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In Stoa, Gophers have big piece of puzzle back

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I will admit that I didn’t have the highest expectations for Minnesota this season, and I will take whatever I have coming to me if the Gophers turn out to be as good as they looked in stretches last weekend.

I picked them for seventh in the WCHA after going through a statistical analysis of which teams had what coming back. The Gophers lost 54.1 percent of their goalscoring and 49.2 percent of their points last season, so I figured they wouldn’t improve on the seventh-place finish of last season.

They still have 24 league games left to play, but their start to the season has me rethinking the value of those stats I pulled out before the season.

You had to be impressed by the way Ryan Stoa made his presence felt in last weekend’s series at Wisconsin. The junior captain started the Gophers’ rally from a 2-0 deficit on Friday with a second-period goal, then made a critical defensive play to keep the deficit at one in the third, setting up the late tying goal by freshman defenseman Sam Lofquist.

On Saturday, he scored twice, the first just six seconds after the opening faceoff.

Maybe he was the missing ingredient last season. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second game, and Minnesota flat-out struggled to score goals all year.

“He’s our best player,” Gophers coach Don Lucia said after Saturday’s game. “And you can see how good a player he is and how much we missed him last year, a guy like that. He’s not only our best player on the ice, he’s done a great job as captain. He’s very selfless. He doesn’t care if he scores. He just wants to win.”

If he scores regularly, however, chances are the Gophers will fulfill both ends of that.

Coaching Alumni

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For most people, a yearly trip or two back to their alma mater might be the only time they re-visit their old stomping grounds. For many Division I college hockey players however, the ties continue for many years.

Of the 58 current Division I men’s hockey programs, 25, a whopping 43 percent, are coached by alumni players. There are three in Atlantic Hockey, seven in the CCHA, one in the CHA, four in the ECAC, four in Hockey East, and six in the WCHA (see sidebar).

Some of the coaches had great success as players, competing, and in one case, winning in the Frozen Four. Others have taken their programs in directions that wouldn’t even have been thought possible while they were players.

Paul Pearl, a 1989 graduate of Holy Cross, is one example of the latter. Pearl, who captained the squad his senior year, saw the program go from a mid-tier Division III ECAC East team to a powerhouse in Atlantic Hockey and twice has taken the Crusaders to the NCAA tournament, scoring perhaps the greatest upset in college hockey history when the Crusaders beat Minnesota in the first round of the 2006 NCAA tournament in North Dakota.

“That was a school decision with a lot of factors involved,” says Pearl, of the move to Division I. “In spite of financial aid policies that were Division III, we were a Division I school playing at that level. It was a school decision that we needed to move up and play schools our size.”

In speaking to several coaches, the paths that they took to return to their alma mater all varied, but all mentioned that they had the thought in their heads that if the chance came up, they would like to return.

“As I was playing here I always thought it would be great to be able to coach here, because I knew I wanted to get into coaching,” says Pearl.

Pearl was back coaching at Holy Cross five years after he graduated. Mike Eaves and Jerry York both took much longer paths back, while Jack Parker’s time away from Boston University was even shorter. Parker found himself in the unusual position of coaching people he played with as an assistant, and within a few years was head coach, taking the Terriers to the NCAA tournament his first five years as a coach and winning the NCAA Championship in 1978.

“I graduated in ’68, and then I was a high school coach at Medford High School,” says Parker. “I thought that’s what I was going to do, be a high school and high school teacher. Then the opportunity came up to go back to be a graduate student and be a part-time assistant coach to my former coach at BU, so I took that.

“My compensation was my tuition at school and I was Jack Kelly’s assistant. I got involved in that, I guess you could say, and I never left. When I first became the assistant coach, I was assistant coach for players on a team I had actually played on (laughs). That was more of an adjustment than being the head coach.”

When asked about when they considered coaching at their alma mater, they all have different experiences.

York, a 1967 graduate of Boston College, went on to head coaching positions at Clarkson and Bowling Green, and won an NCAA Championship with Bowling Green in 1984.

“You know, it was interesting, because of the ties and connections, when you pick up a paper, you’re always kind of looking at how your old school did,” says York. “You’re always kind of conscious of it, but you get wrapped up in the particular institution you’re at at that time. In fact, I think I got a doctorate in the time I was at Bowling Green. But the four years you spend as a student-athlete at a particular school, that’s going to leave an indelible mark on you.”

Jerry York was lured from Bowling Green by the opportunity to coach at his alma mater. Photo by Melissa Wade.

Jerry York was lured from Bowling Green by the opportunity to coach at his alma mater. Photo by Melissa Wade.

“I don’t think I ever had a thought that I would have a chance to coach at the alma mater. I was kind of moving away from Boston; I went to Ohio to coach, but when the opportunity came, certainly I was very excited by it. It wasn’t particularly salary considerations or contracts or potential, it was just the draw back to the school you went to.”

It’s ironic that York and Parker returned to their alma maters, where they are year-in, year-out fierce rivals for the Beanpot and Hockey East titles. York and Parker played against each other in both high school and college, and each remembers the other.

“He was the same year of high school and then he took a year of prep so I was one year ahead of him at the colleges,” says York. “Boy that goes back a long way, that’s for sure.”

While York and Parker both played in the Frozen Four as players at their schools, Mike Eaves won the NCAA tournament as a player in 1977 with Wisconsin and then again in 2005 as a coach, something he says is a completely different experience.

“When you’re a player, your emotion is a different level than when you are coaching,” says Eaves. “There’s a level of satisfaction when you’re a coach and achieve a championship. It means you go out and create a plan and you kind of go by it step by step and try to create that championship. When you’re a player, emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, you’re all wrapped up to a high energy level that when you win, there’s a different euphoria that takes place.”

Eaves went on to play professional hockey for eight years after college, then started coaching in the minor leagues. When longtime Badgers’ coach Jeff Sauer decided to leave in 2002, Eaves found himself competing for the position against one of his teammates from that ’77 squad, Mark Johnson.

“I remember talking to Mark,” says Eaves. “We were in Ann Arbor at the time with the National Team Development Program and I told Mark I was going to submit my name. I think Bethy and I and Mark and Leslie, our friendship has endured with what some people say was a tough situation or pit one another against each other. Mark is a very conscientious, level-headed individual, and at the time said ‘Things happen for reason, and if I didn’t get this now, then good things will happen,’ and look what’s happened to Mark. We were talking the other day and I said, ‘Mark, isn’t it interesting that what your dad for men’s hockey here at Wisconsin, you’ve done for women’s hockey. You’ve put it on the map big-time as your dad did with men’s hockey.’ The reason I tell you that is because of the fact that things happen for a reason, and our friendship is better and deeper than ever at this point of our lives.”

Johnson went on to coach the Wisconsin women after Eaves won the men’s job, and has since won two NCAA Championships as coach there. A third player from that ’77 squad, George Gwozdecky, coached the Denver Pioneers to two national titles as well.

“I don’t think you can really explain that,” says Eaves of that unusual statistic. “We’re all different people, have different backgrounds. Mark and I, our dads were both coaches, George’s dad was a doctor, so how the heck do you explain that one (laughs). That’s just the way it goes. Coach (Bob) Johnson has been a very big influence, obviously on Mark, but on all of us in some form or fashion in the way he coached. Maybe being around a guy like that helped us decide to get in once we had an opportunity.”

As alumni themselves, the coaches certainly hear from their former teammates now and again.

“For the (Atlantic Hockey) finals actually, here against Bentley in ’06, we had over 30 former captains,” says Pearl. “It was unbelievable. There’s only been so many years of school and everybody was back. It was guys, we had probably over 60 former players all came out for that game. Then after the whole Minnesota experience and playing pretty well against North Dakota the next night too, we got a lot of alums e-mailing, calling, just very congratulatory about the whole situation.”

“I’ve been friends with a lot of my former players,” says Parker. “Some of them have been on the Friends of Hockey Alumni Board. One of my linemates, John Krup, was a longtime chairman of the Friends of Hockey after he graduated. I’m in close contact with a lot of my former teammates, but probably even closer contact with a lot of my former players from the 70s and 80s.”

Boston University Coach Jack Parker was back at his alma mater almost immediately after he graduated. Photo by Melissa Wade.

Boston University Coach Jack Parker was back at his alma mater almost immediately after he graduated. Photo by Melissa Wade.

Another aspect of being an alumni coach is that it gives the coaches an extra advantage in the recruiting process, because they understand what life is like for the student-athlete at that particular institution.

“I think it’s a unique experience because you’re selling, you’re pitching your particular school and when you went to that school, I think it helps in the delivery of your recruiting presentation,” says York.

Echoed Eaves, “It’s fun to walk around campus with recruits, and you have little anecdotes about what happened to you that help make them laugh and feel comfortable with the campus and you can talk intimately about he campus in terms of what it offers from personal experience and I really think that does help sell the program and sell the school when you’ve gone to school there, you’ve lived there, you’ve breathed there, you’ve had success and failure all in one place.”

All four of these coaches agree on one thing in particular-they have pride in their school and feel the opportunity to be a coach there is extremely rewarding.

“I have a lot of pride in my university because I played here and I went here and I had a great time as a player here,” says Parker. “We were very successful. I would say I want my players to have the same experience I had.”

“It’s been fun because in terms of when you come back and coach at your alma mater, I think as a coach you have a little more stock in the program, the history, tradition and pride in the school, so I really think that has a deep seated effect on your ability to want to be successful for the school,” says Eaves.

“I think BC is one of those types of schools that from way back has been strong,” says York. “We’re going to have our cycles, but for the most part we’re trying to keep the tradition alive.”

“I just love coming here,” says Pearl. “My wife’s from here and all my friends went here. It’s just a really great place. Just picture whatever college you went to, being able to go back and work there. Picture all the fond memories you had as a student and then you get to work there afterwards. It makes for a good combination.”

Colorado College Stays Atop USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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Coming off a pair of ties over the weekend, Colorado College retained a solid majority of first-place votes to stay at No. 1 in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I men’s poll, released Monday.

The Tigers drew both of their games against Clarkson, leaving them still unbeaten but no longer perfect on the season. CC took 37 of the available 50 first-place nods to outdistance Boston College, which climbed back to No. 2 in the poll after beating Vermont Friday. BC earned seven first-place votes.

The rest of the top five was shuffled as well, with Boston University moving up to third, a three-spot climb thanks to a big win over then-No. 5 Michigan. Denver slipped to fourth after splitting with Ohio State, and Minnesota moved into the top five with a win and a tie against Wisconsin. The Terriers, Pioneers and Gophers received one, three and two first-place votes, respectively.

New Hampshire fell two placed to No. 6 after tying Massachusetts and losing to St. Lawrence, and was followed by Miami. The RedHawks jumped up three places to seventh with a sweep of Notre Dame. Michigan, which beat Niagara before its loss to BU, was eighth this week.

Northeastern continued to surge up the rankings, to No. 9 this week. The Huskies’ five-place move was facilitated by a sweep of Maine that moved them ahead of Princeton, which eased down to No. 10. The Tigers, like their Ivy League brethren, have yet to start the regular season.

Michigan State inched up to 11th in the latest poll; the Spartans tied and won against Northern Michigan, though a shootout win Friday gave MSU four points in the CCHA standings. The game, like others this season involving the shootout, is recorded as a tie for NCAA tournament selection purposes.

Minnesota State was next at No. 12 after a bye week, while Notre Dame slipped five places to 13th. Next was Vermont, down three spots, while Clarkson moved up four notches to No. 15.

Cornell, another idle Ivy school, was 16th, while Air Force’s perfect 6-0-0 record got the voters’ attention to place the Falcons at No. 17. AFA swept American International last weekend.

Rounding out the top 20 were No. 18 North Dakota, which was off last weekend, and then St. Cloud State, which dropped four places after splitting with Bemidji State. Harvard was again No. 20.

Dropping out since last week was Northern Michigan.

This Week in SUNYAC

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Early Indicators?

In the past, my preview column was due after the SUNYAC Challenge was played. One would think it would be an advantage to see some of the teams play before making my predictions. However, the results of the SUNYAC Challenge were many times misleading, and relying on those games caused my predictions to be out of whack.

At least, that was the excuse I always used before. I may need to find a new way to explain my lack of accurate predictions this year.

Nonetheless, I no longer read too much into what happens in the SUNYAC Challenge. For instance, two years ago, Cortland swept both of their games, and looked good doing so, but they wound up finishing next to last. Meanwhile, Buffalo State lost their two games and ended up hosting their first ever playoff game. Not much of an indicator from those results.

Last year, Cortland looked very poor in their two losses, but turned it around and made the playoffs. Buffalo State looked very good despite losing to Manhattanville and then beat Cortland. Yet, they had an off year compared to the season before despite making the playoffs.

Understandably, then, I’m not reading too much into this year’s results. However, there are some indicators we can glean from the action this past weekend.

Cortland split their games, defeating Fredonia, 5-2, (Patrick Palmisano, Jarrett Gold power play, Greg Haney, Ryan Markell power play, Bryan Elfant empty netter) and losing to Geneseo, 4-1 (Markell shorthanded). They played very well on Friday outworking Fredonia the entire game, but got sloppy on Saturday as their power play, despite extensive time with the man advantage, went nowhere.

“I thought we got outworked tremendously today,” Cortland coach Joe Baldarotta said after the loss. “That’s not our style.”

It’s not, but the Red Dragons will probably suffer some inconsistency early in the season as all the new players learn how to gel and understand Baldarotta’s style and strategy.

Fredonia was the team that got outworked by Cortland in the 5-2 loss (Bryan Ross, Alex Morton power play). However, the next day the Blue Devils looked strong, defeating Buffalo State, 2-1 (Bryan Goudy, James Muscatello). The brightest spot for Fredonia is their freshman goaltender, Kody Van Rentergem. He made 23 saves in the win.

“He’s solid,” Meredith said. “He’s very composed. He’s a very smart goaltender. He just has a lot of poise.”

Van Rentergem isn’t a big guy (5-10, 160) but he plays his position and cuts down the angle so well, he appears larger than he is.

“We’ve always been fortunate to have good goaltenders,” Meredith said. Indeed they are, and combined with Pat Street will bode very well for the Blue Devils.

Buffalo State played typical Buffalo State hockey — close, tight games usually decided by one goal. Unfortunately, they were one goal short each time in identical 2-1 scores against Geneseo (Jason Hill) and Fredonia (Corey Park power play). Both games, the Bengals scored the first goal in the first period. Like last year, the hockey gods seemed to conspire against them.

“I thought we played a lot better this afternoon than we did yesterday afternoon,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere said on Saturday. “We got a lot of chances. We’re hitting crossbars. We’re hitting posts. The [winning] one was just a dribbler off one of our defenseman and off the goalie’s shoulder and in.”

Geneseo won the Challenge with two victories. First, they beat Buffalo State, 2-1 (Sebastian Panetta on the power play, Jeff MacPhee), and then scored three power-play goals en route to a 4-1 win over Cortland (Dan Brown and Jonathan Redlink scored twice each). The Ice Knights at times looked the Ice Knights of old. They moved the puck well, got creative on the power play, and used their speed to overwhelm Cortland.

Jeff Pasemko got the job done in net making 19 and 21 saves, respectively.

There are different perspectives on the approach to the SUNYAC Challenge, and perhaps that is why the results should be taken with somewhat of a grain of salt.

“It’s a nice measure of our league and to get a feel of our league,” Carriere said. “It isn’t hard to get up for a SUNYAC opponent even if it doesn’t count as a league game.”

Geneseo coach Chris Schultz said, “The reason we are in the SUNYAC Challenge is we want to play teams we are familiar with.”

“You want to get games under your belt,” Meredith said. “It was a good learning experience for us.”

“There’s a lot of questions,” Baldarotta said. “And I’m sure the other coaches have a lot of questions. Do these games really count? Do you want to show your style and strategy now before the conference games?”

One indicator we can definitely come away with is every time Buffalo State and Fredonia match up, we’re bound to get a close, tight, exciting contest.

“These two teams are pretty good rivals,” Meredith said. “They play each other tight. Both teams have very good goaltenders. How many one goal hockey games have we played against Buffalo State?”

Lacking Mental Toughness?

Two years ago, when Oswego won the national championship, they did it by winning two overtime games on the championship weekend, and lost only one extra session tilt in six tries the whole season. Since then, there’s been a disturbing trend.

They have played in four overtime games without winning a single one, losing half of them. Granted, their latest overtime lost was an exhibition game against the USA Under-18 Team.

In that championship season, they won seven one goal games decided in regulation when you count empty-net goal games as one goal contests. They didn’t lose a single non-overtime one goal game.

Since then, they’ve lost four virtual one goal games in regulation (again, counting empty- net goal games as one goal games), and won four of them.

You can do whatever you want with some stats and certainly if you are blowing teams out. That has to count for something. However, you can’t help but wonder if the Lakers since winning it all no longer has that same ability to get down and dirty and do what it takes to win a close contest.

This season started out the same as last year, a one goal loss to Elmira. They had nearly half the game to tie Elmira. Oswego originally took a 2-1 lead after letting up a power-play goal on tallies by Erek Selleck and Ryan Ellis, only to let up two more power-play goals, losing 3-2.

Two years ago, the team relied heavily on a very talented sophomore class. So often, we see teams rest on their laurels, expecting the opposition to lay down and/or games to be handed to them based on prior success. Is this what has happened to Oswego?

Maybe it’s just circumstances, but last year’s team seemed to have some grit missing from the year prior. Will this year be the same?

Game of the Week

In any normal start to the season, a Plattsburgh-Elmira showdown would easily be the game of the week, especially when they are ranked second and third, respectively, in the USCHO.com preseason poll. The game itself is enough to select it. Then, you toss in the official dedication of the newly renovated Stafford Ice Arena, and it should be a clincher.

“The rink looks great,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “The players really love it. Other than the walls and ceiling, it’s a brand new facility. The community is excited.”

Other notable games include a home and home series for Buffalo State against Hobart, Fredonia playing at Utica twice, and Neumann at Geneseo for two. All have the potential to be good measuring sticks for the SUNYAC teams against their ECAC West rivals.

“Sound defense,” Schultz said is the key for his Geneseo team. “We have to make sure we’re taking care of our end of the ice.”

However, this is no ordinary week, for there are a pair of games that probably will garner more interest from the entire Division III hockey community than any other games this early in the season. They are, of course, Adrian at Potsdam.

Potsdam took the trip out to Michigan last year to help Adrian begin their program, and played to a split. The Bulldogs are returning the favor this weekend. Little did any of them know what would transpire between then and now.

Adrian, of course, accumulated an amazing record for a first year program, 26-3, and received national recognition when Mitch Albom pleaded their case on ESPN. However, they did not get selected to the NCAA playoffs, nearly causing the USCHO message boards to meltdown.

On the flip side, there was the criticism that Adrian played a cream puff schedule, being they were in the MCHA, a league with a number of below sub par teams. However, they did split with Neumann (the loss by a single goal), no slouch there, as well as beating the US Under-18 Team, which many good teams couldn’t beat.

Meanwhile, Potsdam, which started out very slow, turned things around by the end of the year. This season, the Bears are looking for a breakout season, and some pollsters agree.

Now, Adrian possibly has the competition their critics have been screaming for. Potsdam is looking to see if they can get off to a fast start against possibly one of the country’s elite teams.

“They’re a very good team, no question about that,” Potsdam coach Aaron Saul said. “Are they an elite team? You can’t tell after one season. But they are very good. I’m sure it will be the most looked at Division III games in the country. It should be a good test to start us off.”

Little did each team know the collision course they were on when they first met last year. Little did each team know the activity on the message boards these games would create. Little did each team know Division III fans would be passionately taking up sides to a pair of games on the first weekend of the season.

Hopefully, Potsdam will be adding a server or two to their
Webcast, because they may experience extreme overload with the number people trying to listen in.

On The Periphery

What did you do over the summer? One thing I did was try hot soft pretzels far and wide.

I had a business trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana in August. I decided to drive since I can’t stand dealing with the airline industry anymore. While there, I took some personal time, and drove to Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota to visit my brother. On the way, I stopped overnight in Madison, Wisconsin, then met my nieces at LaCrosse as they are starting to visit colleges.

While at my brother’s, we attended the Single A St. Paul Saints game. If you are ever in the area, make sure to attend a Saints’ game. It is the quintessential minor league baseball experience. All you need to know is the team is owned by Bill Veeck’s son and Bill Murray to know what type of crazy antics take place between innings.

Though I usually avoid pretzels at larger sports gatherings because they tend to be cooked too quickly and thus not really cooked at all, I took a gamble. After meeting Al Franken in the walkway campaigning for the U.S. Senate, I bought a pretzel. I was pleasantly surprised. It was quite good.

When I got back to Fort Wayne, I went to see their Single A baseball team, the Fort Wayne Wizards. It was dollar night — dollar beers, hot dogs, and soda. Though the pretzels were at their regular price, I still got one. It was excellent. Right up there with a Brockport pretzel. Next year, the Wizards move into a brand new downtown stadium. We’ll have to give their pretzel a try if I make my way back out there during baseball season.

A couple of weeks later, I was in New Jersey for business. Naturally, I looked up where their Single A team, the Newark Bears, were playing. Alas, they were on the road. Thus, my whirlwind taste tour of Single A baseball pretzels came to an end.

All told for that Midwestern trip, I put 2,257 miles on the rental car. That’s over 1,100 miles per pretzel. Well worth it for a good hot soft pretzel.

This Week in the WCHA: Oct. 23, 2008

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Well. That was a crazy little start to league play now, wasn’t it?

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Kevin Clark, UAA.
Why: Scored two goals and added two assists to help UAA win the Brice Alaska Goal Rush tournament and was named tournament MVP.
Also Nominated: Chad Rau, CC; Tyler Bozak, DU; Mike Carman, UM; Justin Fontaine, UMD; Trevor Bruess, MSU, M; Chris VandeVelde, UND.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Zach Harrison, MSU, M.
Why: Tied an NCAA and WCHA record by scoring three shorthanded goals in the Mavericks’ 5-1 victory over UND.
Also Nominated: Mat Robinson, UAA; Richard Bachman, CC; Patrick Mullen, DU; Alex Kangas, UM; Evan Oberg, UMD; Chay Genoway, UND.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Patrick Wiercioch, DU.
Why: Scored two goals and two assists in his team’s weekend sweep of the University of Wisconsin.
Also Nominated: Jordan Schroeder, UM; Jack Connolly, UMD; Brad Eidsness, UND.

Anchorage Pains?

Some people might say I took a “gamble” in picking the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves in ninth place in the league as opposed to last (two things — 1: oooh, huge gamble; and 2: hey, I have my reasons).

For right now, even though the Seawolves haven’t seen conference play, it doesn’t look like a bad gamble as the team is 3-1 so far in this young season.

Well, except when you consider a few things — mainly injuries and early departures.

The Seawolves were already down two men thanks to injuries to Jared Tuton and Curtis Leinweber, but are now down to only 20 skaters (a team can dress 18) thanks to the departure of sophomores Brad McCabe and Winston DayChief due to “personal reasons.”

Despite all of that, the Seawolves managed to win the Brice Alaska Goal Rush this past weekend. Still, how bad can this be?

“Obviously, [McCabe and DayChief] were two skilled guys that were regulars in our lineup, so it certainly doesn’t help the depth of our team,” said coach Dave Shyiak. “But, at the same time, it does give opportunity to other individuals that probably wouldn’t see those minutes.

“So, the guys that have stepped up, who have been given that opportunity, have done a great job,” he continued. “Jeremy Smith, who hasn’t played in a whole lot of years and Kenny Selby and Nick Haddad — they were a very, very effective line for us in both Friday and Saturday night’s game and were a big reason why we had success.”

In other words, Shyiak doesn’t really mind too much that his team was hit by a weird version of the early departure bug.

When asked if the shortened lineup seemed maybe not as bad thanks to the probability of Tuton and Leinweber returning relatively soon (Tuton a few weeks; Leinweber in a week or two, according to Doyle Woody of the Anchorage Daily News), Shyiak just shrugged it off.

“[You] really can’t look at it that way — injuries are part of it and you just have to deal with it,” he said. “It’s not going to change how we play a whole lot. It’s just we might have to alter some line combinations and who plays what in certain situations.”

In any case, we’ll probably get a little more of an indication on how the shortened bench hurts the Seawolves a little more when they take on their first conference opponent in Minnesota Duluth.

Shootouts — Yea or Nay?

If you’ve been keeping up with the other leagues and their crazy changes over the summer, you’ll have read that the CCHA decided to institute a shootout for regular-season games this year that end in a tie — much like the NHL did when it came back from its lockout/work stoppage/what have you.

Shootouts have been around the NCAA for a while — but only in pre- or in-season tournaments, so the concept is nothing new.

However, thanks to the CCHA’s move, the other conferences may start thinking about instituting them as well. The idea was tossed around during the WCHA preseason conference call and the coaches were mixed.

“I’m not a big fan of the shootouts,” said Denver’s George Gwozdecky, summing it up neatly.

St. Cloud State’s Bob Motzko is for shootouts, but with one caveat — they can’t affect the PairWise.

“I was in the USHL when we had it and I was dead against it until we used it,” he said. “I think it was a great thing to happen to the game and if there’s ever a way we can put it in, players would enjoy it, our fans would really enjoy it and as long as there’s a way to do it to not affect the PairWise, I’d be game to try it.”

Personally, I go back and forth on the matter. However, ultimately, I think Minnesota’s Don Lucia said it best — “My view is, if it’s such a great idea, let’s do it in the NCAA tournament. When we go there, then I’m ready for it for the regular season.”

Lucia elaborated on why he believes the shootout is fine in say, the NHL.

“We don’t play enough games. If we played 80 games, I wouldn’t have a problem with the shootout, but 28 games is too few,” he said. “You look at how compressed our league is year in and year out. I don’t want to see a team move up or down in the league standings based on shootouts. That’s just me.”

What do you guys think?

Random Notes (and Commentary!) From Around the League

MSU, M — As you read above, Zach Harrison scored a shorthanded hat trick in the Mavericks’ 5-1 win over the Sioux last Friday.

The fact that it was a shorthanded hat trick is unusual — Harrison’s only the sixth player in NCAA history to do it. However, the fact that it was a natural hat trick — three goals uninterrupted — is what is going to immortalize Harrison, as his stick is on its way to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Apparently the folks at the Hall heard about Harrison’s feat and checked to see if they could find anyone else who has scored a shorthanded natural hat trick. Since they haven’t (yet), they requested Harrison’s stick to be shipped on up to Toronto.

If you’re interested in seeing a little piece of (potential) history, word is the stick may appear as soon as December in the Hall’s “Year-in-Review” display. After that, the stick would stay in the HHOF archives, occasionally rotating into the Hall’s “University” display and perhaps in traveling exhibits.

Reader Mailbag … Kinda

In talking with some of my coworkers here at USCHO, I learned that I (or the hat I pulled predictions out of) have become somewhat infamous. Apparently, P.A. of “P.A. and Dubay” on KFAN in Minneapolis picked up on my season preview — the same season preview that, due to sheer random luck, had the Gophers picked seventh. This evidently caused some consternation, was a huge topic of discussion and I got ripped for it.

At least someone picked up the slack in that department …

Seriously guys, nothing this past week? Geez, I guess I just need to write some more inflammatory stuff.

Matchups By the Numbers

Only two conference matchups this week and Michigan Tech gets a “break,” if you will, with just one game this weekend.

No. 7 Minnesota @ Wisconsin
Overall Records: UM — 2-0-0 (2-0-0 WCHA). UW — 0-4-0 (0-2-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UM leads the overall series, 149-79-17.

Minnesota Duluth @ Alaska Anchorage
Overall Records: UMD — 3-0-1 (0-0-0 WCHA). UAA — 3-1-0 (0-0-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UMD leads the overall series, 37-15-11.

No. 15 St. Cloud State @ Bemidji State
Overall Records: SCSU — 2-2-0 (0-2-0 WCHA). BSU — 0-4-0 (0-0-0 CHA).
Head-to-Head: BSU leads the overall series, 41-37-3, but SCSU leads the DI leg of the series, 10-0-0.

No. 1 Colorado College @ No. 19 Clarkson
Overall Records: CC — 4-0-0 (2-0-0 WCHA). CU — 1-1-0 (0-0-0 ECACHL).
Head-to-Head: CC leads the overall series, 9-0-1.

Ohio State @ No. 2 Denver
Overall Records: OSU — 1-2-1 (1-2-1-1 CCHA). DU — 3-0-0 (2-0-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: DU leads the overall series, 4-2.

U.S. Under-18 Team @ Michigan Tech
Overall Records: U.S. — 7-4-1-1 (… I think). MTU — 1-3-0 (0-2-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: The teams are tied, 1-1.

Off: No. 13 Minnesota State, No. 16 North Dakota

Odds and Ends

I’ve been around the game for a while and thought I knew a lot of hockey stuff, including random trivia (example: what is a quinella? E-mail me if you know.).

However, every now and then, I learn something … like what a “natural” hat trick is. Obviously I know what a hat trick is, but, weirdly enough, I never actually knew for sure what a natural one was. Thanks to Zach Harrison, I now know that it’s the three goals scored in succession — unbroken by any other goals.

In talking with others about this, I learned that if one wanted to be picky about it, a true natural hat trick is all goals scored in the same period — something that didn’t happen in Harrison’s case (he scored one in the second and two in the third).

Still, nice to know I’m still learning.

This Week in the CCHA: Oct. 23, 2008

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An Ugly Coincidence

This is unreal.

After beginning the season on a sobering note last week with news of the assault that Michigan junior defenseman Steve Kampfer suffered and the suspension by the Wolverine football team of player Mike Milano while the incident is being investigated, I thought we could return to the lighter side of hockey to start this column.

But a week after Kampfer was injured off-campus, an altercation reportedly involving multiple student-athletes resulted in an injury to Michigan State sophomore defenseman A.J. Sturges, who was hospitalized in the early hours of Sunday morning and released Monday. No information about his injuries or involvement in the incident has been released.

Spartan football head coach Mark Dantonio told the Detroit News that his program part of the investigation and is “cooperating with authorities.”

At his weekly press conference, Rick Comley told reporters that there is no problem “between the football program and the hockey program.” Comley said, “There was an incident involving a party, multiple students, not just athletes. It’s unfortunate but I think it’ll be sorted out, and the police are dealing with it and everybody’s cooperating.”

According to The State News, there were 50 to 60 people involved in this public display of affection, which included yelling and apparently brawling.

Lt. Kevin Daley of the East Lansing police told The State News, “We’re still trying to determine who got assaulted and who did the assaulting.”

Good grief. Multiple students? Multiple student-athletes? From both the football and hockey programs? And according to all reports, bones were broken.

It’s more than an incident when so many student-athletes are involved, and it’s hard not to see it as symptomatic of something bigger when there are assaults with broken bones involving student-athletes in two consecutive weeks.

At least we know there’s a reasonable chance that we won’t be reading about a similar “incident” from the third Big Ten school in the conference next week. This weekend, the Buckeyes are in Denver.

It’s Like Rain on Your Wedding Day

The Ohio State Buckeyes have played two more CCHA games than anyone else in the league. They also have two league losses to the one that Lake Superior State, Michigan and Northern Michigan have, and Miami is undefeated in conference play, and yet the Buckeyes — by virtue of the one point gained in their shootout win over the RedHawks — are alone in first place by a point.

OSU has 13 goals for and 19 against. And they’re No. 1. For now.

Shutout Significance

For a goalie, there’s no better debut than a shutout. In this regard, Alaska rookie goaltender Scott Greenham is an overachiever. In his first two games as a Nanook, the 21-year-old native of Addison, Ont., posted back-to-back 5-0 shutouts, a first for the UA program.

Greenham stopped 13 shots to blank Connecticut in the title game of the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage on Saturday, Oct. 11, and then shut out Mercyhurst in the opening game of the Alaska Goal Rush in Fairbanks on Friday, Oct. 17, turning aside all 25 shots in that contest.

Greenham isn’t the only CCHA netminder to start with a shutout this season. Notre Dame junior Tim O’Brien made 17 saves in his first collegiate game as the Irish stymied visiting Sacred Heart, 7-0. last Saturday night.

His counterpart, senior Jordan Pearce, earned the shutout win the night before as Notre Dame outscored Sacred Heart 10-0 on the weekend.

In Marquette, a shutout win carried a different significance for junior goaltender Brian Stewart and the Northern Michigan Wildcats. Stewart posted his fourth career shutout Friday when NMU beat the Michigan Wolverines, 2-0, breaking a seven-game winless streak for NMU against UM, dating back to Jan. 13, 2007.

Typical of many successful goaltenders and certainly the affable Stewart, the Wildcat goalie gave credit to the team in front of him for the win. “The defense was shutting their top guns down and they established a pretty good forecheck in the zone and didn’t give them much to start with,” said Stewart, “but they played pretty solid and it made it a lot easier for me.”

In East Lansing, it was the home team at the losing end of a goose-egging that lasted for 103:53. The Spartans lost 3-0 to Massachusetts-Lowell Thursday, Oct.16 before beating the River Hawks 2-1 the following night.

Perspective Is Everything

Time for some good news about the Michigan State Spartans. They may have split at home with the River Hawks last weekend, and it may have taken them over 100 minutes to solve Mass.-Lowell goaltender Carter Hutton, but they did win last Friday night.

And that is good news.

“Kids will feel good about it,” said MSU head coach Rick Comley of Friday’s win. “We’ve had a lot of big wins here over the last three years, but this one — for this team — is really important confidence-wise.”

Sure. This is a program that won the national championship at the end of the 2006-07 season — certainly within living memory of several Spartan players — but as Comley made clear after the contest, it’s this MSU team that benefited from this specific victory.

In their first three contests, the Spartans registered just 45 total shots on goal: 16 in a 3-1 win over Massachusetts, 13 in a 2-1 loss to Boston University, and 16 in that 3-0 loss to Lowell. In the 2-1 win over the River Hawks, the Spartans nearly doubled their total from their first three games with 36 shots.

“Offense has been so difficult for us, and confidence,” said Comley. That’s because this is a very young MSU team, with 11 rookies on the roster. One of those rookies, 21-year-old Ben Warda, scored the goal that tied the game for the Spartans early in the third period.

“It was awesome,” said Warda. Indeed.

Another rookie, 20-year-old Drew Palmisano, earned his first win as a Spartan. It was just the third time since Jeff Lerg earned the starting job in January 2006 that he didn’t get the start.

Comley said that playing Palmisano was “a little bit of a gamble” but added that he’s committed to playing the newcomer “seven or eight times” during the season. “I’ve got to put him in the net. My fear a little bit was that these kids were relying so much on Jeff.”

As for Lerg, Comley has a prediction. “That will challenge Jeff,” he said. “You watch.”

Something about that Four-Man System

Mike Lockert, the voice of Notre Dame hockey, sent me some of an interview he did with Steve Piotrowski, the head of officiating for the CCHA. In his interview with Mike, Piotrowski said something interesting about adjusting to the four-man system that caught my attention.

Piotrowski was talking about how the referees themselves have to adjust to “the mechanics of the system, and that includes positioning.” Piotrowski said that he and the league want a “free-flowing, no-boundaries” system. “I want our referees to put themselves in the best possible sightlines, in the best possible positioning, to see calls that they need to make.”

What’s interesting about this is the idea of an official’s territory on ice — or lack thereof. With the freedom to move about without political consequence (for lack of a better term), referees and ARs can absolutely put themselves where they have to be to call a better game.

I’ve only seen two games so far this season, one in Kalamazoo and one in East Lansing, and in each game I can say that the contests were called consistently and much of the ticky-tack stuff was eliminated, which is partly the point of this.

“A hook was always a hook, and a hold was always a hold,” said Piotrowski, “but we don’t have a zero-tolerance standard as the National Hockey League does.” One of the “points of emphasis” for this season is to protect the guy with the puck, and while everyone agrees that the NCAA has improved its enforcement of infractions away from the puck in recent years, the dreaded clutch-and-grab has made more than one casual appearance as of late.

“We want the skilled players to be able to play skilled without having to fight through illegal actions of being tugged or impeded,” said Piotrowski.

So now you know.

Tie Four On

There were four overtime games played by CCHA teams last week. Miami skated to a 3-3 tie against Vermont on the road, Ferris State tied Robert Morris 4-4 on the road, Western Michigan lost to Minnesota-Duluth, 6-5, in Duluth, and the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks successfully defended their Maverick Stampede title with a 2-1 OT win over visiting Union.

And we know that OSU is in first place by virtue of one shootout win. For now.

I commend the CCHA for trying the NHL-style overtime shootout to determine a winner of league games. Both the Hockey East and WCHA women are also giving the shootout a try this season.

CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos is innovative and open-minded, two qualities that serve the league well. Fans like shootouts, fans like the black-and-white of a win or a loss, fan attendance drives our game. I get that.

But as much as I admire the CCHA’s desire to help the sport expand and keep it current and relevant, and as much as I admire the CCHA itself for its fearless approach to innovation, I have to admit that I loathe the shootout.

Yes, it’s exciting. Yes, it keeps fans in the building longer, and may help to build interest in the sport. But I really don’t like a contest being decided on something so wholly disconnected from the previous 65 minutes of play.

The NHL plays a long season. College, not so much. And in the NHL, the talent differential from top to bottom isn’t nearly as great as it is collegiate sports — which is why so many of us like collegiate sports. The best guy on a college team can be exponentially better than the last guy in the depth chart; the perennial top teams in a give league are not there by accident.

When the last-place team of a league ties the front-runner through 65 minutes of real action, that means something. I’m not so sure that a shootout win by a team with better snipers means anything more than that the top team has better snipers … and it almost always does.

Yes, I know that Ohio State defied those odds in the first game of the season against Miami, and that must have been thrilling for the long-suffering Buckeye faithful.

I’d still rather have the ties, outright.

No Sampson Side Effects

Although one of my favorite former CCHA players lost his locks, he didn’t lose his scoring touch. Former Miami captain Ryan Jones netted his first NHL goal Wednesday, October 15, for Nashville.

How fitting is it that Jones plays for the Predators?

News about the News, Part 2

Last week, I reported that the Ann Arbor News was dropping Michigan hockey as a beat. I was wrong in this, as News sports editor Peter Bigelow pointed out. Bigelow wrote that the News plans to have its own staff reporters at home and away games, just like — and I’m nearly directly quoting here — it always has.

But that’s not the case. Antoine Pitts wasn’t just a staff reporter; Wolverine hockey was his beat, something he covered in-depth for a decade. This season, I’ve counted no fewer than four bylines associated with Wolverine hockey, which indicates to me — as a reader — that no one person is covering this beat in any kind of depth, that no one person is assigned to it. Various staffers will be in rotation.

Last season, when the News previewed the Michigan hockey season, there were seven stories and audio; this year, two stories — both short — and no audio. This is where Mr. Bigelow and I will respectfully have to agree to disagree. It’s not the same.

Perhaps I should just be grateful that there are actual reporters covering Michigan hockey. The Wolverine icers could be like other sports, relegated to compiled-by-staff stories.

Moving veteran reporters into less important beats — or demoting them completely, such as assigning them to desk work — is a common practice among newspapers these days. Often, such moves force the veterans to quit, saving the newspapers a few small dollars in salary here and there. Newer reporters don’t earn as much as the veterans.

It’s happening at newspapers all over the country, in every department. During my last few years in Columbus, there was little point to purchasing The Dispatch, as even statehouse news was thin. I buy the Flint Journal on Sundays for something to read over ‘cakes and eggs, but I’m often done with the paper itself before the waitress brings the food with barely half a cup of coffee gone.

I am glad to see former USCHO.com arena reporter Seth Gordon’s byline on Wolverine hockey stories in the News. I wonder how many seasons Seth has to remain before he’s reassigned to something less palatable.

So Much for Early Next Week

My apologies to Western Michigan fans. That Bronco feature will arrive soon. So will the blogging.

As the season progresses and statistics become more meaningful, we’ll look at head-to-head matches. Not just yet.

This Week in Hockey East: Oct. 23, 2008

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A Wonderful Time Of The Year

When last season every team but Merrimack lost its Friday night opener, the first column here boiled down to this: “Mayday! Mayday!”

Not so this year.

Last weekend, Hockey East went 7-2-1 to run its overall nonconference record to 15-4-2.

Every team but Massachusetts-Lowell stands at least at .500 and the River Hawks just came back from Michigan State where they split with the number 11 team in the country.

Go ahead, fans. Pound on your chests and let loose a roar.

Time to start beating each other up.

Top Dogs

How ’bout them Huskies?

After taking three of four points in Alaska to open the season, Northeastern got off to a great start within the league, shutting out Providence, 4-0, before toppling number-one ranked Boston College, 4-3.

“I talked to a couple of coaches that did that Alaska trip about the fatigue factor coming back,” NU coach Greg Cronin says. “It’s a long day of traveling. So my biggest focus was getting the players mentally and physically reenergized for the Providence-BC weekend.”

That worked.

“We lost our best D, Drew Muench, who got banged up in Anchorage, and then during our BC game we lost [Denis] Chisholm and [Steve] Silva midway through the first period,” Cronin says. “It was and up-and-down track meet and I was really happy with our conditioning level. That’s one thing I can take out of the weekend: we’re in pretty good shape.”

Junior goaltender Brad Thiessen earned Player of the Week honors and now boasts a 1.71 GAA and .946 save percentage.

“He’s been terrific,” Cronin says. “He took it personally last year that his statistics were down at the bottom of the league — save percentage and goals against, even though those are team stats. He looked at this year as a big challenge for him to solidify himself as one of the elite goalies in the league. His whole focus and his whole manner this year to date has been very professional.”

While most everyone still expects Joe Vitale to be the go-to guy up front, he’s enjoyed plenty of company so far. Dennis McCauley has scored three goals while Vitale, Tyler McNeely, Ryan Ginand and Wade MacLeod have each added two.

“That’s a reflection of all the guys we have coming back,” Cronin says. “We’ve got a lot of veterans. From a coaching perspective, it’s a nice group to coach because they don’t have to be told two or three times what to do or how to do it.

“It’s a very veteran group and there’s a good chemistry there as well, which makes it easy for me coaching and I think it makes it easy for them, too, because they can read off each other really well.

“It’s early so who knows where it’s going to go as far as production, but it’s a good start obviously.”

In the preseason, Cronin talked about how this year’s freshmen won’t be square pegs pounded into round holes. Instead of being thrust into roles they aren’t ready for, as has been the case at times with Cronin’s first few recruiting classes, they’ll have to earn prime ice time.

To date only two of the five freshmen on the roster have broken into the lineup: forwards Steve Quailer (who has a goal) and Alex Tuckerman (who has an assist).

“Both Tuckerman and Quailer have veteran people around them,” Cronin says. “Their transition to college hockey isn’t as challenging [because] they don’t have to carry the play themselves. They have good wingers and centers with them.

“Tuckerman has been okay, but Quailer has been really good. He just hasn’t had the points to show it. But he’s an elite freshman in the league and he’s going to be terrific this year.”

Cats On The Prowl

Last year, Vermont didn’t get its first win until the sixth game of the season, digging itself a pretty good hole. Of course, the Catamounts climbed out of that hole quite nicely, finishing third in the regular season and advancing to the tournament championship game.

Based on the early returns this year, no such digging out will be required. After a season-opening 4-1 win over Rensselaer, the Cats hosted seventh ranked Miami and took three of four points, not to mention the shootout.

“Miami is a tremendous program, a very well coached team,” UVM coach Kevin Sneddon says. “I don’t know if I’ve seen a team as skilled as they are, although I think I’ll see one this Friday night against Boston College. They are just so talented and well-coached.

“We made each other better. Both teams left it all out there for what turned out to be 125 minutes plus a shootout. Both teams were challenged from start to finish and obviously we rose to the occasion. We’re both better for having gone through the weekend and we feel fortunate that we were able to come away with three out of four points.”

To no one’s surprise, Peter Lenes leads the team with six points.

“He’s such a passionate player,” Sneddon says. “He sparks our team not only with great offensive plays, but he’s become a great defensive player when we need him to do that.

“Even though he’s 5-6,” he plays like he’s 6-2.” He finishes every check. He gets the team going, he gets the crowd going. He’s just an exciting player.

“It’s nice to see him have some early success. Now we’re just looking to seeing that on a consistent basis.”

Justin Milo, a transfer from Cornell who sat out last year, has gotten off to a great start in his fill-the-net role, scoring three goals already. A dual-sport athlete, Milo could only practice with the hockey team last year while joining the baseball team right away. Neither the tough grind of playing both sports nor the year away from game action seem to have slowed him down.

“It’s great for us to see him have this early success,” Sneddon says. “The bottom line is he loves to score goals; he loves to shoot the puck. In our program, we’re in need of players like that.

“We have some wonderful guys who offensively are good set-up guys, but bottom line we needed to find somebody who we thought could finish. Justin has had that track record over his career and has certainly proven right now that he can do it for us.”

The biggest question going into the season, however, was in goal following the graduation of Joe Fallon. Sneddon spoke confidently of junior Mike Spillane’s abilities before even bringing up freshman Rob Madore but some wondered about a goaltender who’d only managed 11 decisions in two years. Was Sneddon just whistling past the goalie graveyard? (Yes, I’ll plead guilty on that count.)

Spillane has averaged two goals against in his two wins, while Madore stopped 26-of-29 Miami shots in the tie then won the shootout.

“Obviously when you graduate a player like Joe it becomes a question mark from the media standpoint and certainly from our fan base, but we knew all along that our goaltenders were going to be solid,” Sneddon says. “I think they’ve proven that early on.

“Mike played great in his first three starts, and Rob in his first collegiate start certainly saw a little bit of everything. It was a little bit of a feel good moment when we saw our young freshman goaltender do so well and we were able to celebrate a minor victory like a shootout win.”

The road only gets tougher this weekend when the Catamounts take on Boston College fresh off its first loss.

“It’s a great challenge for us again, certainly a great opportunity,” Sneddon says. “[BC coach Jerry York] and his staff have put together another fantastic BC Eagle team. We’ve seen them on film, and they seem as if they haven’t missed a beat from the championship game until now.

“Their forwards are tremendously quick, very talented, very skilled, and our defensemen are going to be challenged. What we have to focus on is using our assets to our advantage and not standing around watching what BC’s going to do.

“We need to play our game, which is to use our speed to get pucks into the BC zone and make sure we’re playing great defense but make sure we’re trying to work on the offensive things that we’ve been stressing no matter who we play.”

River Hawks And The Road

Last weekend, the Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks traveled to Michigan State where they split with the 11th-ranked Spartans. They trounced their hosts in the first game, 3-0, and led 1-0 going into the third period of the rematch before two MSU power-play goals sealed their doom.

“You look at the variables going into it and it’s their home opener and they have two games under their belt and we have one,” UML coach Blaise MacDonald says. “I thought we came out in the first game and thoroughly dominated them in all areas. Had a tough time scoring on [Jeff] Lerg, but it was a very thorough, well-executed victory on our part.

“On the second night, they came out a much different team, highly energized, extremely determined, feeding off the crowd. We played okay, but we had a one-goal lead going into the third and just a couple of penalties that were hard to see allowed them to strike in 16 seconds with two power-play goals and that was the difference.

“But we competed really hard and really well for both nights.”

If Lowell can continue to get from Carter Hutton the goaltending he’s given them so far (1.34 GAA, .941 Sv%), the team will be a force in Hockey East.

“In this league, the elite teams are driven by goaltending,” MacDonald says. “Carter has played exceptionally well in all of our games so far this season.

“We have to support his efforts with some more offense obviously. Our power play looked great Thursday night but then on Friday we were close but not enough to be the difference maker. The same thing happened in our Colgate game. We looked good but just didn’t convert.”

Sophomore Patrick Cey leads the list of those who have converted so far, notching goals in the first two games of the season after totaling five last year.

“He’s a big body, a sophomore now who has some experience to lean on,” MacDonald says. “He was an X-factor coming into the season, not knowing how he was going to progress, but so far so good.”

Ironically for a team that brought back virtually all of last year’s roster, freshman David Vallorani tops the points list with three assists. According to MacDonald, the rookie got robbed of another assist at Colgate “that was ridiculous.”

“He’s very talented player,” MacDonald says. “He’s a high-energy guy who plays with his eyes up and sees the ice extremely well. When you show up at the rink, you’ll notice him because he’s got a lot of fast-twitch [muscles] and he makes things happen. He’s a very pleasant surprise for us.”

After three nonconference road games, Lowell now hosts Providence with hopes of getting its league schedule off on the right foot.

“It’s exciting because this league is going to be right down to the wire again,” MacDonald says. “Providence is a team that presents many challenges. They’re well-coached, play hard, and are talented.

“We’re going to have a nice crowd here Friday for our home opener, so we need to use that as an ally of ours. I know there guys are really looking forward to it.”

Who Was That Imposter Last Week?

After last year, Scott Weighart decided to ride off into the sunset, at least as far as this column is concerned. He’ll still be writing features and BU game recaps but his insane trivia questions and snide remarks about my absences will be no more. Thanks to him for his contributions, the snide remarks notwithstanding.

Jim Connelly will be filling in every third column instead. Since I was traveling last week, he launched the new season and will be back again in two weeks.

Scott Weighart and Keith Lavon contributed to this column.

Never A Dull Moment

By Mike Scandura
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Some goalies relish facing a truckload of shots — and then there’s Boston College’s Molly Schaus, a junior from Natick, Mass.

For example:

• On Feb. 6, 2007, Schaus made an NCAA-record 73 saves as the Eagles outlasted Harvard, 4-3, in triple-overtime in the Beanpot semifinals.

• Schaus played in all 34 games as a sophomore and set a BC single-season saves record with 920. Her save percentage of .925 tied for fifth-best in the nation.

Molly Schaus hasn't suffered from a lack of work in net at Boston College.

Molly Schaus hasn’t suffered from a lack of work in net at Boston College.

• Her single-season high in 2007-08 was 53 saves in a win over St. Lawrence, and she made 30 or more saves in 10 games (including four games in a row during which she did not allow a single shorthanded goal).

• Schaus led Hockey East with a .931 save percentage as a freshman and set a school-record by posting a 1.90 goals-against average. In the process, she made 25 or more saves 16 times and 30 or more saves nine times.

“I definitely think for me, personally, I’ve always faced a lot of shots,” said Schaus, who played on the U.S. National Team that won a gold medal at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Championship in Harbin, China, and who’s been named to the U.S. Select National Team that’s scheduled to compete in November’s Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid. “I’ve thrived in that atmosphere. If I’m making only 15 saves a game I lose adrenaline and energy.

“Facing 30 shots a game would keep me more ready to play as opposed to if I was facing less. Once you get the first 10 to 15 under your belt, you feel comfortable and then you build from there.”

Schaus’s record performance against Harvard in the Beanpot arguably is her favorite memory at Boston College to date.

“It never got tiring,” recalled Schaus. “It reached a point where you stopped thinking about getting tired. And no one was tired in the locker room (after the game). But by the time we showered, ate and got back to our rooms around 2 a.m., that was when it sunk in how tired I was.”

Indeed.

Entering this season Schaus had a 34-23-9 record replete with a 2.05 goals-against average, a .929 save percentage and seven shutouts. But despite her accomplishments, which include selection to the Hockey East All-Star Second Team as a freshman and unanimous selection to the conference’s All-Rookie Team (plus a Hockey East All-Academic Team berth last season) and the All-USCHO rookie Team, Schaus is far from satisfied with her performance.

“Growing up I was told, technically, I wasn’t a good goalie and just to keep the puck out of the net,” she said. “I wasn’t a textbook goalie. I’m still trying to fine-tune parts of my game and make it to the next step.

“I’m definitely trying to work on rebounds. That’s a major part of my game.”

While Schaus may need to make “technical” improvements, there’s little that requires improving regarding what transpires between her ears once the puck is dropped.

“It’s tough (to play goal),” she admitted. “It takes a certain kind of personality. But I’ve always been a calm goalie that settles down the game when I can. If I panic it passes along to the rest of my teammates.

“A lot of it is mental and being able to stay with the game. I’ve always been a goalie where if a goal is scored, I move on. I forget about it.”

Schaus played one game where she allowed two goals and still isn’t able to forget about it.

After her family moved from Shorewood, Minn., and before it moved to Natick, it spent time in the Chicago suburbs.

One year, the older of her two brothers, Michael, was a junior forward at Neuqua High in Naperville, Ill., and Molly was a freshman at Benet Academy in Lisle.

Ironically, their respective teams met during a regular-season game which Neuqua won, 2-0. But Michael scored zero goals.

“All of our friends were there and I remember being pretty nervous before the game,” recalled Schaus. “We still talk about it and joke around.

“Michael had about two shots. He didn’t have great chances and my dad (David) likes to rub it in sometimes.

“I didn’t play many games (as a freshman),”continued Schaus. “But my coach let me play because of the storyline.”

If Schaus wanted to play hockey with her brother and his friends, she was given only one choice when it came to a position.

“After we moved to a suburb of Chicago when I was in second grade, Michael and I started playing street hockey with his friends,” said Schaus. “But the only way they would let me play is if I played goal.”

Right. Michael Schaus and his friends used Molly for target practice which, in retrospect, served as a preparation for what she would encounter as she grew older.

And, not surprisingly, she had to twist her mother’s arm in order to continue playing hockey.

“I’ll admit I did figure skating for a couple of years,” she said. “But I finally convinced my parents in the fourth grade to switch over to hockey.

“I’m sure my mom (Cathy) had reservations about it but she did a good job of hiding them. Because my brother played, that helped. But I’m sure in the back of her mind she wished I did something else even though now she loves it.”

As well Cathy Schaus should, given the talent possessed by her daughter.

This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey: Oct. 23, 2008

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The NCAA Division III women’s hockey season is just about to commence and this year, two more teams will be playing their first NCAA affiliated varsity seasons. With the additions of Nichols College to the ECAC East and SUNY Potsdam to the ECAC West, there are now a total of 47 teams playing D-III hockey.

So does that mean the NCAA tournament expands to eight teams?

Unfortunately no. Under NCAA criteria, for every tournament spot there must be 6.5 teams participating in that particular sport. Thus, that leaves the current tournament field at seven. In order to increase the tourney field to a round number of eight, there must be five more programs added to the mix.

Last season may have ended the same way as the season before with the Plattsburgh Cardinals hoisting their second consecutive NCAA championship trophy, but a lot of new faces showed up in the national discussion. Teams like Trinity and Wis.-Superior had banner seasons for their respective programs and both look primed to be able to repeat their success this year.

Also, first year programs, Adrian and Norwich got off to impressive starts as they both finished with a .500 record or better. Adrian was 9-3 at one point and garnering national ranking attention before the flu bug caught up to them. It caused the Bulldogs to limp their way through the second half of the season and finish with an 11-11-2 record. Norwich finished 12-10-2 last season in their first year in the ECAC East. Coaches from around the conference took notice though and have picked the Cadets to finish second, only to reigning NCAA runner-up Manhattanville this season.

Speaking of Manhattanville, the Valiants, along with fellow NCAA Frozen Four participant Elmira College, will be under new coaching leadership this season. Brian Lang has taken over the reigns at Manhattanville. Lang comes to Purchase, NY after two years as a Division I assistant coach for the men’s hockey team at American International College in Mass.

Elmira’s new coach, Greg Fargo followed a path similar to Lang, as he was an assistant coach at Division I Canisius for their men’s hockey program the past two seasons. Fargo, an alumnus of Elmira, returns to his alma mater where he spent four years as a standout goaltender for the men’s ice hockey team.

This week I will be previewing the ECAC West and ECAC East conferences and then followed up by the MIAC and NCHA next week. The NESCAC preview will come in November once they start up their seasons. I talked to every coach so these thoughts are straight from the horse’s mouth!

ECAC West Preview

Plattsburgh Cardinals

Coach: Kevin Houle (121-19-7, 6th season)
Last year’s record: 25-3-1
ECAC West Record: 14-1-1 (1st)
Coaches’ Projection: First
My Projection: First

Key Losses: Sharis Smith and Julie Devereux
Key Returnees: Danielle Blanchard (28-20-48), Stephanie Moberg (13-22-35), Laurie Bowler (21-6-27), Claire O’Connor (10-13-23)
Newcomers to watch: Vanessa Worz and Danielle Roberts

Elmira Soaring Eagles

Coach: Greg Fargo (0-0-0, 1st season)
Last year’s record: 23-6-1
ECAC West Record: 12-3-1 (3rd)
Coaches’ Projection: Third
My Projection: Second

Key Losses: Farren Hart
Key Returnees: Kayla Coady (21-16-37), Allison Cubberley (1.50 GGA and .942 Save %), Tiffany Hart (4-16-20), Jenna McCall (12-19-31), Ana Steele-Norton (1-9-10)
Newcomers to watch for: Alex Bresler — D from Colorado Selects, Alex McPhail — F from Toronto Aeros, Katy Walker — D from Colorado Selects

RIT Tigers

Coach: Scott McDonald (41-11-2, 3rd season)
Last year’s record: 19-7-0
ECAC West Record: 13-3-0 (2nd)
Coaches’ Projection: Second
My Projection: Third

Key Losses: Isabelle Richard
Key Returnees: Amanda Klassen (17-9-26), Katie Stack (13-12-25), Sarah Dagg (12-15-27)
Newcomers to Watch: Erica Owczarczak, Ali Hills and Amy Torgerson

Utica Pioneers

Coach: Dave Clausen (107-65-11, 8th season)
Last year’s record: 18-9-0
ECAC West Record: 12-4-0 (4th)
Coaches’ Projection: Fourth
My Projections: Fourth

Key Losses: Kelly Bills, Ashley Kaufman, Laura Schnitker
Key Returnees: Sam Rowan (13-11-24), Andrea Maxon (10-15-25), Jessica Leclerc (2-12-14)
Newcomers to Watch: MacKenzie Roy and Meaghan Willet

Neumann Knights

Coach: Matthew Kennedy (41-44-7, 5th season)
Last year’s record: 9-14-3
ECAC West Record: 6-9-1 (5th)
Coaches’ Projection: Fifth
My Projection: Fifth

Key Losses: Carolyn Fauteux and Sam May
Key Returnees: ECAC West Rookie of the Year, (SO) Mel Brunet in goal. Leading scorer and ECAC All-Rookie Team (SO) Jessica Schroeder, ECAC First Team, Sr Def. Robyn Armstrong.
Newcomers to Watch: F. Diane Peters, Windsor Wildcats, F. Nicole Alexopoulos, Toronto Aeros and F. Jasper Thomson, Toronto Aeros

Buffalo State Bengals

Coach: Robert Burke (14-27-4, 3rd season)
Last year’s record: 7-12-3
ECAC West Record: 5-9-2 (6th)
Coaches’ Projection: Sixth
My Projection: Sixth

Key Losses: Shannon Anesetti, Julie Ruszala, Samantha Simpson
Key Returnees: Marissa McMullan (5-2-7), Mariah Farigrieve (3-5-8), Kristin Bozek (4-2-6), Melissa Jeckovich (5-2-7), Casey Bull (0-4-4)
Newcomers to watch: Brianna Murphy, Andrea Brunetta, Gillian Toneguzzo, transfer from Oswego (4-6-10)

Chatham Cougars

Coach: Phoebe Manchester (1-22-0, 2nd season)
Last year’s record: 1-22-0
ECAC West Record: 1-15-0 (9th)
Coaches’ Projection: Seventh
My Projection: Seventh

Key Losses: Jen Quimby
Key Returnees: Sam Hunt, Brenn Scot, April Govednik (2-2-4), Alexis Smith: (3-0-3)
Newcomers to watch: Chatham will be featuring 17 new players this year that coach Manchester is very high on. Here are a few of them- F. Lauren Campbell from Gilmour Academy, F. Dawson Bancroft-Short from Madison Capitols, F. Emily Newby — Transfer from U. of Indiana (played at Culver Academy), D. Ashley Reid — Gilmour Academy, D. Paige Thachuk — Hamilton Hawks

Oswego Lakers

Coach: Diane Dillon (15-28-4, 3rd season)
Last year’s record: 8-16-1
ECAC West Record: 3-13-0 (8th)
Coaches’ Projection: Ninth
My Projection: Eighth

Key Losses: Hillary Hitchman, Transferred to Potsdam
Key Returnees: Jessica Lister (7-8-15), Angie Friesen (2-3-5), Erin Robson (#1 Goaltender now)
Newcomers to watch: Kathryn Sbrocchi – very talented defenseman from Mississauga Chiefs, smart, sees the ice very well. Jillian Bergeron – big, strong forward from Nepean Wildcats, good hands and scoring touch. Kelly Collins – another big strong forward from Taft School who will provide muscle and scoring power to the Laker line-up

Cortland Red Dragons

Coach: Earl Utter (5-17-3, 2nd season)
Last year’s record: 5-17-3
ECAC West Record: 3-12-1 (7th)
Coaches’ Projection: Tenth
My Projection: Ninth

Key Losses: Janie Byrd D, Julia Pahler D, Erin Fleury F
Key Returnees: Brianna Bartlett G, Maggie Welker D (3-1-4), Kalee Stoever F (6-1-7)
Newcomers to watch: Julia Fleming F, Danielle Scharf D, Carolyn Wolcott, D

Potsdam Bears

Coach: Jay Green (0-0-0, 1st season)
Last year’s record: N/A
ECAC West Record: N/A
Coaches’ Projection: Eighth
My Projection: Tenth

Coach’s Synopsis: Hilary Hitchman is a solid goaltender that transferred from Oswego and will be counted upon heavily to play well. Defensively we have Breanna Roy from Orleans, Ontario (Napean Wildcats) Stephanie Malcolm – Hamilton, Ontario(Hamilton Hawks) and Audrey Coon – Laconia, NY (Syracuse Stars) as our core group on the blue-line. Offensively…Annmarie Lewis – Newmarket, Ontario (Aurora Panthers) Danielle Compagni – Homer, NY (Syracuse Stars) Stephanie Simons – Stratford, Ontario (Bluewater Hawks) Nicky Bougie – Ingelside, Ontario (Cornwall Typhoons) and Lindsay Usherwood – Oswego, NY (Syracuse Stars)

The ECAC West is Plattsburgh’s title to lose. The Cardinals return mostly everyone from back to back national championship squads as well as having top-notch coach Kevin Houle behind the bench. RIT and Elmira will be the Cards’ chief challengers and with the right bounce of the puck, both teams can beat Plattsburgh on a given night.

Utica, Neumann, and Buffalo State form the next trio of teams and they’re all standing on the edge of competing every night with the ECAC West power three.

The most intriguing team to watch this year will be Chatham with their 17 newcomers. The Cougars got their first ever D-III win last season and could be the dark-horse this year of the conference. Potsdam will also be interesting to watch as they will be playing their first varsity season and be thrown right into the lion’s den competing in such a tough conference top to bottom.

Coaches’ Poll

1.Plattsburgh- (7) 79
2.RIT- (1) 71
3.Elmira- 65
4.Utica- 53
5.Neumann- 49
6.Buffalo State- 38
7.Chatham- 24
8.Potsdam- 22
9.Oswego- 21
10.Cortland- 16

ECAC East Season Preview

Manhattanville Valiants

Coach: Eric Lang (1st season)
Last year’s record: 24-7-0
ECAC East Record: 17-2-0 (1st)
Coaches’ Projection: First
My Projection: First

Key Losses: Dani Poupart (D), Amanda Nonis (F), and Danielle Nagymarosi (F)
Key Returnees: Alex Blackwell F. (7-3-10), Karine Turmel G. (1.82 GGA and .929 save percentage), Erin Brawley D. (2-12-14), Natalie Zitek F. (12-16-28), and Shannon Coffey F. (12-25-37)
Newcomers to watch: Brianne Alfred (F), Hannah Muskego (D), and Jamie Bonner (F)

Norwich Cadets

Coach: Mark Bolding (12-10-2, 2nd season)
Last year’s record: 12-10-2
ECAC East Record: 9-8-2
Coaches’ Projection: Second
My Projection: Second

Key Losses: F. Hilary Davis, F. Amanda Gage
Key Returnees: F. Sophie Leclerc (14-14-28), F. Kelsey Cone (10-15-25), G. Cindy Fortin (2.46 GGA and .916 Save %), D. Shannon Silver
Newcomers to watch: Forward — Fr. Julie Fortier, Forward — Fr. Danielle Del Dotto,
Goalie — Fr. Chiara Traversa

Umass-Boston Beacons

Coach: Maura Crowell (40-30-2, 4th season)
Last year’s record: 14-12-0
ECAC East Record: 11-8-0
Coaches’ Projection: Fourth
My Projection: Third

Key Losses: None
Key Retuners: Rachel Sousa (ECAC East Rookie of the Year) and Maria Nasta (ECAC East First Team Selection
Newcomers to watch: D. Emily Brienzo (Wisconsin Wild), G. Leah Hallett (CT Polar Bears) and F. Kelly Gillis (CT Polar Bears).

New England College Pilgrims

Coach: Jackie MacMillan (20-13-1, 3rd season)
Last year’s record: 15-11-1
ECAC East Record: 10-8-1
Coaches’ Projection: Third
My Projection: Fourth

Key Losses: Liz Ross
Key Returnees: Sarah Tracey (19-25-44), Sarah Graham (24-18-42), Danielle Taylor (5-9-14)
Newcomers to watch: Teraysa White (Goaltender) Sam Phillips (Forward) Taryn Moffat (Forward)

Southern Maine Huskies

Coach: John Lauziere (15-35-2, 3rd season)
Last year’s record: 7-18-1
ECAC East record: 7-11-1
Coaches’ Projection: Sixth
My Projection: Fifth

Key Losses: Team MVP Emily Barrett, Goalie was unable to return this season for her senior year.
Key Returnees: “This year we are returning our 2 top scorers Jessica Knight F and Amanda Shorey F, and Captain Megan Irving F. Mary Vaughan D, and Erica Robertson D will lead our defensive core.”
Newcomers to watch: “We have a bunch of newcomers, roughly 12 freshman this year and some standouts are going to be Danielle Ward F, Kylie Blasen F, Christen Hart F, Katie Paradis F and Joanna Gaube, F/D. All will make immediate impacts for our team and in the league.”

Salve Regina Seahawks

Coach: Michael Cox (18-31-3, 3rd season)
Last year’s record: 11-14-2
ECAC East Record: 9-9-1
Coaches’ Projection: Fifth
My Projection: Sixth

Key Losses: Aimee Provencher F/D
Key Returnees: Caitlin Campbell – senior- school’s all time leading scorer. F, Molly Golden- Sophomore F (13-10-23), Gabrielle Gardner-Sophmore F (12-12-24), Sarah Small Sophomore D (1-4-5)
Newcomers to watch: Kathleen Roche- Boston Latin/Charles River-F, Shannon Ellis – Colorado Selects F, Rebecca Simmons – Toronto Rattlers — G, Kristin Aiello – D – Thayer/ NEWHL

Castleton Spartans

Coach: Bethany Torrice (0-0-0, 1st season)
Last year’s record: 5-16-4
ECAC East Record: 4-11-4
Coaches’ Projection: Seventh
My Projection: Seventh

No Report due to official practice just starting this week.

Plymouth State Panthers

Coach: Heather Hoffay (0-33-1, 3rd season)
Last year’s record: 0-20-1
ECAC East Record: 0-18-1
Coaches’ Projection: Eighth
My Projection: Eighth
Key Losses: None
Key Retuners: Lindsay DeLorie (G), Elizabeth Murray F. (8-2-10), Amanda Kreamer D. (3-0-3)
Newcomers to watch: Jaimie Camara (F), Brianna Davis (D/F), Molly Irving (D)

Nichols Bison

Coach: Bob Martin (0-0-0, 1st season)
Last year’s Record: N/A
ECAC East Record: N/A
Coaches’ Projection: Ninth
My Projection: Ninth

Key Losses: None
Key Returnees: “Melissa Mansfield a junior Assistant Captain she is our #1 goalie. Allison Peters – a senior from Westford, MA our top defenseman and one of two seniors on the team this year. Ashley Parker a junior and team captain she has been the captain since her freshman year and is bringing solid leadership to the team, she is from West Jordan Utah. Candice Ellis a junior from Gloucester, MA previously played with Austin Prep, should continue to be one of our leading scorers again this season.”
Newcomers to watch: “We have some solid freshman this year that should really impact our team in a positive way. Mandy Manopla from Florida with be one of the top freshman forwards. Courtney Carey from Belmont, MA should step in and contribute on defense. Rachel Brown from Framingham, MA should be a versatile player on defense and offense this year.”

MIT Engineers

Coach: Rich Chrusciel (0-0-0, 1st season)
Last year’s record: 1-18-2
ECAC East Record: 1-16-2
Coaches’ Projection: Tenth
My Projection: Tenth

Key Losses: Rachel Longley F Monique Squires – So. – D – out for the season with shoulder injury, Barbara McCarragher – Jr – D – out for season
Key Returnees: Stephanie Brenman – Sr. D and team captain, Katherine Harding – Sr. F, Sara John – Sr. F, Rachel Bowens – So. Goalie
Newcomers to watch: Kameron Klauber – F. Clarion Hess F.

With St. Anselm ineligible for D-III postseason play, Manhattanville should control the ECAC East once again this season. However, look for teams like Norwich, UMass-Boston, and New England College to bridge the gap a bit more this season with the losses Manhattanville had in the off-season. Nichols, Castleton, and MIT are all a bit of mystery with either new coaches or competing in their first season of D-III varsity hockey, they’ll be interesting to watch to see how they stack up.

Coaches’ Poll

1.Manhattanville (5) 50
2.Norwich 41
3.NEC- 39
4.UMB- 38
5.Salve Regina- 31
6.Southern Maine- 24
7.Castleton- 19
8.Plymouth- 13
9.Nichols- 12
10. MIT- 8

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Oct. 23, 2008

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Deja Vu

Rand Pecknold is hoping he’s not an unwitting protagonist in a Groundhog Day sequel. The veteran coach will remember only too vividly how his vaunted offense went into the tank early last season, and the team defensive scheme didn’t gel to the necessary extent to win those games.

To wit, he was quoted at this time last year as saying, “my top seven or eight players all played very poorly … not just on the weekend, but in all three games [thus far].”

It’s far too early to draw conclusions about this year’s crop, but The Boss was not happy about the Bobcats’ play against Union at the Maverick Stampede in Omaha. Up 4-0 at the first intermission on the strength of a Brandon Wong hat trick, QU collapsed over the following 34 minutes, allowing five straight goals and needing a Jean-Marc Beaudoin tally with three and a half remaining to force overtime … where Union’s Stephane Boileau put the Bobcats away.

“Friday’s game was a … unique way to start the season,” he said, with a pronounced pause at the ellipses. “We played poorly all game [regardless of what the box score indicated].”

“Union took it to us pretty much the whole game,” he assessed. “We had eight seniors in the lineup who should know how to prepare [by now],” he stated. QU was outshot 42-20 — 3-0 in the OT period — and took nine penalties to Union’s five.

On the brighter side, the ‘Cats bounced back with a 4-1 win over American International the following day, with QU again scoring four times in the first frame.

It can only be presumed that the 15-year coach was a little more tense in that second period than circumstances would generally call for.

The Other Side of the Coin

Union, on the other hand, isn’t feeling half bad after clawing back against Quinnipiac.

“There were a lot of early mistakes by both teams,” said Dutchmen coach Nate Leaman, “but I’m really proud of the character of our guys to come back.”

But what about the 4-0 hole … on seven first-period shots?

“Wong is probably one of the best players not only in the league, but in the nation,” Leaman stated. “The puck is on and off his tape in an instant.

“[Goaltender] Corey [Milan] didn’t have a chance.”

The Dutch fell to Nebraska-Omaha in a 2-1 overtime contest in the Stampede championship, but Leaman considered the trip well worth the effort.

“I’m glad that game wasn’t decided by a shootout. It was a great college hockey game,” he said about the finale, wherein Milan stopped 30 of 32 in front of nearly 5,500 fans.

The Dutch have felt an immediate boost from a couple of frosh as well. Brian Yanovitch and Kelly Zajac were the only members of their class to play in both games, and their coach described them as “getting better every day.”

Unfortunately, Zajac’s collegiate career got off to a rough start: the center took a major hit-from-behind penalty and the accompanying game misconduct on his very first shift, 3:12 into the Quinnipiac game.

Union looks ahead to Rensselaer in the first round of the Governor’s Cup in Albany on Friday, and will face either Robert Morris or Colgate on Saturday. This gives Union a good chance to play three league opponents in non-conference contests.

“It gives us a feeling about where we stand in the league,” said Leaman of his team’s sneak-peek on the competition. “It gives us a better look. Just like the Quinnipiac game, almost all the [league] games come down to one goal … getting guys familiar with that level of play will only help us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Up Potsdam Way …

North Country rivals St. Lawrence and Clarkson traded dance partners last weekend, with each hitting Niagara and RIT. While St. Lawrence swept the pair (5-1 over NU, 2-1 over RIT), Clarkson had to settle for a split. The Golden Knights beat the Tigers 6-4 Friday night, but dropped a 4-3 decision to the Purple Eagles the following evening.

“I’m certainly not disappointed with our results,” pondered coach George Roll. “You want the sweep, but they are two talented teams [playing] in their buildings.”

What did get under Roll’s skin was how the Niagara game concluded.

First, sophomore defenseman Bryan Rufenach took a minor and a game misconduct for shooting after the whistle (and speaking his mind about it) with 1:12 to play and the Knights down a goal.

Then with a mere three ticks on the clock, senior Chris D’Alvise was knocked down in front of the Eagles’ net. D’Alvise got back to his feet and promptly speared the aggressor, earning him a major penalty and a game disqualification — barring him from this Friday’s big game against No. 1 Colorado College.

“I’m unhappy with the undisciplined play. Our kid got knocked down, gets up, and spears the [other] kid,” lamented Roll.

The coach has yet to determine how or if he will punish D’Alvise further for his indiscretion.

The impending visit from the CC Tigers will mark the first time ever that a top-ranked team has played at Cheel. (However, eventual champions have certainly played there, the most recent being Boston College last spring in a 4-2 ‘Tech victory.)

“It’s a great opportunity to play the top team in our building,” said the coach, who is certainly hoping for a repeat of last season’s BC triumph.

Perfect Where it Counts

The Colgate Raiders started the season the right way, dropping Massachusetts-Lowell and Bentley to start 2-0 for the second year in a row.

The UML contest was a tight one, with all the scoring taking place in the second period and the Raiders fighting off three River Hawk power plays in the third. The Bentley tilt was a different matter, as the ‘Gate gradually built a 4-0 lead by the third period, and freshman goalkeeper Alex Evin was only called upon to make 13 stops for his first career win.

“I’m relatively pleased with our start,” said longtime head coach Don Vaughan. “There are some questions to answer, of course … but our energy was great.”

One thing Vaughan and Raider Nation were especially happy to see were the stable and victorious outings by goalies Charles Long and the aforementioned Evin.

“Charles was tested more [24 shots against] … Lowell outshot us, and Charles made some big stops at critical times,” praised the boss.

The early play of freshman Austin Smith up front has also turned a lot of heads in Hamilton. Smith assisted on the game winner against UML, and scored his first collegiate goal against the Falcons. He played left wing Friday with Francois Brisebois and Jason Williams, and flipped over to the right side with Peter Bogdanich and Ethan Cox on Saturday. He finished at plus-one for each game.

“He’s a special player,” the coach intoned. “He sees the ice as well as any first-year player I’ve ever had.”

Heading into the Gov’s Cup, Colgate is healthy and eligible, which is a big plus for the crew, since — by Vaughan’s own admission — there is “not a lot of depth.”

Men Behaving Badly

(Aside: when Rob Schneider is intended to carry a show, it’s doomed to fail. This was what Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom should’ve produced; “Springtime for Hitler” clearly had too much potential.)

That’s what I get for letting my mind wander.

In any case, ECAC Hockey seems to have suffered more from “youthful indiscretions” this year than in recent memory. Defending Dryden Award winner Kyle Richter will have to postpone his defense for a year to think about his “academic” transgression (Harvard fully expects him to return to the team next season.) Andrei Uryadov only just returned from a trans-season, four-game team-dictated suspension at Rensselaer. Mike Willemsen and Dan Tuttle will be reinstated at Clarkson this weekend after breaking team rules.

That’s a lot of important players missing time for doing what can only be assumed were pretty stupid things. For the record, I’m not out to stir the pot or get anyone in trouble. I genuinely like this league, and pretty much everyone I’ve met in it so far. If there’s news worth reporting, sure, I’ll report it … but for my taste, I’d prefer to hear that every suspension was the result of a player pressing the snooze alarm once too often one day. Unfortunately, that’s just not usually the case.

For the kicker, as far as poor demonstrations of character are concerned: Kevin Koopman, a sixth-round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2006, will not be playing hockey anymore. The would-be Brown Bear had barely unpacked his bags when he told head coach Roger Grillo, thanks for the Ivy League education and all, but I think I could do without that whole skating business.

For the sake of my flickering faith in humanity — and in hockey people — this is one story I hope I’ve got wrong.

Game of the Week

New Hampshire @ St. Lawrence: Sunday, 7:35 p.m. (TV: ESPNU)

It would be easy to pick the Colorado College-Clarkson double-dip as the games to watch, but everyone already knows that. This one, however, may fly under the radar a bit: it’s an afternoon game in the middle of a busy NFL Sunday.

The Wildcats hold a 31-14-1 all-time advantage over Joe Marsh (UNH ’77) and his Saints, but SLU triumphed over the Whittemore’s Olympic sheet and its die-hard patrons by nipping the favored Wildcats 6-5 in a wild one last January. The Scarlet & Brown are feeling feisty these days, coming off a sweep of cross-state Niagara and RIT, and having hung tough on the road with top-five Michigan in the opening weekend.

New Hampshire inched up to No. 4 in the USCHO.com/CBS College Oh My God This is a Long Name for a Poll this week after edging Boston University 2-1 last Sunday, and Rensselaer 1-0 on Friday. (To be fair, UNH overwhelmed everybody but Mathias Lange in the RPI game … but BU had them beat; just couldn’t finish.)

It’s not often that a top-five program makes the long trip upstate, so I hope the faithful give UNH something to remember them by. If Appleton doesn’t have full-throated fans hanging like monkeys from the rafters for this one, I’m going to have a very stern talk with each of your mothers (who should also be in the rafters).

In the interest of poor juxtaposition, I’ll mention that since ESPNU is broadcasting this match, the B2 network will not be doing so. Heads up.

Snapshots

• Union defenseman Mike Wakita is questionable for this weekend due to injury. The six-two junior has had some bad luck in that regard, playing only 17 games last season and 37 in his first two years in Schenectady.

• Clarkson will be without senior forwards Chris D’Alvise (game disqualification) and Shea Guthrie (broken hand) for Friday’s game against the nation’s top team. Whether or not D’Alvise plays Saturday in the finale with Colorado College remains to be seen. Freshman goaltender Paul Karpowich is getting the nod on Friday, according to Roll, who is baffled by junior Tim Potter’s recurring issue with cramps. (Potter had to leave the ice against Niagara in the 29th minute, suffering from cramps for the “third or fourth time” in his career at Clarkson, said Roll.)

• Rensselaer will be without the services of forwards Joel Malchuk and Kurt Colling yet again. The duo has already missed time this year, but with a bye week looming, coach Seth Appert hopes to have them available against Harvard in two weeks. The Engineers are also fretting about the nature of defenseman Mike Bergin’s injury. The freshman suffered a dislocated shoulder against Massachusetts on Tuesday on a questionable late-game hit, and Appert describes his situation as “out for an extended period of time.” His options currently appear to be rehabbing it and playing this year, or having surgery and shelving the season … Appert is leaning toward the former, but only time will tell which plan is best. Regarding the hit, Appert doesn’t blame UMass coach Don “Toot” Cahoon one bit. Appert said that “because of the emotion of the college game, sometimes lines get crossed … I don’t mind the physicality of it, but I don’t like two of our defensemen getting blasted from behind [in a 6-0 game].” (Minuteman senior Chris Davis was assessed a hitting-from-behind major and a game misconduct for a similar hit on Jeff Foss; the hit that sidelined Bergin went unpenalized.)

The Measuring Stick

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It’s early in the hockey season but some huge games are on tap, with good stories to follow.

Let’s start with “measuring-stick games.” There are a few out there, and a couple last week that might have fallen into that category. Miami went 0-1-1 at Vermont in a battle between two teams that lost their conference title games. Wisconsin got swept at Denver but did play well for some stretches of the weekend. BU, which was 5-1-1 in its last seven at UNH, lost to the Wildcats 2-1 last Sunday.

However, this early in a season measuring sticks are not as vital as hockey sticks. Playing well, focusing on the process, and finding chemistry on and off the ice take precedence over measuring-stick games.

Enrico Blasi's Miami RedHawks face a key early-season challenge in the form of Notre Dame (photo: Melissa Wade).

Enrico Blasi’s Miami RedHawks face a key early-season challenge in the form of Notre Dame (photo: Melissa Wade).

Start with Miami at Notre Dame. This matchup could have both PairWise indications and CCHA standings implications when it’s over; these are Miami’s only games with Notre Dame this season, and the young RedHawks face a veteran group in South Bend, one that was picked to win the CCHA.

“I think you need to be careful about how much you emphasize these two games with our team,” said Miami head coach Enrico Blasi. “We’re at a point where we want to win but we’re still working on getting better every day.”

Blasi has two rookie goalies and a young team led by a pair of super sophomores in Carter Camper and Pat Cannone. Those two will try to penetrate what might be the best defensive team in the CCHA in Notre Dame, which likewise is looking at continuing to play well and build off a pair of home wins against Sacred Heart.

“We have most of last year’s team back. so we have a pretty good idea what we have, but its is still early to determine how good you can be after a pair of league games,’ said Jeff Jackson, head coach at Notre Dame.

Next we have Michigan at Boston University. As seen on CSTV (now CBS College Sports), Michigan handled BU at Yost last season, but as Wolverine head coach Red Berenson discussed, very few teams had an answer for Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik. This season is different as Michigan’s top line of all sophomores invades America’s best hockey city for a date with a fellow top-10 team.

“We’ll find out pretty quick what we have against BU,” said Berenson as his team prepared for a visit from the defending CHA Champion Niagara Purple Eagles. “They have a real good team and a real good program. We are not 100 percent and everyone knows that with three defensemen out of the lineup. The onus on us will be to play better missing those guys.”

This is another game with PairWise implications.

Heading west, Minnesota and Wisconsin renew an old rivalry, but these are two programs going in opposite directions in the standings. Wisconsin is 0-4 and just got swept at Denver. Minnesota is unbeaten after sweeping a home-and-home with rival St. Cloud State.

The Gophers have turned things around off what has to be termed a disastrous first semester last season. Ryan Stoa got hurt before anyone knew the season started and Kyle Okposo defected to the NHL at Christmas. Mike Carman was academically ineligible and netminder Jeff Frazee couldn’t stop a basketball if it was rolled to him.

That has all changed. The mood in the room is as good as it has been in years because there are 20 guys in the lineup who want to be there, and one guy who everyone wants there is goalie Alex Kangas. Taking nothing away from Kellen Briggs, this is the best goaltender the program has had in years. Kangas has steadily improved and solidifies the position that has been an Achilles heel at key times for Minnesota the last five years or so.

Stoa is back after a season-long injury, and after being named captain shortly after Minny’s loss to BC in the Worcester regional last March, Stoa won over the team with how hard he worked to rehab his surgically repaired knee. Quiet and understated, Stoa, in the words of associate coach John Hill, has proven to be the leader you want to follow in the dressing room.

For Minnesota going on the road to a raucous Kohl Center, it will be a test for the young kids. Wisconsin, meanwhile, needs to focus on just playing 60 minutes. At Denver, the Badgers did a great job surviving the initial blast from the Pioneers on Friday night and then converted a power play for a 1-0 lead. They were getting shelled in every way but goalie Shane Connelly held down the fort. Bucky scored three in about two minutes in period two and led 4-1 before the roof caved in.

Wisconsin is all about system and focus and that still has time to flourish. However, the Badgers have Minny this weekend and are at NoDak next week, and there is a real chance they could be 0-8 — not because they aren’t a good team, but thanks to butting heads with teams that are just playing better.

Lastly, Ohio State plays at Denver coming off a split with Lake Superior State. Denver is rolling with wins over Wisconsin and Notre Dame but has yet to be tested on the road. The Buckeyes are a very young group and for them the issues are establishing their goalie, getting line combos together, and getting their youngsters indoctrinated to the rigors of college hockey. There’s no better place to get tested than at Denver, where the Pioneers have speed and grit and can score in bunches.

The Buckeyes don’t need to use this as a measuring-stick game because they’ll be under assault, but this is the weekend series that could go a long way for them to continue to rebuild.

Fans will perceive these weekend games in different ways, but what needs to be remembered is come Monday, these teams will be looking towards next Friday and will leave these games behind. Don’t invest too much in mid-October, because it’s way too early to figure out how these key matchups affect March.

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Oct. 23, 2008

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Falcons Soar

Last weekend was a good one for teams nicknamed “Falcons.” While the rest of Atlantic Hockey went 0-9 in non-conference matchups, Air Force swept Bemidji in resounding fashion, and Bentley earned a split with a pair of ECAC teams, including a 4-3 overtime win at Rensselaer.

Senior Jeff Gumaer’s goal, his second of the game, at 1:44 of the extra period won the see-saw game for the Bentley Falcons. Rookie goaltender Kyle rank won his first start in net, making 20 saves.

“It was a very satisfying win,” said Bentley coach Ryan Soderquist, whose team outshot Rensselaer 25-23. “In the past you needed a goalie to make 45-50 saves to win a game, but now (Atlantic Hockey) teams are winning games by outplaying opponents. And I think we outplayed them.”

The Falcons lost to Colgate 4-1 on Saturday.

“I was happy with our play both nights,” said Soderquist. “On Friday, our defense played well, only allowing 22 shots on net. But we didn’t get much offense going and didn’t get any bounces.”

Soderquist said senior leadership, especially early in the season, is a key to playing well.

“The seniors really stepped up,” he said. “All of our goals (on Saturday) were scored by seniors. That’s their role. It’s the mark of successful teams.”

Rank will compete for time with sophomore goaltender Joe Calvi, who made the AHA All-Rookie team last season.

“We decided before the weekend to start them both,” Soderquist said. “Hopefully they’ll push each other.”

In Colorado Springs, the other Falcons soundly swept former CHA rival Bemidji, winning 6-2 and 6-0. Newcomer Jacques Lamoureux had six points on the weekend to lead the way, and goaltender Andrew Volkening stopped 31 of 33 shots. The Falcons dominated in the shots-on-goal category, 69-33. Force is 4-0 to open the season for the first time since 1975.

“We’re playing really well right now,” said Air Force coach Frank Serratore. “We expected two dogfights with them, considering our record against them in the past (1-18-1 coming into the weekend) and how well they do against WCHA and CCHA opponents. I think everybody was probably predicting a split before the weekend.”

Lamoureux has made an immediate impact, racking up 10 points in four games, including six last weekend. The Grand Forks, N.D., native wanted to come to the Air Force Academy in 2006, but was not accepted. He played for Northern Michigan his freshman year and then re-applied to the Academy, getting in last year and sitting out last season.

Lamoureux had just one goal and one assist in 16 games with the Wildcats.

“It’s tough for any player to produce points if you’re not on a top line or on the power play,” said Serratore. “I think being here last year, being part of the culture, has helped as well.”

The line of Lamoureux and seniors Brett Olson and Josh Frider has 10 goals so far, half of the Falcons’ scoring to date. Serratore says that experience has been a key factor in his team’s strong start.

“We have lots of returning players who know how to get the job done,” he said. “Teams with that kind of make-up tend to do well early.”

Many coaches use the first part of the season to switch players in and out of the lineup. Not Serratore.

“We’re not that deep,” he said. “We’ve got 13 forwards and eight defensemen. But I told the guys who are not playing, ‘You’re a shot off the ankle of being in the lineup, so you need to be ready.'”

Andrew Volkening isn’t going anywhere either. The junior played in every game last season, and he’s played every minute so far this year.

“He’s one of our leaders,” said Serratore. “Not so much by being vocal, but leading by example.”

The Falcons return to league play this weekend with a pair of games at AIC. Serratore says his team should not take anyone lightly.

“I’ve been around hockey long enough to know that every time things are looking really good … beware.”

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week for October 20, 2008
Jacques Lamoureux — Air Force
The sophomore transfer from Northern Michigan is off to a terrific start, already tallying five goals and five assists through four games. Last weekend, he collected six points with three goals and three assists to lead the homestanding Falcons to a 6-2, 6-0 sweep of Bemidji. Lamoureux scored the game winner in both contests.

Goaltender of the Week for October 20, 2008:
Andrew Volkening — Air Force
The junior made 31 saves on 33 shots to post a sweep of Bemidji. Volkening has a 1.49 GAA and .933 save percentage through four games.

Rookie of the Week for October 20, 2008:
Kyle Rank — Bentley
The freshman from Islip, N.Y., made the most of his first collegiate start, stopping 20 shots in a 4-3 overtime win at Rensselaer.

Close … And Not So Close

Holy Cross took three points at home from Canisius in the only conference action last week, while the rest of the league suffered losses in nonconference play:

Army — Josh Kassel allowed just one goal in the Black Knights’ season opener, but it wasn’t enough. Merrimack defeated Army 1-0, despite the Black Knights holding a 44-22 advantage in shots on goal. Goaltender Joe Cannata was outstanding for the Warriors.

Mercyhurst — The Lakers ventured to PalinLand last weekend, and came away with a loss to each Alaska school. On Friday, Mercyhurst dropped a 5-0 decision to the Alaska Nanooks, but Saturday’s contest with Alaska-Anchorage was a different story, with the Lakers jumping out to a 3-0 lead after the first 14 minutes. But Mercyhurst couldn’t seal the deal and lost to the Seawolves 6-4.

It’s back on the plane this week as Mercyhurst travels to Nebraska-Omaha for a pair of games. The Lakers won’t play their first home game until November 14. By the end of this weekend, Mercyhurst will already have traveled 11,500 miles this season.

AIC — The Yellow Jackets were in Nebraska last weekend, falling to the host Mavericks and then to Quinnipiac in the consolation game of the Maverick Stampede Tournament. Special teams were a problem — AIC went 0-9 with the man advantage but gave up five power play goals.

Sacred Heart — The Pioneers were shut out twice at Notre dame, marking the first time in school history that they failed to score on a weekend. They’ll look to regroup at home this weekend against RIT.

RIT — Speaking of the Tigers, large crowds (2,100 at Ritter Arena on Friday and 3,296 at Blue Cross Arena on Saturday) couldn’t propel them to a victory against Clarkson or St. Lawrence. On Friday, the Tigers led 2-0 but lost 6-4. On Saturday, St. Lawrence posted a 2-1 win. RIT outshot their opponents in both games, and despite the losses, coach Wayne Wilson was upbeat.

“They were good, close games,” he said. “We can compete with anyone in the country. They have a lot of depth in their league and when you start playing those teams night in and night out, it could be different. I think we stack up very well. I think we’re very much like an ECAC team with how we play.”

Clarkson coach George Roll concurred. “I have a lot of respect for (Atlantic Hockey). (RIT) is going to have an exciting, successful season.”

Russell Jaslow contributed to this report

This Week in the CHA: Oct. 23, 2008

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Niagara enjoyed its last moment of last season’s championship glory last Friday night, but leave it to St. Lawrence to spoil it.

The Purple Eagles unveiled two new banners at Dwyer Arena commemorating their CHA tournament win and NCAA tournament appearance only to then go out and get smoked, 5-1, in front of 1,805 fans, the third-largest crowd in rink history.

Niagara raised two banners last weekend, but didn't get the result on the ice that it would have liked (photo: Niagara athletic communications).

Niagara raised two banners last weekend, but didn’t get the result on the ice that it would have liked (photo: Niagara athletic communications).

Niagara also lost for the first time at home since Jan. 12.

“St. Lawrence played well,” NU head coach Dave Burkholder said. “It’s a rare occurrence that we didn’t play well at home, but its valuable experience that we have gained early in the year.”

After goaltender Juliano Pagliero allowed three goals in less than half the game, Burkholder yanked him for Adam Avramenko.

Paul Zanette responded with a goal, assisted by Dan Baco for his first NCAA point, but that was all NU could muster.

St. Lawrence made it 5-1 just seven minutes into the third period to finish the scoring on the night. Pagliero made 10 saves, while Avramenko finished with 16.

On a side note, former Wayne State defenseman Jeff Caister, now with St. Lawrence, assisted on the Brandon Bollig goal 4:33 into the second period that chased Pagliero.

Saturday night, Bryan Haczyk scored the game-winner at 11:08 of the third period for a 4-3 win over then-No. 14 Clarkson.

Haczyk put Brian Dowd’s rebound past Golden Knights netminder Paul Karpowich to send the NU crowd into a frenzy.

“Dowd and Haczyk were tremendous tonight,” Burkholder said. “They have been our best five-on-five line so far this season.”

Baco, Dowd and captain Vince Rocco also tallied and Pagliero rebounded with a 23-save performance.

In a rematch of its NCAA tournament game from last March, NU travels to Michigan tonight for a rare Thursday night affair. If NU is to win, it’ll be without stud forward Ted Cook, who will be out 4-6 weeks after breaking his hand in practice this week.

RMU Beats, Ties Ferris State

Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley said at the beginning of the season that if the Colonials started out slow, it would be a rebuilding year, but if they started out great, then it would probably be a reloading year.

Let the reloading begin.

RMU hosted Ferris State last weekend and beat the Bulldogs, 6-3, Friday night. The Colonials probably should have won the next night as they blew a three-goal lead, but held on for the 4-4 tie.

Senior defenseman and Wayne State transfer Matt Krug picked up his first career hat trick, Nathan Longpre scored twice and Chris Margott a single to back Wes Russell’s 20 saves in goal.

“It was a good, hard-fought hockey game,” Schooley said after the game to USCHO. “Wes did a good job in net and our defense is improved. We had a lot of good, hard blocked shots from Chris Kushneriuk and Kyle Burton and you can’t say enough about how good our penalty killing was. Sometimes your goalie has to be your best penalty killer and Wes was that for us tonight.”

Saturday night, Robert Morris jumped out to an early 4-1 lead only to see FSU fight back and score three unanswered goals in the second and third periods.

Kushneriuk, yet another former WSU skater, potted two and Burton and Longpre added one apiece to pace the Colonials’ attack.

Ferris State pulled goaltender Taylor Nelson and with 52 seconds left in regulation, Aaron Lewicki tied the game at 4-all and nothing was settled in overtime.

Russell finished with 36 saves for RMU.

Margott tacked on five assists for a six-point weekend and Longpre also had a big weekend with his three goals and two helpers.

“We took three out of four points from a very good CCHA school and we have to be happy with that,” Schooley again told USCHO. “We got sloppy for about seven minutes there in the middle of the game, and it really cost us when Ferris turned it on. We have to be a little more in control. We had way too many turnovers in the middle of the game and Ferris took advantage of them.”

Bemidji State Broomed Aside By Air Force

An 0-4 start has caused many head scratches in Bemidji.

The Beavers were swept last weekend at Air Force and Frank Serratore earned bragging rights over his brother, Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore, at least for this season.

“This was the toughest weekend we have had since I have been the head coach here,” said Tom Serratore. “We got beat in every facet of the game. Hopefully, we have bottomed out now and can move on from here.”

Air Force won by scores of 6-2 Friday night and 6-0 Saturday night. BSU had gone into the series unbeaten in 19 of the team’s last 20 meetings.

Tyler Scofield and Chris McKelvie scored Friday and Matt Dalton made 26 saves.

“We got beat to almost every loose puck in the first,” said Serratore. “We came back and made it a game in the second, but just folded in the third and that was too bad.”

Also, just seven days removed for a 22 power-play affair with Minnesota State in which BSU was on the man advantage 12 times, the Beavers went the full 60 minutes without a single power play, marking the first time since the team made the jump to Division I hockey in the 1999-2000 season that BSU has been held without a single power-play opportunity.

It got worse the next night as the Falcons’ 6-0 shutout completed their first sweep over the Beavers since the teams’ first meeting in 1997.

Orlando Alamano made 31 saves for Bemidji State.

Although Air Force won this series from the Beavers, BSU still owns a 23-8-2 lead in the all-time series. That is of little solace to Serratore.

“We are not a very good team right now and need to get back to the basics.” he added. “That starts with moving our feet.”

UAH Hosts Tennessee In Exhibition Matchup

Alabama-Huntsville was idle last weekend and plays just a single exhibition game Friday night in hosting Tennessee’s club team at the Von Braun Center.

The game is a celebration of 30 years of UAH hockey and the significance of the Volunteers is that Tennessee was Huntsville’s first-ever opponent.

Several ex-UAH players will be in attendance.

Chargers’ head coach Danton Cole said Friday’s game is also being looked at as an effort to promote hockey in the southern reaches of the country.

“We put this together to try and help hockey in the Southeast,” Cole said in the Huntsville Times. “Hopefully, this will be a good atmosphere for our fans.”

Cole added that the game should help gauge where certain players are during the early part of the season. Sophomore goalie Wyatt Russell is expected to start in net.

“We’re a work in progress,” he said. “We want to see some improvement in our skating and passing, where the guys are reacting and not thinking out there. We’ll spread the ice time out pretty well, too, move some guys to different positions.”

Alabama and Tennessee’s club teams will also play Saturday at the VBC.

This Week in D-I: Oct. 23, 2008

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No cold stares across the corn flakes. No deadly silences on the commute home. None of the trap doors that married couples who work together can fall through. And they are there (you could have asked Ricky and Lucy).

None of that has befallen the husband and wife coaching tandem of Matt and Shannon Desrochers.

The two were named co-coaches by Clarkson University during the off-season when former bench boss Rick Seeley moved Southward to Quinnipiac. According to Matt, the novel arrangement is operating nicely inside the rink, and at home.

“I think it’s working,” he said. “Shannon still runs the forwards just like she did last year. The difference is that I’m kind of wandering between the forwards and the D. Our new assistant [Matt Kelly] is handling the D where I did that last year. I think for the most part, it’s running pretty smoothly.”

Perhaps the trickiest part of such a set up is leaving the workplace problems at the office. But even there, Matt said that he and Shannon have struck an amiable balance.

“Of course we bring it home with us,” he said. “We do a lot of our recruiting from home. We pretty much see everything the same way. We’re pretty good with that stuff.”

As for the Golden Knights, they set out on a demanding early season schedule with six straight tilts against foes that are ranked in the top-10 nationally. That includes this weekend’s two-fer at home with No. 6 Mercyhurst. Unfortunately for the Green & Gold, the Knights have just one tie (against Boston College) to show for their effort.

Last weekend produced a pair of gut-wrenching one-goal losses at Boston Univesity and New Hampshire.

Desrochers said that the Knights can still draw positives out of the setbacks.

“I think we definitely can,” he said. “Using these as learning tools … we had a pretty tough schedule at the beginning of the year. We had two against BC, then come in and play against BU and UNH on the road. Then we come back against Mercyhurst next weekend. We’ve got some top-10 teams in there right off the bat with a lot of young kids in the lineup. I think we’ve played those teams strong. I think a couple of them could have gone either way. We’re definitely going to take the positives. There are definitely a lot of things we can work on, and fix by next week. Hopefully we can get some wins.”

At the heart of Clarkson’s early season struggles is its difficulty in producing goals.

Only two Knights — senior Marie-Jo Gaudet and freshman Juana Baribeau — have scored twice thus far.

But Gaudet said that the team is on the rise, even as the sixth-year program, which produced winning marks the past three seasons, continues to progress.

“I think every year we go up,” said Gaudet, Clarkson’s single-season goal-scoring leader (with 24 last year). “We’ve always been a team that works hard. The difference is that every year, we play with more talent. If we keep working hard, and use our talent at the same time, I think that will be really good for us. I think it’s a great program. I’m really proud to be a part of it.”

Empty Netters

No. 4 New Hampshire sniper Sam Faber was awarded a penalty shot in Sunday’s game with Clarkson for the second time in her career, and is now two-for-two in such situations.

That despite her admitted misgivings about those mano-a-mano showdowns.

“I was hoping to get around [the defender],” she said, “without her tripping me. I don’t like the nerves of a penalty shot.”

Less than two weeks before, Faber took the first-ever shootout attempt in a WHEA contest, and failed to beat Boston College goalie Molly Schaus. The difference between the two tries was being able to avoid psyching herself out.

“I was more calm this time,” said Faber. “During the shootout, I knew what I was going to do. This time, I tried to read more what the goalie was doing. She came out a little far, so I wasn’t going to shoot [right away]. I just tried to deke it through her.

“I tried not to (overthink it) this time. And it worked.”

Northeastern, under new coach Dave Flint, is off to a its best start in seven seasons (4-0-2, 2-0-0 HEA). The Huskies have been backboned by outstanding work by its goalie tandem of sophomore Leah Sulyma and freshman Florence Schelling (a five-year veteran of the Swiss National Team). Both have crafted microscopic .065 GAA’s, and they rank No. 1 and 2 nationally in save percentage, at .982 (Schelling) and .976 (Sulyma). Both netminders hail from exotic parts of the globe, as Schelling is a native of Oberengstringen, Switzerland, while Sulyma is the pride of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories … The highlight of the weekend should be the Friday/Sunday visit by No. 2 Minnesota to top-ranked Wisconsin … Meanwhile, No. 3-ranked Harvard has yet to play a game, and won’t until they take on Quinnipiac on Halloween … Meanwhile, women’s hockey newbie Syracuse recorded its first win in school history on Oct. 18, when they whitewashed Quinnipiac, 2-0. A pair of UNH transfers played key roles in the historic event, with goalie Lucy Schoedel stopping 19 shots for the shutout, and Stefanie Marty notching the second goal.

2008-09 Manhattanville Season Preview

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Entering last season, the big question mark for Manhattanville was in net as the Valiants attempted to find a replacement for first-team All American Andrew Gallant. Down the stretch, freshman Steve Parry seemed to step to the forefront culminating with a huge shutout of Elmira in the ECAC West Championship game to lift Manhattanville to its second consecutive league title.

This year, goaltending appears to be well in hand as two sophomores return (Parry and Sergiy Sorokolat) and a freshman (Charlie Ogalin) joins the team.

“Essentially, we’re coming back with the same goaltending lineup that we had down the stretch,” said Manhattanville coach Keith Levinthal.

This year’s question marks revolve around who will fill the big shoes left by the graduation of Jason Murfitt and Chris Wanchulak.

“Probably the two biggest losses would have been Jason Murfitt and Chris Wanchulak,” said Levinthal. “Those were two guys that logged a lot of ice time for us and are very difficult to replace.”

Those are significant holes for the Valiants, as Murfitt tallied 126 points in his 106 game collegiate career and Wanchulak was a rock-solid defenseman that every coach would love to have on their team.

Manhattanville brought in a very large freshman class this season, 14 in all, to fill the many holes both at the blue line and amongst the forwards.

“We’ve got a lot of new faces here because we graduated a fairly decent size class,” said Levinthal. “We’ve got a pretty talented group but a lot of inexperience at a number of key spots. I think it is a group that can achieve great things, but it is unproven.”

Nestled amongst the recruits are four players from Sweden, two of whom played together on the Frolunda Indians last season.

“One of the big questions marks is there is a contingent of Europeans in the class, in terms of their adjustment to the U.S. college,” said Levinthal.

As has been seen in many of the international tournaments, European teams tend to play a more wide open style of game, usually on an Olympic size ice surface. How these players will adjust to the narrow confines of Playland Ice Arena will be interesting to watch.

Manhattanville has a tough travel schedule this season, never playing more than a single regular weekend at home, and are on the road for consecutive weekends three times during the season. But maybe that isn’t all bad for the Valiants?

“The good thing about our schedule is the way we play the game, being on the road isn’t a bad thing for us,” said Levinthal. “With our style of play actually sometimes at home we try to be someone we’re not. When we’re on the road, we’ve been pretty disciplined and committed to what we are trying to do. I don’t think it is a major disadvantage. Just the travel is the tough part.”

ECAC West Season Preview

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For most teams in the ECAC West this season, player turnover has been rampant. With the exception of Hobart, every team is adding a double-digit sized class of freshmen to their rosters.

The league hasn’t seen fresh talent of this magnitude in a single season in a long time. Whichever team can get their freshmen acclimated first could go a long way in determining the league standings.

Leading the way in number of recruits is Lebanon Valley with 18.

Manhattanville adds 14, while Utica and Neumann each add 11 to their rosters. Hobart is the lone team returning their roster mostly intact, only adding six players.

After a great run to the NCAA semi-finals last season, Elmira is picked to again win the ECAC West regular season title this year. The Soaring Eagles lost a lot of their scoring punch to graduation but return a solid corps of skaters and Casey Tuttle in net.

The coaches think Manhattanville will finish second in the regular season, coming off two straight ECAC West playoff titles. However, with the loss of their best forward and defenseman, I’m choosing Hobart to finish second and Manhattanville to end up in third.

Utica, with a very favorable home schedule, is picked for fourth place, but if the Pioneers can figure out how to score goals they could move up the standings very quickly.

For the second straight summer, Neumann has a new coach entering the season. Dominick Dawes joins a Knights team known for scoring goals. But the graduation of several keys players and the unknown of a new coach lands Neumann in the fifth spot in the preseason prognostications.

There is little doubt that Lebanon Valley’s play improved last season but the Flying Dutchmen didn’t see any improvement in the win-loss column. With a team made up mostly of underclassmen, their biggest challenge this year is to finally turn around the attitude and outlook of the program. They should have more success this season compared to last, but it will be another year or two before they truly become competitive.

Stay tuned for the regular season ECAC West column to cover all the action beginning next week.

Click on any team name at the top of a section below to view its individual season preview. Teams are listed in order of predicted finish by USCHO.com.

Elmira College Soaring Eagles

2007-08 overall record: 20-4-5
2007-08 ECAC West record: 10-2-3
2007-08 ECAC West finish: First
2008-09 Coach’s Poll: First
2008-09 USCHO predicted finish: First
Outlook: A quick start last season help Elmira get all the way to the NCAA semi-finals. But the Soaring Eagles lost three of their top four scorers to graduation.

Hobart College Statesmen

2007-08 overall record: 18-8-2
2007-08 ECAC West record: 7-6-2
2007-08 ECAC West finish: Tied Fourth
2008-09 Coach’s Poll: Third
2008-09 USCHO predicted finish: Second
Outlook: Hobart returns its defense completely intact, and still has senior Keith Longo in net. But can the Statesmen use the most veteran team in the league to move up in the standings?

Manhattanville College Valiants

2008 ECAC West League Champions
2007-08 overall record: 18-7-3
2007-08 ECAC West record: 8-5-2
2007-08 ECAC West finish: Second
2008-09 Coach’s Poll: Second
2008-09 USCHO predicted finish: Third
Outlook: Manhattanville hopes to use diversity to its advantage this season as the Valiants have an interesting mix of American, Canadian, and European players.

Utica College Pioneers

2007-08 overall record: 15-10-1
2007-08 ECAC West record: 8-6-1
2007-08 ECAC West finish: Third
2008-09 Coach’s Poll: Fourth
2008-09 USCHO predicted finish: Fourth
Outlook: Defense and penalty killing have never been a problem for Utica. Scoring goals and power plays have. The Pioneers brought in some snipers this season to try and turn that trend around.

Neumann College Knights

2007-08 overall record: 17-9
2007-08 ECAC West record: 8-7
2007-08 ECAC West finish: Tied Fourth
2008-09 Coach’s Poll: Fifth
2008-09 USCHO predicted finish: Fifth
Outlook: The players that transformed Neumann from a doormat to a perennial contender have graduated. Now it is up to a new coach and the next generation to continue to move the program further up the league standings.

Lebanon Valley College Flying Dutchmen

2007-08 overall record: 1-23-1
2007-08 ECAC West record: 0-15
2007-08 ECAC West finish: Sixth
2008-09 Coach’s Poll: Sixth
2008-09 USCHO predicted finish: Sixth

Outlook: There may be a light at the end of the dark tunnel that has been Lebanon Valley hockey the last few years. An enormous recruiting class has injected new blood — and hope — into the Flying Dutchmen.

2008-09 Neumann Season Preview

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Another summer has gone by at Neumann College, and another late coaching change has occurred. After completing only one season at the helm, Phil Roy left Neumann in August for an assistant position at D-I Merrimack.

Neumann College athletic director Chuck Sack scrambled — again — and hired Dominik Dawes in mid-September. Dawes, a 2004 Norwich graduate, played professional hockey for two seasons before starting in the coaching ranks at Hamilton College for another two years. He took over for Hamilton coach Phil Grady midway through last season, getting his first taste of being in the driver’s seat.

“It was kind of a tangled web to get here,” said Dawes. “It’s kind of been a whirlwind to get setup and squared away.”

Helping Dawes settle in is a very large senior class, players who have now had three coaches in the last three seasons.

“I can’t tell you how great the players have been so far,” said Dawes. “I’ve got 13 seniors here and the leadership has been great. I can’t say enough about how the guys have handled the situation. The seniors have been through a lot.

“I’ve been here a month. From day one, they were working out together and getting the younger guys integrated into the team. They’ve kept this program on track.”

Neumann graduated several players last spring that were instrumental in turning what had been a dismal program into a contender. Neil Trimm, Mike Gooch, and Mike Collichio are names that have become synonymous with Neumann hockey over the last four years.

But the Knights shouldn’t be wanting for goals this season as this year’s group of seniors can also put the puck in the net. Returning is 30 goal scorer Mike Hedden and Kyle Casey who tallied 16 goals last season.

“We’re going to be a hard-nosed, blue collar team,” said Dawes. “We’ve still got some great players here. We’ve got guys that can play at a very high level and have been successful. It’s time for some of the guys to step out of the shadows and create a legacy for themselves.”

Joining the upperclassmen this year is another large class of freshmen, 11 to be exact. Coach Dawes is still learning what he has to work with, having only been on the ice with the team for about two weeks.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised,” said Dawes. “They’ve all come here ready to work, ready to compete, ready to fight for a role on the team. I’ve been very happy how they’ve fit in with the older guys. Really, all there is [are] seniors and freshmen. The younger guys have done a good job of allowing the seniors to accept them.”

The largest question mark is in goal as Neumann tries to replace Mike Collichio who played in 25 games last season.

“I’ve got four guys right now on the roster, a senior, a junior, and two freshmen,” said Dawes. “It’s still kind of up in the air who we’ll go with.”
Neumann hits the road for its first four games, but the challenge is putting it all together quick enough to get off to a good start.

2008-09 Lebanon Valley Season Preview

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Lebanon Valley coach Ted Russell enters his second season at the helm of the Flying Dutchmen this month. Having had an entire year to recruit, he has brought in 18 freshmen in an attempt to turn around the team’s fortunes. Combined with last year’s class of newcomers, there is definitely a youth movement afoot at Lebanon Valley.

“Going into the second year as a coach, I’m trying to be more prepared this year than last year,” said Russell. “We’re young class-wise, but age-wise we’re not that young. Eleven kids have maxed out their junior hockey career so they are 21 now. They have a little maturity and pretty good experience.”

Upperclassmen are few and far between for the Flying Dutchmen but their leadership is still critical as the team prepares for its opening game against Oswego.

Senior Robert Malloy, who is coming off an injury that shortened last season, and junior Spiros Anastas have been named as captains of the team.

“Robert Malloy is a kid on the blue line that I hope will play all 25 games,” said Russell. “He is very competitive, works extremely hard, and a captain because he leads by example. Spiros Anastas is a vocal, heart-and-soul guy. He has done a great job organizing the different team workouts the last few weeks. Upperclassmen is something we don’t have a lot of, but I feel confident with the freshman class assuming a leadership role right away.”

Leading the list of freshmen forwards are Nick Schultz and Jeremy Browning who both put up good numbers in junior hockey.

On the blue line, coach Russell is expecting George Nicholes and Brian Dunford to lead a group of five new defenders.

“Those are kids that can move east to west pretty good,” said Russell. “For a defenseman, your lateral movement should be pretty good and theirs is.”

Coach Russell plans to carry a large roster this season, 30 players at the start, both to provide depth for the inevitable injuries and also to keep his players motivated via competition to get in the lineup.

“The best thing we have going right now that we did not have last year is numbers,” said Russell. “Everyone will understand that you have to compete in practice in order to earn that spot in the game, and then do the exact same thing in the game. Someone is going to be waiting to take your spot.”

The hardest aspect to turn around at a program that has been at the bottom of the pile is attitude. Lebanon Valley had some great years of hockey not all that long ago, but recently negative attitudes seem to insipidly creep back into the program over and over again. If the coaches and players at Lebanon Valley can get a taste of success early in the season, it may give the Flying Dutchmen just the spark they need.

“[We] played some teams pretty good during the first semester last year,” said Russell. “For the first semester, the guys competed well and played for the most part.

“This year, I have to be more prepared to make sure that the guys are ready to go for a full 60 minutes. We have numbers this year with guys competing for only a certain number of jobs. Hopefully that competitiveness will stick through first and second semesters. We need to ensure that we continue to move in the right direction and try to eliminate the negative atmosphere that has been here the last two years.”

Traveling No More

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Few coaches, facing a winner-goes-to-the-NCAA tournament-loser-goes-home-game, would decide to start a goalie who had barely played in the months leading up to the game. Too much risk, too much second guessing, would be possible. Coaches are generally a conservative lot, and the conservative line is, you go with the guy who got you there.

However, Air Force Coach Frank Serratore isn’t every coach, and the goaltender in question, Andrew Volkening, isn’t every goalie. During his freshman year, Volkening had struggled at times. As the 2006-2007 Atlantic Hockey playoffs started, Ben Worker was firmly entrenched as Air Force’s top goalie.

“As Ben was playing well and winning games for us, ‘Volks’ was slowly starting to dominate in practice and we could see that, but the team had kind of become Ben’s team,” says Serratore. “We played Holy Cross in the playoffs, and Ben shut them out, and we went to the Atlantic Conference semifinals and played Sacred Heart, the number one seed at the time, and we won that game in overtime, but Ben did not play well, and we probably should have lost that game. We got lucky.

“Now we’re playing Army for the championship and I remember Mike Corbett coming in and saying, ‘We have to go with the young guy.’ I remember asking, ‘Are you sure?’ He says, ‘We have to. Ben struggled. We can’t play the championship game with a struggling goalie. We have to play that card.’ It was the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make, because here’s a kid that hasn’t played for a long time, and we’re throwing him into the biggest game of the year, the biggest game in program history: we’re playing the league championship game against our rival service academy.

“Volks has a thing where he doesn’t lead the team on the ice, he comes on after the team. So we’re playing Army in the championship game and actually Ben Worker led the team on the ice and I saw the Army assistants down one end of the ice watching every move Ben made. The benches are right next to each other in Rochester, and they announce the starting lineups, and Volkening skated out to the blue line and I remember glancing at the Army bench and Brian Riley turns to his assistants and both the assistants threw their hands up in the air and shaking their heads like ‘We didn’t know, we didn’t know!'” Serratore laughs.

Volkening, for his part, took the sudden goalie change in stride. “That was definitely a surprise,” he says. “As a freshman, I didn’t feel more pressure. I just wanted to do my part and the team took care of me pretty well.”

Volkening led the team to a 6-1 triumph in the Army game, and, along with his teammates, had the Minnesota Golden Gophers on the ropes in the NCAA playoffs at the Pepsi Center in Denver, up by two goals in the third period, before falling 4-3.

“I was just kind of really nervous,” says Volkening. “That was the biggest crowd I’d ever played in front of and that was the most marbles I’d ever played for. Looking back on it, I’m disappointed it turned out the way it did, especially how we had them in the third period. That’s something I’ll cherish for the rest of my days, playing the Gophers in Denver in front of what was basically a home crowd.”

Andrew Volkening. Photo by Angelo Lisuzzo.

Andrew Volkening. Photo by Angelo Lisuzzo.

Volkening started his hockey career early, at the age of three, but it wasn’t till he was eight that he first donned the goalie pads, after repeatedly begging his parents to allow him to play goal.

Volkening took to his new position quickly, and landed in a variety of programs as he got older.

“I was actually all over the place,” Volkening says. “When I was a sophomore in high school in Canada, I played prep school hockey in Canada and a little bit of Junior B up in Alberta, then came back to the Wisconsin area and played Triple A for a bit, and played juniors in Missouri and Alaska, just kind of all over the place. This is actually the first time I’ve been in one place for more than one year in a row,” he laughs.

Volkening first attracted Serratore’s attention when he was playing for the Wasila Spirit in the North American Hockey League.

“It’s kind of an interesting story,” drawls Serratore. “I was in Texas and I was scouting a defenseman for Texas, and I was watching Texas play against Wasilla, and Texas was so much better than Wasilla, they were just pounding them. The shots after the first period were like 18-3. The second period, halfway through, the shots are like 11-1, and I’m getting mad because the defenseman I wanted to scout, I haven’t even seen him skate backwards yet because they’ve been in the offensive zone just pounding pucks at the net. The brilliant scout that I am, towards the end of the second period, the light goes on and I think, ‘You know, this goalie is pretty damn good, and I started watching him.'”

After the game, Serratore introduced himself to Volkening and discussed the possibility of Volkening playing at Air Force. Volkening made a trip to Colorado Springs, and shortly thereafter committed.

“I think the thing about Air Force is the whole package deal, the whole career, and Frank sells it really well,” says Volkening. “He has great passion and he’s a guy I really wanted to play for.”

Volkening had a rocky start during his freshman year, and didn’t play a game for the Falcons between November and February. Instead of sulking, Volkening kept working hard in practice, and feels the experience greatly helped his play.

“I know when I first came here I was really worried about making mistakes and that really affected my play,” says Volkening. “I was kind of inhibited by that fear of making mistakes because I wanted to play, even as a freshman and competing with three other goalies. Once he (Serratore) kind of stopped playing me, I just stopped worrying about making mistakes and just started trying to stop the puck, and to be honest with you I think that for my development that was the best thing that could happen to me.”

Volkening and his teammates returned strong for the 2007-2008 season, and Volkening, for one, wasn’t worried about the dreaded Sophomore Slump.

“I didn’t even think of anything like a sophomore slump because I didn’t feel I was dominant enough my freshman year to have something like that,” says Volkening. “Going into my sophomore year, I felt I had a lot to prove, and that’s basically the way I still look at it.”

Volkening went 21-11-6 his sophomore year while starting every game and helped the Falcons repeat as Atlantic Hockey champions, despite losing star forward Eric Ehn late in the year to injury. Again, the Falcons advanced to the NCAA tournament, and again they had a top seed on the ropes before losing, this time against Miami.

“It seems like two years in a row where we had a top team right where we wanted them in the big show and for whatever reason we couldn’t put it away, and that’s pretty frustrating,” says Volkening. “As a team, we’re still proud of what we were able to do.”

Volkening makes a save during the game against Miami in the NCAA tournament. Photo by Melissa Wade.

Volkening makes a save during the game against Miami in the NCAA tournament. Photo by Melissa Wade.

As a player, one of the things that stands out about Volkening is his size. The goalie stands 6’2″ and takes up a lot of room in the net. Teammate Mike Mayra, a defenseman, believes Volkening is quite agile for his size.

“He’s pretty athletic. Sometimes the bigger guys aren’t the most athletic, but he’s definitely an exception to that. He’s done a good job of maintaining his physical fitness and working hard at the gym. He’s just got a natural athleticism to him that helps a lot.He does a great job of coming out and challenging the puck carrier and taking on the angle so you really don’t have much to shoot at when you come in on him. He’s good at controlling the rebounds, which makes it much easier for the defense to do our job.”

As the 2008-2009 season starts, Volkening and the Falcons find themselves in the unusual position of being favored to win their league. However, the team is focused, and still feels they have something to prove.

“We absolutely have a target on our backs,” says Mayra. “The last few years, we haven’t been very well respected, as far as the pre-season rankings go, and we have felt we had something to prove. This year, we not only came out number one, we still came out with attitude that we still have something to prove and it’s not just a fluke. We’re here to play every night every weekend for the rest of the year into the NCAA tournament.”

“We’re not the underdog,” says Volkening. “I think we have to get in the mindset that every game, whether it’s DU, CC, or AIC, every weekend it’s going to be a hard game, and require a lot of effort, our ‘A’ game.”

With Volkening in net, the Falcons feel very confident, and have started the season strong at 4-0, with convincing wins over Sacred Heart and Bemidji State.

“He has proved himself to be one of the nation’s best goalies and I think having him back there is a huge asset and allows everyone to play a better game all-in-all,” says Mayra.

Serratore agrees with that assessment.

“That’s what good goaltenders do,” states Serratore. “Any great goaltender gives your team a chance to win every night, and that’s what separates them from the also-rans. You can’t play this game with your eyes in the rear-view mirror, and when you have bad goaltending, you play too cautiously and you’re afraid to make a play that might cause a goal. A great goalie enables your team to play free, free of distractions, free of fear of failure, free of fear of making mistakes. That’s a team that’s playing to win as opposed to not to lose.”

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Season-Opening Edition

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown
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Scott: Jim, another season is well under way, and we’ve see some interesting starts around the nation. Boston University wins the season-opening Ice Breaker while North Dakota starts 1-3-0 (and barely, at that), Northeastern upsetting Boston College, Vermont taking three points from Miami, and Minnesota winning a pair of one-goal games against St. Cloud State. So after two weeks, I’d say it’s time for some snap judgments. First question: who’s the real No. 1 team in the nation right now?

Tyler Bozak netted three goals in Denver's weekend sweep of Wisconsin (photo: Denver athletics).

Tyler Bozak netted three goals in Denver’s weekend sweep of Wisconsin (photo: Denver athletics).

Jim: You’ve asked probably the best question around. I know my ballot this week still had Boston College in the top slot, though that may be a little biased as I’ve seen BC play twice and believe it’s a very good team. I haven’t seen Colorado College play but didn’t think wins over Alabama-Huntsville and Michigan Tech warranted a number-one ranking. I’d actually rank Denver higher with wins over last year’s national runner-up, Notre Dame, and a pretty good Wisconsin team that may have started the year 0-4-0, but is really much better than that. One thing to clear up from what you said; I wouldn’t be too quick to call Northeastern’s win over BC an upset. Yes, I know I just said BC is the best team in the country, but Northeastern is a heck of a team in what could shape up to be a very good Hockey East.

Scott: Point taken on Northeastern. I don’t vote in our poll, but if I did I would probably have put Denver in the top spot based on results to date, though CC is still the favorite in the WCHA for good reason. And if New Hampshire can keep getting goaltending like it did Sunday against Boston University, the Wildcats will be right there in the end as well. And that’s not to neglect Michigan, which might have had the most impressive season of all last year until the Frozen Four hit. Shifting gears, now that we’ve seen a few games, what’s your impression of the impact of the offseason rule changes?

Jim: I think the offseason changes are considerable. The one that stands out the most is the point of emphasis call that protects the puckhandler. I’ve seen a large increase in the number of slashing, hooking and holding calls on the defender guarding the puckhandler. It’s obvious that this is a major emphasis for the rules committee and that most referees, at least in the games I’ve seen, are following suit. What this, of course, creates early in the season is a parade to the penalty box which undoubtedly upsets fans and coaches. In Hockey East (and likely in other leagues), this has been magnified by the new two-referee, two-linesman system that is being employed throughout the NCAA. Hopefully this will calm down once players get used to the way games are being called. You’ve seen the games out west. Do you agree with these sentiments?

Scott: It’s been pretty much the same out this way. There were some holding and slashing calls during the Minnesota-St. Cloud State series, in particular, which seemed to be byproducts of the new rules. No question, that played a part in the fact that there were a total of 30 power plays combined between those two teams over the weekend. Of course, it’s a little hard to tell whether the rise in penalties is the result of the extra pair of eyes on the ice or the rule changes themselves, but either way we’re in for a couple of months of five-on-four hockey before everyone figures out how to adapt. Anything else get your attention last weekend?

Jim: I think if there was one single result last weekend that caught my eye it was Bentley’s upset of Rensselaer on Saturday night. Without being there, the box score makes it seem that the game was dead even all the way through. That’s a major step for Bentley, which has struggled to post wins against “Big Four” teams. It’s also a good sign for Atlantic Hockey, which has been more than competitive in the first two weeks of the season. One other shocker of note was the Union comeback/Quinnipiac collapse on Friday night at the Maverick Stampede. Union spotted the Bobcats a 4-0 lead through one only to run off five straight of its own to take the lead, blow the lead late and win the game in overtime. Man, early-season hockey is fun, no?

Scott: Agreed — though not so much fun in the state of Michigan. First there was the incident in Ann Arbor which saw Wolverine defenseman Steve Kampfer assaulted, apparently by football walk-on Mike Milano. Eyewitnesses placed Milano at the scene, though no arrests have yet been made, to my knowledge. And now there are allegations coming out of my alma mater, Michigan State, of a similar confrontation at a house party off-campus which resulted in an MSU player injured and hospitalized. Two stories like this a week apart? What gives?

Jim: News like this just frightens me. Yes, I’m aware this is college and crazy things happen, but there seems to be so much disregard for humanity when you hear stories like this. Let’s hope that neither of these players’ injuries are too serious and that they can make full recoveries. All of this can be a brutal wake-up call for a program. You obviously can’t put these kids in a bubble and you want them to have the social experience of college. But athletes can be targeted for the simple fact that they are athletes and that’s concerning. Let’s hope this isn’t a trend. That said, I think we’ve rambled on enough for now. Until next week …

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