The last NCAA update found us discussing the return of former Cornell player Casey Jones to his alma mater as an assistant coach, the petition of a Colorado State alum to make Colorado State a Division I team, the Ralph Englestad Arena’s bid for the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championship, and the appointment of Tim Filangieri as assistant captain at Boston College.

This week, we take a look at a few former college hockey stars who are joining the US Hockey Hall of Fame, recap what has been happening with the Colorado State petition, and witness the reintroduction of the college hockey shootout.

Former College Hockey Stars to be Inducted

On August 12, USA Hockey announced its intentions to welcome players Brett Hull, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, and Cammi Granato into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Colorado on Friday, October 10.

Brett Hull spent two years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth before stepping out onto the international stage playing for Team USA, after which he turned pro, playing most of his career with the St. Louis Blues. Hull later played for the Dallas Stars, the Detroit Red Wings, and the Phoenix Coyotes, before retiring in 2005. Hull ranks third for career goals in the NHL with 741.

Brian Leetch played at Boston College for one year before going pro, logging 18 seasons with the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Boston Bruins, and accumulating over 1000 points, before announcing his retirement in 2007 at the age of 39.

Mike Richter, after a promising two-year stint at the University of Wisconsin at Madison spent the majority of his 14 year career, tending goal for the New York Rangers, amassing 301 wins, more than any other Rangers goalie. In 2003, Richter was forced to retire after suffering a skull fracture and concussion.

Cammi Granato played for Providence College before moving on to become a 15 year member of the US Women’s National Team, which captured the Olympic gold medal in 1998, and the silver in 2002. Granato will be the first woman to be inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame.

Colorado State Alum Makes Progress With Petition

In the last update, we mentioned how Brett Tatman, a Colorado State Alum, created a petition to move CSU into NCAA Division I hockey. Tatman’s petition website reports that, as of August 18, over 840 people have signed the petition, including DU Head Coach George Gwozdecky. According to Damien Goddard, as posted on his blog Lets Go DU, Tatman met with Colorado State athletic director, Paul Kowalczyk, on Tuesday in hopes of putting his alma mater into NCAA D-I play.

Shootout Rule in Play with CCHA

With recent changes in the NCAA rules allowing for the option of a shootout to determine tiebreakers, several conferences are on their way to re-instituting it. As of today, however, the CCHA has become the first conference to officially reinstate the shoot-out, after 90 of their regular season games have ended in ties over the past three seasons. The adoption of an NHL style shootout will now allow for every regular-season league game to end with a decided win, while at the same time preserving national rankings, as games that are decided by post-overtime shootouts will, for NCAA purposes, still be considered ties.