The Pegula Love Affair Continues

In all of the years that I hung around Maple Leaf Gardens, I never saw fans sing "Happy Birthday" to Harold Ballard, and they sure as heck aren't going to sing it to the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund.

Just another example of how much Terry and Kim Pegula have impacted the Sabres and their fans.

For more proof, head on over to Die By the Blade and read why the singalong was so important to Sabre Nation.

As much as I respect the Pegulas and what they've done - it's all out the window tomorrow night when the Sabres battle my Maple Leafs. Toronto is seven back of Buffalo for the final playoff spot in the East (with Carolina wedged between them).
Simply put, lose at home on Tuesday and the Leafs can start booking their spring tee times -- for the sixth year in a row.

You Can't Handle the Truth!

Well, this is certainly turning into a fun Monday!

As you probably know, there is a lot of opposition to the formation of the B1g Ten hockey conference, which won't start play until 2013. A veritable plethora of the opposition comments can be found in this thread on the US College Hockey Online fan forum.

While browsing the thread this afternoon, I came upon this parody gem from someone named 'Sterling Cooper.' From reading some of the other posts, it appears that Mr. Cooper may be an Ohio State fan.

As in my previous post:

THIS ENTRY IS POSTED WITH TONGUE PLANTED FIRMLY IN CHEEK!

Son, we live in a world that has doesn't care about college hockey and that situation needs to be changed by men with a television network. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Bemidji State?

Jim Delaney has a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for the CCHA and curse The Big Ten; you have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that the CCHA's death, while tragic, probably saves college hockey and that the Big Ten Network's existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves college hockey.

You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about in 3000 seat arenas you want the BTHC on that network,

you need it on that network.

We use words like market share, cable networks and conference brand. We use them as the backbone of a life trying to build the greatest collection of public universities in the country. You use them as a punchline.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to men who rise and sleep under the blanket of nationwide hockey coverage that we will provide and then question the manner in which we will provide it.

I would rather you just said "thank you," and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest that you pick up a mouse and ignore my posts. Either way, I don't give a **** what you think Miami of Ohio is entitled to.

The Enemy Is Among Us!

THIS ENTRY IS POSTED WITH TONGUE PLANTED FIRMLY IN CHEEK!

We are about 18 months away from the opening game of the modern era of Penn State varsity hockey and already the fifth column is infiltrating Pennsylvania.

This interloper was spotted driving in State College last week. The cell phone photo makes it tough to spot, but a PA-based Maize 'n' Brew supporter is out there.

Perhaps spying on JoeBa? Or just a coincidence? You decide.

The Newest Red Wing

The newest call-up by the Detroit Red Wings chirps the Canucks bench before Wednesday night's game at the Joe.

This is great stuff. Thanks to Jaime Zimmel for posting this on Facebook.

Didn't See That Coming

Joe Battista told Rodney Martin and I on Monday that Michigan State could announce it's new head hockey coach sometime this week.

Most pundits and Sparty fans expected former UAH coach Danton Cole was the front runner to succeed Rick Comley.

I certainly did not expect that the new coach would be Tom Anastos.

Reports out of East Lansing say Anastos has resigned as the Commissioner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and will succeed Comley as the Spartans' head coach.

Anastos played at Michigan State from 1981 through 1985 and was an assistant coach for two seasons (1990-92).

A press conference is scheduled for 4:00 pm in East Lansing.  You can watch it here.

UPDATE: Michigan State has made it official:

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Tom Anastos, a Michigan State alumnus who has excelled in the sport of hockey as a player, coach, administrator, and visionary, has been appointed today (March 23) to the position of head coach of the Michigan State hockey program, according to an announcement made by Athletics Director Mark Hollis. Anastos, who has served as the commissioner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association since 1998, becomes just the sixth Michigan State hockey coach in program history and the fourth in the modern era.

"I am extremely excited about returning to Michigan State to lead the Spartan Hockey program and once again be a part of the MSU Athletics Department family," said Anastos. "I have obviously maintained a relationship with MSU and been in close contact with the hockey program for the last 13 years in my role with the CCHA, but this opportunity is incredibly special.

"The expectations I have for our program will be to compete annually for conference and national championships. That was the expectation when I was here as a player and as an assistant coach, and I don't believe it should be any different in my role as head coach. In our locker room, we have quality young men who are good players, good students and good citizens, which are all hallmarks of this program. I am excited to get started, to hire a staff, and to get myself re-acclimated within the MSU community."

"Bringing Tom Anastos into the MSU Athletics Department to run our hockey program brings someone with energy and passion not only for the sport of hockey, but for our University and program as well," said Hollis. "He can attract high-caliber talent and develop those players into those who are attractive to the National Hockey League. He places a premium on education, and the drive and desire to compete for championships.

"Hockey is important in the state of Michigan, and it is also important to Michigan State. We will continue to provide the resources to appropriately support this program, and to best prepare our student-athletes for their personal future ... in the NHL and the business world."

"Tom Anastos is an incredibly accomplished individual, and the same characteristics which have made him such a successful leader since his graduation from Michigan State will pay dividends for our hockey program, our entire athletic department and University," added Michigan State president Lou Anna K. Simon. "Tom is a dynamic individual who will be an asset for Team MSU as we move forward. There is no doubt that he is passionate about developing young people, and we are excited for our next era to begin."

Big News on the Big Ten

Lest anyone thinks that I'm a little late to the Big Ten Conference dance, I'll blame YouTube for the delay in getting this blog entry posted.

The timing of Monday's announcement was fortuitous, since I had already scheduled an afternoon meeting with Joe Battista. With video camera and Rodney Martin in tow, we sat down with Joe and got his thoughts on the conference and an update on the coach search, scheduling and other team-related news.

The inaugural varsity schedule will be a good one, including a trip to the Kohl Center in Madison and games against some familiar and not-so-familiar schools.

If it wasn't for the incredibly slow upload speed at You Tube I would have had this posted early this morning, but six-plus hours to upload this video was a teeny bit frustrating, to say the least.

Monday's news was really no surprise, even with the revelation that the conference will form a year earlier than initially planned. As a result, Penn State will play one season as an independent before joining Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Minnesota in college hockey's newest conference.

Naturally, there is a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth from observers who feel the BTHC is the end of college hockey. Just take a quick swing through this thread on College Hockey Online to see what I mean. Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez is as popular there as George W. Bush is on the Huffington Post!

Even Adam Woden of College Hockey News, admits that "I was on record as far back as four years ago saying that the Big Ten was inevitable, and that we should just all embrace it instead of resisting it."

Now that it's here, the "worry wart in me is concerned."

This announcement was made before any sort of scheduling deal was made — if there is, in fact, one ever coming. I've been told that the Big Ten may have expedited the announcement in order to give everyone else more time to figure out where the dust will settle. If so, OK, but it still would've be nice to take some time and figure out how to be the good soldier they've talked about.

I love the idea of Penn State hockey, and I feel great for a guy like Joe Battista, the former club coach and current associate AD at PSU, who had been determined for years to get it and had started to give up hope. And in many ways, adding Penn State to the hockey family is a great thing. But it's not going to be great if it comes at the expense of existing programs.

Of course, that's not all on Penn State, and nothing should stop them from forming a program. But Penn State talks about how great this is for college hockey, yet there's nothing being done by anyone in the Big Ten to prevent a possible catastrophe — i.e. seeing other programs disappear.

Fortunately, there are people who see the positive aspects of the Big Ten Conference. I'll leave it up to Lake Superior State coach Jim Roque to put it all in perspective.

Roque was quoted in a Detroit Free Press report by George Sipple.

Wise words, especially coming from the bench boss of one of the "small school" teams that will supposedly face the biggest impact from the Big Ten Conference:

"I think it's good for college hockey," Roque said. "I think the Big Ten moniker's going to, obviously, provide more exposure to college hockey. I look at it this way: I'm in the water with all these schools. As the water rises, my boat rises, too.

"We don't recruit against those schools. That's not going to affect us. We're not going to lose a kid to the Big Ten league. The negative for us is, obviously, not getting those schools in our building, and I understand that part of it."

But Roque said the home schedule won't be affected drastically.

"Ohio State's never been a big draw for us," he said. "We've never had Wisconsin or Minnesota here. So, really, we're talking about two schools -- and we usually get one of them a year. We never get Michigan and Michigan State (at home) the same year. ... So you're talking about two home games a year, basically."

Watching Behind the Scenes

We weren't able to get any of the college hockey conference finals on TV tonight, so I managed to do the next best thing to catch the end of the WCHA final between Denver and North Dakota.

The Pioneers and Fighting Sioux went to double overtime, before Matt Frattin won it for NoDak with a goal at 5:11.

This is a screen shot of the FSN North website. FSN streamed all of the camera angles as well as the behind-the-scenes commentary by the producer and director.

It wasn't easy to follow all the cameras, but you could see how they set up the replays and all of the different camera shots.

As a TV play-by-play man, you're hearing the director's calls in your ear while calling the game. Hmmm, maybe a one-camera broadcast isn't so bad after all!

Congrats to the conference champs: Air Force, Boston College, Miami, North Dakota and Yale. The final tournament brackets will be revealed Sunday morning.