Several Dallas Stars collegiate prospects had a good night last night, as the major hockey conferences hosted their annual awards banquets prior to conference playoff tournament action which begin today.

Alex Guptill, F, FR, University of Michigan, was the CCHA Rookie of the Year.

Austin Smith, F, SR, Colgate, was ECAC MVP.

Reilly Smith, F, JR, Miami University, received the CCHA Perani Cup for league's leading goal scorer.

Both Austin and Reilly also were named as 2 of the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker award, given annually to college hockey's top player.

All three will be in action tonight as Michigan takes on Bowling Green and Miami takes on Western Michigan in CCHA Semifinal action at Joe Louis Arena. Colgate takes on Union in the ECAC playoffs. The CCHA games should be on Fox Sports Detroit if you have a package that gets that channel. I don't think there is any coverage for ECAC tourney.

It will be interesting to see which of these players we might see in Stars training camp in September.

If you get CBS Sports channel, you can check out Stars prospects Reilly Smith and Curtis McKenzie this Friday, 2/17, at 7:30 PM, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish take on the Miami Redhawks. McKenzie tweeted earlier today that CBS has been following Smith around. So I'm hoping there is an intermission feature on Reilly. There's lots of speculation among Redhawks fans if this could be Reilly's last year in Oxford. His older brother Brendan, who played at Wisconsin, left after his JR year to play in Grand Rapids, Detroit's farm team.

I had a chance to see Stars prospect Curtis McKenzie in action today as the Miami Redhawks faced off against the University of Windsor Lancers in exhibition play.  I don't know if many of you are as familiar with McKenzie as his Miami teammate and Stars prospect Reilly Smith.  McKenzie didn't attend this year's Dev Camp. NCAA players have to pay their own way - not sure if that was the reason why he wasn't there or not though.

I've heard he had some offensive upside in juniors and today was the first game I finally saw today what our scouts must have seen in him in 2009. He scored a goal and was a +2.  McKenzie played on a line with freshmen Blake Coleman and Tyler Biggs. You might be familiar with Coleman, who is from Plano, TX. They were definitely the energy line of the game. We need to see more offensive upside from McKenzie with the loss of Miele and Camper.

McKenzie's an emotional player and the Windsor guys were baiting him the whole game. Although, I will say that McKenzie showed great composure when a Lancer punched him in the cage when he was on the bench. The hit went uncalled by the officials. I can only imagine the fun Steve Ott could have baiting McKenzie if they ever meet up on the ice. Hopefully he will continue to work on his composure.

Biggs, the Cincinnati native and Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, had some amazing opportunities and couldn't bury them. He's got good size and is nasty but he needs some work on his shot.

I was disappointed when I didn't see Reilly Smith out on the ice for warmups. Then after the first 10 minutes of the game, I was glad Reilly wasn't out there against the Lancers - they are a nasty, dirty team, especially #6, Ryan Green.  No sense in Reilly getting hurt by stupidity in an exhibition game.  But I do have to give props to Windsors two goalies - they faced 50+ shots and only let in 4 goals.

Sorry to be so long with this. I'll try to get back up for another regular season game soon so I can give you guys an update on Reilly's development too.

Stars prospect Reilly Smith had another great night last night, scoring another goal in the Miami Redhawks 4 - 1 victory in the second round of the CCHA playoffs over U of Alaska.  Smith is also one of three nominees for the CCHA Best Defensive Forward Award, which will be presented on March 17, at the CCHA Awards Banquet before the Conference Finals in Detroit.  Smith finished the regular season third in scoring on the Redhawks to Andy Miele (leading scorer in the NCAA - not just the CCHA) and Carter Camper.  Smith is the only sophomore up for this honor.  The other two candidates are both seniors, Carl Hagelin, University of Michigan and Will Acton, Lake Superior State.  It's kind of a long shot for him to win this as a sophomore but it's an amazing honor just to be nominated.  Smith was also selected to the CCHA All Conference 1st Team - one of only two sophomores to receive this honor.

CBS College Sports and ESPN U usually cover many of the conference finals so if you have a chance to catch a Miami Redhawks game, you should check out #18.  Dallas Stars prospect Curtis McKenzie is Smith's teammate and wears #16.  You can also follow them on Twitter at @muckbro16 and @muckbro18.

From MiamiRedhawks.com

SUPER SOPHOMORE: Sophomore forward Reilly Smith picked up his second CCHA Offensive Player of the Week award this season Jan. 17 after a three-goal, four-point showing in a sweep of Bowling Green (Jan. 14-15). Teammate Andy Miele has also claimed the honor twice this year. Smith, who has eight goals in his last 10 games, leads the CCHA with 21 goals (tied for seventh nationally) while his 18 goals in league play are also first (four more than anyone else). He also now leads the team with four multi-goal games this season after a pair of goals Feb. 5 vs. Michigan. The Mimico, Ont., native is fifth in the CCHA and tied for 14th nationally in overall points (39) and fourth in points in league play only (33), while tying for fourth in the CCHA with a +17 rating. Smith was also named to the Florida College Classic All-Tournament Team after a four-point tournament (Dec. 29-30) and won his first career CCHA Player of the Week honor after a two-goal, three-assist weekend against Lake Superior State (Oct. 29-30). He was the fourth straight and different RedHawk to win the award this year. He scored in three straight games from Oct. 23-Oct. 30 and had five goals in those games, including his first career hat trick Oct. 23 vs. Northern Michigan. One of his goals was the game-winner while another came short-handed for his first collegiate short-handed tally (he now has two shortys).

Since Pat requested this, here you go.

So I went to a fight last night in Columbus... and a hockey game broke out.  No seriously, this was my first trip to Nationwide Arena in a few years to see the Dallas Stars take on the Columbus Blue Jackets and it was worth every penny. 

From the opening face-off, the Jackets came out pissed off and looking for redemption from a 6 - 3 shellacking they endured on Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers.  The Jackets also came out looking for blood.  This was the game many of us were expecting to see for more than a year following the James Neal hit on Dorsett.  It was so intense I couldn’t even update Twitter much.  Thanks to those who asked me if I was OK.  The atmosphere in the entire building matched that of the Blue Jackets.  There were some pretty pissed off Jackets fans surrounding me, so I kept my comments to a minimum.  I did cheer really loudly on that second Brad Richards goal to much scorn.  Also got some pretty weird looks for yelling "Stars" during the anthem. Yikes.

Kari Lehtonen looked amazing in goal and is the only reason the Stars did not lose this game in the first period in my opinion.  He looked very comfortable in the crease - especially with his lateral movement.  Columbus to their credit came out very aggressive, but they were too aggressive at times.  Dorsett tried to get involved in all of the scrums he could, drawing a roughing penalty in the third that set up the 4-on-4 situation that allowed Brad Richards to score.  Thanks for opening up the ice there Dorsett to give Brad more room to work his magic.  It reminded me a bit of watching the Oilers play in the 80’s with Gretzky, purposely drawing penalties to get players off the ice so the Great One had more room to move around. 

The non-call on Grossman was outrageous but the officiating the whole night bad enough that I did check to see if our friend Dean Morten was there.  It looked like too that one of the Blue Jackets too specifically took a shot at Brenden Morrow’s broken nose which I thought was cheap.  He’s wearing a shield so why are you hitting him in the face - just to see if you can get at his nose?  I also thought the Columbus second goal should’ve counted.  The NHL has got to do something about the officiating. 

But enough of the bad, there were some things I thought were really good last night for the Stars.  I thought Adam Burish played a great game, especially while Ott was serving his misconduct penalty.  He was all over the ice, mixing it up with Columbus players, blocking shots.  Plus the chemistry he’s developed with Ott is awesome.  They were talking to each other the whole game, before faceoffs, on the bench, etc… It reminded me a lot of how that old ‘99 team interacted. 

Then there was too Brad Richards.  He had an exceptional game, both of his goals were just great goal scorers goals.  As I was watching Richards on the ice, and this is really the first time I’ve had this thought during a game, all I could think was that we are so screwed if we can’t find a way to re-sign this guy.  It wasn’t even the goals that made me feel this, it was when Morrow was so frustrated after the Grossman hit that Richards was talking to the officials.  He’s becoming an even more important part of this team since the departures of Modano and Turco in more ways than just scoring.  Oh dear God please help Nieuwy find a way to get him re-signed long term in Dallas. 

Finally, I also thought we did a good job of neutralizing Rick Nash.  It’s always a good game when you can stop Rich Nash.

The Columbus media picked Brad as the number 1 star of the game but I thought it should’ve gone to Kari.  Garon played well too for the Jackets. 

It was a dirty, mean hockey game and was certainly entertaining.  In hindsight, I wish we had put Fistric and Sutherby out there instead of Nisky and Barchie - just for their physical presence.  I think Sutherby fights better than Barchie.  But kudos for Barch getting involved the way he did.  I’m just glad I didn’t get killed at the game.  I hope Grossman is OK.  I am 2 for 3 in attending Stars games this year.  Behold the power of the tattoo.

Dallas Stars prospect and current Miami University Redhawk forward Reilly Smith has been invited to try out for the Canadian World Junior team.  The sophomore has been playing very well for Miami on the first line with seniors Carter Campbell and Andy Miele.  He's done an excellent job making up for the loss of Tommy Wingels to the San Jose Sharks last season. His older brother plays for the University of Wisconsin Badgers.  Congratulations Reilly!

So I heard on Twitter from the folks over at Pension Plan Puppets that a certain Dallas blog is the second SB Nation blog to get full press creds.  Congratulations on this great achievement.  I know how hard you've all worked to achieve this accomplishment.  So cheers to you all!  But you do realize, now we're totally going to expect even more great coverage on the blog and also on DBD Live pod casts. 

Hey - saw this piece in College Hockey News with a mention of Dallas Stars draft picks Reilly Smith and Curtis McKenzie.  We're expecting big things from these two sophomores this year. Go Miami!  I hope someday to see both of my Redhawks in Stars uniforms.

3. Miami

The RedHawks are still not going anywhere. They were scary enough last season, and another postseason letdown makes them a bit more dangerous — especially when you consider they’ll have junior goalies Cody Reichard and Connor Knapp healthy and pushing one another for the a season. Up front, a very strong senior class in Carter Camper, Pat Cannone and Andy Miele will give opposing teams a handful, and defenseman Chris Wideman is fast becoming one of the top defenders in college hockey. Continued growth from sophomores Reilly Smith and Curtis McKenzie well help to offset the 17 goals and 42 points Tommy Wingels took with him to the pros.

Not sure if you saw this on Heika's blog but Mike is a go for this Friday's game and he's inviting his parents to the last game.  I'd put up a link but it's all screwed up over at DMN.   Still not completely sold that this definitely means Mike is done but it does seem a bit "final," especially given the fact that the game is in Minnesota of all ironic places.  Just something to think about until tomorrow's game.

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of the Miami University Redhawks hockey team, in the CCHA.  I am a Miami alum and have watched how the program has grown into one of the premier teams in college hockey.  Two of the current Redhawks are prospects of the Dallas Stars, freshmen Curtis McKenzie (F) and Reilly Smith (F). 

Both had a great weekend as Miami won two games in the NCAA tournament, against the University of Alabama-Huntsville (yes they have a team) and a school you're all probably more familiar with, the University of Michigan.  McKenzie in particular stood out.  He had one goal and one assist in Saturday's game and two assists in Sunday's double OT win over Miami's arch nemesis, the wolverines.  McKenzie is a dominating physical presence on the ice.  Reilly Smith plays on a line with one of Miami's top scorers, the undrafted Andy Miele.  Reilly has some good skills with the puck. He's a bit thin but as a freshman, I hope he can put on some more weight.  If any of you like college hockey, check out Andy Miele - he has got some slick puck handling skills and patience with the puck.

What I think really stands out is that both of these players are freshmen and have become an important part of the lineup.  It's a hard line up to crack.  I'd love to see both of these two players eventually crack the Stars line up too - in a few years.

So I just saw that Petr Sykora cleared waivers on TSN.  I think he's a rightie.  What are your thoughts on the Stars picking him up? $1.6M contract IIRC.    It just seems to me it could be a band aid type of thing but with Lehts out and our need for right shots, I don't know. I wonder if he can play goal? And sorry I don't know if this is the right place for this.  I'm still kind of new here. I just talk a lot. - love ya - hg