Mid Week Almost Nothing

For a quiet day, Wednesday had some pretty interesting stuff for those who follow prospect hockey both New York Rangers and New York Islanders.

First we want to offer congrats to Anders Lee (NYI 2009 6th) for being named the CCHA RBC Financial Group Player of the Month.

The press release as follows

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — The Central Collegiate Hockey Association announced today that sophomore forward Anders Lee of Notre Dame has been named the RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Month for October.


Lee, a 21-year-old from Edina, Minnesota, spurred the Fighting Irish to a 5-2-0 record and No. 6 ranking in October while leading the nation with 10 goals. His 13 points puts him in a tie for fourth in the nation in scoring. The Fighting Irish alternate captain scored a goal in all seven of Notre Dame’s games this month, including a two-goal game and a hat trick. He tallied multiple points in four of those games and his current seven-game goal and point-scoring streaks are both career highs.


The 6-foot-2, 218-pound Lee began the month by scoring a goal in his team’s season opener, a 4-3 loss to Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 7. He followed that up with a goal and an assist in Notre Dame’s 5-3 win over the Bulldogs the next night.


The next weekend Lee registered a 3-2-5 scoring line in a split against Ohio State. After scoring three times in a 5-2 win over Rensselaer on Oct. 21, Lee added a goal in both Irish victories at Bowling Green, Oct. 28-29, to close out the month.


Special mention for RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Month honors goes to Bowling Green sophomore forward Camden Wojtala, Ferris State senior defenseman Chad Billins, Lake Superior junior forward Nick McParland, Miami senior forward Alden Hirschfeld, Michigan junior forward Lindsay Sparks, Michigan State sophomore forward Lee Reimer, Northern Michigan senior forward Justin Florek, Ohio State sophomore forward Chris Crane and Western Michigan University sophomore forward Chase Balisy.

The other item to make hockey headlines is a good thing for USA college hockey as the Comcast/NBC merger is paying off a rather nice dividend sooner than later. As many may know Versus on Jan 2nd 2012 will be changing their name to the NBC Sports Network and on Wednesday adding Notre Dame to the Hockey East got the conference a new TV deal.

Here is that release:

NEW YORK - The Hockey East Association and NBC Sports Network announced on Tuesday a multi-year deal to broadcast Hockey East games live, including the 2012 Hockey East Tournament at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass.


The Hockey East regular-season schedule will begin on NBC Sports Network with two games hosted by the University of Vermont on February 10 against Boston College at Gutterson Fieldhouse and February 24 vs. Boston University. NBC will also broadcast a Hockey East quarterfinal game on Friday, March 9 and then will continue their tournament coverage the following weekend on Friday, March 16 with the semifinal games at 5 and 8pm and the 28th Hockey East Championship Game on Saturday, March 17 (8pm) from the TD Garden.


"The landscape in college hockey is about to go through a significant change. Television will become even more important to all programs with national aspirations and national television will become a key to future success," said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna. "This agreement will play a major role in our ability to stay in a leadership position in our sport."


The games are part of a 16-game college hockey schedule slated to start on VERSUS, which will be rebranded as the NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2, on Saturday, December 31, when Notre Dame hosts Boston University (7 p.m.). This season's schedule, which marks the first time that the NBC Sports Group will air college hockey games, was developed through partnerships with numerous collegiate hockey conferences and universities.


"We are excited to be launching our first-ever college hockey package by building a destination on Friday nights on the NBC Sports Network with many of the preeminent brands in the sport," said Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC Sports Group. The college hockey telecasts will be produced by the same Emmy Award-winning team that oversees all of the NHL games for the NBC Sports Group, led by Sam Flood, executive producer for NBC Sports and VERSUS.


The Hockey East Association is a 10-team Division I college men's hockey conference founded in 1984 and an eight-team Division I women's league which began play in 2002-03. The men's league has won seven NCAA championships in the past 19 years. Since 1999, Hockey East has won five NCAA Championships and have placed 18 teams in the Frozen Four, along with 45 teams in the NCAA Tournament. 

Anything that helps get more hockey out there for fans to watch helps the sport grow.

Game Action

Only one prospect saw action on Wednesday night as Steven Fogarty (NYR 2011 3rd) and his Penticton Vees took to the road to play the Vernon Vipers in BCHL action. The Vees though forgot their game at home as Vernon spanked them 7-1.

The Vees may have the best record in the BCHL at 11-3-0-1 but boy when they lose they gets their butts kicked. Fogarty was scoreless and not much more to say other than this game was a bad one.

(Lee/CCHA)