It was a big week for Student Union Sports. Not only did we pick up a handful of new contributors in the span of a few days, the executives up top made the decision to expand into college hockey just as the 2017-18 season is ramping up. With the PMT guys from Barstool cutting big checks from the World Wide Leader, is Student Union the next startup sports blog to go international? Many people are saying this.
The announcement was exciting for the small group of contributors who are tuned in to hockey, including one of those new writers, Chad Collins, who already scored an interview with Mike Grinnel from Barstool’s Spittin’ Chiclets. Attending a school with a division 1 team, and with my side gig covering the #1 ranked DU Pioneers at SB Nation’s Mile High Hockey (end self-plug), has me locked in as well.
But when the expansion into hockey was announced, many of our contributors collectively admitted to knowing nothing about college hockey. And because college basketball and football can keep people occupied pretty much year-round, many of you readers at home probably feel the same way. That’s okay. I’m not here to judge. Before we start dropping fire blogs about college hockey, I felt it would be important to reach out to you, football-and-basketball-only guy. Since I know all of you are on the edge of your seat waiting for a new post from us every day, but might feel uneasy about this hockey thing. This guide is for you.
The teams
There are 60 NCAA Division I hockey teams in the United States, less than half the size of the FBS. One advantage of having fewer programs is that we get to see top teams play each other frequently. Denver was ranked #1 in the preseason polls and had 19 out of 34 games scheduled against other top-20 teams. Let me know when Alabama plays 55% of its regular season against ranked opponents.
If you want to pick a team but know nothing about St.Lawrence or Sacred Heart, that’s okay. The Big 10 is the most recognizable conference for fans of the major sports, and it even has Notre Dame in it as of this year, just like it probably should in both basketball and football. If you think Big 10 hockey can’t be as exciting as football, here’s 104,000 fans in the Big House who disagree.
Arizona State and Alabama Huntsville are also cool underdogs to root for as they are setting the standard for other schools in the south and on the west coast to create Division I programs.
The tourney
College hockey has a 16-team postseason tournament, following individual conference tournaments that give out automatic bids to the winner.
As you can see from last year, upsets are frequent. Hockey is a strange game and a lot of weird and lucky things can happen. Here’s a low-quality video of the Boston University goalie scoring on himself in the 2015 National Championship.
The tournament concludes with the Frozen Four, which is a cooler name than “Final Four” or “College Football Playoff.” Score another point for hockey.
The awards
College hockey has all the usual individual postseason awards, including all-conference and All-American teams. The equivalent of the Heisman Trophy is the Hobey Baker Award, won last season by Denver defenseman Will Butcher.
The award given to the most outsanding goalie is the Mike Richter Award, given last year to Denver’s Tanner Jaillet. If you haven’t caught on yet, DU was very good last year. And if they win their 9th all-time title this year like they are favored to do, they will tie Michigan for the most ever.
NHL Draft
The pipeline to the NHL from the NCAA is complicated and beyond the scope of this blog. One thing to know is that college hockey players are on average a few years older than in other sports. That’s because players play in junior leagues from 17-19 before turning pro or going to the NCAA. NHL teams are able to draft players and allow them to keep playing in the NCAA to develop. Because they own the player’s draft rights, they are free to sign him to an entry-level (rookie) contract at any time. My NHL team, the Colorado Avalanche, drafted Cale Makar fourth overall in the 2017 draft, but he’s currently playing college hockey for UMass and won’t sign until after this season most likely.
Those same Avalanche also got involved with another weird quirk of the NCAA-NHL pipeline. That Will Butcher guy from before? The best player in college hockey? The Avalanche owned his draft rights but couldn’t agree on a deal with him before June after his senior season. That meant that he became an unrestricted free agent right away, allowing him to sign with the Devils, where he is now having an outstanding start to his career. Oops.