Preseason reading

I'm back from my last long vacation of the summer just in time to say that the college-hockey season is just over a month away. While I was out, some other antsy college-hockey observers have been gearing up. Here are a few of their writings on Minnesota State and other teams:

Inside College Hockey Online is in the middle of its annual "A to Z" features and tapped Mavericks sophomore Mike Louwerese for its "L" section.

Western College Hockey blog is rating the top freshmen in the WCHA and CCHA and included MSU rookie forward Tyler Pitlick and goaltender Kevin Murdock.

Also, here's an interesting story on ex-Maverick Jon Kalinski and his return from a potentially career-threatening injury -- from the Philadelphia Flyers website.

I'll try to get up to the rink this week to see some of the captains practices and give a report

Will Backes make Olympic team?

I'm betting that he does. Here's a USA Today story on the former MSU All-American. Before Backes' breakout season, I interviewed Brian Burke, who is the U.S.'s general manager, and he loved Backes then.

CCHA turns down Huntsville

In a somewhat surprising move, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association turned down Alabama-Huntsville's bid to join the league (and replace soon-to-be-departing Nebraska-Omaha). The move seemed like a no-brainer after the WCHA took on Bemidji State and UNO, leaving the CCHA with 11 teams and Huntsville as the only D-I hockey school without a conference following the upcoming season. This certainly puts the future of Chargers hockey in doubt.

The Huntsville Times report can be found here, with some opinon here. More commentary from USCHO.com can be found here.

Since joining the WCHA, Minnesota State has played Huntsville, which, like Mankato, is a former Division II program, regularly, going 6-2-2 against the Chargers since 1999. The Mavericks last played UAH in 2007-08, sweeping a series in Alabama.