College Hockey:
Holding serve in the first round

By Chris Lerch • Atlantic Hockey Columnist • March 5, 2012

Three thinks I learned from the first round of the Atlantic Hockey tournament:

- The higher seeds held serve. It was a struggle in most cases, but Holy Cross, Bentley (in three games), Robert Morris (in three games) and Connecticut all advanced. Robert Morris and UConn needed overtime to win one of their games.

- There were some wild finishes. UConn dodged a bullet on Friday when Canisus missed on a penalty shot attempt in overtime. The Huskies had dislodged the net on a Golden Griffins’ scoring attempt, but Tyler Wiseman, who had scored earlier in the game, was denied by Huskie goaltender Garrett Bartus. Minutes later, Alex Gerke won it for UConn.

Sunday night at Robert Morris, the Colonials were up 3-0 on American International with 15 minutes to play in the third and deciding game before AIC’s Neilsson Arcibal scored three straight goals, including one with 11 seconds left in regulation, to send the game to overtime. But the golden goal went to RMU’s Brandon Blandina just 2:36 into the extra period.

“The range of emotions we went through in the last 16 minutes of the third was just unbelievable,” said Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley. “As coaches, we had to pick ourselves up after that third period in order to go in and pick the players up.”

- Things tighten up for the next round. Seven of the eight teams left were within striking distance of the regular season title with two weeks left in the regular season. Just five points separated No. 1 Air Force and No. 7 Robert Morris in the final standings.

Here’s the difference in regular season points between the quarterfinal teams:

No. 8 UConn at No.1 Air Force: 9 points
No. 7 Robert Morris at No. 2 Niagara: 4 points
No. 6 Bentley at No. 3 Rochester Institute of Technology: 1 point
No. 5 Holy Cross at No. 4 Mercyhurst: 0 points

In other words, don’t make any plans for Sunday.

Getting my vote

Here’s my ballot for Monday’s USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll

1. Boston College
2. Minnesota-Duluth
3. Ferris State
4. Boston University
5. Michigan
6. Union
7. Minnesota
8. Mass-Lowell
9. Denver
10. Maine
11. Miami
12. Cornell
13. North Dakota
14. Merrimack
15. Michigan State
16. Western Michigan
17. Notre Dame
18. Colorado College
19. Northern Michigan
20. Air Force

The following is a self-policing forum for discussing views on this story. Comments that are derogatory, make personal attacks, are abusive, or contain profanity or racism will be removed at our discretion. USCHO.com is not responsible for comments posted by users. Please report any inappropriate or offensive comments by clicking the “Flag” link next to that comment in order to alert the moderator.

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rcbb22
I hate when you guys do a beginning, mid, and late season report and only put half the teams in at most!
- Rob
  This is about the past weekend, it isn’t a midseason report
Simon
I thought this was a mid-season review?
- durf
  it doesnt say anywhere that it’s a mid-season review. Just thoughts on the weekend games
  - Simon
    The homepage headline was “Thoughts Before the Break” so I guess I thought they would have thoughts on more than two teams.
    - Anonymous
      Copy that. It wasn’t even a weekend recap as UNO didn’t even play. No mention of BSU a team that actually played, You would think a freshman goaltender recording back to back shutouts would be worth a sentence. True, against UAH………but still………….
      - Simon
        BSU doesn’t matter to USCHO just like all the other small schools no one cares about. College hockey is starting to turn into college football, driven by money and less about the sanctity of the sport. The best part about college hockey is that it was not like all the other big name college sports. Now it will be and will more than likely be ruined.
      - guest
        If you asked the average hockey fan in Minnesota what team they really don’t care about in Minnesota, they would probably say BSU.
      - nogofer
        After umtc…
OccupyTheRalph
still can’t understand why if there’s no story, no one can write about the man whose name is on the rink at UND and how bad this guy really was. While everyone is worried about the name on the jersey, no one wants to talk about the name on the rink, and anytime anyone mentions any of the things Ralph did, it gets deleted
- http://twitter.com/Butterz07 Aaron G.
  haha, please enlighten all of us on what horrible things he did? I didn’t realize having a nazi hobby was criminal…..
  - Simon
    Well, being a Nazi sympathizer and “celebrating” one of the worst dictators who lived in the modern era certainly isn’t something to be proud of. Especially if any of your family are Holocaust survivors, it is pretty insulting.
  - Siouxicide
    actually sexually harrassing your female employees and not paying them overtime I guess are hobbies too, and celebrating Hitler’s birthday is cute.
- nogofer
  Next time you are in Vegas stop by the HOSPITAL with Ralph’s name on it…
- FightingSioux4Ever
  Where is that coming from? As if the NCAA imposing it’s politcal agenda wasn’t enough, people like you say stupid things like this. I’m still spun about the whole nickname and logo mess. But I have to sit back and take it, much like the 99% have had to take it the last 4 years. And if that commen doesn’t have any place in ths forum, than taking pot shots at a benfactor that has been dead for 10 years doesn’t, either.
http://twitter.com/Butterz07 Aaron G.
so people get paid to write this? I put more time and effort in my daily Comp 2 essays LOL
- guest
  In order to validate your claim, I would like to see you write an article.
Big Al
It is OK to be a holiday or vacation, just say so. I think you are only allowed to “call in dead” once in your life as a legit excuse at work. Tyler and Brian, this is your one, “call in dead”!