OT: Good college hockey blogs?

Submitted by Yostbound and Down on

As a now-rabid Child of Yost, I'm trying to find some good college hockey blogs/sites to follow to stay current with news and analysis (not just Big Ten.) Looking to expand my knowledge beyond the links on the side on this website.

Does the MGoBoard have any recommendations? I have read Puck Daddy's coverage once the Frozen Four started in the past, and I know SBNation has a college hockey blog, but if there are other good sources you use for info, please share! 

Bando Calrissian

December 14th, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^

Really the only thing to do if this is what you're looking for is to spend every waking moment on USCHO. Their message board can get absurd at points (one quickly figures out how much Minnesota people hate just about everyone, North Dakota people hate most everyone, and Hockey East folks think everything begins and ends with them), but it's full of people who get super passionate about only college hockey. 

stephenrjking

December 14th, 2015 at 2:29 PM ^

College Hockey News is a good spot. The SB Nation college hockey blog at least partly involves Chris Dilks, who is sort of oirginally a Michigan fan who has an account here, that is now a permanent Minnesotan. 

A handful of us used to (or still do) hang out at the USCHO message board, but it doesn't have quite the pull that it used to.

Bando Calrissian

December 14th, 2015 at 2:54 PM ^

I really wish there was a way to transport the lame excuse for a student section that we have today back in time to the late 90s-early 00s to understand just what exactly Yost should be. It's more than custom flags and goofy dances--the Molly incident was something that could happen on any given night. And often did.

Does anybody here remember the night Michigan played (I think it was) Guelph in an exhibition game sometime around 2000? They had this guy, Monkman, who the students just razzed all night for pretty much no reason at all. They just picked him out. At the end of the night, with M up about 10-0, Monkman did something of note, the students went crazy, and he started skating to the bench while doing the one-knee-up-fist-pump routine like he just won the Stanley Cup.

Only to fall flat on his ass.

Still a top-5 Yost moment for me.

Yostbound and Down

December 14th, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^

Aw c'mon Bando...you don't have to be all get-off-my lawn. 

I will say, as someone who is finally sitting in the student section after watching games elsewhere in the rink for a couple of years, that I think the placement of the section in just the corner rather than the whole sideline tends to keep the noise down. CoY is much more coordinated than either football or basketball but it could still be better. I don't like sitting in the endzone because not nearly as many fans know the chants. My guess is those seats are so valuable as tickets on the open market that they won't ever return to that configuration.

I really want footage of the Molly game, hard to find any.

 

The Maizer

December 14th, 2015 at 3:57 PM ^

In the last few years of the student section extending the entire sideline, the North half was almost vacant at the start of the game and ~half full by the beginning of the second period. The sad truth is that there wasn't enough student interest to fill that configuration. I don't think it has to do with the value of those seats on the open market.

Yostbound and Down

December 14th, 2015 at 4:08 PM ^

That's sad. I am used to getting there about an hour-45 minutes ahead now for a spot anywhere on the side. The endzone is usually full by about 15 minutes to gametime. 

The Dartmouth game post Ohio St was an exception, to be fair, as the end zone was pretty much totally empty. Don't think it helped that they had the alumni band.

25dodgebros

December 14th, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^

 Yost is a mere shadow of its former self.  I remember Monkman, Molly, and all the rest.  In those days, you could sometimes hear a phone ring in the press box which spurred the crowd to yell " Hey goalie, it's your mom and she says, 'you suck'".  Those were the days.  Overzealous crowd control, student ticket prices, and an Athletic Dept that did not appreciate the best atmosphere in college sports put an end to it.  Still, the two of the three most exciting Michigan sporting events I have ever attending were UM v North Dakota in 1998 and UM v Denver in 2002.  You could not hear yourself yelling and the building shook.  If you were not there you just have no idea what Yost was like.

gwkrlghl

December 14th, 2015 at 5:27 PM ^

I started attending late in the 06-07 season and even then it was a lot different than it was just 5 years after that. For whatever reason it seemed to take a bit of a dive somewhere between 2009 and 2011. I don't know how much basketball's resurgence had to do with it but from the sounds of the more experienced folks it sounds like it was already descending when I came in

stephenrjking

December 14th, 2015 at 7:18 PM ^

FWIW:

Yost may not be what it was 10-20 years ago. Fan habits have changed, prices have gone up, the section has moved, the arena has been rebuilt... I've heard all of that. And, yeah, watching Michigan-Minnesota on tv with a wide-open section was distracting.

But it's still great. I took my wife and two oldest girls to Michigan-Penn State a couple of years ago. It was a team that was inconsistent, the night after a shocking loss (one of several that torpedoed the team's tournament chances, as it turns out). The students were a corner instead of a sideline. The nosebleed endzone seats still as high up as ever. The metal bleachers were... perfunctory. But...

My daughters were enthralled. The band, the chants, the fans, the jerseys, the rafters, the food... they still talk about it. To them, it was amazing. To me, after years away, comparing it to UMD home games and the odd trip to Mariucci... it was awesome. I couldn't stop looking around, admiring the arena again, drinking in the sounds and the smells.

Yost may not be as great as it was, but in an objective vacuum it is still incredible. 

gwkrlghl

December 14th, 2015 at 3:26 PM ^

One I haven't seen mentioned yet is the Yost Post over at rivals. It's a free board and gets good updates here and there. Not a lot of traffic but there's good information there a lot.

chatster

December 14th, 2015 at 4:10 PM ^

On the left side of this home page, there are links to some college hockey websites listed under "Links of Note.". The Boston University hockey blog (discovered last year before Michigan played at BU) has a more comprehensive list of links on the right side of the page for college hockey blogs.