I will be interested in seeing Notre Dame's play this season. Can they pick
it up a notch or two? DalGrande has left the defense, and Ling has left the
offense. What this means is more speed. Ling was simply slow. And Taco
DalGrande lost his footing every time he was hit. Though Ling was a great
playmaker, his lack of speed slowed his linemates. With Urick, Dhadphale and
Cotnoir, Poulin has three Sophomores with good feet and hands. Eisler is a
very good, and underrated goalie. He should prove to be their anchor this
season.
 
Poulin and Crew did a very good recruiting job this season. With the addition
of Tyson Fraser, and Ben Simon he has added speed in place of DalGrande and
Ling. Brett "Hot Head" Bruininks is also gone, to be replaced by another
good skater, Joe Dusbabek. If Poulin's vision for the future is speed, he has
himself a very good start.
 
Will they rise in the standings? I hope so. But I'd be happy just to see them
win some more games. There are rumors floating around campus that an arena
might be built for them sometime in the future. Winning more games might help
that become reality. Right now, part of their problem is the home ice. It
stinks. I skate on it regularly and must say that it's the worst ice I've ever
been on. Part of the problem is outdated equipment that is just getting worse.
And the home crowd is always outcheered by visiting fans. Even when ND is
winning, the fans can't cheer.
 
Poulin has a lot of confidence in his squad and is bringing some of that to
the team and fans. This is good. Hockey is the only sport Domers pick on here.
A recent joke went like this, "The athletic department is considering
replacing the varsity men's hockey team with women's hockey. Why? Well, the
women on this campus win championships." (This was also meant for the football
team.) Anyway, I hope to see the Fighting Irish improve and challenge some of
the bigger names in the CCHA. A few home wins would be nice for all the fans
who show up. (And suckers like my wife and I who purchase season tickets.)
 
As for the rest of the CCHA, all I have to say is that I'm really going to
miss Sean Tallaire. Man was he a cool customer on the ice! His speed was
really impressive. Gerald isn't all that bad, either. But LSSU will still have
a classy program. They have a really good thing going up there, and I doubt
they will falter much.
 
Michigan looks like they'll run away with the conference. Any weaknesses?
 
Bowling Green didn't look too deep last year. (Did Fry graduate, or is he
a Senior this year? He reminds me a little of Theo Fleury.) But the skating
and coaching was impressive.
 
MSU. I put a big question mark here. They didn't impress me when they played
here last year. Of course, ND was playing well that night. But they seemed to
be lacking something. I think it was courage.
 
WMU really didn't impress me last year. They came in with all kinds of pomp
and circumstance with Magliarditi and the top scoring offense, at that time.
I didn't see any defense, however. This could have been Mag's problem in the
latter parts of the season.
 
As of OSU, I have no idea. Are they in the same boat as ND? Do they really
care about hockey at OSU? I mean the students, not the team. I work with two
OSU alums who graduated recently. They are very vocal about the football
team, but seldom mention the hockey team. Both have said that there's little
interest in anything but football. As I asked, "Are they in the same boat as
ND?"
 
This should be a very interesting year just to see how teams look when they
start the season. What I love about college hockey are all the new faces.
How will they do? What do they skate like? Will they take a team to a new
level? Hmmm. Yes, the CCHA will be a very interesting place this season.
And I agree that the fight will be from 2 down. Maybe 3 down. LSSU will be
very strong, still. I don't see anyone taking #2 from the Lakers, even without
Jeff Jackson, Sean Tallaire and Keith Aldridge. This is still a very good
team.
 
Peace,
John-Andrew Murphy
Fredonia State - 1993
Coordinator
International Studies Resource Center
University of Notre Dame
 
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