Catching up on news...

I'm going to get some articles linked from here that I've missed in the last month or so, but are still interesting reading. There's even some USHL news in here for folks who think I neglect Tier I. This isn't old news, but I found it looking through my archive sources. The Wasilla Spirit have been renamed the Alaska Avalanche. According to the article, team colors will change to blue, gold and white from purple and white, and the team's old bird-of-prey logo will be replaced with a silver-colored avalanche motif. Next is this from Springfield. Of interest is the Jr. Blues' intent to reduce their budget from $500k to $400k. Good luck on that. The USHL felt it was important to note that one of their top draft picks, Eric Kattelus, was the NAHL's Rookie of the Year. Of course, that means that the "superior" USHL was either out-scouted or otherwise incapable of acquiring Kattelus last summer. For those who missed it, here's Bismarck's and Fargo's perspective on the collapse of the NAHL in Montana. Nothing particularly earth-shattering in the articles, but I thought I'd post them anyway. Former Texas Tornado goalie Dave McKee got a nice write-up this week on ESPN.com. The final quote might get the attention of some outside the Lone Star State... "Hockey's big in Dallas. There are a lot of good players coming out of Dallas now." Waterloo this week picked up the USHL All Star Game in 2007. Good for them. Grand Island, Nebraska is still online to open the 2007-08 season as members of the USHL. The article is somewhat confusing, however, as it claims that owner Roger Anderson has acquired the rights to the dormant Danville franchise. Those rights are now the Indiana Ice. I have to assume this was the "second" set of franchise rights acquired by the Mervis family, originally intended to be used in Champaign, IL, but also shopped to Bloomington and LaCrosse (Onalaska). Anderson still needs to sign a lease with the Heartland Event Center. But wait, in an article dated yesterday, here's Mervis still exploring droping his franchise into Onalaska. That's enough for now... drop me a comment below if listening to Dennis Lemieux is too annoying, and you want me to take him off (or replace him with some other clip).