Shaved Ice – Jan. 18


One day ’til NHL puck drop.

The Red Wings were finally able to return to The Joe yesterday. Click here, or on the image below, to see our photo gallery from their 7 p.m. skate.

We have been keeping an eye on Michigan alum Mike Knuble, who has been skating with the team at training camp. When I asked Mike Babcock about what he has seen from the veteran NHLer, the Wings’ bench boss said that the problem is that with no pre-season games, he hasn’t been able to see Knuble compete yet.

The Dallas Stars announced that Michigan’s own Mike Modano has rejoined the organization as an executive adviser and alternate governor. The club also announced that Michigan alum Marty Turco is their new TV analyst.

Patrick Eaves has been cleared to play for the first time in over a year – we’re thrilled that he can finally return to the line-up.

Kevin Porter was just waived by Buffalo, while Steve Kampfer has been sent to the Minnesota Wild’s AHL affiliate.

Three Griffins players cracked the line-up for the upcoming AHL All-Star Classic, along with some other Michigan connections. See the rosters, with the Michigan connections bolded, right here.

Check out this feature on the Free Press about Andie Anastos, a star on the Honeybaked 19U team who will be going to Boston College next year. She, along with four other teammates, signed D-1 commitment letters earlier this year.

College games this weekend:

  • Western Michigan at Bowling Green
  • Ferris State at Michigan State (Friday), Michigan State at Ferris State (Saturday)
  • Michigan at Lake Superior
  • Ohio State at Northern Michigan
  • Bemidji St. at Michigan Tech

Michigan native and professional referee Andy Thackaberry wore a GoPro helmet camera for the Red and White Game at Compuware. Here’s the footage. Awesome stuff.

Eighteen-year-old Alex Galchenyuk, the third overall pick from the Draft last June, will start the NHL season in the line-up for the Montreal Canadiens. Best of luck, kid.

Alex Kovalev isn’t done yet – he signed a one-year deal with the Florida Panthers to take another shot at NHL hockey.

The Bruins take the top spot in the first NHL.com Top-16 power rankings. The Wings are one of the ‘just missed the list’ teams.

It appears that Danny Briere will miss the start of the season due to a hairline wrist fracture.

The NHL has bought apology ads in 40 different newspapers for today’s editions. Yahoo has shared one of the ads, which we are attaching below. Thoughts? Leave them in the comments section at the bottom of the blog.

From Sports.Yahoo.com

We’ll be with you all weekend, everybody. Hope you enjoy some hockey over the next few days. We will.