UMD Notes: TV Coverage, Radio Updates, Streaming Options, Etc.

We're ten days out from UMD's exhibition game against Lakehead, and 15 days from the regular season opener against Bemidji State. Time for some updates on media coverage.

--> First, UMD had a few games selected for television in announcements over the last week or so. CBS Sports Network and its wonderful crew won't be in Duluth this year, but the Bulldogs will be on twice. Games Feb. 19 at North Dakota and Feb. 26 at St. Cloud State will be televised on the network. CBSSN will continue with its NCHC Frozen Faceoff coverage from Target Center as well.

Fox Sports North has added four UMD games to its schedule. FSN will have the Bulldogs' series against Minnesota Oct. 16 (at Minnesota) and Oct. 17 (in Duluth). They will also televise UMD's home game against Colorado College Feb. 5 as a sort of lead-in to the network's massive Hockey Day Minnesota coverage from Bayfront Park the next day. Also, the game Feb. 27 at St. Cloud State will be on FSN.

I'm not sure what NBC's plans are for Notre Dame hockey coverage, but I suppose a broadcast or stream of UMD's games there could still be added. Haven't heard anything on that.

--> I've seen it brought up on Twitter, and a couple have asked me my thoughts on this. For the record, I've been first in line to criticize FSN and its unwillingness to even recognize the existence of the state's non-Gopher college hockey teams on Hockey Day Minnesota. It's about the only negative to what is a great day for the sport and the network.

So some of you, knowing that I've been pretty upfront about this over the years, might think it's strange that I'm not first in line to rip FSN for picking up the Gophers-Penn State game on Feb. 6 and not UMD's home game, which is a few hundred yards from Bayfront Park.

This time around, I'll back them on the decision.

I doubt this is FSN's reasoning, but here is why.

The high school games at Bayfront are scheduled for 10am (Denfeld-Eveleth) and 1pm (East-Lakeville North). Anyone who's ever watched these games knows that the 1pm game rarely ends before 3:30. The college game -- now scheduled to be Gophers-Penn State -- starts at 4, because the Wild aren't at home and have no control over start times. They play at 7.

For anyone who wants to attend the high school games and UMD's game against Colorado College, a 4pm start would make the goal practically hopeless, unless they leave the East game early or resolve to miss the start of the UMD game.

Hockey Day Minnesota being in Duluth, and at such a great venue as Bayfront Park, is a big deal. It should be treated that way. It's going to be a wonderful day in a great hockey city, so I'm fine with anything that allows people to experience as much of the day as possible, even if FSN didn't make this decision with that idea in mind.

Selfishly, I love it. If my son doesn't have games of his own that day, it's an opportunity for me to take him to Bayfront without having to worry about leaving early to get to Amsoil for a 4pm UMD game. I can deal with that.

I get that Duluth territorials want Duluth splattered all over Hockey Day Minnesota. But Duluth will be featured on FSN more between 7pm Feb. 5 and 4pm Feb. 6 than it probably has ever been in any 21-hour period prior to that. Spin it however you want, but Hockey Day Minnesota will be a win for Duluth ... especially if the weather cooperates.

--> Besides UMD's TV coverage (all non-FSN home games locally on My9 and streamed via the NCHC.tv package), we of course have you covered on the radio. 92.1 The Fan is your home for Bulldog hockey in Duluth, and we have a growing Red Rock Radio Bulldog Sports Network to carry games throughout northern Minnesota and even into western Wisconsin. You can also stream every game via the FREE iHeartRadio app. Download it today, search out 92.1 The Fan, and make us one of your favorites. It's a fantastic app that allows you to take the Bulldogs wherever you go.

LISTEN TO THE RADIO (Sorry, it's a Twitter bit of mine).

College Hockey Musings: Tournaments Approach

A few random quick hit thoughts from around college hockey ...

--> Is there a better league race than the NCHC? The first-year league has produced some serious drama heading into the final four weeks of the regular season, as the top six teams are separated by just four points. First-place St. Cloud State faces second-place UMD this weekend in St. Cloud after taking four points from Denver -- then tied for second -- last week.

And it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out that this could very easily not be the last time the NCHC's top two teams meet in the final four weeks of the season. If UMD overtakes the Huskies and North Dakota has a good weekend against Miami, we could see it again next weekend, when UMD and UND meet in Duluth.

If UMD doesn't overtake St. Cloud State, it's conceivable that SCSU-UND in two weeks in St. Cloud could be a battle for first place. Final-weekend series featuring Nebraska Omaha at UMD and Western Michigan at North Dakota could also be 1/2 matchups, depending on how things play out.

The NCHC isn't the only good league title race going. The WCHA is still led by a Ferris State team that has games in hand on Minnesota State, but the Mavericks seem to be rounding into form, and the home-ice race with Michigan Tech, Alaska-Anchorage, Bowling Green, Alaska, Bemidji State, Northern Michigan, and Lake Superior State (keep in mind, one of these teams won't make the WCHA tournament) looks entertaining, too.

In Atlantic Hockey, the top five teams -- Mercyhurst, Bentley, Air Force, UConn, and Bob Morris -- are separated by a mere four points.

Then there's Hockey East, where, well, Boston College has pretty much clinched the thing already. Never mind.

League tournaments will be bonkers. But will anyone attend them?

The NCHC Frozen Faceoff will be at Target Center in Minneapolis. UMD and St. Cloud State look like they have at least a reasonable shot of being there, along with North Dakota. With SCSU's proximity, UND's nutso fans, and UMD's strong Twin Cities alumni base, there's no reason this can't be well-attended, especially with the affordability of tickets.

Hopefully, the NCHC folks took good notes at the Final Five. Even as that tournament stagnated a bit (at least in my opinion, it did), it was still a great event. Anything remotely close to the Final Five's worst years would be a great start for the NCHC's championship weekend.

--> I'm not sure there's anything that can happen over the final few weeks of the regular season that would prevent Johnny Gaudreau from being the prohibitive favorite for the Hobey Baker Award. Well, Gaudreau could be caught in a cheating scandal or something, but it seems unlikely. Outside of that or a collapse of historical proportions, this award goes to "Johnny Hockey," in my opinion.

Hard to argue with two points per game on the best team (potentially) in the country.

St. Lawrence forward Greg Carey deserves a nod, too, as does Nebraska Omaha's Josh Archibald. But this is Gaudreau's award to lose. Don't hold your breath waiting on that to happen.

--> There were a lot of negative comments Thursday night when BTN aired Minnesota-Wisconsin at a half-empty Kohl Center. But many missed the mark on this.

A national TV game on a Thursday is not a bad thing for a niche sport that relies on die-hard fans to tune in. Where are die-hard fans on Friday and Saturday? They're at games. Can't attend games when they're not being played. Why not throw a game on when it might actually attract a bigger audience than normal?

Despite the poor attendance, the game didn't look horrible on TV. Probably looked better than UMD-Western Michigan did at Amsoil in December, when the student section was largely empty while kids "studied for finals," and the lower bowl was full of empty yellow seats because people were out touring Bentleyville or whatever. That'll only help, especially when the Kohl was jammed for Friday's game, which was also on BTN.

Now, I thought the broadcast itself was clunky, but I like what BTN is doing here, and I wish others would try it. That doesn't mean we need to have a big-time college hockey game every Thursday, but the occasional showcase game wouldn't hurt anyone. In fact, it might give us a chance to grow the game a little bit. And that isn't bad for anyone.

Random Rabble: May 22

I tweeted a few times about Anthony LaPanta being named the voice of the Wild on Fox Sports North, but haven't commented on here. LaPanta has me by a few years (he's publicly admitted to being 43, while I'm a couple months short of 35), but our pedigrees aren't that dissimilar. I don't know him that well, but he's talked about dreaming of this kind of opportunity his whole life. I grew up a relatively uncoordinated chap who would carry a tape recorder around all the time. Called ninth-grade basketball games on public access television when I was in the seventh grade. It just was something I enjoyed doing from the start, and like Anthony, I have my dream jobs. I have one of them now (UMD), and I couldn't be happier for LaPanta that he has achieved one of his career dreams.

As for the public backlash, I know Gopher fans didn't like him. I've heard some of the reasons, and with my own responsibilities, it's been hard to judge his work.

(The couple times I DVRed Gopher games last year to help with my own UMD game prep, I actually thought he did an okay job, if not better. But honestly, I wasn't watching the game to critique LaPanta. I was watching it to see tendencies of the Gophers' opponent, because UMD had a game coming up against that team.)

I've met him a few times at the rink, certainly not nearly enough to be a fair judge of a man's character. I can tell you that there aren't many guys in the business I've met who work harder than he does. If that work ethic carries over, I don't see any reason he won't succeed with the Wild. It will help him immensely to have a steady, experienced analyst in Mike Greenlay after two years of a rotating booth for Gophers games.

As for the Gophers' vacant TV gig, don't worry, Minnesota fans. I won't be applying. :)

I'm on one of my three to four vacations from Brewers baseball this week. Even in years where the team has been good, I've found myself needing a week or so at a time to stop watching the team because they're constantly aggravating me by playing bad baseball. I expected the offense to struggle, and it has. It's scored a few runs here and there, but with no consistency. Too many guys are struggling at the dish for anything better than that.

What's been a huge disappointment is the starting rotation and the defense. They've been kicking the ball around like amateurs lately, and that's hard to watch because it's usually not a sign of a winning ballclub. I don't expect Randy Wolf to win a Cy Young, but more is needed from him, along with Yovani Gallardo and Shaun Marcum. Zack Greinke has been good, but he can't carry the team while pitching every fifth day.

I'll be back this weekend. Or next week. Hopefully the team will be playing better at that point. In a long season like this, it's hard to write anything off. But the longer this goes, the longer the summer will be in the Brew City.

Random Rabble: April 4

The NCAA Frozen Four starts Thursday in Tampa, and apparently ticket sales haven't been as brisk as in the past. The NCAA announced Tuesday that single-session tickets would be available for the event. All-session passes were in the neighborhood of $200, with single-session tickets priced at $110.

Does this sound absolutely insane to anyone else? This isn't St. Paul, where you can turn on the lights at the XCel Energy Center, tell people there's a hockey game going on, and draw thousands and thousands of fans.

In Tampa, the NHL team has troubles drawing for playoff games. Yes, there are great hockey fans in Florida, but there isn't a college hockey team within hundreds of miles. And the one closest -- Alabama-Huntsville, the tournament "host" -- is an independent that might be near extinction if it can't find a league soon.

These kinds of prices for what is probably an unknown commodity to most fans -- even diehard hockey fans -- in the general area is just a death wish.

Expect scores of empty seats at the Tampa Bay Times Forum this weekend, and that's too bad. The Frozen Four has grown in stature over the years, just not enough to be held anywhere that has a big-enough facility.

(Then again, the NCAA also thinks that the regional sites are working, even though the crowds two weekends ago were nothing short of embarrassing. Just keep the head buried in the sand, guys. You don't want to see what's really going on, because it might force you to make an effort to improve things.)

Speaking of insanity, I hope you're all familiar with NBC/NBC Sports Network/CBC hockey "analyst" Mike Milbury. The former failure of an NHL coach and executive is a rather controversial figure on television, thanks to a number of different incidents over the years. Rather than go through them all, I'll just give you a couple.





Nuts. I know.

Anyway, Milbury's latest strike came on the Pittsburgh Penguins after Sunday's now-infamous brawl with Philadelphia.

On a sports radio station in Philly Monday, Milbury made fun of Sidney Crosby's concussion problems, called him a "punk" and a "goody two shoes," and told Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma to take off his "skirt."

Milbury apologized -- sort of -- by noon Tuesday.

"I reached out to David Morehouse and the Penguins about the comments I made yesterday on Philadelphia radio. In hindsight, I realize what I said was inappropriate and wrong, and I want to apologize to the Penguins organization and their fans."

Yeah. I can't wait until NBC is carrying Penguins playoff games, and Milbury is called on for some sort of objective analysis. He's such a pro that I'm sure it won't be an issue at all.

Random Rabble: March 19

Where Bruce rambles about topics that interest him but have nothing to do with college hockey.

Haven't done anything like this in a while, so here goes.

The NCAA Tournament is remarkably low on Cinderellas this year. Yeah, there are some double-digit seeds still alive for the round of 16, but it's hard to look at North Carolina State as a Cinderella. They do play in the ACC, after all. Ohio is about the only one left.

Well, until the Bobcats get waxed by North Carolina Friday.

Can Wisconsin advance? Bo Ryan is notorious for getting teams to the Sweet 16 but not any further than that. But his Achilles heel has been lower-seeded teams, not higher. It's games against teams like Davidson and Butler that have left fans steaming, not games like the one coming on Thursday against Syracuse. In some ways, people may actually like the Badgers' chances more in that game, largely because Fab Melo won't play for the Orange, and also because Wisconsin will go in as the underdog.

You could argue Wisconsin beat Vanderbilt as an underdog, too. The Commodores became a sexy pick to come out of that region after Melo's suspension was announced. Suddenly, the Badgers' suffocating defense has knocked the 'Dores out of the dance.

14 of the 16 teams left come out of major conferences. There are low seeds left -- like NC State and Florida and Cincinnati, for example. But the tournament is void of the kind of story it's had with the Butlers and VCUs of recent years.

That is, unless Ohio does the improbable against the Heels on Friday.

Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, ESPN's Bob Knight is getting plenty of heat, and justifiably so. Previewing Saturday's NCAA Tournament games for ESPN, Knight was asked to put a team on upset alert. He chose Kentucky, set to play a game against Iowa State, but he refused to say "Kentucky," instead referring to the Wildcats as "the team from the SEC."

Fellow ESPNer Rick Reilly, shockingly, threw out a pretty funny tweet ripping Knight.

What happens to Bob Knight if he says the word "Kentucky"? Does his lower jaw fall off? Snakes spring from his hair? My God, does he smile?
— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) March 17, 2012

It's pretty lame for Knight to go this route. Obviously, there are petty issues with Knight and Kentucky. While those issues might go back to when Knight coached at Indiana, don't forget that Knight had it out with UK coach John Calipari over players attending class.

Knight apologized for those idiotic remarks, but obviously still feels some sort of bitterness toward Calipari. I'm not saying Calipari is clean as a whistle, because I don't know, but it doesn't justify Knight's unprofessional behavior. If he can't talk about Kentucky in an objective manner, he needs to recuse himself from the conversation.

He might feel people would think he's a chicken for doing that, but he'd be the bigger person, something Knight has never been known for in his career.

NFL free agency has been quiet for the Vikings and Packers so far. No one is surprised that the Packers have been in a slumber. Green Bay, under GM Ted Thompson, just hasn't splurged much, if at all. Thompson builds through the draft, and he prefers to spend money on contract extensions for his young talent as warranted. He lets guys walk and makes it look callous and without any real thought attached to it. In reality, these are tough decisions that Thompson has always taken seriously, and I think his success at making good decisions has made some fans lay off the boss.

It seems Minnesota is trying to copy the blueprint Thompson is following. Asked about his team's lack of spending last week, general manager Rick Spielman told KFAN in the Cities that the organization did spend money, noting contract extensions for guys like Adrian Peterson, Chad Greenway, and John Sullivan.

This seems like something Thompson would say, and it's a fair point. Spielman wants to build a quality team through the draft, and use free agency to supplement the guys he's able to find and develop. This keeps the team from overspending on guys like Pierre Garcon, a quality player who got a lot more money than his production to this point warrants.

Did the Vikings overpay Peterson? You could argue they did, and you'd have a point. But teams are almost always better off overpaying their own guys than overpaying for someone else's guys who could easily become questionable fits in their new team's system, not to mention the locker room.

Greenway, on the other hand, was not a smart signing. He's an average linebacker who tackles well, fills against the run well, and can cover people, but he's not explosive, he's not dynamic, and he's not a playmaker. He doesn't make this a better team, and it was a reach of a signing.

The Twins made a move Monday, sending Tsuyoshi Nishioka to the minors. Nishioka wasn't hitting in spring training (.240 average), and he was continuing to make mistakes in the field. I don't know if this ends the experiment completely, but it certainly is a bad sign.

It doesn't necessarily mean that Minnesota is keeping a better player on the major-league roster. Given his injury setback last year, it could be argued that Nishioka doesn't need to be a bench player for the Twins. He needs to play games. I'm not saying that a two-month stint in Rochester is going to make this signing look good. I'm saying that a two-month stint in Rochester could be just what the doctor ordered to make this signing look like something less than the colossal bust it appears to be right now.

For the Twins, it's probably the last chance to make anything out of the money they gave the former Japanese batting champion.