The UMD men’s hockey team will have a short bench on Friday.  Head Coach Scott Sandelin suspended three players for recently violating team rules.

The three are Wade Bergman, Cody Danberg and Austin Farley.

The three will be allowed to return to the team on Saturday.

UMD will host Michigan Tech on Friday and Saturday at Amsoil Arena.  Both games start at 7pm and both games will be on My 9.

The Saturday game, UMD will wear special pink jersey’s as a fundraiser for the Essentia Health Foundation.

Freshman defenseman Andy Welinski will not play this weekend either, he was hurt in the final game in Florida.  He is expected back the following week, according to Head Coach Scott Sandelin.

The NHL on NBC will return on January 19th when the Stanley Cup champions, L.A. Kings will host the Chicago Blackhawks.  That game will kick-off NBC’s coverage this year.

The NHL owners approved the new CBA between the players and owners, now the players will get their chance to approve the deal.  They are expected to, and then the schedules and training camps will open.

The UMD players were excited to get NHL hockey back.  Several of them have been drafted by NHL teams.  Tony Cameranesi said, “We like watching football and everything but it’s good to have the NHL back and we are excited to watch some of those guys and some of those that even played here a couple years ago we’re excited to watch some of the guys we grew up with it’s fun to watch them.”

Cameranesi was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Senior defenseman Drew Olson, was drafted by the Columbus Bluejackets.  He agree’s with Tony. Olson said, “We’re pretty excited we will be able to watch some hockey on TV this year, we’re kind of sick of watching basketball and football for us we want to get our sport on TV.”

Freshman goaltender Matt McNeely also wanted to see some hockey on TV.  McNeely said, “It was a little disappointing at first, not being able to watch NHL, but was happy to see that the season is going to get underway here and get something to watch on TV now.”

And in basketball, the Minnesota Golden Gophers with a huge win on Wednesday night.

The 8th ranked Gophers faced 12th ranked Illinois and won 84-67.  The Gophers are now 15-1 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten.

With the loss, Illinois falls to 14-3 overall and 1-2 in the Big ten.  Joe Coleman had 29 points for the Gophers.

And in the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls 104-96. Jim Boylan now 2-0 as the Head Coach of the Bucks.  Brandon Jennings led all scorers with 35pts, 6 reb.

The Minnesota Timberwolves got even more bad news on the injury front on Wednesday.  Kevin Love will need surgery and he will miss from 6 to 8 weeks following surgery.

The Wolves took on Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday and lost 106-84. Kevin Durant led all scorers with 26 points.  Alexy Shved led the Wolves with 18 points.

Jack Morris denied.

The voters for the National Baseball Hall of Fame have spoken, and only for the 8th time, nobody is headed to the Hall of Fame.

Jeff Idelson MLB Hall Of Fame President said, “"For only the eighth time since voting began in 1936, the voting membership did -not- elect anyone to Cooperstown. Craig Biggio leading the pack with votes on 68 percent of the ballots cast, just 39 votes short of election."

Former Twins pitcher Jack Morris received the 2nd most votes, but not enough to get into the Hall of Fame.

Bob Costas of NBC Sports said, “There's, always been a first ballot distinction.

Even without steroids being in the discussions, some voters have made a first ballot distinction.”

Some big high school basketball events are on the schedule for Thursday night.

Grand Rapids will face Duluth East in boy’s high school hockey that game will be on

My 9 and ESPN560 WEBC.

Superior will be at Duluth Marshall in a Lake Superior Conference boy’s hockey game.

And in high school boy’s basketball, Duluth East and Lakeview Christian Academy will play at UMD tonight starting at 7:30pm.  That game will feature Anders Broman, the all-time leading scorer in Minnesota boy’s basketball history.

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