College Hockey:
Atlantic Hockey picks Feb. 9-11

By Chris Lerch • Atlantic Hockey Columnist • Feb. 9, 2012

Last Week: 5-5-1
On the Season: 132-56-24 (.679)

This Week’s Picks:

Thursday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 11

Rochester Institute of Technology vs. Canisius – The Golden Griffins defeated the Tigers earlier this season, snapping an eight-game winless streak against the Tigers. I think RIT, coming off a pair of stinging losses at Air Force, starts a new streak. Thursday’s game is at Buffalo State; Saturday’s at RIT. RIT 3, Canisius 1; RIT 4, Canisius 2.

Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11

Air Force at Niagara – The Purple Eagles trail the first-place Falcons by two points. Both teams are playing very well right now, a combined 10-1-1 in their last six games. I’m thinking a split. Niagara 3, Air Force 2; Air Force 4, Niagara 2.

American International vs. Bentley – The Falcons are just 3-6-1 in their last ten meetings against the Yellow Jackets, but I like them to sweep here. Bentley hosts on Friday; AIC on Saturday. Bentley 3, AIC 1; Bentley 4, AIC 3.

Holy Cross at Army – The Black Knights are playing their best hockey of the season, but still haven’t won a non-exhibition game at home. The Crusaders are coming off an impressive weekend against AIC and I think they keep rolling. Holy Cross 3, Army 2; Holy Cross 4, Army 1.

Robert Morris vs. Mercyhurst – Bragging rights for the Keystone State will be settled this weekend. Round one is in Erie; round two on the Island in Moon Township. Road teams have been doing pretty well in the west pod lately, but I think the home teams come out on top here. Mercyurst 3, RMU 2; RMU 4, Mercyhurst 2.

Sacred Heart vs. Connecticut – These are must-win games for the Huskies if they want to stay in the hunt for a first-round bye. Sacred Heart will play the role of spoiler for the rest of the season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a split, but I think the Huskies will pull these games out. UConn 3, Sacred Heart 2; UConn 5, Sacred Heart 2.

Take Me On

Feel free to chime in by posting your picks in the comments.

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http://www.afutilemistake.com/ ned
Thank you for writing this up and thank you for caring about your readers enough to apologize. I really appreciate it.
- UnionFan
  You know it would be nice to see your friday morning predictions. I know you didn’t do well last week but until then you seemed please with your work. Turn the clock back to friday and let us know what you were going to post.
Righty
Did anyone see the mighty Yale lose to another EZAC power. That makes if 4 losses this year to teams with a losing record. Just wanted to point that out.
- http://twitter.com/SullivanHockey Brian Sullivan
  It’s a tough league! As SLU’s own Joe Marsh said a few years back: “It’s tough to end another team’s season.” Winning is hard this time of year, for everybody.
  - Righty
    Tough league compared to which? Atlantic? I know you aren’t trying to compare the ECAC to Hockey East or WCHA.
    - http://twitter.com/SullivanHockey Brian Sullivan
      How about NU beating BU in Game 1? Upsets happen.
    - EliBlue
      interesting to see another North Dakota troll post on the ECAC blog without ever seeing an ECAC game or catching St Lawrence’s goalie. Shows their paranoia and the fact that they spend more time worrying about everyone else than their own team. Comes from the anger they feel about losing to Yale. I mean, anyone without a psychology degree sees that the bullies are just enraged about that and try to redirect. Hey righty, I know you won’t see a therapist because, ummm, you’re typical North Dakota, which means you have the most bottled anger (think Ralph Engelstad on a bad day) of any hockey fan. Get over the fact that you lost fair and square. Also get over the fact that you guys say you won seven titles, but last any of us looked, even your overage stoners weren’t older than third grade last time it happened. Also, get over yourself for the fact that Matt Frattin is back on the team after TWO incidents because he’s valuable. Not like you guys have any team discipline or any sort of code or honor. Hakstool is a real gem. Oh by the way, nice win last night by Yale in a physical, tough game. Not like you’d pay any attention
    - Jennaway
      hey let me smack Frattin’s nuts out of your mouth long enough for you to focus on the fact that of the top four teams in the country, two are from the ECAC.
Siwanoy
No excuse can avoid the hard question….just what were your intended predictions???? (Be honest now.)
- http://twitter.com/SullivanHockey Brian Sullivan
  To you and UnionFan: Ok, ok, I’ll post what would have been my honest predictions tonight or tomorrow. I’ll try not to let the actual outcomes taint what would have been my perspectives!
Bartman
Hard to ignore Daniel Carr of Union as Rookie of the Year Candidate, don’t you think??
- ecacfan
  Clarkson Freshman Allan McPherson led the Golden Knights in scoring in ECAC play. Hard to believe he didn’t get nominated…
#1 Ranked
Union gets a big loss… Yale gets a big loss….. watch the bias and next week they won’t even move on the PWR, keeping their seeding for the regional tourney too.
And to think, they lost to UNRANKED teams!
Guest
Andy Greene not Green and WMU coach Jeff Blashill (not Jackson).
- Paula Weston
  Thought I got that one, too. Thanks.
Lawson Lunatic
Ouch, calling Western’s coach Jeff Jackson. As ESPN would say, “C’MON MA’AM!!!”
- Srthomas09
  its been fixed.
- my brain hurts
  ARGHHHH!!!!!!! Mistakes! MIstakes everywhere, everytime!!!!!!
KAW
Paula,
Interesting that you chose to call out WMU’s students for their classlessness twice on your blog, and yet when your golden boy Hunwick throws a temper tantrum (you forgot to mention that he came out of the crease to pick a fight) you praise him for his “animation and passion.”
- Paula Weston
  I also praised them for their passion, their enthusiasm, their creativity, their energy. They were great most of the time. They’re smart and creative enough not to be vulgar or to boo the opposing band (which is classless, imo, no matter who does it). On the whole, I loved them.
  - KAW
    That’s fair.
    I also agree that it wasn’t the classiest of the Big Ten to make their announcement in a way that was deliberately designed to draw attention away from the CCHA and WCHA, which saw exactly zero big ten teams in their championships, and only one that made it to the NCAA tourney.
    - Paula Weston
      My comment was tongue-in-cheek; I wasn’t implying that the Big Ten deliberately scheduled their announcement to detract from Miami. Instead, I see their timing as unfortunate and perhaps an indication of the Big Ten’s lack of awareness about the college hockey community. I’m not sure they “get” college hockey yet. I mean, would they make such an announcement regarding basketball the Monday after the Sweet 16 was determined?
      That having been said, I’m pretty certain that they’re announcing now in an attempt to allay the fears of the college hockey community, even if their timing is off. There’s a lot of uneasiness about this and I think the BT is aware of this. Announcing this week prevents even more panicky speculation at the hockey regionals.
      I just think Monday was a poor choice of days.
      - HockeyFan
        whats one good decision the Big10 has made in the last 10 years? Leaders and Legends?
David
There is a reason that Shawn Hunwick was a walk-on. Michigan will get bounced by UNO in the first round.
Kuhn&Friends
Dear Paula, I hate to beat a dead horse, but you called out Broncos captain Ian Slater for using adversity. I would like you to watch the following video, I think he recognizes adversity. This is a great story about a great bunch of guys, Fight on Broncos, Fight on Gideon!
Kuhn&Friends
Dear Paula, I hate to beat a dead horse, but you called out Broncos captain Ian Slater for using adversity. I would like you to watch the following video, I think he recognizes adversity. This is a great story about a great bunch of guys, Fight on Broncos, Fight on Gideon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGyAs-BpCI&feature=player_embedded#at=429
Bklein09
Hey David, hunwick has been one of the best goalies in the CCHA this year. He led us to the regular season title. Hes probably better than the goalie of whatever team you root for. So suck it.
Anyone can get bounced in the first round. But a huge part of the reason Michigan is even in the tournament and a 2 seed, is because of hunwick. Pound for pound he may be the beat goalie in the nation. Reminds me of jeff lerg. If only he was 3 inches taller he would be unstoppable.
WMUevartian
I was thinking the same thing when I was watching the video K and H
Lordoftherink9
Well written article, aside from the typos. I appreciate you naming a few Miami Alum, who set the stage for bigger and better things that have happened to “The Brotherhood” in that last five years.
Having played with some of the guys you mentioned, I know that every Hockey Alum is very proud of what has been accomplished in Oxford.
Congrats to the 4 CCHA teams who made the big dance. We as College Hockey fans, and supporters of the CCHA, should all be cheering for the teams representing the CCHA to make a statement in this tournament to regain the title of best conference in the nation.
K-Dub
Dissapointed in your Beaver research. You put the Beavers second game scores with wider margins. Go back and look at their record on night number two for the season.
- Arlan Marttila
  K-Dub, In which case, you’d be really disappointed to know that I don’t do much research for the weekly picks, because by the end of the week, I’ve looked at enough box scores, statistics and other minutia that I start to lose the forest for the trees. The approach I’ve adopted to predicting the games is more art than science, and in my case, it is likely akin to a preschooler’s scribbles.
  Firsthand, I’ve seen Bemidji play better on the second night this season. A year ago, they demonstrated the opposite in my inaugural visit to the Sanford Center. Coming off a bye, BSU should come out flying in game one, score first, and lead for much of the game. Will they be able to hold off UW and get a win or tie? Not sure. I’d put the odds at about 45% the Badgers win the first game, 30% it is a tie, and 25% that the Beavers hold on, based mainly on the statistics that suggest Wisconsin almost never loses. If the first game puts a scare into the visitors, then I expect them to start faster in the second.
  So my problem here is not that I’m totally ignorant of the history of the teams, but rather that at times I know enough about both that I can concoct all sorts of wild scenarios in my head. Guess is piled on top of guess, and when one hunch flies wide of the mark, the whole pyramid topples over. I could instead choose a highly scientific method, and use something like the Rutter rankings to predict the favored team to win, and certainly be correct more often than I have been to date. Then I consider an outcome like BC at Quinnipiac and decide that in the end, no amount of analysis can save me from the hockey gods, and I go back to scribbling.
  Thanks for your sharing your opinion.
  - K-Dub
    Fair enough. We’re pretty proud and excited of our Lady Beavers success. Sertich has done a heckuva job building this program and it’s nice to see them getting some much deserved recognition. We’ll be at the Sanford this afternoon cheering for a Beaver victory.
    I enjoy your blog. Keep up the great work.
    Go Green, Go Beavers!!!!!!