DU’s Henrik Borgström (Photo Credit: Russel Hons)
“Today is a great day for hockey,” Badger Bob Johnson
The college hockey season is upon us. Tonight, for the first time in 15 years, the University of North Dakota will not field a women’s college hockey team. So, if you a women’s college hockey fan, the closest team is the Bemidji State University Beavers.
This week, the UND hockey team released its 2017-18 television schedule. Right away, one thing stuck out, the UND vs. UMN game will not be on Fox Sports Network. You can check out Nathan Well’s tweet from Twitter.
Obviously, UND owns the TV rights to the game because it’s in their home arena, however, not allowing the games to be televised is doing a major disservice to thousands of college hockey fans.
North Dakota controls the TV rights for the series and hasn't yet announced its TV schedule. https://t.co/HMc68Btihf
— Nate Wells (@gopherstate) September 27, 2017
Speaking of really bad moves, the BSU Men’s hockey will not be broadcasting the Beavers hockey games on Lake Land Public Television this season. In talking with the Beavers former play-by-play announcer, Scott Williams, the athletic department thought that broadcasting the Beaver games on TV would decrease home attendance at the Sanford Center.
Looking at this from my angle this makes no sense whatsoever. When the Beaver hockey games were being broadcast on Lake Land TV, they were getting into thousands of homes in the state of Minnesota. That can possibly help with recruiting — meaning the Beavers were getting more exposure outside of Northern Minnesota.
Honestly, I think that BSU is taking a step backward by not having the games on TV this season. I understand that BSU doesn’t have the money a school like Minnesota or North Dakota has. But not many schools do.
Back in July, Lakeland CEO Bill Sanford announced that the station would not be televising BSU home games for the 2017-18 season.
“I think the issue…is BSU is squeezed for money and they’re trying to figure out how they can generate more revenue,” Sanford said. “They feel that our broadcasts might be impacting their gate revenue and so they were looking for a substantial rights fee payment from Lakeland, which we hadn’t had to do in the past.”
Boeser Survives
Former UND All-American forward Brock Boeser is having a great training camp and it sounds like he’s earned an opportunity to remain with the Canucks. This week, Boeser was paired with the Sedin Twins.
"I need to make the most of my opportunities and this is another big one." @BBoeser16 discusses his pairing with the twins at practice. pic.twitter.com/WqzBWC6Q51
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) September 25, 2017
Zach Parise Hurting
Former Fighting Sioux forward Zach Parise’s back is still hurting him and isn’t going to be ready for the Wild’s opener. There’s some question how much Zach will actually play this season.
Zulgad: Wild execs play it cool, but Zach Parise’s back problem is cause for big concern https://t.co/9UpkP1x0Cw pic.twitter.com/MFPQgYGkSG
— SKOR North – Minnesota Sports (@SKORNorth) September 29, 2017
While we’re on the subject of anthem protests, Parise said that he’s not going to be taking part in any.
Asked whether he thinks members of the Wild will continue to stand for the national anthem once the regular season starts next week, Parise responded, “Yeah, for sure.”
Parise continued, saying he would “never” kneel during the national anthem, though he respects someone’s right to do so.
“You’re not going to see me do it,” Parise said. “It’s a personal thing for me.”
Nashville Predators All-Star defenseman P.K. Subban who’s Canadian was asked about the protests. I think you’re going to find his responses interesting.
P.K. Subban, who has studiously avoided discussion of race for his entire career, told an audience in Nashville he would “never” kneel during an anthem, saying he had too much respect for the American flag. Which, of course, is not what the protests are about. (Toronto Star)
And this…
“People are allowed to voice their opinion,” Subban told the media. “People are allowed to do that. As far as what we’re doing in this locker room, that’s a consensus among our dressing room. If something changes for somebody, then that’s their right. But as a team, that’s what we’re going to do. … You’ve seen other teams do different things, and that’s fine. At the end of the day, we’re all going to stand together as a team.”
PK Subban says he'll 'never kneel' for U.S. anthem and has too much respect for American flag https://t.co/mbgHXZ5ksi (h/t @YahooSportsNHL) pic.twitter.com/0u1DKY082l
— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) September 27, 2017
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