This Week in Hockey East: Feb. 21, 2008

-

February 21, 2008

Welcome To Our Roller Coaster

You want wire-to-wire consistency?

There’s New Hampshire and then… um… well… nobody.

As befits a team challenging for the top spot in the PairWise, the Wildcats have been a model of consistency this season, losing back-to-back games only once while rolling to a 19-7-2 record. Within the league, they’ve been even better and have extended their latest run to 11-0-1.

After that, forget it.

Even those who like to kick teams when they’re down wouldn’t be entirely accurate if they said that Maine and Merrimack have been as consistent in a negative way as UNH has been positive. Although both have struggled mightily for the past couple months, both got off to strong starts before the wheels came off. Maine opened the season 4-2-1, having taken five of six points on the road at Boston College and first-half wonder Northeastern. Merrimack won its first three games and stood 6-4-1 the week of Thanksgiving.

Every other Hockey East team has enjoyed pavement-too-hot-to-walk-on, radiator-gushing torrid stretches and endured bone-chilling, teeth-chattering arctic winters.

Exhibit A?

Entering 2008, Massachusetts had climbed to fifth in the polls after consecutive wins over highly ranked UNH, Notre Dame and Colorado College. The Minutemen stood at 10-3-5.

Then the cosmic switch got flipped and they went from lights out to… well, lights out. Only a single point over the next seven games. In 2007, UMass was 10-3-5; in 2008, 2-8-1.

Exhibit B: Northeastern.

The Huskies opened the season with a win, lost four straight, then became the talk of the league with a 9-0-2 stretch that included two wins over UNH and one at BC. How ’bout them Huskies!

Flick the switch, though, and the next six games are just 1-4-1, all against opponents that had entered their home-and-home series with records of .500 or below.

Exhibit C: Boston College.

The Eagles came within a November 30 win of going 0-for-the-month. That cold spell put them at 3-4-5, a far cry from expectations.

Flick the switch. BC went 12-2-2 in its next 16 games.

Exhibit D: Boston University.

The Terriers opened the season 0-4-1 and at the holidays were an unthinkable 4-10-2. BU? A record of 4-10-2? You’ve got to be kidding!

Forget the flicking of a switch. BU needed the jolt from a defibrillator.

And got it. The Terriers have since posted an 8-4-2 record with three of the losses against BC and UNH. Except for games against those two juggernauts, BU hasn’t lost a league game since Dec. 7.

Exhibit E: Massachusetts-Lowell.

If not for a couple wins against Alabama-Huntsville — Hockey East snobs attach asterisks to all wins over teams from the upstart conferences — the River Hawks would have opened the season 0-3-4. Snobbery or no, their first league win didn’t come until Nov. 20.

But before you could trot out the rebuilding word, Lowell recorded wins in seven of eight games with the only loss coming against UNH.

Exhibit F (as if further exhibits are necessary): Providence.

The Friars opened the season with four losses and soon after stood at 1-5-1. A mirror-image stretch of 5-1-1 righted the ship and they extended the success to 11-4-1.

Exhibit G : Vermont.

The Catamounts opened 0-4-1, won three of four, then endured another tough stretch of 1-4-5. At 4-9-6, their season appeared over.

Hit that switch. They’re 6-2-1 in their last nine.

The evidence of a Jekyll-and-Hyde, hot-and-cold league seems overwhelming.

Why?

For some teams, the causes were predictable. BU struggled with its goaltending early. Several teams dealt with the growing pains of youth at key positions.

Other reasons were more unique.

For BC, the loss of Brett Motherwell and Brock Bradford altered the face of the Eagles’ roster and required November’s adjustments.

“We had two genuine All-American candidates in Motherwell and Brock Bradford that we lost for the season,” BC coach Jerry York said recently. “We’ve had to become a different type of hockey club.”

In the case of UMass, dealing with unprecedented success presented obstacles.

“Every coach in our league has probably read Pat Riley’s book The Winner Within,” Cahoon said a few weeks ago. “In the book there is a chapter referred to as “The Innocent Climb” and then after that there’s a chapter called “Mastery.”

“The Innocent Climb always ends with a stumble and a fall because you’re going through it blind for the first time. It’s new to you or to the guys that are playing for you. It’s not until you really have mastery in place — a complete understanding of how you do things and why you do things and consistency in doing those things — that you enjoy the success that the BCs and the North Dakotas and the Michigans of the world seem to enjoy year in and year out.”

The case-by-case analysis could go on. Youth, goaltending, attrition, growing pains…

All true, but the extreme volatility of results throughout the league begs for a more comprehensive explanation. One that takes note of every league team except for Maine and Merrimack making the PairWise’s Top 25.

“It’s a tough league,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “Every team has had a pretty good stretch. It’s a grind game in and game out.

“The margin of victory is so small — the bandwidth is so narrow — that you have to be on top of your game every night, and if you’re not, you’re going to get beat because there’s an awful lot of good teams in this league and parity certainly has arrived.”

Ah yes, the P word. Parker isn’t alone in using it.

“It’s parity in the league,” UVM coach Kevin Sneddon said. “It’s a tough league, and confidence and consistency [are] so important to success right now when there isn’t a lot of difference between talent levels.

“When teams start to lose that confidence [after] they drop one or two, it’s hard to gain that back. When our team’s confident and playing well, I think we can compete and beat anybody in this conference. When we are showing our signs of youth, and not playing confident, I think we can easily lose to anyone in the conference.

“I think teams are kind of going through that. There is so much parity within the league that quite often it’s easy to fall in those roller coaster rides.”

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

This applies only to those of you who write fiction. The rest of you can tune in again next week.

If you write fiction of the fantastic — fantasy, science fiction or horror — you owe it to yourself to consider Odyssey, a six-week workshop held each summer at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. I made the same recommendation a year ago and most of what I say is a February rerun, but you owe it to yourself to consider attending. I did two years ago and my only regret is that I didn’t do so much earlier.

You’ll work your butt off, but it’ll be worth it. Over 50 percent of all graduates go on to be published. (If that figure doesn’t impress you, you don’t know publishing.)

Jeanne Cavelos, winner of the World Fantasy Award for her editing, runs Odyssey. I can’t imagine a better editor to work with. She is amazing.

Top writers, editors, and agents in the field serve as guest lecturers. This summer, the workshop runs from June 9 through July 18. Its writer-in-residence is Nancy Kress, and guest lecturers include award-winning authors Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, Barry B. Longyear, and James Maxey; New York Times best-selling author Craig Shaw Gardner; and literary agent Jenny Rappaport.

The application deadline is April 10. For more information, see www.odysseyworkshop.org.

If you have to scramble to make the deadline, do it. If you have to use every last hour of vacation time owed you, do it. If you have to hock your flat-screen TV and forgo eating out to pay for it, do it.

Not all sacrifices are worthwhile. This one will be.

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Feb. 21, 2008

By Brian Sullivan

-

February 21, 2008

What We Know, Vol. II

What a difference a week makes

While there is still much to be determined, the league is beginning to shake itself out now with two weeks to go.

Brown, Dartmouth or Rensselaer — with 11 points apiece — could potentially replace Colgate as the eighth seed, and more importantly, claim the final home-ice spot for the first round. (The head-to-head tiebreakers are all draws so far, with the Green visiting Hamilton for the last game of the regular season, having tied back in November.) However, Colgate is seven points ahead with four games remaining. Good luck, fellas.

St. Lawrence, with 12 points, can put itself into a four-way tie with Colgate, Harvard and Union with 20 points, but can fare no better than that. Should it come down to it, the Saints lost the head-to-head against Colgate, but split the series with both the Crimson and Dutch. If the Saints win out, there will be a 20-point team playing on the road to open the playoffs, no two ways about it.

Despite tying the Golden Knights in each of their meetings this season, Colgate loses the tiebreaker with fewer wins. Same goes for the Princeton tiebreaker: no matter what, the Raiders can’t match the Tigers for wins. That said, the ‘Gate can still leapfrog Princeton for second place.

Harvard, Union and Yale — with 20 points each — can finish anywhere between first and ninth. Tiebreaker scenarios run amok.

Cornell has home ice wrapped up at least; the Big Red can’t finish lower than eighth, and obviously still have a shot at first place. Same for Quinnipiac and Princeton.

Clarkson’s cellar is seventh, and three points secure a first-round bye.

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

â€¢ Clarkson beats Colgate (HH), Yale (W), Union (W), Harvard (HH) and Cornell (HH)
â€¢ Princeton beats Colgate (W) and Yale (HH)
â€¢ Quinnipiac beats Yale (HH)
â€¢ Cornell beats Colgate (HH) and Yale (HH)
â€¢ Harvard beats Union (HH) and Quinnipiac (HH)
â€¢ Union beats Quinnipiac (HH) and Cornell (HH)
â€¢ Yale beats St. Lawrence (HH), Colgate (HH)
â€¢ Colgate beats Rensselaer (HH) and St. Lawrence (HH)
â€¢ St. Lawrence does not hold a head-to-head tiebreaker so far.
â€¢ Brown beats St. Lawrence (HH)
â€¢ Rensselaer beats Dartmouth (HH)
â€¢ Dartmouth does not hold a head-to-head tiebreaker so far.

Rex Dex

… which is to say, King Dekanich.

I touched on it a couple weeks back, but the Colgate senior has liquified goal creases all over the Northeast with his hot play of late.

Goal-judging behind Dekanich has been the easiest of money over the past few weeks, as he rides a 212:26 shutout streak over four games. Prior to shutting out Clarkson, Rensselaer and Union, Dekanich allowed a single goal — at 12:34 of the second period — in a win over St. Lawrence.

The North Vancouver, B.C., netminder would probably be getting even more recognition if he had a consistent offense at his aid. Dekanich is only 11-7-4 when allowing two goals or fewer, and his record falls to a pitiful 6-7-3 when allowing only one or two goals against. (His six shutouts don’t even treat him well: the 0-0 tie with Clarkson on February 9 mars his otherwise perfect 5-0-1 record when posting the goose-egg.)

Dex’s 1.88 goals-against average is fifth-best in the nation, while his league-best GAA in ECAC contests is a paltry 1.61. He has even taken over national leadership in save percentage with a .932 overall rate, and leads the league as well with .941. Tell me when this pattern gets old: Dekanich leads the nation with six overall shutouts, and leads ECAC Hockey with five.

He is doubtlessly in the running to become the first-ever multiple Dryden Award-winner, after taking home the title in 2006. Dex was named to the first team All-League that year, and was a second-team honoree last season. Might as well pencil him in for three years in a row there, as well.

Game of the Week

Yale @ Harvard: Friday, 7 p.m.

Even if you ignore the fact that this is The Game On Ice (and anything that ends with “On Ice” has gotta be good … right …?), this is a matchup of two teams vying for home ice and a potential first-round bye.

The Crimson and Bulldogs are even at 20 points apiece, and considering the clubs tied 3-3 in the first tilt of the season, this one is the rubber match for the head-to-head tiebreaker.

“The game has obvious playoff ramifications,” said Harvard head coach Ted Donato. “Yale is certainly Harvard’s rival, in all sports, and hockey’s no different … [and given the circumstances] this game takes even more importance.”

Both sides will lace up at Bright with hot streaks on the line. The Crimson have won four of five and five of seven, and swept front-running Princeton and Quinnipiac in Boston last weekend. Yale is 5-3-1 in its last nine, and also enjoyed the comforts of home in taking four points from Clarkson and St. Lawrence last week.

Harvard is led by the scoring trio of Doug Rogers, Mike Taylor and Jon Pelle, who have combined for 14 goals and 24 assists in league games. Kyle Richter started the season as hot as Mark Dekanich seems to be finishing it, but were it not for two goal-heavy losses to Boston College, his numbers now would be much more representative. (As it stands, his .934 league save percentage is second to Dex, and he is second in GAA as well with a 1.89.)

The Crimson are only scoring two and a half goals a game in ECAC play, but allowing the league’s fewest at 1.94. Donato’s crew doesn’t take many penalties, and boasts the second-best power play and penalty-kill percentages in the conference. It may not be wide-open hockey all the time, but at least they save the best for last: nearly half of the total goals scored in Harvard games are coming in the third period.

Yale is once again led by sophomore snipers Sean Backman and Mark Arcobello, who have teamed up to pot 16 goals with 14 helpers against ECAC goalies. Newcomer Denny Kearney is making a name for himself as well with eight goals and 10 assists overall, and a half-dozen apiece in league play. The frosh out of Hanover, N.H. is second on the Eli in goals scored.

Billy Blase has started the vast majority of Yale’s games thus far, with 22 appearances and a 2.31/.917 league GAA/SvP. Unlike Dekanich and Kearney, Blase has had his name in the papers a fair amount this season. After playing in only two games last year, the sophomore started the season with a shutout of Brown and has played even-if-not-stellar hockey ever since.

As a team, the Bulldogs are burying close to three goals a game against the rest of the ECAC, and surrendering about two and a half. Their 13.7 penalty minutes each game put them in the more infraction-prone half of the league, but one of the best penalty kills in the nation (90.7 overall, best in the country, and a league-best 91.9) certainly helps compensate for the occasional lack of composure.

It would be tempting, given the attention thus far, to foresee a goalie battle Friday night. Not so fast, my friend. Given the intensity of the rivalry and the parity in the standings, I’m looking toward the special-teams units as the game’s true determining factors.

Crucial Weekend

Cornell: @ Quinnipiac & Princeton

The Big Red (fourth place, 21 points) hit the road to battle the Bobcats (third, 22 points) and Tigers (second, 24).

See why this might be the week’s Crucial Weekend?

Mike Schafer’s team finally went double-digits in the league win column on Saturday, after enduring three straight losses in which the Red struggled to score goals.

Following defeat at the hands of Clarkson, St. Lawrence and Union in which Cornell scored only five goals, the Red dumped Rensselaer 7-1 to get back on the right track. Despite going four-for-22 on the power play in the three losses, the Ithacans managed only one five-on-five marker, and allowed four goals in 14 shorthanded opportunities (including the Saints going three-for-five).

The Tigers beat the Red 3-2 at Lynah to open the league schedule, but Cornell rebounded with a 5-3 victory over the Bobcats the following night. Sophomore Ben Scrivens has played in 24 of the Red’s 25 games thus far, but has been lifted thrice. The sophomore has impressive numbers nonetheless, with a league GAA just under 2.00 and a SvP of .929. The Albertan netminder has started 15 games in a row for Schafer, and is 8-5-2 over that stretch with nine sub-three (goals against) games.

Underclassmen Colin Greening (frosh) and Riley Nash (soph) are leading the team in league scoring, with eight and seven goals respectively and ten assists each. Senior Topher Scott is still a leader, scoring seven goals with eight assists as well.

Cornell is averaging 2.72 goals a game against the rest of the conference, and only giving up an even 2.00. While the Red are the second-most penalized team in the league (15.4 minutes a game, behind only RPI’s 15.5), they also feature the fourth-best kill (86.6) and the foremost power play (19.6) in the EC’.

The Big Red had better hope that the Lucky Seven they pegged on RPI was indicative of more than mere puck-luck and a young ‘Tute defense. Goal-starved Cornell is about to take on Dan Henningson and Mike Moore along with the rest of their squads, and these two are as good as they come among ECAC blueliners.

QU is coming off a You Got Served weekend, complete with predictable drama (refs, dancing street thugs) and a terrible score (Timbaland featuring Magoo and Fat Man Scoop, 7-2 loss at Dartmouth). By the end of the decisive 4-1 loss to Harvard on Saturday, the Bobcats had fallen to third place behind Clarkson and Princeton.

Like Cornell in its skid, the ‘Cats still went three-for-six on the man advantage last weekend, but the Ivies were two-for-nine. Not to mention, obviously, that QU was spanked (and blanked) in even-up play.

The Bobcats are a middle-of-the-road team defensively, the special teams are only slightly above average, and they clearly live and die by the production of their mortifyingly talented offense. Brandon Wong has made up for a slow start to lead the team in league and overall scoring, with the usual suspects backing him up in Jamie Bates, Dan Henningson, Bryan Leitch, Jean-Marc Beaudoin, Ben Nelson and Dan Travis. (Each of these players has achieved double-digits in league points.)

Once a three-way rotation, the goaltending duties are solidly on the shoulders of Bud Fisher once again. The junior workhorse has a 2.26 GAA in ECAC play and a .917 SvP to match.

While Princeton may have lost at Harvard last weekend as well, the Tigers are a robust 10-2-0 in their last dozen games. The league’s most productive offense scored at least four goals in eight of those 12 games, and is really heating up after having accomplished that feat only three times prior this season.

The Tigers are roaring along with close to three and a half goals a game in ECAC Hockey, a fact that easily compensates for a league-median defense. Guy Gadowsky’s boys have really cut down on the rough stuff, serving only a dozen minutes a game in the box, and the scary thing is that the special teams should only be getting better: the power play is sauntering along at a pedestrian 15.4 percent, while the ‘kill is a sub-standard 83.1.

Junior forward Lee Jubinville (who?) is one of the nation’s top scorers, and leads the league with 24 points and 17 assists. Classmate Brett Wilson’s 10 goals are pleasingly symmetrical to his 10 assists, and the duo gets a lot of set-up support from the likes of soph Cam McIntyre and senior captain Mike Moore (11 helpers apiece).

Somehow, Zane Kalemba has successfully evaded head-turning stats. The second-year starter has a goals-against of 2.40 and a save rate of .915, neither of which stand out, especially on such a victorious team. That said, Kalemba’s got all the right numbers where it counts: a .733 winning percentage (11-4-0) and two shutouts against the remainder of the conference.

This Week in the ECAC Northeast

By Paul C. Altmeyer Jr.

-

February 21, 2008

A Tale of Two Teams

This week we take a look at two programs at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Weâ€™ll check in on Nichols College and get Lou Izziâ€™s thoughts on what could be a record-setting season. First, however, weâ€™ll start with the only team in the ECAC Northeast without a league victory: the Framingham State Rams.

â€œAll in all, obviously itâ€™s a disappointing seasonâ€ head coach Chris Heaney said. â€œI think we all had higher expectations of what we did and what we ultimately achieved, but the reality is, other than a few bumps in the road here and there, we were in every game. We played really well against some of the top teams, and we just struggled to finish off teams that we should beat. The reality is, even at this point in the year, our guys are still playing hard every night.â€

With a record of 1-22-1, some observers may judge the season by the numbers, but a closer look reveals that of half of those losses, four were by one goal, and seven were by two goals, reaffirming Heaneyâ€™s earlier statement about playing well against top teams.

When asked about players who stood in during this tough campaign, Heaney was quick to answer.

â€œWeâ€™ve had a few guys whoâ€™ve really stepped up, especially coming down the home stretch. Josh Williams on defense has really kind of put himself into a position as one of our â€˜go toâ€™ guys on the blueline. Joe Hurley has really stepped up his game. Heâ€™s having a tough time finding the back of the net, but he just does all the little things we ask.

Jeremy Schmidt is another guy who just shows up every night and gives us everything he has. Despite the score, or our record, all those guys that I mentioned, they just show up to play, as well as other guys, but those guys in particular, we never have to question their motivation.â€

On offense, as he has for the last two years, senior Nick Glum will lead the team in scoring. He currently has 13 goals and nine assists for 22 points. While offense wasnâ€™t the problem for Nichols, Heaney didnâ€™t admit that goaltending was a concern early on.

â€œWe really struggled at the beginning with goaltending,â€ he said. We tried all three guys, and everybody got their shot, we were looking for somebody to take the ball and run with it, and nobody really did. Then we went with Pete Dundovich, a transfer from UMass-Boston. We went with him down the home stretch, and heâ€™s just played phenomenal, heâ€™s really done a terrific job.â€

Heaney paid what could be the ultimate compliment to Dundovich, who as a sophomore has a record of 0-16-1, with a save percentage of .877.

â€œAfter every game weâ€™ve played, every coach has come up to us in the handshake line and commented on our goaltender. Heâ€™s a great kid, very mature, with solid leadership, and heâ€™s doing a great job for us. The other guys [James Babineau and Andy Joyce] are too, itâ€™s just that he got the job and made the most of it.â€

When asked what it was like as a coach to keep the players motivated through such a season, Heaney didnâ€™t avoid the question.

â€œI actually learned a lot this year, and unfortunately I learned it from past mistakes. The reality is they do want to win. Nobodyâ€™s going out there with the intention of losing a hockey game.

As a coach you have to just focus on the positives rather than looking at negatives, which is hard to do, but it gets a little bit easier when the guys are playing hard. As long as youâ€™re competing every night, you can find a positive in there.â€

A team at the opposite end of this spectrum is Nichols College, currently sitting in second place.

â€œItâ€™s been a super regular season for us,â€ said head coach Lou Izzi. â€œThe thing that a lot of people donâ€™t realize is that we skate 10 freshmen in our line up every night; we donâ€™t have a senior on our roster. Weâ€™ve accomplished what we have so far with a very young team. Itâ€™s been a rewarding season in many ways for our school and program.â€

Nichols will have a big challenge this Saturday night when they host UMass-Dartmouth, a game that will determine second place in the league. With a win, Nichols could set a school record for most wins in a season.

They currently sit at 18-5-1 overall, and are 12-3-0 in the conference. UMass-Dartmouth has an identical conference record of 12-3-0, so the winner clinches second place sometime late Saturday night.

Defensively, there are three juniors who have truly impressed Izzi this year: Cole Ruwe, Jeff Beiber, and Glen Cacaro.

â€œThe game has really slowed down for those guys,â€ said Izzi. â€œTheyâ€™re really playing like seasoned seniors, and theyâ€™re only juniors, and theyâ€™re a big reason why weâ€™re being so successful right now.â€

Continuing, he noted that â€œ[t]hey do an outstanding job in their own end. They have so much patience and poise with the puck. They do a great job getting the puck out of their own zone. Theyâ€™re playing at another level right now, and to have three veteran defensemen whoâ€™ve played in our system for three years and can perform at a very high level, I think thatâ€™s one of the reasons why weâ€™ve been successful.â€

The Bison are 10-3-0 in the new year, and in their last five games have only surrendered seven goals. Theyâ€™ve received solid goaltending from junior Keith Fink, who sports a 15-5-1 record with a winning percentage of .738, which is second in the conference.

On offense, Anthony Monte continues to lead the way, not only for his team, but in the conference. He currently has 18 goals and 29 assists for 47 points in just 24 games. The junior, who has led his school in scoring for the last two years, will lead the school again in scoring for the third consecutive season, most likely too closing out conference play on top as well.

One other player who has contributed up front is junior Ryan Gervais, who is second in the ECAC NE in goal scoring with 21.

â€œHeâ€™s been a guy whoâ€™s gotten a lot of big goals for us,â€ Izzi said. â€œHeâ€™s got a great shot on the power play, he got the overtime winner against Suffolk. Last weekend [against Suffolk] heâ€™s another guy that stepped up, and heâ€™s really just played phenomenal hockey all season long for us.â€

In speaking of his teamâ€™s youth, Izzi is obviously impressed.

â€œMy five juniors have been really good, and weâ€™ve been able to add a freshman class, weâ€™ve got 10 of them playing right now, and they just have a lot of grit, and toughness and good speed and skill, and they just keep coming. When weâ€™ve blended it all together, we have a good mix of youth, and then we have some veteran leadership with our junior class.â€

When thinking ahead to postseason play, Izzi is glad that his squad is healthy right now. He realizes the competition will be tough.

â€œIâ€™ve been around for 10 or 11 years now, and the first five to seven years, the top teams would always go out of conference and kind of get our bells rung. Then weâ€™d come back in conference and really beat up on the lower part of the league. But now, whatâ€™s happening is that every game is just a war, and I think youâ€™re eventually going to see our league do better out of conference because weâ€™re pushing so each other so much in conference games.â€

Concluding, he observes that â€œ[t]here are no more easy skates. Youâ€™re seeing big upsets; youâ€™re seeing teams that are even in the playoff picture get some big wins. I think itâ€™s just a credit to all the coaches who are doing a great job out there recruiting great players. I think whatâ€™s going to happen is that the playoffs are going to be very competitive.

â€œYou look at potential match-ups, and I donâ€™t think thereâ€™s really any good match ups for any of the teams. Everybody has the potential; the lowest seeds all have the potential of winning. Weâ€™re all going to have to come into the playoffs peaking and playing our best hockey of the year, and hopefully we play some good games.â€

This Week in the NCHA and MCHA

By Matthew Webb

-

February 21, 2008

Everyone is getting ramped up for perhaps the most exciting week of the season. Not only does opening round NCHA and MCHA playoff action begin this weekend, but we also have our first look at the NCAA West Region Rankings.

They are:

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

Nothing looks too out of place save for Adrian landing in the fourth spot. Itâ€™s not that the Bulldogs might not be one of the top four teams in the region, but rather that it is hard to justify that position based on the numbers alone.

Finlandia currently owns the Harris Cup, but can they fight off upstart Adrian?

Adrianâ€™s â€œproblemâ€ is that they fare extremely poorly against a majority of teams in the region in terms of the record-against-ranked-opponents and strength-of-schedule comparisons.

The first is due to fact the Bulldogsâ€™ have not played a West Region ranked team, so they lose the comparison to anyone with at least a tie against a ranked team. The second is due to the MCHAâ€™s relatively poor showing in non-conference action.

Perhaps unfair to the MCHA, those realties put a team like Adrian in a bind as it enters a host of individual comparisons at a built in 2-0 disadvantage. Without playing any MIAC or NCHA teams head-to-head it becomes extremely difficult for them to beat out teams like River Falls, Stout, Superior, Hamline, Bethel, Stevens Point, etc. on a straight numbers comparison.

Adrian landing in fourth is admittedly higher than I expected, so it bears asking: how did it happen?

Well, only the West Region Committee knows for sure but there is speculation that winning percentage is being weighed quite heavily. The Bulldogs check in at 17-1 against West Region teams, the best in the region, and itâ€™s the only comparison they fare extremely well in.

If not that, what could it be?

Speculation indeed, especially as we are all in the dark as to the weightings the criterion are receiving, but as if this wasnâ€™t enjoyable enough to figure this out in the past isnâ€™t it fun to have a MCHA team, no matter which one, now in the mix?

Will St. Norbert claim yet another Peters Cup on home ice?

With St. Norbert and St. Thomas anything but locks to win their respective leagues, and River Falls drawing a tough opening round match-up in St. Scholastica, this should no doubt be more stimulating than ever to try to decipher as we head for home.

MCHA

As a reminder, all opening round series are first to three points. If the series is tied following the Saturday contest, a 20 minute mini-game will be played to determine the winner.

It was said here last week that the Lawrence and MSOE series were ones worth paying attention to, and were they ever.

Entering the weekend, Lawrence trailed MSOE by a single point for fourth place and the final playoff home ice position, and Fridayâ€™s results served to make the situation even more interesting.

The Raiders dropped a 4-1 decision to Marian while the Vikings won 3-2 at Finlandia. The loss dropped MSOE out of the top half of the MCHA for the first time all season, and put Lawrence in position to host this weekendâ€™s playoff series between the two.

The change was short lived, however, as the Raiders utilized a third period comeback to defeat Marian 4-3 on Saturday while Lawrence lost 5-3 to Finlandia.

The end result: everyone ended up right where they started.

Meaning, MSOE will host this weekendâ€™s 4-5 Harris Cup Playoff match-up with Lawrence.

Despite the fact Lawrence controlled its own destiny and a Saturday win would have solidified hosting rights for the Vikings, head coach Mike Szkodzinski wasnâ€™t as discouraged as some might guess.

â€œI think we definitely gave away an opportunity to get home ice,â€ he said. â€œHowever, Iâ€™m proud of the effort the guys put forth at Finlandia. I thought we played extremely hard. Both teams competed as hard as Iâ€™ve seen this season and it was a good tuneup for what could happen in the next couple of weeks here.â€

He added, â€œI think our team showed a lot of grit, showed a lot of hunger, showed a lot of desire. It just so happened Finlandia capitalized more on the chances on Saturday and we did on Friday. It was a great series.â€

As mentioned, as a result the Vikings must hit the road to take on MSOE in this weekendâ€™s opening round.

The two split a series earlier this season with Lawrence claiming a 6-5 win on the opener and MSOE coming back to take the following game by a 5-2 score.

How much of an indicator of how this weekend will go remains to be seen, however.

â€œTo be honest with you I think both teams have improved tremendously since then,â€ said Szkodzinski. â€œIt was only the second weekend of the season when we faced each other and it will be interesting to see the differences between the teams that met earlier in the year and those that will be playing this weekend in Milwaukee.â€

As MSOE won three consecutive MCHA regular season titles prior to this season, Szkodzinski knows they will be a formidable opponent.

â€œObviously MSOE has an extremely talented first line with Swallow, Hanberg and Soik,â€ he said. â€œAny team that wants to compete with MSOE needs to contain that line for sure.â€

The Swallow-Hanberg-Soik line has indeed paced the Raiders this season, accounting for nearly 40% of MSOEâ€™s goals. Swallow leads the team with nine goals and 29 assists for 38 points, while Soik leads the Raiders with 16 goals on the season.

They arenâ€™t the only concern as far as Szkodzinski is concerned, however.

â€œI think from top to bottom MSOE does not have a weak line, and their goaltending has been darn good for freshman despite the numbers.â€

Odds are that freshman Chris Keller will man the Raider net this weekend. The freshman has seen action in 18 games this season and is 9-9-0 with a 3.78 GAA and a .872 save percentage.

The Vikings will likely counter with a freshman of their own in net, as Evan Johnson (5-9-3, 3.83, .878) has garnered a majority of the action down the stretch.

All in all, there is no question this should be the most competitive MCHA series this weekend, something Szkodzinski knows all too well.

â€œMSOE has the experience and obviously we have a very young team,â€ he said. â€œThatâ€™s something we are going to have to battle through.â€

â€œI think like our Finlandia series this is going to be a very competitive and very exciting series that could easily come down to one or two bounces of the puck.â€

#6 Crookston (5-15-0) @ #3 Marian (14-5-1)

This season: Marian won both meeting this season, sweeping a home series 7-4, 7-1 in mid-November.

Breakdown: The Sabres are a clear favorite on paper. They out perform the Golden Eagles in every major statistical category, and have the conference record they do for a reason.

Marian brings a highly balanced offense into the weekend match-up, as the boast a whopping 14 players who have posted at least 10 points on the season.

Senior Carl Bresser leads the way with 21 goals and 11 assists for 32 points while junior James Goodfellow is right behind him with nine goals and 21 assists for 30 points. Bresser has also scored a remarkable six shorthanded goals this season.

After playing musical goalies over the first half of the season, Marian appears to have settled on junior Jason Jadczak. He has seen action in 14 games this season and is 9-3-0 with a 2.60 GAA and .916 save percentage. It wouldnâ€™t come as a shock to see sophomore Cullen Caldwell get a start, but Jadczak appears more likely to get the nod.

On the other side of the ice, Crookston has been led by junior goaltender Eric Everson all season.

The junior transfer from MSU-Bottineau has played in19 contests this year and is 6-11-0 with a 3.92 GAA and a .889 save percentage. He has earned the win in every Golden Eagle victory this season, and has been named MCHA Defensive Player of the Week on multiple occasions.

Up front the Golden Eagles are led by seniors Matt Hann and Teal Plaine, who have 20 and 19 points on the year, respectively. Freshman Alex MacGinnis and senior Ryan Tucker check in behind them with 17 and 16, but after that the Golden Eagles next leading scorer only has nine points.

Crookston has lost 13 of its last 16 games, with the only wins in that stretch coming over Northland and Concordia.

The Sabres have lost three of their last six, but one has been to MSOE and the other two to Adrian.

Whether itâ€™s on paper or on the ice, everything looks to be in Marianâ€™s favor here and they should be considered a heavy favorite to be playing at the Kern Center next weekend.

#7 Northland (4-16-0) @ #2 Finlandia (14-6-0)

This season: Finlandia won all four meetings. The Lions won 4-3, 3-2 (ot) at Northland earlier in the season, and convincingly 10-1, 9-0 at home three weeks ago.

Breakdown: Like Marian, there is no denying that Finlandia is a heavy favorite here.

As evidenced by the early season match-ups between the two, the Lumberjacks have shown the ability to keep it close with the Lions, but odds are Finlandiaâ€™s experience will prove too much this weekend.

The Lionsâ€™ return nearly their entire roster from the team that won last seasonâ€™s Harris Cup and are laden with upperclassmen experience.

Eight of Finlandiaâ€™s top nine scorers are juniors or seniors, and are led by senior forwards Josh Paquette and Mike Parks. Paquette has registered eight goals and 26 assists for 36 points on the season while Parks checks in with 13 goals and 20 assists.

Freshman Ryan Donovan has assumed control of the number one goaltender spot for the Lions this season and has performed admirably. Garnering action in 16 games, Donovan is 10-4-1 with a 2.91 GAA and a .875 save percentage.

As far as the Lumberjacks are concerned, goaltending has proven to be a strength, as freshman Daniel McIntosh has performed well despite facing upwards of 50 shots per game.

McIntosh currently holds a 3-17-1 record with a 5.61 GAA and a .884 save percentage.

The Northland offense ranks last in the league at 2.12 goals per game and will likely find it tough to score as Finlandia has allowed 3.00 goals per contest — second best in the league.

Northland has made strides this season and is significantly better than they were last season, but unfortunately probably is not far enough along yet to pose a major threat to the Lions this weekend.

An upset isnâ€™t impossible, but Finlandia should be expected to join Marian in Milwaukee next weekend.

#8 Concordia-WI (2-18-0) @ #1 Adrian (19-1-0)

This season: Adrian won all four meetings, winning 10-3, 7-2 at Concordia in January and 16-2, 20-2 last weekend.

Breakdown: Though both are first year programs itâ€™s no secret here who should move on to the semifinals.

Adrian rolled up 36 goals on the Falcons last weekend and, quite frankly, are just too much for the Falcons to deal with right now.

The Bulldogs top line of Shawn Skelly, Adam Krug and Eric Miller are the top three scorers in the nation and have an astounding 192 points combined on the year.

Defenseman Quinn Waller leads the nation in scoring among defenseman, posting seven goals and 36 assists for 43 points on the year.

After them the Bulldogs boast another 40 point scorer, a 30 point scorer, four 20 point scorers, and six more in double digits.

Regrettably, against a Concordia defense that ranks last in the league in conceding 7.32 goals per game, it should be all over but the yapping.

There probably isnâ€™t anyone in existence who doesnâ€™t think Adrian will take this series in a couple of routs, but letâ€™s remember that both are first year programs.

While what Adrian is doing is unprecedented, at least in the D-III era, Concordia is struggling in the same manner nearly every first year program does. The Bulldogs are the ones defying the status quo, not Concordia.

Though this weekend almost assuredly wonâ€™t work out for the Falcons, the future undoubtedly will, and thatâ€™s probably the most important thing anyone can take away from this series. It wasnâ€™t that long ago teams like Manhattanville and Neumann were nothing but fodder for the Elmiraâ€™s and RITâ€™s of the world.

NCHA

Like the MCHA, all series are also first to three points. If the series is tied following the Saturday contest, a 20 minute mini-game will be played to determine the winner.

Before moving on to the series themselves, it should be noted that the NCHA all-conference awards were handed out this week.

St. Norbert goaltender Kyle Jones garnered NCHA Player of the Year honors for the second time in his career. He also won the award in the 2005-06 season.

Additionally, St. Norbert head coach Tim Coghlin was named NCHA Coach of the Year after guiding the Green Knights to an undefeated conference season despite having 20 underclassmen on this yearâ€™s roster. The NCHA title marks the seventh in a row for St. Norbert.

Finally, UW-Superior senior defenseman Dustin Cosgrove received the NCHA Scholar-Athlete Award. On the ice, the Neepawa, Manitoba native has only played in six contests this season due to injury, but is back for the Yellowjackets playoff run.

#5 Eau Claire (6-7-1) @ #4 Superior (6-4-4)

This season: Eau Claire won 3-1 in Superior in early January, but the Yellowjackets rebounded for a 2-1 overtime win in Eau Claire two weeks ago.

Breakdown: Both teams enter the series on a bit of a hot streak. The Yellowjackets have only lost once since December 8, while the Blugolds are 3-2-1 in their last six, including wins over River Falls and Stevens Point.

Historically, Eau Claire has fared poorly at Wessman Arena as prior to winning there this season they had been 0-4-1 there over the past five seasons.

The Blugolds are one of the most unbalanced offensive teams in the league, as after Sean Garrity (24), Greg Petersen (17) and Andrew Johnson (16), they only boast one other scorer in double digits.

Superior, conversely, is one of the most balanced teams in the league, and might be the hottest team in the conference right now.

Eau Claireâ€™s Tyler Brigl and Superiorâ€™s Chad Beiswenger both possess the ability to steal a game in goal.

Itâ€™s no surprise that a 4-5 NCHA match-up could go either way, but with the Yellowjackets hitting their stride at perhaps the perfect time, the Yellowjackets have only lost five times all year.

For the sake of context, only six other teams in the country have fewer than six losses this season. Superior has shown the ability to make big playoff runs in the past and this year might be no different. Donâ€™t sleep on the Yellowjackets.

#6 Stevens Point (5-6-3) @ #3 Stout (7-5-2)

This season: Stout handled the Pointers 6-3 at home earlier in the year, while the two played to a tight 1-1 tie in Stevens Point three weeks ago.

Breakdown: Road teams have only won NCHA Quarterfinal series five times. Not that it means a lot now, but one was Stevens Point winning at Stout in 2001.

An upset certainly isnâ€™t out of the question here, but if one is going to happen the Pointers will need to find some offense. Amazingly, the Pointers have not allowed more than two goals in a game since a 5-0 loss at St. Scholastica on December 8.

While the Pointersâ€™ revamped defense and solid play of freshman goaltender Thomas Speer are paying dividends, the Pointers still stumbled a bit down the stretch, finishing out 0-2-2 while posting only four goals in those contests.

Stout, on the other hand, has had no problem putting the puck in the net as they rank second in the NCHA at 4.08 goals per game.

Forward Derek Hanson leads the way with 31 points. Behind Hanson are four 20 point scorers and six more who have posted double digits.

The Blue Devils big and mobile defensive corps has only allowed 2.48 goals per game this season and has been bolstered by the return of All-American Mike Stone in goal.

Stout has had the Pointersâ€™ number over recent years, posting a 6-1-1 record in head-to-head meetings over the past three seasons.

The friendly confines of Dunn County Arena should give the Blue Devils an edge, but donâ€™t be fooled by the Pointersâ€™ record down the stretch as they still bring a hot goaltender to town, and everyone knows that makes a dangerous team come playoff time. Keep an eye out for an upset if Stevens Point can score a few goals.

#7 St. Scholastica (4-7-3) @ #2 River Falls (8-5-1)

This season: The Falcons scored an early season 6-3 win in Duluth, but the Saints returned the favor with a 4-3 overtime win at River Falls in late January.

Breakdown: There is no question the Eau Claire-Superior and Stevens Point-Stout series are ripe with upset potential, but if there ever was a series that should trigger the five alarm, red light, bells and whistles upset alert, this is it.

Were they to have a choice, it is doubtful River Falls would have picked St. Scholastica as a first round opponent as the Saints have won three straight at River Falls, the most notable a NCHA semifinal win last season.

No home ice for the Saints? No problem. The Saints were only 1-5-1 against NCHA teams at home this season, but managed a 3-2-2 record on the road.

If they wish to have success at River Falls again, itâ€™s no secret to anyone they will need to slow down the Falconsâ€™ top line. Tyler Dahl, Derek Hansberry and Pat Borgestad, having accounted for 111 points this season, once again pacing the Falcons in scoring.

Perhaps unlike last season, however, they arenâ€™t the only scoring threats the Saints will have to worry about.

The Falcons boast eight more double digit scorers, and four who have scored over 20.

That being said, the Dahl line will be the focus as they have accounted for 44% of the Falconsâ€™ goals both this year and last.

It should be interesting to see what St. Scholastica does in net this weekend as after appearing to settle on Steve Bounds during the middle portion of the season, both him and Tyler Johnson have been seeing action as of late.
The Saints put themselves in the seven spot largely by being inconsistent this year, but they have to like their match-up this weekend. Meanwhile, River Falls lost four consecutive conference games down the stretch before closing out with two wins.

All that being said, what will happen in River Falls this weekend? Your guess is as good as mine but itâ€™s tough to not give the Falcons the edge at home.

#8 Lake Forest (1-12-1) @ #1 St. Norbert (10-0-4)

This season: The Green Knights swept the season series, winning 6-2 at Lake Forest and 6-0 at home.

Breakdown: Stranger things have happened, but a Green Knight series win looks to be about the most sure bet in the NCHA this weekend.

The Foresters have run a goalie rotation involving Brandon Kohuch and Scott Campbell, and if they wish to pull the upset they will have to receive stellar play from whichever sees action this weekend.

It is indeed possible as Campbell turned back all 50 shots he faced in the Foresters lone conference win over Lake Forest.

The Forester goal will likely be tested often this weekend as they have allowed the most shots in the league this season, while the Green Knight offense ranks third in the NCHA at 3.88 goals per contest.

Offensively it also looks to be an uphill battle for Lake Forest as not only is St. Norbert leading the league in goals allowed with 1.56 per game, but senior netminder Kyle Jones is having is best season yet as far as statistics are concerned.

Thus far, Jones is allowing a miniscule 1.31 goals per game while posting a .940 save percentage.

Add in the fact Lake Forest is last in the NCHA offensively in scoring only 1.68 goals per game and it becomes hard to figure out a way the Foresters can come out of this series on top.

If it should happen by chance, look for a big game from one of the Foresters goalies as if they can find a way to steal one and force a mini-game all bets are off from there.

That being said, the smart money — as always — is on the Green Knights at home.

Ready From The Start

By Candace Horgan

-

February 21, 2008

After not making the NCAA tournament in 2006-2007, the Colorado College Tigers faced a daunting start to their current season, opening the season against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a series in Colorado Springs. The Tigers hadn’t beaten the Gophers in over two years. Tigers coach Scott Owens had a difficult decision to make regarding a goaltender for the first game, and chose freshman Richard Bachman.

For many freshmen, starting their college career against the Gophers might have created a lot of pressure, but Bachman stopped 23 shots in a 3-1 victory, and Owens went with Bachman again in the Saturday game. Bachman stopped 38 to help the Tigers earn a 2-1 overtime win and sweep that got them off to a strong start for the season.

“I think the first game against Minnesota was probably the biggest game for me,” said Bachman. “That was the game I was probably most nervous for, that and the second one (laughs). That first one, just kind of getting it out of the way and knowing you can play at this level without really having to have a bad game in the beginning, I think confidence-wise that helped me a ton. Growing up, you always hear about Minnesota, so for the first career game to be able to beat them was an awesome feeling.”

Captain Scott Thauwald believes that Minnesota series has been indicative of Bachman’s play all season.

“It was a huge game, and he steps in right away and we sweep them,” said Thauwald. “I think that was the second weekend of the season (the first regular games after two exhibitions), so that was huge. So many times, he’s saved our backs, where early in the game we could be down 3-0 but it’s a 0-0 tie.”

Bachman, a Colorado native, started playing hockey in New York when he was five. He had moved to Saranac Lake, just outside of Lake Placid, from Colorado, and took up hockey as something to do during the winter.

“Growing up, I played forward and ‘D’ a little bit, till I was about nine, and then it was just goalie from there,” said Bachman. “We needed a goalie, and the team supplied the pads. I just loved it after the first time, and I just kind of went with it. I moved back to Highlands Ranch, in fifth grade I believe it was, then played Littleton for a little while.”

Like many hockey players, Bachman played other sports as well. “At Cushing (Academy), I played baseball because you had to play two major sports. That was kind of fun actually. It was nice to get a break, play some other sports.”

The Tigers started to look at Bachman seriously during his junior year at Cushing, and, after considering Harvard and Cornell, he committed to CC before going on to play a year in the USHL with Chicago and Cedar Rapids.

“We knew Richard when he was playing for the Thunderbirds here in Colorado Springs,” said Owens. “We as a staff saw him and liked him. We stayed in touch with him and tracked him. We had pretty much made our decision with him before the USHL, when he was in Cushing. He played on a prep school that had a lot of success, and he played before on a midget team that had a lot of success in Chicago.”

Coming into the season, Owens had no preconceptions about how he was going to handle his goaltending situation. Initially, he planned to play Bachman and junior Drew O’Connell relatively equally. By the time the Tigers split on the road at North Dakota in early November, Owens believed Bachman had demonstrated enough to take the number-one spot.

“We had gotten beat 6-2 the first night, had lost three straight road games, two in New Hampshire and one in North Dakota, and he came in and just established himself that first period,” said Owens. “He probably made 14-16 saves and all of a sudden, the team kind of recognized it and went with it and we ended up winning 4-1. I think that was the game that really got him off the right way.”

While Bachman gets the majority of starts, O’Connell still plays, including getting a big start against Massachusetts in the final of the Lightning Classic, a game the Tigers lost in overtime.

“Drew had waited patiently two years for an opportunity and we kind of gave him some starts, but we also played Richard and just from the early going, it just looked like Richard was so composed and so sharp,” said Owens. “We still split them.”

Bachman and O’Connell maintain a close friendship on and off the ice, and Bachman credits O’Connell with helping him in his transition to Division I college hockey.

“Me and Drew are best friends,” said Bachman. “We hang out off the ice all the time. He’s such a great guy; he keeps things light, which is nice. We don’t really talk about things playing-wise or anything like that, but watching him before the season even started was a big help for me, kind of just watching and learning what he does to get ready. He’s a great goalie too; I looked up to him when I got here, his hard work, and I tried to match that every day, and I think that’s been a big key for me.”

Bachman has a lot of strengths as a goalie, including his lateral movement and his ability to control rebounds. He has transitioned well to playing on the Olympic-size sheet at the Tigers’ home rink, and is starting to play the puck more and assist with breakouts. He also communicates well with his defensemen, especially on the penalty kill. One attribute that draws praise is his poise and ability to stay focused.

“He’s so calm; he doesn’t get too nervous,” said Thauwald. “Emotionally, he doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low. If he lets in a goal, he doesn’t let it get to him. He’s a competitor; he loves to compete.”

Echoes Owens, “I think he’s got composure, he’s got poise, he’s very even-keeled. He’s a team-first guy; he doesn’t have a lot of ego.”

Bachman credits a former goalie coach with teaching him that skill on the ice, including learning to sing a song to help relax.

“I try to sing a song in my head in between whistles just to keep me from listening to the crowd or anything like that, or talking when the play is down at the other end, I think that helps me be mentally ready. (After) giving up a goal, I start singing another song or focus on who’s coming out for their team so I’m not thinking about that goal. They’ll be times where after the goal I just won’t think about it at all and then after the game I’ll have to go to film to see how it was scored.”

One concern the Tigers have as the season progresses is making sure that Bachman doesn’t tire out. So far, Owens has been happy with how his rookie has held up to the grind of a full season in Division I, and believes that Bachman’s experience in the USHL helped with that.

“We try to be careful; we’re taking every Tuesday off from January on,” said Owens. “We’re trying to conserve his strength as well as some of our older guys. I think he’s holding up pretty well. It’s different when you have a senior goaltender who can play every game; they’re a little bit older and more mature. We’re being a tad bit cautious, but that being said, Richard’s played every game but five this year.”

Bachman himself prefers to get more work, and likes to see more shots during the game to help him keep his focus.

“I enjoy being able to play back-to-back nights; I think it helps me get in a rhythm, helps keep me going, you don’t really get rusty I guess,” said Bachman. “With school, it’s a little different now, especially after not having school last year. It makes for a lot longer day. I think that’s one thing I’ve had to adjust to.

“I like to be the guy who faces 20 shots in a period and stops them all. I kind of like having that pressure. I think shots early in a game are key. They help you get into the game, get a sweat going, feel comfortable with the puck, but the beginning of the season we were giving up a lot of shots — now we’re not.”

The Tigers host the West Regional this year in Colorado Springs, and would also have an opportunity to play the Frozen Four just up the road in Denver. For Bachman, who grew up in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch, the opportunity to play on college hockey’s biggest stage in front of his hometown fans is a goal his team is working towards, and something he relishes.

“I grew up watching CC and Denver play when I really started getting into hockey. It was a great chance for me to play for one of those schools and be 45 minutes from home and have my parents come to the games.

“It can’t be set up any better I think. Pressure-wise, there’s always pressure to go out and play your best, whether it’s a Regional or the Frozen Four, but I think we’re such a great team, that if you do let up a goal, the guys are going to be right there to get it back for you, or the ‘D’ is going to step up to make a play on an odd-man rush. I don’t think it’s pressure so much on me, just pressure on the guys, and this has been our goal the whole time, to get to the Regionals, and we’re just having fun with it right now.”

This Week in the CHA: Feb. 21, 2008

By Matt Mackinder

-

February 21, 2008

And the parade of CHA players to the NHL continues.

Niagara junior Les Reaney left the team last week, signed a two-year rookie deal with the Edmonton Oilers and was assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons.

Reaney had been a healthy scratch for NU this season, but still piled up 15 points in 25 games. Last year, he finished third in CHA scoring with 16 goals and 44 points while playing on a line with Ted Cook and then-captain Sean Bentivoglio.

“First and foremost, we are happy for Les because he has fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing professional hockey,” said Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder.

Les Reaney heads to the AHL from Niagara (photo: Niagara University athletics).

As a freshman, Reaney was named Co-CHA Rookie of the Year (with Cook) and finished the season fourth in the nation with 1.14 points per game as a rookie. Reaney also holds the CHA rookie record with Cook for points in a season with 40 and stands alone in first for assists by a rookie with 27.

Still, Burkholder would have liked to see Reaney, a 23-year-old native of Ceylon, Sask., graduate with his class.

“Les continues a tradition of Niagara hockey players who have signed professional hockey contracts and I think that speaks to the quality program we have built,” Burkholder added. “At the same time, it’s my job as a college coach and educator to make sure we get our players to commencement. Unfortunately, Les is three semesters short from that goal, but this is an opportunity that he feels he can’t pass up.”

When Reaney first came to Monteagle Ridge, he had a reputation as being a player who wasn’t in the best of shape, even with a 100-point season in his final year of junior hockey in 2004-2005 with the Williams Lake TimberWolves of the British Columbia Hockey League. The conditioning issue turned off most college programs, save for Alaska-Fairbanks, which nearly signed him before Reaney made the decision to come to Niagara. Had Niagara not jumped into the picture, Reaney would have probably signed with a lower-level pro team.

To be offered a pro contract shows that, at least in Edmonton’s eyes, Reaney has come full-circle.

“I figured I didn’t know if the chance would be there in a month, so I had to take it,” Reaney said in the Niagara Gazette. “The guys were pretty happy for me. With six games left, though, it was tough to leave when you think you’re leaving a championship.”

He also said he harbors no ill will from his time at NU.

“It was a blast,” said Reaney. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. It was three great years. It’s a privilege to play at Niagara.”

Reaney ends his Purple Eagle career with 99 career points and is the fourth Niagara player to sign a professional contract with an NHL team, following in the footsteps of his now-former assistant coach and goaltender Greg Gardner (Columbus, 2000), forward Matt Ryan (Los Angeles, 2004) and Bentivoglio (New York Islanders, 2007).

Springfield hosts Portland Friday night and that’s where Reaney is expected to make his pro debut.

Niagara Ties RIT Saturday

Niagara trailed by two goals in the second period, but battled back to gain a one-goal lead before RIT tied the game late for a 3-3 tie in front of a sold-out crowd at Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena last Saturday night.

However, the tie builds on Niagara’s unbeaten streak as the Purple Eagles are now undefeated in their last eight games (5-0-3) and retained their No. 20 spot in the USCHO.com/CSTV Poll this week.

Ted Cook and Bryan Haczyk scored in the second period for NU and Egor Mironov gave NU the lead in the third period.

RIT scored an extra-attacker goal in the final minute and nothing was solved in the OT.

Burkholder said with all things considered, his team came prepared to win and probably should have.

“We persevered through a tough week with the flu bug going through the team,” said Burkholder. “It was difficult not to have a regular practice week. We played a great road game and the team deserved better.”

Juliano Pagliero stopped 30 shots for the Purps.

Niagara continues its season with its final six conference games ahead, including the last two home games for Wayne State March 7-8 in Detroit.

RMU And Beavers Do Splits In Steel City

Robert Morris and Bemidji State both need wins in conference play as the home stretch is here and each got one last weekend in Pittsburgh.

The Colonials won, 4-1, on Friday night before BSU stormed back for a 7-2 shellacking the next night.

Blaine Jarvis gave the Beavers an early 1-0 lead on Friday, but RMU then put four unanswered on the board.

Logan Bittle, Sean Berkstresser, Tom Biondich and Ryan Cruthers, with his CHA-best 19th goal, scored to back Christian Boucher’s 22-save outing.

Matt Climie stopped 31 for the Beavers.

BSU scored four first-period goals and never looked back Saturday in keeping their five-point grip on first place.

Prior to the game, Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore cited one of the keys to Saturday’s game was scoring first and holding the lead for 60 minutes. The Beavers didn’t score first, but they scored often.

After falling behind 1-0 just 90 seconds into the contest on a goal by Kyle Burton, BSU bounced back netting three goals in a 4:46 span to erase the deficit and go up 3-1.

The Colonials went through all three of their goaltenders on the night trying to find an answer for the Beaver offense. BSU netted goals on their first three power-play shots, went 3-for-4 on the man advantage and posted a season-high seven goals on the night as 15 players recorded points.

“It was a great effort not for us only offensively, but also defensively,” Serratore said. “Everybody contributed. It was a must-win for us and that is why I am proud of the guys. They really responded.”

Travis Winter scored twice and singles came from Matt Pope, Joey Moggach (first goal in 17 games), Matt Read, Graham McManamin and Ryan Cramer (first collegiate goal).

Dan MacIntyre assisted on Cramer’s goal for his first NCAA point and Tyler Scofield added three assists for the Beavers.

In the third period, David Boguslawski scored for the Colonials. Too little, too late, though.

Climie recorded 19 saves in 49:54 between the pipes. He earned his 12th victory of the season before Orlando Alamano recorded eight saves in the final 10:06.

Boucher was tagged with the loss and recorded just eight saves in 25:34 of action. Wes Russell held BSU scoreless in 20:34 while Jim Patterson also played 13:52 and gave up two goals.

Bemidji State is now 10-6-1 all-time record versus RMU.

Warriors Split In Huntsville

Wayne State ventured to Huntsville last weekend for their final trip to the Rocket City and came away with a win and a loss.

Saturday afternoon, the Warriors snapped their three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory.

Derek Bachynski scored twice and added an assist for WSU. Stavros Paskaris and Ryan Adams also scored with Adams’ empty-net goal being his first at the NCAA level.

Jeff Caister notched two assists for the Warriors and goaltender Brett Bothwell made 13 saves.

“I thought Wayne State was hungrier than us and they worked harder,” Chargers head coach Danton Cole said in the Huntsville Times. “I didn’t think we had much energy nor enthusiasm. And I was very disappointed with the effort. Wayne State deserved to win. They did everything better than us.”

Cam Talbot stopped 21 shots for UAH. Joey Koudys scored his first NCAA goal and Kevin Morrison also tallied for the Chargers. Koudys’ goal 5:18 into the first period gave UAH the lead heading into the first intermission and marked only the fifth time this season UAH has been in the lead after the first period.

“I just went hard to the net there and got a lucky bounce,” Koudys added in the Times article. “It felt great. I hope a few (more goals) can come from that and just go from there.”

Bachynski and Paskaris each had a goal and an assist Sunday afternoon for WSU, but the Chargers rebounded for a 5-2 victory.

Morrison, Tom Train, Josh Murray, Chris Fairbanks and Matt Sweazey scored for the home team to back Blake MacNicol’s 30-save performance.

Bothwell kicked out 24 shots for the Warriors.

Chargers Active In Promoting Hockey Down South

As part of USA Hockey’s “Hockey Weekend Across America,” Alabama-Huntsville, in conjunction with the Huntsville Amateur Hockey Association, worked together to further hockey in the Tennessee Valley.

This past Monday and Tuesday, each HAHA team had at least one Charger cheering them on during their house league games. Several UAH players have been involved with a number of youth teams throughout the year.

“This is a great opportunity for our team to get out in the community and help work with the youth hockey programs,” noted Cole. “It is great to see a number of Charger alumni coaching within the Huntsville youth hockey programs. Our players are definitely excited to get out and work with their respective hockey teams.”

Wayne State Memories

This week’s Wayne State flashback comes from the 2004-2005 season when the Warriors played their home games at Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Mich.

Jason Bloomingburg tied Dusty Kingston’s team record of 18 goals on Feb. 26, 2005 against Air Force in a 5-1 win and then set the school record eight days later in a 6-5 loss to Alabama-Huntsville. He finished with 20 goals that season, still a school record and one that will not be broken.

Bloomingburg, who graduated from WSU last spring as a Wayne State co-captain after starting his college career at Providence, has bounced around the minors this year.

Tiebreakers Could Come Into Play

As the final three weeks of the regular season are here (already?), nothing is set in stone standings-wise. The “what if” scenarios are being bandied about and tiebreakers discussed. Here is a pretty clear breakdown of the CHA standings.

Bemidji State has a five-point lead on Robert Morris and owns the tiebreaker over RMU with a 2-1-1 record. Their series is complete.

Niagara is two points back of the Colonials. Niagara and RMU are tied with a 2-2 record and RMU has one more conference win, but Niagara has two games in hand. Niagara leads in goals with 15 and 13 goals against. Two games remain in this series.

BSU owns the tiebreaker over Niagara with a 2-1-1 record. Their season series is complete.

In the battle for fourth and fifth place, WSU owns the tiebreaker over UAH with a 3-1 record. The series is complete. Wayne State could still catch Niagara, but Niagara owns a 4-0 record against the Warriors. Wayne State and Niagara still have two games left in the series — March 7-8 in Detroit to shut the door on WSU hockey in Motown.

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Feb. 21, 2008

By Chris Lerch

-

February 21, 2008

Two Weeks to Go

With two weeks left in the regular season, here’s what we know, and here’s what we don’t.

We know:

• Army has clinched a home-ice spot, the only AHA team to do so at this point. 30 points is the magic number at the moment. Sacred Heart, RIT, Mercyhurst and Air Force can all wrap up home ice based on how they do this weekend.

• Only Connecticut knows for sure it will be on the road for the playoffs. Canisius, Bentley, Holy Cross and AIC still have a chance at home ice, but are on the outside looking in at the moment.

• How Connecticut is going to get by with the season-ending injuries to goaltenders Beau Erickson and Brad McInnis. Freshman John Glant will start the remaining games, and coach Bruce Marshall has picked up a walk-on netminder to back him up.

“We picked up a kid out of the dorms,” said Marshall. “Kevin Fairwether worked with us at the beginning of the season. We’re battling thought it. We’ve had five ACLs and three separated shoulders and I just heard today that another guy has a cracked sternum.”

UConn is in the midst of a six-game losing streak, the most recent loss coming in overtime against Bentley.

“I give the kids credit,” said Marshall. “They played a spirited game.”

Marshall said he doesn’t expect to get many of his injured players back into action before the end of the season. Plus, since the injuries all occurred later in the season, medical redshirts aren’t available.

“Maybe we’ll get (Brendan) Olinyk back,” he said. “I feel bad for guys like Sean Erickson (who was injured on Dec. 4). He was one and a half games away from getting a fifth year.”

UConn has AIC this weekend, and then finishes up with Holy Cross.

“We’re going to play as hard as we can and see where that takes us,” said Marshall.

We don’t know:

• If Army goaltender Josh Kassel will allow another goal this season. The way he’s playing, it just might happen. Kassel has posted two straight shutouts and blanked teams in four of his last five outings. He’s allowed a single goal in his last 271:03 played, and just five goals in his last nine games. His current scoreless streak stands at 170:02.

• How the Black Knights will fare away from Tate Rink, where they have played nine of their last 10 games and posted a 7-1-1 record in those games. Army finishes up with three of its last four contests on the road. The Black Knights are 10-4-1 at home and 4-8-2 on the road.

• If Canisius can stay hot at home, at least hot enough to move into fifth place. The Griffs are 8-3-1 on home ice and just 2-12-4 away from Buffalo. They play three of their last four games at home, including a pair against Air Force. Based on their road vs. home record this season, getting home ice in the playoffs would seem crucial to Canisius moving on to Rochester.

• How deep into the tiebreakers we’re going to have to go to settle things. The league has changed them from last season, adding goal differential in head-to-head matchups. That should make things easier, and I doubt we’ll have to go beyond conference wins. The tiebreakers for this season are:

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

Stay tuned for next week’s column, where we’ll break down the playoff possibilities for each team.

Player of the Week for February 18, 2008
Josh Kassel — Army
Kassel is having such a great run, he’s not only Goalie of the Week (see below), he’s Player of the Week as well. How can he not be? Two more shutouts against AIC means just five goals allowed in his last nine games (Army is 8-0-1 in those games, the longest unbeaten streak in AHA history).

Goaltender of the Week for February 18, 2008:
Josh Kassel — Army
For the fourth time in a row. Why? See above.

Rookie of the Week for February 18, 2008:
Joe Calvi — Bentley
Atlantic Hockey is indeed a goaltender’s league. Calvi stopped 56 of 59 shots to lead the Falcons to their first conference sweep in over a year.

Consistency

In the almost two years I’ve been covering this league, one near-certainty is while Bentley won’t come out of a weekend without any points, the Falcons usually don’t come out with four points, either. Last season they had one sweep, and were swept only once.

That pattern is holding true again this season. Bentley got at least one point every weekend until February 8 and 9, when it was swept by AIC. But, to restore order in the universe, the Falcons took two from UConn last weekend.

“It’s been a little frustrating, because since mid-January, we’ve started to play really well,” said coach Ryan Soderquist. “But all we had to show for it was three ties and a couple of losses. AIC played hard and took it to us. We had four or five starters out of the lineup, and that didn’t help. It was a tough weekend.”

But the Falcons rebounded with a sweep of UConn to keep them in contention for home ice. Bentley is tied for sixth, four points out of a home ice spot with four games to play — four very tough games. Bentley hosts Army this weekend and then finishes off the season with a pair at RIT.

“It doesn’t matter who we play, it matters how we play,” said Soderquist. “We can play with anybody. Kassel’s obviously playing very well. We’re going to have to get traffic in front of him get some screens and get some rebounds.”

Soderquist points to goaltender Joe Calvi and balanced scoring as key to getting the sweep last weekend.

“You’re successful when you can get scoring out of your third and fourth lines,” he said. “Blake Hamilton had three last weekend, including the game winner in overtime (on Saturday).”

With playoffs looming, I asked Soderquist, who was the only coach to vote against the play-in game last season, what he thought of the new format. He’s not a fan of this one, either.

“I don’t like five teams (going to Rochester),” he said. “It really puts the fourth-place team at a disadvantage, and with an unbalanced schedule, a single point could make a difference between third and fourth. I’d rather have the top eight teams make the playoffs and have just semifinals and finals (in Rochester)”

Around the League

Army: The Black Knights’ 8-0-1 run is the longest unbeaten streak in league history. Mercyhurst and Holy Cross have each gone eight games without a loss in the past.

Holy Cross: Saturday’s 3-2 win over Canisius was coach Paul Pearl’s 200th behind the bench at Holy Cross. In 13 years, Pearl has amassed a record of 200-182-43.

Mercyhurst: The Lakers’ win last Friday at Sacred Heart was their first against the Pioneers in nine tries, and the first time Mercyhurst has won at the Milford Ice Pavilion in five years.

RIT: The Tigers finished 2-1-1 against ranked teams this season after a 3-3 tie with Niagara last Saturday. Sophomore defenseman Dan Ringwald had two assists in the game, and now leads the nation in scoring by a defenseman with 29 points.

AHA Accolades: Two Atlantic Hockey players have been named among 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award. It’s presented annually to the NCAA’s Division I Student-Athlete of the Year in eight sports. The finalists for hockey include Air Force’s Frank Schiavone and Army’s Bryce Hollweg.

This Week in the WCHA: Feb. 21, 2008

By Theresa Spisak

-

February 21, 2008

Funny, isn’t it, how a weekend following a day for love portrayed little, particularly up in Grand Forks and here at column home base, where I got pasted in predictions by my significant other.

Oh, and apparently CC didn’t have the last non-conference tilt a few weeks ago, as the Sioux take on Bemidji this weekend and the WCHA Mavericks (MSU, M) take on the CCHA Mavericks (Nebraska-Omaha) next weekend. Oops.

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Peter Rouleau, MTU and Andrew Kozek, MTU.
Why: Rouleau had a hat trick as well as two assists for a career-high five points in Friday’s game against Minnesota-Duluth. Kozek, on the other hand, had six points (4g, 2a) in the Sioux’s sweep over Denver last weekend.
Also Nominated: Geoff Irwin, MSU.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Chay Genoway, UND.
Why: Had four points, a +3 rating, eight shots on goal, no penalties and helped hold Denver under 20 shots on goal both nights in the Sioux’s sweep of the Pioneers.
Also Nominated: Eli Vlaisavljevich, MTU; Jase Weslosky, SCSU.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Aaron Marvin, SCSU.
Why: Had three assists, was a +2 and had two shots on goal in the Huskies’ sweep over Alaska Anchorage.
Also Nominated: Eric Kattelus, MTU; Evan Trupp, UND.

“New” Rivals …

Given a certain incident that happened in the WCHA Red Baron Final Five a few years ago, I don’t want to say that Denver and North Dakota are “new” rivals, per se, but this past weekend solidified that each school picked up a new worst enemy. Thanks to a scrum at the end of the second period, both schools had players disqualified for fighting (Denver will be missing Brandon Vossberg and J.P. Testwuide on Friday, while the Sioux will be without the services of Kyle Radke for the entire weekend).

“It’s a situation that both teams were crossing paths and … I guess there are varying accounts of who bumped into who or whatever,” said Fighting Sioux associate head coach Cary Eades, who was behind the bench in place of the suspended Dave Hakstol. “Thank goodness, I think both teams showed pretty good restraint in not escalating the incident into a giant situation.”

Maybe that restraint is keeping the rivalry on a short leash. Pioneer head coach George Gwozdecky would prefer for such an incident to not happen again.

“I think what occurred last Saturday night during that game I do not condone,” he said. “I’m glad the league has decided to step in and give supplementary discipline to those involved and hopefully this type of action will not occur again.

“This is not something I like for college hockey.”

And Traditional Ones …

We have another rivalry weekend this weekend with the Badgers and Gophers facing off, which is always a good time. The two teams last played each other in late January, when Wisconsin swept the Gophers at the Kohl Center. Now, it’s Minnesota’s turn to host, as the Gophers face the Badgers coming off a bye week.

Still, even though it is such a big series, the coaches are treating it as big for one reason and one reason only — league points.

“Whether we’re playing Wisconsin or whoever is kind of irrelevant; we have to find a way to win games,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. “Whether it’s 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 5-4 — doesn’t matter. We have to try to find a way to win a game and for us obviously, we have to find a way to score some goals.”

“We know the things they do well and we have to go out and play like we have on the road here in the second half in order for us to get points,” said Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves in his weekly press conference. “Nothing has changed for us in terms of that mindset of going out and getting points.”

Random Notes (and Commentary!) From Around the League

WCHA — Officially this came out last Thursday, but I couldn’t squash it in. In any case, the WCHA announced the WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award recipients for this year. There are a lot of them so I don’t want to list everybody, but I do want to say congratulations to the University of Minnesota-Duluth for having eight recipients — the most of any school.

After that, Michigan Tech has six, Colorado College and Denver each have five, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State each have three, Minnesota has two and Alaska Anchorage, North Dakota and Wisconsin each have one.

For those who are unaware of this award, this is the third season it’s been given; it goes to players who have been at the school for at least one year and have a 3.5 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for the previous semesters/quarters.

In short, these guys put the student in student-athlete.

Reader Mailbag

I didn’t get much in the ol’ mailbag this week except for a long e-mail from Bill Denning, a Tech fan living in Texas.

Most of what he sent was comments regarding things in past columns, but he did ask my thoughts on the early pro signings the league has had this year — most notably, Denver’s Brock Trotter and Minnesota’s Kyle Okposo.

First, his thoughts:

IMO there should be an agreement between the NCAA and all professional sports that no “student athlete” can be signed to a professional contract until his or her eligibility is up.

If their only goal is to play pro hockey, they should do that straight away out of high school; if they agree to play for a college team, completing their education should be their primary focus, not increasing their signing bonus. This should apply to all sports … no college player with eligibility remaining should be able to sign a professional contract.

There has actually been a lot of talk circulating about this among the WCHA and its fans. Commissioner Bruce McLeod even went to the NHL’s general managers meetings to try and talk to the league for a solution to the problem.

McLeod, in an article in last week’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, said as much. “We have to come up with some kind of a deterrent — you can’t sign after July 15 or you can’t sign until after your sophomore year,” he said.

If there were to be such a rule implemented, it would have to be negotiated into the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, a possibly tricky task given seemingly endless factors.

McLeod noted one factor as the general managers not understanding the difference between say, the NCAA and Canadian major juniors, and how the NCAA has a pesky little thing known as an “educational component.” That, and NHL clubs can take players from major juniors, bring them up for training camp and a few games of the regular season and then send them back down for more conditioning. Under NCAA regulations, that isn’t allowed.

So that all being said, my thoughts? Ideally, I’d like the situation that Bill brought up — where once a player signs that letter of intent, he’s in college for the long haul. However, if that were the case, college hockey would miss out on a lot of great players who wouldn’t want to make that commitment. Sure, it sucks seeing someone like Jonathan Toews, for example, stay only two years, but realistically, if hockey doesn’t work out for him, he can always go back to school.

But. If he wants to leave, fine. I just think he should do it after the season or the school year is over and not mid-season. I also think players shouldn’t be able to jump after a certain point in the summer — like McLeod’s July 15 date — given the mad scramble coaches and programs have to go through to find replacements.

Match-Ups By the Numbers

Minnesota State gets a small break and North Dakota has a Saturday-Sunday non-conference series with Bemidji State.

No. 4 Colorado College @ No. 13 Minnesota-Duluth
Overall Records: CC — 21-8-1 (16-5-1 WCHA). tUMD — 12-10-6 (8-9-5 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: CC leads the overall series, 79-71-5.
Top Scorers: CC — Chad Rau (19-12-31). tUMD — MacGregor Sharp (6-10-16).
Goaltenders: CC — Richard Bachman (25 gp, 19-5-1, 1.84 GAA, .929 sv %). tUMD — Alex Stalock (28 gp, 12-10-6, 2.20 GAA, .918 sv %).

Michigan Tech @ No. 16 St. Cloud State
Overall Records: MTU — 11-14-5 (7-11-4 WCHA). SCSU — 14-13-3 (9-11-2 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: SCSU leads the overall series, 44-25-5.
Top Scorers: MTU — Peter Rouleau (12-13-25). SCSU — Ryan Lasch (20-21-41).
Goaltenders: MTU — Michael-Lee Teslak (16 gp, 5-6-4, 1.93 GAA, .926 sv %), Rob Nolan (16 gp, 6-8-1, 2.68 GAA, .896 sv %). SCSU — Jase Weslosky (23 gp, 11-10, 2.37 GAA, .921 sv %).

Alaska Anchorage @ No. 8 Denver
Overall Records: UAA — 7-16-7 (3-16-5 WCHA). DU — 19-10-1 (13-8-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: DU leads the overall series, 34-13-5.
Top Scorers: UAA — Kevin Clark (7-16-23). DU — Tyler Bozak (14-13-27).
Goaltenders: UAA — Jon Olthuis (26 gp, 6-12-7, 2.87 GAA, .884 sv %). DU — Peter Mannino (29 gp, 18-10-1, 2.28 GAA, .916 sv %).

No. 10 Wisconsin @ Minnesota
Overall Records: UW — 14-12-6 (10-10-4 WCHA). UM — 12-13-7 (6-11-5 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UM leads the overall series, 148-79-16
Top Scorers: UW — Kyle Turris (11-18-29). UM — Blake Wheeler (13-13-26).
Goaltenders: UW — Shane Connelly (29 gp, 13-12-4, 2.32 GAA, .917 sv %). UM — Alex Kangas (18 gp, 5-6-7, 2.14 GAA, .923 sv %).

Bemidji State @ No. 2 North Dakota
Overall Records: BSU — 14-13-3 (11-4-3 CHA). UND — 19-8-2 (16-7-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UND leads the overall series, 13-1-1.
Top Scorers: BSU — Matt Read (8-15-23). UND — Ryan Duncan (11-19-30).
Goaltenders: BSU — Matt Climie (22 gp, 12-6-3, 1.95 GAA, .921 sv %). UND — Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (29 gp, 19-8-2, 1.78 GAA, .930 sv %).

Late Non-Conference Tilts

I understand why teams schedule non-conference games — they help out with that pesky PairWise thing that helps teams get into the NCAA tournament at the end of the year. I also get why most teams schedule them at the beginning of the season — no matter how important those non-conference wins may be, ultimately, how one does in conference is even more vital.

Still, that didn’t keep me from pondering why exactly teams would schedule non-conference opponents so late in the season. While talking to Fighting Sioux associate head coach Cary Eades regarding other stuff, I asked him about the scheduling, given that his team plays a non-conference opponent this weekend in Bemidji State.

“We had a weekend off just two weeks ago, so you don’t want to go two out of three weekends not playing,” said Eades. “It’s not for league points but it has a great impact on the PairWise.

“The WCHA does their main scheduling and we schedule in and out [of that].”

So, there you have it. Non-conference games this late in the season are just a result of a league scheduling quirk which gives some teams their multiple bye weeks late in the season.

This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey: Feb. 21, 2008

By Derek Dunning

-

February 21, 2008

The Final Weekend

Believe it or not, this weekend marks the end of the 2007-2008 Division III womenâ€™s hockey regular season. It seems like just yesterday players across the country were throwing on the practice jerseys and lacing up the skates for the first day of tryouts eager to hit the ice for the first time.

A lot has changed over the course of the season. Schools like Trinity, Adrian, and Norwich have had breakout seasons. However, as the old saying goes: the more things change, the more things stay the same and that has once again held true in the womenâ€™s D-III hockey world.

Traditional powers Plattsburgh, Middlebury, Gustavus Adolphus, Stevens Point, and Elmira have all had stellar seasons as expected. All five are fighting for NCAA playoff berths with the likes of the new kids on the block in Amherst and RIT that have now firmly planted themselves among the nationâ€™s best with back-to-back solid seasons. Add in a surging Wisconsin Superior team, a dark horse in the MIACâ€™s St. Thomas, and the ECAC East-leading Manhattanville (St. Anselm is ineligible for post-season play because they are a Division II team) and you have the top contenders for this yearâ€™s National Championship.

Weâ€™ll take a look at how the NCAA tournament field is shaping up a little bit later. First though, Iâ€™d like to highlight some of the games that will take place this weekend.

There are not any marquee matchups involving top-10 teams this week but there are some very intriguing games that could possibly have huge impacts on some of the main contenders’ playoff chances.

In the ECAC West, fifth-ranked RIT travels to Neumann for a two game series. RIT is currently leading Elmira by one point for third place in the ECAC West standings. However, both teams have the opportunity to leapfrog second place Utica, who has already finished its conference schedule.

If both teams sweep their respective opponents this weekend, RIT will finish as the second seed and get a the first-round bye and Elmira will finish third and host Buffalo State on Saturday, March 1 in a play-in game to determine who advances to the conference Final Four, hosted by top-seeded and top-ranked Plattsburgh.

In the NESCAC, two of the best stories in the conference this season will meet when Colby travels to Trinity. Colby (12-7-3) comes in on a four-game winning streak, including two straight 2-0 shutouts against Wesleyan and Bowdoin. Trinity (16-3-3) has easily been this seasonâ€™s biggest surprise after going 8-16-1 last season. The Bantamsâ€™ only losses have come to conference heavyweights Middlebury and Amherst, as well as New England College.

Lastly, Manhattanville (17-6-0) will meet conference-leading St. Anselm (21-1-0) for ECAC East bragging rights as the Valiants prepare themselves for the postseason while St. Anselm ends their season and is forced to play for pride rather than conference titles and NCAA tournament dreams.

NCAA Tournament Analysis

With just one week of regular season games remaining and just the conference tournaments left to decide, lets take a look at how the NCAA tournament race is shaking up.

Seven teams make the Division III NCAA Tournament.

There are four automatic (Pool A) bids awarded to the conference tournament champions that have seven of more league members (ECAC East, ECAC West, NESCAC, and MIAC).

There is one Pool B bid that is awarded to the top team not in an automatic-bid (Pool A) conference. (This will go to one of the NCHA teams.)

There are two at-large (Pool C) bids that are awarded to the top two remaining teams as determined through a set criteria by the NCAA committee.

The first installment of the NCAA regional rankings were released this week, giving us our first peak into how the teams match up. (You can go here to take a look at the rankings.)

Unfortunately, the NCAA changed their criteria this year a little bit, which has made putting a PWR ranking system together extremely hard. Without a PWR, we at USCHO.com have been unable to predict the formula and mirror what they use to compile the rankings. This had made comparing out-of-region opponents like Superior and Amherst virtually impossible.

Hereâ€™s my take on things though right now. For arguments sake, lets assume all the conference leaders win their respective conference tournaments.

That gives us:

ECAC East- Manhattanville
NESCAC- Middlebury
ECAC West- Plattsburgh
MIAC- Gustavus Adolphus

Stevens Point is the leader in the Pool B race right now so weâ€™ll assume they win that. (However, that could definitely change quickly if they fall to Superior in the NCHA Finals. The Yellow Jackets would have a 3-1 head-to-head advantage if that happened and I think that would negate the fact they would have four losses to Point’s three.)

So that gives us five teams now we come to the tough part, Pool C.

RIT, Amherst, Elmira, and Superior would be the front-runners right now for Pool C, if all the conference leaders win out.

RIT beats Amherst because they have the better record and they beat them 3-1 on Jan. 6.

RIT beats Elmira because they win common opponents as the Tigers are 13-3-0 and Elmira is 10-4-1. The two teams split their head-to-head match-ups. The big differences were that Elmira only got point from Plattsburgh and lost to Amherst while RIT split with Plattsburgh and beat Amherst.

Not sure how RIT and Superior match up.

Weâ€™ll go ahead and say that RIT gets one of the Pool C bids since they beat both Amherst and Elmira right now.

Amherst beats Elmira with their 3-2 win over the Soaring Eagles on Jan. 18.

Weâ€™ll consider that the battle is between Superior and RIT for the second Pool C bid. Itâ€™s basically a toss-up and the remaining games will hold a lot of weight in determining who gets in.

Teams like Elmira, Trinity, Utica, and St. Thomas will need to win their conferences most likely to make the tournament.

There is still plenty of hockey left to be played and the conference tournaments will certainly give us a much clearer picture on how things are going to shake out.

Strap in and enjoy the final few weeks of the 2008 Division III womenâ€™s hockey season!

Red And Big Blue

By Dave Starman

-

February 21, 2008

Red Berenson was the first player to go straight from college to the NHL when he finished four years at Michigan and joined the Montreal Canadiens. He played 987 games in the NHL, just shy of 1,000. He was a Jack Adams winner as NHL coach of the year in 1981 with St. Louis. He was an NHL assistant in Buffalo and had players like Dave Andreychuk, Tom Barrasso, and Phil Housley.

Yet, he was bored.

Then Michigan came calling. The once-proud program had hit a rough patch and needed help. Berenson felt he wanted to give back to the school that had given so much to him. Scotty Bowman, then coach of the Sabres, thought he should take it. That was 999 Wolverine NCAA games ago.

Berenson, perhaps the crown jewel of coaches in the NCAA hockey world, if not the coaching fraternity, will coach No. 1,000 on Friday night against archrival Michigan State. It is quite an achievement for someone who never really considered coaching as a career. In that respect, he is similar to Jerry York and some of the other college hockey mainstays who turned to coaching as an afterthought.

Red Berenson returned to coach at Michigan, where he has built a perennial powerhouse (photo: Melissa Wade).

“I played for Al Renfrew here and he made such an impact on my life here as a student-athlete,” said Berenson. “However, I don’t ever remember saying I wanted to coach, but it became my life’s work.”

Berenson finished his NCAA career in the consolation game of the Final Four, and joined assistant GM Kenny Reardon of Montreal for a drive to Boston.

He returned to Ann Arbor for the 1984-1985 season. When he had retired as an NHL player he joined the Blues’ coaching staff so he could keep his family in St. Louis. That’s where it began, this incredible run of success behind the bench for Berenson, whose first three coaches in pro hockey were Toe Blake, Scotty Bowman, and Emile Francis (all Hall of Famers).

As he says, he played for some great coaches and then played for some inexperienced ones late in his career, but all make an impact in one way or another. His early impact almost came at the expense of another former Blue in Al Arbour. Red almost became the coach who ended the Islanders’ dynasty in 1981 with an upstart Blues team that challenged the defending champs for first overall.

“I can’t tell you we were close but I can’t say we weren’t,” said Berenson, whose young team leads the CCHA by five points with four games to play. “We were so young. Wayne Babych scored 56 goals that year, I think he was only 20 years old. Mike Liut was maybe 24 or 25 and he was co-MVP with Gretzky that year. We had a young Bernie Federko and a young Brian Sutter on our first line. We had a lot of youth and I think that caught up to us in the playoffs. ”

Berenson has become a symbol of stability in college hockey. Like Jack Parker at Boston University, Berenson has stayed at the same school for so long that you don’t think Michigan without thinking Red, which is unique for a school known as Big Blue. Commonwealth Ave. has Jack Parker Rink at Agganis Arena. Might we eventually see Red Berenson Arena?

To put it in perspective, he took over Michigan during the Reagan era, about 10 years after Parker took the reins at BU. Upon reflecting on this milestone, Berenson joked that he doesn’t dwell on it, but is just amazed how long it took.

He is well-respected by his peers, and also by the officials. Coaches marvel that at the coaches’ annual convention in Florida every April he spends time with the legends and the up-and-comers. Referees comment that they rarely if ever hear a word from him. One CCHA official said that if you hear Red call your name during the game you know you made a mistake.

He talks about his beginning at Michigan being a challenge. He mentions the influence Bowman had on him in terms of his ability to construct teams that had players of high skill level and very good character. That first training camp, he had several players show up at camp on scholarship expecting to be on the team. Berenson got rid of them all.

“I told them I’d honor the scholarship because that was the most important reason they were here,” said Berenson. “If they weren’t going to be hockey players it was time to get serious with their education.”

Year one — game one, for that matter — was an eye-opener. Having not seen a college hockey game in 20 years, Berenson took his team to the old Goggin Ice Arena at Miami University and couldn’t believe what he was watching. The game was awful, the play was awful, the stickwork was alarming and Berenson was disgusted.

What might have scared him more was when Miami coach Steve Cady told him this was how it was every night. Berenson called the commissioner of the league between periods to express his horror with what he was watching. When the game was over and Michigan had won, the players celebrated “like they had just won the Stanley Cup” (something Berenson can speak about from experience). He remembers feeling that this was going to be rough.

It was rough. Berenson thinks back and knows that if he knew then what he knows now about how hard it was, he might not have done this.

I don’t believe that.

Berenson is one of the most disciplined people ever to grace college hockey. Watch him in practice with his players. While they are cranking shots off the glass, he is still doing what he did as a player. He works the puck off the boards and back onto his stick, takes a few backhand shots reminiscent of his playing days, when he had one of the most feared backhanders in the game, and does some up-tempo skating when the team does its warmup laps. He respects the game and the way it’s played and you can see that when he is on the ice.

“It was very hard when I started. Of course, I didn’t have the networking for recruiting. I had one assistant coach who was terrific, he really helped me: Mark Keller. I had so much to learn about the level of hockey, recruiting, networking, and the coaching at the college level was different because the skill level was different,” said Berenson.

“Michigan needed more than a coach when I got here, we needed to upgrade our talent level and our character level, and our commitment, and certainly the expectations of the program. People asked me what I had envisioned for Michigan and I wanted to be like the old Montreal Canadiens of the ’60s and ’70’s, or the Islanders and Oilers of the 80’s.

“I wanted to try to become a college hockey dynasty. I wanted a team that could really play the game, not one that played not to lose. We wanted a team that played the game and that’s what we tried to do over the years and that’s what we’ve tried to do in my years. That’s been my underlying vision for this program.”

“He is so good for our game, college hockey. His passion and his love for the game is so obvious,” said Michigan State head coach Rick Comley, who squares off against Berenson in game 1,000. “Red doesn’t want to be anywhere but Michigan and in college hockey. He doesn’t want to be on a beach somewhere, he wants to be where he is doing what he loves.”

Which makes Friday unique. Here is a man coaching his 1,000th game who never really had set his sights on coaching.

“I never saw myself as a career coach to start with. I was a player, but once I stopped and got into coaching you start to learn, ‘Jeez, I wish I had done this as a player.’ You learn more about the game and how your team is supposed to play. I was really fortunate to be a player in the NHL and fortunate to have some great coaching experience there, even as an assistant with Barclay Plager for Scotty Bowman,” said Berenson.

“Then to come to Michigan and continue to learn, that is really what coaching is about. Its learning about coaching, learning about the game, learning about handling people, learning about winning and losing, and at this level recruiting is a big part of the game also.”

It’s not all about hockey, though, for Berenson. Education is important and when he talks about his decision to return, that factored in as much as hockey. Additionally, it was giving back that also led Berenson home to the Maize and Blue.

“I always had in the back of my mind that I really liked what Michigan did for me. It helped me live my dream as a hockey player and it gave me something to fall back on after hockey. I went through the business school here and then I came back and got my MBA here in the summers. I was always preparing for life after hockey, and as it turns out I was probably a good fit for other players to come here and do the same thing.”

Countless have. Hopefully, countless more will with Red behind the Big Blue bench.

UNH?

By Jim Connelly

-

February 21, 2008

Is it me or has most of the college hockey world been blindsided by the fact that New Hampshire has climbed to the number two spot in the PairWise Rankings? The Wildcats have quietly played well over the last couple of months and now are close to locking up a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The UNH lineup is not filled with household names… at least not yet. The team’s most well-known player at this point might actually be rookie James van Riemsdyk, the number two overall pick in last summer’s NHL Entry Draft. He, though, has not been the cog behind this team.

In fact it’s difficult to point to any one player who has carried the Wildcat club. Senior goaltender Kevin Regan has posted a consistent 17-5-1 record with a solid .929 save percentage. Senior forwards Mike Radja and Matt Fornataro have both steady offensive players.

But the truth is that the entire UNH lineup, top-to-bottom, is dangerous. The club boasts 12 double-digit point scorers. it has two defenseman in Brad Flaishans and Crais Switzer who are solid defensively but can jump into the rush.

In essense, this is a pretty well-balanced team that could do well in the post-season. The only question lies in experience. The Wildcats have made the NCAA Tournament for the last three years but have posted just one win over that time, that coming over Harvard in 2005.

In other words, the current roster of Wildcat players have not proven they can take the next step. But experience means a lot and there are enough veteran players sprinkled with budding talent to be dangerous.

The first test comes this weekend against Boston College, which sits six points behind the Wildcats for the Hockey East top spot. A sweep could all but sew up the trophy for UNH. Being swept would turn that level of comfort upside down.

Applauding Discipline

I have to tip the hat in a couple of directions this week for league that have stepped forward to state clearly that fighting will not have a place in the college game.

First off, Atlantic Hockey and its executive committee should be congratulated for upholding the suspensions issued to RIT in the wake of the massive line brawl the Tigers participated in against Canisius. The commissioner and director of officiating spent a signficant amount of time watching video to get the suspensions correct. And the executive committee’s ratification of the decision by denying RIT’s appeal sent a strong message of support for the league administration.

The WCHA also deserves recognition for issuing supplemental discipline after last Saturday’s North Dakota-Denver game. I have not seen tape of the fight that took place between J.P. Testwuide and Kyle Radke but I applaud the league for not simply sweeping the incident under the rug. It makes you wonder as a member of the media if all the complaining we (okay, I) do about fighting in college hockey is actually being heard. Likely it’s not, but at least I can think there’s a possibility.

This Week in D-I Women’s Hockey: Feb. 21, 2008

By Dan Hickling

-

February 21, 2008

New school. Old school.

In either case itâ€™s still in session in the world-wide classroom encased in ice.

As the U.S. hockey community celebrates the 10-year anniversary of striking of the first women’s Olympic gold medal, a select group of 27 of todayâ€™s best players have been tabbed to take steps toward repeating the feat in Vancouver two years hence.

Toiling locally, dreaming globally.

USAHockey has just announced its preliminary group of National Team hopefuls, from which this yearâ€™s entry in the IIHF Womenâ€™s World Championships will be drawn.

Some of them, eight in fact, already have Olympic rings on their luggage tags, while 15 more are currently playing D-I pucks.

And while the immediate focus is on bringing back a WWC title from Harbin, China, itâ€™s another Pacific Rim destination — Vancouver — that each of them has their sights trained on.

Thatâ€™s certainly true for Kacey Bellamy, a University of New Hampshire junior who is vying for a spot on the Nationalsâ€˜ blue line.

Bellamy already has logged tours with the Natsâ€™ Select squad in the last two Four Nations’ Cup tourneys.

But her eyes are fixed on an even more prestigious prize.

â€œMy number-one goal,â€ she said, â€œis to go to the Olympics.â€

She began fueling those ambitions from the time she took part in her first Lake Placid USAHockey camp as a 16-year-old. The stoking became more heated after being given the nod to join the 2006 FNC team.

â€œThat was just a great experience,â€ she said. â€œPlaying with the best female hockey players, both with and against. It was a little overwhelming, but it was a great experience.â€

Overwhelming, and perhaps intimidating too. But as Bellamy found out, the rewards far outweighed the risks.

â€œIt was a big step,â€ said Bellamy, one of three hockey playing siblings (with brothers Rob and Corey) from Westfield, Mass. â€œI had to come out of my comfort zone and play with the older girls. The Angela Ruggieros, the Krissy Wendells and the Natalie Darwitzâ€˜s. I was just blown away from listening to them talk, watching their leadership. At the same time, youâ€™re out there practicing and playing with them, and saying â€™wow, I can really play at this level.â€™â€

And if she can play with them there, it stands to reason she can hold her own with the countryâ€™s elite when Olympic jobs are on the line.

â€œYouâ€™ve just got to keep working hard,â€ she said, â€œto get to the next level. Thatâ€™s the Olympics, hopefully.â€

Of course, where Bellamy hopes to go, Cammi Granato — the Babe Ruth (or Babe Didrikson, at least) of the sport — has already been. Twice.

Granato, of course, captained that maiden Olympic squad, which had to overcome its historic futility against the Canadians to win the gold.

To her, the rush of the past decade has done nothing to dim her memories or diminish her appreciation for the feat.

â€œI think itâ€™s great to sit here and reflect on what happened 10 years ago,â€ said Granato, during a media conference call that included your faithful correspondent. â€œItâ€™s hard to believe that itâ€™s been this long. I think what happens, though, as the years go by, is that you really start to appreciate that we were the first. The first women in the Olympics in ice hockey. We were the pioneers in that regard. There were plenty of players who came along, who didnâ€™t get that opportunity. But the fact that we were lucky enough to be there, was incredibly special.â€

Of course by that time, Granato had already accomplished all that one could do in womenâ€™s hockey.

Score a zillion goals and lead her Providence College team to ECAC titles.

And of course, as Bellamy does, Granato had hockey playing brothers (Tony and Don) with accomplishments of their own.

Even so, Granato couldnâ€™t help but be taken aback when she first hit Nagano.

â€œIt was all new,â€ she said. â€œEvery single person shared that excitement. Whether it was going to the Village and going to the cafeteria, seeing the other athletes. Getting our apparel. Seeing the locker room and the ice for the first time. Everything was new to everybody. The experience was that much better.â€

Still, to come home from Japan as pioneers was one thing. But to come home as Olympic champions, was, to shamelessly purloin a phrase, priceless.

â€œWhat I remember the most,â€ she said, â€œwas that we hadnâ€™t been able to beat Canada when it counted. Then all of a sudden, we gained momentum. Game after game.â€

Even so, Granato, as articulate a spokesperson for the sport as there is, said she has trouble putting that initial Olympic experience into words.

â€œEven 10 years past [it],â€ she said, â€œitâ€™s still hard to put into words, what that experience meant. Itâ€™s still hard to describe just how monumental and special and absolutely amazing that experience was. But weâ€™re trying.â€

Bellamy, then, will just have to find out for herself.

This Week in SUNYAC

By Russell Jaslow

-

February 21, 2008

Similar To Last Year

Last year for the play-in round, one game was tight, the other not so much. The same scenario occurred again this year.

The tight game was once again the Buffalo State-Fredonia match up. This year the teams met on Fredonia’s ice in Steele Hall.

“Good hard fought game,” Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith said. “These Buffalo State-Fredonia games are pretty good college hockey games. It’s become quite the rivalry.”

The Blue Devils jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 17:29 of the first period when Andrew Dissanayake successfully converted a 2-on-1 for his first goal of the season and only second of his career. Richard Boyce made it 2-0 at 10:06 of the second on the power play.

At this point, Fredonia started getting into penalty trouble. Buffalo State converted a power play at 15:27 by Joe Curry. Then, the Bengals shocked Fredonia, tying the game 11 seconds before the second intermission on a goal by Tyler Soehner.

Once again, these two teams were battling to the bitter end. Meredith knew he had to calm his troops down quickly.

“Coming into the locker room, we met right away,” Meredith said. “Tried to settle things down. I told them it’s useless to focus on what’s in the past because none of us can change that. We can only focus on what’s ahead. I really liked the way we came out in the third.”

The pep talk worked as Fredonia retook the lead at 5:13. Neal Sheehan picked off a clearing pass along the boards. With the defender playing another Fredonia player, Sheehan had room to walk it in. He pumped fake and then buried it through the five-hole.

Buffalo State pulled their goalie with a minute and a half left and were able to produce some scrambles in front of the net. However, Fredonia held them off, and after a time out, the Blue Devils won the face off. They cleared it off the glass and out, and the footrace was won by Bryan Goudy by half a step. He deposited the puck into the empty net for the final 4-2 score.

Pat Street got the win with 26 saves as Fredonia travels to Oswego for the semifinals.

The other game saw Potsdam continue their hot streak, beating Cortland, 7-2. The Bears came out inspired.

“It was a long time since we had a home playoff game here in Potsdam,” Bears coach Aaron Saul said. “It was a goal the guys set for themselves, and I think they were very excited when the game started.”

Potsdam scored twice in the first period on goals by Chris Beaudoin at 3:36 and Colin MacLennan at 15:06. The Bears got a quick goal in the second at 1:52 on the power play by Vince Tarantino.

However, Cortland started to reverse the tide.

“We got into some penalty trouble and then the 5-on-3 gave them some momentum,” Saul said.

During those power plays, Rob Barnhardt saved the day for Potsdam like he did a few days before against Plattsburgh.

“Rob played fantastic,” Saul said. “He made some really good saves especially on the 5-on-3. He definitely saved the game in the second period.”

Cortland did eventually score but at even strength at 14:13 by Nick Catanzaro. With 1:17 to go, Connor Treacy gave the Bears their three goal lead back, 4-1.

Then came the penalty that essentially finished off the game. Cortland’s Mike Maier was called for a major and game misconduct for hitting from behind in the waning seconds of the period.

“It was 4-1 after two,” Saul said. “I told [assistant coach] Darcy [Pettie] if we could get one that would great, and we ended up getting two on the power play, so that was pretty much the nail in the coffin.”

Those power play goals opened the third period by Brandon Cribari and Peter Vaisanen. Zach Dehm got one back for the Red Dragons late in the period followed by Greg Lee’s last minute goal to finish the scoring.

Barnhardt ended the game with 27 saves. The Bears now get a return date with Plattsburgh, the team they just beat to get home ice in the first round.

The Second Time

Only once before did a player win SUNYAC Rookie of the Year and then later in his career take the Player of the Year honors. That was Plattsburgh’s Tracey Belanger who won the first award in 1996, shared the second award in 1998, and won it himself the following year.

Until now. Oswego’s Ryan Ellis is now the second player to perform that feat. He won the Rookie of the Year two years ago. Now, in his junior year, he was named the Player of the Year. He led the league in goals (11, tied with Geneseo’s Mathieu Cyr) and assists (14, even with Brockport’s Chris Koras) and points (alone with 25).

Ellis and Cyr made the All-Conference First team along with Riley Hill (Plattsburgh), defensemen Gerard Heinz (Cortland) and Nick Rolls (Plattsburgh), and goaltender Ryan Scott (Oswego).

The Rookie of the Year went to Buffalo State’s Nick Petriello (8-10-18). It must have been a close vote between him and Plattsburgh goalie sensation, Bryan Hince (1.92 GAA, .916 save pct.), and Dylan Clarke (10-9-19).

Interestingly, both Hince and Clarke made the All Conference Second Team while Petriello didn’t even make honorable mention.

The Coach of the Year award must also have been a close vote. It went to Potsdam’s Aaron Saul. He took a last place team and not only put them in the playoffs but got home ice as well. Cortland’s Joe Baldarotta also took a non-playoff team and put them in the second season and must have garnered some votes. Then, there was Bob Emery who returned Plattsburgh to the top with an excellent job behind the bench. And, let’s not forget the quiet but effective job Jeff Meredith has done with Fredonia this year.

SUNYAC Short Shots

Jordan Oye scored the game winner for Fredonia at the one minute mark of overtime to defeat Buffalo State, 2-1 … Potsdam scored twice within 1:36 in the third period to take the lead and eventually upset Plattsburgh, 4-2, with Colin MacLennan getting the game winner and Rob Barnhardt made 35 saves … Casey Balog scored the first two goals of the game as Geneseo beat Brockport, 4-1 … Ryan Scott made 37 saves for his ninth career shutout in Oswego’s 3-0 victory over Cortland … Derek Jokic stopped 27 shots in Geneseo’s 4-2 win over Lebanon Valley.

Semifinal Previews

One semifinal is a repeat while the other consists of the northern most travel partners. Fredonia will look to repeat last year’s upset in Oswego while Plattsburgh tries to stop a hot Potsdam squad.

The single game format is in the second year, so everything is on the line Saturday night. If the game is tied, they will go to 20-minute periods until someone scores.

(All statistics in the previews are for conference play only.)

Fredonia (10-4-2, 15-8-3) at Oswego (13-2-1, 17-5-2)

This may be a repeat of last year’s semifinal match-up, but the teams come in with different circumstances.

Fredonia is a much better team this year having won twice as many conference games. They have been playing consistently good hockey throughout the season which enabled them to finish third after a fifth place finish last year. They have won five of their last six games.

Meanwhile, Oswego struggled early in the season before peaking just in time for the playoffs, winding up second after finishing first a year ago. The Lakers have won 10 of their last 11 games, with the one loss coming in overtime.

“I’d like to think we’re playing our best hockey this season,” Oswego coach Ed Gosek said.

As is typical with the Blue Devils, they are very stingy in front of their own net. They are third best in the league, letting up 2.5 goals a game. On the other hand, Oswego has allowed just 2.0 goals a game.

Offensively, Oswego has the edge with 4.75 goals a game while Fredonia scores 3.25 per contest.

“Oswego is just so explosive,” Meredith said. “They got guys on the fourth line that would be top line guys on most teams.”

The key for Fredonia is to keep it close.

“They’re a good team,” Gosek said of his opponent. “The games they had against us, they played very solidly defensively, good goaltending, and were opportunistic. When you give them an opportunity, they take advantage of it.”

“Let’s be honest,” Meredith said. “We’re playing the defending national champions in their building. We just have to go in there and try to keep control of the game. Using a basketball analogy, we want to just go in and keep it close and hope we have a chance at a jump shot at the end.”

Like any playoff game, this one will most likely come down to goaltending. Pat Street has played extremely well for the Blue Devils, topping the league with a .935 save pct. and third with a 2.21 GAA. Will he be the Kevin Amborski of these playoffs?

On the flip side, Ryan Scott, like his team, got off to a shaky start, but finished strong. He finished the season with a 1.74 GAA to lead the league and second in save percentage at .933.

“Most impressive is Ryan Scott is back on his game and is playing very solid,” Gosek said. “And, he’s got the confidence of his players back. And in turn, they are not as tight and are more confident in their play.”

The teams tied in the first semester at Oswego, 3-3, and the Lakers won the return match, 4-1. However, the key game was last year in the semifinals when Fredonia stunned Oswego in front of their home fans, 3-2 in overtime, en route to a surprising SUNYAC championship. Oswego rebounded to win the bigger prize: the national championship.

“The success we had there last year — I’m sure that will benefit us,” Meredith said. “The long and short of it is we have to play our ‘A’ game.”

“We learned an awful lot about ourselves last year,” Gosek said. “The Fredonia game and then getting a second chance against Norwich, St. Norbert, and Middlebury. Found ways to get it done last year and finding ways to overcome adversity was part of what formed us.”

Potsdam (6-7-3, 10-12-4) at Plattsburgh (14-2-0, 21-4-0)

Both teams had a resurgence this year. Plattsburgh returned to traditional form taking the regular season title. The Bears returned to the playoffs, at home no less, and won their first playoff game since 2003.

“Aaron [Saul] has put his heart and soul into it,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “You knew as the season went along, they were going to get better, and they are peaking at the right time.”

The Cardinals know that all too well. In the opening SUNYAC game for these teams, Plattsburgh walloped Potsdam, 11-1, outshooting them, 52-16. In the last SUNYAC game for these two teams, Potsdam won, 4-2, scoring three goals in the third period.

“It’s great confidence for our guys knowing we beat them once,” Saul said. “But we are going to have to come in with our best game to have a chance to do it again.”

Saul knows the playoffs are a different beast, and Plattsburgh always seems to know how to step it up.

“We expect a real good game,” he said. “I’m sure they will be ready to go. They are one of the best teams in the country.”

The reason they are one of the best teams in the country is because of freshman goalie Bryan Hince, who’s second in the league with a 1.92 GAA and third with a .916 save pct. More importantly, Hince comes up with the save when his team needs it most, something that has been missing in front of the Cardinals’ net the past few years.

Meanwhile, goaltending for Potsdam has not always been stellar, until recently. Rob Barnhardt in his final year has been exceptional at times down the stretch. Expect him to get the start again, but if need be, Rick Miller has also proven himself this season.

How hot the Potsdam netminder is will decide the game. Plattsburgh has the second best conference offense with 4.69 goals per game, and if they start scoring a lot, it will be difficult to beat a team that only lets up two goals a game.

Then, there’s Plattsburgh’s power play which is a league best 28.2%. And don’t expect to get many opportunities against the Cardinals as they are the least penalized team in the league.

“Try to stay out of the box,” Saul said as the key to Potsdam’s success. “Their power play is very good. Their speed up front, we’re going to have to try to slow down if we can.”

Finishing in first has its advantages — Plattsburgh got to rest on Tuesday and gets to play in front of a friendly crowd.

“I think it’s an advantage to play at home,” Emery said. “I always say we have the most dedicated fans in Division III hockey. But, it’s not an automatic, obviously. I’m sure they’ll be pumped up as they always are when we play them. No one is going to sneak up on anyone.”

This Week in the CCHA: Feb. 21, 2008

By Paula C. Weston

-

February 21, 2008

Red Carpet Time

Now that the writers’ strike is over and the Academy Awards are safe, I think it only fitting to return to what all writers should be doing all the time: handing out hardware.

Player of the Year

Last year when I gave out this award, I didn’t think anything could top the performance of CCHA players in the 2006-07 season, and that was before Jeff Lerg and Michigan State had played their way to a national championship.

In 2007-08, however, the CCHA is again fortunate to claim many of the top players in college hockey as its own. Five of the nation’s 20-plus goal scorers are CCHA players, two of the country’s top-10 goaltenders reside in the league, and a slew of CCHA defensemen have distinguished themselves this year.

This year, the player who comes to mind as absolutely essential for the success of his team is Michigan senior captain Kevin Porter. Not only does he lead the nation right now in scoring (25-23–48), but as one of two seniors on a Wolverine squad with 11 freshmen on its roster, the Northville, Mich., native has been credited by his coaches as a true leader without whom the Wolverines would not be staring another regular-season championship in the face.

Runners-up: Ryan Jones (Miami), Billy Sauer (UM).

Coach of the Year

Last year, eventual Spencer Penrose winner Jeff Jackson was the hands-down choice for this, having taken the Irish from the cellar to the roof in three short years.

This year, however, I’m giving the award not to someone who has had to overcome insurmountable odds, but someone who is perennially overlooked for league and national accolades in spite of consistent excellence.

My award goes to Michigan head coach Red Berenson. Picked as low as fourth in the preseason polls — third in my own — the Wolverines have surpassed everyone’s expectations (even Berenson’s) with a large rookie class and a junior goaltender who until this season was a liability, not an asset.

It’s true that Michigan has resources that smaller schools don’t, but so does Ohio State and look where the Buckeyes are. It’s true that Michigan has a recruiting edge compared to other schools, but that’s mainly because of Berenson’s leadership and the legacy he has created at Michigan.

Berenson has surrounded himself with excellent staff — including assistants Mel Pearson and Billy Powers, and now goaltending coach Josh Blackburn — and he consistently makes the best of what he has, year in and year out.

It’s a shame that our collective mentality would rather reward improvement than consistent excellence. I’m all for the attention that improvement earns, but not at the expense of consistent excellence.

Runners-up: Scott Paluch (talk about improvement) and Enrico Blasi (talk about consistency).

Rookie of the Year

This one is pure favoritism — as in, he’s my favorite rookie this year. He’s fun, fast, he can score. It’s Miami’s Carter Camper.

Camper is third among rookies nationally in points (13-20–33), averaging 1.23 per game. His plus-minus is +19, and he has just seven minor penalties for 14 minutes, on a team that knows how to go.

And he’s an Ohio native playing for an Ohio team, hailing from Rocky River. And he’s not yet old enough to drink.

Runners-up: So many, given the talented rookies in the CCHA this season, but I’ll limit my picks to two and non-Wolverines. Jacob Cepis (BGSU), Mark Olver (NMU).

Team of the Year

The Bowling Green Falcons. I know that I should be consistent, pick coach with team (as director and picture often go hand-in-hand at the Academy Awards), but this another pick among favorites. Frankly, I’m grateful that the Falcons’ first-round home ice may help head coach Scott Paluch keep his job.

The Falcons secured home ice in the first round of the CCHA playoffs one year after finishing in last place in the league. Last year, BGSU had just five league wins and seven overall; this year, the Falcons are playing .500 hockey and they look pretty good.

Surprise of the Year

Ohio State, of course. The Buckeyes are in 10th place in the league and in danger of finishing in 11th. Last year, OSU finished with a .500 record in seventh place and ended the season by losing the first-round home CCHA playoff series they worked so hard to secure.

Perhaps, however, I shouldn’t be surprised. Two years ago, the Buckeyes finished the league in 10th place after finishing second in 2004-05.

What an asset this program could and should be for the league. I do, however, love OSU’s freshman class, and the Buckeyes have secured a highly-rated rookie class for next season, so I’m willing to wait and see for another year.

But just one year.

Runner-up: Western Michigan.

Ferris State Memorial Defenders-of-the-Realm Award

Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines, who with just one loss in nonconference play (7-1-0) have mostly successfully defended the realm.

The loss was to Minnesota early on, and that’s tough to take given the Gophers’ season, but the Wolverines brought honor to the league in the College Hockey Showcase at Thanksgiving and captured the Great Lakes Invitational title at midseason.

The Miami RedHawks will have valid grounds for a challenge on this one, having gone undefeated (6-0-0) against outsiders. However, I claim the strength-of-schedule defense; Miami beat Canisius, Rensselaer, and Vermont twice each, and St. Cloud State once at the Ohio Hockey Classic in December. While that 2-1 overtime St. Cloud win was a beauty, I’m going with the greater honor brought upon the league by the Wolverines.

Overall, it was a pretty good year for the league in nonconference play, as all teams went 48-31-8 collectively against nonleague opponents. Alaska, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan were the only three to have losing records out of conference, and Miami was the only undefeated team in nonleague play.

It’s good to see that the CCHA still owns Atlantic Hockey (11-0-1); however, the WCHA still owns the CCHA (9-13-5), and the CHA gained considerable ground this year (9-6-2) as that league’s overall play has improved.

If this weren’t a regular-season honor, of course I’d be talking about Michigan State, who defended the realm against all comers last April.

Perseverance Award

This year, the team that wins this started with a schedule more frightening than a Paris Hilton movie and reversed its fortune so significantly from early on that it may host a first-round CCHA playoff series after having finishing 10th last season.

I’m talking about the Northern Michigan Wildcats, who began CCHA play this season with six straight losses — to Michigan, Michigan State and Miami. Since those six games, the Wildcats have been 12-9-3. Before splitting with Ohio State on the road last weekend, the ‘Cats had swept the Spartans at home and tied the Wolverines twice in Yost Arena.

In fact, after their Friday win in Columbus last week, they had gone 3-0-2 straight against Big Ten teams. When that was brought up to head coach Walt Kyle by one of my colleagues post-game, Kyle quipped that the Wildcats “should petition” for league inclusion. Funny moment.

Better still, however, was that win in Columbus. It was NMU’s first-ever in the Schottenstein Center, which opened in 1999.

Assistant coach John Kyle has been telling me in recent years that the Wildcats want to be worthy of their former title, the Hardest Working Team in College Hockey.

I’d say they’re getting there.

2008 Attaboy

No one likes to see a talented guy out for the majority of his senior season, but this is a game that can lead to just that reality.

Miami senior forward and assistant captain Nathan Davis has been out with injury for most of the 2007-08 campaign, having played just 12 games this season. In those 12 contests, he has four goals and four assists, but according to his coaches he’s been invaluable off the ice, in the locker room and around the RedHawk team.

Runner-up: Billy Sauer, for working so hard to improve his game this season.

Chris Richards Most-Likely-to-Be-Overlooked Memorial Award

This one is tough. Named after the Buckeye whose senior-year achievements were largely ignored, this award usually goes to the guy whose performance is outstanding but whose team is underachieving.

Because there are so many outstanding forward in the league this year, not every one of them can and will be recognized by the league. Some will be left off the All-CCHA First and Second teams, and I’m convinced that every player who makes those squads will have earned it.

Last year, a couple of defensemen earned the award. This year, I’d like to give it to Michigan State’s Tim Kennedy.

Kennedy’s contributions to the Spartans cannot be overlooked, but he’ll likely be a victim of the number of outstanding forwards whose raw numbers are better. With 14 goals and 18 assists, the junior from Buffalo, N.Y., leads MSU in scoring, is among the nation’s leaders in game-winning goals (five), has seven power-play tallies, and three shorthanders. He’s also an assistant captain.

Runners-up: Tyler Eckford (UA), Jeff Lerg (MSU), Derek Whitmore (BGSU).

Mike Comrie Most-Likely-to-Leave-Early Memorial Award

Perhaps this award should be renamed to include the word intentionally, as in, he meant to leave early. Kevin Quick’s midseason departure is just one of several in recent years that wasn’t planned, so I’d like to make clear the distinction.

I’m so glad that last year’s pick, Maverick Bryan Marshall, returned to play.

I hope I’m wrong about this guy, too. My pick is RedHawk junior Justin Mercier (22-12–34) who is second on the squad in scoring. Mercier (Erie, Pa.) was picked 186th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2005 draft.

My reasoning? The RedHawks are built for this season, as MSU head coach Rick Comley reminded us all at the start of the year. Mercier is having a fantastic season, and the RedHawks lose a lot when the current senior class leaves.

Aniket Dhadphale Garbage Man Memorial Award

Named for the Notre Dame player who could pick up the trash like no other around the net, this award has to go to UNO’s Mike Lawrence, who can make wonderful things happen around an opponent’s cage.

Thirteen of Lawrence’s 18 goals come from the power play this season, and while he can snipe like the best of them, he has a knack for scoring with the man-advantage from anywhere.

Mike York Poetry-in-Motion Award

Sadly, I haven’t seen enough pretty hockey this season to make a qualified judgment for this award. I’ve seen a lot of so-so hockey, and many games where penalties disrupt the flow to the point of no one being able to make a game pretty.

I do like what I’ve seen on several occasions from BGSU’s Jacob Cepis, OSU’s Tommy Goebel and Michigan’s Matt Rust … but I have seen no one reminiscent of the lovely play of former Spartan Mike York.

Although … I really liked what I saw of Brian Stewart in net for NMU last weekend. It’s hard for a big goalie to be graceful, and he was. Still, no award.

Best Offensive Goalie Award

There have been two goaltenders in CCHA history who have registered goals themselves. Western Michigan’s Mike Mantua did it in 2002, and Michigan State’s Chad Alban did it in 1998.

The accuracy needed to lob a puck nearly the entire length of the ice, from one goal into the empty net of an opponent, is impressive, which is why it’s done so infrequently.

However, goaltenders can be integral parts of offensive play, transitioning the puck effectively up the ice to help a teammate score a goal.

The goaltenders in the CCHA had a banner year offensively, as 13 goalies combined for 20 points! It’s extraordinary!

Eight goaltenders had one assist each, and two netminders — Alaska’s Wylie Rogers and Michigan’s Billy Sauer — had two each. In most seasons, two assists would be enough to earn this award.

Three assists is a great accomplishment for any college goaltender, so Ohio State’s Joseph Palmer should be very proud of the season he’s had.

But Palmer is our runner-up. With four assists — a genuinely vulgar display of offensive prowess — Ferris State junior Mitch O’Keefe is the CCHA Best Offensive Goalie for 2007-08.

O’Keefe’s four points come in 18 game, as he’s shared the net with freshman Pat Nagle. In fact, that’s so many assists that henceforth the award will be named in O’Keefe’s honor.

O’Keefe has as many assists and total points as senior Bulldog defenseman Nick Spezia, and he scored them in two fewer games. O’Keefe is also ahead of Bulldog defenseman Adam Welch (0-2–2, 25 GP), who — like Spezia — skates beyond the scope of his own crease when he plays.

Mitch O’Keefe, setting the standard for goalie offense in the CCHA.

Next Week

More awards — including the All-Goon Squad — and the playoffs!

This Week in the ECAC East and NESCAC

By Tim Costello

-

February 21, 2008

I was going to start out with something like: Itâ€™s the Final Countdown â€¦ but then the flashback to 80â€™s hair bands and Euro pop just kind of took the luster off of the whole moment. No, I am looking for something a little bigger than that clichÃ© phrase and song title because, as usual, the last weekend of the season leaves a lot at stake in both conferences heading into the playoffs.

Only Norwich by virtue of their tiebreaker with Babson has guaranteed themselves the one seed. After that it gets real messy with second place Babson having some breathing room over third place Castleton by four points. Teams three through six are only separated by three points in the battle for home ice position and someone is going to get stuck with a very difficult 4-5 match-up in the opening round of the playoffs.

Over in the NESCAC, we have the battle at the top and the battle at the bottom of the bracket with Tufts and Hamilton already eliminated from playoff consideration but in a position to play spoiler on the final weekend of the regular season.

At the top, Bowdoin has a one point edge over Colby and just a two point advantage over Middlebury and Amherst who meet on Friday night. Home ice is pretty much locked up for these four teams but the potential host for the final four is wide open and this weekend will decide everything in terms of position and quarterfinal match-ups.

Almost as if the top half was desperately seeking their dance partner (sorry for that 80â€™s disco allegory there) teams five through eight in the conference are separated by just three points. And everyone could move around a little bit. Conn. College currently is sitting in fifth and holds tiebreaker advantages over Wesleyan, Williams and Trinity but isnâ€™t taking anything for granted.

Everyone knows that you need to be playing at your best right now because after this weekend, you lose and the season is over. Think you have the playoff pairings figured out? Donâ€™t be surprised if things change after Friday night and get even more confusion again on Saturday. Everyone keeps saying it canâ€™t get more competitive than this — guess what? It already is!

Camels Cruising

â€œWe split the season into three periods,â€ stated Conn. College head coach Jim Ward. â€œWe havenâ€™t won a period until the third. We are playing pretty good hockey right now and the puck has been bouncing good for us and itâ€™s definitely at the right time of the year.â€

The Camels got off to a slow start, but played better in the middle of the season. Now healthy and able to get players focused in their sweet spots, Conn. has climbed steadily in the standings and is building on the success that saw them make the league playoffs for the first time last season.

Since the first of the month the Camels are 5-1-0 and have outscored their opponents by a 24-13 margin in that span. More importantly, their current four game win streak has included key wins over both Wesleyan and Trinity to garner the tiebreaker edge over teams they are in a dogfight with for position entering this final weekend on the schedule.

â€œEveryone has picked up their game,â€ noted Ward. â€œItâ€™s the little things like getting some lucky bounces our way but itâ€™s also winning the battles on the wall, getting the puck out of the zone and keeping it in the offensive zone to get that extra opportunity. Itâ€™s also having great goaltending and we have been getting that all season but it really has shown in the latter part of the season.â€

Sophomore Greg Parker (8-9-2 record, 3.05 goals against average, .912 save percentage) has been steady despite seeing a lot of rubber in his 19 games played and now with his team showing more offense of late, the goaltender has made those goals stand for wins down the stretch.

Sophomore goalie Greg Parker has the Camels in every game (Photo by Paul Brandon).

â€œIt really turned for him and us on the trip to Hamilton,â€ said Ward. â€œIt took us six hours to get up there on the bus trip through an ice storm and we got off to a slow start. In the first period the shots for each team were three apiece with about six minutes left and we kind of let down and Hamilton shelled Greg in the final minutes with 10 or 11 good shots.

â€œHe stopped them all, we survived and ended up winning the game and he just took off from there. He is very level headed on and off the ice. Greg has a great demeanor and is a real student of the game and it shows in his results. I hope at the end of the year other coaches in the league will recognize what he means to this team and how he ranks among the leagueâ€™s best.â€

Offensively, the Camels were struggling to click up front primarily due to injuries that caused personnel changes and role changes among healthy players on the squad.

Now players are back in their more familiar roles and the numbers on the score sheet reflect their improved play in the back half of the season. Senior Rob Campbell (10 goals, 8 assists, 18 points) leads the team in goals and has flourished late in the season after some of the weight and responsibility of being a team captain was distributed among his teammates.

Freshman Ryan Riffe (9-8-17) has been a pleasant surprise in his first campaign and sophomore Ryan Howarth (5-7-12) is just getting back on track and starting to add the goal production many expected from him at the beginning of the season.

Freshman Ryan Riffe is second on the team in goals for Conn. College (photo by Paul Brandon).

â€œRyan has been asked to do more on the other side of the puck this season,â€ stated Ward. â€œHe is really playing his best hockey right now and the chances and goals are starting to come his way.â€

The Camels finish out the regular season at home against Babson and UMass-Boston so there are no freebies coming in the points department this weekend.
â€œWe know we have to earn our position and itâ€™s great to be playing important games at home where we have created a lot of excitement and are getting great support from the students here. Last year our motto was â€œGet Inâ€ and this year it is â€œGet In and Get Ready.â€

The one game visit to the playoffs last year has this yearâ€™s team hungry for more and if they prolong their February success out for another week or so they just might be making other teams wonder if they are ready.

Spartans Soaring to Top

Going back to the middle of January, the Castleton College Spartans werenâ€™t even in the playoff hunt in terms of competing for a home ice berth. Since back-to-back losses to Williams and Middlebury the team has gone 8-1-1 including their first ever win over Norwich on the road last weekend.

â€œTwo weeks ago we werenâ€™t even in it,â€ observed head coach Alex Todd. â€œNow we need to take care of our own business and whatever anyone else does really wonâ€™t matter. We have had good discussions with the team this week and I think they understand that even though we are at home we are playing against teams with some unfinished business in terms of what they can accomplish for their own playoff position.

â€œWe have worked hard to get where we are and it is great to play games that mean something at the end of the season — here we are and we now have a chance to clinch a home ice playoff berth so there is a lot at stake for us too.â€

Sophomore Steve Culbertson is driver of the Castleton offense.

So what caused the turnaround after such a rocky start? Todd found those answers from within himself and two unlikely sources of inspiration for his team.

â€œI think that we just kept looking back to what last yearâ€™s team did and what made them successful and I never really let this team find its own identity for themselves,â€ he said. â€œWe, and I really mean they changed some of the things we do, the systems we play to make them work better for their style of play and we really found that identity in this yearâ€™s team. We also saw some key changes in the leadership on the team.

â€œBrandon [Heck] and Travis [Martell] were really ready to go every game and killing themselves to get the guys ready to go on the ice and prepare to practice and play — I always saw the effort and the leadership those two guys provided our team. But there were other leaders taking care of the off-ice stuff and making sure things were going well around campus and in the classroom and really bridging the gap away from hockey.

â€œJared [Lavender] and Matthew [Link] were the guys that really shifted the load and made it easier on everyone to just relax as students and hockey players and after seeing the impact I added another â€œCâ€ and another â€œAâ€ with each of those guys and we really have taken off with their added leadership and support.â€

Continuing, Todd noted that â€œMattâ€™s a real interesting guy because although he is a senior, he is one of our younger guys since he came in from high school and most of our players have come in as older freshmen out of playing juniors.

â€œNot only that he is the one piece of the puzzle that connects the early days and struggles of the program and he can make that very real for the guys here who want to be successful and want to help the program become established. Matt has been a great role model and leader and a big part of how this team found its own identity.â€

Leading the way on the ice for the Spartans has been Brandon Heck (12-16-28) who also has three power-play goals, three shorthanded goals and three game-winning goals in his totals.

â€œI think at the beginning of the year Brandon thought things were going to go a certain way with his line,â€ commented Todd. â€œI think when it didnâ€™t play out quite that way he and his teammates just worked hard for results and at times itâ€™s been ugly but it has been effective — they donâ€™t have to be real pretty to count on the scoreboard.â€

Another big piece to the second half revival has been the health and continuity of the defensive corps which is only now at this point in the season fully familiar with the faces lining up on the blue line each night.

â€œWe maybe had one defenseman that has played in twenty or more games this season,â€ Todd said. â€œWe have had a lot of guys out and people playing in different combinations while we healed up. Now we are back to a regular rotation of our top five or six guys and the results have been noticeable.â€

The Spartans have already been through a lot this season and even their coach wonders a little bit about what could have been if they got off to a better start at the beginning of the season.

â€œIt would be great to see what we could do if we had another month or two in the season with the way are playing now. We have to be content with playing for something every game now and deal with the challenge of being focused and taking care of business on the ice. We canâ€™t look ahead. Itâ€™s really about the one game mentality now.â€

So thereâ€™s one week left in the regular season and for most you donâ€™t have a clue who your team is going to see in the playoffs next week — having fun yet?

Drop the Puck!

Welcome To Our Roller Coaster

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

What We Know, Vol. II

Rex Dex

Game of the Week

Crucial Weekend

A Tale of Two Teams

MCHA

#6 Crookston (5-15-0) @ #3 Marian (14-5-1)

#7 Northland (4-16-0) @ #2 Finlandia (14-6-0)

#8 Concordia-WI (2-18-0) @ #1 Adrian (19-1-0)

NCHA

#5 Eau Claire (6-7-1) @ #4 Superior (6-4-4)

#6 Stevens Point (5-6-3) @ #3 Stout (7-5-2)

#7 St. Scholastica (4-7-3) @ #2 River Falls (8-5-1)

#8 Lake Forest (1-12-1) @ #1 St. Norbert (10-0-4)

Niagara Ties RIT Saturday

RMU And Beavers Do Splits In Steel City

Warriors Split In Huntsville

Chargers Active In Promoting Hockey Down South

Wayne State Memories

Tiebreakers Could Come Into Play

Two Weeks to Go

Consistency

Around the League

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

“New” Rivals …

And Traditional Ones …

Random Notes (and Commentary!) From Around the League

Reader Mailbag

Match-Ups By the Numbers

Late Non-Conference Tilts

The Final Weekend

NCAA Tournament Analysis

Similar To Last Year

The Second Time

SUNYAC Short Shots

Semifinal Previews

Fredonia (10-4-2, 15-8-3) at Oswego (13-2-1, 17-5-2)

Potsdam (6-7-3, 10-12-4) at Plattsburgh (14-2-0, 21-4-0)

Red Carpet Time

Player of the Year

Coach of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Team of the Year

Surprise of the Year

Ferris State Memorial Defenders-of-the-Realm Award

Perseverance Award

2008 Attaboy

Chris Richards Most-Likely-to-Be-Overlooked Memorial Award

Mike Comrie Most-Likely-to-Leave-Early Memorial Award

Aniket Dhadphale Garbage Man Memorial Award

Mike York Poetry-in-Motion Award

Best Offensive Goalie Award

Next Week

Camels Cruising

Spartans Soaring to Top

Latest Stories from around USCHO