This n' That - April 2010

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NCAA hockey is done for the year, only 12 CHL teams across Canada are left alive in the playoffs, the RBC Cup draws ever closer, the USHL playoffs have reached the semi-finals, the WHL Bantam draft is ten days away and the U18s in Belarus have reached the playoff round with Canada no where to be found.

Even if two thirds of the teams we follow have hung them up for the year there is still a ton to talk about. Here are some thoughts kicking around my cranium lately...

Saints Dodge Quick Strike Vipers; lead Doyle Cup

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Scott Allen's power play goal at 5:58 of overtime and Nate Fleming's 3-point effort helped the Spruce Grove Saints to capture game 1 of the 2010 Doyle Cup. In a game that featured 11 goals but never a lead of more than a single goal, the AJHL and BCHL champions duked it out like true heavyweights trying to land a knockout punch.

Simpson is Sioux Bound

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Over the weekend Dillon Simpson committed to the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. The 16 year old rookie defenceman with the Spruce Grove Saints has 8 goals and 34 points this year in 47 games with the number one ranked Junior A team in the country.

Simpson has heated up recently with 7 points in his past 4 games. He was an 8th round choice of the Kelowna Rockets in the 2008 WHL bantam draft, but would have gone much higher, possibly in the first round had he not been leaning towards the NCAA.

Simpson is the son of former NHLer and current Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Craig Simpson and is following in his father's skate strides, albeit to a different school. Craig attended and played at Michigan State. Like his father, Dillon will graduate high school a year early and could play at UND as a 17 year old next year (he turns 17 on February 10th) but I've been told that that will be up to the Fighting Sioux.