Hockey Nerd

This past weekend the Ontario Hockey Federation finished the season conducting their championships. With that, MYHockey calls it a season for all levels except midgets. The Telus Cup, Canada's Midget AAA National Championship, will be played in Selkirk, MB April 20-26. There will be one more midget update after the Telus Cup.

A quick recap of what's happened over the past couple weeks. First, winners of the OHF Championships:

• Midget AA - London Jr Knights Gold
• Bantam AA - Mississauga Braves
• Peewee AA - Mississauga Braves
• Atom AA - Soo Greyhounds
• Atom AAA - Elgin Middlesex Chiefs

Boston University won the NCAA Division 1 men's hockey championship 4-3 over Miami (OH). What a game! Boston University was, with maybe a little argument from Notre Dame, the best college hockey team in the country this season. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Miami, a team that was supposed to be in the middle of a rebuilding year. Not only that, while Boston University had won a handful of National titles in hockey previously, Miami had never made the frozen four, much less the championship game. Falling behind, the young Miami Redhawks faught back to take a commanding 3-1 lead late into the third period. Boston U pulled their goalie with about three minutes to go, but for two minutes, neither team capitalized. Then, with just under a minute, Boston U pulled within a goal. They kept up the pressure and tied the game with 17 seconds remaining and then scored the game winner in OT on a partially blocked shot from the point. It was an amazing comeback in a tournament of great comebacks and last minute goals. Congrats to Boston U and their fans.

Also worth noting, in the IIHF U18 World Championships held in Fargo-Moorhead, USA beat Canada 2-1 in one semi-final and Russia beat Finland 4-0 in the other setting up a USA vs. Russia final on Sunday, April 19, 2009.

While many of you are playing spring hockey, lacrosse, soccer and baseball, the NHL will keep us entertained until mid-June. While all 16 teams still have a shot at the cup, early indications are that we'll likely see Boston and Detroit in the finals. While I love underdog, and these two teams are anything but, I kinda like the idea of two original six playing for the Cup. Not only that, these two cities have tremendous youth programs that will be rejuvenated by watching their local pros play for or win the Stanley Cup. Hopefully those of you in the USA get Versus and can enjoy most of the action.

I'll stay in touch periodically over the summer. MYHockey will continue to improve, giving you unparalleled access to youth hockey information during the 2009-2010 season. Come back and keep an eye out for sneak previews into new features we'll be releasing in the coming months.