9/23/22
Bulldog Insider Newsletter: Previewing UMD women's hockey at Long Island
The 2022-23 UMD hockey season gets underway this weekend when the women travel to Long Island University on Saturday and Sunday. That means the Bulldog Insider Newsletter is back for a sixth season. The first edition hit email inboxes this morning.

You'll notice a few tweaks to the newsletter this season compared to previous seasons. The first change will be the newsletter coming out on Friday mornings instead of Thursdays. That will give me more time to do what I really want to do with the newsletter, which is provide you a decent weekend preview of the upcoming weekend's action. I've always wanted this newsletter to be more than just a promotional piece, and hopefully the extra day will allow that to happen even more than in the past. The second and biggest change will be that we're adding a day. In addition to my insights and analysis on Fridays, you’ll also get a recap of the weekend action every Monday morning.

You can read the first Friday edition of the Bulldog Insider Newsletter here. This week's edition features a preview of the UMD women's series at Long Island and a recap of NCHC Media Day on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. You can subscribe to the Bulldog Insider Newsletter for free here.

9/23/22
NCHC to release all-decade team
The NCHC is celebrating its 10th season in 2022-23, and to commemorate the anniversary, the league is doing two things. The first is it will be releasing a documentary from the league's first 10 years. That will be a series of short videos coming in January to NCHC.tv. The second will be an all-decade team. The NCHC would like to name that team in the lead up to the 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff.

Mick Hatten of The Rink Live actually joined me on a bonus edition of the Bulldog Insider Podcast back in May of 2021 to do just this. We each picked our all-time All-NCHC teams that spring after I got the question as part of an Ask Wellens Anything. You can check out that episode here.

9/23/22
Quotable: NCHC commissioner Heather Weems
NCHC commissioner Heather Weems held her first "State of the Conference" address on Thursday to start NCHC Media Day. The former St. Cloud State athletic director and student-athlete at Iowa dedicated a significant portion of her address to changes happening in NCAA Division I athletics. This quote stood out to me the most:

“Obviously, the NCAA and its member institutions have aspects we need to modernize, but lately it seems we get so caught up in the business of sport that we forget about the meaning of sport. College athletics is at its essence about relationships and learning. For a great majority of student-athletes across this country, their athletic careers will end in graduation caps and gowns, but the friendships, mentorships, connections, growth and life skills gained from their participation will continue long after.”