Trimmings

A lot has happened recently, so rather than do a whole lot of features, here are a few bullets with links to other articles. I know, not usually my style, but hey, I'm a busy guy.

• Chad Johnson got some ice time with team Canada in their 6-1 beat down of Latvia the other day. Canada was in complete control of the third period and coach Craig MacTavish gave backup goalie Chad Johnson the final 20 minutes of play. Chad allowed the only goal, to Georgijs Pujacs, midway through the period. "We're all about the Maple Leaf here," starting netminder Chris Mason said. "[Coach Craig] MacT came to me and told me, “That's enough. Johnny [Chad Johnson] is going in.” I was actually really happy for him. It's his first time, and I know what that feels like, since I had my first opportunity last year. He was pretty excited." "It's always been a dream of mine to wear the Canadian jersey," Johsnon said with a big grin. "To get the opportunity to go out there in the third period with such a big lead, it was a little more comfortable." He played pretty good, despite allowing a lone goal which is a little insignificant in the grand scheme of things. He had 11 stops on 12 shots faced. I received the pictures below from the coach partially responsible for getting Chad into a Nanooks jersey. That would be Wade Klippenstein, who was at the game in Mannheim (thanks coach Klipp!).

•  Former Nanook defenseman Jordan Hendry and his Chicago Blackhawks have dispatched the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Hendry has played in 8 playoff games so far this season, of which the 'Hawks have played 12 total so far. Unfortunately, he has 0 points and a -4, but that's how it goes sometimes. Sad story for a Blackhawks fan too, who showed his team pride holding a banner against the glass, who wasn't greeted with a sportsmans handshake so much as getting drenched with a beer that someone threw at him, which was caught on [inter]national television. Some Nanooks fans though have shown darker moments. This past season, for those that didn't hear or perhaps don't remember, UNO head coach Dean Blais received a carbonated surprise from a fan at the Carlson Center. Here, public service announcement time, it doesn't matter which team you root for in what sport, if your team loses, don't lose your cool. You never know how many people are looking straight at you.

• For those that haven't seen the changes up for discussion to the NCAA hockey rulebook, I highly suggest you study up a bit. I'm not going to go into too much detail just yet about it. I'm going to sit down with Forrest next week and ask him some questions surrounding all of this. Keep your eyes peeled for that. As an overview, some of the rules up for discussion include amendments to penalty killing, requiring the unit on the ice when the penalty was committed to kill off the entire 2:00 of shorthanded affair, and eliminating the ability of the short handed unit from icing the puck. The major update is an overhaul of the contact to the head penalty rules. Currently, a separate infraction such as high sticking, or elbowing must be attached to it. Under the new rules (if enacted) an official will not have to attach a separate penalty to it to box up a player for a couple of minutes, or even send him packing with a misconduct. Other propositions include changes to overtime rules, goals off a skate, icing rules, sending a puck out of the rink, sprawling to block a shot with the body, and my personal favorite is half shields. Like I said, more on this to come.
   
• And lastly, goalie recruit Sean Cahill from the AJHL was originally slated to come in the upcoming season, however his enrollment has been deferred until the 2011-2012 season. He will play next season with his current team, the 2009-2010 south division AJHL champions, the Okotoks Oilers.