Buffalo Signs Girgensons

Just breaking on Twitter, the Buffalo Sabres have reportedly signed 2012 1st round selection Zemgus Girgensons to a 3-year entry level contract. 

WJC team by team preview: Latvia

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Starting Today and running through till Boxing Day we'll give you a quick look at each team suiting up in the World Junior Hockey Championship. First up is Latvia

Pool A-Calgary
First game Vs. Sweden, December 26th, 3:30 pm mst

3 keys to Success:

1-Zemgus Girginsons-The 2012 draft eligible forward could become the first Latvian taken in the first round of the NHL draft. Most publications have him as a first rounder with some thinking top 10 potential. He was wooed by the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL, but has committed to Vermont in the NCAA and has repeatedly denied any interest in moving west. Currently he's in his second season with Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL where he's put up 12 goals and 26 points in just 22 games. As a rookie he netted 49 in 51.

2-Kristians Pelss-The Edmonton Oil Kings forward and Oilers draft pick will likely be the only one to take the pressure off Girginsons. Pelss at times has looked dominant in the WHL and he'll enter the tournament on a hot streak with 9 points in 8 games including a 7 game point streak.

3-Latvian Fans-It's well known that the tiny Baltic country has some of the best fans around when the World Championships are held in Europe. Will they make the trip to Canada for the event? If so they'll be loud and proud for their boys and will be very entertaining. Also watch for Calgary fans to adopt the team as a feel good story.

Wild Card

Teodor Blugers is a 17 year old centre who was born in Riga, Latvia but developed in North America. He's currently in his 3rd season with Shattuck St. Mary's prep school where he's torching things up with 33 points in 20 games. Next year he's set to join Minnesota State University (Mankato). Blugers is also 2012 draft eligible.

Expectations: Don't get relegated.

Prediction: Relegation

2 Players Confirm College Intentions

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This weekend two high profile players went on the record confirming that their planned path to the NHL still runs through the NCAA. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but in light of the "Summer of the CHL" and the recent comments from one very influential WHL General Manager, it's news certainly worth mentioning.

Saturday Morning Special - Aug 27th

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With training camps opening all over the CHL and NCAA news still coming out south of the border there was lots to talk about on this morning's edition of TPS. We spoke with a recent draft pick of the New York Islanders, heard from a quartet of rookie hopefuls for the Edmonton Oil Kings, got a rundown on current events around the NCAA, discussed a really interesting hypothetical inter-league play idea and also spoke with a representative from the USHL in regards to comments heard on our last show.

Tuesday Recap: August 23rd

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After one of the best episodes of The Pipeline Show last weekend the only way we could possibly follow it up was with another stellar line up of guests and that's what we were able to come up with for last night's show. A league commissioner made his TPS debut, we got the no-B.S. insight on the Plymouth Whalers and their off-season activities, one of last year's top NCAA freshmen joined us, a NHL GM kicked off hour 2, we hit Kelowna for a pre-season update and ended the show in the midst of a hot debate.

If you caught this edition of TPS, we know you were entertained.

Saturday Morning Special - Aug 20th

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Who says there is no hockey to talk about in the summer? Saturday morning we had a show that was wall-to-wall hockey featuring a couple of newcomers to TPS, a former TEAM 1260 personality, a regular media contributor from the Hockey East conference and possibly Dean Millard's favorite segment since I blindsided him with an Andy Moog wedding present back in Season 2.

CHL Not Winning Every Battle

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A lot has been made this summer about the ongoing recruiting war over players between the CHL and NCAA programs. While the number of players backing out of their college commitment in favour of the CHL has actually gone down the last few years, the high profile players doing it in a short span this summer have drawn more attention to the subject.

I think it would be hard to argue that the CHL isn't winning this border skirmish and will continue to do so unless the NCAA alters some rules specifically for NCAA hockey and I am not sure if that is even possible for them to consider. But until then, they'll continue to lose more of the big players than they win.

But that's not to say that college hockey is not without some victories of their own. There are plenty of cases where high caliber players with CHL options are still headed down the college path, or at least haven't eliminated that option.