ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Freshman center T.J. Hensick has once again been named the CCHA Rookie of the Week.  It's the second time he has won the award.

Hensick posted two goals and two assists in Friday's 6-5 overtime loss against Ferris State, and added a helper in Saturday's 3-2 victory.

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USCHO POLL
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The latest U.S. College Hockey Online poll is out and the Wolverines have dropped one spot to #5.  North Dakota is the nation's new No. 1, followed by New Hampshire, Boston College, and Maine.  Other CCHA teams in the Top 15 are Ohio State at #14 and Michigan State cracked the list this week at #15.

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DAILY OPINION: CHANTS SHOULD STAY
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The Michigan Daily has written an opinion in today's paper arguing that the fans SHOULD keep the profane chants at Yost. The article is titled "Yost isn't toast" and can be found at http://www.michigandaily.com or you can go to Michigan Hockey Net and click on the link under Newspaper Headlines. I read it and don't agree with their reasonings.

Arguing that students need to unwind from academics and therefore it is justified that at all athletic events they can toss all the manners out the window and basically be as unruly as they want to be to support their team and dislike the opponents? I think the students often forget that they're NOT the only fans in attendance. In fact, the majority of fans at hockey games are adults and parents with children.

Yes, the hockey chants are an important aspect of Yost's atmosphere. But profanity isn't necessary. There is no rule saying you can't be loud, make a lot of noise and have fun without having to use profanity and without having to stoop to low levels.

Then saying that compared to the riots at MSU and West Virginia, a few profanity words are okay even if they are considered offensive by many. This comes off as a sad attempt to justify being low class, disrepectful fans.

If the Daily took any time to read Red Berenson's letter to the fans, all coach asked for was to cut the profanity from ONE CHANT. ONE. That's it. I could sit here and type of my experiences in the student section with borderline racial/ethnic things being yelled at opposing fans/parents and how I'd like to see those fans go away, but I won't get off the main topic. Red's not asking the fans to stop all the chants, cut out all the words, nor stop being loud and supportive. All he's asking for is the few words of profanity after the C-YA! chant to be cut out or changed. Yet now it's all getting blown out of proportion like Red and the University are trying to end every chant. That's NOT the case.

It was Berenson who said in his letter to the fans, "The Michigan way is to be creative, not abusive. The Michigan way is to be supportive, not offensive. The Michigan way is to be respectful, not repulsive.  Let's all keep that in mind and together realize another great year of Michigan Hockey in the Michigan Tradition."  But the Daily would just prefer keep the abusive, offensive, and repulsive tradition alive against the coach's wishes.  This, to me, is a direct slap in the face at Berenson, a man who has done nothing to deserve such disrespect

Their opinion, in my opinion, is ridiculous.  Then again, this opinion is coming from the Michigan Daily, the newspaper that has brought us wonderful "facts" this fall such as Boston University being picked by two writers to win the Great Lakes Invitational this year even though they're not in the tourney, Dan Ellis picked by a writer as the CCHA MVP for this season even though Ellis left Nebraska-Omaha, and that Danny Richmond leaving for the OHL might be a bad move because no OHL teams have NHL affiliates (like college teams do?!) and they have LESS prospects being considered by the NHL.

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SIX FORMER CCHA PLAYERS CAPTURE DEUTSCHLAND CUP CHAMPIONSHIP
Former Wolverines Sloan, Roberts Represent For Team USA
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From CCHA.com

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.—Six former CCHA players – Andy Roach (Ferris State), Yan Stastny (Notre Dame), Peter Ratchuk (Bowling Green), David Roberts (Michigan), Brett Harkins (Bowling Green) and Blake Sloan (Michigan) – were on the 2003 United States Men’s National Select Team which finished 2003 Deutschland Cup competition with a 3-0-0 record and the overall championship in just its second appearance in the tournament.

Team USA, which placed second last year, edged Germany in a shootout Friday, Nov. 7 at the Preussag Arena in Hanover, Germany, for the 2-1 victory. Roberts opened the scoring with a power-play goal, with Harkins assisting on the tally. Roberts picked up his second goal of the game on the second U.S. chance in the shootout and Pat Mikesch (Michigan Tech) found the back of the net on the fourth opportunity.

On Saturday, Nov. 8, the U.S. National Selects defeated Canada 4-1. This time Harkins opened the scoring with Roberts earning an assist. Ratchuk and Roach scored 73 seconds apart to give the Red, White & Blue a 3-0 lead. Canada’s Brad Purdie (Maine) scored to make it 3-1 before USA’s Ted Drury (Harvard) lit the red lamp for the final time.

The United States National Selects only needed one goal to beat Switzerland and capture the Deutschland Cup championship. Chris Kelleher (Boston University) scored the lone U.S. goal in a 1-0 win.

Harkins led Team USA in scoring with a goal and two assists. Drury, Roberts and Ratchuk each posted a goal and an assist.

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That's all for now...

Go Blue!

Jason
Michigan Hockey Net
http://MichiganHockey.net/