Dion Knelsen Passed Over for NCAA Frozen Four Skills Competition

What the hell? How in the world did the NCAA selection committee pass up the best field of players for the skills competition? For the first time in a long time, I'm actually pretty pissed off.

Now, on the same note, before you read my rant, only seniors who have exhausted NCAA eligibility are qualified to make the list. This list is also dependent upon a coaches nomination, and I have no idea who Dallas, or any of the other coaches for that matter picked for their nomination.

The forwards selected to the skills competition for the west men's team are:

Cody Chupp - Ferris State - 8-21-29
Zach Harrison - Mankato - 8-16-24
Steve Kampfer - Michigan - 3-16-19
Kyle Lawson - Notre Dame - 4-18-22
Tony Lucia - Minnesota - 11-16-27
Chris McKelvie - Bemidji State - 8-10-18

I don't get it. There are much better candidates that, I don't want to say are more deserving, but have skills better fit for a skills competition of this magnitude. Now, this is a subjective list based on players that I have actually seen play this year, and just one player from each team... Read it and weep:

Rhett Rahkshani - Denver - 20-29-49
Blake Geoffrion - Wisconsin - 23-18-41
Dion Knelsen - Alaska - 19-23-42
Jarod Palmer - Miami - 17-27-44
Ryan Lasch - St. Cloud - 18-26-44
Kevin Clark - UAA - 23-14-37
Mike Testwuide - Colorado College - 21-10-31

Am I the only one that feels this way? I hope not. Last year, the competition was filled with more capable scorers. The respective committees did a good job selecting the goaltenders. Too bad they won't have much of a challenge...

Just for contrast, here are the forwards and their stat lines for the east men's team:

Sean Backman - Yale - 21-14-35 (currently injured, probably won't participate)
Bobby Butler - New Hamshire - 27-23-50
Owen Meyer - Army - 13-18-31
Neil Musselwhite - Oswego State - 22-13-35 (D-III)
Ben Smith - Boston College - 12-17-29
Brandon Wong - Quinnipiac - 19-22-41

Average point totals:

West - 23
East - 37

Since this is a format of West VS. East, I'd say the teams look a little slanted, especially since more viable candidates were out there for the West team. East coast bias strikes again, I suppose.