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A Bracketology

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I’m a fan of The Daily Show. During the writer’s strike, when Jon Stewart went back on the air with essentially no material except his own, he refused to call his program “The Daily Show”. Instead, he changed the name to “A Daily Show”. That’s how I feel trying to do the D-III Bracketology this season. The selection process has never been transparent the way the D-I process is, but in the past the criteria for selecting and seeding the teams, and the weighting given the criteria was published or in some cases, leaked. Not so this season. Instead, we have the Smoke Filled Room approach where we can only guess as to the results. Hence, A Bracketology – one of possibly many since you can all do your own.

We’re trying to make the best possible guesses we can, and we invite you to play along at home. We have produced A Pairwise Ranking, not The Pairwise Rankings. We’re calling them. “Pairwise Comparisons”. Use them at your own risk. There’s the national PWC, the East Region PWC, and the West Region PWC. Thanks to Ed Trefzger for putting these together. They are sorted by winning percentage because we arbitrarily decided to do it that way.

The rankings that matter, of course, are the ones coming out of the Smoke Filled Room. They are published every Tuesday – you can find the latest here.

I usually count down the number of teams that have finished their seasons, but I see my friends the weekly columnists are already doing that. So let’s look at who still is playing, and what their chances are of making the nationals. The main guessing that needs to be done is how, say, the third ranked team in the NCAA East Region compares to the third ranked team in the NCAA West Region poll and so on. Of course, a truly national ranking would make sense, which is probably why it’s not being done. After all, it IS done to select the actual field, where these teams must be compared with each other. Why not do it now instead of waiting until March 9? But enough tilting at windmills. We’re stuck with this stupid system. Here’s my guess as to where the teams still in the running stand:

A lock: St. Norbert, Plattbsurgh, Elmira. These teams can at most lose one more game. They’re in no matter what happens from here on out. Plattsburgh and St. Norbert can claim autobids if they win their respective conference tournaments. Elmira has the Pool B bid locked up.

Bet On It: Norwich. Norwich has played the toughest schedule in the country to date, so even if they don’t win their league championship, I think they’re the top choice for a Pool C bid, and there should still be one open even if both Plattsburgh and St. Norbert were to lose in their respective league championships.

Good Chance: Oswego, Manhattanville, St. Thomas, Hobart. While Oswego is behind Manhattanville in the Eastern Rankings, they hold more of an advantage over St. Thomas in the Criteria. Hobart also beats St. Thomas in the criteria. For Manhattanville and St. Thomas, which are tied in the criteria, I think it comes down to who winds up with the better winning percentage. St. Thomas can of course win the MIAC AQ, but I think Manhattanville will at least have to make it to the ECAC West finals and hope for not many upsets elsewhere.

Close, But Not Close Enough: Babson, UW-Stout, Adrian. Even with no upsets, there’s just three Pool C slots, and I think Oswego, Manhattanville and St. Thomas will have those. St. Thomas is the most vulnerable, and I can see Hobart getting in if the Tommies lose this weekend. Adrian is in a tough spot. Best winning percentage in D-III, and one of the weakest schedules. The fact that they are fourth in the West Region Rankings does not bode well, as I can’t see more than three Western teams getting in. Stout must win the NCHA – I just can’t seem the Blue Devils beating out the above Eastern Teams based on any way you slice and dice the criteria.

Must Win their AQ: Castleton, New England, Salem State, Southern Maine, Mass-Boston, Skidmore, Curry, Mass-Dartmouth, Nichols, Wentworth, Suffolk, Becker, Fitchburg State, Salve Regina, Hamline, Bethel, St. John’s, UW-Eau Claire, St. Scholastica, Colby, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Amherst, Conn College, Trinity, Williams, Wesleyan. This list will be significantly shorter come Sunday.

Playing out the String: Utica, Marian, Finlandia, MSOE. These teams are from conferences that don’t have an AQ, so even if they win their league championship, it won’t raise them high enough in the criteria to get an at-large bid.

OK, so let’s take a shot at a possible bracket, assuming the team in first wins its respective league:

ECAC East: Norwich

ECAC Northeast: Curry

MIAC: Hamline

NCHA: St. Norbert

NESCAC: Colby

SUNYAC: Plattsburgh

Elmira gets pool B. Now here’s where the guesswork comes in. I think Oswego. Manhattanville and either St. Thomas or Hobart get the Pool C bids if they were handed out today.

If it’s Hobart:

First Round:

Curry at Oswego

Colby at Hobart

Second Round:

Curry/Oswego at Elmira

Colby/Hobart at Plattsburgh

Manhattanville at Norwich

Hamline at St. Norbert

If it’s St. Thomas:

First Round:

Curry at Colby

St. Thomas at Hamline

Second Round:

Curry/Colby at Elmira

Oswego at Plattsburgh

Manhattanville at Norwich

St/ Thomas/Hamline at St. Norbert

The picture will become clearer next week as the playoffs continue. Check back for “A Bracketology” volume II.

This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey: Feb. 28, 2008

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Playoff Fever!

With Salve Regina’s 3-1 win over MIT on Tuesday night, the 2007-08 Women’s D-III regular season officially came to a close. Now, quoting Friday Night Lights, “Pass out the ammunition, we’re going to war,” as the second season is finally upon us. For everyone not in the NCHA (no auto-bid), the slates are wiped clean and the simple story is win your conference, and you’re in.

One team that is starting to make some noise and could cause some headaches for not only their conference members, but the NCAA tournament selection committee as well, are the Colby Mules. Colby (13-8-3, 8-5-3 NESCAC) has won five of their last six games, including a 4-2 upset win over ninth-ranked Trinity.

“Anytime you can win going into the postseason is a positive thing,” said Colby head coach David Venditti. “We’re pretty comfortable and feeling confident in our play having won five of our last six.”

After falling behind in the first period 2-0 on two Trinity power play goals from Britney McKenna and Laura Komarek, Colby tallied four unanswered goals in the final 40 minutes to rally to the win.

Junior Laura Anning led the Mules’ offense, scoring Colby’s first and third goals to increase her season total to 18. Anning’s third goal, scored a little over nine minutes into the third period, would end up being the game winner. Collette Finley and Tatiana Kowalewski scored the other two goals to round out the goal scorers for Colby.

Colby accomplished something that many teams have been unable to do this season, beat Isabelle Iwachiw. The Trinity sophomore goaltender has lost just two other times this season. The teams? Just the top two teams in the NESCAC, Amherst and Middlebury. Not bad company for Colby to be in.

“Iwachiw played very well for them (Trinity),” Venditti said. “She’s kept them in a lot of games this season and then they’ve done a lot of the little things right this season that have led to wins.”

Colby now faces a tall order, as they will encounter a tough field of contenders for the NESCAC tournament title and the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

“Anything can happen in the tournament,” Venditti said. “Top to bottom, the NESCAC is probably one of the most competitive conferences in the country. We’re going to need to have a good game plan and then execute that game plan while bringing our A-game in order to be successful.”

First up, Colby will take on Connecticut College in the NESCAC Quarterfinals on Saturday. Colby and CC tied both games they played during the regular season.

“Conn. College is a very hard-working team,” Venditti said. “They are a gritty, dump-and-chase type of team. We’re going to need to make sure that we possess the puck and not turn it over in our own zone. [Sara] Christopher is a solid goaltender that will keep them in a lot of games.”

For Colby, it’s no secret they have two prolific goal-scorers in the tandem of Anning and Rebecca Julian, both with 18 goals entering the postseason. However, Venditti stressed that Colby will need contributions from more than just those two in order to be successful.

“Our strength comes from when we play as a team and are making sure we have three solid lines contributing,” Venditti said. “We’ve been doing that at the end of our season schedule so far and it’s been a big reason why we’ve played well lately.”

The Colby and Conn. College matchup is just one of the three NESCAC Quarterfinal games that will take place this Saturday with the winners all advancing to the NESCAC Final Four, hosted by top-seeded and second-ranked Middlebury. Amherst will host Bowdoin in one quarterfinal, while Trinity will host Hamilton in the other.

Two champions crowned in the West

The NCHA and MIAC are one week ahead of the eastern conferences, as they will both hold their tournament championships in the coming week. (The MIAC finals are Wednesday.)

Wis.-Superior hosts the O’Brien Cup, the six-team NCHA tournament and has a first-round bye along with second seeded Wis.-Stevens Point. Third seed Wis.-River Falls takes on sixth-seeded Finlandia on Friday in the first quarterfinal, while Wis.-Eau Claire takes on Lake Forest in the nightcap.
On Saturday, Superior will face the lowest remaining seed and then Stevens Point will face the other quarterfinal winner in the later game.

On Sunday, the two semi-final winners will meet to decide the O’Brien Cup champion, but the winner will not receive an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. Next year, I believe that will be changed as the NCHA will have one full year as a seven-team conference under their belt and they will get an automatic bid for the conference tournament champion.

Wis.-Stevens Point and Wis.-Superior are the heavy favorites to hoist the O’Brien Cup on Sunday afternoon. The Pool B bid will be up for grabs as the two teams are at a virtual deadlock right now as Stevens Point has the better overall record and common opponents record, while Superior holds the 2-1 head-to-head advantage. I think whomever wins between the two (if they meet in the finals) will win the Pool B and the loser will have to try and get an at-large (Pool C) bid.

The MIAC tournament gets under way Thursday night, as Hamline will host Bethel in the play-in game.

The winner will move on to a Saturday date at Gustavus Adolphus in the semifinals. St. Thomas will host Concordia (MN) in the other semifinal with the winners advancing to the MIAC championship game, hosted by the highest remaining seed on Wednesday, March 5.

Gustavus Adolphus is the heavy favorite to win the MIAC crown. The Gusties rolled through a perfect regular season in MIAC conference play with their closest competition coming in St. Thomas. The Tommies went 20-5 overall this season and 14-4 in the MIAC. Two of their losses came to Gustavus Adolphus and the others were to Hamline and Bethel.

The MIAC winner receives an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. The only team with a realistic shot in Pool C if they lose in the conference tournament is Gustavus Adolphus. If the Gusties do lose, the Pool C selection process will become a very heated debate because of how tough it is to compare western and eastern teams with the lack of out of region games.

ECAC Tournaments Kick Off

The ECAC West and ECAC East tournaments will also get underway this weekend, as they will both play their quarterfinal rounds with the winners advancing to their respective conference Final Four host sites.

Plattsburgh and RIT both have byes in the ECAC West tournament. Third-seeded Elmira will host sixth-seeded Buffalo State on Saturday and fourth-seeded Utica hosts fifth-seeded Neumann.

The winners will advance to next weekend and Plattsburgh with the lowest remaining seed set to play the top-ranked Cardinals and the other winner to play RIT in the semifinals.

The ECAC East tournament is a little bit different as eight teams make the tournament instead of the six in the ECAC West.

Manhattanville is the top seed and they will host MIT on Saturday. UMass-Boston hosts Castleton, New England College hosts Southern Maine, and Norwich will host Salve Regina. All of the quarterfinal winners will advance to the ECAC East Final Four to be hosted by the highest remaining seed next weekend.

Who’s Left Playing?

In past years, USCHO.com Division III men’s columnist Chris Lerch has done a countdown of teams completing their seasons and hanging up the skates until next season.

In the coming weeks, I’ll do a similar countdown starting this column. Thirteen of the 45 D-III women’s teams have played their final game of the season. They are: Plymouth State, Cortland, Oswego, Chatham, St. Catherine, St. Mary’s, St. Olaf, Augsburg, St. Benedict, Concordia (WI), Williams, Wesleyan, and Adrian.

This Week in SUNYAC

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No Repeat

“We’ve been thinking about them since last year at this time,” Oswego’s Brendan McLaughlin said. “We knew exactly what it felt like last year, and we like this feeling a lot more.”

McLaughlin was referring to Fredonia’s upset win a year ago in the SUNYAC semifinals in Oswego. The Lakers didn’t want any part of that this time around.

In fact, Oswego had not won a SUNYAC playoff game since 2004. This meant that the senior class, or anyone else on the current team, never experienced a postseason conference victory. Amazing considering the success Oswego has had, including winning the national championship last year.

“There’s not a guy in the room that’s ever won a SUNYAC playoff game,” Oswego captain Tony DiNunzio said. “It was our mission to do that.”

Mission accomplished. Despite what appeared like déjà vu all over again, Oswego finally solved Fredonia’s goaltender, Kevin Amborski, and defeated the Blue Devils, 4-1.

Amborski, somewhat of a surprise starter after Pat Street played so well down the stretch, once again kept Oswego at bay with his strength being an amazing glove hand.

“This is a building that Kevin’s played well in, the last two times he’s played there,” Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith said. “I thought Kevin played well enough for us to be successful.”

However, two quick goals within 1:13 at the end of the first period essentially sealed the deal for Oswego.

It started at 18:19 when Peter Magagna burst to the net and redirected a backhand centering pass from Ryan Ellis. That line combined again when McLaughlin charged the net to put in a rebound.

“We were fortunate that McLaughlin’s line got one at the end of the first there and got some momentum,” Oswego coach Ed Gosek said. “Then, we were able to throw them out again and get another one.”

Oswego out shot Fredonia in the second period, 17-4, but Amborski was on top of his game. The Lakers finally broke through at 6:51 of the third on a delayed penalty when DiNunzio scooped in a loose puck on the side of the net.

The Blue Devils broke the shutout shortly afterwards at 8:17 on the power play. Bryan Goudy knocked in a rebound after a hard shot by Colin Sarfeh.

C.J. Thompson scored the final goal at 9:58, also on the power play, redirecting a pass from DiNunzio.

All the goaltending attention might have been on Amborski, but the reason Oswego prevailed was because Ryan Scott made some key saves when his team needed it the most.

“We’re down there peppering their kid, and he’s making saves and they come down, and that’s when you need your goalie to make the big save,” Gosek said. “This time of year, your goalie needs to be your best player, and once again he was our best player.”

Scott ended up with 19 saves as Amborski stopped 40.

Despite not repeating as SUNYAC champions, in some ways Fredonia ended a more successful season finishing at 15-9-3.

“I think we had a great year,” Meredith said. “We graduated six seniors that won a championship last year. And I think we quietly put together a great year. We went from fifth place last year to third place this year. We beat Plattsburgh in Plattsburgh. We tied Oswego in Oswego. We won at home in the playoffs. I think we had a great year.

“The whole credit goes to the guys. This is the easiest team I’ve ever had to coach. I couldn’t be happier how this year went. The fact remains our seniors will leave campus as champions in their career. And there aren’t a lot of teams around the league that can lay claim to that.”

For Oswego, their seniors finally have a chance to grab a SUNYAC title.

“Definitely feels like we got the monkey off our back,” McLaughlin said.

Now, for mission number two — overcome the Plattsburgh jinx, a team they have not beaten in the playoffs since 2003, the last time Oswego won the SUNYAC championship.

Back In The Finals

Last year, despite finishing in third place, Plattsburgh hosted the SUNYAC championship thanks to the top two teams getting knocked off in the semifinals. This season, Plattsburgh earned home ice advantage before the playoffs started, as long as they were not a victim of an upset.

The Cardinals made sure that did not happen as they shutout their North Country rivals, Potsdam, 6-0.

“I don’t think the score was any indication of the game,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “We definitely controlled the game, but it was not a 6-0 game. Our goalie played very well.”

Potsdam started out slow, and Plattsburgh wasted no time, scoring twice in the opening 5:11. First, it was Dylan Clarke on the power play tipping it past Rob Barnhardt. That was followed by Clarke feeding Andrew Willock who converted in front of the net. Phil Farrow got another power play goal with 1:31 left in the first to make it 3-0.

“The power play,” Potsdam coach Aaron Saul said about the difference in the game. “They were four for seven and we were zero for eight. Plattsburgh’s power play was very good.”

That power play scored the last two goals of the game. But first, Kyle VanDermale scored a breakaway goal at 8:01 of the second. Nick Rolls made it 5-0 on the man advantage at 13:42.

The third period saw Potsdam play their best thanks mainly to a succession of Plattsburgh penalties including a full two minutes of 5-on-3. However, Bryan Hince was equal to the task.

Hince wound up with 26 saves. The last time Plattsburgh got a playoff shutout, it too was 6-0 against Potsdam in 2005, during the SUNYAC quarterfinals.

“I thought we had a poor first period, played better in the second, did great in the third,” Saul said. “Their goalie made some very good saves.”

“I give a lot of credit to Potsdam,” Emery said. “They never quit. They played hard the whole game.”

Plattsburgh also appeared to be resting on their 5-0 lead, coasting through the third, much to the consternation of their coach:

“As a coach, if I could solve the problem of players playing to the scoreboard, I’ll be a genius.”

The Cardinals did wrap the game up with a late goal. Rolls got his second of the night to wind up the power play scoring with seven seconds left in the game.

“Plattsburgh was a team that was definitely better than us on Saturday, and they took it to us,” Saul said.

The Bears may have finished on a disappointing note at 10-13-4, but this program is undoubtedly heading in the right direction.

“Definitely positive,” Saul said. “Step in the right direction. Also, playing in a game with that magnitude with that crowd and the way they manhandled us taught us how much harder we have to work. But, we know we need to get better. We need to bring in some new players along with the core we have now, and we should get better.”

Conference Championship Game Preview

For a SUNYAC marquee attraction, you can’t beat an Oswego-Plattsburgh final. These teams fought in some epic series for the title between 2002-2004, and then in the semifinals the next two years. They missed each other last year in the playoffs.

And now, they just have one game to decide who hoists the trophy. If the game is tied, they will go to 20-minute periods until someone scores.

If there are still tickets remaining, they can be purchased prior to the game at Angell College Center Information Desk on the Plattsburgh campus, or at the door before the game. The cost is $5 for adults, $3 for children under 18, and $2 for SUNYAC students.

“We’re looking forward to going up there,” Gosek said. Who isn’t looking forward to this game?

Oswego (13-2-1, 18-5-2) at Plattsburgh (14-2-0, 22-4-0)

Oswego hasn’t had much success recently beating Plattsburgh at home in the playoffs. Perhaps, then, going up to Stafford Arena may be the way to go for the Lakers.

“They’re a quality team,” Gosek said of his rival. “They won the league. They are second in the country. It’s nice going up there. The pressure is on them. They are favored. They’re the team to beat.”

However, it’s not like Plattsburgh are slackers at home. With the exception of last year’s surprise home lose to Fredonia in the finals, the Cardinals haven’t been eliminated at home (they have lost some home playoff games, but they didn’t lose the series) in the SUNYAC second season since 1996, and that was in the mini-game against Potsdam after two ties. If you want to count when Plattsburgh was eliminated at home in a full SUNYAC playoff game, you have to go back to … to … to … well, forever.

Needless to say, when you get the two elite teams in the conference facing off, you are going to have the top two teams in most of the conference statistical categories. What’s impressive is Oswego and Plattsburgh are near the top nationally in many categories, too.

They are the only two teams in the nation to rank in the top ten in team offense (Plattsburgh third with 4.81 goals per game and Oswego eighth at 4.40) and team defense (Plattsburgh fourth allowing 2.00 goals per game with Oswego sixth allowing 2.12). No wonder these two teams are ranked in the top five in the USCHO.com Division III poll with Plattsburgh moving up to second and Oswego jumping to fifth.

“This is a championship game, so it comes down to defense,” Emery said. “The best team defense is going to win.”

One stat displays a potential force meets force scenario. Oswego has the nation’s third best penalty kill at 88.1% while Plattsburgh has the fourth best power play at 29.0%. On the flip side, Oswego’s power play is a dismal 18.2%, and the Lakers won’t get many opportunities. Plattsburgh is the second least penalized team in the country at 10.3 minutes per game.

Poor power play or not, the Lakers can score at will.

“Oswego is going to be the most talented group of forwards we’re going to play all year,” Emery said. “Otherwise, overall, our teams match up very evenly.”

Individually, too, they excel — especially in net. In the position that matters most in the playoffs, their starting goalies are six and seven in the nation in GAA with Ryan Scott at 1.95 and Bryan Hince at 1.98.

“Whoever plays best in net will be the game winner, no doubt about that,” Emery said.

Gosek also thinks it will come down to goaltending. He has a certain perspective on who might have the edge.

“We think we match up well,” he said. “They have very skilled forwards. We have skilled forwards. They have good team speed. We have good team speed. Their D are solid. Our D are solid. Their goaltender is very good. Our goaltender is very good. And, he’s a senior.”

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Feb. 28, 2008

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Doing the Math

It’s been a wild and wacky season in Atlantic Hockey, and as we head into the final weekend, the final 10 games of the regular season, there’s still much to be decided. For example, we could end with a four-way tie for first place, and Air Force and RIT are able to finish anywhere from first to fifth.

Army, Sacred Heart, RIT and Air Force have locked up home ice for the first round. Holy Cross, Canisius, Connecticut and AIC know they will be on the road. Mercyhurst has a strong advantage over Bentley for the fifth and final home-ice spot.

Here are the possible scenarios for each team. Look for my picks in the sidebar to see where I think each squad will end up.

But first, a message from Atlantic Hockey. Here is the tiebreaking system as described
by the league:

“Here is the tiebreaker for two or more teams

1. Points head-to-head
2. Goal differential head-to-head
3. Conference wins
4. Goal differential
5. Goals allowed
6. Goals scored

If three or more teams are tied and all played the same number of games against one another, you would use the tiebreaker above top to bottom as a mini-conference.

If three or more teams are tied and all played an uneven amount of games, we will use the tiebreaker above, but break the teams up into a mini-mini-conference.

If three teams are tied and one team played two games against the other two, while the other two faced each other four times, we will break the teams that played four times and run the tiebreaker policy to see who would win that series. Then take the team that won that tiebreaker and pit them against the team that they played twice to see who would win the higher seed. Then you take the final two teams and run the tiebreaker again to see who garners the higher seed.

If you have a four-way tie and two teams played four times and other two played twice, the winners of the four-team tiebreaker and two-team tiebreaker are the number-one and -two seeds based on their head-to-head comparisons, and the losers are the third and fourth seeds based on their head-to-head comparisons.”

The league also told me that if more than one team is tied for first, they will be declared co-regular season champions. The tiebreakers are for seeding purposes only.

Got all that? Good. Feel free to play along at home.

Army (15-8-1; 33 Points; First Place)

Best Possible Finish: First
Worst Possible Finish: Fourth
Opponent this weekend: Sacred Heart
Outlook: The Black Knights can win the title outright by getting two points this weekend against Sacred Heart. They can also win the title if they split with Sacred Heart and RIT fails to sweep Bentley. This would be the first regular-season title in Army hockey history.
Details:
• If Army and RIT wind up tied for first, Army has the tiebreaker based on conference wins.
• If Army, RIT and Sacred Heart tie for first, RIT gets the top seed, followed by Sacred Heart and then Army.
• If Army, RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force end up tied for first, the seedings are Air Force, Sacred Heart, Army and RIT.
• If Army, RIT and Air Force wind up tied for second, it will be Army getting the No. 2 seed, followed by Air Force and RIT.

RIT (13-8-5; 31 Points; Tied for Second Place)

Best Possible Finish: First
Worst Possible Finish: Fifth
Opponent This Weekend: Bentley
Outlook: The Tigers can come out on top if they sweep Bentley and Sacred Heart sweeps Army, or if they end in a three-way tie with Sacred Heart and Army.
Details:
• If Army and RIT wind up tied for first, Army has the tiebreaker based on conference wins.
• If Army, RIT and Sacred Heart tie for first, RIT gets the top seed, followed by Sacred Heart and then Army.
• If Army, RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force end up tied for first, the seedings are Air Force, Sacred Heart, Army and RIT.
• If Sacred Heart and RIT finish tied for first, RIT gets the top seed on the basis of its regular-season sweep.
• If RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force end in a three-way tie for second, Air Force gets the second seed, RIT the third and Sacred Heart the fourth.
• If Army, RIT and Air Force wind up tied for second, it will be Army getting the No. 2 seed, followed by Air Force and RIT.
• If RIT, Sacred Heart, Air Force and Mercyhurst all end in a tie for second the order will be: Air Force, RIT, Sacred Heart and Mercyhurst.
• RIT will finish fifth if it loses both games to Bentley, Mercyhurst sweeps Canisius. Air Force gets at least a point against AIC and Sacred Heart gets a point against Army.

Sacred Heart (14-9-3; 31 Points; Tied for Second Place)

Best Possible Finish: First
Worst Possible Finish: Fifth
Opponent This Weekend: Army
Outlook: The Pioneers can win the league if they take three or four points from Army and RIT does not sweep Bentley.
Details:
• If Army, RIT and Sacred Heart tie for first, RIT gets the top seed, followed by Sacred Heart and then Army.
• If Army, RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force end up tied for first, the seedings are Air Force, Sacred Heart, Army and RIT.
• If Sacred Heart and RIT finish tie for first, RIT gets the top seed on the basis of their regular season sweep.
• If RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force end in a three-way tie for second, Air Force gets the second seed, RIT the third and Sacred Heart the fourth.
• If RIT, Sacred Heart, Air Force and Mercyhurst all end in a tie for second the order will be: Air Force, RIT, Sacred Heart and Mercyhurst.
• If Army, RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force end up tied for first, the seedings are Air Force, RIT, Sacred Heart and Army.
• Sacred Heart can finish fifth if it is swept by Army, Air Force gets at least one point, and Mercyhurst sweeps Canisius

Air Force (13-9-4; 30 Points; Fourth Place)

Best Possible Finish: First
Worst Possible Finish: Fifth
Opponent This Weekend: AIC
Outlook: The Falcons need some help to finish first. It can happen if Air Force sweeps AIC and Sacred Heart takes three points from Army.
Details:
• If Army, RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force end up tied for first, the seedings are Air Force, Sacred Heart, Army and RIT.
• If Army, RIT and Air Force wind up tied for second, it will be Army getting the No. 2 seed, followed by Air Force and RIT.
• If RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force end in a three-way tie for second, Air Force gets the second seed, RIT the third and Sacred Heart the fourth.
• If RIT, Sacred Heart, Air Force and Mercyhurst all end in a tie for second the order will be: Air Force, RIT, Sacred Heart and Mercyhurst.
• If Air Force and Mercyhurst end in a tie for fourth, Air Force gets the fourth seed based on head-to-head goal differential.
• Air Force will finish fifth if Mercyhurst sweeps Canisius and the Falcons fail to take more than a point against AIC, or Mercyhurst gets three points, and Air Force gets swept.

Mercyhurst (11-9-6; 28 Points; Fifth Place)

Best Possible Finish: Second
Worst Possible Finish: Sixth
Opponent This Weekend: Canisius
Outlook: The best the Lakers can do is second place, but need just a single point or anything less than a Bentley sweep of RIT to lock up home ice.
Details:
• The Lakers can take second place if they sweep Canisius, Army sweeps Sacred Heart, Bentley sweeps RIT and Air Force gets less than two points against AIC.
• Mercyhurst loses straight-up tiebreakers to Sacred Heart, RIT, Air Force and Bentley, so it gets the lowest seed in any two-, three- or four-way ties.
• Mercyhurst will finish sixth if it gets swept by Canisius and Bentley sweeps RIT.

Bentley (19-11-6; 24 Points; Sixth Place)

Best Possible Finish: Fifth
Worst Possible Finish: Eighth
Opponent This Weekend: RIT
Outlook: The Falcons can only clinch a home-ice spot if they sweep RIT and Canisius sweeps Mercyhurst.
Details:
• In a three-way tie with Canisius and Holy Cross for sixth place, the order for seedings would be Canisius, Holy Cross and Bentley.
• In a three-way tie for sixth with Canisius and UConn, the seedings would be Canisius, Bentley, UConn.
• Bentley can also finish eighth if Canisius and Holy Cross take two more points than the Falcons this weekend.

Canisius (9-13-4; 22 Points; Tied for Seventh Place)

Best Possible Finish: Sixth
Worst Possible Finish: Ninth
Opponent This Weekend: Mercyhurst
Outlook: The Griffs can finish as high as sixth if they can pick up two points on Bentley, and keep pace with Holy Cross.
Details:
• In a three-way tie for sixth place with Bentley, Canisius and Holy Cross, the Griffs would get the sixth seed, followed by Holy Cross and Bentley.
• In a three-way tie for sixth with Bentley and UConn, Canisius would again get the sixth seed, followed by Bentley and UConn.
• In a tie with UConn for seventh place, Canisius wins the tiebreaker based on head-to-head goal differential.
• In a three-way tie with Holy Cross and AIC for eighth, the seedings would be AIC, Canisius, Holy Cross.
• The Griffs can finish ninth if Holy Cross can net an additional point on them, and UConn an additional two points.

Holy Cross (9-13-4; 22 Points; Tied for Seventh Place)

Best Possible Finish: Sixth
Worst Possible Finish: Tenth
Opponent This Weekend: Connecticut
Outlook: The Crusaders can finish as high as sixth if they can pick up two points on Bentley, and a point on Canisius.
Details:
• In a three-way tie for sixth place with Bentley, Canisius and Holy Cross, the Griffs would get the sixth seed, followed by Holy Cross and Bentley.
• In a three-way tie with Canisius and AIC for eighth, the seedings would be AIC, Canisius, Holy Cross.
• Holy Cross finishes tenth if it is swept by UConn and AIC sweeps Air Force.

Connecticut (9-14-3; 21 Points; Ninth Place)

Best Possible Finish: Sixth
Worst Possible Finish: Tenth
Opponent This Weekend: Holy Cross
Outlook: The Huskies can finish sixth if they sweep Holy Cross, RIT sweeps Bentley, and Canisius gets less than three points.
Details:
• In a three-way tie for sixth with Canisius and UConn, Canisius would get the sixth seed, followed by Bentley and UConn.
• In a tie with Canisius for seventh, Canisius wins the tiebreaker based on head-to-head goal differential.
• In a tie with AIC for ninth, UConn wins the tiebreaker based on taking six of eight points during the regular season.
• UConn finishes tenth if it is swept by Holy Cross and AIC sweeps Air Force.

AIC (8-16-2; 18 Points; Tenth Place)

Best Possible Finish: Eighth
Worst Possible Finish: Tenth
Opponent This Weekend: Air Force
Outlook: The best the Yellow Jackets can do is eighth place, which will happen only if AIC sweeps Air Force, Mercyhurst sweeps Canisius, and Holy Cross is swept by UConn.
Details:
• In a three-way tie with Canisius and Holy Cross for eighth, the seedings would be AIC, Canisius, Holy Cross.
• AIC finishes tenth unless it can sweep Air Force and UConn is swept by Holy Cross.

Got all that? Thanks to Dave Rourke at the league office for spending most of the early part of the week coming up with every possible tiebreaking scenario.

Player of the Week for February 25, 2008
Simon Lambert — RIT
Lambert had a four-point weekend (two goals and two assists) to help the Tigers take three points on the road against Mercyhurst, Lambert has 42 points on the season and his 35 in league play leads Atlantic Hockey.

Goaltender of the Week for February 25, 2008:
Stefan Drew — Sacred Heart
Hey! Somebody other than Josh Kassel finally wins the award. On Saturday, the junior netminder stopped all 31 shots against Holy Cross for his third shutout of the season. The night before, he made 24 saves in a losing effort.

Rookie of the Week for February 25, 2008:
Jon Glant — Connecticut
Glant, forced into the starter’s role after UConn’s other two goaltenders suffered season-ending injuries, stopped 50 of 54 shots to lead the Huskies to their first sweep of the season.

Good and Bad

I talked with Air Force coach Frank Serratore this week, and, as usual, he had strong opinions on the goings-on in Atlantic Hockey.

“I like the tiebreaking system,” he said. “You have to break circular ties some way, and I think it makes sense to look at the teams that played each other four times first. You have more data that way.”

But when asked about the overall playoff system, Serratore, like Bentley coach Ryan Soderquist, isn’t a fan of the Final Five format.

“I don’t agree with it,” he said. “The WCHA does it for two reasons. One is revenue. The other is that they’re a multi-bid conference so even a team that finishes fourth has a shot (at an at-large bid). We’re a one-bid conference. I think it kills the fourth-place team (assuming it wins the quarterfinals and no other upsets occur). There’s no flippin’ way the team that wins that (fourth-fifth) play-in game has a shot. It’s never happened in the WCHA and in the CHA it’s happened just once — Alabama-Huntsville last season.

“I agree with (Soderquist). Kick the ninth- and tenth-place teams out of the playoffs. If I finish ninth or tenth, I’d rather go recruiting. We’re not making enough money to screw the fourth-place team the way we are.”

Serratore’s team sits in fourth place right now, but things can change dramatically this weekend, as the Falcons are still in the running for the top seed. Air Force has won three games in a row for the first time this season, and looks like it’s made the adjustment to life without Eric Ehn.

“I don’t think we’ll see Eric before the skills competition in Denver,” said Serratore. “Breaking the fibula, maybe he could have come back from that. It’s not a weight-bearing bone. But he had ligament damage, too.”

Air Force lost the game in which Ehn was injured, and then was swept by rival Army. Since then, the Falcons are 4-1-1.

“I didn’t want to create excuses, but the culture of the team changes when you lose someone like Eric Ehn,” Serratore said. “We had to adjust to a different culture. We’re planning on going the distance without him.”

Around the League

Holy Cross: Freshman goalie Adam Roy’s 667 saves are the most for a Crusader rookie goalie in the program’s Division I era.

RIT: The Tigers’ traditionally potent power play has awakened over the last seven games. They cashed in on 37% of their chances over that span, raising their season average to 21.9%, seventh-best in Division I. With the 3-3 tie at Mercyhurst on Friday, RIT extended its school record for overtime games in a season to nine, and set a record for ties with six.

This Week in the ECAC East and NESCAC

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Careful what you ask for . . . yes it’s playoff time but that also means the season is winding down and now for most teams, it’s lose and you go home until next year. Everything is up for grabs and even the littlest on-ice detail now can mean the difference between moving on and advancing, moving forward in the playoffs and improving your chances at making the NCAA tournament.

The last weekend of the season didn’t disappoint as teams battled for their final positions and today, with the quality of play across both conferences, there aren’t many coaches who can claim they like their first round opponent a whole lot.

Senior Mickey Gilchrist looks to celebrate a fourth straight NESCAC title (photo by Albert Bitici)

Senior Mickey Gilchrist looks to celebrate a fourth straight NESCAC title (photo by Albert Bitici)

Just how close is it?

Well, when talking with Tufts head coach Brian Murphy, he legitimately could diagram that either team could win in virtually every match-up coming up this weekend in the quarterfinal round. He had me convinced that the match-ups could go either way, but at the end of the day — be it in three periods or more — someone is winning and moving to the final four for each conference. It is there where just one weekend separates teams form conference glory and the chance to play on the national stage.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s lots of hockey to be played this weekend so let’s take a look at who’s likely to be playing beyond the first of March.

ECAC East: The Match-Ups

#8 Skidmore @ #1 Norwich — “Skidmore really has an uphill battle for sure,” noted coach Murphy. “They will need to play mistake-free hockey against the Cadets in their building to have any chance.”

I am going to agree with the coach on this one since the Thoroughbreds have had trouble keeping the puck out of their own net (4.44 GAA) and they see opponents with a success rate of over 27% on the power play — not a good combination for playoff hockey.

Prediction: Cadets set the tempo for hosting the final four with a 6-1 win at home.

#7 UMass-Boston @ #2 Babson — “Babson is really solid top to bottom,” observed Murphy. “But that first unit for UMass-Boston is special. That kid Tufman controls the puck and distributes it real well. He’s got an awesome shot in tight and knows how to finish.”

The two travel partners played a thrilling 1-1 tie back in December which jump started the Beacons in the second half. Like the enthusiasm that Peter Belisle’s team has shown this season but Babson’s four lines and experience combined with home ice has the defending champions moving on in a close game due to solid goaltending on both sides.

Prediction: Beavers continue the ride and chance to repeat with a 3-1 win over the revitalized Beacons.

#6 Salem State @ #3 Castleton — “That is one tough place to play up at Castleton,” stated coach Murphy. “The rink is not on campus but they get great local support and really make it tough physically on opposing teams. I think we were the last team to beat them before they went on a roll and they look like they have it figured out. Castleton will need to stay out of the penalty box and Salem State will need to continue to rely on [Ryan] Hatch in net. A couple of bounces and this one could go either way.”

Leading scorer Brandon Heck leads the red-hot Castleton Spartans in their first home playoff game.

Leading scorer Brandon Heck leads the red-hot Castleton Spartans in their first home playoff game.

Castleton is the hottest team coming in to the tournament having gone 9-0-1 in their last 10 games, including 6-0-0 at home in that stretch. Justin Fox is a special player that the Spartans will have to keep in check but Castleton would like a chance to win again on the ice in Northfield.

Prediction: Home ice does mean something in this one but not by much — Spartans advance by a 4-2 score.

#5 Southern Maine @ #4 New England College — “I really have no idea on this one,” honestly assessed Murphy. “Seriously which team is going to show up for either side? Both teams are very talented when they have their game on and NEC may benefit from playing in what I think is the toughest rink to play at in the conference. The 5-4 [match-up] is always a close and unpredictable game and this one is no different.”

Mike Mullen leads a veteran NEC squad back to the playoffs.

Mike Mullen leads a veteran NEC squad back to the playoffs.

I agree on the 5 vs. 4 in general but like NEC at home with senior leadership that has been there before in these big playoff games. The two teams met just this past weekend at the same venue and despite outshooting the Huskies by a 2-1 margin with over 40 shots on goal, the Pilgrims eked out a 3-2 win.

Prediction: Always tough to beat a time a couple of times in a row but you fight for the home-ice berth for a reason — Pilgrims do it again by a 3-2 score.

NESCAC: The Match-ups

#8 Wesleyan @ #1 Colby — “Anything is possible,” offered Murphy on this top vs. bottom match-up. “Colby grabbed the top spot on the last weekend and the trio of Kelley, Fritch and Reber make them go. Wesleyan is going to have to stay out of the box because Colby’s power play will kill them. They also need some good goaltending to be sure.”

Wesleyan is stumbling into the playoffs having lost four of their last five and having been shutout twice in that span. Surrendering 19 goals in their last five isn’t a good omen either. The trio mentioned by coach Murphy is a special group and has been a big part of Colby’s success over the past four seasons. They’d like a shot at the NESCAC title and especially at home.

Prediction: The win last week over Norwich was no upset — the Mules are playing very well and carry that over into the quarterfinals with a 5-1 win.

#7 Williams @ #2 Middlebury — “This is one of those special rivalries in the league,” noted Murphy. “Middlebury is awfully good on the big sheet and guys like Tom Maldonado will make sure that everything is ready in that locker room for the Panthers. Williams has been playing well lately so they have a chance but will need to get a big effort in goal.”

When these two teams played in mid-January at Williams it was a close 2-1 game. Last year in the quarterfinal round at Middlebury the score wasn’t as close and this group of seniors still has something left to prove on the ice for the Panthers.

Prediction: Like the home-ice advantage and overall big game experience for Middlebury in this one: Panthers advance by a 5-2 score.

#6 Trinity @ #3 Bowdoin — “Both teams are going to roll four lines and are solid in net,” said Murphy. “They can both get up and down the sheet very well but Bowdoin seems to finish on their chances better than Trinity and that may very well be the difference.”

Two weeks ago the Bantams hosted Bowdoin and got smoked by a 7-1 score. The pupil (coach Cataruzolo) is going to have to focus his team on doing some things better on the road against his mentor (coach Meagher).

Prediction:Like the strides Trinity has made this year with a young team but not enough firepower to unseat the Polar Bears at home. It’s definitely closer this time around but Bowdoin moves on with a 5-1 win.

#5 Conn College @ #4 Amherst — “This is a very interesting game,” noted coach Murphy. “It really is a tough match-up since Amherst is a strong team and Conn. has really got it going in the second half and that kid Parker is as good as any goalie in the league and can steal one for his team. It will probably come down to special teams and goaltending — not to be cliché but those things will be the difference and home ice may be a factor.”

Ironically in a schedule that teams usually only see each other once in a season, these teams will be facing each other for the third time on Saturday with Amherst holding a 2-0 edge on the strength of 4-1 and 5-3 victories this season.

Conn. has been playing everyone tight down the stretch and is clearly playing their best hockey of the season. Amherst finished the season going 3-3 in their last six games which is a real improvement in that stretch as compared with prior years. This one really is a toss-up and I think an upset in the making.

Prediction: Last season the Lord Jeffs played the spoiler at Wesleyan ending the Cardinals season. This season the Camels play the role of the spoiler in a very tight game that may very well be decided in overtime. Conn. College advances with a 3-2 win.

The end of February is here so there’s just two weeks for conference titles and two more for NCAA glory. Everyone has trained all off-season and played the season to get here, the so-called second season where everyone has the same record and players rise to the occasion. One game — that’s all that is on any team’s radar screen right now.

Drop the puck!

This Week in the CHA: Feb. 28, 2008

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Bemidji State traveled to North Dakota last weekend looking to end a horrid losing streak against the Sioux and nearly did.

Though BSU came away with two defeats against the second-ranked team in the country, it could easily have been a split.

In the finale on Sunday afternoon, Bemidji State nearly pulled it out, but the Sioux escaped to run their unbeaten streak to 13 games.

The Beavers had North Dakota on the ropes for 55 minutes Sunday, but an Andrew Kozek goal late in the third was all it would take as the Beavers dropped the game, 1-0.

“It’s just too bad we couldn’t get a point,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “We tried. We did everything we could and, of course, their best player (T.J. Oshie, who assisted on the Kozek goal) makes a great play and that’s what happens. He is just a heck of a hockey player. He made that play behind the net with people draped all over him. I think he put it off the back of the net and it came off to himself and he threw the puck to Kozek coming in on the high slot. It was just a heck of a play.

“I thought it was a very good hockey game. I wish we would have had it, but it was also a nice story for the Walski kid (North Dakota goalie Aaron Walski). I thought he made some nice saves. It was good entertainment for a Sunday afternoon.”

Walski, a junior, made 13 saves in his first career start, ending Jean-Philippe Lamoureux’s nation-best string of 55 consecutive starts.

Orlando Alamano stopped 31 shots for Bemidji State.

Saturday night, North Dakota netted four power-play goals in a 5-1 win.

“Coming in against a team like this in this building, obviously going down 5-on-3 and then having to come back and kill off four more minutes can really deflate and demoralize a team, there is no question,” Serratore said. “It was tough from the get go. It reminded me of when we first began playing at the Division I level. We just didn’t have intensity in our game and that’s not Beaver hockey.”

“The power-play goals were the difference,” North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol said. “Our power play was very sharp tonight. Along with that, in the first two periods, I thought we did a very nice job 5-on-5 against a very good team.”

BSU would, however, claim a power-play goal of its own in the second period. Travis Winter found Riley Weselowski with a pass from behind the net and the blue liner banked a slapshot from the right faceoff dot off the left pipe and into the back of the net.

The Fighting Sioux went 4-for-10 on the man-advantage, while BSU was 1-for-5.

Matt Climie recorded 36 saves for the Beavers.

The victories extended UND’s handle on the all-time series versus BSU to 15-1-1. North Dakota is unbeaten versus the Beavers since the 1969-70 season — a streak spanning 15 games.

Bemidji State hosts Wayne State this weekend and a sweep of the Warriors would give BSU its third CHA regular-season crown in four years. If BSU takes three of four points, it will clinch at least a tie for the CHA title, but will be the top seed due to the tiebreakers. If the Warriors take two or more points, then Niagara and Robert Morris have a shot at the title and the No. 1 seed.

Niagara’s Unbeaten Streak Ends At UAH

Niagara went down to Huntsville looking to make its eight-game unbeaten streak a 10-gamer, but had to settle for a split with the Chargers and the end of their streak at nine games (6-0-3), the second-longest undefeated streak in the country at the time.

The No. 20 Purple Eagles and goaltender Juliano Pagliero blanked UAH, 3-0, on Friday for their fourth shutout of the season.

NU co-captain Vince Rocco, Paul Zanette and Chris Moran scored to back Pagliero’s 30 saves, including a breakaway on Joey Koudys with Niagara up 1-0 late in the second period.

“Paul Zanette’s goal was the big momentum change in the game,” said Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder. “We had a lot of guys play very well. In particular, Juliano was very solid when (Alabama-Huntsville) sustained pressure at different times early in the game.”

UAH goaltender Blake MacNicol made 31 saves.

“Blake played well,” Alabama-Huntsville head coach Danton Cole said in the Huntsville Times. “He kept us in the game. (Niagara is) a good team.”

Saturday, the Chargers honored seniors Tyler Hilbert and Matt Montes before the game and then went out and earned a come-from-behind 4-3 win.

Matt Caruana and Bryan Haczyk gave NU a 2-0 lead early in the second period, only to have Brennan Barker beat Pagliero at 7:09 of the second period.

UAH went on to tie the contest just over four minutes later when Hilbert won a draw and fed the puck back to Joey Koudys, who found Tom Train. He went stick-side on Pagliero.

Ryan Annesley made it 3-2 Niagara early in the third period.

Koudys then beat Pagliero to tie the game at 13:08 and with less than four minutes remaining, the Chargers found themselves with a faceoff in the Niagara end and the Purple Eagles won the draw. An NU defenseman tried to wrap the puck around the boards and out of the zone, but Barker trapped the puck on the boards just inside the blueline and fired a wrister on net that eluded Pagliero.

“This was a tough result,” said Burkholder. “We had to spend so much energy killing penalties (that) we just didn’t have enough to finish them off.”

MacNicol had a 33-save effort in the win, while Pagliero made 30 stops in the loss.

Robert Morris Downed By Team USA

Robert Morris hosted the U.S. National Under-18 Team last Saturday night, but was defeated by the Americans, 5-2, in an exhibition game.

David Boguslawski scored both goals for RMU. His first one tied the game at one apiece.

Wes Russell played the first 40 minutes for the Colonials and allowed four goals on 20 shots. Jim Patterson stopped 10 shots in the third period.

“We played a thorough, consistent game tonight,” said Team USA head coach John Hynes. “Our effort was strong and we stayed committed to our game plan.”

Vinny Saponari (Boston University) and Jordan Schroder (Minnesota) each scored twice for Team USA. David Wohlberg (Michigan) also scored in the win and Joe Cannata (Merrimack) made 17 saves.

UAH, BSU Get Recruits From BCHL, NAHL

The future of the CHA remains a mystery, yet recruits still keep coming in as two Burnaby Express players gave their nods to CHA schools this week.

Forward Cody Campbell will trek down to Alabama-Huntsville and defenseman Brad Hunt is off to Bemidji State.

The Beavers also got a commitment from Fairbanks Ice Dogs’ defenseman Matt Carlson from the North American Hockey League.

Campbell, a smallish (5-foot-9, 165 pounds) 21-year-old right wing, has 32 goals (18 on the power play) and 85 points in 59 games this year in the British Columbia Hockey League. He had just 28 points all of last season in 40 games.

The Chargers have always had success getting western Canadian players to come to Huntsville and Campbell looks to continue the trend.

Hunt, 19, has tallied 16 goals and 55 points this season for the Express and was the team’s leading point-getter among blueliners. Hunt is also the second-leading defenseman scorer in the entire BCHL.

In Carlson, BSU is getting a 6-foot-5, 215-pounder that has 22 points in 44 games with 63 penalty minutes and a plus-9 rating this season. He turns 21 at the end of May.

Bothwell Set To Transfer From WSU

Another week and another Wayne State player has reportedly made a commitment to transfer to a new school.

WSU sophomore goalie Brett Bothwell will join Union College next season, where he will be a junior and be eligible to play for the Dutchmen immediately.

Bothwell took the No. 1 job last season from then-senior Will Hooper. This season, he’s in a three-goalie mix with freshmen Mike Devoney and Kyle Funkenhauser, but is still 4-4-0 in his last eight starts and 6-11-0 overall.

Five of Bothwell’s wins have come in CHA play and the other was against St. Lawrence, where Wayne State sophomore defenseman Jeff Caister will land this fall.

Bemidji Events Center Moving Forward?

It keeps looking up for the Beavers.

A Minnesota State Senate committee approved a $1 billion public works bonding bill Tuesday that includes funding for three Division I hockey arenas and one D-III rink. The most notable in CHA circles is a $22 million approval for the proposed Bemidji Regional Events Center.

Of course, this all still requires final stamp of approval from the legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty which hopefully is a mere formality.

Also approved was $40 million in funding for the renovation and expansion of the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center that would add approximately 1,200 seats. The National Hockey Center in St. Cloud will get $10 million to remodel and expand and $10 million was granted to fund a new rink for the Division III Minnesota-Crookston squad.

Wayne State Memories Continue

Here are some from the Warriors’ days on Michigan’s East Side.

The end of the 2001-2002 season saw Wayne State close out the regular season with 9-0-1 run (all CHA games). Only four of those games were at home (then the Great Lakes Sports City in Fraser), but the excitement and atmosphere was near-electric.

WSU went on to beat Niagara at Alabama-Huntsville in the CHA tournament at Niagara for its second of three playoff championships.

The arena in Fraser also had its share of unique commodities. Take for instance the muffled intercom system that would, without fail, blare out alerts to find missing kids in the five-rink facility into the rink where WSU played during the game.

During one game some years back, Warriors’ defenseman Marc St. Jean leveled teeny 5-foot-7, 160-pound Bemidji State defenseman Says Phrakonkham (say that name five times fast) into the boards in front of the scorer’s table in the penalty box. The glass popped loose and landed on public address announcer Tom Balog and several off-ice officials.

Learning The Ropes

By Mike Scandura
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Clarkson’s Courtney Olson has heard all the one-liners, enough so that she could perform as a stand-up comic.

She’s heard ones like “You better watch out because she wrestles calves,” or after she’s knocked an opponent on her wallet, “That comes from wrestling calves.”

Olson, a freshman who’s a “defensive” defenseman for Clarkson, spent last spring living with a billet family near Medicine Hat, Alberta, where she was attending The Warner Hockey School. Among other things, she learned how to rope calves at the family’s ranch.

“They would bring in the calves, we wrestled them down and then we got them branded,” said Olson. “I’ve been on horses before but I’m not a big fan of it. Still, it gets your adrenaline going. And if you let go, you’re going to get kicked.

“Your heart is pumping. It seemed like so much fun, plus it was a good workout.”

Indeed.

While Olson doesn’t envision herself ever joining the National Professional Rodeo Association, she does envision herself working with animals. That’s why she’s enrolled in Clarkson’s pre-veterinary program with a major in biology.

“I want to be a farm vet,” said Olson. “I’m not interested in cats and dogs. I’m trying to get more into cattle research because of mad cow disease. I want to find a cure for that and determine where mad cow comes from.”

Unfortunately for Olson, she knows from personal experience how devastating any disease to farm animals can be, and how it can have a negative effect on families whose livelihood depends on raising cattle, sheep, pigs, etc.

“Earlier this season, the family I stayed with had several cows die from nitrogen poisoning,” related Olson. “I’d like to learn how to prevent something like that from happening.”

What happened to Olson one and a half years ago wasn’t the most pleasant experience.

While competing in a tournament at the University of North Dakota in October 2006, she tore her left ACL but continued playing in pain until December.

“I really didn’t tell anybody how sore it was,” said Olson. “Initially, they just scraped out some cartilage. But I played a month and it got worse and worse every time I played. I didn’t know much about knee injuries until after I injured mine.

“After a while, it became unbearable and I had arthroscopic surgery in February (of 2007).”

Still, Olson posted 4-11-15 totals in 20 games for The Warner School. But the team’s loss may have been Clarkson’s gain.

“We benefited from the fact Courtney missed most of last year (because of the knee injury),” said coach Rick Seeley. “I don’t think a lot of teams had the opportunity to see her play. We did and we liked what we saw.

“I really think she will develop into an exceptional defender at this level. She has shown the type of poise and confidence that you don’t normally see in a freshman.”

Olson’s “poise and confidence” are one reason why the Golden Knights finished the regular season with a 22-7-5 record, and a 13-6-3 slate in the ECAC — which earned them the No. 4 seed in the upcoming ECAC playoffs.

Yet, ironically, there was a time when Olson didn’t care in the least about playing hockey.

Her first exposure to the sport — really, where she first learned about it — wasn’t at a local rink or in her back yard after her father, Craig, flooded it until it froze.

It was in the basement of her family’s home in Great Falls, Montana, where her first “coach” was her older brother, Chris.

“I quit every sport my parents put me into,” said Olson quite matter-of-factly. “I had to be dragged to the rink every time my brother had games or practices. Then, something hit me and I wanted to play hockey.

“Fortunately, my brother and I would go downstairs to the basement and strap on rollerblades and play. At least there I learned, to a certain extent, what to do. It was like ‘Hockey 101’ and here I am now.”

While at one time Olson never expected to be playing hockey at any level, she without question never expected to be invited to — nor did she probably ever hear of — the U.S. National Development Camp.

“I was 15 at the time and while I was playing against kids in Canada (when she was at The Warner School), their speed was pretty good,” said Olson. “But when I was going up against the best players in the United States, I really didn’t feel like I belonged for the longest time.

“Really, it opened my eyes. I never had played against anybody with that kind of speed. It took a while before I felt comfortable and that I belonged with that caliber of player.”

Just like it took her time before she felt comfortable riding a horse and roping and wrestling calves.

This Week in the WCHA: Feb. 28, 2008

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Just two weekends left in the regular season and some things are shaping up — we know three teams who will have home ice. Still, a lot of the league continues to be jumbled together so it looks like everything will come down to the final weekend … with two teams — the Badgers and the Seawolves — sitting idle next week, waiting to see who they will end up facing in the playoffs.

How exciting is that?

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Andreas Vlassopoulos, CC.
Why: Helped his Tigers to a road sweep of Minnesota-Duluth by scoring four points (2g, 2a), had four shots on goal and garnered a +3 rating for the series.
Also Nominated: Rhett Rakhshani, DU.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Jase Weslosky, SCSU.
Why: Allowed just one goal, that on the power play while stopping 65 of 66 shots overall, for a weekend save percentage of .985 to help his Huskies sweep Michigan Tech.
Also Nominated: Jack Hillen, CC; Patrick Mullen, DU; Derek Peltier, UM.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Richard Bachman, CC.
Why: Stopped all 60 shots on goal he faced in a two-game road sweep of Minnesota-Duluth, making him the first goaltender in CC’s 70-year history to record back-to-back shutouts in a two-game road series.
Also Nominated: Tyler Bozak, DU; Patrick White, UM.

Sliver of Silver for Seawolves Fans

If you talk to Alaska Anchorage fans, it seems as though there aren’t many redeeming qualities about this season — just to look forward to next year’s incoming freshmen and the hope that springs anew each fall.

Still, there does seem to be one bright spot — however small — in sophomore goaltender Jon Olthuis. His stat line won’t put him anywhere near the top goaltenders (his .885 save percentage is 65th in the nation and his 2.92 goals against average is 52nd nationally), but it’s not for lack of trying.

I finally got to see the Seawolves in action this past weekend when they visited Denver and Olthuis had some spectacular saves both nights, including one cartwheel save in the second period Friday night — easily one of the — if not the — best saves I’ve personally seen all season.

“I thought he played very well last night, I wouldn’t fault him for any goals,” said coach Dave Shyiak after Saturday’s loss, retracting his statement concerning Denver’s first goal — one where the puck was bouncing a little. “All the other goals he didn’t have a chance on and he made some great saves and he made some great saves tonight.

“On a positive note, I thought he did well, held his composure and kept us in the game,” he continued. “Good goalies make good saves and I thought Jonny … made some good saves that kept us in it, to keep life in our team, and obviously that’s something to build on.”

Random Notes (and Commentary!) From Around the League

tUMD — For those of you heading to Duluth this weekend for the Bulldogs’ series against the Sioux, the team will hold a first-intermission ceremony commemorating the 1982-83 Bulldog team — the first ever to make the NCAA playoffs. This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the event.

UND — If you weren’t paying attention to the Sioux/Bemidji State game on Sunday, you may have missed something — that something being, of course, the end of goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux’s consecutive start streak.

On Saturday, the senior had his school-record 55th consecutive start. The streak was the third-longest in NCAA history and second-longest in WCHA history.

However, junior Aaron Walski got the nod on Sunday, ending the streak, getting his first career start and shutout. Walski had appeared in two games prior to Sunday’s 1-0 win.

WCHA — No matter what, fans of the WCHA will have something to cheer for during the Frozen Four. The NCAA announced the participants for the Frozen Four Skills Challenge and three WCHAers (on the men’s side) made the cut — CC’s Jimmy Kilpatrick and DU’s Andrew Thomas and Peter Mannino.

Since there were other players nominated, I’m wondering if the voters were of a Colorado nature and wanted to see some of the hometown boys in action just in case their teams didn’t make it.

Reader Mailbag

Apparently last week’s topic of players leaving early was a popular one as I got several e-mails about the subject, with everyone giving his or her own viewpoint. I would like to share an e-mail I got from Ryan Rintoul with the rest of you, as it makes a point I neglected to consider:

“I understand the frustration for fans, coaches and/or school administrations for players leaving early to propel their career to the next level. But the reality is that this opportunity to play college hockey at the D1 level is no different than any other opportunity in life; you make the most of it.

“Let me explain.

“If you are a Sophomore Engineering student at Tech and some high-end firm says “listen, I know you’re here for school but we think you are ready to contribute to our organization immediately — here’s $850,000 every year for the next 3 years to get you started and if you do well, like we think you will, you will make much more when we re-negotiate.” Good bye Tech!

“The problem is this never, ever happens. If it happened to the every day, higher-education-seeking students, the non-understanding folks on the periphery would see why (a rare few) players are eager to hang up their college jerseys and take on that challenge. Who wouldn’t?”

As an aside, from my days at Boston University, I worked with a guy at the radio station who did something along these lines — through connections, he had a chance at a radio gig back near home halfway through school. So, he left BU to pursue the job … though he did end up getting his degree while at the job.

The other thing I got a lot of mail about was the predictions — seems like a lot of people would like to be my Guest Predictor. Maybe that will be a contest prize next year …

Match-Ups By the Numbers

Another weird Saturday/Sunday series — this time between the Sioux and tBulldogs, but all 10 teams get into some game action.

No. 7 Denver @ Michigan Tech
Overall Records: DU — 21-10-1 (15-8-1 WCHA). MTU — 11-16-5 (7-13-4 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: DU leads the overall series, 105-80-18.
Top Scorers: DU — Tyler Bozak (15-14-29). MTU — Peter Rouleau (12-13-25).
Goaltenders: DU — Peter Mannino (31 gp, 20-10-1, 2.29 GAA, .918 sv %). MTU — Michael-Lee Teslak (18 gp, 5-7-4, 2.06 GAA, .921 sv %), Rob Nolan (17 gp, 6-9-1, 2.72 GAA, .895 sv %).

No. 17 Minnesota @ Alaska Anchorage
Overall Records: UM — 13-13-8 (7-11-6 WCHA). UAA — 7-18-7 (3-18-5 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UM leads the overall series, 44-15-5.
Top Scorers: UM — Blake Wheeler (13-14-27). UAA — Kevin Clark (7-16-23).
Goaltenders: UM — Alex Kangas (20 gp, 6-6-8, 2.21 GAA, .922 sv %). UAA — Jon Olthuis (28 gp, 6-14-7, 2.93 GAA, .885 sv %).

No. 13 Wisconsin @ No. 12 St. Cloud State
Overall Records: UW — 14-13-7 (10-11-5 WCHA). SCSU — 16-13-3 (11-11-2 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UW leads the overall series, 38-20-8.
Top Scorers: UW — Kyle Turris (11-19-28). SCSU — Ryan Lasch (21-23-44).
Goaltenders: UW — Shane Connelly (31 gp, 13-13-5, 2.41 GAA, .914 sv %). SCSU — Jase Weslosky (25 gp, 13-10, 2.21 GAA, .927 sv %).

No. 9 Minnesota State @ No. 4 Colorado College
Overall Records: MSU, M — 16-12-4 (10-10-4 WCHA). CC — 23-8-1 (18-5-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: CC leads the overall series, 22-9-1.
Top Scorers: MSU, M — Trevor Bruess (7-18-25). CC — Chad Rau (22-12-34).
Goaltenders: MSU, M — Mike Zacharias (29 gp, 15-9-4, 2.13 GAA, .921 sv %). CC — Richard Bachman (27 gp, 21-5-1, 1.71 GAA, .935 sv %).

No. 2 North Dakota @ No. 15 Minnesota-Duluth
Overall Records: UND — 21-8-2 (16-7-1 WCHA). tUMD — 12-12-6 (8-11-5 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UND leads the overall series, 126-70-8.
Top Scorers: UND — T.J. Oshie (13-20-33). tUMD — MacGregor Sharp (6-10-16).
Goaltenders: UND — Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (30 gp, 20-8-2, 1.76 GAA, .931 sv %). tUMD — Alex Stalock (30 gp, 12-12-6, 2.28 GAA, .915 sv %).

Why Every Game Matters

As we near the final reaches of the season, when teams not only worry about their final conference standings, but also, somewhere in the back of their minds, they start thinking of the NCAA tournament and the chance to play on college hockey’s biggest stage, I’d like to share the wisdom of Pioneer coach George Gwozdecky of why teams shouldn’t overlook games — now, or ever.

“We talked to the guys this week about trying to remember 12 months ago, when we sat in that locker room after being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and our fate was hinging on the outcome of many other games across the country — obviously the WCHA Final Five tournament, the CCHA tournament.

“We sat for three days, watching games and watching that RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) every time somebody got beat, somebody won, how it bumped us and moved us from one spot to the next. It was excruciatingly difficult from a high to a low to a high to a low, and finally the ultimate is we’re done, we’re out and finding out that we’re one win short …

“Any point in the season, we’re one win short and not only would that one additional win put us in, but it would put us in as a second seed. Knowing we would have been a second seed in the Western region here …”

And now you guys know why Denver has been so anxious to turn it around after its little slump the second half of the season.

This Week in the NCHA and MCHA

By
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And then there were eight. The NCHA and MCHA playoff fields have both been narrowed to four teams and by the end of this weekend the NCHA will be down to two while the MCHA will have crowed its Harris Cup Champion.

Last weekend’s results produced a little bit of a shakeup in the second edition of the NCAA West Region Rankings. They are as follows:

1. St. Norbert
2. St. Thomas
3. Stout
4. Adrian
5. River Falls
6. Hamline
7. Bethel

The big winner was Stout as the Blue Devils jumped from fifth to third following an impressive opening round sweep of Stevens Point. River Falls, on the other hand, fell two spots after dropping its series to St. Scholastica. The early playoff exit and subsequent drop in the rankings has all but removed the Falcons from NCAA contention.

Tournament Musings

I originally began this section intending to cover the possibilities for Western teams to make the NCAA tournament, but upon proceeding it quickly became evident that far too many possibilities remain in order to adequately cover them all — particularly the pool C status of St. Thomas.

What is clear, however, is that the West will land no more than three teams in the field, and an 8-2 split is a legitimate possibility. More on that next week.

For now, let’s focus on one of this week’s hottest topics: Adrian’s NCAA hopes.

From the Bulldogs’ perspective, it is not a good sign they remained in fourth this week. If ever there was a week for them to improve their position, this was it. St. Thomas and River Falls, two teams ahead of Adrian, both lost and though River Falls dropped below Adrian, Stout leapfrogged the Bulldogs and nothing was changed from an Adrian standpoint.

Much of the discussion regarding what it will take to get Adrian into the field has circulated around needing favorites to win their conference tournaments, so and so to beat so and so, etc.

None of that means anything, as an odds-defying string of preferred results will not happen. As a result there is only one way Adrian gets into the tournament. It starts with them winning the Harris Cup and it ends . . .

In attempt to clarify, let’s go through the looking glass and examine a situation from last season.

In the February 20, 2007 East Region NCAA Rankings, UMass-Dartmouth was residing comfortably in fourth behind Oswego, Manhattanville and Norwich. That week UMass-Dartmouth beat a couple of cupcakes (Nichols & Salve Regina), Manhattanville and Norwich won, and Oswego lost.

Based on those results, imagine the surprise when the February 27 rankings came out and UMass-Dartmouth had ascended to number one. So what happened? Thunder crashed, skies parted and the East Region Committee all of a sudden realized UMass-Dartmouth was actually the top team in the region?

Of course not. Rather, in a grossly transparent (yet incredibly shrewd) act of subversive regional protectionism, the East Region Committee moved UMass-Dartmouth to the head of the class to protect it in case of a loss in the ECACNE conference tournament.

Had the act not been executed, UMass-Dartmouth would have been in serious jeopardy of not making the tournament had it lost in its playoffs — and a 6-4 split would have been a very realistic possibility.

The point here is that this sort of skullduggery has happened in the past so why not try it again — this time from a Western angle?

It’s not going to happen but here it is, and it’s the only way to even give Adrian a chance to get into the field:

Make Marian or Finlandia a ranked team.

Adrian currently stands at 0-0 against in-region ranked opponents. If they do win the MCHA playoffs over Marian they would be 4-1 against the Sabres this season, while a win over Finlandia would make them a perfect 3-0 over the Lions.

In a straight numbers sense, it would swing dozens of 2-1 comparisons in the Bulldogs’ favor, including numerous comparisons with Eastern teams of consequence.

The numbers clearly don’t justify ranking Marian or Finlandia, but the numbers don’t justify Adrian being in fourth either. Regardless of the Bulldogs’ impressive record, they should be much lower from a pure numbers perspective.

I am not suggesting this is what should be done, merely that the “creative” manipulations of numbers suggested above is the only way to give the Bulldogs a shot at this year’s tournament field. Unfortunately for Bulldog faithful, without the sort of maneuvering outlined above, their team will be on the outside looking in come tournament time.

What I will suggest, and I have faith this is the case, is the committee does what it can to ensure as many Western teams as possible make the field — no matter who they are. Things are a bit shaky now as Stout and St. Thomas have games remaining and many of their comparisons with Eastern teams hang precariously in the balance pending numerous results of conference tournament games in the next two weeks.

As mentioned, more on that next week, but it becomes quite difficult to analyze when, unlike its Division I counterpart, the D-III selection criteria do not carry stated weightings.

Perhaps that’s the entire problem with the current selection process, however. By design, subjective analysis must be used and the confusion over the new SOS criteria merely adds to this.

The members of the regional committees should be given some credit as they are in unenviable positions, as the system they are supposed to work within dictates they will be criticized in some circles no matter what conclusions they come to — by itself a scathing indictment of the process itself.

NCHA

What an opening round of Peters Cup playoff action it was! Two lower seeds advanced for the first time in the history of the league, and for the first time in a long time, if not ever, Superior, River Falls and Stevens Point were all eliminated in the first round.

St. Norbert, St. Scholastica, Stout and Eau Claire remain, but from here on out throw the mini-games out the window because everything is a one game affair.

Have we met?

One of this week’s semifinals features seventh-seeded St. Scholastica heading back to the Cornerstone to face top-seeded St. Norbert. The Saints also played at St. Norbert in last season’s Peters Cup playoffs, losing 3-0 in the title game.

St. Scholastica got hot for the playoffs last season, and despite a disappointing 9-12-4 regular season it appears they may be up to it again this season. They land in the semifinals after dropping highly touted River Falls 5-2 in game one last weekend and then following with a 3-3 tie on Saturday to avoid the mini-game and move on.

Amazingly, the Saints are unbeaten in their last five trips to River Falls. For comparison’s sake, that’s something not even St. Norbert can say.

“You know, if I knew why we have had so much success there we would do it everywhere,” joked Saints’ head coach Mark Wick. “It’s one of things you see in sports all the time: certain teams match up well with some teams and other teams don’t match up well with them.”

“I think that’s the situation here. For some reason we’ve been fortunate enough to kind of have their number and have success in their rink,” he added.

After winning the opener, it didn’t come easy for the Saints on Saturday as they fell behind 3-1 after two periods. Two quick tallies knotted the game early in the third and the Saints were not able to exhale until they had killed a penalty and turned back a barrage of shots in overtime.

“I didn’t know a game could have a 65 minute overtime, because that’s sure what that game felt like,” said Wick. “We came out and played really well in the third period, and then Falls really cranked it up and had control in the overtime. We were hanging on.”

Meanwhile, St. Norbert posted consecutive shutouts to down Lake Forest. In all, the Green Knights only allowed 20 shots on the weekend, and senior goaltender Kyle Jones quietly picked up his 21st and 22nd career shutouts.

The Green Knights were expected to advance and though they didn’t blow out the Foresters either night, head coach Tim Coghlin is pleased with the play of his team heading into this semifinal weekend.

“What we wanted last weekend was to stay diligent to our system last weekend,” he said. “I think we did that. I came out of there feeling good about the fact we were able to limit Lake (Forest) to what we did. I think if it had turned into a 6-4 game that’s where we question what we got out of it. From our perspective I think we did what was necessary to get ready to play this week.”

As far as this weekend is concerned, St. Norbert is 32-1-2 in its last 35 meetings with the St. Scholastica, and is 24-0-2 all-time at home against the Saints. Not exactly encouraging numbers for St. Scholastica, but as of late the Saints have played St. Norbert as tough as anyone, beating them at home last season and tying them at the Cornerstone earlier this season.

“They are the real deal, that much is certain,” said Coghlin. “I don’t know why they’ve had a little bit of a tumultuous season, but they are certainly on the upswing.”

He continued, “I think they are a very fundamentally sound team. You have to earn your ice against them. You have to earn your opportunities to score goals. They are very physical and I think they play us tough because we have very similar philosophies on the way the game is played.”

The similar styles have led to low scoring affairs over the past two seasons, as in the past five meetings neither team has scored more than three goals.

It gets old saying it but St. Norbert’s home ice edge is undeniable. Yet, the Saints have fared well from home this season going 4-2-3 against NCHA teams as well as scoring the aforementioned tie at St. Norbert earlier this season.

Wick commented, “We haven’t had success there from a win standpoint, but we’ve played well on the road this year so hopefully our guys go in there with confidence they know we can win on the road and that we have nothing to lose.”

The Saints have made strides every year under Wick and now are junior-laden and playoff experienced following last season’s tournament run. Despite a somewhat disappointing season, nothing would signify another stride quite like playoff win in the Cornerstone.

“You don’t always know how guys are going to react to that experience,” said Wick. “As a coaching staff we hope it (pays off). We’ve been here in the playoffs before and let’s use that to our advantage. Last year we did some good things, but we made some mistakes. They didn’t and that’s why they are champions. At least we do have experience there and hopefully we’re a little more prepared going over there this year.”

Seeing Things for the First Time

Aside from being the title to a great song by the Black Crowes, that phrase can also aptly describes the view for Eau Claire this week. For the first time in school history the Blugolds have advanced out of the first round of the NCHA playoffs.

The weekend started with a bang for Eau Claire as despite being swept by Superior during the regular season the Blugolds went into Wessman Arena and dumped the Yellowjackets 4-2 on Friday.

“I think Friday was one of our better games of the year,” said Blugold head coach Matt Loen. “We got a goal against (Superior goaltender Chad) Beiswenger and I think that was the key. I think we all know how that is — if he gets on fire he’s going to be tough to beat.”

Saturday didn’t develop in quite the same fashion. Superior rolled to a 5-0 win in order to force a mini-game. The Yellowjackets tallied midway through the third period to open up a 4-0 lead, and that’s when Loen employed a strategy that eventually paid off.

“We rested some of our core guys at the end of the third period in Saturday’s game,” he said. “At the 12:00 mark of the third period I shut down our guys. We were down 4-0 so I wasn’t interested in pulling our goalie and trying to get four goals against Beiswenger who was playing very well that night.”

To the mini-game they would go.

“I said OK guys let’s go. We have one period to play after this game. The slate has been wiped clean now let’s go out and play a twenty minute period,” said Loen.

He continued, “I thought the guys responded well to that. In between the second game and the mini-game they were all on board with positive thoughts and that was a huge motivating factor with us after honestly not playing well on Saturday night.”

The Blugolds were on the ropes a few times in the mini-game, especially due to some penalties, the final of which was on senior all-conference forward Sean Garrity.

After Garrity’s penalty expired, he took matters into his own hands.

“He came flying out of the box following his penalty,” Loen explained. “We had already picked the puck up out of the zone and it was basically a race between him and the defender and he went wide, took a shot, and beat Beiswenger low blocker side.”

As a result, the Blugolds will travel to third-seeded Stout as the Blue Devils rolled to an impressive sweep of Stevens Point.

Last weekend it was mentioned that Stevens Point had not allowed more than two goals in a game since early December. That didn’t impress the Blue Devils as despite falling behind in both games, Stout’s offense got rolling both nights and paved the way to 8-4 and 7-1 victories.

As Eau Claire is knows as a bit more of a defensive team, the Stout offense is something Loen is certainly aware of.

“I think they are a very offensive minded team,” said Loen. “I think they are very opportunistic and when we went there last time I don’t think we had one of our best games.”

The Blue Devils ranked second in the NCHA in offense this season with 4.33 goals per contest while the Eau Claire defense ranked fifth in allowing 2.74.

With each team’s strengths squaring off against each other, the contrast in styles should make this contest an interesting one.

“If we can get two or three goals and keep them off the board that’s the way we win games. No question we are a defensive-minded team,” said Loen.

Additionally, the Blugolds have only averaged 2.44 goals per game this season, and scoring won’t come easy this weekend as Blue Devil goaltender Mike Stone shut down a fairly potent Stevens Point offense last weekend.

“Scoring has been a concern all year,” said Loen. “Mike Stone is a great goalie. He’s an All-American and we respect that. We’re going to have to capitalize on our opportunities.”

Not too many people gave the Blugolds a great shot up in Superior last weekend, but true to form the NCHA served up a curveball for everyone. If Eau Claire is looking for another upset win on its quest for the Peters Cup, they will have to do it from minute one this week as there won’t be a mini-game to rely on this time around.

Loen concluded, “I think this one game scenario benefits us so we are going to put in the effort, hopefully some things go our way and we have some success.”

MCHA

Once again the MCHA Frozen Four is being held at a pre-determined site. However, beginning this season the location awarded to the previous year’s regular season champion. As a result, MSOE will host this year’s festivities this weekend at the Kern Center in Milwaukee.

The weekend will conclude with two semifinal match-ups on Saturday and the championship game Sunday afternoon, but will also play host to the MCHA End of Season Banquet on Friday.

The banquet is scheduled to be held at Roy W. Johnson Residence Hall which sits a mere one block south of the Kern Center. A social will kick things off at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m, and a program with a guest speaker and the MCHA awards to follow that.

All conference awards will be awarded at the banquet, including the MCHA All-Conference Team, All-Freshman Team, Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and All-Academic Team.

As mentioned way back in the MCHA season preview, the league hopes the pre-determined site will have allowed MSOE ample time to put together a great weekend, which they assuredly have according to MSOE head coach Mark Ostapina.

“I think it’s going to shape up pretty well,” he said. “Knowing so far in advance we’ve really been able to get out and promote it big-time. Also owning our own rink helps out, too.”

The rink angle adds an interesting element, as MSOE has developed a plan aimed at boosting attendance while helping youth hockey in the area out at the same time.

“To get youth hockey teams involved we’ve put a tickets-for-ice package together,” he explained. “Not only can they see great ice hockey but if they buy 20 tickets they get an hour of free ice at the Kern Center. If they buy 21-30 tickets they get an hour and fifteen minutes; 31 or more and an hour and a half.”

“It’s a great incentive to get youth involved with the sport. They get to see some great hockey and we get some packages sold. The ice is just great and these kids just love hockey.”

Anyone down in the southeastern part of the state should head to the Kern Center this weekend for what is a showcase weekend for the MCHA. After all, this is all they have considering the NCAA is too incompetent to have awarded the league an autobid like it deserves.

As far as the hockey goes, top-seed Adrian will face fourth-seed MSOE in the first semifinal at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Second-seed Finlandia will take on third-seed Marian in the 7 p.m. nightcap.

Winners meet at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

If you do attend, be sure to grab a Kern Center hot dog while you are in town. It’s the best hot dog in the West Region.

Round Five

The early semifinal pits Adrian and MSOE against each other for the fifth time this season. The Bulldogs have won all four meetings with the last two coming in the form of a 7-4, 5-0 sweep in Milwaukee three weeks ago.

Adrian finds itself in the semis following an expected 9-1, 8-0 sweep of Concordia-WI in the opening round. Things were much closer for MSOE, but they also garnered the sweep on home ice by dropping Lawrence 4-2, 3-1.

MSOE head coach Mark Ostapina readily admits the Raiders are once again underdogs, though he hopes his team is coming to the battle with a little more ammunition than they did earlier in the season.

“Bottom line is we have more people healthy,” he said. “We had some guys out for almost the entire season but right now I think we are the healthiest we have been all year. At one point this season all we had was 16 players and three goalies. That was it.”

Though the short bench caused headaches in the short run, he hopes it may pay dividends this weekend.

“I think over that time we learned a lot about ourselves and created some depth as we had some players who played a lot more than maybe they would have if everybody had stayed healthy.”

That experience surely won’t hurt heading into Saturday’s match-up with the top-seeded Bulldogs, but as Adrian was 19-1 in the MCHA this year it’s no secret to Ostapina they will not be an easy team to deal with.

“Adrian was by far the number one team in the conference,” said Ostapina. “It’s a very daunting task and it’s something, you know, we’re going to put our best foot forward. We’re very pleased last year’s team was able to win the conference championship and get us home ice, but still…”

Though MSOE does indeed have home ice this weekend, it likely won’t be as big of a boost as it can be at times, as unfortunately for the Raiders the school operates on a quarter system. As a result, many students will not be in town this weekend and the “Red Sea” student section could end up looking more like the “Dead Sea”.

“It’s still nice to be at home as it’s always nice to have the same routine. Sleep in your own bed and pre-game meals and things like that. The Kern Center is home and we might be in our away red jerseys but that’s our barn no matter what.”

By now every one knows of the prolific offensive numbers Adrian has put up, as well as their top line of Shawn Skelly, Adam Krug and Eric Miller who currently are the three top scorers in the nation. As expected, this fact is not lost on Ostapina.

“It’s obvious they are one of the most potent lines in the country,” he said. “I don’t think we’re talking about trying to stop them but we’re going to try to contain them and the best way to do that is to stay out of the box.”

He added, “If we can keep them off the power play it should work to our benefit.”

MSOE has a rather potent top forward line of it’s own in Lee Swallow, Mike Soik and Blair Hanberg so it should be interesting to see how Adrian uses the benefit of the last change to match up. It’s highly possible fans will be treated to six of the most skilled players in the league all being on the ice at the same time.

Chris Keller is expected to start in net for the Raiders while the Bulldogs will almost certainly go with Brad Fogal. Keller has played well down the stretch and backstopped both MSOE wins last weekend, while Fogal hasn’t lost a game since October.

Adrian has not run MSOE out of the building this season, but has solidly won all four meetings. As a result, the Bulldogs enter Saturday’s contest as decided favorites, but MSOE does have a boatload of playoff experience. The big question is whether they have enough to overcome a team that has already handled them four times this season.

Hello, Again

In what is becoming MCHA tournament tradition, once again Finlandia and Marian are facing each other in the playoffs. It is this fourth straight season in which the two have met in the postseason.

In 2004-05 the two split a series with Marian winning the mini-game to advance, and the next year the result was the same, with Marian winning a semifinal game, 3-2, in overtime. Finlandia finally came out top last season as they downed the Sabres 6-3 in a semifinal en route to eventually winning the Harris Cup.

This could turn out to be the marquee match-up on Saturday only because things look dead even on paper. Marian has a half game edge in overall record and conference record, but the two split an earlier season series in Finlandia so it’s anyone’s guess as to who will come out on top Saturday.

Finlandia enters the semifinals following a 5-1, 3-1 sweep of Northland while Marian is coming off a 3-2 (ot), 3-1 sweep of Crookston. While both series may have been a tad closer than expected, both coaches are confident with the way their teams played last week.

“I thought we played well,” said Finlandia head coach Joe Burcar. “Their goalie played incredible so give him a lot of credit, but I think we played well, got a lot of good shots and limited their quality shots.”

The take is about the same from Jasen Wise, head coach at Marian

“Last weekend I think we played well, and I think Crookston did to. They did a lot of things well and got good goaltending. I like what we did though and think we are playing well heading into this weekend.”

The similarities don’t end there as both coaches agree this contest is pretty much a crapshoot.

“I think we’re pretty even across the board. We are preparing for a one-goal game and I don’t think it’s going to be a blowout either way,” said Wise

From the Finlandia camp:

“You look at the stats they are identical in everything,” said Burcar. “I think we are looking at a one goal game. Special teams could play a big role as their penalty kill is extremely good and is aggressive, and you know, against our power play.”

The aggressive nature of the Sabre penalty kill cannot be overstated as Marian leads the nation with an astounding 17 shorthanded goals this season.

Burcar singled out the overall speed and aggressive style of Marian as something that gave the Lions fits in an earlier season meeting which the Sabres won, 5-0.

“The biggest thing that sticks out with them is that they are a quick team, they are an aggressive team and they are good along the wall,” he said. “They know their spots real well and their goaltending has been extremely good. They jumped on us up here earlier in the year and next thing you know it’s 5-0.”

Meanwhile, Wise feels depth is strength for his club but is more than willing to offer up that Finlandia presents some strengths of their own.

“They have some forwards who are very offensive. They can score in goals in bunches. They also have a group of seniors who have been here before so we know they are going to play hard. We are definitely going to have our hands full.”

Finlandia’s experience is something that certainly cannot be discounted. The Lions claimed last season’s Harris Cup and have everyone back from that squad. All told, the Lions have 16 upperclassmen on their roster.

“I hope it helps,” said Burcar. “You talk to people who have been in sports for a long time and you always hear about experience. We obviously do have the experience and with the senior class we have I hope experience is one of the X factors heading into this weekend.”

It probably sounds clichéd, but this is a match-up that really is as close as it gets. Their records are nearly identical, their statistics are nearly identical, and their mindsets are nearly identical.

All that remains to be seen is which one will punch a ticket to Sunday’s Harris Cup Finals.

This Week in the ECAC West

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The regular season is over, and playoff hockey is in the air throughout Division III. The ECAC West is no exception. Hobart defeated Neumann 3-2 on Wednesday to keep their season alive. Next up is the semifinal round this Saturday with games hosted by Elmira and Manhattanville.

No. 1 Elmira Soaring Eagles vs. No. 4 Hobart Statesmen

The Elmira coaching staff and players must have let out a bit of a groan a little after 9 p.m. Wednesday when Hobart defeated Neumann in the ECAC West Play-In game. After all, Hobart is the only team that has gone undefeated against Elmira all season long, winning once and tying the Soaring Eagles twice.

Even thought Elmira didn’t know their opponent until late on Wednesday, it hasn’t affected it preparations for Saturday night’s game in the friendly confines of the Thunderdomes.

“The last couple of weeks we have tried to tweak our game a little bit to adapt to the teams that we are playing, but it hasn’t been as successful as we would have liked,” said Elmira coach Tim Ceglarski.

“We are familiar with their systems and it just comes down to being able to using the home ice advantage.”

Hobart has the three day turn around, but immediately after Wednesday’s game they were already thinking ahead to Elmira and the one-and-done nature of the playoff format.

“We tied last time,” said Hobart coach Mark Taylor. “We’ve got to win to get someplace, and so do they. They are a great hockey team.”

Although Hobart has some individual players who have rose above the pack this season, particularly in net and some special freshmen, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts when the Statesmen are hitting on all cylinders.

“The whole team is a strength,” said Taylor. “Definitely great goaltending is a strength, but it is the whole team. We have depth in every position and when that depth comes to play we’ll have a hockey game.”

Elmira, on the other hand, is relying on veteran leadership to get the team ready for the playoffs. Leadership has been critical to the Soaring Eagles’ success all season long.

“We have some veteran leadership that has been in the playoffs before and knows what it takes to get into the national tournament and be successful within our league,” said Ceglarski. “The older guys are definitely going to have to show the rest of our guys the proper way to prepare and play with the level of intensity that is needed to win every game from here on out.”

The Soaring Eagles most likely have at least an NCAA Pool C bid sewn up and are the front runners for the Pool B bid. However, nothing can be taken for granted this time of year since the ECAC West doesn’t receive a Pool A auto-bid. Elmira is looking to sprint into the NCAA tournament starting on Saturday.

“We need to focus in on the big picture,” said Ceglarski. “We have known that we have clinched first place, and some other teams have been jockeying for positions. We just have to realize that no matter what our record is, it could be one loss and the season is over. We don’t want to have to rely on selection committees and others making decisions, instead of us just worrying about ourselves.”

Hobart coach Taylor has harped about consistency to his players for most of the second half of the season. When the entire team plays a full game, the team can compete with anyone and that will be needed on Saturday to keep their season alive.

“All guys need to show up and play good hockey,” said Taylor. “If that happens, it will put us in the best position we can be in. This time of the year, you have to go out there and play your best hockey game.”

No. 2 Manhattanville Valiants vs. No. 3 Utica Pioneers

Manhattanville and Utica split their regular season series right down the middle with a win, a loss, and a tie each. The Valiants took the opening game of the series way back on November 9 with a 3-1 home victory.

But then a late season home-and-home series went Utica’s way, with a 4-4 tie at The Aud and a 4-2 Pioneers victory at Playland.

“Ninety percent of our games with [Utica] have been hard fought and low scoring,” said Manhattanville coach Keith Levinthal. “They are playing really well right now and work extraordinarily hard. We joked that we should trade the home date and play there. For whatever reason, historically we have played extremely well in their rink.”

The Valiants and Pioneers have a long history and quite a rivalry has developed. The teams have met in the ECAC West playoffs two of the last three years, splitting the games between them.

“[Manhattanville is a] big strong team that we always play tight,” said Utica coach Gary Heenan. “It has always been a great rivalry. We seem to play them every single year in the playoffs. They have beaten us here in important games and the playoffs and we have beaten them there in important games and the playoffs. So it is a coin toss.”

The Pioneers are riding a wave of confidence heading into the playoffs. Ever since a holiday trip to Europe, the offense has been rolling. Utica has been averaging nearly twice as many goals per game after the holidays (5.00) as before (2.69).

“The strength we have is that confidence is up right now,” said Heenan. “We have played good hockey the last two months and it has been an upward trend all year. We struggled a little bit early on. The four other teams have been in the national picture all year long, but we have been nowhere to be found. People today are asking how did Utica finish third in that league?”

Meanwhile, the Valiants have been stressing team defense for most of the season, trying to keep the puck out of their own net as they have struggled at times to find the Midas Touch of their own. Manhattanville has gone to extremes at times, including running an extremely boring five man trap February 15 at Elmira, but the variety of tactics have worked to stay in the hunt.

“We have outplayed, out chanced, and out shot pretty much everyone we have played this year,” said Levinthal. “But we haven’t always been able to finish. To the credit of our team, we have done a really good job of limiting teams offensive chances. That has clearly been the best thing we have done all year.”

The Valiants offense is averaging a goal plus per game less this season (2.04) compared to last (3.46), while goals against has stayed even. That difference in scoring has plagued Manhattanville all season.

“We need to finish,” said Levinthal. “It is really hard to win games when you are not stopping pucks and are not scoring goals. We have had too many games where we have had several grade A scoring chances and have come up with nothing. We need to capitalize on those opportunities.”

Utica’s new found offense against Manhattanville’s team defense. Sounds like the ingredients to a whale of a playoff hockey game at Playland Arena.

“The first goal in the playoffs is always important,” concluded Heenan. “We’re riding the tide and feel good about going down there. They have lost less than ten times at home ever, but we have beaten them the most times there of anyone in their building.”

This Week in the ECAC Northeast

By Paul C. Altmeyer Jr.
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The proverbial slate has been wiped clean, and a new season is upon the ECAC NE, which begins Saturday afternoon when the top two seeds, Curry College and UMass-Dartmouth, host their opponents.

All four match-ups will be discussed below, many of which weren’t determined until the regular season ended on Wednesday night.

Curry will host the eighth seed, Fitchburg State, at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 1. Fitchburg State, Salve Regina University and Becker College were all tied with 19 points at the end of the regular season. Newcomer Becker College claimed the sixth seed (based on ECAC tiebreaking criteria number two, number of league wins). Salve Regina finished with the number seven seed (based on ECAC tiebreaking criteria number one, head-to-head play), as they beat the Falcons during the regular season.

#1 Curry vs. #8 Fitchburg State (Mar. 1, 4:30 pm)

On paper, this looks like a mismatch, but Salve Regina hasn’t lost a game in over a month, and along the way they beat UMass-Dartmouth and Fitchburg State, and tied Wentworth. The Colonels earned the first seed by posting a 14-1-1 league record, and come roaring into the playoffs having won eight straight, outscoring their opponents 48-20 in that span.

They boast the most potent offense in the conference, led by the one-two punch of freshman Jason Yuel and junior Jeffrey Hazelwood. In goal, the Colonels have another brilliant combo in sophomores Zach Cardella and Steven Jakiel.

For Fitchburg State, they made the playoffs on the strength of their 8-5-3 record, but they come into the playoffs with just three wins in their last eight games. Freshman Chris Riggs leads the team in scoring with nine goals and 23 assists for 32 points in 25 games. Senior Devan McConnell has been a workhorse in goal for the Falcons, seeing action in 23 games while recording a .917 save percentage, 2.65 goals against average, and a 12-7-4 record. In the only game between these two teams this season, they skated to a 3-3 draw back in November.

#2 UMass-Dartmouth vs. #7 Salve Regina (Mar. 1, 4:30 pm)

UMass-Dartmouth comes in riding a five game winning streak, and a record of 13-3-0 in the league. Three more wins means they would earn their third straight ECAC NE banner. Up front, Jeff Grant leads the way for the Corsairs, and more than half of his 17 goals came on the power play, so Salve Regina will have to be wary of taking too many penalties.

Freshman Joseph Hill had a big first year, scoring 10 goals with 21 assists for 31 points in 24 games. UMass-Dartmouth goalie Jeff Green has been outstanding all year long, going 14-8-1 overall, and leading the conference with a 2.30 goals against average.

Salve Regina rode the tails of a seven game unbeaten streak to round out the regular season with an 8-5-3 league mark. Freshman goalie Pat Enloe’s .919 save percentage ties him for best in the league. Senior Mike Mallette registered an even 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points to lead the Seahawks. Salve Regina also will look for offense from forwards Tyler Trott and Conor McCahill. Both scored 10 times this season.

In head-to-head play between UMass-Dartmouth and Salve Regina this year, the teams split a pair of games, with the Corsairs winning, 3-1, in a non-conference game at Portsmouth Abbey Jan. 16, and Salve Regina taking a 4-3 victory at Hetland Feb. 6. The Corsairs have not lost since that date.

#3 Nichols vs. #6 Becker (Mar. 1, 8:30 pm)

Nichols earned the number three seed on the strength of a 12-4-0 league record, and tied a school record for wins, with 18. They come into post-season play sporting a 10-4 record this semester, and their last three losses were all by one goal, with two of those games decided in overtime.

They’re led by junior forward Anthony Monte, who was tied for first in overall scoring in the conference with 19 goals and 29 assists for 48 points in 25 games. (Matt McGilvray of Johnson & Wales also finished with 48 points, scoring 28 goals and getting 20 assists in 25 games.) Nichols skates 10 freshmen every game, but that fact doesn’t faze coach Lou Izzi one bit, especially when two of them, John Haley and Will Munson, averaged more than a point per game.

For Becker, they went 9-6-1 in league play, and making the playoffs is quite an achievement, for two reasons: this was their first year in the league, and the team is consisted primarily of freshmen and sophomores. Sophomore Jared Kersner led the team in scoring with 15 goals and 10 assists for 25 points in 24 games. Freshmen Anthony Libonati averaged a point per game, with a dozen goals and a dozen assists. These teams played twice this year, with Nichols taking both games in closely played contests.

#4 Wentworth vs. #5 Suffolk (Mar. 2, 6:00 pm)

In this battle of the Beantown boys, two teams with similar records face off. Wentworth earned the fourth seed with a 10-5-1 league record, and Suffolk wasn’t far behind with a 10-6 mark. Wentworth is led up front by senior forward Matt Koehler, who tallied 14 goals and added eight assists.

Also dangerous up front for the Leopards are sophomore Dave Lewandowski, (10 goals, 11assists, 21 points,) and freshman Geric Brodt (eight goals 12 assists, 20 points.) Sophomore Justin Marriott recorded a .909 save percentage, 3.37 goals against average while going 9- 9- 1 in net.

For Suffolk, they’re led by junior Kyle Cook who scored 16 goals and added 18 assists for 34 points on the season; and senior Dan Pencinger, who had 21 goals and 12 assists for 33 points. Together, they accounted for nearly half (11) of the Rams 23 power play goals. In goal, rookie Jeff Rose was a stalwart, seeing action in all 25 games, posting a .910 save percentage and a 3.18 goals against average.

Both of these teams suffered through long losing streaks this year, and in both cases, neither team could muster more than a three game winning streak. This is perhaps the most evenly matched up series of all four. In the only meeting this year between the two teams, Suffolk won, 5-3, in November.

After the quarterfinals are sorted out, the semifinals will take place on Wed. Mar. 5 at the two highest remaining seeds. The championship will be decided on Saturday, March 8 at the rink of the highest remaining seed, with the victor receiving the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III championships.

This Week in D-I Women’s Hockey: Feb. 28, 2008

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The call came regarding Denver, Thursday, and it the message it contained left Laura Fast feeling “Mile High” in St. Cloud.

Fast, a senior captain at SCSU, was one of a select group of exceedingly talented women to get those calls, inviting them to take part in the NCAA’s Frozen Four Skills Challenge, to be staged Apr. 11 at the Pepsi Center as part of this year’s Fro4Festivities.

She said it was about the furthest thing from her mind, as she and her Huskies mates commenced prepping for the coming WCHA first round playoff set with Ohio State.

“I’m kind of shocked,” Fast said, by phone, moments after finishing her dry land work out session, her voice still betraying a quiver, “but I’m very excited. I think it’s a privilege, and I’m very excited.”

To be precise, Fast didn’t take the call herself. Instead she was the last on her block (as it were) to find out, having gotten word of her selection from an SCSU assistant.

“Actually,” she said, “I was just walking down the hall in our rink. And one of my coaches just said ‘hey, skills comp!’. I said ‘what?’, and then he told me that I made it. So it was kind of shock. It was a just out-of-the-blue kind of thing.”

The scene was likely repeated 15 more times around the country, as the invitations began to filter out, saying, “Please, please come and be part of this groovy thing, and oh, by the way, strut your stuff before more people than you‘ve ever seen in your whole life.“.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the exact wording.

But you get the idea.

“Now that you put it that way,” said Fast, “it’s kind of nerve wracking. I think it’s just exciting to see that kind of caliber of hockey, and to be around it is just going to be really neat. And to be a part of.”

While Fast appreciates being having been asked to join the party, she also takes to heart the issue of representing the womens’ game in such a high profile venue.

“I think it’s a great accomplishment,” she said, “for women in general to be a part of a great thing. NCAA hockey is just huge for men, and it’s becoming a lot larger for women. To have the women’s aspect be known is just great for all women in the sport.”

The players will be divided into two squads, East and West, with each including two goaltenders.

Skating for the East will be Hayley Moore (Brown), Jaclyn Hawkins (Connecticut), Martine Garland and her New Hampshire teammate Jennifer Hitchcock, Marykate Oakley (Princeton) and St. Lawrence’s Sabrina Harbec. Fellow Saint Meghan Guckian and Sacred Heart’s Sarah Perry will be the goalies.

Joining Fast on the West side will be Ohio State’s Tessa Bonhomme, Courtney DeHoey (Lake Forest), Karine Demeule (Minnesota Duluth), Bobbi Ross (Minnesota), and Shannon Moulson, (Niagara), along with netminders Laura Hosier (Mercyhurst) and Britni Kehler (Minne State, Mankato).

All of the above are from D-I institutions except for DeHoey, who plays for Carisa Zaban at Lake Forest. Zaban, in her days at UNH, was one of the most dynamic players your faithful correspondent has ever seen (either gender), and would have been a tap-in choice for inclusion had this “Skills Thing” been around a decade ago.

(Didn’t mean to bleed over into D-III colleague Derek Dunning’s territory, but it had to be said.)

As for how one practices for such a showcase, Fast was completely candid.

“I have no idea,” she said.

Fast had a better notion as to making preparation for the best-of-three set with Ohio State, which the Huskies will host.

St. Cloud comes into the WCHA playoffs on a four-game skid.

But considering that all four losses were dealt out by heavyweights Minnesota and Duluth, Fast said the Huskies’ psyche is in fine shape as they brace for the Buckeyes.

“It’s just an exciting time of year to play,” said Fast. “Playoff hockey is great hockey. Our team is just raring to go. We just want to start playoffs, and get through to the end.”

St. Cloud went 2-1-1 against OSU during the season.

“I’m just glad we have the series at home,” said Fast. “Our rink’s a lot bigger than theirs. We’re hoping to make them work more.”

Then again, one Buckeye who thrives on ice time is Bonhomme, the standout blue liner, who besides being ticketed for the Fro4Fest, was also among eight Patty Kazmaier Award finalists (her second such nod) named during the past week.

Bonhomme performed yeoman’s duty against the Huskies, plucking three grapes and two apples (hockey slang, use it or lose it) in the four games. She also launched 21 shots in those tilts while grading out at plus-three.

Fast knows firsthand what a handful Bonhomme can be.

“She’s a great player,” Fast said. “She works really hard. She’s one of their leaders, and you’ve got to battle those kind of players. Respect them, but not give them too much room to do what they can with their skills. She sees the ice really well, and if you give her room, she’ll skate with it. I think not giving her time to (work) is really going to be a factor for us.”

This Week in MIAC

By Josh Carey
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Setting the Field

The quarterfinal matchups are set in the MIAC with Hamline hosting St. John’s and Bethel traveling to St. Thomas on Saturday. Let’s take a look at how we got here before we delve into this weekend’s match-ups.

Bethel was idle for the final week of the regular season, with St. Thomas lurking in second place, just two points back. A sweep and the Tommies would be guaranteed the title. They started off their attempt against St. Olaf on Friday. John Paulson netted his fifth goal of the year to kick starting the scoring for the Oles.

But Tom Knutson responded on the power play at the end of the frame to even it up at one. A scoreless second meant the Oles had an opportunity to open it up in the third, and they did, scoring three unanswered for the victory.

Meanwhile Dustin Fulton and Andrew Birkholz were powering Hamline past the Johnnies. The Pipers had a 1-0 lead after the first and never looked back, winning by a margin of 4-1. The win pushed Hamline past St. Thomas after their loss and in position to win the league title outright.

“After we beat St. John’s we were in the locker room and everybody kind of quieted down.” Pipers coach Scott Bell said. “First thing I said was ‘St. Olaf 4, St. Thomas 1’ and that was probably the loudest eruption we’ve had in our locker room all year.”

The other two games of the night saw Gustavus Adolphus lock up a playoff spot with a 6-1 win over the Concordia Cobbers. The Gusties went 4-for-11 on the power play in the win. Rory Dynan had three helpers in the win.

St. Mary’s needed to sweep Augsburg and see Gustavus lose two games to have a shot at the postseason. The Cardinals did their part with a 4-3 victory over the Auggies, but were eliminated by the Gustes’ win. St. Mary’s went 4-for-7 on the power play, including two goals by David Gross on the man advantage.

On Saturday, Gustavus put 42 shots on net in a 10-1 victory over the Cobbers. David Martinson led the way with 3 goals and two assists, and eight players had two or more points in the game. The win would give Gustavus a home game on Thursday if Hamline was able to knock off St. John’s.

It looked as if the Johnnies were not going to cooperate as they took a 3-0 lead out of the first period, including a shorthanded goal by Gabriel Harren with just 22 seconds remaining in the period.

“Our power play was fantastic,” Bell said of the opportunities his team received in the second period on the man advantage, including a 5-on-3 goal by Jared Hummel that cut the Johnnies lead to 4-3.

“That was only our second 5-on-3 in 25 games. Hummel’s dad said to him after the game ‘What are you doing in front on the 5-on-3 power play’ and [Hummel] said ‘Dad, I’ve been on the 5-on-3 all year in practice and we’ve just never had one in a game.’”

With the league title on the line, Dustin Fulton put in his 20th goal of the season to give the Pipers the win and the regular season title. Matt Wanvig got the victory after relieving Zachery Faust after the first period.

“It’s tremendous for our kids,” said Bell, commenting on winning the title in just his third year behind the bench.. “All the stuff we’ve been through and all the obstacles we’ve had to overcome to get here, it’s just that much more satisfying.”

As a result of the Pipers win, the best St. Thomas could do would be second place with a win over St. Olaf. The Tommies put 46 shots on net and seven different players had a goal in the 7-2 win. Tyler Chestnut got the win in net, locking up a home playoff game for the Tommies.

And in the final game for both teams, Augsburg pulled off the victory over St. Mary’s 5-4. Chris Johnson, Jim Jensen and Mario Mjelleli all had at least three points for the Auggies, which was enough to overcome a great team effort by the Cardinals. Eight players for St. Mary’s had at least one point in the game.

That guaranteed the playoff match-ups of Bethel at St. Thomas and Hamline playing the winner of Thursday’s 4-5 game between St. John’s and Gustavus Adolphus.

“Our kids are excited to be in the playoffs.” John Harrington, head coach at St. John’s said this week. “Our playoffs aren’t a back-to-back-to-back thing so we can focus on one game at a time.”

Thursday night saw the Johnnies travel to Gustavus for the right to play the Pipers. Clayton Rehm opened up the scoring for St. John’s in the first period just over five minutes into the game.

The Gusties responded with two quick goals to take a 2-1 lead. But the seesaw continued as the Johnnies got two back, including a shorthanded goal by Mike Wallgren with 1:50 left in the period to give St. John’s a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.

Gustavus Aldophus tied it back up at 16:25 of the second, but a late power play gave the Johnnies the lead again at the close of the second as Jake Hipp made it 4-3 after two periods. Four minutes and 36 seconds into the third Joel Stacklie put in the insurance goal that made the eventual final score of 5-3. The victory gives St. John’s a day off before they travel to play regular season champion Hamline.

“It gives you a chance to refocus on the next team,” Harrington said of having the extra day. “With a day off we can evaluate what we did the night before and hopefully put our best our best foot forward in the next one.”

Semifinal Round

Four teams remain in the quest for the MIAC at-large bid. One game matches the previous two conference champions, while another matches an upstart regular season champion against a team that played just two days beforehand.

The contest between Bethel and St. Thomas will be a goaltending duel as two sophomore sensations take to the crease. St. Thomas’ Tyler Chestnut (15-6-2, 2.23 goals against average, .905 save percentage) will face Bethel’s Aaron Damjanovich (16-5-2, 2.79,.918). The Tommies 25.8% power play will go up against a Bethel penalty kill that kills 83.5% of their penalties. On the flip side, Bethel’s 23.8% man advantage will face the outstanding 88.2% kill rate of the Tommies.

St. Thomas will be relying on their top seniors of Nick Pernula, Nate Ryan, and Andy Panchenko, each of whom is averaging above a point per game on the season. Bethel will counter with Jeff Balvin, Dan Bonne, Kent Bostrom, Brad Peterson and Matt Hall — all upperclassmen who have at least 30 points in 24 games played.

The question of this series becomes which offense will come out firing, and which goaltender will be up to the task. St. Thomas has a slight advantage on the special teams, which could prove to be the difference in a game that has the potential to be extremely close.

The other match-up places the regular season champion Hamline Pipers against the St. John’s Johnnies. Vince Wheeler (13-11-2, 2.88, .885) will face one of the Pipers two excellent options between the pipes, either Zachery Faust (5-3-3, 2.44 GAA, .906) or Matt Wanvig (9-2-1, 2.72 GAA, .898).

Hamline brings an impressive offense into the contest, led by junior Dustin Fulton whose 20 goals and 26 assists lead the team. Joe Long, Jared Hummel and Andrew Birkholz are among those Hamline players also above a point per game. The Johnnies send Pat Eagles, Gabriel Harren and Pat Connelly, of which only Eagles has above a point per game.

The challenge for St. John’s will be capitalizing on special teams. The Johnnies kill just 76.8 % of their penalties, while the Pipers are near the top of D-III with a 32.8 conversion rate on the man advantage. Their kill also hits above average at 81.6 percent.

The bottom line in this series is that St. John’s will have to stay out of the penalty box and keep the Pipers from getting opportunities on the man advantage that could lead to the game quickly getting out of hand. If they can stay out of the box and take advantage of even-strength opportunities, the Johnnies have a chance to pull off the upset.

The winners of these two games will meet in the championship game next Wednesday for a chance to secure the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.

This Week in the CCHA: Feb. 28, 2008

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Virtual Hardware, Part 2

I’m limiting each all-league team to six players.

The Girl Reporter All-CCHA Team

Ryan Jones (F, Miami)
Chad Kolarik (F, UM)
Kevin Porter (F, UM)
Kevin Roeder (D, Miami)
Brock Sheahan (D, ND)
Billy Sauer (G, UM)

Porter and Roeder earned this last season as well. Porter, who got my nod for Player of the Year last week, is just everything a college hockey player should be. Roeder is quietly the best stay-at-home D-man in the league, perhaps in the country.

Just as last year, there were many tough choices to be made. The league is deep in absolutely every position, and no more so than defensively. This year’s junior blueliners are especially impressive: Mark Mitera (UM), Alec Martinez (Miami), Kevin Schmidt (BGSU), Tyler Eckford (UA), Juha Uotila (UNO). All juniors, all excellent.

And this team leaves out great players on every team, including many personal favorites.

Congratulations to everyone for a great season.

The Girl Reporter All-Rookie CCHA Team of Guys Who Don’t Play for Michigan

Carter Camper (F, Miami)
Jacob Cepis (F, BGSU)
Mark Olver (F, NMU)
Erik Gustafsson (D, NMU)
Jeff Petry (D, MSU)
Nick Eno (G, BGSU)

Wolverine fans will grouse. Keep reading.

The Girl Reporter All-Rookie CCHA Team of Guys Who Do Play for Michigan

Max Pacioretty, F
Matt Rust, F
Louie Caporusso, F
Scooter Vaughn, D
Tristan Llewellyn, D
Bryan Hogan, G

They may be the best team in the country, and they may have the best rookie class that the league has seen in over a decade — and so many of them that the best of the rest of the league is in danger of being ignored if the Wolverines are not separately honored.

Hogan has an assist, too, which is a big bonus for a goaltender who’s only played 244 minutes.

My awards, my rules.

The Girl Reporter All-Goon Squad

What a paradoxical year for the connoisseurs of crunch in the CCHA. The league produced six of the top 10 most-penalized teams in the nation — in spite of (because of?) its recent penalty rules-reform leadership — yet the majority of the penalties have been so pedestrian. Two minutes for ticky-tackiness here; another two for looky-lookiness there.

Boring, boring, boring. While the league should be commended for its attempts at enforcing a cleaner game, the CCHA can also be faulted for creating many stop-and-start contests that are counterproductive to the league’s presumed main goal of promoting the game of hockey. Some 20-minute periods become unwatchable, as whistle after whistle robs teams and fans alike of anything resembling the graceful ebb and flow of the sport we love.

I’m sure that the league would protest that I’m killing the messenger (a role, of course, with which I am utterly unfamiliar) and that if only teams and players would adhere more strictly to the rules, this wouldn’t be a problem. It’s a fair argument, but the result is the same: many boring contests with no flow and no real sense of the game.

There were notable, outright CCHA brawls this season, more so than in recent years. Certainly, the level of play within the league was even better in 2007-08 than in last season, fueling frustration and emotion that often found inappropriate outlets.

But every year, there are players whose passion gets the best of them, both benefiting and hurting their team’s causes. The Girl Reporter All-Goon Squad honors those young men who are willing to risk the box for many reasons, and honors some who do so with unique, individual style.

So many repeat offenders, so little time. This year’s squad is diminished by the notable absence of Zack Pelletier, the bone-crushing Buckeye whose penalty-free hits can change the momentum of the game. Pelletier has assured the press that he’ll return next year post-injury, ready to play as he always has.

Happy thought on a cold winter’s day.

Chris Frank, WMU

With only 63 minutes this season (99 last year), this junior defenseman has nonetheless distinguished himself on a team that is fifth in the nation for minutes per game. It was Frank who willingly rejoined the brawl that interrupted the Western Michigan-Bowling Green game with 12 seconds remaining Jan. 18, dragging CCHA official Neil Stafford with him into the fray.

Lest we forget, all 10 skaters got the DQs for that — perhaps they should all be honored — and the teams combined for 207 penalty minutes in the contest.

But given Frank’s history, it wasn’t merely fortuitous that he was on the ice when the fight began. He paid a heavier fine than everyone but his defensive partner of the night, Jordan Collins. Both Frank and Collins earned extra two-minute minors and 10-minute misconducts.

Jordan Collins, WMU

See above. See also that Collins, a sophomore, had 17 penalties for 64 minutes in just 19 games. It took his teammate 33 games for his 63 minutes.

Justin Abdelkader, MSU

Here’s a player I just love. He shoots, he scores, he gets in your face. This is the third straight Goon-Squad honor for Abdelkader, who has 33 penalties for 85 minutes. He also has 14 goals and 16 assists, making him fourth on the defending national champion Spartans in scoring.

I’m so glad he’s a junior.

Ryan Jones, Miami

Second in the nation in goals per game, Jones — also making his third appearance on this list — plays my favorite kind of dirty. He’s the Great Instigator, who, like Abdelkader, can agitate to the point of changing the momentum in a game.

He’s also a purist, with 31 penalties for 62 minutes. Every penalty a two-minute infraction. I have to respect that.

In fact, he reminds me of someone who used to play for another CCHA squad, who spent much time in the box but all in two-minute increments. That player, former Nanook Aaron Voros, is now with the Minnesota Wild — which is where Jones is heading. Think of the possibilities.

But Jones is more disciplined than Voros was in his CCHA days, and his Fabio-like tresses are destined for Locks of Love, a wonderful organization that provides hairpieces for kids who have lost their hair because of illness.

Talk about the embodiment of a college hockey player.

Matt Rust, UM

Here’s a kid who may be cut from the same cloth as Abdelkader and Jones, an mischievous, passionate player who can score both ugly and with finesse. This Wolverine freshman had 19 penalties for 57 minutes, and has great potential.

Zac MacVoy, LSSU

One of the reasons that sophomore forward MacVoy earns a place on this squad is that he has 22 penalties for 71 minutes in 30 games played for a team that is averaging just 14 minutes per contest. There are six CCHA teams among the top 10 in penalties in the nation, and Lake Superior State is No. 34 in the country.

Talk about distinguishing yourself.

Blair Riley, FSU

This list just wouldn’t feel complete without a Ferris State Bulldog to represent, and Riley — a sophomore with 78 minutes (21 penalties) — is the perfect Bulldog for the job.

The Bowling Green Falcons

It’s unusual to name an entire squad to the goon squad, but I’m calling it like I see it. The Falcons are tough, hard-working, they take the body whenever they can, and they — ahem — “use their sticks” more creatively than any team I’ve seen in ages.

They’re third in the nation in PIMs per game, averaging 19.6. Yes, the numbers are inflated because of the brawl with Western Michigan Jan. 18.

Yes, the Falcons were absolutely in that fight.

Playoff Chatter

As interesting as the first half of the CCHA season was, the second half has been even more so, with several teams emerging as real postseason contenders.

It is not beyond the realm of possibility to see more than one CCHA team in Denver this year. I love the way the Spartans are playing now, Michigan is not overrated as some have suggested and the RedHawks … well, the RedHawks have the talent.

It is also not beyond the realm of possibility to see some second-round playoff upsets this year. Those middle-pack teams are good and they’re (mostly) playing their best hockey of the year just as they’re finishing up the regular season.

Four teams — Bowling Green, Northern Michigan, Ferris State, Nebraska Omaha — are tied for fifth place right now, each with 26 points. UNO cannot earn more league points, as its CCHA play is over for the season, so the Falcons, Wildcats and Bulldogs each have chances to differentiate themselves from the others, but each also has a wickedly hard row to hoe this weekend.

I’m not going to get into every permutation of every possible playoff scenario, long ago having admitted to being a right-brained kind of thinker.

Falcons, Wildcats, Bulldogs…and Mavericks

BGSU, NMU, and FSU each have home-and-home series to end the regular season. The Falcons play Michigan State, the Bulldogs play Michigan, and the Wildcats play Lake Superior.

Last year, the Falcons and Spartans exchanged a pair of wins in each other’s buildings to end the regular season, so the Falcons know they can win in Munn. Consistency has been the big problem for the Falcons last season and this, but this year BG has more wins to show for effort and better goaltending thanks to Brian Eno.

However, of the four teams hosting the first round of the CCHA playoffs, I think Bowling Green is the most beatable; should BG win its first-round playoff series, I don’t expect it to win beyond that.

On the surface it may look as though NMU has the best chance to pick up points, but consider that the Lakers are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games, and two of their three losses came to Michigan — and both of those were 4-2 games with empty-netters.

Still, the Wildcats are 5-1-2 in their last eight, with two ties against Michigan, two wins over Michigan State, and that last-second loss to OSU in Columbus. NMU looks really complete heading into the last weekend and the playoffs, and sophomore goaltender Brian Stewart is giving them that proverbial chance in every game. Last weekend, Stewart made 65 saves in a home sweep of the offensively talented Mavericks.

Of the four teams hosting a first-round CCHA playoff series, I’d nominate NMU as the team most likely to upset a first-round bye team. We could see the Wildcats at Joe Louis Arena. Like the Wolverines (and the Buckeyes), the ‘Cats have a large, enthusiastic freshman class that probably hasn’t learned its limitations yet, which is a good thing in playoff hockey.

The Bulldogs are 4-1-1 in their last six, having taken three points from ranked Notre Dame and four from ranked Miami in that stretch, but the Wolverines have beaten them six straight. The ‘Dogs are another team that could win beyond the first round of the CCHA playoffs.

As for the Mavericks, the team that has to wait out this weekend in nonleague and exhibition play, I don’t think UNO has the goaltending to advance to Joe Louis Arena. The Mavericks have a creative, talented offense and I’ve been wrong before, so don’t take it to Vegas.

Nanooks, Buckeyes, Lakers, and Broncos. Oh My.

Alaska is the other CCHA team that has finished with league play, and is therefore awaiting this weekend’s results to see where it finishes. The Nanooks are in ninth place right now and likely to stay there. With OSU and LSSU tied for 10th and each three points behind UA, only the Lakers can catch the Nanooks, and they’d need two wins outright over NMU to jump them in league standings. Points won’t do it, since an LSSU win and tie would still give UA the first tie-breaker, number of league wins.

That means that the ‘Nooks wait to see if they travel to Omaha, their most likely and least fortunate destination. While the perennially partnered Nanooks and Mavericks know each other well, the advantage is all UNO’s; the Mavs are 7-2-3 against the ‘Nooks in the last three seasons.

Ohio State has improved steadily as the season has progressed, with its large and talented freshman class coming into its own. I’m especially impressed with the play-making ability and puck-touch of forward Kyle Reed, the consistency of defenseman Corey Toy, and the outright competitive passion of Peter Boyd.

In recent weeks, I’ve also seen glimpses of the old Tom Fritsche, the guy who could pluck plays out of thin air before illness robbed him of so much. His classmate, Tommy Goebel, has emerged as one of the best forwards in the league. And OSU’s goaltending is very good.

But I know them. I know them well. I don’t know where they’re going next weekend, but I do know that they’re likely to be home the weekend after that. If they had another month of regular-season preparation, they’d be in the running to upset. But they don’t, and they’re not.

The Lakers are enigma. They’re scrappy, they’re scoring more goals than they did a year ago, but their goaltending hampers them. You have to have goalies that are saving at least 90 percent to be competitive.

The Broncos are firing on no cylinders. After showing such improvement a year ago, WMU has to be the most disappointing team of the year. With one win in the second half of the season, the Broncos have been outscored 62-28 since Jan. 1, and they’ve been shut out twice in their last four contests. It’s easy to predict an early exit for WMU.

Miami

Miami troubles me. That four-game swoon reminded me what happened last year. The RedHawks had a weekend off before they welcomed Michigan to Steve Cady Arena Feb. 8-9, when they took just one point from the Wolverines. Then they went to Big Rapids and lost twice to unranked Ferris State, giving up six goals in one contest to the Bulldogs.

Remember, the RedHawks are still the top defense in the country, allowing 1.80 goals per game. But they were allowing fewer on average before those two weekends in which they were outscored 19-13.

Sure, they rebounded by sweeping the Broncos last weekend by a collective score of 10-1, and they’re on a three-game streak after beating Ohio State 2-1 Tuesday night, but Tuesday’s game was close and in spite of the one-goal contest, goaltender Jeff Zatkoff has looked better.

Last year, the RedHawks had a first-round bye and lost in two straight to Lake Superior State. This year, they had a four-game winless streak after a week off. They’ll have a bye this season, too.

Don’t think. It can only hurt the team.

Next Week

The first round of the playoffs and hockey in my adopted home state.

Earning Their Stripes

By Elliot Olshansky
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The record books will show that Princeton locked up its first outright Ivy League title on February 16 with a 5-2 win over Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., but there was still a matter to be settled seven days later at Hobey Baker Rink, when Cornell came to town.

“That’s absolutely a big thing,” said Tigers captain Mike Moore. “After we knew that we won the Ivy League championship, we still had an Ivy League game to play against the top Ivy League team that’s been there for the last four years that I’ve been playing.”

“When we started, Cornell was one of the premier programs, and they still are,” said Moore’s classmate, Keith Shattenkirk. “To be able to say that we’re up there with them is a great accomplishment.”

Of course, the fact that the Tigers were wrapping up their Ivy League hockey championship as the Big Red took another step towards the Ivy men’s basketball title just may be evidence that we’ve slipped into some Ivy League athletics version of the Twilight Zone, but Princeton’s 2-1 win over Cornell on Saturday made for a nice summary of just how Guy Gadowsky’s team has been able to enjoy so much success this season.

For starters, there was the Tigers’ big line, and more specifically, there was Brett Wilson.

The junior from Calgary, whose line with classmate Lee Jubinville and sophomore Cam MacIntyre has delivered more than a third of the Tigers’ offense this season, scored the eventual game-winning goal with 5:55 gone in the second period, one-timing a pass from MacIntyre past Cornell’s Ben Scrivens to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead (defenseman Jody Pederson scored in the first period). A huge goal, to be certain, but at its core, it was just another example of Wilson and his mates delivering at a key moment for the Tigers.

“There’s people that like to score goals,” Gadowsky said, “and then there’s people who live to score goals, and Willie’s one of those people who lives to do it. You can be in the top row of the balcony, and you can see his eyes light up when there’s a chance to score a goal. He is one of those guys that will literally do anything to score a goal.”

Then, there was confidence, not to mention mental toughness.

Late in the second period, MacIntyre scored what should have been Princeton’s third goal of the evening, but the puck bounced off the spine of the cage and out of the net before either the goal judge or referee Bill Bredin could see it. The breaks of the game appeared to be going against the Tigers, and a lesser team, one that didn’t believe it was supposed to win — and a Princeton team could certainly be forgiven for thinking such things against Cornell, given the two schools’ respective hockey histories — may well have faltered, left to protect a 2-1 lead in the third period thanks to bad luck (and possibly bad officiating).

However, there were no heads hung in the Princeton locker room, and no lack of confidence shown as the Tigers held off the Big Red over the final 20 minutes.

“I give the guys a lot of credit,” Gadowsky said, “because I think it was pretty obvious to a lot of people in the stands what happened, and I think it was a big letdown: 3-1 is a big difference than 2-1, and I give them a lot of credit for staying up, and not getting down, and they showed some strong mental toughness.”

While Gadowsky is proud of that toughness, though, he’s not taking any credit for it.

“That’s not me cultivating anything,” Gadowsky said. “That’s Mike Moore, that’s Landis [Stankievich], that’s Shatty [Shattenkirk], that’s Hags [Kyle Hagel], that’s Prids [Erik Pridham], and that’s guys like [alumni] Darrell Powe and Pat Nuendorfer. That’s not me.”

The Tiger seniors certainly take pride in that aspect of their leadership.

“One thing we stress is being mentally tough, facing adversity” Moore said. “That’s one thing we talk about going into the playoffs. We’re going to face some adversity, and that just builds our confidence, when we’re able to face some adversity, like bad calls that we think should have gone our way, and being able to stay mentally tough and fight through that.”

All the while, there was Zane Kalemba, the Tigers’ sophomore goaltender, who made 23 saves against the Big Red, including 11 in the third period when the Tigers only mustered three shots on goal themselves. According to Gadowsky, Kalemba’s role in Princeton’s success this season extends far beyond his solid, but unspectacular, numbers (15-7-0, 2.55 GAA, .910 SV%).

“More importantly than the saves he makes,” Gadowsky said, “the way he plays, I think, is a real big factor for us. He’s just so calm. If you just looked at him, and you didn’t look at the fans and you didn’t look at the score, you’d think he was playing a noontime hockey shinny game. He has such a calming effect, especially for a team that has such a young defense, the way he plays is as important as the results he gets. It starts from him.”

For his part, Kalemba may understand the significance of the Tigers’ achievements this season better than anyone else on the team. Growing up an hour away from Old Nassau in Saddle Brook, N.J. Kalemba is the only native of the Garden State on the Princeton roster, and his mask — a tiger-striped design with a photo of Hobey Baker on the right side and Albert Einstein on the left — speaks to his immersion in the school’s culture. As such, he may have the most perspective of anyone in the locker room as to just how far this team has come.

“It’s great to see hockey in New Jersey, and especially hockey at Princeton, getting a lot of support,” Kalemba said. “It’s a testament to what Coach Gadowsky has done in the last four years, bringing in quality players, and just what he expects of us, day in and day out.”

Finally, at the end, there are greater things to come.

There may yet be a Cleary Cup in the Tigers’ future should they find success this weekend at Clarkson and St. Lawrence, or a Whitelaw Cup and trip to the NCAA tournament should they battle past the Golden Knights, Saints or whoever else may cross their path in the ECAC Hockey playoffs. However, with a Princeton education, Gadowsky’s players likely have bright futures awaiting them off the ice, and for Tigers senior Landis Stankievich, a rare opportunity lies in his immediate future.

Stankievich was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in December and will head to Oxford University after he graduates, where he hopes to study philosophy, politics and economics before working on environmental issues.

“I’ve had a few personal successes,” Stankievich said, “and I think a lot of them really come from the same characteristics that make our team great. Off the ice, in school, I just work hard. I may have a few natural abilities in the classroom, but if I didn’t work hard, I wouldn’t be where I was out there. Part of my Rhodes scholarship was definitely dependent on my being on this hockey team, and it being a successful team. I owe the guys in the room a great amount of thanks, and I’m deeply indebted to them and the coaching staff.”

The head of that coaching staff isn’t quite sure of the connection between the Rhodes Scholarship and an Ivy League championship, but he does know that the character of Stankievich and his teammates is a key component of the Tigers’ success, on and off the ice.

“The quality of your team is as good as the quality of your individuals,” Gadowsky said. “I don’t know how good a hockey team we are, but I know that I’ll put these 26 guys up against any 26 athletes in the world in terms of quality, intelligence, and just great people.”

Finally, behind it all, there is Gadowsky himself. While the former Alaska coach is self-effacing when it comes to the culture he has created at Baker Rink, his role in all of this is not lost on his players.

“He can’t be credited enough for turning the program around,” Moore said. “It started there, and it’s amazing to see where we’ve come, and we’re not done yet.”

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Feb. 28, 2008

By
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What We Know, Vol. III

Two games left, four points up for grabs. What does it mean to your team? Let’s find out.

Clarkson and Princeton are assured of finishing in the top two, but the order is yet to be determined, with the Knights only a solitary point ahead of the Tigers. Can’t wait Friday night’s showdown, I can say that much!

Harvard is in third, but only a point ahead of Union and Cornell. To control their own destiny, the least the Crimson have to do to win a first-round bye is beat the Big Red at Lynah on Saturday. Piece of cake, right? Should Harvard defeat Colgate on Friday, a tie on Saturday will also earn the Cantabs a week off.

If Union sweeps, it’ll have a bye week. If the Dutch end up tied for fourth with Cornell, they’re in as well, as they swept the Red in the regular season — their first series win against CU since 1997-98. Cornell can sweep to assure itself of a top-four finish. Anything less, however, and the Red will need some help.

Quinnipiac needs at least two points to have a shot at the bye week, but the Bobcats need help to get there, no matter how well they may fare this weekend.

Colgate, three points out of fourth, needs to sweep the weekend to have a prayer. Obviously, the Raiders would need the Dutch and Red to go pointless and QU to earn one, max. It’s a bit of a longshot, as they say. Ditto for Yale.

Fortunately for the aforementioned teams, home ice in the first round is the worst they can do. Brown, Dartmouth, Rensselaer and St. Lawrence are all hitting the road next weekend; that much has been assured. Where they’re headed, however, is still up in the air. (What are the odds that SLU might actually prefer the short drive to Cheel in the second round? Ok, ok, I’m getting ahead of myself.)

And now more of what we know.

Relevant head-to-head tiebreakers:
HH = Head-to-Head; W = Wins

• Clarkson has no relevant tiebreakers
• Princeton beats Harvard (W)
• Harvard beats Union (HH), Quinnipiac (HH) and Yale (HH)
• Union beats Cornell (HH) and Quinnipiac (HH)
• Cornell beats Quinnipiac (HH), Colgate (HH) and Yale (HH)
• Quinnipiac beats Yale (HH)
• Yale beats Colgate (HH)
• Colgate beats Quinnipiac (HH)
• Brown beats St. Lawrence (HH) and Dartmouth (HH)
• Rensselaer beats Dartmouth (HH) and St. Lawrence (HH)
• Dartmouth does not hold a head-to-head tiebreaker so far.
• St. Lawrence does not hold a head-to-head tiebreaker so far.

Eye on the Tiger

It’s been nearly a decade since opposing coaches have had cause to circle the Princeton game on their schedules.

That’s because 1998-99 was the last time the Tigers finished with a winning record. In the eight complete seasons since, the Garden State Ivy had gone 72-138-20 under the tutelage of three different head coaches, without ever so much as attaining .500 by season’s end. It’s been the longest sub-par drought in the league.

Princeton racked up 20 losses and finished 10th in the ECAC as recently as 2004-05, in Guy Gadowsky’s first season. This came on the heels of a 24-loss ’03-04 (with a last-place finish) … and a program-high 26 losses in ’02-03 (also last).

Calling this season a “surprise” is like calling Ronaldinho “unattractive.” How’d they do it?

Since Gadowsky arrived from Alaska, the Orange and Black have been steadily climbing the standings, from the 10th-place finish in ’04-05, to ninth the following season, to a strong sixth last year — the program’s best finish since ’01-02.

“From our standpoint, maybe the most important thing that we [the coaching staff] do is stay out of the way,” said Gadowsky.

The Tigers are assured of a top-two finish — their highest ever — and a first-round bye for the first time in the program’s history. (The league didn’t have byes in ’98-99, when the Tigers finished fourth.) Not bad for a team picked eighth by the coaches and media, and seventh by yours truly, in the preseason polls.

Gadowsky honors the Tigers’ young blue line and goalie Zane Kalemba with most of the credit.

“The transition of our young defensemen [has been key]… I credit Mike Moore. He really is a leader out there; he’s such a great leader by example.”

Moore has earned heavy ice time in 26 games this season, and the senior captain has been one of Gadowsky’s most valuable players both on and off the ice. His 16 points are already a career high, with at least four more games yet to play.

Kalemba has played in 22 of the team’s 27 games, and is 15-7-0 with a goals against average right around 2.5. While his overall save percentage is an unremarkable .910, his rate in league games is a more respectable .916. His most important stat, however, is that 68 percent winning percentage.

“He wins,” the coach stated flatly. “He finds a way to win. He plays his best when it’s a tight, one-goal game; pressure just doesn’t get to him.”

The stalwart play of Kalemba & Co. in the defensive end has encouraged some snazzy play 200 feet down the ice, as well. The highest-scoring team in the league doesn’t skate at Cheel, Lynah or the TD Banknorth Sports Center; it hangs its gear within the stone confines of the Hobey Baker Rink.

“Obviously, we’re a team that takes a lot of chances. We play to score … and the guys love that,” Gadowsky said. “Sometimes offense — as well as the power play — is like putting,” he mused. “One day you can knock down everything within 20 feet, and the next day miss everything within four.”

“For us right now, the putts are dropping.”

Gadowsky has been a great asset to the struggling program thus far, and he feels nothing but reciprocal privilege in roaming the halls and courtyards of Princeton University.

“I keep waiting for the time when I take it for granted, walking around campus,” he said. “The other coaches and I, we’ll take a walk around the campus and never stop smiling. It’s just an honor to be here,” he intoned in the most genuine of manners.

There’s no doubt at all that Princeton feels honored to have Gadowsky roaming its grounds as well.

The Silver Lining

It’s no secret that the Saints have had a rough go of it this year. Following in the footsteps of a title-winning team is hard to do, but no one thought things would be this hard for snake-bit SLU.

The Saints are wrestling with Brown, Rensselaer and Dartmouth at the bottom of the standings, but longtime head coach Joe Marsh isn’t out to make excuses for his team.

“There’s no such thing as a good, s****y team,” coach Joe Marsh stated bluntly. “It’s easy to go from first to worst … we’ve had injuries, but everybody has injuries. We out-shot Union two-to-one [last Saturday] and people came up to me and said, ‘You deserved to win.’ And I said, no we didn’t. [Union] made the plays, they did what they had to do to win.”

The Saints have had numerous injuries indeed, including losing starting goaltender Justin Pesony for the middle portion of the season. That said, Marsh doesn’t believe in excuses.

“In some ways, I should’ve done some things early on that I didn’t do,” Marsh admitted. “I should’ve sat some guys” for taking ill-advised penalties, he said.

At this point, St. Lawrence knows it is going on the road in the playoffs.

“We’re gonna travel. I don’t care where we go or who we’re playing, just how we’re playing,” said the coach.

The Saints have taken lump after frustrating lump this year, but have a shimmering corona fringing their overcast season.

“I think the big thing is getting a fresh start,” said Marsh. “After this weekend, everyone’s tied.”

Also working in their favor has been the triumphant return of Pesony to the fold.

“He’s just a guy whose leadership is quiet, an example of what a student-athlete is meant to be,” said his coach. “He’s an unbelievable kid. I’ve never seen a kid who’s more positive, more resilient … he’s extremely respected, by his teammates, the coaches, everyone.”

Pesony and the Saints tangle with Quinnipiac and Princeton at Appleton this weekend.

The Silver Lining, Part II

Rensselaer isn’t where it hoped it would be by this point in the season, either. The Engineers were tabbed low by the voters during the preseason, but the ‘Tute played tight with high-end competition early on and looked poised to build on those season-opening experiences.

Alas, ’twas not to be. The Engineers just kept coming up short against admittedly powerful opposition and now find themselves scuffling with the other bottom-dwellers, fighting for positioning, pride, and consistency.

“We’re starting to build to put ourselves in a position to go out and win a road playoff series,” said head coach Seth Appert. “That hasn’t been done here in far too long.” (The last time was early 2003 — following an eight-year drought — sweeping Union at Messa.)

RPI’s offense has struggled this season, having only manufactured back-to-back three-goal games thrice, and not once since early December.

“We don’t have natural goal-scoring depth in our lineup,” stated Appert. “We can win that way, but it’ll have to be low-scoring games. We haven’t shown any ability to score five goals on three straight nights.”

“We try to do the things we have the ability to do,” he continued. “We have speed, a good transition game … we need to try to get tips, screens, rebounds, maybe get a few easy ones,” he said of his offense.

Appert expressed a strong displeasure for the state of his power play, which has been flatlining at best all year long.

“The penalty kill is good. The power play is not good enough. At times, yes, [it has been improving,] but not enough.”

Going up against Brown and Yale this weekend, Rensselaer is completely focused on the big tasks ahead.

“We’re treating [Brown] like a playoff game. If we win, we get the tiebreaker.”

With RPI a road team regardless, Appert expressed no preference in opponent, no matter how close (Union, Colgate, Cornell) or far (Yale, Quinnipiac, Harvard) they may be.

“We don’t have that far to drive wherever we go,” he said.

Standings aside, the coach offered some evidence to support a few RPI-favoring upsets come playoff time.

“Outside of our last [road] weekend, we’ve played pretty well on the road this year. Maybe it’s the youth … getting away from campus and the distractions. Our goaltending will be extremely good in the playoffs,” he predicted. “[Mathias Lange and Jordan Alford] played very well last weekend, and we played two very good offensive teams” in SLU and Clarkson.

RPI has been on the wrong side of the bounces all year long, that much can certainly be said. The Engineers may not be a threat to Clarkson or Princeton on a daily basis, but come playoff time, it can take as few as 60 minutes to undo an entire season of joy or misery.

Raiding Party

“Obviously, it starts with Dekanich. He’s played the best hockey of his career at Colgate this year.”

Couldn’t have said it better than Don Vaughan.

Colgate rode a Dex-ceptional hot streak to a 3-0-1 stretch, followed by a split last weekend against Quinnipiac (win) and Princeton (not so much). That puts the Raiders at 4-1-1 in their last half-dozen, with Harvard and Dartmouth visiting this weekend.

Building off Dekanich’s three consecutive shutouts, the offense began to broaden and found some success at the back of the net.

“Once we started to spread it around,” the offense picked up, said Vaughan. “But it’s a tough league, and you’ve gotta bring it every shift.”

The goal-starved Raiders could do little to pick up their stellar goalkeeper through most of the season, but Vaughan made an admission that few coaches ever do.

“Honestly, I think it is puck luck,” he said. “It seems the chances have been there, it seems that’s the way it’s been going.

“All those cliches — holding the stick too tight, forcing the play — you know, it happens.”

The veteran coach is still worried about the state of his power play, however.

“I’m really concerned about our power play. It’s been spurty at best … it’s something we have to continue to work on. We have to.”

Assessing Friday’s opponent, Vaughan compared the Crimson to high-flying Princeton.

“They’re playing very well, had some great games. They come at you hard, the forwards can really skate. [Head coach] Teddy [Donato] has done a great job, and been able to keep them focused.”

With 18 goals in their last four games, the Raiders appear poised to play strength-on-strength with the bye-eyeing Crimson at Starr.

Slump-busting

The Brown Bears fought their way out of a monumental slump with a home sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth to open February. Since then, Bruno may be 2-4-0, but that’s a mite bit better than the 0-13-2 catastrophe-coaster they had been riding prior.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not even close,” said head coach Roger Grillo of his team’s play nowadays. “Things are a little bit easier for us now. The [recent losing] games, we had chances; we just didn’t finish on them. We’re creating chances now … we had some great opportunities against Harvard [last Saturday],” he explained.

“Every team goes through a period where it’s not playing well, and ours was too long, too vast.”

This weekend, Brown is far more concerned with its own play than with that of Rensselaer and Union.

“We just want our team to play solid hockey, making ourselves a real dangerous team for the playoffs,” said Grillo. “It’s very difficult in our league to squeak out a win when you don’t play well.”

The man’s speaking from experience. With a rejuvenated Dan Rosen between the pipes, and an offense that has rediscovered what color the goal light is, Brown is setting up to be more than just a stepping-stone to the second round.

Brown is once again a threat.

Game of the Week

If you don’t know which one it should be, then you probably find yourself outsmarted by plates of cole slaw on a regular basis.

Crucial Weekend

Union: @ Yale & Brown

The Dutchmen have never finished higher than fifth, and that happened once, in 1996-97. Fourth place, and a first-ever bye week, is theirs for the taking … or theirs to lose.

Clarkson may have a more exciting weekend on the schedule, and Harvard and Princeton may have more challenging road trips. But this one’s for Union, which was 3-7-2 at one point and hit Christmas with a 1-3-2 league record.

For the first time in the program’s history, the Skating Dutchmen might live to see the second round.

This Week in Hockey East: Feb. 28, 2008

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All Hail New Hampshire

They left no doubt about it. The UNH Wildcats wrapped up the regular season title in as impressive a fashion as possible, sweeping then-seventh ranked Boston College, a team on a 13-3-2 run itself.

“I’m just really excited for our team,” UNH coach Dick Umile said after the Saturday night clincher. “They were very determined. They played very good hockey and I’m proud of them.”

The sweep began on the road with a 2-0 shutout that featured shut-down defense and big saves when called for by Kevin Regan. All shutouts are impressive by definition, but to blank the league’s top offense in its own barn takes it to another level.

“That’s as well as we’ve played all year,” Umile said. “We didn’t give [Boston College] any space to create offense, which they can do very well.”

The Wildcats then gave their fans an abundance to cheer about on the back end of the home-and-home, winning, 5-1. As if to answer every last question, the UNH power play, which had ranked merely in the middle of the pack not that long ago, scored four times. It’s now 8-for-22 (36 percent) over the last four games.

“The power play has been moving the puck fairly well recently, in my opinion at least, maybe not some of our fans,” Umile said. “Just because you don’t score doesn’t mean you’re not doing a good job. Obviously, the puck went in tonight.”

UNH now owns Hockey East’s top offense (tied for first with BC and Boston University), top defense, top penalty kill, and third-ranked power play. Small wonder the Wildcats are 13-0-1 in the league dating back to early December.

Oh yeah, there’s also that leadership factor. The UNH veterans produce. Seniors Matt Fornataro and Mike Radja rank second and fourth, respectively, among league forwards. Senior defensemen Brad Flaishans and Craig Switzer hold similar lofty positions. Senior goaltender Kevin Regan leads Hockey East in winning percentage, goals against average and save percentage.

“We have a great senior class that is playing as well as they have in four years,” Umile said.

Strange things can happen in the playoffs, but the Wildcats have become the clear favorite in the Hockey East tournament that starts in a few weeks.

Folks from the Granite State might also want to start booking their April 9 flights to Denver.

Two Is Almost The Loneliest Number

Not long ago, the PairWise projected five Hockey East teams making the NCAA tournament.

It’s down to two now. UNH and BC are in great shape, but the other league favorites of a mere month ago have taken a tumble.

That said, Hockey East might get a third team in after all without an upset winner of the league tournament. Coming up hard on the outside is Boston University. The Terriers didn’t crack the PairWise Top 25 until two weeks ago, but now rank tied for sixteenth.

Read on for more about BU. (See also Jayson Moy’s Bracketology for more NCAA tournament analysis.)

Terrier Turnaround

Okay, Boston University fans, fess up. Who among you kept the faith when your boys were 4-10-2 at the holidays?

No revisionist history, now. Be honest.

Raise one hand if you thought the Terriers held even a remote chance of finishing second. Raise the other if you thought they held any chance of making the NCAA tournament.

It’s hard to imagine many, if any, hands in the air. Teams that are 4-10-2 don’t magically finish second, much less vault to the PairWise bubble.

On Jan. 1, BU fans would have been forgiven if they were warming up their Jim Mora impersonations. “Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? Playoffs? I’m just hoping we can win a game, another game.”

My how times have changed. There’s magic on Commonwealth Avenue these days. The Terriers are tied with Vermont for second place and have the much easier remaining schedule. (The Catamounts must play UNH twice.)

“Imagine us being four games over .500 in the league and back to .500 overall and in second place in our league from where we were,” BU coach Jack Parker said after the sweep over Northeastern. “The way we felt about ourselves first semester and what was going on with our team first semester, it didn’t look too promising.

“Dick Umile was talking to [BU associate head coach] David Quinn the other day and told him, ‘Hey, everyone knew there would be a market correction for BU sooner or later.’

“We’ve made a market correction to get us back to where we are accustomed to being — fighting for a home ice slot and hopefully getting to the national tournament.

“All that remains to be seen, because if we had lost tonight we would have been in sixth place, but we won and we are in second. It’s a bizarre league that way.”

And an outstanding coaching performance by Parker.

Sweep City

In case you missed it, all five series last weekend finished as sweeps.

What were the chances of that? I’m not sure if it’s happened even once since Vermont entered the league.

Improbable enough?

How about…

Maine and Merrimack, in ninth and tenth place, respectively, and apparently destined to finish out of the playoffs, were the sweep-ers, not the sweep-ees. They climbed back into the hunt and are now nipping at the heels of Massachusetts.

Vermont’s sweep of Lowell came on the road, despite a Catamount’s away record at the time of 3-6-3.

Although UNH’s sweep could hardly be declared an upset given the Wildcats’ dominating play, it did come at the hands of the seventh-ranked BC Eagles.

Of them all, however, Merrimack’s sweep of Providence clearly ranks as the biggest upset. The Warriors were 0-6-1 in recent league play, 1-11-1 going back to late November, but they took down one of the hottest teams in the league. Don’t forget that the previous week the Friars played UNH even for one game and 57 minutes of the next.

“We made some changes on the fly, we shortened the bench a little bit and everybody was in tune,” Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy said. “That’s what it takes to get points in this league. When you make changes, you need people to be aware and attentive and we were.”

Providence, on the other hand, dropped off the bubble in the PairWise and off pace to get home ice in the playoffs. Not that you’ll hear PC coach Tim Army talking as if the sharp objects have all been carefully put away.

“We’ve got to get a little more trust in ourselves right now,” Army said. “I think maybe our confidence is a little bit lower, and we’ve just got to keep getting better and go play the best hockey we can play. If we play well we’re going to have an opportunity to win.”

Projecting The Finish

Only two things are certain. UNH will finish in first place and two of the following teams won’t make the playoffs: Massachusetts-Lowell, Massachusetts, Maine and Merrimack.

Other than that, all bets are off. Only three points separate second place and sixth. With so little separating those teams, earning home ice becomes all the more vital since that potentially becomes a deciding factor in the playoff quarterfinals.

As a result, I offer these crude projections based on probabilities I’ve assigned to the final regular season games. All contests are part of home-and-home series except for Vermont hosting Maine for two games this weekend and the Black Bears similarly hosting Lowell the weekend after.

For example, I assign BU an 85 percent chance of beating UMass this week so for that series I give BU 3.4 points (for the liberal arts majors out there, that’s four points on the weekend times .85) and UMass 0.6.

This week:

Boston University over Massachusetts: 85 percent.
New Hampshire over Merrimack: 90 percent.
Boston College over Providence: 70 percent.
Vermont over Maine: 65 percent.
Northeastern vs. Lowell: 50 percent.

Next week:

New Hampshire over Vermont: 80 percent.
Boston College over Northeastern: 75 percent.
Boston University over Providence: 70 percent.
Maine over Lowell: 60 percent.
Massachusetts over Merrimack: 60 percent.

Those results will turn the current standings…

Pts Team
36 New Hampshire (+6.8)
27 Boston University (+6.2)
27 Vermont (+3.4)
26 Boston College (+5.8)
24 Northeastern (+3)
24 Providence (+2.4)
20 Lowell (+3.6)
17 Massachusetts (+3.0)
15 Maine (+3.8)
14 Merrimack (+2)

… into these results.

Pts Team
42.8 New Hampshire
33.2 Boston University
31.8 Boston College
30.4 Vermont
27.0 Northeastern
26.4 Providence
23.6 Lowell
20.0 Massachusetts
18.8 Maine
16.0 Merrimack

All of which points to only one probable shift in the standings. Note the word probable. In all likelihood, there will be more volatility than that. Teams assigned a coin-flip probability turn around and sweep.

Too crude of a projection? Well, are you ready to hear Professor Hendrickson’s lecture on standard deviations?

Thanks For Your Comments

Every now and then I get anonymous emails from those who use the “Contact Us” link (at the bottom of the page) while choosing not to include their own email address for a response. A shockingly high percentage of those are kind, generous compliments.

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to send a note that puts a smile on my face.

In particular, it’s great to see the reception “Hendu’s Story” continues to get over a year now after it was posted. (If you haven’t read it, click on “#7” at the bottom of the sidebar.) It’s gratifying to hear that all the emotion that went into those pieces is still finding its way into new readers.

Thank you.

Thanks to Jim Connelly, Keith Lavon and Bill Koch.

USA Hockey Names 10 Finalists for Kazmaier Award

USCHO Staff Report
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The USA Hockey Foundation Monday announced 10 candidates for the 2008 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, presented annually to the most outstanding player in women’s college hockey.

logos/Kazmaier.gif

The 10 candidates represent eight different schools, as No. 1 Harvard and No. 2 New Hampshire each have two candidates. The WCHA and ECACHL are the most represented conferences with three selections each.

Earlier this year, each Division I women’s coach nominated up to two players from his or her team for the Kazmaier Award, as well as three at the conference and national level. The coaches then voted for the top 10 candidates. The independent accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP tabulated the ballots.

According to USA Hockey, three finalists, and finally the recipient, will be chosen by a 13-member selection committee, which includes eight coaches, four media representatives, and one USA Hockey representative. The final three will be announced March 12.

Selection criteria include outstanding individual and team skills, sportsmanship, performance in the clutch, personal character, competitiveness and a love of hockey. Consideration will also be given to academic achievement and civic involvement.

The 2008 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award will be presented at a dinner ceremony at the Radisson Hotel Duluth-Harborview on March 21, in conjunction with the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four, in Duluth, Minn. Tickets to the event may be purchased at PattyKaz.com or by calling 800-566-3288, ext. 184. Angela Ruggiero, a three-time U.S. Olympian and the 2004 Kazmaier winner, will serve as master ceremonies for the ceremony.

The award is named in honor of the late Patty Kazmaier, who was a four-year varsity letter-winner and All-Ivy League defenseman for Princeton from 1981-86. An accomplished athlete who helped lead the Tigers to the Ivy League championship in three consecutive seasons (1981-84), Patty Kazmaier-Sandt died on Feb. 15, 1990, at the age of 28 following a long struggle with a rare blood disease.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Feb. 26

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown
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Jim: Well, Scott, the season is sure winding down here. Most leagues have two weeks left to the regular season, while the ECAC, CCHA and Atlantic Hockey will crown their champions this week. Michigan’s got the upper hand in the CCHA, but the other two leagues have interesting races with the ECAC down to a two-horse contest for first featuring Clarkson and Princeton. To make things better, the two square off this Friday in Potsdam, N.Y. Over in the AHA, it’s one muddy picture when it comes to the league champ. Army, RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force can finish anywhere from first to fourth in the standings. All of that said, New Hampshire validated the praise we gave it last weekend by sweeping Boston College and locking up the Hockey East crown — even though there are still two weeks remaining in the regular season. Plenty keeping us busy out here in the East, don’t you think?

Steve Zalewski and Clarkson aren't out of the woods yet (photo: Melissa Wade).

Steve Zalewski and Clarkson aren’t out of the woods yet (photo: Melissa Wade).

Scott: There sure is, Jim. Whoever ends up with New Hampshire in the NCAAs is probably going to be very unhappy given the Wildcats’ current quality of play. I was impressed at how easily they disposed of Boston College over the weekend (2-0 and 5-1 wins), and now they’re obviously in a great position to nail down a No. 1 seed in the national tournament. Meanwhile, the ECAC has once again lived up to its reputation for close finishes — though in past years there have been even bigger logjams than we’re seeing now. Princeton could really use two wins this weekend to shore up its credentials in the PairWise Rankings, though even Clarkson isn’t a lock for an NCAA at-large bid should the Golden Knights fall in the conference tournament. In Atlantic Hockey, you know RIT would love a second regular-season title — this time with playoff consequences, unlike last year when the Tigers were ineligible for postseason play. Like the WCHA, finishing in the top three in Atlantic Hockey is now critical to avoid the play-in game prior to the playoff semifinals, so there’s plenty of tension in that race given that only the tournament champion moves on to the nationals. At the other extreme, the WCHA is still looking at as many as seven teams in the NCAAs this year — glad I don’t have to decide how to sort out the brackets if that happens.

Jim: The PairWise has been a little crazy with the fluidity with which it’s changing. I believe when the PWR first came out, Hockey East had five or six teams in the top 14 and the WCHA had just two. But in less than two months, that’s completely turned upside down and it looks like a seven-spot from the WCHA is quite possible. When I see something like this, though, I can’t help but wonder what the men’s ice hockey committee is going to do to tweak the criteria so that no conference will get seven bids. It seems that whenever there is any sort of lopsided ranking, the committee feels the need for change. Obviously, having seven teams in a field is unprecedented. Is this, itself, the product of recent “tweaks?” I know you have the math brain to explain it if that, in fact, is true. Or is this just an aberration?

Scott: We could spend a month’s worth of TMQs on this alone. Last season, the WCHA got three teams in the NCAAs and Hockey East five, but the WCHA happened to have the first four teams out of the tournament by the criteria. If there had been 20 bids instead of 16, the WCHA would have gotten seven teams in. This season, the WCHA happens to have most of its teams on the good side of the dividing line, and Hockey East doesn’t thanks to the way individual teams have performed in the second half (see: St. Cloud State, Northeastern, Massachusetts) and in nonconference play (see: Boston University, Vermont, Minnesota-Duluth). Some folks think the PairWise is supposed to work by grading conferences and then handing out more bids to whichever league is deemed “better,” but that’s not how it goes. It’s individual teams that are graded, and this year the results are such that mid-tier WCHA teams have favorable PairWise profiles and mid-tier Hockey East teams don’t. In that sense, it is an aberration — but it’s an aberration that happens every year to a greater or lesser extent, and I hope the committee doesn’t overreact if the WCHA does get seven teams. Every year changes are made, but they’re usually limited in their impact — my analysis using last year’s criteria indicates that the WCHA would still have seven teams as of now, so that doesn’t appear to be the issue. It’s simply a year-to-year phenomenon that can go either way, as it did last season.

Jim: I knew that you could provide some decent insight. Good job, Dr. Brown. Sticking with the topic of national powers and rankings, I was a bit surprised to see Michigan remain on top of the USCHO.com/CSTV poll. A loss this late in the season, even if it is to the defending national champion, usually creates some sort of volatility. Personally, I thought that New Hampshire ‘s performance last week merited the Wildcats taking over the top spot, but I understand that not all voters believe in allowing a team to leapfrog from No. 3 to No. 1 unless both teams in front of them falter. What are your thoughts? Is Michigan still your clear-cut No. 1?

Scott: No. 1, maybe, but clear-cut, definitely not. I don’t vote in our poll, but if I did I’d have a tough time deciding between Michigan, New Hampshire and North Dakota. The Wolverines have the best overall record but are 4-2-4 in their last 10 games, as opposed to UNH’s 8-1-1 and UND’s 9-0-1, with each team playing some tough competition. It boils down to how much you want to evaluate the entire season versus recent results. I don’t think there’s any doubt that North Dakota and New Hampshire are playing the best hockey right now, but each team lost early games that still resonate with the voters. Meanwhile, Michigan tore up the first half of its schedule, much as Miami did. I think the purpose of a poll is to evaluate who would beat who right now, so my ballot would probably read North Dakota, New Hampshire and Michigan, in that order. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that Michigan has just four losses overall versus eight and seven for UND and UNH, respectively. How about you?

Jim: My ballot reads New Hampshire one, North Dakota two and Michigan three based mostly on the fact that I saw in person how impressive the Wildcat attack is right now. They absolutely dominated Boston College, a very powerful team in its own right, this past weekend. And that’s not to take anything away from North Dakota. Circling back to the beginning, who walks away with league championships this weekend? My guess is Michigan in the CCHA, Clarkson in the ECAC, and RIT and Army co-champs in Atlantic Hockey. Yours?

Scott: With a three-point lead and only two games left, Michigan is almost a foregone conclusion in the CCHA, though stranger things have happened. I’ve got to agree with Clarkson as well — if the Golden Knights beat Princeton Friday at home, which I believe they will, it’s all over. Atlantic Hockey’s a tough one with an Army-Sacred Heart home-and-home to wrap up the season. That could leave the door open for RIT, but Air Force is probably out of the mix. The most likely outcome there seems to be an Army-SHU split, which means RIT would need a sweep of Bentley to tie the Black Knights. I think that combination of wins and losses might be too much to ask, so I’ll take Army as the champion by a point or two.

Bracketology: Feb. 26, 2008

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It’s time once again to do what we like to call Bracketology — College Hockey Style. It’s our weekly look at how the NCAA tournament would look if the season ended today.

It’s a look into what are the possible thought processes behind selecting and seeding the NCAA tournament teams.

We’ll be bringing you a new Bracketology every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced.

Here are the facts:

• Sixteen teams are selected to participate in the national tournament.

• There are four regional sites (East — Albany, N.Y.. Northeast — Worcester, Mass., Midwest — Madison, Wis., West — Colorado Springs, Colo.)

• A host institution which is invited to the tournament plays in the regional for which it is the host, and cannot be moved. There are four host institutions this year, Rensselaer in Albany, Holy Cross in Worcester, Wisconsin in Madison and Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

• Seedings will not be switched, as opposed to years past. To avoid undesirable first-round matchups, including intraconference games (see below), teams will be moved among regionals, not reseeded.

Here are the NCAA’s guidelines on the matter, per a meeting of the Championship Committee:

In setting up the tournament, the committee begins with a list of priorities to ensure a successful tournament on all fronts including competitive equity, financial success and likelihood of playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site. For the model, the following is a basic set of priorities:

• The top four teams as ranked by the committee are the four No. 1 seeds and will be placed in the bracket so that if all four teams advance to the Men’s Frozen Four, the No. 1 seed will play the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed will play the No. 3 seed in the semifinals.

• Host institutions that qualify will be placed at home.

• No. 1 seeds are placed as close to home as possible in order of their ranking 1-4.

• Conference matchups in the first round are avoided, unless five or more teams from one conference are selected, then the integrity of the bracket will be preserved.

• Once the six automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams are selected, the next step is to develop four groups from the committee’s ranking of 1-16. The top four teams are the No. 1 seeds. The next four are targeted as No. 2 seeds. The next four are No. 3 seeds and the last four are No. 4 seeds. These groupings will be referred to as “bands.”

The biggest change this year is the fact that in past years the NCAA included a bonus factor for “good” nonconference wins. This year, it is no more. There are no more bonus points for anything.

So it becomes pretty easy this year, doesn’t it? Take the straight PairWise Rankings (PWR) and then follow the rules and you have the tournament. It’s that easy, right?

You know better than that.

Given these facts, here is the top 16 of the current PairWise Rankings (PWR), and the conference leaders (through all games of February 25, 2008):

1 Michigan
2 New Hampshire
3 Colorado College
4 North Dakota
5 Miami
6 Denver
7t Michigan State
7t Boston College
7t Minnesota State
10 St. Cloud State
11 Clarkson
12t Minn.-Duluth
12t Notre Dame
13t Wisconsin
13t Minnesota
16t Princeton
16t Boston University
— Bemidji State
— Army

Current conference leaders:

Atlantic Hockey: Army
CHA: Bemidji State
CCHA: Michigan
ECAC: Clarkson
Hockey East: New Hampshire
WCHA: Colorado College

Notes

• Bracketology assumes that the season has ended and there are no more games to be played; i.e., the NCAA tournament starts tomorrow.

• Because there are an uneven number of games played inside each conference, I will be using winning percentage, not points accumulated, to determine the current leader in each conference. This team is my assumed conference tournament champion.

Step One

From the committee’s report, choose the 16 teams in the tournament.

We break ties in the PWR by looking at the individual comparisons among the tied teams, and add in any current league leaders that are not currently in the Top 16. The only teams not listed are Bemidji State and Army.

Let’s look at the ties, which consist of Michigan State, Boston College and Minnesota State at 7, Minn.-Duluth and Notre Dame at 12 and Wisconsin and Minnesota at 14.

Michigan State beats both BC and Minnesota State, and then BC beats Minnesota State in the individual comparisons. Minn.-Duluth beats Notre Dame in the individual comparison and Wisconsin defeats Minnesota in the individual comparison.

Therefore the 16 teams in the tournament, in rank order, are:

1 Michigan
2 New Hampshire
3 Colorado College
4 North Dakota
5 Miami
6 Denver
7 Michigan State
8 Boston College
9 Minnesota State
10 St. Cloud State
11 Clarkson
12 Minn.-Duluth
13 Notre Dame
14 Wisconsin
15 Bemidji State
16 Army

Step Two

Now it’s time to assign the seeds.

No. 1 Seeds – Michigan, New Hampshire, Colorado College, North Dakota
No. 2 Seeds – Miami, Denver, Michigan State, Boston College
No. 3 Seeds – Minnesota State, St. Cloud State, Clarkson, Minn.-Duluth
No. 4 Seeds – Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Bemidji State, Army

Step Three

Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals. We seed Colorado College first, since it is hosting a Regional. We then place the other No. 1 seeds based on proximity to the regional sites.

No. 3 Colorado College is placed in the West Regional in Colorado Springs.
No. 1 Michigan is placed in the Midwest Regional in Madison.
No. 2 New Hampshire is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester.
No. 4 North Dakota is placed in the East Regional in Albany.

Step Four

Now we place the other 12 teams so as to avoid intraconference matchups if possible.

Begin by filling in each bracket by banding groups. Remember that teams are not assigned to the regional closest to their campus sites by ranking order within the banding (unless you are a host school, in which case you must be assigned to your home regional).

If this is the case, as it was last year, then the committee should seed so that the quarterfinals are seeded such that the four regional championships are played by No. 1 v. No. 8, No. 2 v. No. 7, No. 3 v. No. 6 and No. 4 v. No. 5.

So therefore:

No. 2 Seeds

No. 8 Boston College is placed in No. 1 Michigan’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 7 Michigan State is placed in No. 2 New Hampshire’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 6 Denver is placed in No. 3 Colorado College’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 5 Miami is placed in No. 4 North Dakota’s Regional, the East Regional.

No. 3 Seeds

Our bracketing system has one Regional containing seeds 1, 8, 9, and 16, another with 2, 7, 10, 15, another with 3, 6, 11, 14 and another with 4, 5, 12 and 13.

Therefore:

No. 9 Minnesota State is placed in No. 8 Boston College’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 10 St. Cloud State is placed in No. 7 Michigan State’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 11 Clarkson is placed in No. 6 Denver’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 12 Minn.-Duluth is placed in No. 5 Miami’s Regional, the East Regional.

No. 4 Seeds

One more time, taking No. 16 v. No. 1, No. 15 v. No. 2, etc.

Here, Wisconsin is placed first since it is hosting a Regional.

No. 14 Wisconsin is placed in No. 1 Michigan’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 16 Army is sent to New Hampshire’s Regional, the Northeast Regional
No. 15 Bemidji State is sent to Colorado College’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 13 Notre Dame is sent to North Dakota’s Regional, the East Regional.

The brackets as we have set them up:

West Regional:

Bemidji State vs. Colorado College
Clarkson vs. Denver

Midwest Regional:

Wisconsin vs. Michigan
Minnesota State vs. Boston College

East Regional:

Notre Dame vs. North Dakota
Minn.-Duluth vs. Miami

Northeast Regional:

Bemidji State vs. New Hampshire
St. Cloud State. vs. Michigan State

Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups. Despite seven WCHA teams, somehow we don’t have a single one. But looking around, I once again find some things that I do not like at all with this bracket.

Our overall number-one seed gets a host team higher than a 15 or 16 seed. And attendance in Albany is awful-looking.

What to do?

How about we make one simple switch at the beginning and then rebracket?

Let’s put the overall number-one seed in Albany, instead of Madison, knowing that the first seed in Madison will get a host institution.

Let’s bracket again.

Midwest Regional
14 Wisconsin vs. 4 North Dakota
12 Minn.-Duluth vs. 5 Miami

East Regional
16 Army vs. 1 Michigan
9 Minnesota State vs. 8 Boston College

Northeast Regional
15 Bemidji State vs. 2 New Hampshire
10 St. Cloud State vs. 7 Michigan State

West Regional
13 Notre Dame vs. 3 Colorado College
11 Clarkson vs. 6 Denver

Let’s look a little more in-depth. We do have one intraconference matchup here in Wisconsin versus North Dakota in Madison.

But again, given that there are seven WCHA teams in the tournament, can I live with this matchup?

Looking at the big picture, what are the pros to this bracket?

• The lowest number-one seed gets the host team that is not a 15 or 16 seed in the first round.

• The attendance issue looks great. We have three WCHA teams in Madison, two Colorado teams in Colorado Springs, one New York team and BC in Albany, and UNH in Worcester. I would love to have Clarkson in Albany and BC in Worcester, but I can’t quite manage that without creating an intraconference matchup.

• The bracket integrity is there.

What are the cons?

• We have an intraconference matchup in the first round.

Remember the rules: we are permitted to have the intraconference matchup in the first round with five or more teams from one league.

So I think it’s simple. This is and has to be the bracket.

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