2025-2026 Season

[pdt1081]

Willy has a Zoom call tomorrow at noon to provide a preview of the season and update the goings on during training camp. There is also an open practice for homecoming at 10:30am on Saturday.

Hopefully they'll post a YouTube video of the call for those of us who are working, and/or don't want the Zoom App on our devices. Tried going through the link to see if it would work in browser, but it won't.

[jpfalcon09]

Willy has a Zoom call tomorrow at noon to provide a preview of the season and update the goings on during training camp. There is also an open practice for homecoming at 10:30am on Saturday.

Hopefully they'll post a YouTube video of the call for those of us who are working, and/or don't want the Zoom App on our devices. Tried going through the link to see if it would work in browser, but it won't.

Worked on my browser.

Highlights:

Full practices start 9/23. CHL/transfer players have meshed well with the returning group. Ice time will be earned by both work ethic and production - Willy believes there is a jump from CHL to college based around the practice schedule and off-ice training routine, so he's curious to see how the junior guys adapt during the course of the season. There is a solid leadership core with the current roster which has helped the staff remain a bit more focused on X's and O's this year compared to last.

NIL is a concern - the program currently does not have much cash to throw at players and the program has lost players because of it. Stavros mentioned there will be a concerted effort to improve fundraising for the program to address this and other needs. Willy in the meantime is relying on providing opportunities for guys to play, treating them well, and developing personal relationships to see the value of BG in light of not being able to write checks. In his words, they want to find the right players who share similar values and priorities as the program does in it's current state.

CHL has put scouting restrictions in place for NCAA members, trying to make it more difficult for colleges to come and poach junior hockey talent. Willy plans on leveraging his relationships from his time at Everett to try and get around that, acknowledged they may have to be a bit more creative or have to watch streamed games rather than be in-person.

Sounds like this is something they plan on doing a few more times during the year, my guess is every two months give or take. Stavros is big on connecting alumni and the fan base to the program and leveraging that into increasing donations and providing additional access that you may not get at other programs.

[pdt1081]

Worked on my browser.



CHL has put scouting restrictions in place for NCAA members, trying to make it more difficult for colleges to come and poach junior hockey talent. Willy plans on leveraging his relationships from his time at Everett to try and get around that, acknowledged they may have to be a bit more creative or have to watch streamed games rather than be in-person.

Sounds like this is something they plan on doing a few more times during the year, my guess is every two months give or take. Stavros is big on connecting alumni and the fan base to the program and leveraging that into increasing donations and providing additional access that you may not get at other programs.

Chrome on my phone wanted me to download the app.

Anyways, I'm guessing the way Willy went about recruiting last season, going through GM's and Coaches first, is going to bode well for future recruiting. Also, Leslie excluded, they only brought in OA's. (I still think lack of NIL affected the Leslie situation, and the kid wanted out of Vancouver one way or another).

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Worked on my browser.



CHL has put scouting restrictions in place for NCAA members, trying to make it more difficult for colleges to come and poach junior hockey talent. Willy plans on leveraging his relationships from his time at Everett to try and get around that, acknowledged they may have to be a bit more creative or have to watch streamed games rather than be in-person.

Sounds like this is something they plan on doing a few more times during the year, my guess is every two months give or take. Stavros is big on connecting alumni and the fan base to the program and leveraging that into increasing donations and providing additional access that you may not get at other programs.

Chrome on my phone wanted me to download the app.

Anyways, I'm guessing the way Willy went about recruiting last season, going through GM's and Coaches first, is going to bode well for future recruiting. Also, Leslie excluded, they only brought in OA's. (I still think lack of NIL affected the Leslie situation, and the kid wanted out of Vancouver one way or another).

Willy specifically mentioned the lack of available funds affected our ability to land some top talent.

[jpfalcon09]

LSSU had extended Damon Whitten through 2031-32, according to Mike McMahon.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

By chance did anyone make it to the open practice yesterday morning? How did things look?

[pdt1081]

By chance did anyone make it to the open practice yesterday morning? How did things look?

Still busy with summer season, so only have info from others.

https://x.com/TerryBurton92/status/1966884783230709760

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Mike McMahon is slowly releasing his pre-season rankings. He's down to #49 and at this point there are zero CCHA teams on his list. Six from Atlantic, 4 from the ECAC, and 5 independents.

[mbenecke]

Mike McMahon is slowing releasing his pre-season rankings. He's down to #49 and at this point there are zero CCHA teams on his list. Six from Atlantic, 4 from the ECAC, and 5 independents.

Nobody in the bottom 15? Look at us, raising the bar.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

The Bemidji and Augie prognosticators did their podcast thing on this year's BG team. Nathan Burkett from BG Falcon Media was our man-on-the-scene (and did an excellent job!).

https://ccha.com/podcasts/reporters-cor ... review/103

Here's a link to Nathan's content: https://bgfalconmedia.com/staff_name/nathan-burkett/

[jpfalcon09]

McMahon posited yesterday that ECHL/AHL players making at or below $70K per year who have not exhausted NCAA eligibility may still be able to play college hockey. Comes down to how the NCAA views their salaries and how it covers "necessary living expenses". Insane how far out of control everything has gotten.

[BG84]

By chance did anyone make it to the open practice yesterday morning? How did things look?

I think this was the first hockey practice I’d ever seen. It consisted of drills of inceasing intensity except for a short break for Willy to talk the players. I don’t know if the drills were ones that the guys have been running since they were 10 or if they’ve learned some drills since practicing began, but they knew what to do. The drill in the video was a 3x3 game confined to the center faceoff circle.

As for how things looked… the guys seemed enthusiastic, and there were a couple celebrations after the orange or the brown apparently won a drill.

A microphone was available, and Willy spoke to us at the end, but I couldn’t understand what he said.

[jpfalcon09]

Mike McMahon is slowly releasing his pre-season rankings. He's down to #49 and at this point there are zero CCHA teams on his list. Six from Atlantic, 4 from the ECAC, and 5 independents.

Bemidji is 46, Lake State 45 in his latest release. Prefaces Bemidji that he believes they won't be the worst team in the CCHA since his rankings are having difficulty properly weighing most of the CHL players.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

USCHO preseason poll is out. The CCHA has two teams in the top-20 (Mavs at 18 and Fighting Rico's at 19) and 4 more teams receiving votes. We came in at 5 votes followed by Tech with 3 and Bemidji and Augustana with 1 each. That's 6 out of 9 teams catching some love at the start of the season. Better than most years.

https://www.uscho.com/rankings/d-i-mens-poll/

[jpfalcon09]

Mike McMahon is slowly releasing his pre-season rankings. He's down to #49 and at this point there are zero CCHA teams on his list. Six from Atlantic, 4 from the ECAC, and 5 independents.

Bemidji is 46, Lake State 45 in his latest release. Prefaces Bemidji that he believes they won't be the worst team in the CCHA since his rankings are having difficulty properly weighing most of the CHL players.

NMU (40) and Augie (37) are the next two CCHA programs.