United Collegiate Hockey Cup  Ep 9  March 4, 2026

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1:05Ice Time Hockey West.com network and here are your hosts Scott Strandy, Tom Harden and Paul Hornstein. All right welcome in hockey fans anywhere that you may be joining us on this Wednesday night. It's a rarity but for good reason it is the United Collegiate Hockey Cup podcast episode nine. The preview night, the night before it all begins. The teams are all here at the Hollywood hotel and so why? Tom Harden though is joining me from that balmy sunshine and desert heat of Gilbert Arizona. Tom, how are you? Like he said, enjoying the heat just ready for the summer temperatures to be here for good. Yeah they're getting there the hard thing. Absolutely. All right Paul Hornstein is bowling tonight so I don't know if you'll join us or not but

2:08Tom and I will bring you some thunder in the distance. Yeah. Twinkle toes himself. Oh I'd pay to see that. A lot of people would. Anyway we got we got teams here Tom. I met the Hollywood casino slash hotel. About a half a mile quarter mile from the sentient community. I said I can see it from the ninth floor here where I'm at and all the teams are here. They've all had a skate today. Some of them will skate tomorrow. Two teams will not skate tomorrow. I told I was told and I'll do some some feature stuff on that and we'll see how that goes as as today progresses but I thought tonight maybe we should just give folks a quick preview of of what's going to be happening tomorrow and what the teams are like. These are intensely tight games and very competitive teams even though they're down in the MPI standings correct. Yeah and we talked about it on

3:15Monday night when when Alaska Anchorage head coach Matt Shazby was on this show with us and these teams while they're often underestimated for a variety of reasons they do have the ability to go out on any given night and just flat out compete. We talked about it with specific regard to Anchorage taking down Denver at Magnus Arena on Halloween night and you know it's it's you know these these teams are like he said they're out to compete they are you know they now have a chance to play for a postseason trophy even you know even if this trophy does not come with any any meaningful postseason implications for the NCAA tournament it is still an opportunity for postseason hockey and that's what that's what kids coming all through the ranks of hockey want

4:17to play for they want a chance to play for some hardware at the end of the season and these independent teams have long been given a given a disadvantage and had to fight their way into the NCAA tournament for far too long I believe in in 30 years only two teams technically two teams but if you count Alaska Fairbanks in 2010 three teams in 30 years have made the national tournament as an independent team so this is hopefully the first step in what could be many steps to get these teams on to you know on to a level where they are able to compete for a national championship yeah you're totally correct and I walked through the hotel lobby today sat three or four different teams and several players from each team this is a big deal

5:20of them they're they're here in St. Louis although it's kind of crappy whether it's been raining they're excited to be here like you said they're excited to show what they have it's going to be broadcast on flow hockey flow TV so people will be able to see them they'll be scouts in the building I just talked with a couple of guys from college hockey ink and adjacent Azure will be here for a couple of the games so there's some guys from the St. Louis Blue as I spoke to that will be here so it's a big deal for them and it should be I mean you work all year long you played just as hard you play some of the best teams in the country as we've seen and now it's their opportunity to as you say go for go for a cup and it's a beautiful cup I mean the first of anything is always great but put your name on there and and and be the first to do it pretty impressive and you you hit it right on the head you know the there's extra incentive as if

6:20there wasn't already incentive but you know to be that first team to hoist the cup to be the first team to take it home and have it on display in in your athletic department or at your arena or you know wherever they choose to display it that is going to be the the major you know a big motivating factor for these teams to come out on top and as we were told by Jason Kumer a few shows ago this trophy will well might have a case it will have a seat in an airplane if it leaves the St. Louis area which is yet to be determined but game 1 tomorrow 3 p.m. central time will feature Stone Hill and it will also have the guys from Alaska Anchorage so whether the while they are the four and five seeded teams these guys have have shown that they can knock out the big boys as you mentioned with Anchorage going to Denver and Stone Hill has gotten some some big wins

7:23especially down the stretch where they had to kind of go at it if I can use that term with with Long Island and really moved Long Island out of that number one seed yeah they they really did and it was a it's a really impressive stretch for the Skyhawks from February 13th to February 21st starting off at Long Island with a split and then coming back home to I believe they're playing at Warrior Icerina in over there in Brighton Massachusetts for those games but getting the getting the sweep at home and really dislodged the the charts from from their their purchase top the the independent sandings and Thomas we mentioned along the way as well as there's been a lot of movement in the 30 to 63 range of teams and it's been kind of kind of amazing to me to see that because we haven't seen much movement in the upper 20 shall we say

8:27but these guys are moving around a little bit like I said Long Island looked like they were in the driver's seat for a while then Lyndon Wood did and lo and behold the Alaska Fairbanks that's the one that's going to be the number one seed and won't play until tomorrow are Friday well and and not only did Alaska Fairbanks take over that number one seed but because you know largely because of the that series with with Stone Hill Long Island slipped down to number three you know home team Lyndon Wood snuck up into the number two seed so exactly like he said lots of movement down the stretch and that's largely because these teams are spaced so far apart that you're going to have a lot more of that volatile movement you know not as much not as much at the top where by and large you're getting you know once you're in conference play you're getting these teams that are bunched closer together so the the impact of a lower team beating a higher

9:27ranked team isn't as measurable as say a you know a a lower 50s ranked Stone Hill knocking off a mid 30s Long Island you're talking about 20 spots in in the NPI you know however many points that is in the calculation I don't have those those current rankings up in Fermi right now but when you're when you're talking about even a even a 10 spot difference in the upper 20 if a if number 20 knocks off number 10 there's still bunched up close enough that yeah the you know there's going to be some a little bit of movement either way but it's not going to be the same drastic move that we see in the lower half okay so I had a chance to see Anchorage but I have yet to see the Skyhawks play but when we look at these two on paper they seem very very tight both coaches really good coaches and Matt Chasby with Anchorage and David Barard with the Stone Hill Skyhawks

10:30what do you think is the difference in this one Tom? I'm looking at the the the quality of opponents that Stone Hill had in their their early schedule and we we talked again we talked about on the show earlier they played at Penn State and actually played a couple of you know a couple of tough games against the Netany Lions and held a lead at a held a lead in the Friday game I believe it was before losing three to two but you know showed that Penn State being top 10 team they're not infallible to to these teams but then you also look at you know going to going to play they're playing they played Northeastern they played the Connecticut schools they had an exhibition against Boston College which you know doesn't count for the record but they're still going out there they're so cutting their teeth against against these stronger these stronger

11:31caliber teams these blue bloods yeah totally agree with you any predictions on this one high scoring low scoring who might come on on top you know I'm I'm looking at I'm just looking at the the tail of tape here I'm looking at at Stone Hill to be able to to leverage their their better offensive play and really take advantage of the of the Anchorage Gold Tending with Tyler Krivitsov I think that you know there I think Stone Hill is really going to be able to really going to be able to press that advantage they've got five who got five players with 15 or more points and I think that they're just really balanced and we'll be able to keep that that's strong that's strong play and overwhelm the sea wolves yeah kind of I kind of leave in that way as well I believe Twinkle Tos is joined us be a state order on Long Island Paul Hornstein is with us Paul are you in the vehicle?

12:36Twinkle this don't give me this Twinkle. Tom and I would talk to him. Tom and I would talk to him. Tom and I were talking about how much money would have to be paid to see you bowl. Do people line up to see him bowl? Do you want a live stream next week? I don't know. Is that what you're looking for me to do? That would be good that would be really good. Really? You're doing your second podcast on the day from the vehicle. Kudos. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, before we go on tonight, I reached out to all five coaches and have interview time set up tomorrow around their skates. The morning or I should say the first game will not neither one of those teams will skate tomorrow even though there was ice available. They've chosen not to. But I will visit with them in the hotel and then Fairbanks will skate. I think at like noon noon to 1250 or something. And I'll catch them and

13:40Linda Wood and Long Island all over on on the ice at Centine afterwards. There's a little feature I'm calling the coach and the captain. Kind of used to get their thoughts on where we're at. Yeah, you've used that before though. I have. But it's always a good fallback. I didn't say it wasn't. I've just let I just, you know, people know. I just let people know. I mean, it's people don't know. Kind of specialty. People don't know. Anyway, so Tom just gave us the rundown on the first game. The second game. A lot of people a month ago, guys would have told you that this was going to be the championship game. No disrespect to the Fairbanks, but it looked like it was Lyndon Wood and Long Island on a collision course. Now they're going to play the second game of the first night. Any thoughts on that? Paul start with you. Well, I think it kind of turned on that two games and Fairbanks that that looks one over L.I.U. that kind of turned the tables.

14:44You know, the question is going to be L.I.U. tends to be having a pretty decent power play. The question will be can they take advantage of those special teams deals in that game against Lyndon Wood and, you know, and however, whoever they play, whenever they play. So, I mean, next, I mean, you know me, I'm going out on a limb talking about special teams, but when you play in a situation where there's a lot of emotions, you have to be careful not to make mistakes. And I think you will see a lot of emotion on this first night. And that will, you know, could lead to some multiple trips to the penalty box because you try to

15:50overplay something, try to make a gliding way to make a hit, try to be a danger. Yeah, I hear you. Tom, your thoughts on what that second game will bring? You know, this is going to be a really fun game to watch. Not necessarily exclusively for the play on the ice, but for the battle between two first year head coaches at their schools in Heath Fisher for Lyndon Wood and Brennan Riley for Long Island. You know, I'm really interested to see the battle, the minds on the bench and how these coaches will use their, use their rosters to the game advantage because there's, you know, there's negligible advantage on paper in Lyndon Wood's favor, but, you know, I'm not one to

16:57discount the play of Long Island. They're going to be coming out of that Stone Hill series looking to really get themselves right and, you know, what better opportunity to get right than in the in the second game of the, of the de facto conference championship. I'd be very curious to see what kind of hole to end. Paul, Paul, you're right. That homies advantage if anything for Lyndon Wood will be an interesting factor to watch. Yeah, totally agree with that from what I could hear. I thought I was listening, losing them here and there, but anyway, it's going to be two exciting games tomorrow, three o'clock start for the first one, which would be Stone Hill and Anchorage, as we mentioned, seven o'clock start for the

17:59second game, which would be Long Island and Lyndon Wood, the number one seed in this tournament, Alaska, the in the nooks from Fairbanks, we'll get a day off. They won't play until Friday and they will play the winner of the Stone Hill and Anchorage series. So who knows, can we see another Anchorage Fairbanks battle? I think that this is a little bit of a raw deal for Fairbanks by claiming the number one seed. What happens if whoever comes out of that or five match up in Stone Hill and Anchorage just comes out and continues their momentum having played the day before and knocks Fairbanks down to the third place game with only one game played. I know this is the first year of

18:59doing this tournament and there's obviously going to be some growing pains with getting the right format, but Alaska is getting a little bit of a disadvantage there for being the number one seed and then the other part of it that's not really driving with me is not doing a true serpentine seeding, you know, instead of doing, you know, they could have done a two-five versus a three-four instead of two-three and four-five. That's just my two cents. Yeah, that's understandable. Paula was telling Tom before he came in that the hotel that I'm at is where the teams are staying and I've seen them around the hotel today in various groups and up the elevator down the elevator on the lobby. What couple of things that I really noticed today was these guys are jacked up to be here. I mean they got that I saw Long Island get out the bus

20:01and they were jacked man they they want to be here they want to show that they can win this cup and then later today I walked through the lobby and I saw a bunch of the guys from Alaska working on their computers and doing homework I would assume are in the lobby so this is a business trip but I think they also want to soak it all in and with the rain forecasted here they'll soak in plenty of that. They're very low-hanging upon there. We can't hear Paula but it's I can't there is. Yeah. I remember I'm in the car with a little delay here probably so but anyway you know we've talked to these coaches and and and I just he naturally assumed that if the coaches are pumped up for this as they are I I mean that's got to brush off onto the players I mean normally those guys

21:04that all be done by now they have something to play for and they all acknowledge that it's been palpable so I expect some some really intense games especially tomorrow. And the interesting part is you guys probably know I was at the unveiling of a new NCAA team right here in the St. Louis area as well and while I was there I had a chance to visit with Sean Hogan from college hockey ink and he agreed with me that this is good for the entire game because these five independence are now kind of bonding together as one to compete for something it's their mini conference tournament basically it's just not gonna come with an AQ to the NCAA tournament but I believe this is really good for college hockey. I agree. So don't push your luck. Yeah absolutely really good for college hockey and with and with with

22:08Maryville coming in coming into the fold they'll they'll play their their hybrid schedule next season and then a full schedule the following year if I if I read the the recording correctly that is correct you only got one thing wrong they don't want to call it a hybrid they want to call it transitional transitional it's a transitional season Tom 20 20 games against the NCAA opponents which will all be on the road and then another hopefully ten or so games with ACHA John Hogan told me today it was even hoping for maybe a use sports matchup which is unique and maybe a division three matchup so he's going to get his money to work in the first year and he hopes to be invited to this tournament next year by the way. So yeah I'm so second 2015 when Arizona state made the jump up and it was called the hybrid schedule back then. No no well oh you're so tiny 15 we got it honest for that we we were corrected for it Tom.

23:14Anyway I said no we're not calling it a hybrid we're calling it transitional okay it is you say potato I say potato you know sorry John. Well you guys have more to fight about than the transitional or hybrid because you guys are from different parts of the state in Arizona. Well where we we don't talk about we we don't talk about fight club. Okay anyway so that's a plan for tomorrow I'll get some stuff up before the game start hopefully some short interviews but some good interviews just to get the thoughts on the guys before this all starts and then everybody guaranteed two games so there'll be two games tomorrow, two on Friday, two on Saturday no matter what everybody will be able to play two games and it'll be entirely like we talked. Yeah like we talked with Matt Chasby and he said they flew in on a red eye yesterday or a Monday whatever or what Monday and so these guys are going to enjoy it it's going to be warm here I'm told

24:20by the weather people and as usual in March it'll be rain and and thunderstorms and those kinds of fun things but centine is ready gave them all ample ice time to practice this week and I'm sure the games will be set the tickets just 20 bucks a session you can't beat it you really can't a great facility to sit and watch hockey in and these guys are are playing for something so you've seen that cup and shame on you if you haven't because we put it all over the place it is something to behold. Hey before I you know I think we'd be great Tom. I was going to say I think we'd be a little bit remiss in and accurately previewing these if we didn't also acknowledge for for Lyndon Wood, Giovanni Moreno and Nolan Seed receiving honors for for the independent teams Giovanni Moreno player of the year and rookie of the year and Nolan Seed defenseman of the year so

25:22if you if you're going to be watching Lyndon Wood at any of these sessions watch out for those two guys because they are well deserved of this of this recognition. Yeah and I just and then we've done a couple of these podcasts and just been so packed I haven't had a chance to acknowledge this earlier this week as there as no L.I.U. announced they're getting ready for three million dollar renovations three million dollars in renovations for the Northwell Health Ice Center where they play their home games for more branding and stuff and good for that. Paul I don't know if you saw the pictures they're the rendering yet but man it looks like a home arena it's light blue it's going to be yeah really something when they're all done with it before we go tonight though I also want to touch on the number one Seed because

26:25they earned it that would be the Alaska Nanooks and the Coach Eric Largan they earned that spot with some very big games in the governors cup battle up in Alaska what do we see from them as a number one Seed do they have the potential to get the same done of course I think those I think if you look at the way the season is broken down if the cup holder at the end of this is Fairbanks or Lyndon Wood or L.I.U. I don't think anybody would be surprised if not that it would be shocking in the other two if Stonehill or Anchorage one but you would have to say that there's definitely a packing order and you know it's not like Fairbanks was 23rd in the NPI and Lyndon Wood and L.I.U.

27:30were in the 40s no they're pretty much all bunched together so it's not like whatever algorithms nonsense that get used they have a pretty much all bunched up so yeah totally agree if you Tom your thoughts on Fairbanks you know I'm looking at a guy like Braden Bernie a four-year Nanook who was a freshman on on that team that just missed out on making the NCAA tournament as as an independent and you know this is you know really a good full circle moment for him to get his chance at postseason hockey that he did not he was not able to get as a freshman yeah good stuff so much talent all over the place it's all right now in this hotel where I'm at I'm on the ninth floor there floor is below me and and just like I said earlier just

28:33such a great group of guys on every team and so respectful and man you you think they were here at NCAA regional the way this is playing out and I think it'll show that way on the ice as well agreed it's gonna be fun tournament to keep track of absolutely speaking keep a track of it we'll be here every night I'll be at the games every single day do the practices tomorrow to do the preview stuff and then you can check in on our ex account at college puck C2C for some postings there and also at college puck C2C or college puck goes to coast on Instagram we'll have some up on there as well so stick with us enjoy the coverage and if you want to watch it I will throw a free plug out there for our friends at flow hockey they will have all the games on their network as well and we'll go from there but a lot of a lot of good stuff coming up Paul I think I have decided that if I go to a blue game and I was offered a chance to go there today by the

29:36folks on the St. Louis Blues I think I'll go see Mr. Schaefer on Tuesday night whatever night whatever night to tempt this why not go see Mr. Schaefer yeah of course all right thanks for tuning in everybody we always appreciate the listeners and if you didn't hear us live hopefully you hear it on the download and enjoy it I don't know that I have the close Paul but you have the close or will we not do a close I can't you run the one that we've been really ran this afternoon that's called talking what's locked or weekly I can't find it it's that's okay no big deal it's anyway the United you know I can improvise if you'd like yeah go ahead United collegiate hockey cup live podcast brought to you by Hollywood resort hotel and like they're off the Mississippi River but a Hollywood Gulf Coast dot com and make your reservations you play some golf and hit some

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31:43substacky things since the time go ahead give us a read and subscribe at ice time hockey west dot substack dot com let's mow it over dot substack dot com and for offseason coverage of the Arizona states and levels go to doubles in detail dot com part of the fan side of networks good stuff we'll tune in again tomorrow uh check i said check us out on x check us out on instagram and certainly the podcast tomorrow night we look forward to a couple great games at the United collegiate hockey cup uh right here at sentine community ice center in saint Louis Missouri can i do everybody good night good night