ARTHUR:
I've been in an NCAA hockey cave since Friday. I'm happy to report (to those that don't watch college hockey) that Ducks prospects Jake Gardiner, Justin Schultz and Justin Vaive will all be playing at Ford Field when the Frozen Four kicks off April 8th. If you have ESPN2, or are willing to sign on to ESPN360.com, you can watch it. If you don't know anything about the prospects, Gardiner and Schultz are playing in their first NCAA tournament with the Wisconsin Badgers. Each of them have managed to pot a goal, and they've both seen plenty of ice time as Gardiner is the Badgers' top pairing defenseman with Ryan McDonagh and Schultz has become a major ice eater in crunch time and special teams situations despite his freshman status. Justin Vaive is playing in his third NCAA tournament with the Miami (OH) Redhawks. It's the team's second trip to the Frozen Four in as many years. Vaive is mostly a depth player, but the 'Hawks are praised as a depth team. He's a large human, tough to circumvent on the half boards and as good as a 6'6" tent in front of the crease. Tune in!
To those on CHL watch, the Winterhawks now have a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 tonight. That delays our hopes of seeing Luca Sbisa. The Wildcats swept their series, which delays our hopes of seeing Nicolas Deschamps. The Brampton Battalion will play a Game 7 tomorrow night, and while defenseman Matt Clark is not under contract, the OHL Eastern Conference coaches poll voted him the best defensive defenseman and body checker in the league and I'd be shocked if he didn't sign in the near future. Carlyle has insisted that, other than Bonino, the other young players won't see ice time down the stretch, so maybe CHL watchers are out of luck anyways.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: the NHL. If the Ducks win tonight, they overtake Dallas for 11th and put themselves 5 points out and one game in hand from 14th Columbus. A desperate, competitive game may be out of the question tonight, but we do get to see more Nick Bonino. And it's always fun to see the Ducks beat the Stars, even if you put them in a better draft position doing it. For those looking East, Atlanta is 4 points back of the Flyers with a game in hand.
Post any game info and lineup changes in the comments.
FOWL!