Friday Morning Post

• UND incoming freshman defenseman Halli Krzyzaniak earned an invite to Hockey Canada's National Women's Program Red and White Series following her performance at the National Women's Development Team Selection Camp, and she says she is enjoying her time playing with Canada's big stars.
• Earlier this week the UND athletic department and Midco Sports Net released the broadcast schedule for the 2013-14 season, with the vast majority of the programming being produced in high definition. MSN will also be airing quite a bit of original UND programming, including Through These Doors and the new ND Hockey with Dake Hakstol. For those non-Midco subscribers out there (myself included), HD webcasts of most home hockey games will be available through a UND Insider subscription. CBS Sports Net, which holds the exclusive rights of national NCHC broadcasts, also recently announced that it is moving to DirecTV channel 221, meaning the additional purchase of DTV's sports tier is no longer required to receive CBSSN's NCHC broadcasts.
• Danny Kristo has been invited to the NHLPA's 2013 Rookie Showcase.
• Hunter Bishop, who played a handful of games in a Fighting Sioux uniform before transferring to Ohio State, has signed with the AHL's Manchester Monarchs.
• CBS Eye on Hockey is putting together All-Time teams for each NHL franchise, and former Sioux Ed Belfour earned the nod as the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars All-Time goaltender. 
• A New York Islanders blog wonders if Sioux alum Brock Nelson will earn a spot with the Islanders this season. Hockey Prospectus also slotted Nelson in at number four in its rankings of the Islanders' top prospects, saying he "looks like he could be a very good two-way center" and that he "is a quality, do-it-all type of forward who could step into the NHL next season."
• Hockey's Future is also producing organizational prospect rankings and Derek Forbort is ranked fifth among Kings prospects.
• The Scouting Report took a look at some of the USNTDP U-18 team's NHL Draft prospects, and North Dakota recruit Shane Gersich was included.
• ESPN recently analyzed some of the top 2014 NHL Draft prospects from the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup (ESPN Insider membership required for full viewing), and here's a sampling of what they had to say about North Dakota recruit Nick Schmaltz: "had a very good tournament, ranking second among all players in scoring and impressing scouts with his very high level of skill...pure offensive abilities drive his value, as he can make a lot of flashy plays...hand-eye coordination, creativity and vision are his best traits...he is small, a slightly above-average skater and needs to work on his all-around game...a potential first- or second-round prospect." 
• The United States of Hockey took a long, hard look at the ongoing turf battle between the CHL and NCAA.

Tuesday Morning Post

• Jason Gregoire has signed a one year deal with Södertälje of the Allsvenskan (Sweden Tier 2). He will be reunited with former Sioux and St. John's IceCap teammate Jake Marto, who signed with Södertälje earlier this summer.
• Brent Davidson has signed with Valpellice of Italy's elite league after spending last season with Herning (Denmark).
• The Hockey News featured former UND standout goaltender Darren Jensen in the print edition of its Backchecking segment several months ago, and it has recently found its way into the digital realm.
• Tony Hrkac will be inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame next month, joining fellow Sioux alum Greg Johnson, who was inducted in 2010.
• North Dakota goalie Zane Gothberg continues to impress Boston Bruins management.
• UND forward Rocco Grimaldi is on his way to building a big NHL future.
• UND sophomore forward Rebecca Kohler and incoming freshman defenseman Halli Krzyzaniak have been invited to Hockey Canada's National Women's Team Development Camp.
• A trio of UND commits are currently representing USA Hockey in the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Nick Schmaltz was named USA's Player of the Game in a 1-0 exhibition game victory over the Czech Republic Saturday while Austin Poganski and Ryan Mantha each picked up assists in yesterdays 3-2 OT loss to Finland. They resume play this morning at 7:00 AM CDT against Russia. Below are recent features on each UND commit:
• Nick Schmaltz
• Ryan Mantha
• Austin Poganski
• The Scouting Report is taking a look at some of the top USHL prospects for the 2014 NHL Draft and aside from the above feature on Schmaltz, Poganski and fellow UND commit Chris Wilkie were also recently highlighted.
• Incoming UND freshman defensemen Gage Ausmus and Keaton Thompson were invited to USA Hockey's National Junior Evaluation Camp, but they were both among the first round of cuts. They could potentially play themselves back into consideration with strong first halves to the NCAA season, and they will both be eligible for next year's World Junior Championship team as well.

Wednesday Evening Post

• Team USA and Rocco Grimaldi have advanced to the semifinal round of the World Junior Championship where they will take on Canada at 3:00 CST Thursday morning for the right to play for WJC gold. Sweden and Russia will play in Thursday's second semifinal matchup. Grimaldi, who was benched for Monday's preliminary round game against Slovakia, returned to action this morning in the quarterfinal game against the Czech Republic and it will be interesting to see what role he plays in the big rematch with Canada. His combination of speed and puck skill is as good as anyone playing in this tournament, making him an instant offensive threat that could be a difference maker in a big game. 
• The Team USA U-17 team rolled through World Under-17 Challenge preliminary play, going 4-0 while outscoring its opponents 23-11. UND recruit Chris Wilkie is tied for fourth in tournament scoring with seven points (1G, 6A), and his six assists are tied for the tournament lead. Fellow recruit Austin Poganski scored a pair of goals in prelim play, but his level of play is not reflected in his stat line. His strong play has earned him increased ice time as the tournament has progressed, and he is now seeing time on the second powerplay unit. Team USA will take on Russia tomorrow evening at 6:30 CST in the semifinal round, with the medal games scheduled for Friday. All tournament games can be streamed live and free via FastHockey.
• Both Team USA and Team Canada rolled through preliminary round play at the Under-18 Women's World Championship. Team USA, featuring North Dakota recruits Amy Menke, Gracen Hirschy, and Alexis Shaw, went 3-0 during the preliminary round and outscored its opponents 25-0. Canada, with recruit Halli Krzyzaniak, also went 3-0, and they outscored their opposition 15-1. Krzyzaniak, a defenseman, is Canada's leading point producer and she is tied for fourth in tournament scoring with six points (2G, 4A) while Menke is tied for 11th with four points (2G, 2A). Hirschy has recorded two assists while Shaw posted a shutout in her one appearance thus far. Team USA next takes to the ice in a semifinal tilt with the Czech Republic Friday, while Canada will face Sweden in Friday's other semifinal. The gold medal game will take place Saturday, and anything outside of a USA-Canada final would be a major, major surprise. For realtime stats and a full schedule, checkout the official tournament website.
• Former Sioux defenseman Travis Roche and Team Canada defeated Davos (Switzerland) to win the 2012 Spengler Cup. Roche recorded two assists during Canada's four tournament games.
• Andy Johnson of Bucky's Fifth Quarter issued his WCHA First Half Awards, and his Player of the Year is UND centerman Corban Knight. Danny Kristo, Derek Forbort, Clarke Saunders, and Rocco Grimaldi also received recognition.
• Brock Nelson of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) is expected to miss the next two weeks after suffering a broken jaw.
• The second annual USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game is scheduled to take place January 23 in Muskegon, Michigan, and a trio of North Dakota recruits received invitations today. Luke Johnson (Lincoln) will take part for the second consecutive season, and he will be joined by Luke Voltin (Des Moines) and Tucker Poolman (Omaha).
• Recruit Nick Schmaltz sent 2012 out in style by notching a hat trick in Green Bay's (USHL) 6-5 (OT) win over Muskegon on New Year's Eve. He completed the hatty by scoring the overtime game-winner.

Saturday Morning Coffee

• Rocco Grimaldi and Team USA suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss to Russia Friday at the World Junior Championship and Dave Starman broke down the performance for NHL.com while Chris Peters did the same on his USOH blog. The Americans will have a shot to rebound early Sunday morning (3:30 AM CST) against Canada in a game that will have a big impact on medal round seeding. 
• Team USA played an exhibition game last night against Canada Pacific in a World Under-17 Challenge tune-up. The Americans shelled CP 6-2, with North Dakota recruits Chris Wilkie (two goals) and Austin Poganski (one goal) each figuring into the scoring. The games begin to count in the standings this afternoon when Team USA takes on Canada Ontario at 12:30 CST. Chris Peters again has his bases covered with a Team USA preview, and if you want to watch the streamed games free via FastHockey, here's how to do so.
• The Women's Under-18 World Championship kicked off today in Finland and Team USA got off to a rousing start with a 7-0 victory over Russia. North Dakota recruits Gracen Hirschy and Amy Menke did not figure into the scoring but they were a combined +3 for the game while Alexis Shaw (G) did not see action today. Team Canada also has a North Dakota recruit on its roster in defenseman Halli Krzyzaniak, who is serving as an alternate captain for the Canadian squad. As of this post, the Canadians were leading Hungary 4-1 late in the third, with Krzyzaniak notching a pair of assists. Preliminary play continues tomorrow for both Team USA and Canada before Monday's rest day. Tuesday will see the conclusion of preliminary action with the medal round commencing Wednesday and concluding with next Saturday's gold medal game. This is the sixth year this event has been held, and Team USA has won gold three of the five years while Canada, the defending champion, has won gold twice. Also of note, Canada and Team USA have met in the gold medal game all five years.
• Chris VandeVelde was suspended for three games by the AHL as a result of this illegal check to the head. Dave Staples of the Edmonton Journal's Cult of Hockey blog says it should have been a 10 gamer.
• Last weekend North Dakota recruit and current Lincoln Star Luke Johnson took some time to talk to the guys at The Pipeline Show. 
• Recruit Paul LaDue scored the OT game-winner for Lincoln last night. He continues to lead all USHL defensemen with 23 points (5G, 18A).
• Recruit Christian Evers blasted a PP goal in the Omaha AAA U-16 Lancers 6-1 win over Wenatchee yesterday at the Dallas NAPHL event. Evers now has 11 points (2G, 9A) in 11 NAPHL games this season and Omaha remained undefeated (15-0) in NAPHL play.

Wednesday Evening Post

Here's some news from the North Dakota hockey world, beginning with a wrap on the recently concluded international break:

• USA Hockey had an historically successful fall international break. For the first time ever, Team USA swept the four tournaments that make up the break. Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux were part of the gold-medal winning US Women's national team at the Women's Four Nations Tournament. Team USA shutout Canada 3-0 in the championship game. In the Under-18 Four Nations Tournament, Keaton Thompson and Team USA won its fifth consecutive championship while Chris Wilkie and the Under-17ers did the same at their Four Nations Tournament. At the World Junior A Challenge, Luke Johnson and Team USA defeated Canada West and Wade Murphy to win its fourth title in the past five years. Johnson finished the tournament with four assists in four games while Murphy was named to the tournament All-Star Team after producing six points (3G, 3A) in four games.
• Josefine Jakobsen and the Danish women's national team advanced to the final round of Olympic qualification by winning their most recent round of pre-qualification play. Denmark swept their three pre-qualification games this past weekend and will play in February for the right to advance to the Sochi games. Jakobsen led the tournament with a +4 rating and was named Denmark's Player of the Game following their first game of the tournament.
• UND women's recruit Halli Krzyzaniak led Team Manitoba to a silver medal at the Canadian Women's Under-18 National Championships last weekend. Kryzyaniak. who captained the Manitoba squad, finished the tournament with a goal and an assist and was named the tournament's MVP and Top Defenseman.
• The Edmonton Journal's Cult of Hockey blog says Chris VandeVelde's strong play in Oklahoma City is bolstering his NHL dreams.
• Robbie Bina has signed a two-year extension with Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg of the German elite league. This is Bina's third year in Wolfsburg.
• Aaron Dell of the Allen Americans leads the Central Hockey League (CHL) in both GAA (1.79) and Save Percentage (.935). After losing his first professional start Dell has rattled off three consecutive victories, including last night's 5-4 shootout victory over Bloomington. Dell entered the game in a relief role after the Americans had given up three goals in the game's first eight minutes. He stopped 26 of 27 shots the rest of the way and stoned five out of five shootout attempts to lead Allen to the win.
• Jonathan Toews expects to make a decision on playing in Europe in the near future.

International Break, etc.

The first international break for USA Hockey began this weekend, and North Dakota hockey connections abound. USA Hockey has put together a nice composite detailing all the action, and here are the specifics for the North Dakota contingent:

• Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux and the rest of the US Women's National Team will be taking part in the 2012 Women's Four Nations Cup November 5-10 in Kerava, Finland. The Four Nations field is comprised of the national teams from the USA, Canada, Finland, and Sweden, and in the 16 year history of the event only Canada (12) and the USA (4) have won gold. Team USA is the defending champion. North Dakota's Michelle Karvinen (Finland) and Johanna Fallman (Sweden) are also regular members of their respective national teams, but they have both been battling injuries this season and I do not believe they will be participating in the Four Nations.
• Also traveling abroad will be North Dakota recruit Chris Wilkie. Wilkie and the NTDP Under-17 team will be competing in the 2012 U-17 Four Nations Tournament in Monthey, Switzerland November 7-11. Team USA is the four-time defending champion, and the Americans are currently riding a 12 game winning streak at this event. The action gets underway Wednesday with a pre-tournament game against Switzerland, with their first tournament game coming Friday against Slovakia. 
• Keaton Thompson and the NTDP Under-18 team will be hosting the 2012 U-18 Four Nations Tournament November 6-10 in Ann Arbor, MI. Team USA is the four-time defending champion, having won 14 straight tournament games at the event. Their last loss came against Switzerland in 2007. The Americans begin play Tuesday against Finland, and all tournament games can be streamed via Fast Hockey (pay-per-view). 
• The 2012 World Junior A Challenge started up this weekend with a trio of exhibition games. The tournament officially starts tomorrow in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and runs through the gold medal game on Sunday, November 11. UND recruit Wade Murphy will be playing with Canada West while Luke Johnson is on the Team USA roster. Team USA will see its first action tomorrow against Canada East while Canada West opens its play Tuesday against the Czech Republic. Team USA placed third last season after winning the event three consecutive years from 2008 to 2010. All WJAC tournament games can be streamed free-of-charge at Fast Hockey. This tournament provides very high-quality action, so the free streaming should help scratch that mid-week hockey itch brought on by the NHL lockout.
• UND recruit Halli Krzyzaniak will serve as team captain for Manitoba at Canada's 2012 National Women's Under-18 Championship in Dawson Creek, BC. The tournament begins Wednesday and runs through Sunday, November 11.

Thursday Morning Coffee

• Following this season, it looks like there will be at least a four-year hiatus in the Minnesota-North Dakota men's hockey rivalry (unless, of course, they were to meet in postseason play). Minnesota currently has four-year scheduling agreements with the in-state schools, Notre Dame, Boston College, and Northeastern beginning next season, its first in the Big 10 Conference. Per school policy, Minnesota was not allowed to schedule non-conference games with North Dakota while the Fighting Sioux nickname was in use, and the scheduling agreements with the aforementioned schools filled the U of M's non-conference schedule while the scheduling ban was in effect. Thus it appears as though the earliest North Dakota could face Minnesota in regular season play would be the 2017-18 season. 
• On Tuesday Brad Malone was named an alternate captain for the Lake Erie Monsters (AHL). Malone is the third former Sioux to wear an AHL letter this season, joining Chris VandeVelde (alternate captain, Oklahoma City) and Taylor Chorney (alternate captain, Peoria). Aaron Schneekloth is an alternate captain with Colorado (ECHL), while Jonathan Toews (C, Chicago), Drew Stafford (A, Buffalo), Matt Greene (A, Los Angeles), and Zach Parise (A, Minnesota) all wear NHL letters.
• The Edmonton Journal's Cult of Hockey blog says VandeVelde is making a hard push for the Edmonton Oiler fourth line center job.
• North Dakota women's hockey recruit Halli Krzyzaniak was named captain of the Team Manitoba Under-18 team.
• UND recruit Chris Wilkie and the US NTDP Under-17 team will soon be off to Monthey, Switzerland, where they will be competing in the 2012 U-17 Four Nations Cup November 6-11. Keaton Thompson and the Under-18ers, meanwhile, will be hosting the U-18 Four Nations Tournament November 6-10 in Ann Arbor, MI.
• The Canada West World Junior A Challenge Selection Camp wrapped up last night, and it was a good night for UND recruits, with Wade Murphy (two goals) and Adam Tambellini (one goal) helping lead Team Blue to a 5-1 win over Team White. The final Canada West roster is expected to be announced today, with an exhibition game against Luke Johnson and Team USA scheduled for Saturday night in Nova Scotia.