Morning Skate: Welcome to the best part of the hockey calendar

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Lace ‘em up. Time for the Morning Skate.

This is the best time of the hockey year.

No, not because the playoffs are around the corner. That’s boring. And agonizing.

No, I love this time of year because college hockey is winding down. And as NCAA teams finish their seasons, top prospects sign with their teams. And we get little glimpses of the bright future of the league.

Clayton Keller is suiting up with the Coyotes this week. Charlie McAvoy should join the Bruins soon. Brock Boeser signed with the Canucks on Saturday morning and scored his first NHL goal hours later.

Look, every league gets a bit stale after five months. Even if all of those teams aren’t bound for a long Stanley Cup run, it’s refreshing to have new players to get excited about as the season winds down. Like little hockey appetizers before the playoffs begin.

Unless you’re the Senators and you send your best prospect to the AHL. Lame.

The ongoing saga between the women’s team and USA Hockey took another turn this weekend: rumblings are that the men’s team is planning on boycotting their own IIHF World Championship appearance in support of the women’s team.

Talk about putting USA Hockey into a corner.

I loved what TSN’s Ray Ferraro said about this over the weekend: USWNT legend Cammi Granato and her team tried to make these moves back in the early oughts, but didn’t make much traction.

The difference now, of course, is social media. The movement and its ideas can spread like wildfire and grow organically. As Ferraro said, “Social media doesn’t allow USA Hockey to blow this off, push into background.” He’s right, and that gets more difficult with so many men’s players speaking out about it, as well.

Meanwhile, USWNT player Hilary Knight spoke out about recent negotiations with USA Hockey, and the program began scrounging around bargain bins for replacement players.

i’m sorry but this dog is playing with a puck on the ice and i am dead

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Hey guys. It’s Pat. Sorry. I’m back. I obviously need to fix the bot.

In the meantime, here’s links.