I hope dedication comes with his education. If you look at college as prep for a career he just made his first mistake. If you actually want to learn a discipline (other than the discipline of pro hockey itself) I wonder where his heart really is? Besides, GO BLUE SCREW OSU.

Detroit, remember?

:-)

All BS aside, he doesn’t hit me as some wonderful intellect that will invent the longer lasting lightbulb, sliced bread, world peace or anything that has the earning potential he’s shying away from. Perhaps his agent wanted a better offer and he agreed, maybe he’s trade fodder in the making. I’m getting bad vibes off him ever since the pick up. He just hasn’t seemed pleased or enthused with the ’Canes with his actions. Shame really, he may turn into a fine player, hope he works out for us.

A

this may not be the place for this, but if anyone could tell me the date that ’Canes individual tickets go on sale, I would REALLY appreciate it.

Check the devil’s site ticketmaster.com.

A

Sept. 25 the Craps are not on sale yet. I didn’t notice a date. Mini and full season packs are on sale and they are giving incentives, admissions, parking and vouchers, pending on the package.

A

I think you’re discounting the value of college hockey, Paladin. Is it as established as Major Junior? No … but there are a lot of guys on the Canes roster (Cullen, Corbo, Eaves and Brind’Amour) that went the NCAA route. The team also has the benefit of keeping a player in college for four years if they want, and oftentimes they’re a lot closer to making the jump because of it. Choosing college didn’t hurt Erik Johnson, Andrew Cogliano, Jonathan Toews, Kyle Turris, Kyle Okposo, list goes on. The only thing this probably costs him is any shot at making Canada’s World Junior squad unless he explodes at OSU.

Oh, and part of my day job is working on a Univ. of Michigan sports magazine, so this allows me (and all of you) to keep closer tabs on him.

PPfan25-

There has not been an announcement about that yet, but as soon as it is made public I’ll be sure to post about it.

Paladin-

Dalpe going to school isn’t the end of the world..L and while I interviewed him, I never got the vibe that he didn’t want to be here or with the Hurricanes. The exact opposite was true. He seemed very happy, easy going, and he was working very hard during the practices.

Bubba,
 That’s welcome news. I have not met him. All the talk and show I have caught and he just seemed…I don’t have a good word. I guess the ’Canes were second rung on the ladder and in his mind he was coll. bound.

Cory,
Point taken, but, when Roddy was doing it the route was superior to the Juniors/minors. I think the exact opposite is true now, the minors have come along LONG way in the past 10-20 yrs.

Like I said, I hope the kid pans out and he sticks.

A

I have to disagree, US College hockey is the league which has come a long way compared to the other leagues.

Well, I can’t argue that they have come along way, too.

Howabout from about ’90 back, if you played coll. level hockey for 1 of the 4-5 premier hockey team having schools, Mass., Michigan, Minn, etc. You were in gladiator school for the NHL. The minor/affiliate/juniors were not as well orginized or funded. From ’85 on the leagues solidified what they had going on and the talent pool has increased off the chart and supplied them with enough bodies to work pretty well. Colligiate hockey has also expanded and become more recognized. With the addition of the last expansion, the quality has slid a tad on the minors, but they look to be on the filling in stage again. The coll. scene has been rather static for the last 20 yrs only expanding with population and still only a handful great programs/teams.

Not the gospel, more of a question actually, what you think?

All of my early hockey comes from a very narrow Detroit centered realm (thought the world was flat and squid spontaniously appeared from thin air over ice). I remember when the Joe opened and Howe, who was a Whaler came back to town and we just went apeshit for as long as our arms held out. It wasn’t until the ’80 Olympic team a couple years later and then joining the military (where I could get feeds from about anything taped after the fact) that I was actually exposed to other junior and minor realms. I started to pay attention to some and being a huge fan I payed some attention to the whole scope and tried to absorb history. My impression is what I stated above. Not unlike the original 6 days and the progression the NHL made.

A

I agree with Bubba … Dalpe seems like a good kid. I flat out asked him what his plans were and, like he told Luke and Luke reported, he said he planned on going to OSU but would listen, and mentioned the whole “offer I can’t refuse” quote. OSU is not an elite CCHA team, but he should get lots of ice time and he’s going to play against some big time players (ND, U-M, Miami (Ohio) are all elite programs).

I called the Carolina Hurricanes/RBC a few weeks ago and asked when tickets were to go on sale, the lady told me no specific date was confirmed but it would be mid september. She also told me it wasnt confirmed but pretty much definite that they were also gonna be doing the $9.99 day-of upper goal tickets again.

Paladin – I think we might be talking about different things. I was referring to the Canadian minor leagues, like Junior and whatnot. They are great places to play, but College has really caught up.

I have been really impressed by what you described, the evolution of American college hockey so that now players emerging from that system have a much greater chance of making the NHL than they did even ten years previous.

In Canada, our system has a totally different focus. University hockey is a dead end path for most, anyone who wants to plya pro goes to the minor leagues instead.