us to the mid-point of the show. If you're a trivia fan, HERE is where you can find last night's questions.

After the top of the hour we joined up with Jaden Schwartz who just helped Canada win a gold medal at the Ivan Hlinka tournament. Schwartz is a smallish forward with a ton of offensive talent who will be a real wild card in the 2010 draft. He's headed for the Tri city Storm of the USHL this season before embarking on a NCAA career at Colorado College where his older brother Rylan is attending as a freshman this year. But will the brothers stay at college or might the lure of playing for a Memorial Cup in Brandon be too strong??? Hear all about it from Schwartz himself right HERE.

Edmonton Oiler forward Patrick O'Sullivan joined us and looked ahead to the coming season. A fresh start with the Oilers out of camp, a new coaching staff, his preferance to play the wing - all things covered for Oilers fans. we also went back in time a discussed his past with USA Hockey considering his omission from the Olympic camp this summer. O'Sullivan commented on not getting that invite despite his World Championship and WJC experience. In response to a listener's email question on a sensitive subject, O'Sullivan offered some advice to parents of hockey players. finally, we asked the American born forward why he chose the OHL over the NCAA and about his former Mississauga teammate Rob Schremp. Hear everything O'Sullivan had to say HERE.

Our final guest of the night was The Director of Player Personnel with the Tampa bay Lightning, Jim Hammett. We went over the Lightning's 2009 draft class and asked about several of the organization's up and coming players. We also touched on the potential of the off ice circus around the franchise ownership group to become a distraction during the season. You can hear that TBY Update HERE.

Next week: Millard's gone again but I'll be joined by Dustin Nielson from the TEAM 1260's new morning show "Nielson and Chase". It's the big season Finale for Season 4 and we'll close out August in style.

(Photos Courtesy: USCHO.com, Air Force Academy, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada.)

Opening Game Shocker!

Well it certainly didn't take long for the NCAA National Tournament to produce a big upset. In the first game of the event the Michigan Wolverines were shutout and eliminated by Air Force as the Falcons scored a stunning 2-0 victory.

Everything about this game suggests the Wolverines were absolutely dominant. The shots were 43-13 for Michigan and they also controlled the dot winning 41 of 63 faceoffs.

So how did Air Force pull off the big upset?

Andrew Volkening.

You've heard The Pipeline Show talk about him before and like he's done before, Volkening was a one-man giant killer. This was Volkening's third consecutive shutout as he posted blankings in his final two AHA playoff games and now another against Red Berenson's mighty Wolverines squad. In fact, with shutouts against Michigan, Bentley and Mercyhurst behind him, Volkening hasn't allowed a goal since March 15th against Sacred Heart. One goal against in his last four games... that is quality goaltending.

Jacques Lamoureux, another TPS favourite and past guest, scored the second goal for the Falcons helping show why he was named as one of the ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Award this year.

The Falcons opened the scoring on a first period power play, one of only 3 shots they mustered in the opneing frame. They scored again in the second period despite having only fired 7 shots at Michigan starter Bryan Hogan to that point.

Next up for Air Force, the winner between #3 Vermont and #2 Yale and quite frankly, I like the Falcons against either one of them.

Remember that at one point earlier this year Air Force was a perfect 13-0 before losing a close game against Denver. After that they went into a bit of a funk but the Falcons ended the year very strong and cruised through their Conference playoffs in impressive fashion.

Don't look now but... Air Force in the Frozen Four? It's one big step closer to reality after today's upset.

School Wrap Sunday

Here was the NCAA Top 20 coming into action on Friday and how those ranked teams made out:

1 Boston University - Tied Northeastern twice
2 Notre Dame - A pair of 1-goal wins over Nebraska-Omaha
3 Michigan - Split with Ohio State Buckeyes
4 Northeastern - Tied Boston University twice
5 Miami - Split with Northern Michigan
6 Vermont - 0-1-1 against Mass-Lowell
7 Yale - Tied Quinnipiac and lost to Princeton
8 Denver - Two road victories over Wisconsin
9 North Dakota - Two road victories over Alaska-Anchorage
10 Princeton - Beat Brown and Yale
11 Cornell - Beat RPI and Union
12 New Hampshire - Won both ends of the home-and-home against Boston College
13 Wisconsin - Swept at home by Denver
14 Minnesota - Swept by Colorado College
15 Minnesota-Duluth - 1-0-1 against Michigan Tech
16 Ohio State - Split with Michigan
17 Boston College - Swept by New Hampshire
18 Colorado College - Swept the Golden Gophers
19 St. Cloud State - Did not Play
20 St. Lawrence - Beat Dartmouth and tied Harvard

Last week I predicted that Notre Dame would regain the #1 seed but that didn't happen. It definitely should this week as the Irish picked up a pair of wins while the Terriers netiher won nor lost, settling for a pair of ties against #4 Northeastern.

The pair of victories locked up the CCHA regular season title giving them the top seed in the conference playoffs in March. They needed an overtime goal from Billy Maday to win Friday's contest and the Irish scored the only goal in Saturday's 1-0 game. Notre Dame has lost only once in their last 28 games after getting off to a 2-3 start to their schedule. Senior Erik Condra (OTT) leads the team in scoring with 32 points in 33 games (pictured).

BU should slide back to the #2 spot with Northeastern coming in at #3 on the strength of their two ties against the top ranked Terriers. The #3 spot should open up for them because Michigan split against Zac Dalpe (pictured) andthe Ohio State Buckeyes who upset the Wolverines 3-2 on Saturday. The Buckeyes erased a 2-goal deficit and withstood 37 Michigan shots to pull out the win on a C.J. Severyn goal with under five minutes left in the game. 8390 fans were in attendance.

Miami, Vermont and Yale should all lose a little ground in the rankings because the three teams earned a single win between them. Miami was upset by Northern Michigan and should drop from #5 because of it. Vermont had their hands full with Mass-Lowell and could only squeak out a single point from their 2-game series. Yale tied Quinnipiac and then lost a key game against the Princeton Tigers, a loss which should see them fall past both them and probably Cornell as well.

The next five teams in the ranking all won both games they played on the weekend so movement in the middle of the top 20 should be expected. Denver's sweep over Wisconsin thanks to more heorics from freshman Joe Colborne, should be enough to get them back into the top 5. The Pioneers got a late tying goal from Colborne on Friday and then on Saturday it was the Patrick Wiercioch (pictured) show as the rookie blueliner collected 4 points in a 5-0 white wash of the Badgers.

The Fighting Sioux won the was against Alaska-Anchorage sweeping the Seawolves in overtime on Friday and then pounding them 6-2 on Saturday. Junior Chris Vande Velde recorded a hat trick on Saturday, good timing as he'll join Dean and I on Tuesday night as the Oiler prospect makes his return to The Pipeline Show.

Both Princeton and Cornell won twice in ECAC Conference play and New Hampshire put another nail in Boston College's coffin as the Eagles' chances of defending their National title are rapidly slipping away.

The free-falling Golden Gophers continue to struggle. Minnesota has won only 1 game in their last 8 contests and were swept by Colorado College. The Gophers take on Duluth and Michigan Tech to close out the regular season while Colorado College will face North Dakota next weekend and close things out with a single game against their arch-rivals from Denver.

St. Lawrence had more success as they smoked Dartmouth by a 7-2 score and followed that up with a tie against Harvard. The Saints have only lost once in their last 9 outings but with 3 other ECAC programs ahead of them in the rankings, probably have to win their way into the National Tournament. Undrafted junior Mike McKenzie (pictured) continues to lead the club with 30 points in 32 games.

One team on the outside looking in at the Top 20 that hope to get on the list is Air force who beat Holy Cross twice. The Falcons have won 5 of their last 6 and are now tied with RIT for top spot in Atlantic Hockey. Wouldn't it be great if Air Force and RIT ended the year with a series against each other to determine the regular season Conference champs?? Well you've got it! The Tigers will host the Falcons next weekend in Rochester with bragging rights and top seed in the playoffs on the line. The two programs splite their series played in Colorado earlier this year.

Mass-Lowell is probably going to squeak into the bottom of the top 20, perhaps at the expense of Boston College. Their upset of Vermont comes on the heels of those same BC Eagles as well as Massachusetts and Maine. The River Hawks will be challeneged though by both Air Force and RIT for that 20th spot.

Guy's Fearless NCAA poll prediction: 1-Notre Dame, 2-BU, 3-Northeastern, 4-Michigan, 5-Denver, 6-Miami, 7-North Dakota, 8-Vermont, 9-Princeton, 10-Cornell, 11-UNH, 12-Yale, 13-Minn.Duluth, 14-Ohio State, 15-Wisconsin, 16-Colorado College, 17-St. Cloud 18-St. Lawrence, 19-Minnesota, 20-Mass-Lowell

Top 5 Tuesdays: NCAA Goalies You Don't Know

It might be because they are as yet undrafted by a NHL team or perhaps they don't play for a NCAA program that gets a lot of recognition but there are a bunch of terrific goalies up for grabs playing south of the border. The NCAA hockey circuit doesn't get much attention here in Canada even though a large percentage of the players come from this country. Consider this a personal interest list - they might not be the "best" 5 goalies in the NCAA but these are the ones that are making me check in on them every weekend out of personal curiosity.

5. Andrew Volkening - Air Force

My man-crush on Andrew Volkening began last spring as I tuned into the ridiculously entertaining game between Air Force and Miami in the opening round of the National Tournament. The RedHawks went on to win that one in overtime but the fact that the upstart Eagles nearly bounced a true contender like Miami was remarkable and it was largely due to the stellar play of their netminder. Listening to the game online it sounded like Volkening was 'in the zone' but you be the judge:



Unfortunately the future for Volkening (and the rest of the Air Force squad) won't likely include hockey. I spoke with a pair of NHL scouts just a couple of days ago and asked about guys like Volkening and his teammate Jacques Lamoureux who has been near the top of NCAA scoring all year. The guys I talked to said there is no point scouting them because for them to get their release from the Air Force they have to prove how their playing pro hockey would better serve the military than their wearing the uniform in the field. It's only happened twice and never for a hockey player (David "The Admiral" Robinson left the Navy to play NBA and a football player did the same - someone else can remind me who).

4. Kieran Millan - Boston University Terriers

I'm not going to lie... I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I had no idea Kieran Millan was from Edmonton until I clicked on his bio. I found it really interesting that BU, a perennial force in Hockey East, was going with a pair of freshmen this year so I've been following their progress with interest. The Terriers are currently second in the HE standings right now but oddly enough are ranked #2 in the entire NCAA.

Millan is playing about two thirds of the games for BU and has a 1.63 GAA and .928 sv% in his 14 games and was named Goalie of the Month for the conference. Those are pretty strong numbers for a guy in his rookie collegiate year. Millan joined the Terriers after spending two seasons with the Spruce Grove Saints of the AJHL, further adding to my red-face considering I really should have clued in that they were the same guy. He was an AJHL All-Star and Rookie of the Year so it's not like he was going under the radar. Well, just mine apparently... but not anymore.

3. Jordan Pearce - Notre Dame Fighting Irish

He had to bide his time while David Brown played out his eligibility but once he got his chance to shine, Jordan Pearce has grabbed the reins and run with it. The native Alaskan has picked up a ton of awards and accolades during his tenure with the Irish but somehow has not gotten the attention of the NHL - yet. I find it pretty hard to believe that a second fantastic season won't end with him signing a pro contract with someone at the conclusion of the NCAA schedule this spring.

The Irish were runners up for the National Championship last season and are currently ranked #1 in the country so he's definitely not going under the radar this year. Still, Pearce has strung together a 18-3-3 record this year with a 1.55 GAA and .936 sv% all while playing in a very competitive CCHA conference. The Irish won't be the surprising underdogs this time around but they'll still be fighting for another shot at the National title.

2. Bryan Hogan - Michigan Wolverines

One thing I've learned since I got into the hockey prospects biz is that in college, politics are huge. The pecking order for ice time begins with the seniors and trickles down to the freshmen unless we're talking about standout players. You have to expect James vanRiemsdyk or Kyle Turris to get their fair share of shifts but if you're an incoming role player... don't expect to play much.

With that in mind, the fact that sophomore Bryan Hogan is the go-to guy now at Michigan is MASSIVE considering Billy Sauer, a drafted senior (COL), has been the starter for the last 3 years. Hogan is undrafted despite a decent USHL career with Lincoln but you have to think he's going to get some attention now. He just turned 20-years-old so he's not an aged collegian with inflated numbers playing against players mostly younger than he is. His 1.83 GAA and .920 sv% are main reasons for his 13-2 record not to mention Michigan's top 10 ranking in the polls.

1. Ben Scrivens - Cornell Big Red

Topping my personal interest list is a local product who is getting recognition from those who like to project Hobey Baker contenders. Scrivens hails from Spruce Grove and played a year in the AJHL for the Calgary Canucks before heading to Cornell and the Big Red. He only got into 12 games as a freshman in 2006-07 and had a losing record but last year Scrivens (and Cornell) bounced back in a big way. Scrivens had a .603 winning percentage and a 2.02 GAA as a starter with 35 games under his belt.

This year Scrivens has taken his game to another level. He leads the NCAA with a stellar 1.17 GAA, a .956 sv%, 5 shutouts and a 13-1-1 record. His only loss came against North Dakota and it's still the only game of the year where he hasn't held the opposition to 2 or fewer goals. Some will argue that Scrivens is a product of an uber-defensive system at Cornell who plays in a ECAC Conference that doesn't get as much respect as a hockey power as the CCHA, WCHA or HE. However, it's worth noting that Scrivens has face 25 or more shots in 10 of 17 games and more than 30 in 4 of those. It's also interesting to point our that Scrivens has shutouts against Princeton, who directed 43 shots at him, and Niagara who hit him 31 times.

I don't think Scrivens will get drafted this summer but that's only because I expect some NHL team out there that needs a goalie in their system will step up in April and sign him. I haven't talked to anyone in Cornell about it so this is just speculation on my part but I could see Scrivens (now 22-years-old) leaving Cornell at the end of the year and not returning for his senior season.

Wednesday Re-Set

Thanks to the weather in Edmonton yesterday, it might have been the smallest crowd at an Oil Kings game I've seen since thier re-birth. It was announced at 3382 but if there were more than 1000 people there I'd be surprised.

Small crowd for the Oil kings but it was definitely the biggest crowd The Pipeline Show has ever had as Dean and I were on location for the first time in our 4 season run.

Hitting the air from the bowels of Rexall Place enabled us to get some postgame interviews so we took advantage of that bu grabbing injured forward Tomas Vincour. We spoke with the Czech forward about his current season, the upcoming NHL draft and also the 2009 World Junior Championship for which he's likely to play a key role on his national team.

Forward Jeff Lee had the Gordie Howe hat-trick last night and was named first star. We spoke with him about the Oil Kings season, the playoff hunt, his transition from the NCAA to the WHL and a lot more.

Head coach Steve Pleau also stopped by and we had a pretty good discussion about his team and their growth from last year, some key players and where he sees the club in a couple of eyars from now.

From there we changed gears and dove into our World Junior coverage as December is largely WJC Month on TPS.

We wanted to take a closer look at the American entry so called up one of our key NCAA contributors, Jim Connolly from USCHO.com and he gave us the rundown on Team USA. We spoke about the omissions of guys like John Carlson, Nick Petrecki and Colin Long but also on the list of players who did make the cut.

Jim also spoke at length about Air Force and the bum rap they've gotten in the National Polls this season. Conference realignment also came up.

Of course we played Bad Ass Trivia as well.

Finally it was an extended 2-part interview with one of our favorite guests. Peter Loubardias from Rogers Sportsnet helped us dissect Team Canada's 38-player tryout roster starting with those who didn't get an invite; Kyle Beach, Jared Cowan, Mike Murphy and Logan Couture. We ended the program with WJC podium predictions from Dean, Peter and myself.

All of those interviews are available via podcast/RSS feed so if you missed it live, click our archive.

In the next day or so Dean and I will post our 22-man Canadian rosters.

One other item... TPS told you back on November 7th that J.F. Jacques was about "6 weeks away". Yesterday, Dean updated everyone again with the news that Jacques was skating on the weekend and that the Oilers are looking expecting he'll be ready to go in January. "He's looking good" an Oiler source told Dean yesterday.

Wednesday Re-Set

Last night on The Pipeline Show marked the beginning of World Junior Championship Month on the program. We'll really start gearing up our preview coverage next week after several teams have been formally announced but we got things started on Tuesday.

Regan Bartel, voice of the Kelowna Rockets, filled us in on three players we should expect to see in Ottawa; Jamie Benn (pictured) and Tyler Myers for Canada and possibly Colin Long for the American entry. We also discussed the noticeable difference for these three already drafted players than what Luke Schenn went through last year prior to the same event when he was already under the spotlight. Plus more on other Rockets players like the Bloodoff brothers and Kyle St. Denis (pronounced St. Dennis and not with the french accent as I had assumed). You can hear all of that interview with Regan here.

The Edmonton Oil Kings were red hot heading into Medicine Hat riding a 4-game winning streak but were stopped dead in their tracks by the Tigers. We spoke with play-by-play voice A.J. Jacubec about the fact Edmonton has yet to beat the Tigers in 13 meetings since being resurrected last season. Also, will Tomas Vincour play in the WJC for the Czech Republic? A.J. gave us the answer.


In our weekly NCAA segment we went way up North to Alaska to speak with Anchorage Seawolves Head Coach Dave Shyiak. It's an interesting dynamic that he and the Seawolves have compared to the rest of the NCAA based simply on geography. We also spoke about the challenegs his program faces when it comes to recruiting and how exactly it ended up that Alaska has 3 Europeans on the roster! Hear that interview here.

We also played a special discussion that Dean and I had with Hall of Fame netminder Grant Fuhr in which he talks about his experiences playing in the WHL for the Victoria Cougars. The WHL travel, finally making it to the NHL, winning that first Cup and memories of his first win and shutout... you'd be surprised what he does and doesn't have vivid recollection of. A treat to speak with a true Oiler great.

Speaking of goalies, Andrew Perugini gave us the low down on his rookie season thus far in the ECHL. The Stockton Thunder are only so-so but Perugini has been a bright spot this year. How hard has the transition from OHL to ECHL been? Are the Oilers communicating with him and the rest of their prospects in California? How are he and Bryan Pitton getting along sharing the workload? You can hear his thoughts in the archive from last night.


Finally, Dean Millard was able to join in for the final segment and we were able to discuss Rob Schremp's recall to the Oilers, the upcoming Team Canada WJC camp roster, Torrie Jung and Tomas Vincour with the Oil Kings as well as the ridiculous ranking of nearly unbeated Air Force in the NCAA polls. Rounding out the segment was a recap of the 2009 Draft Prospect Performers of the Week as well as Flaming Hot / Flaming Not.

A big show indeed!

School Wrap Sunday

It was a big weekend for some of the Nation's top offences as a few teams had both barrels going, and no team has more firepower right now than (17)Air Force. The Falcons have scored 29 goals in Atlantic Hockey play, and 41 when you factor in their 2 non conference games. They have been held to 3 goals only once, and it didn't happen this weekend as Air Force dropped 13 on Bentley (also named the Falcons-what is this the CFL with two teams using the same name?) in a pair of victories. The Air Force Falcons won 5-1 Friday night, and smoked the Falcons 8-2 on Saturday. Also impressive is the Air Force defence, having given up only 12 goals in 8 games, but it's their high powered arsenal that is jaw dropping. Junior Jacques Lamoureaux, who's an undrafted 22 year old that transferred from Northern Michigan and had to sit out last year, is the leading scorer across the board in the NCAA right now with 11 goals, 8 assists in 8 games. Lamoureux, who's the younger brother of former UND goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureax, netted a hattrick and an assist Saturday night to go along with his goal from Friday. The Grand Forks product could become a hot commodity after his college career, depending on his Military commitments. His teammate Brent Olson is also red hot right now, sitting just behind Lamoureux with 17 points in 8 games. Olson, also an undrafted 22 year old is a senior, and could parlay this year's good stats, along with his near point per game season a year ago into a pro contract in the spring. Air Force should be flying up the rankings after another impressive weekend, and as the only perfect team in the NCAA.

The feature match up of the weekend had (1)Colorado College facing (4) Denver in a Friday/Sunday series. Nothing was solved in the first tilt, despite the Pioneers best efforts.

They peppered CC goaltender Richard Bachman (Dallas, 4th round, 2006)
with 46 shots, and only beat him twice. The 2-2 tie keeps Bachman unbeaten at 4-0-3 this year with a minuscule 1.24 GAA and a .960 save percentage. On Sunday Bachman was just as good stopping 40 0f 42 shots, including 19 in the second period as his mates scored one more goal to win 3-2. It's not hard to see where the Rams strength is, as they've allowed only 12 goals, and Bachman is starting to look like a steal for the Stars in the 4th round. CC will keep it's number one ranking this week, while the 4th ranked Pioneers might slide down even further. 2 weeks ago they were
2nd.

Sticking in the WCHA for a minute, despite 3 points from 2009 draft prospect Jordan Schroeder, (5)Minnesota couldn't put away pesky (12)Minnesota State. Mavericks Senior goaltender Mike Zacharias was beaten only 3 times by the 50 Golden Gopher shots fired his way. However, Saturday night things were a little different. Schroeder's 2 goals paced Minnesota to a 6-3 victory.

Meanwhile it the Wisconsin Badgers got off the schnide Saturday night. After losing 3-2 at Ralph Engelstad Arena to (18)North Dakota, the Badgers roared back with 5 unanswered 3rd period goals on Saturday to down UND 5-2. Blake Geoffrion (Nashville, 2nd round, 2006) led the way with a pair of goals, as Wisconsin picked up it's first win in conference of non conference play. The Badgers still lead the way with a brutal tally of 35 goals against in 8 games, the worst in the country. The fighting Sioux, who started the season ranked 5th, are in danger of dropping out of the top 20.

In the CCHA, (8)Michigan had little trouble with Ohio State, putting up 4-3 and 6-1 victories. Junior Louie Caporusso (Ottawa, 3rd round, 2007) scored his 8th goal of the season among his 6 point weekend.

(7)Miami was not so lucky though. For the second straight season, Alaska upset the Redhawks. Last year it was when Miami was ranked #1, this year the loss may cost them their #7 spot. The high powered Miami offence was held to a single goal Friday night as the Nanooks smothered the home side in a 2-1 victory. Saturday night however was a different story, as Miami seemed to score at will, shutting out Alaska 5-0. Carter Camper led the way with 3 points and is on pace for a 50 point campaign in his Sophomore season.

In Hockey East play, all the top dogs came out on top. (2) Boston College needed overtime to edge Merrimack 4-3. Brock Bradford (Boston, 7th round, 2005) tied things in the 3rd for the Eagles and then won it for BC in overtime. After playing only 5 games last year because of a broken arm, the senior seems to be regaining his form from his 45 points season in 2006-2007. (3)Boston University also came out victorious in their lone weekend game. The Terriers smoked (14)Vermont 7-2 on the strength of two goals from Colin Wilson (Nashville, 1st round, 2008) 2 helpers from Kevin Shattenkirk (Colorado, 1st round, 2007) and a power play that went 4-7. (6)New Hampshire kept pace with both Boston schools, atleast on Friday night. The Wildcats doubled up a pesky (14)Northeastern squad 4-2 thanks to a 2 point night from James Van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia, 1st round, 2007) but on Saturday had to settle for a 2-2 tie with the Huskies. Northeastern trailed 2-0 late in the 2nd period before tying it up and relying on goaltender Brad Thiessen for 18 saves in the 3rd period and overtime.

Other top ranked schools in action, Michigan State swept Western Michigan, (13) Notre Dame took a pair from Northern Michigan, and Harvard defeated Dartmouth in conference play 4-1, and lost to the U.S. under 18 team 4-0 in exhibition play.

Still no action for (10)Princeton or (16)Cornell, yet they remain in the top 20. I don't think teams should be ranked at all if they haven't played, unless it's a pre season ranking when everyone is in the starting gates. Once they take the ice for a game then they can be ranked.

Golden Bears Invade Colorado

The defending CIS champion Alberta Golden Bears take their show on the road this weekend for a trio of contests with top NCAA schools and as always, they're doing it in enemy territory.

It all gets going tonight as the Golden Bears square off against the Denver Pioneers. The 3-games in 3-days schedule certainly doesn't favor Alberta and their opponents are no pushovers either.

The Pioneers have been a highly respectable program for decades and have produced a plethora of NHL talent including soon to be Hall of Fame inductee Glen Anderson. Paul Stastny and Matt Carle are two recent stars who began to shine as Pioneers.

Current standouts in Denver include Rhett Rakhshani (NYI), Tyler Ruegsegger (TOR) and Joe Colborne (BOS) seen on the left.

Sunday night's game has them taking on Air Force, which can't really be described as a NCAA power but they aren't to be underestimated either. Players don't normally go on to fame and fortune from this program because, well because they obviously have an inclination to join the U.S. Air Force.

Eric Ehn (pictured) was the biggest name in the program in recent years but the Hobey Baker finalist has moved on. The Falcons do still have last year's leading scorers though in Brent Olson, Jeff Hajner and Greg Flynn. Their best player actually might be in net where Andrew Volkening was often a standout last year including a fantastic overtime game against highly ranked Miami (of Ohio) in the opening round of the NCAA National tournament.

Monday night the Golden Bears will face what might be the stiffest test, at least according to the recently released NCAA poll. The Colorado College Tigers are the 5th ranked program in the NCAA just edging the Pionners to 6th.

Like Air Force, it could be argued that the top Tiger is between the posts in goaltender Richard Bachman (DAL). Not to be confused with Stephen King's writing alter-ego, Bachman (pictured) was striking fear into the opposition (ZING!) all during his freshman year and now as a sophomore might be the top goalie in the NCAA. Chad Rau (TOR) leads the attack but Billy Sweatt (CHI) will be one to watch for as well.

As for Alberta, they might not be household names for a lot of fans but they have some players who can definitely be considered late bloomers with pro potential. Netminder Aaron Sorochan is now in his 4th year with the Bears and has two National Titles under his belt. Ben Kilgour is the senior player on the squad and after a terrific WHL career with the Tri-City Americans, he'll have pro options in 2009-10.

Ian MacDonald, Jason Fransoo, Jesse Gimblett, Eric Hunter (CHI & NYR)... these are all players worth keeping tabs on because their careers won't end when their CIS eligibility expires.

My personal prediction for the Bears this weekend: 1-1-1 with a win against Air Force, a tie either tonight in Denver or on Monday against Colorado College.