College Hockey

Michigan and Ohio State played each other in hockey Friday and Saturday night at Yost Arena in Ann Arbor. The two teams split a hard fought weekend series. The Buckeyes won Friday's game 7-5, while the Wolverines won last night's game by a score of 3-2.

If you haven't watched a college hockey game, you really ought to give it a try. CSTV shows games on Friday and Saturday nights, and ESPNU has recently started college hockey telecasts as well. It's an exciting, wide open brand of hockey. The college game has always been popular in certain regions of the country, but it has experienced a growth spurt in recent years, and the increased media exposure that the sport got during last season's NHL lockout seems to have given it a bit of a boost.

The other thing that's going on is that the marketing guys are finally starting to wake up. For example, a few years ago the Michigan Wolverines started putting their players in helmets identical to those worn by the football team. Notre Dame followed suit this season, and put their players in gold helmets. (Hey, Buckeyes -- can you take a hint?). Events like the 2001 "Cold War" game, which took place in front of 74,500 fans at Michigan State's Spartan Stadium, have prompted other teams to look into football stadiums as a venue. In fact, just next week, Lambeau Field will host an outdoor hockey game between Ohio State and Wisconsin. The not so subtle effort to connect hockey and football is smart, and should have started a long time ago.

Ohio fans have another reason to follow college hockey, because not only do the Buckeyes have a formidable team, but believe it or not, the Miami Redhawks are currently ranked #1 in the nation.

For those of you interested in giving college hockey a shot, here's a great place to start.