Shaved Ice – Jan. 11

Friday is finally here.

Central Collegiate Hockey Association games are back in full swing after the holiday break. Here’s the games to watch (spoiler alert: we’ll be at Yost and Munn tonight):

• Lake Superior at Western Michigan
• Notre Dame at Michigan State
• Ohio State at Ferris State
• Alaska at Michigan
• Miami at Northern Michigan

The 2013 Great Skate Winterfest takes place in Grand Rapids this weekend, with plenty of Griffins-related activities going on throughout. Fans will have a chance to skate with their favorite Griffins players throughout the night on Saturday and all day Sunday. If you’re going, send us some pictures!

The Red Wings’ home-opener is going to be on Jan. 22, with the regular season ending on April 27.  The team also announced that their training camp will be at Compuware in Plymouth.

Brendan Smith has joined the players skating in metro Detroit, and the Wings have told him to start looking for a place to live near The Joe. Sounds like his time bouncing between Detroit and Grand Rapids is officially over.

Newcomer Carlo Colaiacovo says he’s impressed by the Red Wings’ forwards physical play and ability to score.

Did you see the Red Wings’ Prospect Report video on Saginaw Spirit goaltender Jake Paterson?

Scott Nidermayer is rejoining the Anaheim Ducks as an assistant coach, it was announced today.

Roberto Luongo is currently skating with his Canucks teammates, but there’s still a pretty good chance he will be making new friends on a different NHL team soon.

ESPN has their season preview up for the Eastern Conference, Western should be coming soon. Unlike most years, it sounds like the Red Wings won’t need to prepare for many Eastern Conference foes, however, due to the compact scheduling with a focus on within-division play.

A Sports Illustrated power rankings has Edmonton at No. 3.  Adrian Dater’s reasoning? The Oilers’ young guns have been skating in the AHL all season, so they should be ready to go before some veteran opposition.

In his latest Special DElivery column, MiHockey’s Darren Eliot discusses some x-factors teams will need to have success with in a shortened NHL campaign. Click here to read more, or click on the image below.

We’ll be at college rinks all weekend, and then we’ll start prepping for this NHL season everybody keeps talking about…