A PSA for former junior players

I'll keep the preaching on this brief, but if you're up in the northeast US and are thinking of playing in the North Eastern Hockey League, do yourself a favor and run QUICKLY in the other direction. Jim Cashman has been behind more failed "A-level" pro leagues than I can keep track. He's inexplicitly backtracking over soiled ground for next season, having apparently discovered that low low low minor league hockey won't fly in the Midwest. A I can say is do your homework before becoming involved with this league. It seems a few current/former USHL players are invited to the U.S. National Junior Team at the 2006 National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid in August. The USHL has put out two different releases on the topic (Release 1, Release 2), and the Des Moines Register wrote up a piece on three former Bucs who have been invited. In an effort to add more content, I'm going to start delivering a series of short news blurbs and links as a regular feature. I wanted to do this with scrolling newstickers, but I wasn't happy with what I developed, so for now I'm just going to manually add the stories at the end of the day to whatever blog entry I might post. These are news links I'm forwarding on with little or no additional comment. News Bits The Alberta Junior Hockey League gets a new President and logo (more...) Small Canadian Junior D markets feel pain, too (more...) College route leads to Stanley Cup Finals (more...) Former Dauphin Kings goalie re-signs with Lubbock Cotton Kings (more...) QMJHL leader passes (more...)