With his Sharks eliminated in the first round of the NHL playoffs Justin Braun has been named to US National team that will compete at the IIHF World Championships in Sweden and Finland.  The US roster which features a lot of familiar names to UMass fans, like Jimmy Howard and Cam Atkinson, is almost entirely made up of former college players.  All of Team USA’s games will be televised on NBC Sports beginning this Friday.

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Jon Quick and the Kings grabbed a win in the first game of their second round matchup with the St Louis Blues.  Quick made 28 saves and was outstanding at times according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

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News came out that Adam Phillips went in for knee surgery this past week.  While I don’t know the severity of it, if he was trying to play through knee problems all year it could explain a lot of the struggles he had this past season.  Hopefully his recovery goes well and he’s ready to play come October.

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So yesterday I was out in Amherst for the Spring Game at McGuirk Stadium.  Coach Charley Molnar added an entertaining twist to the annual game by have the current squad play against a team of alumni.  It was great to have the chance to watch players like Marcel Shipp don the maroon and white again.  The current players have a lot of work to do as they make the leap to the FBS level and the MAC, but it’s an exciting time to be a UMass fan.  I got to speak to Bob McGovern and Marc Bertrand for a while as they stopped by my tailgate and I just want to remind everyone to keep visiting their blog Maroon Musket to keep up with everything going on with UMass football.