RMU Ice Hockey Golf Outing

Coach Schooley of the RMU Men’s team asked if I could pass along the information regarding the upcoming RMU Golf outing.

“I would like to invite you to join us at the 2008 Robert Morris Men’s Ice Hockey Golf Outing. The players and staff will once again be at your service on the course. Cindy Cooney (Outing Planner), Jim Vitale (Outing Chairman) and myself would like to thank you for a wonderful previous two years and hope that you will join us at Quicksilver Golf Course on September 12, 2008 for an even better outing.

Attached is the brochure for the event and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate in asking. We appreciate your support in anyway you can through golfing, sponsorships and donations for our auctions.

Thank you. We look forward to seeing you on September 12, 2008.

Yours in hockey (and golf).

Derek Schooley”

Here are the forms you need to send in if you are interested in playing:

rmu-golf-page-1

rmu-golf-page-2

If you would like to find out more information, contact either Coach Derek Schooley at- schooley@rmu.edu or contact Elyse Healey (Men’s Hockey SID) at – sidga01@rmu.edu.

Also check out the information on RMU Colonials.com

You tell me, what are you expectations

Update: There are two readers who have put up their thoughts of what to expect, take a look in the comments section.

We’ve got some time, time to think things over.  The season starts in a few months, but with that in mind, what are you thinking of?  What are you expectations of this upcoming season?  No pressure here fellas, but let’s put things into perspective….

Let’s Review:

• Last season, RMU had two players ranked in the top 10 in scoring in the NCAA (Cruthers and Margott), one has graduated and Margott is expected to become a vital leader this fall.

• 15 new faces will be here in the fall, yeah…the “Fab 15″.

• Three of the “Fab 15″ are transfers from Wayne State University, Junior Matt Krug, Sophomores Brock Meadows and Chris Kushneriuk.

• The young scoring defencemen and Pittsburgh’s own, Denny Urban is back after an impressive and poised Freshman year.

• The Colonials graduated all three Captains (four counting Gasper and Cruthers splitting time wearing a “C”).
• RMU managed to keep one goaltender, sort of, retaining him as a second year coach, Joe Tuset.  Tuset put up his best numbers on the team, two seasons ago, when he split time with then Junior Christian Boucher.
• Did I mention, Christian Boucher graduated as well, no I didn’t.  So there should be one lingering question, who will start in goal next season?  I expect a big battle between Senior Wes Russell and Sophomore Jim Patterson.  Both looked good at times, neither “wowed” anyone, Russell has been plagued in his career with inconsistency, but on his biggest stage, he played his biggest game in last season’s match against Ohio State at the Mellon Arena (coming in relief of Boucher to keep the Colonials skating to a near win, ultimatley leading to a tie).
• Oh yeah, don’t forget the first winning season in school history.  15-15-4, not too shabby.

Here is the way I see it:

• Your second leading scorer is coming back for his Senior season (#28 Chris Margott) and only expects to put up great numbers with the players around him.
• Sophomores #14 Brandon Gay, #44 Denny Urban, #21 Nathan Longpre, #9 Kyle Burton and #28 Scott Kobialko are all shaping together to be a great nucleaous to this young team.  Bring on the second wave of leaders.
• Don’t forget your incumbent Juniors and Seniors – #24 Dave Cowan, #20 Jason Towsley (who looks to have a break out year for his senior season, putting up his best numbers as a Junior), 29 J.C. Velasquez and 12 Jake Obermeyer – will all contribute to making plays around a solid first two lines of offense and defense.
• More offense from the defense!  We saw it last season, Denny Urban provided the most points from a Colonial defencemen in school history for one season and he was only a freshman.  In my recent talks with transfer Matt Krug, he feels that Coach Schooley will allow him to become more of an offensive attacker than he was at WSU.
• Special teams, I expect a more solid defence against the Powerplay this year, as well as far less penalties.  This was the Colonials demise, as they were only 78% (82% in ‘06-’07) on the PK and averaged 7.4 penalties per game, at 17.7 minutes (this number down from the previous season).

What is your level of expectation going into the upcoming season?  Let your voice be heard, submit your comments on this post, I will organize them and re-post them prior to the beginning of the season.

Update to USA InLine Hockey

A comment was left on the original post about Rafael Rodriguez making the squad.  This is the box score left in the comment section.  Thanks for the update!

“USA Lee (Rodriguez), 7:47

Had an assist in 9-3 win over germany

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period
USA 2 – 3 – 1 – 3 — 9
GER 1 – 1 – 1 – 0 — 3

First Period – Scoring: 1, USA Beilsten (unassisted), 2:23; 2, GER Wolf (Kottmair), 3:23; 3, USA Beilsten (unassisted), 7:13 (sh). Penalties: USA, Beilsten (hooking), :41; USA, Comrie (hooking), 7:00; USA, Kern (boarding), 8:34; GER, Zeller (holding the stick), 9:56.

Second Period – Scoring: 4, USA Comrie (Beilsten), 4:29 (pp); 5, USA Gouge (Oleksy), 5:25 (pp); 6, GER Tolzer (unassisted), 6:20; 7, USA Beilsten (Moss), 10:39. Penalties: USA, Kern (hooking) 1:07; GER, Huhn (hooking), 3:39; GER, Kottmair (interference), 4:50; USA, Beilsten (slashing), 9:02; USA, Oleksy (kneeing), 11:25; USA, Peterson (holding), 12:00.

Third Period – Scoring: 8, GER Wolf (unassisted), :39 (pp); 9, USA Sweatt (Lee), 10:23. Penalties: GER, Menge (hooking), 4:53; USA, Comrie (slashing), 9:16; GER, Holscher (hooking), 9:26.

Fourth Period – Scoring: 10, USA Peterson (Chavira), 1:15 (pp); 11, USA Gouge (unassisted), 3:05; 12, USA Lee (Rodriguez), 7:47. Penalties: GER, Zeller (hooking), :22; GER, Wolf (hooking), 1:34; USA, Peterson (hooking), 11:27.

Power Play: USA 3-7; GER 1-9
Penalties: USA 9-13.5; GER 7-10.5″

Update on RMU Men’s Schedule

Bemidji State has released their upcoming 2008-2009 schedule, the first of the CHA Teams to do so.  It looks like RMU will be taking on the Beavers on January 30th and 31st here in Pittsburgh, then the Colonials will go on the road to BSU on Febuary 27th and 28th.

Check back soon for complete schedule coverage.

UPDATE: Add two games here in Pittsburgh on Feb 20th and 21st.

Done Deal. Comcast sells it’s soul.

It’s official, Comcast has sold that little piece of paper with the word, “Soul” written on it.

“The Big Ten Network and Comcast finally agreed to a long-term deal that was announced Thursday.

Under the agreement, the network will be available on expanded basic cable beginning Aug. 15 and extending through the 2008-09 basketball season. At that point Comcast can move the network to a digital level of service in states with Big Ten universities. Outside of the Big Ten market, Comcast can provide the network on any level of service, including its sports entertainment package.”

“Comcast has agreed to pay about 70 cents per subscriber to the Big Ten, which had sought $1.10. It’s the first major cable operator to agree to carry the network.”

I found the info here in the Star Tribune in St. Paul, Minnesota: Comcast, Big Ten make deal

You can also read it here in the Chicago Tribune: Big Ten Network, Comcast reach a deal

Post Entry Draft signing possiblities for RMU’s Cruthers

With the NHL Draft on the doorstep, there are plenty of rumors swirling on where non-draftee players could end up, including players who were in the minor league system last year, specifically former RMU Colonial, Ryan Cruthers.

I’ve been tipped off that Ryan has garnered a little extra attention from his debut with the Utah Grizzles in the ECHL.  Not only are the New York Islanders (who hold the #5 pick) showing interest in signing him to an AHL contract, but the Washington Captials (who hold the #25 pick) organization as well.

Ryan has been offered a roster spot with the Utah Grizzles for next season.  He was named to their “season-ending roster,” which allows the team to reserve the rights of up to 20 players who signed contracts this past season.  Ryan and his fellow Grizzles have an opportunity to recieve a qualifying offer to remain in Utah, which would be held until July 1st (only 8 players on the season-ending roster can be offered a contract).

In Ryan’s senior season last year, he was named the CHA Conference Player of the Year, leading the CHA in scoring with 49 points.  With the Utah Grizzles, Ryan played 4 regular season games scoring 2 points (0g-2a) and he appeared in 15 playoff games, scoring 5 points (1g-4a).

My guess is that Ryan will see his options laid out to him after the draft, possibly based on which team fills their needs, which will lead to where Ryan could end up.  Many people are projecting that prospect Drew Doughty will be drafted by the Islanders.  This article (Islanders draft preview) would suggest that NY needs defense, which could mean a possibility that Ryan ends up back in Bridgeport (hopefully not for just a day this time).

Check back after this weekend’s entry draft for potential information on where Ryan may end up.

Rafael Rodriguez to skate for the USA National inLine team in the 2008 World Championships

“Congrats to Rafael Rodriguez who made the USA National InLine team. It will be a great experience for Raf to represent team USA in the World Championships.” – RMU Head Coach, Derek Schooley

From USA Hockey News Release

“COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Hockey today named 16 players to the U.S. InLine National Team that will compete at the 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation InLine Hockey World Championship in Bratislava, Slovakia, June 21-28.

The roster is highlighted by seven players that earned a gold medal at the 2006 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship including goaltender Jamie Bufalino (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.); defensemen Derek Kern (Kings Park, N.Y.) and Lee Sweatt (Colorado Springs, Colo.); and forwards Tommy Bruce (Riverhead, N.Y.), Sam Ftorek (Wolfboro, N.H.), Aaron Moss (Tustin, Calif.) and Chris Peterson (Macomb, Mich.).

Other U.S. InLine National Team veterans include forward Pat Lee (Tustin, Calif.) who will be making his fourth appearance with the U.S. InLine National Team (2002-04) and blueliner James Beilsten (St. Charles, Mo.) who will return to Team USA for the second time (2007).

Seven players will be making their U.S. InLine National Team debut, including netminder Kyle Mikel (Centennial, Colo.); defensemen Steven Oleksy (Chesterfield, Mich.) and Rafael Rodriguez (Oceanside, Calif.); and forwards Etan Chavira (Big Bear, Calif.), Dan Comrie (San Diego, Calif.), Kevin De Vergilio (Rockland, Mass.) and Kyle Gouge (Wentzville, Mo.).”

Team USA 2008 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship Sechedule

June 21-28 . Bratislava, Slovakia

Date	Opponent	Time (Local/EDT)
June 22	Germany	4 p.m./10 a.m.
June 23	Finland	6 p.m./noon
June 24	Czech Republic	2 p.m./8 a.m.
June 25	Qualification Round	TBD
June 26	Play-off Round	TBD
June 27	Semi-final Round	TBD
June 28	Medal Round	TBD

Another member to the RMU family has passed on

Over on Colonials Corner, Andrew Chiapazzi has a story up on a former Robert Morris Colonial Athlete, Darcy Antoine,who was tragically killed at the age of 19.

To keep from writing any errors on the loss of the young man, I will direct you to read the information that Andrew has on his site: Read it here.

Comcast eats their own words – Deal with Big Ten Network on the table

“Comcast already offers a wide variety of Big Ten coverage” (I am paraphrasing of course), a statement made by the large cable corporation in an effort to make it known to their customers that they would not be endorsing the Big Ten Network on their service.

The hang up with Comcast and BTN in the past was the asking price for customer packaging ($1.10 per customer).  Until now, there hasn’t been any substancial talks about adding the Big Ten Network to Comcast customers, even though a large outcry has been coming from fans all over.

The Chicago Tribune of Chicago, Illinois reported earlier today, in this article, Big Ten Network, Comcast ready to call a truce, that the major cable network is practially sitting waiting to sign off on adding the Big Ten Network to the potential spot of the Sports Packaging Tier in its programming.  According to the article the deal would increase the BTN’s coverage from 30 million to 55 million (this includes other carriers such as Direct TV and Dish Network).

The apparent bargaining chip seems to be the cost coming down from $1.10 to somewhere between 70 cents and 80 cents per customer.  This seems interesting as Comcast made a push to carry The NFL Network within it’s sports tier, where the NFL has an agreement for a pay out of well over $2 a customer, and has repeatedly tried to get Comcast (as well as others) to place them within the basic packages for that price.  Comcast recently ran up the cost of it’s own network station “Comcast Sports Net” from a little under $1 per customer, to $2 a customer (my parents have a local cable company in Maryland which dropped Comcast Sports Net due to the rise in cost, in order to keep the basic cable plan down in cost).

It looks that the BTN will take a surge in revenue, that is apparently divied out to respective Big Ten schools, “The BTN also gets to end what Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo called a “PR nightmare.” The league had been criticized as greedy and arrogant, and schools such as Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa—all of whom received $6.1 million in the first year alone—had grown weary of complaints from alumni and fans.”

The Star Tribune in St. Paul, Minnesota, has it’s own views on the agreement and the affect on it’s viewers: Comcast, Big Ten Network, close to deal, report says.

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