Adventures on the road

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November 1, 2008

I’ve been on a lot of road trips covering Wisconsin for The Capital Times, but the opening four weeks of this season will be memorable for a lot of reasons.

I saw Boston College raise its national championship banner, then made an amazing drive to New Hampshire the next day, marveling at the fall colors along the way.

I made the trip to Denver the next weekend for the WCHA opener and spent some time roaming Denver’s impressive campus in amazing weather.

And this weekend, I’m wearing a light jacket in Grand Forks at the start of November. But it’s not the weather or the games I’ll remember from this one. It’s how I got here.

I was a bit skeptical about taking the Amtrak train, a 12-hour journey each way, but with that trip saving my paper about $300, it wasn’t a tough decision — go Amtrak or don’t go at all, I guess.

The trip to Grand Forks left at 5 p.m. and got in about 5 a.m., enough time for some work and a lot of time trying to sleep, waking up way too often and checking the BlackBerry to find out where in Minnesota we were.

The return train leaves just before 1 a.m. Sunday, so after I file my story and do some blogging, I’ll be headed right to the station.

The nicest thing about this trip is that my wife and 2-year-old daughter were able to make it. The tough part about being on the road three out of four weekends is the quality family time I miss, so it’s been great having them here this weekend.

One more note: If you have the chance, see a game at Ralph Engelstad Arena. This place is one of those landmarks on the hockey map, the kind you leave shaking your head in wonder.

What are your favorite college hockey road trips and/or the interesting ways you’ve gotten there?

Hobey Watch – What about the little guy?

By Elliot Olshansky

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October 31, 2008

Last year, none of the returning Hobey Baker finalists from the 2006-07 season were named finalists again in 2008. However, I had a feeling this year would be different, and as we prepare to enter the college hockey season’s second month, that feeling appears justified.

Not that it isn’t still possible for this season’s returning finalists to suffer injuries (as did Nathan Davis and Eric Ehn) or be outshone in the long run by a teammate (as Ryan Duncan was last season by T.J. Oshie and Jean-Phillippe Lamoureux), but Michigan State’s Jeff Lerg has started the season in fine form, and will enter November as a prime contender for college hockey’s highest individual honor.

Of course, whenever a goaltender enters the Hobey Baker discussion, the last goalie to win the award, Ryan Miller, isn’t far behind. Miller, as you’ll recall posted a mind-blowing .950 save percentage and 1.32 goals-against average when he won the award at Michigan State, and the popular theory in recent years has been that those numbers have set the bar for goaltenders so high that we may never see another netminder win the award.

You’d likely have little argument from the likes of David LeNeveu (2003), Yann Danis (2004), David McKee (2005), Brian Elliott (2006) or David Brown (2007), all of whom posted outstanding seasons en route to Hobey Hat Trick recognition, but none of whom was able to win the award.

That’s not to say that they were automatically disqualified for not matching Miller’s numbers. After all, David LeNeveu had to compete with Peter Sejna, whose 86 points en route to winning the Hobey would have been hard for even Miller to top, while Matt Carle’s season on the Denver blueline made him a not-altogether-difficult choice over Elliott. Still, Miller’s performance in the 2000-2001 season has haunted the goalies who’ve looked to follow in his footsteps as the next Hobey Baker winner in the net.

Lerg, however, may be different. The Spartan netminder has a wonderful story to go with his sparkling performance in the net. When one considers that Lerg does what he does in the Michigan State net while overcoming his small stature and his severe asthma, and while excelling in the classroom (Rick Comley touted Lerg’s 4.0 grade-point average during the 2007 NCAA Tournament run), it becomes clear that Lerg’s Hobey candidacy is about much more than his numbers.

This begs the question: if Lerg’s case for the Hobey about more than his numbers, do Miller’s numbers become less important? The fact that Lerg is a returning Hobey finalist in the first place suggests that the answer may be yes.

When Lerg was selected as a Hobey Baker finalist last season, he was not in the top 10 in the nation in either goals-against average or save percentage, and yet, he was included, while Colorado College netminder Richard Bachman, the WCHA Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year, was left out, among other worthy contenders. That suggests that Lerg’s overall story played a role in his selection as a finalist.

Of course, as large as Miller’s numbers loom, numbers are only part of the story, even before you factor in Lerg’s off-ice intangibles. When the Spartans won the NCAA title in 2007, Lerg hardly had Hobey numbers (although his numbers were certainly better than Robb Stauber’s before you adjust for the era), but he showed himself to be an outstanding big-game netminder, outdueling a pair of Hobey Finalists in Boston University’s John Curry and Notre Dame’s Brown to get to the Frozen Four, where he won against Maine’s Ben Bishop and Boston College’s Cory Schneider. That sort of performance is a good reminder of just how good Lerg is when he’s at his best.

Of course, at the moment, Lerg is doing quite well for himself in the numbers department, with a .947 save percentage and 1.58 GAA entering this weekend’s action, but it wasn’t much earlier in the 2007-08 season that we were still waiting for Lamoureux to allow his first goal at North Dakota. The grind of the season and the quality of competition in the CCHA may yet take its toll on Lerg. Even if they do, though, the question is how much Lerg’s intangibles, on and off the ice, will affect his candidacy.

I’m not suggesting that Lerg can have an ordinary season in net and win the award, mind you. I’m just wondering out loud if the statistical threshold for Lerg to win the Hobey is different than the statistical threshold for, say, Richard Bachman, or any of the goalies to be considered for the award since Miller won it.

I think it would be good to see another goalie win the award, and not just by bettering Miller’s numbers. Let’s face it: that’s a tall order for goalies, especially since no one is asking forwards contending for the award to match, say, Peter Sejna’s numbers. If Lerg’s inspiring story helps him break through – and possibly allow future Hobey Baker contenders to be judged on their own merits in net – more power to him.

Who knows? A Spartan set up this barrier, real or imagined. It may take a Spartan to break through it.

This Week in the CCHA: Oct. 30, 2008

By Paula C. Weston

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October 30, 2008

Talk About Scary

What a perfect time for Halloween — less than a week before a hotly-contested U.S. presidential election and after three full weeks of college hockey. Given how the season has begun for the CCHA, which would you say is scarier?

In the early going this season, CCHA fans have witnessed more than a few frightening things related to college hockey, some of which have been scary good.

Here are the scariest, spookiest, most chilling and downright evil things I’ve noticed about the CCHA so far this season, in no particular order.

Last-place Notre Dame. It’s early so it’s completely unfair to point this out, but the team that represented the CCHA in the 2008 NCAA championship game is technically at the bottom of the standings after having been swept by Miami at home last weekend in Notre Dame’s first league games of the season.

“It’s early in the season, and we’ve got a lot of work to recover,” said Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson. “That’s what it’s all about right now.”

The two home losses were the first time the Irish have lost back-to-back in South Bend since losing two to Alaska in the first round of the 2006 CCHA playoffs. Notre Dame’s power play went 0-for-16 on the weekend against Miami.

“We’ve got some guys who are dinged up and tired,” said Jackson. “Erik Condra’s not fully normal yet, so we’ve got guys who are recovering right now and once they get back, that will certainly help us offensively.” Condra suffered a season-ending injury March 17 of last year.

“I’m not in a panic mode, but we’ve got to get things turned around,” said Jackson. “We’ve got a tough schedule. Two games here against Miami and then we’re at Northern for two, and then we play Boston College and Providence. It’s just a tough month for us, but hopefully it will be something that spearheads confidence and turns this thing back in the right direction.”

This is chilling, however, in the sense that the Irish netted just two goals against the RedHawks and are outscoring opponents 14-10 in five games so far this season.

First-place Miami. The RedHawks are scary — scary-good, that is. Again, it’s early in the season, but Miami doesn’t seem to have missed a beat so far this year, and even its loss to Ohio State isn’t alarming, as the Bucks also beat the Denver Pioneers. With a stable of talent in front of two freshman goalies, the RedHawks look every bit like a team that’s going the distance.

“For early season, our guys stayed in the system and trusted each other, which is part of our try-to-get-better-every-day mentality,” said Miami head coach Enrico Blasi after the RedHawks swept the Fighting Irish.

“They didn’t look like they had a young defense or goaltending this weekend,” said Jackson.

Two freshmen, Cody Reichard (.919 SV%) and Connor Knapp (.889 SV%), are rotating through the RedHawk net, with Reichard starting Fridays and Knapp Saturdays.

“Competition is a good thing,” said Blasi. “When they’re young like this, you have to make them earn it, and they have to play, and they have to experience college hockey. Sometimes, it’s easier to get up for one game as opposed to two games.

“Right now, they’ve got a healthy battle, and very fortunate for us that they’re best of friends. They’ve really become very good friends, and they work hard.”

And the ‘Hawks are getting it done offensively as well. With just four league games played, three of the top four leading scorers in the CCHA are RedHawks, sophomores Pat Cannone and Carter Camper and junior Gary Steffes. Steffes leads the league in goal scoring, with five in four games, and all of Camper’s points have come on the power play.

The briefly first-place Ohio State Buckeyes. Even though it lasted a week, seeing the Buckeyes in first place by virtue of a point gained in a shootout and with just two league wins in four CCHA games was unsettling, a kind of Twilight Zone, nightmare scenario the league doesn’t want to see at the end of the season, teams with shootout points ahead of teams with more league wins.

At least I think the league wouldn’t want to see that. What do I know?

The Lake Superior offense. In their last four contests, the Lake Superior State Lakers have outscored opponents 23-10. I don’t care that two of those wins — 7-0 over Windsor and 7-3 over the U.S. Under-18 team — were in exhibition and don’t officially count. That’s an impressive number of times to find the net, especially for a team that was outscored 125-91 overall last season.

In spite of all those goals scored, no one player on the Lake Superior squad is ripping it up offensively, yet; in four games played, no one Laker has more than two total goals. Six different Lakers scored against the Under-18s, five against Windsor and four against Ohio State, a 7-3 win Oct. 17, in Columbus, when it counted.

The Alaska defense. The Alaska Nanooks have allowed five goals in six games and are currently the best defense in the nation. That success is, in large part, because of the play of senior goaltender Chad Johnson, whose record may only be 1-2-1, but whose goals-against average is 1.23 with a .951 save percentage.

After a solid rookie season in which he had a .917 save percentage, Johnson struggled his sophomore year and then played only seven games last season, with a record of 0-6-0. In fact, until Johnson shut out Bowling Green, 3-0, Saturday night, he hadn’t had a win since Nov. 25, 2006, a 3-1 decision over Lake Superior State. Between his latest two wins, Johnson had gone 0-13-1.

“I think he had given up five goals this year in three games, and that’s pretty gad that he hadn’t gotten a win yet,” said Adam Naglich, the Nanook captain and Johnson’s classmate, after Johnson’s win.

Boston University 7, Michigan 2 And it wasn’t even that close. The Terriers were up 4-0 after two. Five of BU’s goals were on the power play, three scored on Billy Sauer in the first two periods, two on Bryan Hogan in the remaining stanza. Both of UM’s third-period goals were with the man advantage.

CCHA vs. Everyone Else. The CCHA is 19-16-4 in nonconference play, including a 2-7-2 record against Hockey East, and a 2-6-1 mark against the WCHA. This is not good news in the early going for a league that seemed to improve in nonleague play during the past two seasons, culminating with a different team in two consecutive national championship games.

Shoot!

“When you have Jeff, you like your chances in a shootout situation in goal.”

So said Michigan State head coach Rick Comley of senior goaltender Jeff Lerg. The Spartans won the shootout following Friday’s 2-2 home tie against Northern Michigan.

Comley is a big fan of the shootout. “As you know, we were one of those schools that was in favor. Ironic, as Walt was against it. But I just believe you’ve got to break ties. The fans loved it and they’re going to love it and it’s exciting. Nationally it’s a tie, so no harm done. Real good win for us, though.”

Last weekend, both Western Michigan and Michigan State won their post-tie shootouts to pick up an extra point each, bringing the total number of teams to play league shootouts this season to three. In all three cases, the home team won.

So Comley called the game a “real good win,” but would NMU head coach Walt Kyle call that a loss?

“I’m never going to say that,” said Kyle. “We’ve addressed it, we’ve talked about it as a team. To us it doesn’t mean anything. It’s a 2-2 tie, and they get the bonus point. That’s the way we’re looking at it, and it’s only in the league. That’s the way it is.”

Perhaps after Kurt Kivisto and Matt Schepke scored for the Spartans on the shootout, NMU goaltender Brian Stewart wasn’t thinking that that’s the way it is. Stewart stopped 35 of MSU’s 37 shots on the night and was simply spectacular. Tall but incredibly quick, the Wildcat goalie doesn’t give opponents much room when he’s on, and in game action he was definitely on. He was, as his head coach called him, “a horse.” Think thoroughbred.

So, How Do We Do This?

This is how Rick Comley determined how to proceed with his first-ever CCHA shootout.

“The referee came over and said, ‘Now Rick, you’re the home team. Do you want to go first or second?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, I’ve never done it before.’

“And Kurt Kivisto is sitting in front of me and he turns around and he says, ‘Coach, you have to go first. In the National Hockey League [the home team] always goes first.’

“So I said, “Okay, we’ll go first.'”

Kivisto, a senior who has had one goal and one assist in his three years as a Spartan — I’m not kidding — made Michigan State history by scoring on Stewart in the first round of Friday’s shootout.

“I told [the press] since this summer that we would use Kivisto if he was in the lineup as the first shooter even though he didn’t get a point last year,” said Comley, “because he scores all the time in practice.”

After the shootout, Jeff Lerg talked about the one that he didn’t stop in the shootout, Gregor Hanson’s shot.

“It was a good move,” said Lerg. “It was a real good move. It’s tough, though, because when they swipe the ice it’s real quick coming back on you. You saw that Stewart fell back in the net a few times. We try to match their speed a little bit [and when] you kind of back up to quick you slide back into the net. But he got it off quick and you can’t say too much about it.”

Comley began that post-game press conference with this: “With all due respect, I’m only going to answer questions about tonight’s hockey game.”

And here I was ready to ask him about when the foliage peaks in Michigan, his feelings about the upcoming presidential election and whether he had a decent recipe for pumpkin pie.

Comley was, of course, talking about events that concern both the Spartans and the Wolverines that have taken place off the ice, and he was doing so the night before Michigan State beat Michigan on the gridiron.

Apparently, It’s All about Ohio

The RedHawks aren’t the only team to be rotating new goalies through their net. Miami’s nearest neighbor, Ohio State, has taken to doing this as well.

Last weekend, when the Buckeyes split in Colorado against Denver — who knew? — a rookie and a relative newcomer each played a game. Sophomore Dustin Carlson lost 3-1 to Denver Friday, while rookie Cal Heeter earned his first NCAA win in the first start of his career in Saturday’s 4-3 win.

“Dusty knew going in to last weekend that he had Friday and Cal was going to have Saturday because we needed to get the kid [some experience], and he was all for it,” said Ohio State head coach John Markell. “Cal showed well for himself. The team reacted well to him, so that was very important to us.”

“We threw him into the fire,” said OSU goaltending coach Jeff Salajko of Heeter’s start. “It could have gone either way but based on his practices, we felt he was ready.

“Both he and Dusty really do in the games. One thing I look at is how they respond after giving up a goal and they’ve just been so calm. That’s what the team rallies around.”

Junior Joseph Palmer had been the starter for the Buckeyes since his arrival in Columbus, but after a 7-3 loss to Lake Superior State Oct. 17, a game that Palmer started and in which both Carlson and Heeter saw some action, Palmer has been watching the games from the bench, and that’s the way it’s going to stay until either Carlson or Heeter loses his job, according to Markell.

The Buckeyes have a shootout win over Miami and an outright win over Denver, putting them in territory that has not been familiar in recent years. And while Miami has three of the league’s top five scorers through four CCHA contests, the Buckeyes have the other two: sophomores John Albert and Hunter Bishop.

Of course, Lake Superior State juniors Nathan Perkovich and Steven Kaunisto round out the top seven scorers in the league so far this season.

RedHawks … and Buckeyes and Lakers? Oh my. That is scary.

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Oct. 30, 2008

By Chris Lerch

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October 30, 2008

Nutmeg, Anyone?

Last week, it was squads named “Falcons” making a splash. This time around, Connecticut teams roared, posting a 3-0-1 record in league play. Connecticut looked impressive with a sweep of Army, and Sacred Heart took three points from RIT.

For the Huskies, it was the first time in school history that they had taken four points from Army. In both games, UConn opened a lead and then repelled an Army comeback attempt.

“It’s early and I don’t want to get too excited,” said Connecticut coach Bruce Marshall. “But it was a good feeling knowing that we are able to score and answer teams. We were able to play our game and come out with two wins.”

Andrew Olson had four goals on the weekend to lead the Huskies. The sophomore already has 14 points on the season.

“The kid loves to shoot the puck,” said Marshall. “It’s good to see him get off to a good start. He knows he’s going to take a lot of shots, so if they don’t go in, he doesn’t get discouraged. He’s very consistent.”

Special teams were a problem for UConn last season, but the Huskies are off to a positive start.

“Friday we won the special-teams battle, which was important for us,” said Marshall. “Our power play had been struggling, but we scored four times over the course of these two games.”

The Huskies travel to Union and Quinnipiac this weekend.

“We all know what Atlantic Hockey can be like week to week,” said Marshall. “It’s a battle every week. But it’s good to play against teams from a more quote-unquote established league as well. It will be a different challenge.”

In the lower part of the state, Sacred Heart was banishing some demons. Two years ago, an unheralded RIT team came into the Milford Ice Pavilion three points behind the Pioneers in the battle for first place and came away with a sweep, propelling the Tigers to the regular-season title. Last season RIT swept Sacred Heart in Rochester.

But this time around, the Pios took three of four points from the Tigers, who managed to steal a point on Friday by battling back from a 3-0 deficit to earn a tie. Senior Eric Giosa had three goals on the weekend and freshman Evan Mladenoff had a great game on Saturday, chipping in a goal and an assist. Goaltender Stefan Drew made a career-high 42 saves on Saturday.

“I thought Drew was absolutely outstanding tonight,” Pioneer coach Shaun Hannah said. “There were a lot of funny bounces and plays in front of the net and he was able to stay with everything.”

The biggest goal on Saturday came off the stick of Matt Gordon, who tallied early in the third period, just 11 seconds after RIT had tied the game.

“The third goal was huge,” said Hannah. “To score that quickly after they score is a big momentum shift our way and it totally changes the rest of the game.”

Sacred Heart looks to keep things going with a home-and-home series with Army this weekend.

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week for October 27, 2008
Andrew Olson — Connecticut
The sophomore had four goals and two assists last weekend to lead the Huskies to a 4-3 and 6-3 sweep over Army. Olson leads the team in scoring with six goals and two assists.

Goaltender of the Week for October 27, 2008:
Stefan Drew — Sacred Heart
Drew made 72 saves in two games against RIT, including a career-high 42 stops in a 4-2 win on Saturday.

Rookie of the Week for October 27, 2008:
Marcello Ranallo — Connecticut
The freshman from Burnaby, B.C., tallied five points last weekend, including two goals on Friday to help the Huskies to their first-ever sweep of Army.

… And Boy, Are Their Arms Tired

The Mercyhurst Lakers have this weekend off, and the rest is well-deserved. Rick Gotkin’s team opened the season with road (air) trips to St Cloud, Minn,, Fairbanks, Alaska, and Omaha, Neb. That’s about 11,500 miles over three weeks.

“On paper, it looked better,” Gotkin laughed. “It was crazy, especially the Alaska trip. We left Erie on a bus at 2:30 a.m. on a Wednesday. We flew out of Pittsburgh at 5:50 a.m., and had a five-hour layover in Minneapolis. Then it was a six-hour flight to Anchorage, change planes, and fly another hour and a half to Fairbanks. We got in at about 7:30 (p.m.) Alaska time. That’s a 22-hour trip.”

The Lakers got back on a Tuesday and had to turn around and fly to Omaha two days later. Some cancelled flights forced the team to bus to Des Moines and split up into three groups to get back to Erie on Monday.

“It was quite the adventure,” said Gotkin. “But the kids got to do some incredible things. They touched the Alaska Pipeline. They ate Mooseburgers.”

The team also had to keep up with schoolwork while away.

“I proctored a test for the first time in my career,” said Gotkin. “It was math — at least they tell me it was math. It looked like a foreign language to me. Thank God our guys are doing so well academically. It makes trips like this possible and the faculty is willing to work with us.”

Mercyhurst went 0-6 on the trip, but Gotkin was looking for a silver lining.

“As disappointing as it is, before the season if you would have told me we’d be 0-6 after this, I wouldn’t have been shocked,” he said. “We were exposed to some pretty good WCHA and CCHA teams. We played on the Olympic ice at St. Cloud and in Alaska.

“I thought we had two winnable games,” said Gotkin. “Saturday in Alaska (when the Lakers opened a 3-0 lead before falling 6-4 to Alaska-Anchorage) and last Friday night in Omaha (3-1 loss). We carried the play for a lot of the game. We played the game the way we want to play.

“We played in front of 30,000 people in those games. We learned a lot. Was it worth it? Time will tell.”

Around the League

Air Force Jacques Lamoureux and line mate Brent Olson are tied for the lead in Division I in scoring with 14 points each. The Falcons are calling this line — which also includes Josh Frider (10 points) — the “FLO” line. The FLO line has been responsible for 15 of the Falcons’ 27 goals. Air Force (6-0) is off to its best start since the 1971 team opened the season 8-0.

Army: The Black Knights are 0-3, but have outshot their opponents 123-75 so far.

Canisius: Sophomore Vincent Scarsella picked up a minor penalty in the first period of Sunday’s 1-1 tie with Merrimack. Amazingly, it was his first career penalty, despite Scarsella playing in 42 games so far, tallying 36 points. Last season, he was the only player in Division I with more than 10 points and no penalties.

RIT: Goaltender Louis Menard had two assists in Friday’s 3-3 tie with Sacred Heart. He’s tied for sixth on the team in points, and tied for second in points per game.

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Oct. 30, 2008

By Brian Sullivan

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October 30, 2008

Ready or not, here they come!

No, I’m not talking about the ECAC regular season games. I’m talking about all the dreadfully punny and ubiquitous headlines you’ll be seeing over the next seven days. Halloween and Election Day? These are the events that make editors’ lives worth living. If any of them could write, they’d probably have a trade journal dedicated to witty titular wordplay. Keep your eyes peeled (who are we kidding, these titles will be everywhere) for headers beginning with “Votes Are In …” and “Trick, No Treat For …”

But hey, I suppose even editors have to get their kicks somewhere.

But on that note …

Hey, check it out, the regular season is coming up after all.

Oddly enough, Harvard plays two league games before almost anybody else even plays one. The Crimson hosts Dartmouth to kick off the league’s 2008-09 campaign on Friday, and then does some quick housecleaning before RPI comes to town on Tuesday.

Just as odd is the fact that those Cambridge club’s games come on All Hallow’s Eve and voting day. Shouldn’t affect the game on the ice of course, but hopefully the stands will contain some characters. I’ll be there, but I’ve been discouraged from appearing in costume. At least it will make recap leads pretty easy.

And as for that big election dealy, Cambridge is pretty much the hub of Northeast political activism. With any luck, there will be some clever signage in the crowd. Do you think public address announcer John Dolan will call polling updates with the out-of-town scores?

“… and in the third period, Obama leads McCain 48,721,606 to 45,912,937 …”

Just kidding, Harvard doesn’t give out-of-town scores.

And no, I checked … neither Harvard nor Rensselaer have ever played on Election Day before. Not that I’d know what to make of the results if they had.

Clog Dancing On Hold

The Dutchmen are on a little bit of a high after winning the Governor’s Cup in Albany last weekend. Union claimed its first tournament championship of any kind in 15 years, but after a fourth-place finish ended in a home-ice playoff loss to Cornell, coach Nate Leaman and the Dutch aren’t about to throw a parade for the October title.

If anything, Leaman wants his charges to believe that anything less than a trophy would be a disappointment.

Not only is this a different team, and a group that has tasted some measure of success before; “we have a better team, too,” Leaman stated. “We really expect to win that [championship] game, and every game we prepare for,” he said.

The coach was pleased with his boys’ attitudes over the weekend, showing a level of aggression and intensity that has been missing in past editions of the Dutch On Ice.

“What I liked best was after Mario [Valery-Trabucco] scored the eventual game-winning goal, I saw our intensity go up, our [aggression] go up … that’s as important as anything.”

John Simpson didn’t turn many heads last season, but for those who paid attention, it should come as no surprise that the sophomore now leads the team with three goals and five points through four games.

“He had one point at Christmas last year, but he led the centers in the second half [of the season],” Leaman pointed out. “He scored three goals in the Canadian Christmas tournament last year, and that really boosted his confidence. He’s one of the best skaters we have.”

Simpson demonstrated that earlier this year, burying an unassisted shorthanded goal to open (and unfortunately close) Union’s scoring at Nebraska-Omaha.

Rookie Kelly Zajac isn’t going to let Simpson steal the entire spotlight though. Leaman said that “The One NoDak Let Get Away” (my words, not his) was the team’s best forward Friday night against RPI.

While the team is looking fairly sharp, the coach expresses concerns about the Garnet & White’s slow starts thus far, pointing to first-period deficits in three of the team’s first four games. The power play is struggling at only eight percent as well, but Leaman isn’t worried about that. He counted 14 “grade-A opportunities” generated by the unit over the weekend, and is confident that the bounces will come with time.

The More, The Merrier

Joe Marsh is a world-class talker.

He’s one of those classic New England story-tellers; he’s a guy with a low, grinding, consonant-killing Boston rumble who could turn a trip to the mailbox into a thoroughly riotous two-hour yarn. To his great delight, I’m sure, his team is set up to guarantee him a captive audience straight through next summer.

His Saints carry a league-high 34-man roster, four more than runner-up Quinnipiac and 10 more than ECAC Hockey’s smallest squad, Colgate. The throng is composed of nine freshmen, five sophomores, a dozen juniors and eight seniors. What is Joe doing with all those guys?

“We have a couple of guys [in situations] like [junior defenseman Pat] Kelliher, who is going in for surgery” and is not expected to play this year, Marsh began. “You can have no more than 30 ‘counters’ for the NCAA,” he added, explaining that financial compensation (room, board, books, tuition, other fees) can only be split up a maximum of 30 ways on a team, so a number of his players are considered true walk-ons.

“We have some guys who haven’t seen any duty, and may not,” he said, but at such a small school and with such a tight community within the hockey program, Marsh can’t bring himself to cut a couple of his devoted and determined practice-players. Juniors Drew Weaver and Kelliher have played a combined two career games, for example, and as for first-year netminder Joe Spadaccini — the fourth ‘keeper on the roster and a true walk-on — well, I suppose Marsh just likes his goalies to come in quartets.

On the ice, the Saints are off to a strong 3-2-0 start, with the only losses coming at No. 8 Michigan to start the year. SLU also beat back former No. 4 (now No. 6) New Hampshire 4-1 at Appleton last Sunday for its second win in a row over the Wildcats.

Just as I’d hoped, the fans turned out despite the odd Sunday evening timeslot.

“It was our first home game, and the crowd was into it,” confirmed Marsh of the 2,675 in attendance.

McSnipers Brock McBride and Mike McKenzie took turns scoring and assisting on the Saints’ first two goals, with McBride scoring nine minutes in on the power play, and McKenzie netting the game-winner three minutes after that.

“McBride and McKenzie are key to our success,” said their coach. “Brock is one of the best skaters I’ve ever coached. We didn’t know for a couple weeks after, that he played against Boston College in the NCAAs two years ago with two broken ribs. He’s one of the best forwards in the league … he’s really, really strong, and NHL-level skater. His stride just never breaks down,” sang Marsh.

The coach obviously wouldn’t go so far as to equate McBride to former Vermont standout — and famously undersized — forward Martin St. Louis, but he made a rough comparison between their perceptions and their abilities.

As for Mr. McKenzie, Marsh felt he was more in the mold of dominant Boston College scorer John Cunniff: not the prettiest stride, but an uncanny nose for the goal.

“McKenzie’s a guy that gets you points,” he said simply. “The knock against him is that he’s not a strong skater, but he works and works and works at it. He has a very quick stick, he has poise with the puck, he gets the goalie to move,” he continued. “He has a great sense of knowing where the puck’s going to be … he has a knack for putting the thing away; wherever he goes, he’s pretty efficient [in his actions].”

Senior blueliner Zach Miskovic scored the side’s final pair, and the Saints finished two-for-eight on the man advantage.

UNH may have been fighting an uphill battle from the start though. Seems the team bus got stuck in a patch of rough weather en route, stranding the club for a matter of hours in the middle of the night. The team didn’t arrive in Canton until roughly 2 a.m.

“That may have been a factor,” mused Marsh, whose prolific clan gets a weekend off before commencing ECAC play. (Note to over-exuberant readers: “The Clan” is vehemently discouraged as a team nickname; might I recommend “Marsh’s Mob” … ?)

Glass Half-Full and Filling

The RPI Engineers have had it rough of late, but don’t be fooled by the record or the results: Puckman will be back with a vengeance.

So believes head coach Seth Appert, a gentleman positively glistening with optimism and energy. He likes what he saw in the Gov’s Cup consolation win over Robert Morris, including his offense’s potential.

“We generated plenty of offense this weekend,” he stated, despite the meager three-goal output. “We had three or four pucks that hit the post, lay on the goal line … we had more scoring chances than the opponents both nights.

“Things will balance out,” he said, adding, “maybe we won’t score four goals a game, but I think we can build to be a team that can score three.”

Appert was also pleased with the play of ‘Tute newbie Allen York, who stopped 40 Colonial shots Saturday evening.

“He’s very good. He faced a lot of shots, but the defense did a good job of taking away rebounds … most shots were from the perimeter,” assessed Appert. York is “big, quick, and competitive. He won a few puck battles in the crease that a lot of times freshmen won’t win.”

The Engineers open their league campaign at Harvard on Tuesday night, then host the Crimson in the return game on Friday.

Snapshots

â€¢ Brown sophomore David Brownschidle has been practicing, but is questionable for this weekend, according to coach Roger Grillo. Frosh forward Riley LaForge will likely be out another couple of weeks as well.

â€¢ Clarkson captain Philippe Paquet will have to miss four to six weeks with an ankle injury, said coach George Roll. Roll also said that impressive freshman goaltender Paul Karpowich will get this weekend off, meaning junior Tim Potter and/or freshman Richie LaVeau will face Carleton’s shooters in Saturday’s exhibition. Potter’s recurring cramps are hopefully a thing of the past, having been preliminarily diagnosed as a metabolic imbalance; an adjusted diet should solve the problem, said the coach. Finally, senior forward Shea Guthrie will be given an extra weekend to recuperate, but is expected to be healthy for Brown next week.

â€¢ Junior forward Cam MacIntyre and frosh forward Scott McNeill are out of Princeton’s lineup this weekend for unspecified reasons.

â€¢ Quinnipiac’s Rand Pecknold said that third-year forward Jean-Marc Beaudoin is “going to be getting a lot of power play time”, often playing with re-ignited game-changer Brandon Wong. The coach loves Beaudoin’s versatility, praising him as a well-rounded player and “probably our best defensive forward”.

â€¢ St. Lawrence senior sniper Kevin DeVergilio has finished serving a school-mandated four-game suspension and will be available for the Saints’ next games against Yale and Brown next weekend. Coach Joe Marsh referred to DeVergilio’s “school disciplinary situation” when discussing the matter, and said that the player had appealed SLU’s initial decision and had his original punishment reduced to the four-game sentence following the review. Freshman forward Rick Carden apparently suffered a concussion against RIT on October 18th, and his game status is unknown.

â€¢ Union third-year defenseman Mike Wakita remains questionable for this weekend’s single game against Connecticut. He skated in the Maverick Stampede to open the season, but hasn’t played since.

This Week in the CHA: Oct. 30, 2008

By Matt Mackinder

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October 30, 2008

With Halloween upon us, scary times have hit College Hockey America.

But it’s not all bad. Seriously.

On the opposite end of the league’s well-documented uncertainty for the future, look to the present and many positives came out of last weekend’s nonconference games, including one upset, one near-upset and a 13-0 drubbing of an exhibition opponent.

And we’re only knocking on November.

As for this weekend, it’s anyone’s guess which teams will play the Jekyll-and-Hyde role as the CHA continues to be a roller coaster-type league that gives opposing teams many a head-scratch year in and year out.

Heck, even if the league disappears at some point down the road, the world will still be visiting as it was announced this week that the 2011 World Junior Championship (held during the 2010 holidays and into the 2011 New Year) is coming to Buffalo with Niagara’s Dwyer Arena being the secondary host rink.

More below, as well as the latest from the CHA.

NU Plays Michigan Hard, Then Tops Merrimack

In a rematch from the first round of last spring’s NCAA tournament, Michigan produced the same result as the Wolverines topped a game Niagara squad, 4-2, last Thursday night at Yost Ice Arena.

But it wasn’t easy, according to the Wolverines.

“Overall, I thought that was a hard-fought game,” UM head coach Red Berenson said. “Niagara is a good team and they gave us everything we could handle. It was anyone’s game going into the third.”

The game was tied at 2 after 40 minutes.

Michigan improved its all-time record against Niagara to 5-1-0 and is currently riding a four-game win streak against the Purple Eagles.

Danny Baco and Brian Dowd scored for NU, Sam Goodwin added two assists and goaltender Juliano Pagliero finished with 36 saves.

“I was very proud of how our young players played (Thursday night),” said Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder. “Dowd, Baco and Goodwin were outstanding and got us going.”

Rebounding Saturday night, Pagliero made 31 saves en route to his sixth career shutout as Niagara pulled a Frank Tanana special and defeated Merrimack, 1-0.

(Note: Detroit Tigers fans of the 1980s will understand the above sentence.)

“We had a good defensive effort with guys willing to block shots,” Burkholder said. “Our No. 1 penalty-killer tonight was Pagliero.”

Goodwin scored the game’s only goal in the middle period on a slapshot from the right faceoff circle over the shoulder of Warriors netminder Andrew Brathwaite.

The inaugural Alabama-Huntsville Chargers were on hand for last weekend’s memory-raising game against Tennessee (photo: UAH sports information).

Chargers Romp Over Tennessee In Historic Exhibition

In a rematch of the first-ever UAH game at the Von Braun Center back in 1979, Alabama-Huntsville routed the Tennessee Volunteers, 13-0, on Friday night in an exhibition game on the same ice.

Clark MacLean tallied a hat trick, Cale Tanaka and Jamie Easton scored two apiece and Chris Fairbanks, Kevin Morrison, Joe Federoff, Neil Ruffini, Brandon Roshko and Cody Campbell added singles.

Brennan Barker had four assists for the Chargers as well.

Wyatt Russell played all three periods between the pipes for UAH and stopped eight shots in the shutout, but had no work in the third as UAH held the Volunteers without a shot on goal.

During the first intermission, the Chargers took a moment and honored the 1979-1980 team, the first at UAH. A total of 13 players from that first squad attended the game.

BSU Surprises St. Cloud With Home Split

Bemidji State didn’t want to start the season 0-6, but will settle for 1-5 at this point.

Netminder Matt Dalton keyed Bemidji State to an upset win over St. Cloud State last Friday (photo: BSU photo services).

After playing the first two weeks on the road and posting their longest winless streak to open a season since 2002-2003, the Beavers returned home to a sold-out John Glas Fieldhouse and responded with a 4-2 victory over then-No. 15 St. Cloud State Friday night.

The win marked the first time the Beavers had defeated the Huskies since Dec. 6, 1986 — a game in which BSU head coach Tom Serratore suited up as a junior forward.

Senior captain Travis Winter, Matt Read, Brandon Marino and Ben Kinne scored for Bemidji State and goaltender Matt Dalton stopped 33 shots for the win.

“Now that was Beaver hockey,” said Serratore to the Bemidji Pioneer. “The intensity level was high and we played with a ton of desperation. We played pretty darn good the first 50 minutes. The last 10 minutes we were pretty fatigued, but we packed it in well and didn’t allow any great scoring chances.”

Clinging to a 3-1 lead midway through the third, the Bemidji State penalty kill was tested. With Read already in the box for tripping, BSU’s Cody Bostock and Graham McManamin were whistled for two-minute penalties putting SCSU on a 5-3 advantage for 2:38. The Beavers stood strong and kept the Huskies off the scoreboard.

The roles were reversed Saturday night as St. Cloud State took a 5-3 decision.

Brad Hunt and Tyler Scofield scored late to make the game respectable and Bostock scored at the end of the first period for the Beavers.

Orlando Alamano made 23 saves for Bemidji State.

For the first time this season, the Beavers also outshot their opponents.

BSU still has the lead in the all-time series, 43-36-3, but St. Cloud has an 11-1-0 record versus the Beavers since Bemidji State began competing at the NCAA Division I level in 1999.

Colonials Drop Both At Governor’s Cup

It was that kind of a weekend for Robert Morris.

The Colonials ventured north to Albany for the Governor’s Cup and headed back to Pittsburgh empty-handed with two losses and just three goals to show for their efforts.

Last Friday afternoon, Colgate upended RMU, 5-2.

Colgate took a 3-0 lead just 8:58 into the first period to chase starting goaltender Wes Russell for Jim Patterson.

To start the second period, freshman Trevor Lewis notched his first goal of the season to make the score 4-1 and less than one minute later, Kyle Burton would cut the Raiders’ lead in half with an unassisted goal.

The third period was scoreless.

Russell made just three saves and Patterson stopped 23 shots in relief.

In the consolation game against Rensselaer on Saturday evening, the Colonials were unable to bounce back from a two-goal deficit and Rensselaer defeated them 2-1.

Lewis recorded his second goal of the weekend with just over two minutes left in the second to cut the Engineers’ lead in half and that completed the scoring.

Russell finished with 30 saves.

Niagara Gets 2011 World Juniors Event

The Buffalo Sabres and Niagara University will team up to host the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships, it was announced during a press conference at HSBC Arena on Monday afternoon.

Dwyer Arena and the Purple Eagles will be the secondary host for the 10-nation, 31-game tournament that will begin on Dec. 26, 2010 and continue through the first week of January. Dwyer Arena will host 14 games during the two-week span.

“The chance to host a tournament of this caliber doesn’t happen very often,” Niagara Director of Athletics Ed McLaughlin said. “Our relationship with the Buffalo Sabres and HSBC Arena made this possible and we look forward to having the best hockey in the world at Dwyer Arena.”

HSBC Arena and Dwyer Arena will see some of the top talent around the world, including teams from the United States, Canada, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia and Germany.

“To be associated with the Buffalo Sabres and USA Hockey to host one of the biggest hockey tournaments in the world is great exposure for Niagara University,” Burkholder added.

Beavers Get Commitment From McLeod

Ottawa Junior Senators 20-year-old center Aaron McLeod has verbally committed to Bemidji State for next season.

McLeod, 5-foot-8 and a shade under 170 pounds, had a 31-47-78 line in 58 games last season and currently has 20 points (eight on the power play) to lead Ottawa in scoring through 18 games this year. He’s also tied for 16th in Central Junior Hockey League scoring.

He Said It

“You look at a school like Alabama-Huntsville, and they’re just sitting down there by themselves. I mean, like it or not, economics plays a huge role in these programs and we have to minimize travel costs as much as we can and, as a whole, the proximity of the CHA to the CCHA is not good in that respect. But like I said, we’re open to ideas and don’t want to see a conference fail like that, but right now, it’s just very difficult.” — CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos, to NHL.com, on the prospects of the CCHA helping out the CHA

And Finally …

Alabama-Huntsville head coach Danton Cole was on “The Scott Owens Show” when UAH played at Colorado College earlier this month. Owens asked Cole what it was like to recruit players to come play down south and Cole’s response was, well, epic. Let’s just say the word “banjo” gets used.

Click the following link to hear what Cole said (with a little tweaking): http://gfmorris.net/audio/Cole%20Banjo.mp3.

(Thanks to former CHA Correspondent Geof Morris for the link)

This Week in Hockey East: Oct. 30, 2008

By David H. Hendrickson

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October 30, 2008

The View From Below

This column usually emphasizes teams’ highlights — if you want nonstop negativity to raise your blood pressure, turn on talk radio — but sometimes the lowlights can’t be overlooked. As a result, this week we lead off with two teams that have gotten out of the Hockey East chute slowly.

Maine and Providence have both lost their first two league games and by a combined goal differential of 15-2.

Time for gloom and doom? Where’s that panic button?

Or were those just a couple of potholes on the road to better things?

Let’s see.

Part I: Maine

Few expected Maine to jump out to a great start. After finishing ninth last year, the Black Bears graduated a host of important seniors then saw forward Andrew Sweetland and goaltender Ben Bishop bypass their remaining eligibility (three years and one year, respectively) to turn pro. That all added up to a loss of the top seven scorers and a dominant netminder.

Since Teddy Purcell left early for the pros the previous offseason; this left a very young team that was expected to struggle. League coaches picked Maine to finish ninth this year.

That pessimistic projection doesn’t look far off base in the early going. After splitting their games in the Alaska Goal Rush tournament, the Black Bears hosted Northeastern and lost 5-0 and 2-1.

“We’re not pleased with the results this past weekend, but we’re very pleased with how we played with the exception of our goal scoring and our goaltending,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead says. “Those are the two areas we knew would be difficult for us because of losing [Bishop, Purcell and Sweetland] early.

“So it’s not a surprise to us. It just reaffirmed that we’ve got to keep working at the areas that we already knew would be focal points for us this year.

“Special teams certainly are going to be key. We made some real good progress on the penalty kill and we’re taking some baby steps on our power play.”

So despite getting outscored 7-1 on the weekend, Whitehead preaches patience.

“We’re a young team,” Whitehead says. “It’s not a surprise that we’re going through some growing pains. We are very focused on improving, but it’s going to take some time.

“To put it in perspective, if this past weekend we’d put Ben, Andrew and Teddy on the ice, we’d have been a very different team, [especially] in the areas that we need to improve: goaltending, scoring and the power play.

“If you took the three best players off anyone else’s team, you wouldn’t expect them to turn it around right away. So that’s why we are trying to be as patient as we can be.

“At the same time, we want to fast-track this rebuilding process as quickly as we can so we can really surprise some people. But the reality is that it’s going to take us some time. We understand that; our players understand that.”

In goal, junior Dave Wilson and freshman Scott Darling have split time. Wilson’s numbers are as unimpressive (4.03 GAA, .857 Sv%) as Darling’s are impressive (1.01 GAA, .946 Sv%). Nonetheless, Whitehead isn’t ready to discard Wilson for the hot phenom.

“Scott’s a freshman goalie so I’m cautious about letting him run with it right now,” Whitehead says. “He’s not ready for that. He thought he was going to be Ben Bishop’s understudy this year and that would have been a perfect scenario for him for one year. So to throw everything at him [would be premature].

“Yes, he’s shown some great signs, and I’m very confident at where he’ll be in the long run, but I’m trying not to give him too much right now because I don’t think he’s ready for that. If we get to the point that we need to, so be it.

“But part of the reason for that [approach] is that I really think Dave Wilson can do more for us. I want to give him that opportunity. Although his stats don’t reflect it, he is much improved over last season. He’s in great shape and he’s focused on improving. He is making progress. I think he’s going to have a much better year than it appears right now.

“That’s why we want to make sure that both of our goalies are developing. We’re very committed to giving them both a chance.”

Up front, no one has yet stepped up to fill the voids left from all the departures. Only two players have more than a single point: freshman Spencer Abbott (three) and sophomore Josh Van Dyk (two). Since the team has only four goals after four games, that’s not exactly news.

“We’re just very young at the forward position and the guys that were going to be our go-to guys are in the pros,” Whitehead says. “That’s why we’re going to be patient.

“There’s no point to putting pressure on players that aren’t ready to handle that kind of scoring weight. If you’re under pressure and holding that stick tightly, that’s not a good formula for scoring more goals. There’s no magic wand we can wave this week and all of a sudden get six goals a game.

“I am confident that we will improve our scoring.” Whitehead laughs ruefully. “It’s tough not to considering how many goals we’ve had.

“We will get there, but it’s going to take time.”

Fortunately, Whitehead doesn’t have to make bad long-term decisions to save his own job. He has the security befitting a coach who led his team to the NCAA tournament his first six years at Maine (missing for the first time last season), advancing to the Frozen Four four times, and the national championship game twice.

“Nobody’s pushing a panic button here,” Whitehead says. “Our staff is on a long-term contract and we’ve already been guaranteed an extension.

“We’re not going to make knee-jerk decisions just to win one hockey game when that’s not in the best interest of our program. We’re going to do what we believe is right and continue to develop our players. We’re going to get there sooner than later.”

Part II: Providence

The Friars hold an enviable nonconference record (2-0), but a mirror image (0-2) within Hockey East. They’ve split both weekends with wins over Bowling Green and Holy Cross but losses to Northeastern (4-0) and Massachusetts-Lowell (4-1).

“I think we’ve played well in some stretches,” PC coach Tim Army says. “We’re 2-2. It’s my fourth year here and we’ve only once started 2-2. We’ve been 2-2, 1-3, and 0-4, so I think we’ve come along quicker compared to other years.

“In the two league games, we got outscored 8-1, but we haven’t been outshot. We outshot Northeastern, 35-24, and lost, 4-0. We outshot them, 17-7, in the second period, but we were down, 2-0. You’re not playing that badly, but you make a couple of mistakes and it’s in your net.

“I’ve we were getting outshot, 30-15, and losing, 4-0, I’d be more concerned with that.”

Those kinds of numbers usually point a finger at the goaltending, an unsettled position following the graduation of Tyler Sims. Senior Chris Mannix and junior Ryan Simpson were expected to contend for the job, but Simpson’s injuries have opened the door for freshman Justin Gates.

Although neither Mannix (3.01 GAA, .893 Sv%) nor Gates (4.00, .822) has seized the opportunity and made the top job his, Army feels the statistics belie the two goalies’ abilities.

“Chris continues to improve and played very well in the Bowling Green game and then at Lowell I thought he played fine,” Army says. “We hung him out to dry in a couple of situations and could have played a couple other situations better to give him a better chance. I thought he held us in there and gave us a chance.

“Gatesy played well in both games he played. He’s a freshman and he’s learning to play at this level. I think it’s just a question of him playing and getting some experience at this level.”

Up front, freshman Matt Bergland has made the most of his opportunity. With a game-winning goal and four assists, he tops the Friar point totals.

“He’s a very instinctive player and he can really skate,” Army says. “He competes hard. He’s very hungry offensively. He wants to get into those areas where you need to be to produce offensively.

“He’s playing with Johnny Cavanagh and Ian O’Connor. John is now a junior and probably our most savvy two-way player so the line’s a good fit. [Bergland] adds something to the line and I think the guys add some things for him. He’s played really well, better with each game.”

This weekend, Providence faces Massachusetts in a home-and-home series. Most fans would consider the games critical, albeit just a few weeks into the season, based on the 0-2 start within Hockey East. However, anyone who’s been reading Army’s quotes in past columns recognizes that as a coach, he takes a different view.

“Obviously you want to get in the win column,” Army says. “You only play 27 league games so every game is important no matter when you play or who you play. So obviously you want to get yourself on track at some point.

“But I don’t really look at it in those terms. If you start focusing on winning games, you get away from the process. I think we need to focus on the process and just play well and play better.

“[UMass] has got an outstanding team. They’re deep. They’re fast. They’ve got some skill, they have some really good goaltending and they’re well-coached.

“We’ve got to play as well as we can play. That’s what we’ve got to focus on. That’s what’ll get us into the W column.”

Under The Radar

The Massachusetts Minutemen have played only a single league game so far, that being a tie, so they’re flying under the radar. But take a look at what they’ve done. They lost to 11th-ranked Michigan State, defeated No. 19 North Dakota, thrashed Rensselaer, and tied No. 6 New Hampshire.

“I’m thinking that we’ve got a pretty good team in a very good league,” UMass coach Don “Toot” Cahoon says. “We just take it day by day and stay in the present.”

The impressive start comes despite some adversity, most notably the injury to top goaltender Paul Dainton, who played in 33 games last year as a freshman. Junior Dan Meyers has taken the opportunity and run with it, recording a 1.47 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage. Last week he earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors.

“I like the way we’ve begun, getting through some challenges that speak well of the group,” Cahoon says. “I thought that there’d be a real good chance Meyers would be in the mix and get in games because I think he’s a good goaltender.

“But I didn’t know that he’d have the whole thing put in front of him right away because of Paul’s injury. He’s answered the bell there and we’ve had solid goaltending. That’s been pivotal in getting off to a good start.”

Dainton is expected back soon, making the position even stronger.

In front of Meyers, the defense has played well, bolstered by the return of senior John Wessbecker last weekend. He’d been out since early last December.

“Getting him back gives us a lot of confidence,” Cahoon says. “He’s so experienced and so solid. We’ve been able to get good efforts from the other guys, Martin Nolet and Topher Bevis. And obviously Justin Braun is an extremely gifted defenseman.

“Then little Mike Marcou, who we didn’t expect to get early ice time, is getting a regular shift. Dougie Kublin played [20] games last year. Now he’s getting a regular shift and he’s doing a good job.

“So some guys have really stepped up.”

Up front, it’s been scoring by committee. Five players lead the scoring with three points each.

“One of our strengths is the depth of our forward lines,” Cahoon says. “For the first time, every guy I’ve got in the program is capable of playing over an extended period and not just filling in for a game here or there.

“Of course, you have your pivotal people, the point producers, the guys in the middle, that you certainly could do without having injuries. But overall, the depth up front is better than it’s ever been here. I think that will speak for itself over the course of the season.”

An Eye-Opener

A 7-2 result is always an eye-opener, but almost never more so than when BU clobbered Michigan by that score last Saturday. The Terriers are looking more and more like a team that can go deep into the NCAA playoffs.

Freshmen goaltenders Kieran Millan and Grant Rollheiser have both been impressive. The Terriers are winning the special teams battles (witness holding Michigan 2-for-12 on its power play while capitalizing 5-for-9 on their own).

And players like Colin Wilson, seventh overall NHL draft pick and the reigning Hockey East Rookie of the Year, are taking their games to the next level. Wilson assisted on three goals against Michigan and according to BU coach Jack Parker, that didn’t even begin to measure his play.

“I thought Colin Wilson looked like an NHLer out there today, boy,” Parker said after the win. “There are times out there when he can just dominate a rush or a shift.

“He did that almost the entire game tonight. He was always on the puck. He was always lugging the puck out. He did a great job killing penalties. He did a great job moving the puck on the power play. There were two or three instances where he was just determined to get the puck into the zone himself and just beat guys with his speed.

“He’s a much better skater than people give him credit for because sometimes he slows things down because he wants to play with the big body [6-2, 215 pounds] and hold people up. We’re trying to get him think that they can’t hold him up because they can’t catch him. He can play either game, but I’d rather see him using his legs more than his upper body.”

Freshman defenseman David Warsofsky, at the opposite size end of the spectrum from Wilson at 5-9, 170 pounds, has also opened eyes.

“He’s an eighteen-and-a-half-year-old freshman who plays like a senior,” Parker said earlier this year. “And what’s really good about that is that he plays like a very, very talented senior. He’s got a lot of poise out there.

“He’s got a lot of what I refer to as Larry Bird court sense. He sees what’s going on and he never gets rattled. It looks like someone is just about to take the puck off his stick and he pulls it by them or chips it to the right guy.

“He’s not as flashy as [Matt] Gilroy or quite as offensive-minded yet as [Kevin] Shattenkirk, but he’s going to be a terrific offensive defenseman. He’s really a smart player all over the ice right now for us, and he’s obviously playing a lot on the power play.”

And Finally, Not That It Has Anything To Do With Anything, But…

I gave up on the email chase long ago. It comes in faster than I can handle it. At work, at home, on the road. Everywhere.

Not just spam. The good stuff too. It’s the borderline useful emails that give me problems, building up and up into a mountain that dwarfs Everest. I keep them for the same reason I keep all the papers that litter my office. I just might need them.

And by the time they’re no longer useful, they’re buried under the next batch of potentially useful emails and papers.

Even so, a couple months ago I swore I’d spend even less time reading email and less time writing it. I had better ways to spend my heartbeats. If the mountain towered even higher, so what? If some email thread had to do without my witty retort, it wouldn’t kill anyone.

This past week, however, the mountain’s size came into full view.

A migration at work from one email application to another forced a migration of that mountain of messages. I deleted a few easy mailbox folders but wasn’t about to tackle the monstrosity known as my Inbox.

The result stunned even me. This didn’t include any of the thousands of emails stacked in my various personal accounts, only my work emails since 2004.

The number of migrated emails was…

14,694.

I can only shake my head.

Scott Weighart contributed to this column. My wife, Brenda, proved once again heroic in her assistance.

This Week in the WCHA: Oct. 30, 2008

By Theresa Spisak

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October 30, 2008

It’s Halloween week and I’m coming up with nothing scary for you, except my self-deprecating style.

Hey, it’s the way I write — scariest of all, perhaps?

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Ryan Stoa, UM.
Why: Scored three goals over two games to help his Gophers take three of four points from Wisconsin.
Also Nominated: Paul Crowder, UAA; Chad Rau, CC; Kyle Ostrow, DU; Justin Fontaine, UMD.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Alex Kangas, UM.
Why: Had four shutout periods and stopped 54 of 58 total shots on goal to help Minnesota take three of four points from Wisconsin.
Also Nominated: Richard Bachman, CC.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Luke Salazar, DU.
Why: Had two assists in Denver’s non-conference split against Ohio State.
Also Nominated: Tim Hall, CC.

CC — On the Right Track?

As you all recall, Colorado College was pretty much a unanimous pick to repeat as league regular-season champion. Right now, even though it’s early, the Tigers are doing a pretty good job to retain their crown. One reason to think that is their penalty killing. When Clarkson sent Saturday’s game into overtime with a power-play tally, it was the first power-play goal that the Tigers had let in this season, dropping their penalty-killing success rate to 97.7% — second in the nation.

No small feat, considering the increase in penalties this year.

“Well, I mean it’s really been the key to our early success [since] it seems like we’ve been shorthanded a lot,” said coach Scott Owens. “We’re trying different forwards, we’ve been rotating a few more people through.”

He also pinpoints his team’s success on the PK with a few things.

“I think it’s a combination of things. One, Richard [Bachman]’s been very, very strong in goal. Secondly, we’ve been able to rotate fresh bodies through and have good energy and be aggressive and three, I think it’s still early in the year and some teams are still working on their power plays.

“It’s been a huge part of the game, especially when we’re not scoring much.”

That last bit is important as the apparent lack of offense on CC’s part — one thing the Tigers don’t have going for them, and one that may prove hurtful down the stretch. Last year, the Tigers were ninth in the nation in offense, averaging 3.32 goals per game.

This year, despite a lot of high-powered offensive players such as Chad Rau and Bill Sweatt, the Tigers are averaging only 2.5 goals per game — a number quite a bit down from their in-state rival and opponent this weekend, Denver, which is averaging a nation-leading 4.8 goals per game.

“[I’m] still a little bit concerned, but it’s still pretty early. [We’re] still trying to work our line combinations so we’ve been experimenting with some different things. Our top line has been giving us production; it’s just our secondary scoring and a little bit from the blueline, so I’m a little concerned. But it’s still end of October, early November and we’re getting chances, getting grade-A scoring chances, we’re getting quite a few shots, but we’re not getting a lot to go in.

“That’s something I’m confident we’ll continue to work through and get better at because the track record is there for a lot more scoring than two and a half goals per game.”

Penalty Crackdown: The Reactions

Mike, a frequent e-mailer, e-mailed me something he’d like to see in the column that I was thinking about anyway. Given space and personal time, I’m going to split it into two parts.

First, here’s his e-mail:

“Do a comparison of the current season to last season after a month and see where we’re at in terms of penalties/offense. I’m sure a lot of people are going to be wondering if the new approach is working as intended. It’d be also interesting to see how the coaches are reacting to it after seeing it for a few games.”

This week, I’ll give a few reactions and next week the numbers.

First, as you read in the section above on CC, Owens brought up a good point in that it’s early and teams are still trying to figure things out. Thanks to the (probable) rise in penalties and man-advantages and disadvantages, teams are having to add another power-play unit and/or another penalty-killing unit just to get fresh bodies on the ice and not be tired out by the time the third period on Saturday rolls around.

Denver’s George Gwozdecky is helping his team adjust to the new system by “penalizing” the players in practice.

“The only way you can break habits is by practicing the proper way,” said Gwozdecky. “If they get back to their old habits in practice, we’ll blow it down, we’ll whistle it and we’ll penalize them. Now obviously they don’t serve a penalty in practice, but they get penalized by having to do skates, challenging skates and things like that so that hopefully, they start to realize that hey, they’re being held accountable.

“They’re held accountable in a game, they’re going to be held accountable in practice.”

Minnesota’s Don Lucia, on the other hand, isn’t really doing anything differently.

“I think it’s a combination,” he said. “I think the referees will get more comfortable with what they’re calling and I think the players will get more comfortable with what’s going to be called. So I just think it’s going to take some time for everybody to figure out what’s going to be called and what should be called, and for the players to adjust accordingly.”

However, Lucia has tried to emphasize the new rules since the beginning of the year anyway.

“One thing that we’ve done is … from Friday to Saturday, we’ve cut our penalties in half both games,” he said.

State of Minnesota Hockey Showcase

Last year around the Final Five, the WCHA announced the inaugural State of Minnesota Hockey Showcase — a one-day event featuring the WCHA’s four teams from Minnesota in a doubleheader event at the Xcel Energy Center to take place Saturday, November 1.

Well, that Saturday is this Saturday and all four coaches are gearing up for the event, but not as much as one would think given that the games all count as WCHA regular-season contests — just played at a much bigger, “neutral site” arena.

Even though I can’t be there, I for one am interested to see how it works in terms of generating revenue and fan interest. Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State, Mankato were the two schools that spearheaded the event and will split the gate proceeds along with the league.

Curious because though the scheduling should work out to host this event again two years from now, it might not happen at all next year due to scheduling conflicts. Also, I’m thinking if they don’t get the gate numbers they’d like, the Showcase may just end up being a one-year thing.

Reader Mailbag: Say Goodbye

Like I thought it might, the shootout pondering generated e-mail, and the consensus seems to be a resounding “NAY.”

Here are a few select responses:

Mike from Minnesota: “As for the shootout, it’s a stupid idea that individualizes what is supposed to be a team game.”

Tim “from” Madison: “Shootouts are a bad idea. It’s a way of deciding a game based on one very small dimension” … “Have each team take a power play until someone ends up ahead. [That] would at least incorporate a team effort and in that it’s much less arbitrary than a shootout” … “A defensive team that battles a flashy offensive team to 2-2 at the end of regulation is at an unfair disadvantage in a shootout.”

Matchups By the Numbers

All 10 teams play this weekend, some thanks to the State of Minnesota Hockey Showcase.

No. 12 Minnesota State @ No. 5 Minnesota; UM vs. MSU, M in Showcase
Overall Records: MSU, M — 3-1-0 (1-1-0 WCHA). UM — 3-0-1 (3-0-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UM leads the overall series, 28-3-5.

Alaska Anchorage @ Michigan Tech
Overall Records: UAA — 4-1-1 (1-0-1 WCHA). MTU — 1-3-0 (0-2-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: MTU leads the overall series, 23-22-8.

Wisconsin @ No. 18 North Dakota
Overall Records: UW — 0-5-1 (0-3-1 WCHA). UND — 1-3-0 (1-1-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UW leads the overall series, 80-58-10.

No. 1 Colorado College and No. 4 Denver (home-and-home)
Overall Records: CC — 4-0-2 (2-0-0 WCHA). DU — 4-1-0 (2-0-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: DU leads the overall series, 152-105-10.

No. 19 St. Cloud State vs. Minnesota Duluth in Showcase
Overall Records: SCSU — 3-3-0 (0-2-0 WCHA). UMD — 3-1-2 (0-1-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: SCSU leads the overall series, 50-35-5.

Odds and Ends

I got a few responses regarding the quinella — mostly to do with horse racing terms. However, lest you forget, this is a hockey column and therefore, I was thinking of a quinella in terms of the sport of hockey.

According to Total Hockey, the official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League, first edition, page 619:

Quinella — scoring every type of goal in a single game: even-strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty shot and empty net; Mario Lemieux accomplished this feat on New Year’s Eve 1988 versus New Jersey.

This Week in D-I: Oct. 30, 2008

By Dan Hickling

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October 30, 2008

Puppy Power

So letâ€™s see, when is the last time you saw Boston University standing atop the WHEA ladder a month into the season? Or, for that matter, ever saw the Terriers listed anywhere inside the USCHO.com poll?

The answer to both questions is … never!

Yet here we are with those spunky pups tearing at the cuffs of the womenâ€™s hockey elite. And coming away picking fabric from their fangs.

BU is currently ranked eighth in the nation, a measure of respect hitherto unknown to the Terriers in just their fourth year of existence. And their ranking stands to improve as a result of Thursday nightâ€™s 3-2 shootout win over No. 5 New Hampshire, and on the Whittemore Center expanse, no less.

Yet as nice as the recognition is, say the Terriers, more satisfying to them is the quality of play that earned that ranking in the first place.

“Itâ€™s definitely the way weâ€™re playing,” said senior co-captain Gina Kearns, who holds every major BU scoring record. “Weâ€™re ranked right now. But does it really mean anything right now? Weâ€™d like to be ranked come March.”

That focus is shared by BUâ€™s underclassmen, such as sophomore right wing Lauren Cherewyk.

“I love the ranking,” Cherewyk said. “[But] I feel like the bar is set higher for us. I think itâ€™s great, because we have a lot of potential as a team. And we want to just keep raising the bar. Otherwise weâ€™re not fighting for something.”

Brian Durocher has guided the Terrier program since Day One, and says that his club has matured and melded together — particularly in its own end — where seven defenseman are in the rotation.

“I think we have a little better tempo, back on the blue line,” Durocher said. “Tara Watchorn, Kasey Boucher [both] with a pretty high tempo. Carly Warren is a young freshman, too who does [too].

“And on top of that, we have a pretty experienced team that has been through the wars in these situations. Now all of a sudden itâ€™s in their head, what weâ€™re going to do. Weâ€™re not going to beat many teams, 7-6. Weâ€™re going to beat you 2-1.”

Of course, when you have a netminder the caliber of senior Allyse Wilcox (she of the 1.95 goals-against average), you can talk about being stingy.

Two years ago, Boston University won the right to hold this yearâ€™s Women’s Frozen Four.
Few people, if any, thought that the Terriers might actually play in it at the time.

Now, the notion doesnâ€™t seem to be so far-fetched … at not least to the club itself.

“Itâ€™s definitely a goal,” said Cherewyk. “Itâ€™s in the back of our heads. Itâ€™s like Coach said, itâ€™s great getting rankings, but thatâ€™s just for now. Weâ€™ve just got to keep working. Weâ€™ve got to get there.”

Empty Netters

Rookies have already begun to make their scoring presence felt this young season. Among them is Ohio State forward Natalie Spooner, who leads the Buckeyes in points (10) and goals (seven). Spooner, who hails from Scarborough, Ontario, was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week after chalking up five points during OSUâ€™s two game sweep of Bemidji State (she potted both game-winners). However, the Buckeyes will be without Spoonerâ€™s services for this weekendâ€™s trip to surprising North Dakota. She is with Team Canada, which is prepping for the Four Nations Cup, which gets underway next Thursday in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Spooner, 18, is the youngest of seven D-I college players who will sport the maple leaf. Two others are Mercyhurst teammates Meghan Agosta and Valerie Chouinard. Sarah Vaillancourt (Harvard), Jenn Wakefield (New Hampshire), Rebecca Johnston (Cornell), and Jocelyne Larocque (Minnesota Duluth) are the others.

As for Team USA, a whole host of collegians will be wearing the red, white, and blue. They won’t leave for the Adirondacks until next week, however. Those fitted for stars and stripes include Kacey Bellamy (New Hampshire), Hilary Knight and Erika Lawler along with goalie Jessie Vetter (Wisconsin), Kelli Stack and Molly Schaus (Boston College), Anne Schleper, Gigi Marvin, Jocelyn Lamoureux and Rachel Drazan (Minnesota), and Sarah Parsons (Dartmouth). … Team Finland will suit up Mari Pehkonen (Providence College), Nina Tikkenen (Minnesota State), and Duluth teammates Saara Tuominen and Heidi Pelttari, while Mercyhurst defenseman Johanna Malmstrom and Niagara forward Natalie Larsen will both skate for Sweden.

The FNC doesn’t come at the most convenient time for college programs, but coaches still appreciate the value provided their players by the international experience.

Dartmouth coach Mark Hudak has gotten used to doing without Parsons around this time of year. This will be Parsonsâ€™ fourth Four Nations stint.

“Itâ€™s helped her in two areas,” said Hudak. “Confidence [for one]. Having played at that level, playing with and against those people, certainly gives her the confidence to be able to step out there and play with anybody. Realizing that she can be a leader, has been beneficial to the team.

“The other area is as a role model. The extra work that she will do before or after practice. You see other players on the team saying ‘if that’s what you need to do to be that good, then I guess thatâ€™s what I need to do, as well.'”

By the by, for you streaming video junkies out there (this correspondent included), all FNC games — beginning with the Nov. 4 Canada/Finland clash — will be streamed for free via usahockey.com.

This Week in SUNYAC

By Russell Jaslow

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October 30, 2008

SUNYAC Goes 6-4-1 Versus ECAC West

After a very disappointing year for SUNYAC teams against the ECAC West, the public schools started the season with a solid weekend against their private counterparts.

“I always thought the SUNYAC is a strong league,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “And it’s getting stronger and stronger each year, and maybe it’s catching up to the other leagues. We had such a good thing going in the SUNYAC that I think coaches didn’t put an emphasis on the non-conference games. Maybe now, they are starting to place an emphasis on these games.”

“The top teams are always strong,” Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith said. “It’s the middle teams and bottom teams that have gotten stronger that makes this league so tough.”

The top team, Plattsburgh, scored perhaps the most dramatic goal of the weekend. Debuting their complete renovation of Stafford Ice Arena, it took just nine seconds to get the fans off those brand spanking new seats. You’d be hard pressed to find a quicker baptism.

“Our guys were anxious to play since it was our first game,” Emery said. “It was just a matter of our guys coming out of the locker room with a ton of emotions. We dumped the puck deep, forced a turnover, and got a lucky bounce.”

Eric Satim christened the building and then Dylan Clarke made it 2-0 at 3:29. Dan Sliasis scored in the second for a 3-0 lead, and Plattsburgh never looked back, beating Elmira, 6-3 (Shawn Dennis, Ward Smith, and Clarke with his second got the other goals). Bryan Hince made 20 saves.

The last time these two arch rivals met was in the national semifinal game seven months ago. Plattsburgh won then, too. The score? 6-3.

Perhaps the most shocking win was not just the victory, but the fact that it was a shutout. Buffalo State did the honors, whitewashing the No. 8 team in the preseason polls, Hobart, 4-0.

“After the SUNYAC Challenge, I felt we were playing pretty good hockey, but weren’t getting the breaks,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere said. “Our approach to Hobart was just to continue a lot of the good things we’ve been doing. Our guys executed. We had our go to guys do their business. We shutdown their go-to guys.”

Those go to guys were Joe Curry on the power play in the first, Kerry Barchan in the second, Cory Park, and Nick Petriello on the man advantage. Zach Grasley made 26 saves for his first collegiate shutout in just his third start. And he beat Keith Longo in the process.

The next day didn’t go as well as Hobart enacted revenge on their home ice, 5-3.

“We gave then a couple of quick goals right off the bat and that was the nail in the coffin,” Carriere said. “We had some opportunities to comeback with special teams, made it 4-3, but couldn’t get it done.”

Petriello scored to make it 2-1, but two more goals put Buffalo State in a bigger hole. Curry and Barchan registered power-play tallies, but that was all the Bengals could muster. Nonetheless, the Bengals feel good about the weekend.

“We played a ranked team and beat them pretty convincingly,” Carriere said. “We feel we can beat anyone in the country.”

Another shocking game turned out to be a loss, but very nearly was the upset of the weekend. Morrisville, with just five wins last year, came oh so close to toppling the No. 9 team in the preseason poll, Manhattanville.

After falling behind 1-0 after one, Andrew Alarie and Dave Schultz scored to give the Mustangs the lead. Then, after another deadlock, Geoff Matzel put Morrisville ahead 3-2 in the third. Alas, it wouldn’t hold up as Manhattanville scored three unanswered goals for the 5-3 victory. Caylin Relkoff made 41 saves.

Though the official scorer gave Morrisville only 11 shots, in reality it was probably more than that. The game was not as lopsided as the stat sheet indicated.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with our effort,” Morrisville coach Brian Grady said. “We battled in all three zones. We took away their time and space. We took away their transition game. We bottled them up. We kept them along the perimeter. We didn’t play not to lose. We played to win. More than anything, it was a confidence game for us.

“It’s a work in progress. In games like this, even though it was frustrating, even though you wanted to win, it is still a big step forward for us. The feeling in the locker room was like I’ve never seen before.”

As is the case in sports at times, the team that should win doesn’t and visa versa. That was the case in the Geneseo-Neumann series. Geneseo won the first night, 3-2, on a late goal by Phil Rose with 54 seconds left in the contest. Jeff Pasemko made 34 saves for the victory.

Neumann came back the next day for a 4-3 win, despite Geneseo leading 1-0 (Sebastian Panetta) and 3-2 (Jimmy Powers and Clint Olson). Cory Gershon made his first start and stopped 29 shots. But, it should have been the other way around.

“I thought Neumann got the better part of the play on Friday, and we won,” Geneseo coach Chris Schultz said. “Conversely, I thought we got the better part of the play on Saturday, and we lost.

“I really liked the way we performed on Saturday, the game we lost. We carried the majority of play. Created a lot of opportunities. Friday, Neumann came right out with a jump in their step, yet we found ourselves up 2-0 [Michael Forgione and Casey Balog]. It didn’t matter who was playing better. It was just a matter of who converted on their opportunities.”

Consistently, Fredonia looked the best over the weekend against Utica with a 3-3 tie (Richard Boyce for the initial lead and third period goals by Boyce again and James Muscatello for the come from behind tie) and a 2-1 win (Bryan Goudy and Alex Morton). After making 42 saves the first night, Pat Street missed a shutout on Saturday by eight seconds while making 28 saves.

“I think we made a lot of progress from the previous weekend at the SUNYAC Challenge, and that’s encouraging,” Meredith said. “They [Utica] have a great set up where they get 3,000 fans every game. It was an exciting place to play. With 3,000 people there, you don’t want to let the game get away.”

Oswego had no problem with Lebanon Valley, winning 7-2 (Ryan Ellis with two, Garren Reisweber, Mark Lozzi, Brendan McLaughlin, Matt Whitehead, and Peter Magagna). Brockport also had no problems with the Flying Dutchmen, shutting them out, 3-0 (Dave McNab, Aaron Boyer, and Jason Gorrie, all the on power play). Todd Sheridan got his first collegiate shutout.

“He’s excited about it,” Brockport coach Brian Dickinson said. “Our team is excited about it.”

Cortland failed to extend the SUNYAC record against the ECAC West when they dropped an 8-3 decision to Hobart despite the shots being even at 39 each. The Red Dragons kept it close early on, scoring the first goal by Greg Haney. After falling behind, 3-1, Jake Saville got one back in the last minute of the second. However, the dam burst, and the Statesmen ran away with the contest. Haney got his second after the game was out of hand.

SUNYAC Short Shots

Potsdam scored six goals by six different players in the second period to take a 6-2 lead over Adrian, but couldn’t hold on in the third, settling for a 6-6 tie … Potsdam had 3-2 and 4-3 leads the next night, but once again could not hold on, losing to Adrian, 6-4.

Game of the Week

Conference play begins this weekend, and some of these games may come back to haunt teams as the battle for playoff spots and playoff positioning may be the toughest ever, if this past weekend is any indication.

Morrisville hosts Geneseo and Brockport. All three teams are coming off weekends which made them feel very good.

“I expect the same thing they were giving everybody last year,” Schultz said of Morrisville. “They don’t give up for 60 minutes and that’s the type of team that scares you.”

“Two teams coming into our barn who are going to be working hard,” Grady said. “We’re certainly cranked up for that and being an alumni weekend, our guys are excited about it.”

Brockport may be coming in with a slight handicap, having to play Hobart before heading to Morrisville.

“When I scheduled Hobart in there I thought did we really want to do that especially knowing that Morrisville was going to play on Friday,” Dickinson said. “But we couldn’t find another date. It’s a good test for us. We need to get our guys to focus on one game at a time. Looking forward to playing Hobart. But the focus for us will be the Saturday game with Morrisville.”

Oswego and Cortland do their travel partner dance in Cortland. The next day, Oswego goes home to get a chance for revenge against Elmira, while Cortland rests a day before taking on Lebanon Valley.

The big series of games will be taking place in the North Country as the teams from western New York make that long annual trek. Based on my predictions, one would think the Fredonia at Potsdam game would be the pick for the game of the week, since it’s those two teams I anticipate fighting for third place.

However, based on Fredonia’s play this year so far, I am particularly curious how their game against Plattsburgh turns out. That result may set the tone for what we can expect the entire year in the SUNYAC. In any case, the games won’t be easy for any team.

“I’m expecting two straight up SUNYAC-type games,” Carriere said. “Nothing but . . . solid hockey games. We’re going to get our guys ready for Potsdam. Afterwards, at about 9:15 p.m., we’re going to switchover, and just think about Plattsburgh.”

“Reminds me of 10 or so years ago,” Meredith said. “That was one of the toughest road trips in college hockey. You knew what you were getting at Plattsburgh, and then you got it again at Potsdam. It’s the same again.”

“They [Fredonia] always try to slow the play down,” Emery said. “They’ve had a lot of success against us. They won the last two games in our place.”

Fredonia certainly has had a lot of success against Plattsburgh since 2004. Fredonia is 6-2-1 in their last nine meetings and 3-1-1 at Stafford in that time period.

“One thing is for sure, you don’t want to play catch up with Fredonia,” Emery said.

On The Periphery

Vote! No matter who you support nationally and locally, get out and vote on Tuesday. Let’s show the world that we are indeed the leaders in democracy during this historic election with a massive turnout.

This Week in the ECAC West

By Scott Biggar

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October 29, 2008

Crossing the Pond

Over the last couple of years, Manhattanvilleâ€™s roster has taken on a very international flavor. It has been the norm for years to see NCAA college hockey rosters loaded with hometowns in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, or British Columbia.

But the Valiants have extended the recruiting path even farther and now count almost a third of their players from Europe. Scandinavia and Eastern Europe have been the prime recruiting grounds for Manhattanvilleâ€™s head coach Keith Levinthal.

â€œTapping into the European recruits makes sense given the weakness of the US dollar,â€ said Levinthal. â€œWe basically go in two different directions, poor or wealthy.â€

Four European freshmen have been added to the Valiants roster this season, joining five upperclassmen who hail from across the pond.

While the financial benefits are obvious in todayâ€™s economy, bringing in European recruits does have its risks. The game of hockey is played differently on the two continents, and language and cultural barriers can also present a challenge.

â€œOne of the biggest differences is that they donâ€™t really forecheck there like we forecheck here,â€ said Levinthal. â€œDefensemen actually have time to go back and get the puck. Combine that with the Playland rink which is a little narrow, their adjustment to the different style of game may take time. It is a huge adjustment compared to the game here.â€

The length of season is also very different. The European leagues can play anywhere from 40 to more than 80 games during the regular season, compared to the 25 in the ECAC West. But that adjustment also must be made for the players coming out of the North American junior system as well.

â€œThey need to adjust to every game here being game seven of the NCAA tournament,â€ said Levinthal. â€œWhen you have a lot of new guys, just getting them to understand that that is true even for North American guys coming out of the junior system.â€

Fortunately, coach Levinthal has a group of upperclassmen who have made these kinds of adjustments before, both in style of play and importance of every game.

â€œNicholas Berntsson is a guy who we are going to rely on in both areas a ton,â€ said Levinthal. â€œNevermind some of the other veterans like Chris Trafford, Arlen Marshall, and Chris Galiotti, those guys making sure that we maintain the right culture is absolutely imperative.â€

Shooting It Out

Utica opened the season last weekend hosting a pair of games against Fredonia. The Pioneers outshot the Blue Devils 45-17 in Fridayâ€™s game and held a 3-1 lead entering the third period. But Fredonia scored twice midway through the final frame to tie the game and send it to overtime.

â€œWe played very well, came out with fire and had time of possession in our favor,â€ said Utica coach Gary Heenan. â€œAs a young team, we let a two goal lead get away at home. On the weekend, we didnâ€™t make a lot of mistakes but the ones we made were big ones. We coughed it up in prime scoring areas.â€

The fun was just beginning at a raucous Aud filled with over three thousand fans. Coach Heenan had discussed the idea of a shootout if the games ended in a tie with Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith during the offseason.

â€œI called Fredonia and they were all for it as experimental,â€ said Heenan. â€œI checked with the league and they said no, but then I went to the NCAA and they said yeah, itâ€™s your choice in an out of conference [game] as long as the other team agrees.â€

Neither team scored in overtime and the shootout began. It took seven rounds of shooters, with each team scoring goals along the way only to have the other team answer, before Utica finally came out on top.

â€œWe had an unbelievable crowd,â€ said Heenan. â€œThey were all on their feet for the shootout. It went to seven shooters. Even though we won the shootout, Jeff Meredith came off the bench and said that was fun. The players loved it, the coaches loved it, and the fans fell in love with it. I think the ECAC West is missing the boat.â€

The ECAC West considered using a shootout format to eliminate ties during league play but the motion was defeated for this season.

â€œThe league said no to our vote,â€ related Heenan. â€œThe coaches want it and Utica wants it. But the other five athletic directors voted it down.â€

While shootouts are exciting to watch and can lead to highlight reel finishes of games, personally Iâ€™m just as glad that the ECAC West decided against shootouts. Determining the winner of a team game via individual one-on-one competitions doesnâ€™t seem like a good idea, no matter how exciting the shootout might be.

But thatâ€™s just my opinion. The fans and players certainly seemed to enjoy themselves during the shootout last Friday at the Aud.

Game of the Week

Elmira hosted Oswego two weeks ago at the Thunderdomes, mounting a strong second period comeback to eke out a 3-2 victory. The Soaring Eagles tallied a pair of power-play goals in the second period, with Karl Linden scoring the first and last goals of the game to earn the ECAC Player of the Week award.
This Saturday, Oswego will be looking for a measure of revenge when Elmira travels north to the shores of Lake Ontario for a rematch.

Elmira, on the other hand, will try to do its part to reverse a rare early season inter-league deficit the ECAC West has amassed with the SUNYAC. The ECAC West has only put up a disappointing 5-6-1 record against the nationâ€™s other premier conference in the seasonâ€™s first two weeks.

Fresh Horses

By Paula C. Weston

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October 29, 2008

“I was always told that when you go to a school you’ll know when it’s right. I thought it was just cliche, hearing it over and over, but in reality when I came here it felt right.”

That’s not the kind of sentiment college hockey fans might expect from a freshman playing for last year’s last-place team. But Ian Slater and his Western Michigan rookie classmates may not be the kind of freshmen anyone would expect to commit to last year’s last-place Broncos.

Slater, a forward from Satellite Beach, Fla., was a three-year captain for a Cedar Rapids Rough Riders (USHL) team that featured many players familiar to college hockey and CCHA fans in general, such as Miami’s Andy Miele and Tommy Wingels and Northern Michigan’s Phil Axtell and Ray Kaunisto. As the second-oldest member of WMU’s freshman class of eight, Slater’s leadership skills — from both age and experience — are evident in his seasoned perspective about his new hockey home.

“Nobody likes to lose,” says Slater. “Nobody wants to lose. That leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Everybody here knows what it’s like to win. We’ve all come from established programs. We want to keep the legacy here of Bronco hockey, starting with our class and keeping it going for the next four years.”

After the 2007-08 series, which was worst season in Western Michigan hockey history during which the team registered just four league wins and eight overall, maybe the Broncos aren’t looking to rebuild so much as they’re looking to build something entirely new.

And maybe that’s why head coach Jim Culhane brought his entire team, including the newbies, back to Kalamazoo more than three months before the 2008-09 season began.

“We’ve been together here since the 24th of June,” says Culhane, now in his 11th year as the Bronco skipper. “We continue to grow and connect with each other. I think Chris Frank, our senior captain, has done a nice job with this group and I think there’s a good bond and team chemistry with all the guys — the accountability, responsibility you need to play for each other.”

This is the first time that Culhane has required his team to spend the summer on Western Michigan’s campus, and he did so in an effort to create a new culture of Bronco hockey.

“Typically, the guys are here spring session, take their classes, then go home for the summer, July and August,” says Culhane. “This year, they went home in the spring, and returned back to campus [in June] to go to summer school. The incoming freshman class came in, too.

“It helped in the sense not only in their readiness to play physically, but you talk about team chemistry and creating a bond and a brotherhood — you eliminate a lot of that anxiety and not know about your teammates in the summer months.”

The win-loss column may not yet show the positive results that Culhane and the Broncos desire from this year’s preseason work, but the team that was outscored 126-82 overall last season and on which CCHA opponents doubled up in goals (100-53) has a win and a tie with two of its four losses decided by a goal. In six games this season, the Broncos have 15 goals to 21 opponent markers, a much closer margin versus a year ago and a hopeful sign — and an early indication that Culhane may be getting a little bit of what he wants so far this season.

“The word that comes to my mind how we want to play is relentless,” says Culhane. “We want to be relentless on both ends of the rink, every night. With that, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to be successful in hockey games. It’s a work in progress.”

A big component to that work in progress is this rookie class, bookended in experience by Slater and in age by Kevin Connauton, an 18-year-old true freshman. Players that young are a luxury for the Broncos, who often have to rely on older, more tested players because of the inequity of recruiting against their powerhouse neighbors, Michigan and Michigan State. Connauton, a defenseman from Edmonton, Alb., was slated to begin his WMU career in the 2009-10 season, but came early when the Broncos learned they would be without Jesse Perrin, who would have arrived this fall.

“We had committed Jesse Perrin, who, unfortunately for him and for us, with his academic score could not come in,” said Culhane. “So he elected to turn pro once that decision was made late this summer.

“Kevin’s come in and done a real admirable job. He has an older brother who’s playing at Brown, a good brother who’s educated his younger brother on what it takes to be successful. Kevin came in in fantastic shape. Sometimes these guys come in without the level of physical strength that’s needed to be successful. That’s helped him make a smoother transition.”

Connauton, who has four assists in six games, says that he’s felt welcome from his arrival in Kalamazoo, even though it came later than that of his classmates.

“We all gel pretty good. It’s just us living in the dorms together, so we’ve got a little brotherhood going on there.”

“They’re bringing a lot of energy to our team,” says Culhane of the newcomers, including junior transfer Jared Katz from the now-defunct Wayne State Warriors.

“The excitement to be here to play for the Broncos, to play for the CCHA … it makes coaching so rewarding,” says Culhane. “With the older guys, it keeps them filled with enthusiasm, too.

“There are some characters in there. There are some guys that — you know what? I love their free spirit.”

“We bicker like family,” jokes Slater. “Everyone calls us little girls, because we all bicker back and forth. I borrow [Greg] Squires’ shoes and he says my feet smell. He steals my blanket.” Squires, a winger from White Plains, N.Y., is Slater’s roommate.

With a new cast of free-spirited characters committed to Bronco hockey and each other, and with just the right mix of hockey drama and dorm-room hijinks, should someone be calling MTV for some new reality programming?

“I don’t know if they could handle us,” says Slater.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Oct. 28, 2008

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown

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October 28, 2008

Jim: Well, Brownie, another weekend passes by and there’s plenty to talk about in the college hockey world. Let’s start with the poll. A week ago, you and I both said we weren’t sold on Colorado College as the number-one team in the nation. The Tigers traveled to Clarkson for two games last week and came away with two ties, yet the voters in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports poll seem okay with once again placing the Tigers first, with CC earning 37 of the 50 first-place votes. Do you think that voters were actually rewarding the Tigers for earning ties on the road?

Jacques Lamoureux and his eight goals are a big part of Air Force’s early success (photo: Air Force athletics).

Scott: Jim, I was surprised this week. On Sunday night, I always do a little private guess at what the top of the poll will look like Monday, and I didn’t see the Tigers staying on top, let alone by a wide margin. CC still hasn’t won a game against a top-caliber opponent; even though the Tigers were on the road and Clarkson is a solid team that was already ranked at the time, I don’t think two ties should have been enough to keep them at No. 1 given the quality performances of some of the other top teams so far. I would have put Boston College back at No. 1 this week, and dropped CC to second or even third given Boston University’s domination of Michigan. You, unlike me, get a vote — what’s your take?

Jim:My ballot had BC back in the top spot with Colorado College second. I placed BU third thanks to its impressive win over Michigan on Saturday night. Denver was fourth and New Hampshire was fifth. Guess that’s why there are 50 balloters, though, correct? Speaking of the poll, two big movers this week came out of Hockey East. The aforementioned BU jumped up three spots to become a top-five club and Northeastern moved up five spots to crack the top ten for the first time I can remember. I guess it also warrants mention that Air Force out of Atlantic Hockey entered the poll, well-deservedly, after starting the season 6-0-0. Certainly an interesting bunch this early in the season.

Scott: I always like to see CHA and AHA teams getting some props, and Air Force deserves it with a perfect record. But back on Hockey East, it’s high time we address the numbers. I’m a big believer in the value of data (hence my love of the PWR, odd though it can sometimes be), and the facts are plain: Hockey East is the dominant conference in the nation right now. A look at USCHO.com’s interconference standings page shows HEA with the best record against other conferences, which is magnified when looking at just games against the “Big Four” leagues. And head-to-head, Hockey East is 5-1-0 against the WCHA in 2008-09. So hats off. Here’s your chance to pound your chest, buddy — go for it.

Jim:And I thought that having the reigning national champion out east was good enough for this season! Seriously, you have to love the way things continue to stack up for Hockey East. The nonconference record is incredible, and top to bottom there simply isn’t an easy team in the league. After three of the perennial powers — BC, BU and New Hampshire — you have Northeastern, Vermont, UMass and now even Massachusetts-Lowell who all have to be taken seriously. Providence will throw in an upset or two. Merrimack boasts a great goaltender and right now just needs to score some goals. And then there’s Maine, in a rebuilding year right now, I still guarantee the Black Bears will steal a few games. Now it’s time for all ten clubs to beat one another to a pulp in league play. While I’m dishing out props, by the way, wanted to give a tip of the hat to Canisius. Though 1-2-2 through its first five games, the Griffs have defeated Ferris State on the road and tied Merrimack at home. That’s a pretty good start for a school that has struggled against the “Big Four.”

Scott: Going from one extreme to the other, let’s grit our teeth and talk about difficult starts. Now, by “difficult” I don’t necessarily mean “bad,” although sometimes they’re the same. What I mean are teams that are looking back at the first few weeks of the season and saying, geez, that’s not how we thought things would go. With that in mind, the top of the list has got to be Wisconsin, at 0-5-1. The Badgers have played a brutal schedule, with all six of their games against teams currently in the top six of our poll, and two of their losses have been heartbreakers — losing a third-period lead against Boston College on opening night and blowing a three-goal second-period advantage to Denver. Even their one tie wasn’t very satisfying, since UW led Minnesota 2-0 early on at the Kohl Center before the Gophers rallied. Your tough-luck squads so far?

Jim:I think two teams to point out for tough-luck starts at Army and UMass-Lowell. A year after Army won the league championship, the Black Knights have stumbled to a 0-3-0 start, having led for a total of just 124 seconds this season. They returned an all-American goaltender in Josh Kassel and, though they lost some firepower up front, still should be competitive. Lowell certainly didn’t have other people’s expectations to worry about this year, ranked seventh in the Hockey East coaches’ poll. But the River Hawks have allowed just five goals in four games this year, yet sit at .500, having dropped 2-1 decisions against Colgate and Michigan State. Certainly if the River Hawks’ defense and goaltending continue to shine, you have to expect better fortune at some point.

Scott: Yeah, UML’s story so far goes to show how just a couple of goals one way or the other can dramatically change the outlook of a season early on. Minnesota is in the top five nationally at 3-0-1, with two of the three wins coming by a single goal — those are the kind of games the Gophers lost or tied last season. For that matter, there’s no way CC, looking down from its lofty perch, is unbeaten if not for Richard Bachman and his sub-1.00 goals against average given the Tigers’ two ties and a 1-0 win over Alabama-Huntsville. Until next week…

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