School Is Back in Session

The NHL lockout is old news. The new word is that Friday night is college hockey night once again in this great land. And there are several games on TV tonight, should the Minnesota rouser not get you in the mood to plant an elbow in someone's ribs. (I am fired up and I LOATHE the Gophers. That goes for you Wisconsin Badgers, C.C. Tigers (haha, you're boring and you're weak, C.C.), U.M.D. Bulldogs and the North Dakota Formerly Fighting Sioux, too.)

On the NBC Sports Channel starting at 7 Eastern, Maine and Notre Dame play the opening game of the IceBreaker Tournament, which is being played at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Once that game is over, NBCSN will stay with the tournament and broadcast the Nebraska-Omaha vs. Army game.

Fox College Sports has two regular-season games that you should be checking into if you get this package of channels on your cable system or satellite provider.

At 7 Eastern, Michigan State plays Minnesota on the big ice in Minneapolis. This game will be on Fox College Sports Central, nationally. I assume Fox Sports Detroit and Fox Sports North will be the regional carriers.

At 7:30 Eastern, Fox College Sports Pacific will show St. Cloud State (advance video on link to 4:02 mark) at New Hampshire.

I don't have to tell you how my early hockey years were influenced by college hockey and the mighty Denver University Pioneers. But hearing the bands and the students take me back to my parent's basement, a bologna sandwich, a big bag of potato chips, a cold soda and a black-and-white TV showing the Pioneers ruling the WCHA in the late 1960s.

I could yell or cheer as loud as I wanted. I could body check a chair or I could stickhandle around the second-hand couch. No problem. My parents knew I was safe at home with hockey.

You can say that again tonight. Drop the puck.