A wise person once said give the people what they want! And I know that every hockey fan in North America right now wants more USA vs Canada in the higher levels of the sport.
The University of New Brunswick men’s hockey team just finished a historic USPORT season which saw the Reds go 38 and 0, which has never been done in the history of Canadian university hockey. This team was absolutely stacked, from top to bottom. UNB weren’t beating teams 3-2 in a shootout all season, either. They were laying the smacketh down on their opponents more often than not. A 7-0 Semi-final victory vs McGill? Check. A 4-0 win in the USPORT finals? Check. They outshot Brock 45-12 in round robin play, too (another 4-0 win).
Paul ‘Biz Nasty’ Bisonette and Spittin’ Chiclets have been all over the Twitter box this week discussing a potential match up between the titans of Male USPORT and the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four Championship, which takes place in Saint Paul Minnesota in Mid-April.
NCAA Division I hockey is a mixture of the top players in the USA mixed with Europeans, and later-developing Canadian players who fell through the CHL cracks OR pursued a collegiate hockey career instead of staying north of the border to play “Major A”. USPORT hockey is mostly former 3 and 4 year CHL alums that might not have been NHL caliber in their draft eligible years, but are exceptional talents in their own right and will likely go on to play in Europe, or minor professionally. There are always exceptions – like Joel Ward who went from the UPEI Panthers to a very solid NHL career – but for the most part, this is how things shake down. The UNB Reds were a team comprised 100% of CHL alumni.
Can USPORT compete against the NCAA? The hockey community on this side of the pond most definitely wants to see it. The people want to see the USHL (Clark Cup) Champion face-off against the CHL (Memorial Cup) Champion, too. Hell, even Shoresy jumped on this US-Canada rivalry and tied it into the plot of the TV series (article on that show – by yours truly – right here). Just think of the marketing campaigns, the alternating country venues every year, and the rivalries that could and would be created. It’s a hockey fans dream!
On the female side of the biscuit, who doesn’t want to see the top USPORT team face-off against Wisconsin or Ohio State in a 3-out-of-5 series after their respective championships are decided? I’m not sure if USPORT teams could compete with the likes of Wisconsin or Ohio State, but it’s merely conjecture until the two teams lock horns and settle that on the ice.
My personal spin on this is lets hope that “too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing” doesn’t rear its ugly head here. In an attempt to capitalize on the outdoor game phenomena, the NHL massacred it by having way too many games which hurt the allure of the concept. Lets hope that the powers that be give us more of what we want, but not too much.
Until next time,
AP