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Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Change at the top

By Jim Connelly and Todd D. Milewski
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Todd: Well, Jim, we had a weekend of upheaval among ranked teams, but no more than right at the top. Yale, the No. 1 team in the last six polls, fell twice in its trip to New York, to Union and Rensselaer, yet maintained the top spot in both the Ratings Percentage Index and the PairWise Rankings. The results told me two things: One, that the Bulldogs had a pretty sizable lead in those rankings; and two, that ECAC Hockey, if you didn’t believe it already, is legit at the top of the standings. What are your thoughts coming out of the weekend?

Jim: Well, Todd, we talked a few weeks back about how the ECAC schedule seems to bring out volatility even for the league’s best teams. No one will argue that Yale is the best team this league has put forth in a few years but RPI and Union are both solid clubs this season and, as this weekend proved, in a one-game scenario any of the three could come out on top. It also throws a huge wrench into the overall ECAC standings. Yale’s lead is down to one point and you have to think that five teams now have a shot at the regular season title. There a part of me that is reminded of last year’s Hockey East standings, where the eighth-place team qualified for the NCAA tournament. This is parity at its best.

Todd: There may be parity, but there’s also a familiar face back atop the rankings. Boston College, which started the season No. 1 as the defending national champion, has put together a nice run — winning 10 out of its last 11 games — to take over the top spot after Yale’s pair of losses. I ended up with the Eagles on top of my ballot, but not without going back and forth to other teams. I don’t think anyone would argue that BC is one of the best teams playing right now — maybe the best — but it’s only fifth in the RPI and PairWise. I try not to let the numbers speak for me when I’m voting, but it did strike me that the nation’s No. 1 team wouldn’t even be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament if it started today.

Jim: That ran through my head but I also ended up with BC at the top of my ballot. As people seem to continually remind me, the PWR at this point in the season doesn’t matter too much. If BC keeps playing hockey that will keep it No. 1 in the poll, there isn’t much doubt in my mind that the Eagles will also be the No. 1 team in the PWR come season’s end. Though it does beg the question: If you hadn’t picked BC No. 1, who would’ve gotten that vote?

Todd: I was considering Denver, although I remembered not being particularly impressed by what I saw on TV when they played at Minnesota State a couple of weeks ago. I was considering Minnesota-Duluth, although I don’t think the dour December for the Bulldogs has yet been cleared from my voting memory. I left open the possibility of keeping Yale on top because it still has the nation’s best record and, really, should I punish a team because two of its four losses happened to come on one weekend? But I realized that while you do have to keep the entire picture in mind when you’re voting, I think you do have to weigh recent results a little heavier in the equation. That’s how the poll stays fluid.

Jim: Well, you’ve brought up a point I bet a lot of people wonder about: What methods do people who vote in the USCHO.com poll use? I know, personally, I look at the previous week’s results and make most of my decisions that way. I do look at some other circumstances when making major decisions — like which team should be No. 1. In that case, I’ll take into account RPI and PairWise ranking, maybe whether or not the two teams have played each other and what the result was and what type of competition each team has beat of late. Personally, I feel the poll is a ranking of “right now” and feel, for the most part, my method rewards the teams that are playing well of late. I know there are some glitches to that mentality, which I’m sure you will point out.

Todd: I think that’s a very fair way of doing it, but, of course there’s no one correct way of ordering teams in an opinion poll. Everyone has their own way of doing things — as they should — and the aggregate result at the end turns out just about right. That’s how polls are supposed to work, right?

Anyway, on to other topics. We had a noteworthy event last week when Michigan State coach Rick Comley said he’s retiring at the end of this, his 38th season as a college hockey head coach. Comley is fourth on the all-time college wins list with 775. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know if we’re going to see very many coaches stick around for 38 years or 775 victories anymore. Put it this way: If Rico Blasi stays in college coaching and keeps at his pace of roughly 22 wins per season, he’ll reach 775 victories in the 2034-35 season. Are we going to be seeing the end of a breed of coaches over the next 10 years?

Jim: Well, first off, let me say I think Rick Comley is part of a unique group of college coaches that dedicated themselves to their career. Rick will be missed in the college hockey games, no doubt.

As to your point about a dying breed, I do believe you may be right. It has been very difficult for college coaches to remain in the game, particularly as many other entities have come calling. USA Hockey has been one. With both the U.S. National Team Development Program and the creation of programs like the American Development Model, some solid coaches have left college hockey to work with the country’s national governing body. There have been a number of coaches affected by this, though names like Ron Rolston and Roger Grillo stand out. It used to be that the pro ranks came calling and snagged the best coaches (Bob Johnson, Lou Lamoriello, etc.) But now there are a number of additional high-profile coaching options out there, no doubt.

Todd: It’ll be interesting to see whether any of today’s younger coaches are able to achieve the college longevity of Comley, Jerry York, Jack Parker, Joe Marsh, Red Berenson and Co.

Before I turn to what could be interesting this weekend, I wanted to mention the NCAA women’s hockey attendance record set at Wisconsin last Saturday, when 10,668 fans were at the Kohl Center for a Wisconsin-Minnesota game. Hope there were a few new fans made.

Anyway, the CCHA and the WCHA both offer intriguing series this weekend. Michigan, which lost to Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena last weekend, plays a pair at Miami, which split six points at Notre Dame, tying both nights and then taking turns earning the extra shootout point. Out West, the battle for the Gold Pan concludes with Denver needing just a split with Colorado College in the home-and-home series to retain the trophy.

How are things looking out East this week?

Jim: There are plenty of great rivalries out East this weekend. Start with Maine and New Hampshire playing twice in Durham in a key standings series for both teams. It may not be as competitive, but Harvard and Yale will also renew their rivalry. And of course next Monday we’ll see the annual Beanpot return to Boston with BC and BU squaring off in the second semifinal. For the record, my pick to win this year is Northeastern.

Drawing a crowd: What the women’s attendance record means for the game

By Jason Karnosky
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As the final horn sounded Saturday night at the Kohl Center, one quick look at the standings made it easy to tell the impact top-ranked Wisconsin’s 3-1 win over fourth-ranked Minnesota had for both teams.

With an 18-2-2-2 record and 58 points in the WCHA, the Badgers now hold a nearly insurmountable lead over their conference rivals with three weekends to go in the regular season.

Photo by Danny Marchewka
The first and second decks of the Kohl Center are nearly full at the start of Wisconsin's women's game against Minnesota (photo: Danny Marchewka).

However, the story of the night was far greater than just the result on the ice, especially in terms of the state of women’s hockey.

A crowd of 10,668 fans, a women’s college hockey attendance record, paid to watch the festivities. That was over 8,000 more fans than the amount that witnessed the eighth-ranked Wisconsin men’s hockey team defeat host Michigan Tech on the same night, and over 1,000 more fans than paid to see Alaska-Anchorage defeat Minnesota’s men in the highest attended WCHA men’s game of the night.

That attendance figure is more evidence for the argument that there is serious interest in the sport, at least in North America.

“Tonight was a great game for the fans who got to watch two great teams competing,” Badgers captain Meghan Duggan said. “Hopefully the people here will spread the word that women’s hockey is growing.”

Part of that incredible crowd figure had to do with the capacity of Kohl Center, the one dollar admission price and the special charity distinction associated with the game (the Becker Law Office donated one dollar to the Second Harvest Food Bank for every person who purchased a ticket).

But nearly all of the paid attendees stayed through the presentation of the check after the final buzzer. That kind of support left a lasting impression even for a player like Duggan, who competed for the United States in the Olympics last year.

“It was incredible and I got the goose bumps just thinking about it,” Duggan said of playing in front of so many people. “I think for a lot of the girls on the team, we’ve never seen anything like that. … It created a great atmosphere in the building and really got us going in the game.”

Count Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson as one of the people who was extremely proud of what the night accomplished.

“The people of Madison really came out and supported what we were trying to do tonight,” Johnson said. “There are not many games, this being the first women’s college hockey game, to have over 10,000 people watch.”

The final attendance figure blew Johnson away.

“I was anticipating anywhere from 6-8,000 people and we got well past that,” Johnson said. “That’s a tribute to the people who support our program.”

But Johnson also noted that a fortunate scheduling date and strong promotion of the game helped lead to its incredible success.

“Our marketing department did a great job of getting the word out, but we were lucky with the having the Wisconsin men’s basketball team and men’s hockey team out of town for the weekend,” Johnson said. “We became the only show tonight in Madison.”

Even though his team ended up on the losing end of a 3-1 decision, Minnesota coach Brad Frost felt like the night was a special one for his players.

“It was a great experience for our players and I was kind of itching to play myself,” Frost said. “When you see a big crowd like that, whether it’s your own crowd or the opposition’s crowd, you feed off that. It felt like you were playing in a big game, which tonight was.”

Frost could tell right away that his team was in for a challenge with how fast the Badgers came out of the gates.

“Wisconsin came out tonight with really good energy, like we knew they would feeding off the big crowd,” Frost said. “They were able to get those two quick ones in the first period [by taking advantage of it].”

One player who was clearly motivated by the atmosphere was the Badgers’ Brianna Decker. The sophomore forward scored a brilliant short-handed goal six-and-a-half minutes into the first period.

“Everyone was pretty pumped up out there, whether you played two minutes or 20,” Decker said. “We came out onto the ice to the band, which we’ve had maybe once since I’ve been here. And the student section was pretty filled up, so it felt like I was playing in a men’s game.”

Wisconsin’s Hilary Knight did one better, scoring on Wisconsin’s first shift of the game just 46 seconds after the opening faceoff. Though Knight had scored a school record 98 times prior to that point, the junior forward was so excited by the goal that she jumped into the boards and went tumbling to the ice trying to celebrate it.

“I fell, which made for an interesting celebration,” said Knight, smiling after the game. “[But] you don’t get to score in front of 10,000 people all that often, so I figured I would try to celebrate it Alex Ovechkin-style. [I knew] Meghan [Duggan] would be right there to help me out.”

As another veteran of the electric atmosphere in Vancouver last February, Knight thought it was great to see this kind of environment back at home in the United States.

“It was awesome that this was in the U.S.,” Knight said. “It was doubly amazing that it was for our school as everyone here was from Wisconsin, [showing] Badgers spirit and doing all of the cheers and the chants.”

Knight credited Badgers fans for making the event a rousing success.

“The turnout tonight was an incredible,” Knight said. “But we are really fortunate to have the fans that we do here.”

However, Knight wants to see this kind of support more often, which would show the sport was truly coming of age.

“I challenge our fans to bring a similar crowd like this to every game,” Knight said. “We really fed off their energy and we were really fortunate to have them.”

Weekend Rewind – Jan. 31

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We now have one month left in the 2010-2011 regular season and the conference playoff pictures are starting to shake out.

In the ECAC East, Norwich has a five-point lead over Manhattanville and looks to have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs locked up for the first time in program history after the Valiants were swept this past weekend by UMass Boston and St. Anselm. However, maybe Manhattanville will prefer a change of scenery after the Valiants lost in the semifinals at the Playland Ice Casino the last two seasons and watch Norwich skate away withthe tournament title both times.

In the ECAC West, RIT needs seven points in its final four games to lock up the title. The Tigers have two games each with Oswego and Elmira left. If Elmira and RIT split, Plattsburgh and RIT will be tied for the regular season title assuming each team wins its remaining league games.

In the NESCAC, Amherst and Middlebury are deadlocked with identical 10-1-1 record and 21 points each. The Panthers face Hamilton, Conn. College, Colby and Bowdoin; while Amherst faces Bowdoin twice on the road and hosts Williams for two.

In the MIAC, St. Thomas and Gustavus Adolphus are deadlocked with identical 7-2-1 records and 15 points. First and sixth place are separated by only five points as St. Olaf has 10 points. The MIAC has shown the most parity top to bottom in the conference once again this season, but GAC has to continue to be considered the favorites until they are dethroned.

In the NCHA, River Falls is three points clear of second-place Superior and has two games in hand on the Yellowjackets. The Falcons, baring a collapse have locked up home-ice advantage. Concordia Wis. has come onto the scene in the NCHA and has established itself as a threat this season after going 2-1-1 the last two weekends against Lake Forest and Superior.

Apparently this past weekend should have been called record-breaking weekend or milestone weekend with the amount of achievements that happened.

Norwich junior forward Julie Fortier became just the second player in program history to record 100-career points and 50 career goals. Fortier tallied a hat trick and all three goals in Norwich’s 3-2 win over New England College on Friday.

Elmira freshman forward Tori Charron tied the all-time single-game record of six goals when she tallied two natural hat tricks in the Soaring Eagles’ game against Chatham. Charron tied Manhattanville’sKatie Little, who scored six goals in a game against Plymouth State last season. She also tied the single-game record of eight points in a game by picking up two assists as well to tie  Annie Annunziato’s (Augbsburg; 5-3-8) eight points against Hamline in 2003 and Andrea Peterson’s (Gustavus Adolphus; 2-6-8) eight points against St. Catherine in 2005.

RIT head coach Scott McDonald picked up his 100th career victory after his Tigers swept Buffalo State. He reached the milestone in just 128 games, which is the second-fastest the milestone has ever been reached next to Plattsburgh’s Kevin Houle, who did it in 122.

The last thought I’ll leave you withthis week is something I came across today while at work. How many hockey players have you ever heard of from Australia? Well, there is one playing Division III hockey at Plymouth State. Stephanie Newmark is a freshman defenseman with the Panthers and is from Sydney, Australia. In 18 games played this season, she has recorded two assists. Kudos to Stephanie!

Player of the Week – Kayte Holtz, Bowdoin

Katie, a sophomore from New Berlin, Wis., scored seven goals on the weekend to help lead the Polar Bears to a sweep of Division I Sacred Heart. Holtz scored four goals in Saturday’s 6-2 win and then followed up with three goals and an assist in Sunday’s 8-2 win over the Pioneers. Holtz has 21 goals on the season and seven assists. Her 21 goals rank second in the country to only Elmira’s Tori Charron.

Goalie of the Week – Mel Gerten, St. Catherine

Mel, a senior goalie from Inner Grove Heights, Minn., helped St. Catherine take three points for the first time ever from Gustavus Adolphus. Gerten made 38 saves to backstop St. Catherine to a 2-1 win over the Gusties. She followed up with 29 saves in a 1-1 tie against GAC the next night. Gerten is 7-5-2 on the season with a 1.98 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.

Rookie of the Week – Tori Charron, Elmira

Tori, a freshman from Goodwood, Ont., tied the single-game record with her six goals in Saturday’s win over Chatham. Charron scored two natural hat tricks and picked up two assists to tie the single-game points record too. She was named the ECAC West Player of the Week and leads the country with 24 goals. She also has seven assists on the season for 31 total points.

SUNYAC wrap: Jan. 31

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A First For Cortland
“It’s like the WCHA of Division III, where everyone can beat anyone.”
Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith said that last week before his game against Buffalo State. How prophetic he turned out to be, but not for his team.
Cortland had never beaten Plattsburgh in Plattsburgh. These two schools have been playing each other since the 1976-77 season. Thus, by de facto, Cortland never swept a North Country trip.
Now they have, in stunning fashion, with two completely different games. Cortland not only defeated Plattsburgh, they shut them out 2-0. The Red Dragons followed that win up with a thrilling, momentum-shifting, come-from-behind 7-6 overtime victory at Potsdam.
It took just 20 seconds for Cortland to stun the Plattsburgh crowd when Jarrett Gold scored.
“We had bad coverage on the play and you can’t give up a goal that early in a game,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery told the Press-Repulican.
To make matters worse, Cortland scored with six seconds left in the second period, thanks to Joey Christiano on a breakaway just as he left the penalty box.
“They had good timing on their second goal, and it’s one of those plays where nobody was at fault,” Emery said. “But, it’s a Cardinal sin to give up a goal early in the period and a goal late in the period.”
Plattsburgh poured it on in the final period, outshooting Cortland, 15-6 (and 40-16 for the game), and pulled their goalie for the last 1:33, but Brittan Kuhlman stopped every attempt for the shocking shutout.
“This was a bad, bad loss for us — it’s going to really hurt us,” Emery said.
Not so for Cortland. It was an historic win for their program and head coach Joe Baldarotta, and it will help them a lot.
Cortland most likely suffered the proverbial hangover the next night, falling behind 4-1 after the first period to Potsdam. Michael Lysyj tied the game at one, but then Colin MacLennan scored twice within 42 seconds to initially give the momentum to the Bears.
After Potsdam was done scoring three unanswered goals, Cortland scored four in a row in the second period, led off by Lysyj’s second, followed by Gold, and then two by Erik Nordqvist to take a 5-4 lead.
Potsdam then swung the game back to their favor with two straight scores in the middle of the third period for a 6-5 lead. Christiano then scored with 2:34 left in regulation to tie it.
A.J. Moyer won the game at 1:09 of overtime.
By the time the weekend was over, what looked to be a lost season for Cortland suddenly turned into a playoff race for them. The Red Dragons are now one point behind Fredonia (whom they already lost to twice) for the last playoff spot and two points behind Buffalo State (1-0-1 against the Bengals), albeit with the Western New York teams having a game in hand.
Yet, after this past weekend’s firsts, who knows what tricks Cortland has up their sleeves.
Other Highlights
– As hard as it is to fathom, Cortland’s feats overshadowed the huge Oswego-Plattsburgh showdown. Vick Schlueter scored twice on the power play in the first to give Plattsburgh the initial lead. Chris Laganiere in the first and Chris Muise on a second period power play tied the game. Ryan Craig gave the Cardinals their last lead early in the third on yet another power play. However, Jon Whitelaw and Luke Moodie (power play) won the game for the Lakers, 4-3.
– In a wild affair at Brockport, Morrisville came away with an 8-6 win. The Mustangs scored four power-play goals, each team got a short-handed goal, they combined for three goals in a 1:32 span, a two-goal combination within 26 seconds, and Brockport scored twice within 1:18. Oh, and there were no goals at all in the first period, and Brockport did not score on a penalty shot. A wild affair indeed.
– Not to feel left out, Fredonia and Buffalo State also took part in a high-scoring game which Fredonia won, 6-4. The Blue Devils led 3-0 and 5-1 before the Bengals put a scare into them. The first two goals were scored 15 seconds apart, and then the teams traded goals within 59 seconds. The teams combined for seven power-play goals.
– In a key game, Geneseo defeated Morrisville, 4-1, outshooting them 47-29. Carson Schell, Jonathan Redlick, and David Arduin twice on the power play gave the Ice Knights a 4-0 lead before Morrisville’s Rob Sgarbossa scored, all before the third period. Corey Gershon made 28 saves for the win. This puts Geneseo in second place by two points over Morrisville, but the Mustangs have a game in hand. The Ice Knights currently hold the tie-breaker.
– Oswego had no problems against Potsdam, rolling to an 8-1 win. Ian Boots scored twice, and Paul Beckwith made 30 saves.
– In the only nonconference game, Brockport was fired up for their Saves for a Cure event, tying Neumann, 2-2. After a scoreless first period, Pay Hayden gave the Golden Eagles the lead early in the second. When Neumann tied the game, Adam Schoff regained the lead for Brockport 1:35 later. An early third period goal locked it up again early in the third before a scoreless overtime. Oliver Wren made 41 saves.
SUNYAC Players of the Week (selected by the conference)
Player of the Week: David Arduin, Geneseo (F, Jr., Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) scored a pair of power-play goals to lead Geneseo to a 4-1 SUNYAC win over visiting Morrisville Saturday afternoon. Arduin netted the first of his two goals at 15:30 of the first period and gave the Ice Knights a 4-0 lead at 6:15 of the second period with his ninth of the season.
Rookie of the Week: Taylor Vince, Morrisville (D, Barrie, Ontario) tallied two goals and two assists for Morrisville in the 8-6 victory over Brockport on Friday. He tied the game at 1-1 6:15 into the second period before assisting on back-to-back goals later in the period to give the Mustangs a 4-1 lead. Vince opened the third period with an unassisted goal for a 6-2 lead.
Goaltender of the Week: Brittan Kuhlman, Cortland (Jr., Omaha, Nebraska) turned aside 40 shots as Cortland posted its first-ever shutout of the Cardinals and its first-ever win at Plattsburgh. He preserved the shutout with 15 third-period saves. Kuhlman followed up with 31 saves in a come-from-behind overtime win at Potsdam the next night. For the weekend, he posted a 2-0 record with a .922 save percentage and a 2.97 GAA.

ECAC East/NESCAC weekend wrap: Jan. 31

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It’s official — scoreboard watching season has opened and now will be in full swing entering the final three weekends of the regular season. As if things weren’t hotly contested enough in the conference standings, this past weekend’s action clearly tightened the races and has teams wondering about how to get as many of the 12 points available in February as they can.
So, who are this week’s movers and shakers?
At the top of the ECAC East, it has become the battle of Vermont with Castleton and Norwich tied for first with 22 points apiece — six points clear of third place Babson. Technically, Castleton has the top spot on the basis of more wins (11 vs. NU’s 10) and has been on a roll this season.  Currently at 17-2-0, the Spartans are unbeaten on the road at 10-0 this season, where they will play four of their final six games.  Of the remaining home games, one will be the rematch with Norwich in two weeks, where the Cadets will try to avenge a nonconference loss before Christmas in a game that likely will have more significance in the standings and potential hosting of the ECAC East final four should the teams get there.
For third place Babson, last weekend found the Beavers picking up three of four points for the second weekend in a row.  After a 9-4 pasting of St. Mike’s on Friday, coach Jamie Rice’s squad played a great game against Norwich and earned a point with a 4-4 overtime tie.  Senior Jason Schneider (4-3-7) was the offensive star of the weekend and he may be finding his game at just the right time of the year.  After redshirting last year due to a serious knee injury, Schneider started out slowly this season, but has now scored nine goals and leads Babson with five game-winning tallies.
Fourth place Massachusetts-Boston stumbled this weekend, losing both ends of the Norwich-St.Michael’s road trip.  After a difficult 2-0 loss on Friday to the Cadets, the Beacons really had trouble getting it going against the Purple Knights and lost 4-1 while being outshot 45-30. Only Vinnie Jacona’s late third period goal prevented senior goalie Brendan Rimmer from his second shutout of the season.  The Beacons return home this weekend for their final two games against ECAC East conference opponents before finishing the season with battles against four of the top teams in the NESCAC conference.
Speaking of the NESCAC conference, things have certainly tightened up in the standings after it looked like a couple of teams might go and hide from the rest of the league.  Right now, just seven points separate first from seventh place in the standings, so a good weekend or a bad one in the final three certainly can change a position quickly.
For league leader Bowdoin, this past weekend saw two key matchups with Williams and Middlebury. The Polar Bears split the weekend games, holding on for a 3-2 win over the Ephs before dropping a hard-fought game, 4-2, to the resurgent Panthers.  This weekend promises more of the same playoff intensity as Bowdoin heads on the road to face two other top-four contenders in Hamilton and Amherst.
Look at the standings and you just might be surprised by the No. 2 team in the standings.  Hamilton proved this past weekend that they will win anyway you want to play it.  On Friday night, the Continentals needed an empty-net goal to close out a 3-1 victory over Southern Maine.  On Saturday, it looked like the NHL All-Star game with a 10-7 scoring bonanza against UNE, where the visitors scored eight times in the second period to take control of the game.  Joe Houk, Michael DiMare and Bryan Kelly each had two goals in the game and will need to bring the offense home this weekend against always tough Colby and Bowdoin.
Amherst became the first team to lose this season in league play to UNE.  As previewed, this was a trap game, as the Nor’easters had been playing well with nothing to show for it in the win column until their 5-2 victory over a struggling Lord Jeffs team that suffered its third consecutive loss.  Saturday’s 3-0 win over Southern Maine righted the ship, but it doesn’t get any easier for Amherst, with their final four games on the road against ECAC East opponents.
There is another team lurking just outside the top four, and it should be no surprise that Middlebury has got things going.  A 4-1 win over Colby on Friday was followed up by a 4-2 win in the rematch of last year’s NESCAC championship game, and the Panthers are just one point out of a home playoff seeding with one game in hand on three teams above them in the standings.  Since January 1, Bill Beaney’s squad is 6-1-3, and will really find out where they are with three more road games this week, including Plattsburgh on Tuesday night and Norwich on Friday night.  Juniors Martin Drolet and Charlie Strauss have led the Panthers back from the disappointing start early in the season and, once again, Middlebury appears to be in the mix.
There is  still a lot of hockey to be played in February, but the weekends and number of games are going by at a frightening pace.  Not much time left to make your move and play the best hockey you can and need to when it matters most.
3, 2, 1…drop the puck!

ECAC West weekend wrap: Jan. 31

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A pair of sweeps highlighted ECAC West play last weekend.  At the top of the standings, Elmira continued its success at Manhattanville’s Playland Ice Casino, beating the Valiants 3-1 and 4-3.
Friday night saw Elmira score a goal in each period, with the last going into an empty net with 30 seconds remaining as Manhattanville scrambled to tie the game.  The only Valiants goal came six minutes into the third period.
Saturday, on the other hand, was a more wide-open game.  Elmira’s number two  scorer, Kevin Willer, scored his second short-handed goal of the season just two minutes into the contest.  Unlike the previous night, Manhattanville not only answered back, but took a 2-1 lead in the second period.
Elmira turned on the gas in the third period, scoring three unanswered goals in the first 13-plus minutes to take a 4-2 lead.  Manhattanville added a power-play goal at 14:40, but that was as close as the Valiants could get.
The sweep has given Elmira a four-point lead in the league.  More importantly, the Soaring Eagles have opened up enough distance between themselves and the rest of the league to take control of their own fate.
In the middle of the pack, Utica swept Hobart at The Aud to move into second place in the league.  Friday was a wild affair, with three of the Pioneers goals coming off of breakaways.  Utica scored two goals in the first period to establish its lead, including one by Tim Coffman with 39 seconds remaining in the period.
Hobart climbed back into the contest when Tommy Capalbo tallied the only goal in the second period.  The Statesmen thought they had tied the game early in the third period, but the referees waived off the apparent goal with a controversial high-sticking call.
Utica scored a pair of goals during the last seven minutes of the contest, compared to only one for Hobart, to seal the 4-2 victory.
Saturday’s game was all Utica, as the Pioneers won all the little battles on the ice, and the big battle on the scoreboard, to roll to a 5-0 win.
“The bottom line is they outplayed us Saturday night,” said Hobart coach Mark Taylor.  “We’ve had a couple of games this year where you could feel it just wasn’t in the air.”
The pair of wins vaulted Utica into a tie for second place with Neumann  in the standings and dropped Hobart into a fourth place tie with Manhattanville.
“That was not the way we planned the weekend, but that is hockey,” said Taylor.  “It was not what we wanted to come out of the series weekend with, by any means.  Utica played an outstanding weekend.”

Weekend wrap-up 1/31/11

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Five of the 12 games in Atlantic Hockey this weekend went to overtime, with four ending in draws. For the second straight weekend, there were three ties on Saturday.

But Holy Cross and American International came though with sweeps, with the Crusaders grabbing a firm hold on a playoff first round bye. Holy Cross swept Connecticut 4-2 and 4-0 behind two strong goaltending performances from Adam Roy.

AIC moved out of the AHA basement with a sweep over struggling Sacred Heart. The Yellow Jackets won two close games: 6-4 with an ENG on Friday and then 2-1 on Saturday behind a 38-save performance by Ben Meisner.

Bentley took three points from Army in a pair of low scoring games. The Falcons won 2-1 on Friday before settling for a 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Another team that captured three hard-fought points on home ice was Air Force, which tied and beat Canisius. Jacques Lamoureux had a pair of goals in each game.

In a single game affair, nothing was settled between Rochester Institute of Technology and Mercyhurst thanks to a last-minute goals by Laker Paul Chaisson to tie the game at 3-3. It was the third straight Saturday night that the Tigers have played to a 3-3 draw.

And finally, in the most anticipated series of the weekend, Robert Morris and Niagara went to overtime both nights, with the Colonials coming out on top 6-5 on Friday and the Purple Eagles getting two third period goals to force a 2-2 tie on Saturday.

All told, eight of 12 games were decided by a goal or less. Amazing.

How’d I do?

With so many ties in the AHA, it’s probably fitting that both guest analyst Jim Koewler and I were 4-3-4. I’m now 80-47-20 so far and 7-5-1 against my guests.

Want to challenge me? Drop me a line.

Since I was Justin the neighborhood…a couple of Schultz’s old Wisconsin teammates on his Hobey campaign

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In my last post, I noted that since Matt Carle finished 10th in scoring in the country in 2005-06 with 1.36 PPG, the person who’s come closest to matching those numbers is Wisconsin’s Justin Schultz. Schultz is currently tied 14th in the country with 1.30 PPG, which is on a pace to best former teammate Brendan Smith, who finished 15th last season with 1.24 PPG. Schultz also leads the Badgers in points with 39, and shares the team lead in goals with 15 in 30 games (four more goals than Carle had in 39 games).

Well, today, I was at New York Rangers practice, working on a story for New York Hockey Journal, and in between interviews for that story, I took the opportunity to talk to Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh, two of the leaders of last year’s team that went to the national championship game, about Schultz, Smith, and what it is about Wisconsin that produces such prolific scorers on the blueline.

“I don’t want to compare those two guys,” Stepan said. “They’re very different, but they’re both competitors, and that’s something where they’re very similar. They compete hard, they hate to lose, but they’re different styles in the way they get things done.”

McDonagh, meanwhile, sees more similarities between Schultz and Smith.

“They’re both good skaters,” McDonagh said, “Tall lanky guys, both can shoot the puck real hard, and both have real good vision for finding guys and finding lanes to the net.”

And, while he wasn’t one of those bigtime point producers himself, McDonagh noted that the Wisconsin blueline has featured some strong offensive d-men in recent years.

“It’s always been good,” McDonagh said. “Even before I was there, they had Tom Gilbert, Ryan Suter was there before him. They’ve got a good plethora of offensive d-men. Eaves thrives on jumping up in the play, and on the power play, he likes having two defensemen up top no matter what. Some teams do five forwards or four forwards and a D, but he’s always got two of them up there.

“I know Schultzy’s been running it since his freshman year, so it’s no coincidence that he’s come around and put the puck in the net.”

Schultz is starting to make more and more sense as a Hobey candidate, with the top two scorers in the country playing for a team that is in danger of not making the NCAAs, Yale’s array of high-scoring forwards not being so high-scoring at the moment, and the lingering question of whether one of BC’s high-scoring forwards – in this case, Cam Atkinson – will get that Hobey that has eluded Brian Gionta, Chris Collins, Nathan Gerbe, Patrick Eaves, Tony Voce, etc. If the Badgers continue to play well, and Schultz remains in the territory he’s in on the scoring charts, Wisconsin may not have nearly so long to wait for its second Hobey winner as it did for its first.

Boston College ousts Yale as poll’s No. 1 team

USCHO Staff Report
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Boston College is back where it started the season — atop the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll.

The Eagles, winners of 10 of their last 11 games, received 41 of 50 first-place votes to displace Yale as the nation’s top-ranked team.

Yale slipped to third after losses at Union and Rensselaer.

Denver moved up one spot to second, while Minnesota-Duluth jumped to No. 4, displacing North Dakota, now at No. 5.

New Hampshire rose to No. 6, Wisconsin jumped to seven, Michigan dropped two places to No. 8, and RPI and Notre Dame switched spots, with RPI moving to No. 9.

Union climbs up two ranks to No. 11, Merrimack does the same to No. 12, while Miami falls two spots to No. 13. Boston University goes from No. 16 to 14 and Maine falls three to round out the top 15.

Western Michigan, with the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at 11 games, rises one spot to No. 16, Dartmouth jumps one to No. 17, Nebraska-Omaha falls three to 18, and Princeton (No. 19) and Colorado College (No. 20) remain the same as last week.

 

MCHA, MIAC and NCHA weekend wrap: Jan. 31

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With a win and a tie over St John’s, Concordia (Minn.) streaked into second place behind No. 11 Hamline in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The three points earned sets up a battle between the MIAC’s second and third place teams, as the Cobbers (9-8-4, 5-3-4) host Gustavus Adolphus (11-6-2, 5-3-2) on Friday and Saturday. The Gusties were idle this weekend.
Goals by Jared Collen and Caleb Suderman rescued a 2-2 tie for Concordia, which fell behind 2-0 to the visiting Johnnies on Saturday. St. John’s Conor Rooney and Grant Ellena opened the scoring.
The tie extended the Cobbers’ unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1).
“We had kind of marked January 14 as a point where we wanted to be hitting our stride,” Concordia Coach Chris Howe said. “We played well (in a 3-0 loss) against St. Thomas on that Friday and then we played really well (in a 3-2 win over the Tommies) on Saturday, and we’ve been pretty good since.
“So our team feels we are where we want to be at this point of the year.”
On Friday, Ben Payne’s goal 2:20 into overtime gave Concordia its fourth straight win in the series’ opener against St. John’s. Again, the Cobbers erased a two-goal deficit, as Aaron Wheeler and Dave Velich grabbed goals. Velich’s marker tied the contest at 2-2 with 7:28 left in regulation.
Tobias Linbro and Rooney scored for the Johnnies, who led 2-0 going into the third period. The OT victory was the Cobbers’ second this season, which is in stark contrast to the team’s previous extra-time forays. The Cobbers’ 3-2 victory over St. Olaf on Nov. 20 was the team’s first OT win in four seasons as team was 0-4-7 during that time (2006 to 2010).
Friday’s victory over St. John’s marked Howe’s first as Cobbers coach. The team was 0-5-1 against the fourth-year coach’s alma mater. Howe also served as assistant coach at St. John’s for five seasons prior to taking the Concordia post in 2008.
More importantly, the team has discovered a way to win one-goal games, said Howe, who put the trend on par with a golfer finding the right stroke.
“We learned how to play to win one-goal games,” Howe said. “(After the St. Thomas victory), we were able to watch ourselves on tape play with the energy and the passion you need to win tight games.
“We have been able to repeat that swing as you would in golf. We’ve been able to find a swing we can repeat now.”
Missed opportunity
With a pair of one-goal losses, Wisconsin-Superior missed a golden opportunity to gain ground on No. 2 St. Norbert, which was held to a 3-3 draw by Wisconsin-Eau Clare on Saturday.
The draw gives the Green Knights (17-3-1, 11-2-1) a five-point lead in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association standings heading into the final month of regular-season play. The Yellowjackets (12-8-1, 9-5) dropped 1-0 results to Wisconsin-River Falls and Wisconsin-Stout in consecutive days.
On Friday, UW-Superior was seven seconds away from earning a tie when Geoff Shewmake scored to give visiting UW-River Falls (9-11-1, 5-9) the overtime victory. Falcons freshman goalie Scott Lewan made 32 saves to earn his second career shutout.
The Yellowjackets’ goal drought continued Saturday, as Charles Lachance’s first period goal turned out to be the game-winner for visiting UW-Stout (12-9, 7-7). Blue Devils’ netminder Tom Lescovich turned away all 37 UW-Superior’s shots on goal.
Despite only surrendering two goals in two games, Yellowjackets freshmen goaler Drew Strandberg was tagged with the losses.
Assist aces
Adrian teammates Shawn Skelly and Mike Dahlinger are neck-and-neck in a race to become Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association’s career assist leader. Dahlinger leads with 86; Skelly has 85.
Skelly set the career helper mark with his 83rd and 84th league assists in the No. 8 Bulldogs’ 6-1 trouncing of visiting Finlandia Friday. Skelly surpassed Finlandia’s Josh Paquette, who posted 83 career assists from 2004 to 2008.
On Saturday, Dahlinger had three assists in Adrian’s 9-2 win over the struggling Lions to leapfrog over his teammate. Skelly had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s game.
Overall, Skelly has 117 career assists to Dahlinger’s 99 when including nonleague play.
Coach Ron Fogarty doesn’t want career achievements overshadowing the task at hand, though.
“I want those guys to shoot,” Adrian coach Ron Fogarty told the Adrian Telegram. “When you have a record like that, it gets in your mind that you’re going to pass to try to obtain it. That’s the wrong way to play the game. If you have an opportunity to shoot, you better be taking that shot.”

ECAC Northeast and MASCAC weekend wrap: Jan. 31

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Another weekend, and another shift in conference standings, as the MASCAC has a new top dog this Monday morning. Here’s a look at all that went down this weekend.
Saturday, Jan. 29
Nichols 5, Salve Regina 4: A four-goal outburst  by Nichols in the second period broke a scoreless tie and seemed to wrap a victory up for the Bisons.  After Greg Strootman’s goal gave Nichols a 5-0 lead  early in the final period, Salve Regina roared back with four unanswered goals. It wasn’t enough however, as the Bisons held on to extend their winning streak to four and push them to fourth in the ECAC Northeast.
Curry 5, Becker 5: A frantic first two periods saw a combined nine goals and Curry with a slim 5-4 lead entering the third, but freshman Korby Anderson’s third goal of the game at 19:55 sent it to overtime, where neither team could break the deadlock. Curry outshot Becker 55-31, with the Hawks’ Jake Rosenthal producing 55 saves.
Wentworth 6, Western New England 2: A deceiving final score hides what was a close game until Wentworth put it away with three third period goals, including two in the final two minutes.  Anthony Principato scored two goals for the Leopards, while  Casey Shade added two assists.  Eric Sorenson stopped 46 shots for the Golden Bears.
Massachusetts-Dartmouth 5, Framingham State 2: Again, another game that the final score makes look more comfortable than it really was.  The Rams pulled to within 3-2 early in the third on a Benjamin Pacific goal, but the Corsairs responded with two scores to put the game away.
“Some of our big goal scorers are starting to step up,” UMD coach John Rolli told Corsair Athletics.com after game. “Todd Bartelson scored for us off an end zone faceoff, and Joe Hill scored a big goal to restore our two-goal lead. Framingham played a good game; they hung in there and kept fighting.”
Worcester State 6, Westfield State 2: The Lancers stopped a three-game skid with three goals in the final period to pull away from the Owls.  Chris Wallin’s second goal of the game made it 4-2 at 5:43 in the third, and Brice Cook and Brendan Galley added the final markers of the game for Worcester. Brian Kalczynski made 46 saves for the Lancers.
Fitchburg State 4, Plymouth State 1: Three third period goals broke a 1-1 tie and gave Fitchburg State the top spot in the MASCAC entering the week. Chris Riggs had two goals for the Falcons, who also received 30 saves from Bobby  Leiser. The loss is just the second of the year for the Panthers, and first since Nov. 18 at Salem State.  The Falcons extended their unbeaten streak to five with the win.
Sunday, Jan, 30
Johnson and Wales 4,  Suffolk 2: Jeremiah Ketts’ scored his 14th goal of the year to break a 2-2 late in the third. Jason Pietrasiak’s second goal of the game capped the scoring for the Wildcats, who moved into a tie with Curry for first place in the ECAC Northeast.  Ketts’ 14 goals are tops in the conference and tied for eighth overall nationally.
Weekly Honors
MASCAC
Player of the Week: Chris Riggs, Fitchburg State. Netted a pair of goals and three assists for five points in 2-0 week for Falcons, including pair of markers and helper in 4-1 victory at Plymouth State to go with pair of assists in 6-1 triumph over Worcester State.
Goalie of the Week: Bobby Leiser, Fitchburg State: Stopped 30-of-31 shots in the Falcons’ 4-1 win over Plymouth State Saturday.

Weekend recap: Jan. 27-28

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Very interesting weekend that just passed in Hockey East as the results of the games shuffled the Hockey East standings a bit with just four weekends remaining.

The marquis series of the weekend didn’t disappoint. Boston University went up to Orono and walked away with three of four points against Maine, despite two nailbitter games that could’ve gone either way. The Terriers rallied from 3-1 down on Friday to earn a 4-3 victory, just Maine’s second loss of the season at home. On Saturday, BU survived an absolute onslaught from the Black Bears, which include being outshot, 20-2, in the opening period. At the end of the frame, though, each team had registered a goal and neither could find the back of the night for the remaining 45 minutes and the game finished in a 1-1 tie.

The results of the weekend series probably mattered more for Maine than BU. The Terriers remained in third place after the weekend, though distanced themselves from the Black Bears. Maine, on the other hand, fell to fifth place, and out of the final home ice slot being leapfrogged by Merrimack, which swept Vermont, 2-1 and 7-1.

New Hampshire grabbed two wins over Providence on the weekend and, in doing so, jumped back into a tie with Boston College, which won its only game of the weekend, 5-1, over Massachusetts-Lowell. UNH entered the weekend with three games in hand on BC and made up one of those up this past weekend. That trend will continue in each of the following two weekends as the Eagles play just single league games (due to the Beanpot).

Passing BC in the next two weekends is hardly a slam dunk for the Wildcats. UNH will face a hungry Maine team at home this weekend for two before playing Merrimack in a home-and-home the following week.

The other key series this past weekend was Northeastern’s win and tie over Massachusetts. Huskies goaltender Chris Rawlings impressively posted his third shutout in four games on Friday with a 3-0 win before the Huskies earned a 2-2 road tie on Saturday. The three points for the Huskies further cemented their position in sixth place as they are now five points ahead of UMass. At the same time, Northeastern remains in the race for home ice, just two points behind fourth-place Merrimack and one behind Maine. The only downside for the Huskies is, like BC and BU, Northeastern will play just single games the next two weekends, allowing the Warriors and Black Bears the opportunity to extend their leads.

The weekend that was: Week 17

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On the fly

Friday, January 28

Brown 0 at Rensselaer 3

Despite out-shooting the Engineers 36-20, Brown took the goose-egged L as RPI won the special-teams game. Senior Chase Polacek and Bryan Brutlag potted power-play goals late in the first period to pace the ‘Tute, and classmate Tyler Helfrich added the empty-netter in support of junior Allen York (36 saves, second shutout of the season). The Engineers went 2/5 on the advantage on the evening, while the penalty kill blanked Bruno on five power plays of its own. Brown junior Mike Clemente made 17 saves on 19 shots in defeat.

Colgate 2 at Harvard 6

Sophomore defenseman Danny Biega scored an early equalizer, the power-play game-winner, and a short-handed empty-netter to lead Harvard to its first win in four weeks (1-7-0). The victory snapped a seven-game free-fall, while Colgate’s winless slide extended to 12 games (0-11-1). Sophs Conor Morrison and Alex Fallstrom lit the lamp for the Crimson, as did junior Alex Killorn. Ryan Carroll made 27 saves in net for Harvard. Sophomore Robbie Bourdon and senior Francois Brisebois scored for the Raiders; frosh Eric Mihalik sustained the damage with three goals on 13 shots, while junior Alex Evin mopped up with nine saves on 10 shots.

Cornell 2 at Dartmouth 2 (ot)

The Big Red and Big Green traded goals in the second and third period, and traded blows at the final horn in the stalemate. Senior Rob Smith and junior Connor Goggin scored for the Green, supporting junior James Mello (17 saves) in net. Junior Sean Collins and senior Joe Devin tallied for the visitors, as rookie Andy Iles stopped 31 of 33. The teams came to fisticuffs at the last buzzer, resulting in 36 minutes in penalties, but no game disqualifications were meted out.

Princeton 5 at St. Lawrence 3

The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period, and hung on against fierce Saints rallies to improve to 6-1-0 on the road this season. Senior blue-liner Tayler Fedun scored twice, rookies Andrew Ammon and Andrew Calof contributed as well, and senior Mike Kramer buried his team-leading eighth goal in the victory. Soph Mike Condon (29 saves) out-dueled rookie Matt Weninger (four goals, 13 shots); junior Robby Moss stopped 10 of 11 shots in Weninger’s relief. Frosh Justin Baker, sophomore Jordan Dewey and senior Nick Pitsikoulis scored for the Saints.

Quinnipiac 3 at Clarkson 2

Clarkson may have gone 2/3 on the power play Friday night, but it wasn’t enough to overcome an early 2-0 deficit as QU stretched its unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1). Sophomore Jeremy Langlois scored twice in the first period for the Bobcats, and junior Yuri Bouharevich earned the game-winner in the third to boost sophomore Eric Hartzell (21 saves). Junior Paul Karpowich made 29 saves for the Golden Knights, but sophomore Andrew Himelson and junior Louke Oakley’s goals weren’t enough for ‘Tech in its third loss in four games (1-3-0).

Yale 2 at Union 3

The Dutchmen ultimately out-battled the nation’s top team, taking a 2-0 lead in the 27th minute and holding on for the one-goal victory. Each side scored twice on four power plays, but it was Union senior Adam Presizniuk’s even-strength goal – the only five-on-five goal of the game – that proved to be the game-winner. Rookie Daniel Carr and sophomore Wayne Simpson also scored for the Dutch, as soph Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves for the big win. Freshman Kenny Agostino and senior Jimmy Martin tallied PPG’s for the Blue, who couldn’t find the equalizer for senior Ryan Rondeau (31 saves) in Yale’s second loss in four games (2-2-0). Like Brown’s upset of the Bulldogs two weeks ago, Friday’s triumph was Union’s first over a top-ranked team.

Saturday, January 29

Princeton 4 at Clarkson 3 (ot)

Neither team managed to hold a lead for longer than 4:40 in this wild, back-and-forth slobberknocker, but Princeton senior Kevin Lohry made sure the drama ended early with the overtime game-winner only nine seconds into the extra period. Ammon scored twice and added an assist to extend his point streak to four games, and senior blue-liner Matt Godlewski potted his first of the season for the Tigers as well. Rookie Sean Bonar’s 31 saves were enough to best counterpart Karpowich (32 stops), as Golden Knights goals by junior Nick Tremblay (twice) and freshman Allan McPherson weren’t quite enough to keep ‘Tech from its sixth loss in eight games (2-6-0). Princeton, on the other hand, has only lost once in its last 11 games (9-1-1) and is on a four-game winning streak.

Quinnipiac 2 at St. Lawrence 2 (ot)

The Bobcats held 1-0 and 2-1 leads in Canton on Saturday, but couldn’t salt the win away as SLU junior Jacob Drewiske found the equalizer each time. Freshman Connor Jones and junior Scott Zurevinski scored and Hartzell made 33 saves for QU, while junior Robby Moss stopped 22 for the Saints, who ended a three-game losing slide. Quinnipiac has only lost once in its last 10 games (6-1-3).

Brown 2 at Union 4

The Dutchmen scored three goals in seven and a half minutes of the second period to blast past Brown, running Union’s current hot streak to 7-1-0. Sophomore Wayne Simpson scored once, as did senior Justin Pallos, while Presizniuk scored twice for the Dutch; Kinkaid made 26 saves for his 17th win of the season. Juniors Jack Maclellan and Bobby Farnham scored for Brown – rookie Marco DeFilippo and Clemente combined for 27 saves – and Bruno fell for the third straight time.

Colgate 3 at Dartmouth 7

Three straight goals by the Big Green to open the second period, combined with a 1/9 night for Colgate’s power play, spelled a runaway win for Dartmouth on Saturday. Soph Alex Goodship, junior Doug Jones (twice), and seniors Joe Stejskal, Kyle Reeds, Evan Stephens, and Scott Fleming scored for Dartmouth, in support of Mello (28 saves). Sophomore Mike Leidl, junior Mark Nasca and Brisebois mustered the Raiders’ three goals; junior Bryan Bessette surrendered four goals on 19 shots in just over 31 minutes of play, so junior Alex Evin (11 saves) stepped in to finish up.

Cornell 2 at Harvard 1

Harvard’s inability to pop one on the power play (0/4) spelled doom against the Big Red, as the Cornell advantage (1/2) made the difference with the second-period game-winner. Junior Locke Jillson did the damage, building on senior Mike Devin’s first-period goal, and Iles made 33 saves to stretch Cornell’s unbeaten run to four games (2-0-2). Harvard’s Carroll only faced 20 shots, saving 18, and Fallstrom scored for the second night in a row for the Crimson. The game ended in madness yet again for the Big Red, as officials meted out 66 minutes in penalties after the final horn, including a game disqualification (carrying a one-game automatic suspension) for Cornell soph defenseman Nick D’Agostino.

Yale 2 at Rensselaer 5

Three RPI goals in a 5:05 stretch straddling the second intermission put the ‘Tute ahead for good, and handed Yale its first losing streak of the season (0-2-0). The Engineers went 3/8 on the power play (while Yale went 2/7), getting goals from rookie Brock Higgs, sophomore C.J. Lee, juniors Josh Rabbani and Patrick Cullen, and Polacek. York made 38 dazzling saves, while Yale’s Rondeau was chased from the game after allowing four goals on 12 shots in 43 minutes. (Sophomore Nick Maricic cleaned up with five saves on five shots.) Junior Kevin Peel and senior Denny Kearney struck for the Bulldogs, who were held to their lowest-scoring weekend (four goals) of the year against Union and RPI.

In retrospect…

Prediction precision: 7-3-2 this week, 106-50-18 (.661) overall.

Weekend work-up: Jan. 31, 2011

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If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the CCHA this season, it’s that league play in any given weekend is unpredictable.
This week, no one knows that better than I.
Last week: 2-5-2 (.333)
Season to date: 85-53-25 (.598)
Ouch. I knew the Lakers and Falcons would split, but I thought each team would win on the nights opposite they did. I also didn’t count on the win-it-for-the-coach factor in Saturday’s Michigan State-Michigan game – which was one of the best games I’ve seen this season.
There are some interesting things afoot in the league, to be sure. Two teams, Western Michigan and Alaska, captured six points each this weekend to help their positions considerably – and each needed to, given the landscape they’re facing in the final month of regulation play. The Broncos are now in sole possession of fourth place, a spot they shared with Northern Michigan and Ferris State entering this weekend, and the Nanooks lifted themselves from eighth to fifth.
Notre Dame and Michigan swapped spots at the top again, and Miami holds steady in third place. The Wolverines have two games in hand on both the Fighting Irish and the RedHawks.
Given the amount of time left this season, there’s probably little two of the three teams at the bottom of the standings – Michigan State and Lake Superior State – can do to improve their lot by the end of February, and it’s clear that last-place Bowling Green will likely remain there, given the number of games remaining.
Miami vs. Notre Dame tie twice, 5-5 and 2-2. The RedHawks took the shootout point Friday, the Fighting Irish Saturday. The usual suspects had multi-goal weekends: Reilly Smith (3) for Miami, T.J. Tynan (2) and Anders Lee (2) for the Irish. Tynan had the tying goal Friday; Smith had the tying goal Saturday. Four goalies played: Miami’s Connor Knapp (24 saves) and ND’s Mike Johnson (23) Friday; Miami’s Cody Reichard (24) and ND’s Steven Summerhays (13) Saturday. Three points for Miami kept the RedHawks in the top-tier mix, and three points for Notre Dame put the Irish one point ahead of the Michigan in the CCHA standings.
Michigan State 2, Michigan 1. This single game at Joe Louis Arena Saturday night drew 17,577 fans. The place was packed – certainly the largest crowd I’ve seen at JLA for a regular-season college hockey game. The teams did not disappoint. The Brothers Chelios – playing together on a line for the first time at MSU – connected for the first goal at 19:07 in the second, and Louie Caporusso answered with a highlight-reel goal – feeding himself the puck through a defender’s legs, falling to the ice, sprawling through the crease, scoring on the backhand – 34 seconds later. Spartan Joey Sheen – who sat out the 2009-10 season as a healthy scratch – scored the game-winner at 12:26 in the third. UM’s Shawn Hunwick (28 saves) and MSU’s Will Yanakeff (34) were outstanding. Eighteen total penalty minutes. Perhaps the last time Rick Comley and Red Berenson will coach face off. Other than the fact that I called UM to win, a perfect night of hockey.
Western Michigan sweeps Northern Michigan, 5-2 and 6-1. Nothing says, “We’re here!” louder than outscoring a tough opponent 11-3 at home, extending your nation-leading unbeaten streak to 11 (7-0-4). With the sweep, the Broncos are in fourth place just four points behind Miami. Ten different Broncos scored goals, with only Ryan Watson registering a two-goal weekend. Jerry Kuhn faced only 18 shots on Saturday and made 38 saves total on the weekend for WMU. For the Wildcats, Reid Ellingson had 21 saves in the 5-2 loss and Jared Coreau stopped 44 in Saturday’s game. With no points, NMU was downwardly mobile, dropping to seventh place from fourth. Given that the Broncos face all three teams ahead of them in the standings in three of their four remaining regular-season series, these points were critical to WMU.
Alaska sweeps Ohio State, 1-0 (OT) and 6-2. The Nanooks did themselves many favors with six points in this weekend sweep. UAF has just six regular-season games remaining, since Fairbanks and Anchorage will face off in the final weekend of the season for Alaska’s Governor’s Cup. It took Nanook Andy Taranto just 20 seconds into overtime in Friday’s game to score on a power play that came just 11 seconds into the extra minutes. In Saturday’s game, five different Nanooks scored, with Cody Kunyk netting two. Scott Greenham stopped 65-of-67 in the two games, and for the first time this season, someone other than Cal Heeter saw time in the Ohio State net. Heeter made 29 saves on 30 shots in the overtime loss, but was replaced by sophomore Jeff Michael after Heeter gave up five goals on 33 shots through the 17:55 mark of the second period Saturday. Michaels allowed one goal on seven shots in his first collegiate action. The wins put Alaska in fifth place, two points (33) behind Western. The Buckeyes entered the weekend in seventh place and drop one to eighth.
Lake Superior and Bowling Green split: LSSU 4-2, BGSU 2-1. Neither team gains any ground on the weekend with three points each, but Saturday’s win does reward the Falcons for their hard work for the first time this calendar year, halting a five-game losing streak. Four different Falcons scored in the two games, with James McIntosh earning the game-winner in the Saturday game, his sixth goal of the season. Five different Lakers scored; Domenic Mondardo notched two, including the only goal in the loss, bringing his season total to 10. Kevin Kapalka made 38 saves in the LSSU net for the weekend. Nick Eno started the Friday game for the Falcons but was replaced by Andrew Hammond in the second after giving up three goals. Hammond earned Saturday’s win, his fourth of the season, and stopped 39-of-41 on the weekend.
PairWise
After this weekend’s play, Michigan is tied for eight in the PWR. Notre Dame and Western Michigan are tied for 10th. If the season were to end today, Miami – tied for 18th in the PWR – would be out.

Weekend of Jan. 28-29

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In which we have a few shake-ups in the standings and in the PairWise … which we should probably start paying attention to at this point in the season.

Nebraska-Omaha and Alabama-Huntsville split
– Speaking of PWR, this series dropped UNO to a tie for 16th, which isn’t good if you’re looking for an auto-bid into the tourney.
– Friday saw John Faulkner’s fifth shutout of the season. He needs two more to break the UNO career shutout record (seven), held by Dan Ellis.
– Even though the Mavericks scored four goals on Friday, from the sounds of things it took a while for their offense to get going … and then it didn’t really get going at all on Saturday.
– Although Saturday, it sounds like UAH netminder Clarke Saunders played out of his mind.
– Which is evident by the amount of shots UNO threw at him. The Mavs outshot the Chargers 59-17. The 59 shots marks the second-highest three period shot total in program history.
– Random: UNO wore special jerseys for the weekend that were auctioned off for charity. For pictures check out either of the recaps.

Wisconsin swept Michigan Tech
– Poor Huskies.
– With Alex MacLeod’s goal at 19:19 of the second period Friday night, the Huskies broke a scoreless drought of 228:08.
– With Evan Witt’s goal about three minutes later, the Huskies finally had their first lead in 255:40.
– Unfortunately, they still couldn’t break their winless streak, as UW came back in the game to win 4-2.
– On Saturday, Wisconsin took advantage of senior leadership for their 4-1 win.
– There is one plus for Huskies fans (not that there’s really much to take solace in at this point):
“Our penalty kill was outstanding; we held the number-two power play in the country 0-fer on the weekend,” said Russell on Saturday night.

Minnesota State took three from St. Cloud State
– In which the Mavericks finally ended their streak of being (if I may be so cliched,) close but [with] no cigar.
– Interesting stat from the St. Cloud Times – Friday’s game was the fifth time in seven contests that the two teams went in to overtime.
– Drew LeBlanc had two goals on Friday, including the game-tying tally, which was described as “fluttering” and had “lack of velocity.”
“I told him that thing was a seven mile per hour shot,” teammate Jared Festler, who had an assist on the play, told the Times.
– Garrett Roe, with an assist on Festler’s first period goal, set the school’s all-time record for career assists with 105 (moving past Ryan Lasch, 104). He also moved into a tie for fourth with Mark Hartigan on the all-time scoring list (165 points).
– On Saturday, the Mavs broke said streak with a 6-2 win. It was the team’s first conference win since Dec. 4 (Minnesota) and the first time they’ve scored six goals since Nov. 26 (an 8-3 win over Mass.-Lowell).
– According to the Mankato Free Press‘s Shane Frederick, the team’s concern was getting that fourth goal … particularly thinking back to the team’s 4-3 loss at Denver on Jan. 14 in which the team was up 3-0.
“The key was No. 4,” Jutting told Frederick. “We talked about that a lot. When you have a team down 3-nothing, they’re down but not out.”
– Good strategy, especially when SCSU made it 4-2 early in the third.

Minnesota and Alaska-Anchorage split
– Friday’s game was good for Gopher fans as it was the first time the team scored four or more goals at home since Oct. 15 (not including exhibitions).
– Plus the five goals got the fans free custard.
– The Seawolves made it a game in the first, as it was 2-1 going into intermission, but it was the Gophers’ night.
“The effort was evident from the first shift,” UM coach Don Lucia told USCHO’s Tim Brule.
“They got all five goals off rush chances. We talked about that we have to have the ability to defend the rush,” his UAA counterpart Dave Shyiak said.
– Saturday night, however, was a different story.
– Freshman Chris Kamal got his first career shutout, stopping 30 total shots and 16 in the second period alone.
– The teams were scoreless through two before Matt Bailey broke the tie 1:18 into the third and Kamal was able to hold on.
– Saturday also showed UAA’s ability to adapt on the second night of a weekend, something they’ve done quite a bit this season.
– Speaking of the Seawolves, more on them later this week (wink, wink).

Colorado College and North Dakota split
– The weekend was really a tale of two games.
– Here are some notes scribbled in my notebook from Friday:
1st – sloppy play, poorly executed passes/clears, fanned on pucks (speaking about North Dakota)
2nd – Chay [Genoway] goes down, team looks, quoth [Jayson] Hajdu (UND SID) “shell-shocked” … evidenced by complete defensive breakdown on [CC’s] third goal – [Jeff] Collett surrounded by three Sioux players and scores unmolested
3rd – would not have pegged [Jason] Gregoire for first goal – [Matt] Frattin had most and best chances
– In any case, CC may have played one of its best games of the season Friday night. If I’m being fair, though, UND didn’t look all that good either.
– Their bright spot on Friday was probably the aforementioned Gregoire, who scored the Sioux’s two third period goals to sort of make it a game.
– Including a super-shorthanded three-on-five goal … something I think I’ve only seen once before in all my years of watching hockey.
– That shorty by UND was the eighth CC has allowed all season – worst in Division I.
– Speaking of the Genoway injury, it was due to a legal check by Tyler Johnson and, according to Hajdu, suffered a lower-body injury.
– If Friday was one of CC’s best games all season and contained the best period the Tigers have played all year (the second, according to coach Scott Owens), Saturday was the exact opposite for the Sioux … right down to the second period being their best period all year (so said Dave Hakstol).
– Part of it may have been due to the black jerseys – the Sioux are now 25-1-2 in them all-time.
– Six different Sioux scored, including sophomore Joe Gleason, who got his first career goal (and first point of the season). Now, only frequent scratch Brett Bruneteau is the only Sioux skater without a point this season.
– CC goaltender Joe Howe also went down on Saturday night early in the third on a play that seemingly none of us in the press box saw, although from the aftermath we know that several players crashed the net. No word on his injury, though.

WCHA teams in the PairWise Rankings
Denver – t-2nd
North Dakota – t-2nd
Minnesota-Duluth – 4th
Wisconsin – 7th
Nebraska-Omaha – t-16th
Colorado College – 18th
Minnesota – 22nd
Minnesota State – 26th
St. Cloud State – t-30th
Alaska-Anchorage – t-30th

Gallery: Northeastern at Boston College women

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Photographer Melissa Wade captured these images Sunday at Conte Forum, where Boston College beat Northeastern 2-1.

Double or nothing for Miami?

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I had the pleasure of listening to this week’s Hobey Watch podcast, with their special guest, Miami head coach Rico Blasi, and it got me thinking about the RedHawks’ high-scoring duo of Carter Camper and Andy Miele.

After this weekend’s games, it’s now Miele who leads the national scoring race, with one goal and two assists more than Camper, making it really hard to pick which one is the more likely Hobey winner. And naturally, Blasi isn’t planning on promoting one over the other, which is pretty much what you’d expect from a program that prides itself on its “Brotherhood.” (and I mean that in the best way possible).

Certainly, there’s no reason why Camper would keep Miele from winning the Hobey, or vice versa. Just look at Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling in 2005. I’m also reminded of a couple of years ago, when Chad Kolarik – who could have easily been a Hobey finalist himself that year – told anyone who would listen that Kevin Porter was the real Hobey candidate on the team. I could see something like that happening at Miami, although I don’t know which one would promote the other over himself (perhaps both?).

However, the reality is that while both players are having fantastic individual seasons, and are near-certain finalists, that could be as far as it gets. I’m going to predict that if Miami doesn’t make the NCAA tournament, neither one of them is going to win the Hobey.

Yes, the first Hobey I saw handed out in person – 2006 – went to a player whose team didn’t make the NCAA tournament, Denver’s Matt Carle. Carle, however, had won two NCAA titles already at DU, and that season, he was 10th in the nation in scoring  with 1.36 PPG. No blueliner has been that high up since, although Wisconsin’s Justin Schultz is as close as it comes this season, 14th in the country at 1.30. The point, though, is that there were extenuating circumstances for Carle, and they don’t exist for Miami’s dynamic duo.

Of course, we won’t know whether Miami is in or out by the time the finalists are selected (although if the RedHawks aren’t still playing at that point, it’s pretty likely they’ll be out), but when the Hobey winner is chosen, Camper and Miele need to have played in this season’s tournament to win. The next six games – against Michigan, Western Michigan, and Lake Superior – will tell us a lot as to whether they’re in or out of the running.

And, if Camper and Miele wind up out, and Yale’s offensive machine has slowed down (Broc Little is the top ‘Dog at 18th in the country with 1.29 ppg), who’s the front-runner? Paul Thompson? Chase Polacek? Schultz? Cam Atkinson?

It’s about to get very interesting…

Gallery: Cornell at Harvard

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Photographer Melissa Wade captured these images Saturday at Bright Hockey Center, where Cornell earned a 2-1 victory over Harvard:

Atlantic Hockey Picks 1/28

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Last week:  6-3-3
On the season: 76-44-16 (.618)

This weekend marks the home stretch as teams play their remaining 8-10 games against schools in their regional scheduling pod.

Friday, January 28 and Saturday, January 29:

Canisius at Air Force – These teams are 5-5-3 all-time against each other, but I think that Air Force comes out on top in two close games. Air Force 3, Canisius 2; Air Force 4, Canisius 3.

Robert Morris vs. Niagara  - This should be a great series. If either team can sweep, they’re set to take a run at first place. Niagara hosts on Friday with the action shifting to Robert Morris on Saturday. I’m going with the home team(s). Niagara 4, RMU 3; RMU 4, Niagara 2.

American International vs. Sacred Heart – Sacred Heart won the first meeting this season between the two teams, but I like AIC to pull off the sweep. AIC 4, Sacred Heart 2; AIC 4, Sacred Heart 3.

Army at Bentley – This will be a good test for Army, which has been playing well over the last few weeks. Bentley is coming off a wild 8-5 loss to Mass-Lowell on Tuesday. I;m thinking split. Army 4, Bentley 2; Bentley 3, Army 2.

Connecticut at Holy Cross – This series will go a long way in determining the Number One seed in the East pod. I think it will also result in a split. Holy Cross 3, UConn 2; UConn 4, Holy Cross 1.

Saturday, January 29:

Mercyhurst at Rochester Institute of Technology – The Tigers swept the Lakers earlier this season and are putting a 14 game home unbeaten streak in AHA on the line. RIT 4, Mercyhurst 3.

Guest Analyst

This week’s guest analyst analyst Jim Koewler, an RIT alum (class of ’88). Here are his picks:

Canisius @ Air Force
The Falcons have been surprisingly beatable at home this year and they haven’t had a home sweep. The
Golden Griffins had a couple of practice games last weekend vs. AIC but they will find much tougher
competition out west this weekend. Air Force gets 4 important points by scores of 4-2 and 5-2.

Army @ Bentley
This pair of Eastern pod games matches the two worst offenses in league play. Bentley has just 2 more
wins than my pet hamster since Thanksgiving. Army earned hard-fought points each of the past 3
weekends against RIT, Air Force, and Robert Morris. But Army’s struggles on the road will cost them a
game this weekend. Bentley takes the Friday game 3-2 but Army gets even on Saturday by a 3-1 score.

Connecticut @ Holy Cross
By rule, someone has to lead the Eastern pod and going into this weekend it is UConn. But the Huskies
are winless in their past 6 games. Meanwhile, Holy Cross hasn’t given the home crowd much to cheer
about with just 2 wins on home ice. Last Saturday’s tie at RIT might be a small confidence builder for
the Crusaders this weekend. When in doubt, predict a split. Holy Cross takes the Friday game 4-2 and
UConn recovers on Saturday by the same 4-2 score.

American International vs. Sacred Heart (home and home)
Neither team can score goals and neither team can stop others from scoring. So what does that mean?
Let’s go with one game of no offense and one game full of goals with home teams winning each game.
Sacred Heart wins the low-scoring Friday game 2-1 while AIC fills the net on Saturday at home with a
6-3 win. Special bonus prediction: there will be more shots on goal in the 2 games combined than the
official attendance at the AIC home game.

Robert Morris vs. Niagara (home and home)
The premier series of the weekend is a home-and-home battle with each team owning outstanding
home records. Game 1 is at Niagara and I can’t see the Purple Eagles dropping this one with so much
on the line trying to catch RIT in the standings. Look for Niagara to dominate on Friday with a 5-2 win.
Game 2 is back at Robert Morris who can’t afford to get swept 2 weekends in a row. Once again, home
ice prevails with the Colonials edging the Purple Eagles 4-3 in what could be a testy matchup.

Mercyhurst @ RIT (Saturday)
The Lakers skate into Ritter Arena for the 3rd game of a 4-game road trip while RIT starts a 4-game
homestand. The Tigers have points in 10 of their last 11 games with a 7-1-3 record during that span
and the lone loss coming to #14 Merrimack. The homer in me says the Tigers start their traditional end
of the season run with a blowout victory. History says these teams play close games. Homer wins out
versus history….RIT prevails 5-1.

Check back on Monday to see how Jim and I did.

Predictons for 1/28-2/1

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Manhattanville @ St. Anselm

The Valiants need a win to keep pace with Norwich in the race for the ECAC East regular season title. St. Anselm is 9-1 in its last 10 games with the lone loss coming to two-time defending national champion Amherst. Manhattanville is still trying to make up ground on Norwich after the Valiants dropped a game to New England College. I’ll take Manhattanville, but it should be a tight one. 4-3 Valiants

St. Mary’s vs. St. Thomas

The MIAC top four should starting shaking itself out a it more after this weekend with the top four teams all playing each other in home and home series. St. Mary’s was the last MIAC team to lose a conference game, but the Cardinals have falling into a bit of a rough patch with just one win their last five games. St. Thomas is coming off a pair of close wins over Hamline. I’ll take a split with St. Thomas winning the first night 3-2 and then St. Mary’s rebounding with a 2-1 win the next day.

St. Catherine vs. Gustavus Adolphus

The other MIAC showdown is a rematch of last year’s conference championship game. St. Catherine was the cinderella story of last season, winning a program-best 18 games before falling to the Gusties in the finals. With a strong returning group, I had the Wildcats pegged as GAC’s chief challenger for the MIAC crown. While St. Catherine is certainly still in the hunt, last weekend getting swept by St. Olaf didn’t help. I’ll take GAC 4-1 on Friday and then St. Catherine 2-1 on Saturday.

Lake Forest @ Eau Claire

The Foresters are coming off a surprising split with Concordia Wis.  After starting the season 5-0-0, LF is now just 4-5-2 in its last nine. Kim Herring has been back in the lineup after missing the first half of the season with mono and the dynamic junior forward has just three goals and an assist as she tries to regain her sensational sophomore season form where she led the country in scoring. Eau Claire on the other hand is coming off a sweep of Wis. Stevens Point. Kristin Faber scored four goals to lead the Blugolds who are 5-0-1 in their last six. I’ll predict another split here with Lake Forest winning 4-3 on the first night and then Eau Claire rebounding for a 5-2 win the next night.

Adrian @ Wis. River Falls

River Falls will look to stay unbeaten in another stern test against the Bulldogs. I’ve said it countless times but Adrian is a notoriously Jekyll and Hyde team and they can always steal a point or two on any given night. I think they do it again but I’m calling for a tie 2-2 in the first game and then River Falls explodes to a 6-0 win the next game.

Middlebury @ Trinity

Odds are you should bet on an overtime game when these two squads get together. Last year they met in an epic four-overtime game in the NESCAC semifinals. Both teams could use the two points as they try to keep pace with Amherst. I’ll take Middlebury 2-1 in overtime.

Gustavus Adolphus @ Wis. Superior

Here’s the game of the week IMHO. It’s always a good game when these two get together and I don’t see why Tuesday’s showdown will be any different. Superior is a quiet 11-3-4 with a lot of the attention in the conference on River Falls’ season. Superior’s last loss came on Jan. 11 to Gustavus Adolphus by a score of 2-1. Gustavus is 3-0-1 in its last four but will be facing a tough series against St. Catherine before traveling to Superior on Tuesday. I’ll go with the Yellowjackets getting revenge with a 2-1 win.

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