St. Louis Blues Alumni Could Mean Any Number of Things

After this past season's Mizzou-Kansas Border War hockey "game" – a shared dream some of us had where we thought the University of Kansas had a hockey team, but then we woke up and all was right with the world again – one could only imagine what kind of exciting hockey events could be on the horizon for our metro area.  Well, here ya go.

Friday, January 18th, 2013, at Independence Events Center, the University of Missouri hockey club will play against members of the St. Louis Blues Alumni.  Who is on that team?  Who knows!  Could be any number of players!  Phil Housley!  Derek Armstrong!  Tommy Barrasso!  Charlie Huddy!  Wayne Gretzky!!!  What an amazing lineup, I can't see why none of those guys won't play!  Anyway, there's probably more info coming on this event, so keep a look out.

Remember when Mizzou and Kansas were supposed to play on January 17th of next month?  Yeah, I don't know if that's going to happen now, but this other thing is, so yay!

UPDATE:  Oh, I guess some of the players include Jon Casey, Tony Twist, and Darren Pang.  Oh well.

Videos for Your Viewing Pleasure

Here are a couple Ice Breaker Tourney videos courtesy of College Hockey Inc.  The first video features all goals from all of the games.  The second video are highlights of the Notre Dame–Nebraska-Omaha championship game.  Enjoy!

Question: At about :52 seconds of the above video, why do the college officials have to go ALL THE WAY into the timekeepers' bench to watch a video replay?  That's terribly inconvenient.

Since the tournament:

Army 2-3-1 overall, 4th in Atlantic Hockey

Notre Dame 6-2 overall, 1st in CCHA

Nebraska-Omaha 4-3-1 overall, 3rd in WCHA

Maine 1-8 overall, last in Hockey East.  Only victory against Army in Consolation Game.

The Ice Breaker Tournament: A Superficial Review



You are winner.

Disappointment was my initial feeling.  Then sleepy.  Then apathetic.  Then...meh.  Go hockey.
I hope this isn't true, but there were only 2,254 at the Sprint Center (according to the box score) last weekend for the Ice Breaker tournament.  That can't be right, can it?  Last year, on a college campus of a school in the finals, 9,000+ people attended.  Surely KC could have gotten half of that number to show up.  Either way, bully for those of you who got to see the games in person.

Before we freak out too much, it's worth a look at the attendance numbers when the Ice Breaker was in St. Louis, a neutral site, two years ago.  The final featured Boston University and Notre Dame, and only had just over 2,000 people attend (again, according to the box score).  The tournament was also in an NHL-sized arena -- Scottrade Center -- so, yeah.  Don't feel too bad, Kansas City hockey fans.  We beat the average!

But, I for one hoped more people would attend, especially for a televised event.  But, we can't always get what we want.  That didn't take away from the good times had by those in attendance, I'm sure.  Alas, there are other things to do on a Friday and Saturday night in Kansas City, despite popular belief.  The only real issue with people not showing up to the Ice Breaker is that hockey folks around town assumed people would pack the house for the Rangers-Avalanche game scheduled for the Saturday before.  Of course, the NHL is different than the NCAA for a variety of reasons, so fans found something else to do or went on living their lives instead of exchanging their tickets.

Introducing the Unscientific, Arbitrary, Favorite College Hockey Team Deciding Flowchart

YOU MUST CLICK THIS TO EMBIGGEN UNLESS YOU CAN READ 2 POINT FONT

Click to embiggen, just like it says above, or click here and use the zoom in tool you resourceful Internet user.  Or click here.  Or perhaps here.  CLICK HERRRREEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Do you not have a favorite college hockey team?  Well, you came to the right place, champ.  All 59 NCAA Division 1 hockey programs represented in the preceding flowchart.  SCIENCE was not used in determining this chart.  EMOTION was though, so that's good.  College sports fandom is based on EMOTION.  The green arrows are 'yes' answers to the questions presented.  The red arrows are 'no' responses.  Yes, the flowchart looks like Africa and southwestern Asian continent.  Yes, that is a coincidence.

Remember: THE ICE BREAKER TOURNAMENT IS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY!!!!

The schedule is as follows:

All games will be televised on NBC Sports Network.

Check out each school's primer for the Ice Breaker while you are here:

Army Opens Season At Ice Breaker

Maine: Men's Ice Hockey Travels to Kansas City, Mo. for 2012 Ice Breaker Tournament

#13 Irish to Face Off Against Maine in Opener of 2012 Ice Breaker Tournament

Nebraska-Omaha doesn't not have a story on the tournament

Check out PucKChaser's much more detailed preview of each squad.

Once again, click here to check out the flowchart's full size.

Oh, also, look at that post below.  Nutbush's first post.  Welcome, Nutbush.

Something Called the NHL Cancels Entire Preseason

Sprint Center remains empty...

ICE BREAKER TOURNAMENT OCTOBER 12-13 AT THE SPRINT CENTER!!!! COLLEGE HOCKEY DOESN'T LOCKOUT!

Independence Events Center Hosts Local College Hockey Tournament September 21-22

Ready for college hockey to come to the Sprint Center?!?!  Forget you know anything about that because the Independence Events Center is about to BLOW YOUR MIND.

Next weekend, Friday and Saturday the 21st and 22nd (respectively), the IEC is hosting a FREE Kickoff College Hockey Tournament featuring three local college hockey clubs from Kansas, Mizzou, and Missouri State.  As stated before, these are club teams that play in the MACHA (click the link for more info).  Remember, this event is FREE.  Yes, FREE.  Of course, the IEC is collecting $5 donations for their youth skating programs.

So, c'mon, support your local ice facilities, ya jerks.

The Schedule (all games at IEC)
Friday:
Mizzou vs Kansas, 8pm
Saturday:
Mizzou vs MO State, 11am
Kansas vs MO State, 8pm