Todd D. Milewski

You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few players. I’m guessing you’d get a “bring it on” kind of look from a pro-NTDP person today if you tried to start the argument. The majority … Read more

A few thoughts in an abbreviated (and delayed … thanks, Sunday tournament games) edition: * Here’s a good read from Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail about the college-vs.-major junior issue, tied to the differences in the United States and Canadian World Junior Championship teams. In the end, the choice between the two routes … Read more

Here are some interesting numbers from the 21-year history of the Badger Hockey Showdown, which came to a close Sunday with Wisconsin beating Yale in a shootout for the title: 34 — Teams that have played in the tournament. Bowling Green and Yale were the most frequently invited guests, each appearing four times. 18 — … Read more

All was right again in Ferris State’s world. A day after allowing a season high for goals and shots on goal, the Bulldogs clamped down on defense, got some strong offensive performances and put together what they called a bounce-back victory. Blair Riley scored and added an assist in the first period as No. 11 … Read more

It seems like we hear about one travel-related nightmare around the holidays every year. This year, it was Yale having quite the adventure trying to get to Madison, Wis., for the Badger Hockey Showdown. The Bulldogs left New Haven on Thursday but then, according to coach Keith Allain, spent about 3 1/2 hours waiting on … Read more

Ferris State went through the first half of the season as one of the pleasant surprises in college hockey, picked for a low finish but instead building a strong record. From a stout penalty kill to solid goaltending to a dependable defense, none of it came through in the first game after the holiday break. … Read more

A quick follow-up to the tournament rankings I posted the other day: A reader named John Cavanaugh e-mailed to let me know he crunched the numbers using KRACH and RPI rankings, and the results were fairly similar. Here are the rankings he came up with using KRACH: 1. Badger Hockey Showdown (15.75) 2. Wells Fargo … Read more

Here’s wishing a belated happy holidays to all of our faithful USCHO readers. This week’s edition is more of what I’ve crunched rather than what I think. For the past couple of seasons, I’ve ranked the holiday tournaments by combined winning percentage of the teams involved. I can’t exactly remember why — probably because, when … Read more

Some random thoughts this week, while I read up on the Torpedo system: * Bob Daniels for coach of the year? Sounds OK to me if we’re voting right now, which, of course, we’re not. All credit to Tom Serratore at Bemidji State and Rand Pecknold at Quinnipiac, but Daniels, the Ferris State coach, has … Read more

Another collection of random (and not-so-random) thoughts after the ninth week of the season: * Just when I start to question Miami’s fitness as the No. 1 team in the country, the RedHawks shut out Notre Dame for the weekend. Thanks for clearing that up. * Something Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell said in the … Read more

Brendan Smith is on a collegiate-best seven-game point streak, but the Wisconsin defenseman is occasionally coming back to the bench talking about what he’s doing wrong. Even after he puts the puck in the net. Smith scored twice, joining John Mitchell among multiple-goal scorers, as No. 16 Wisconsin completed a weekend thrashing of Michigan Tech … Read more

The symmetry is just too good to chalk it up as mere coincidence. On the same night that the Montreal Canadiens commemorated their 100th birthday, a player connected to that famed organization in two big ways recorded a career night for No. 16 Wisconsin. Blake Geoffrion, whose grandfather Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion and great-grandfather Howie … Read more