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This Week in the CHA: March 6, 2008

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This is it, folks.

This weekend, the Wayne State hockey program makes its final on-ice appearance in Detroit before jaunting to the CHA Tournament next weekend at Niagara.

Can’t believe it’s been nine years, can you?

That first game, albeit an exhibition against Western Ontario, back on Nov. 5, 1999 had glitz, glamour — and a packed arena that saw Wayne State lose a heck of a game, 8-4. If that first game’s atmosphere could ever be duplicated, we may not be where we are today discussing the sad state of WSU dropping their program at season’s end.

That being said, the Warriors don’t want any extra attention Saturday night against NU at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. They prefer to go ahead with Senior Night as planned and ride (skate) off into the sunset, so to speak.

And who can blame them? It’s not like their 9-23-2 record this season is anything to write home about.

But let’s look at the positives — a sweep at Northern Michigan in January, numerous individual honors, six players moving on to other schools next year, playing in front of 4,000 fans at the Palace of Auburn Hills and a three-game winning streak from Jan. 25-Feb. 1 that included a sweep of Alabama-Huntsville.

The players get the lion’s share of the credit. Have they quit? Nope. Have they gone half-speed? Not a chance. Have they played their hearts out to sparse crowds of family and friends at home? Absolutely.

This is one writer’s plea for USCHO readers. If you’re in the Detroit area, come on out this weekend to salute the Warriors one last time. A separate column could be written about the shameful act of the program folding, but that’s out of this writer’s control.

Kind of ironic, too, is it that post-game, Scandal’s “The Warrior” (an epic 1980s tune) is blared through the Coliseum’s speakers. The chorus stands out in the song and that will mean even more this weekend:

Shootin’ at the walls of heartache, bang, bang,
I am the warrior.
Well I am the warrior and heart to heart you’ll win,
If you survive the warrior.

Save for the CHA tournament next weekend and a miracle run, survival is non-existent for WSU.

No matter the circumstances, it’s still sad. And yes, there is crying in hockey.

Beavers Win CHA Regular-Season Title

Bemidji State once again took home the CHA regular-season championship (photo: BSU photo services).

Bemidji State once again took home the CHA regular-season championship (photo: BSU photo services).

Bemidji State brought the Peters Cup back to Bemidji last Saturday as the Beavers clinched the CHA regular-season title with a 5-3 victory over a game Wayne State team at home.

The Beavers bounced back from an early 2-1 deficit to rally. Nine skaters recorded at least one point in the game, while freshman Ryan Cramer netted a pair of goals to pace BSU.

“This was a nice win,” said Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore after directing his BSU squad to its third league title in five years. “Anytime you win a championship, it is very fulfilling and gratifying. I am really happy with the way we won it this year. It might be the sweetest of the three CHA titles we have won.”

Tyler Scofield, Travis Winter and Kyle Hardwick (first NCAA goal along with his first NCAA assist) tallied the other goals for BSU to back All-American candidate Matt Climie’s 25-save performance.

Riley Weselowski chipped in with two assists as well.

Derek Bachynski, Derek Punches and Jared Katz scored for the Warriors. Stavros Paskaris added two assists and Kyle Funkenhauser and Mike Devoney combined to make 26 stops. Funkenhauser started and made eight saves on 12 shots to take the loss.

Serratore also said that he hopes this game is a glimpse of what’s to come from Cramer in the future.

“It’s always nice to see your young guys step in and break things open and [Cramer] did that,” Serratore said. “He’s got a wicked shot and his last goal was indicative of that. Hopefully, we are going to see a few more of those in the next four years.”

Friday night, despite taking a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest, the Beavers found themselves down 4-3 after 40 minutes of play and needed four third-period goals to skate out with a 7-5 victory.

“It was a helter-skelter game,” Serratore said. “We found a way to survive, but it was an ugly way of winning. As happy as you are to win a game, there are also some concerns
in our lack of consistency. If we don’t remedy this…we could be in rough shape.”

With the score knotted at five and the clock in its last 10 minutes, the Beavers skated the puck into the zone. Matt Pope fired a shot form the right faceoff circle that was saved by WSU goalie Mike Devoney, but Brandon Marino bounced a second attempt off the leg of Devoney before Weselowski found the rebound at the top of the crease and slid the puck into the back of the net.

The goal would put the Beavers on top, 6-5, and they would not look back.

“The game-winning goal was the result of great effort,” noted Serratore. “On the sixth goal, we went to the net hard. We created a scrum in the slot and Riley Weselowski was Johnny-on-the-spot.”

The game began with a BSU flurry. Just seconds after the drop of the puck, a
Marino shot was saved by Devoney and Blaine Jarvis whizzed the rebound past the
right post. The play set the tone for early Bemidji State play.

Jarvis added another to go with singles from Scofield, Ian Lowe, Cramer,

WSU cut its deficit to one goal 9:11 into the period on Paskaris’ second marker of the evening. The tally sent the Beavers into a tail spin. During the next 10 minutes, BSU would fail to register a single shot on net. Meanwhile, the Warriors would take the lead, 4-3, collecting two more goals from Matt Krug and Katz by the 16-miniute mark of the stanza and knocking Climie out of the game.

Jarvis tied the game early in the third only to have Punches score on the power play at 8:55 to give WSU the 5-4 lead.

Matt Francis evened the score at 5-all 42 seconds later to set the table for Weselowski’s heroics. Pope would add an empty-net goal with seven seconds on the clock to secure the victory.

Orlando Alamano earned the victory in relief, marking the second time in his career he has come off the bench to lead BSU to a victory. He made 12 saves in 29:40 between the pipes. He allowed the Warriors final two goals. Climie logged 31:20 allowing three WSU goals while making 10 saves.

Devoney turned away 24 shots in the loss.

The champs are idle this weekend.

Niagara Brooms Away Colonials

Niagara played two totally different games last weekend, but both amounted to wins in a sweep at Dwyer Arena over Robert Morris.

Down by two goals in the second period Friday night, the Purple Eagles battled back in scoring five consecutive goals for a 6-3 win over the Colonials.

Paul Zanette’s goal 12 seconds after a Denny Urban goal cut the RMU deficit to 2-1 and changed the momentum for the Purple Eagles, who then scored four unanswered goals.

“I made a mistake on their second goal,” said Zanette. “But Coach kept us out there and we made it happen.”

Niagara’s power-play unit proved once again why they are the sixth-ranked power play in the country scoring three of the next four goals that way. Egor Mironov, Ryan Annesley and Ted Cook scored with the man-advantage with the even-strength game-winning tally coming from Ryan Olidis.

Vince Rocco added an empty-netter to seal the game.

“We are playing hard, our power play is clicking, the third and forth lines are chipping in,” said Cook. “With all that going for us, it’s hard to lose. We have a lot of leaders on the team and everyone is moving along as one.”

Chris Margott and Ryan Cruthers scored the other RMU goals and Christian Boucher made 25 saves.

Juliano Pagliero kicked out 34 shots for the Purple Eagles.

“We are playing really well in February,” said NU head coach Dave Burkholder “You need to play well in February to play well in March for tournament time.”

Saturday night, Niagara kicked off a seven-goal outburst less than two minutes into the game and never looked back in defeating Robert Morris, 7-1, in front of the largest Dwyer Arena crowd in program’s history at 2,100 fans.

“It was almost a perfect game, especially our systems,” Burkholder said. “We certainly won the spirit and energy game. It was a great game on a very special night, honoring our seniors.”

Rocco scored two goals and added an assist on the night. Matt Caruana chipped in three helpers and Pagliero finished with 32 saves.

“This was a real special night, and it has been a real special weekend,” said Caruana. “Hopefully this is not the end.”

Mironov, Annesley, Dan Sullivan, Bryan Haczyk and Cook potted goals for NU.

Kyle Burton mustered the Colonials’ lone goal. Boucher played the first two periods and stopped 21 shots before giving way for Jim Patterson, who turned aside nine shots in the final 20 minutes.

NU is now 8-1-3 in their last dozen games.

Quick Stat Of The Week

Heading into the weekend, Robert Morris is the only team in the nation that holds the honor of having two of the top 10 scorers in the country. Cruthers ranks second in the nation with 1.45 points per game, while Margott ranks tenth with 1.29 points per game.

Who knew?

Forgie Chosen For Frozen Four Skills Challenge

Wayne State senior captain Mike Forgie has been selected to participate in the third annual Frozen Four Skills Challenge, which will be held April 11 at the Pepsi Center in Denver and broadcast live on ESPNU.

The competition will be conducted in an East versus West format with each team having six male position players, six female position players, two male goaltenders and two female goaltenders.

Joining Forgie on the West squad is Michigan’s Kevin Porter, Jimmy Kilpatrick (Colorado College), Andrew Thomas (Denver), Bryan Lerg (Michigan State) and Tommy Goebel (Ohio State). The West goaltenders will be St. Norbert’s Kyle Jones and Denver’s Peter Mannino.

The competitions will include puck control relay, fastest skater, hardest shot, rapid fire shooting, accuracy shooting and penalty shot.

Carlson Will Bolster BSU Blueline

Second-year Fairbanks Ice Dogs defenseman Matt Carlson deciding on Bemidji State for next season looks to be a coup for the Beavers.

Carlson, a 20-year-old from Grand Forks, N.D., has three goals and 21 points after 45 games this season and is also a plus-7.

“Matt is a big guy (6-foot-4) who has great feet and hasn’t come close to meeting his potential yet,” said Ice Dogs head coach and general manager Rob Proffitt. “I think he’s picked a great school that will challenge him both athletically and academically.”

Knott Takes Reins of USHL’s Bucs

Former Bemidji State defenseman Todd Knott is the new head coach of the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League after Regg Simon abruptly quit last week.

Knott, who turns 29 next Tuesday, played for BSU from 1999-2002.

Knott, in his third season with the Bucs, has served as a head coach in the past. During the 2004-2005 season, he guided the Fargo-Moorhead Jets of the North American Hockey League to a division title.

Ironically, Des Moines hosted the CHA Tournament last season at 95KGGO Arena.

B2 To Show Three Tournament Games

College Hockey America and B2 Networks announced this week that the first three games of the 2008 CHA Men’s Tournament will be broadcast worldwide on B2 Networks live from Dwyer Arena on the campus of Niagara University next weekend.

The entire CHA women’s tournament will also be on B2 this weekend, also from Niagara.

Wayne State will take on Alabama-Huntsville in the quarterfinal matchup on Friday, Mar. 14 at 7 p.m. in what potentially will be WSU’s last-ever game. The winner will face top-seeded Bemidji State in the semifinals at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The second semifinal will follow at 7 p.m. between second-seeded host Niagara and third-seeded Robert Morris.

“The CHA is extremely pleased to join with the B2 Networks in bringing CHA Division I men’s and women’s championship tournament hockey to college hockey fans worldwide,” said CHA commissioner Bob Peters.

“B2 Networks has enjoyed an expanded role in delivering CHA games to fans around the world this season thanks to our partnerships with Alabama-Huntsville, Bemidji State, Mercyhurst, Niagara and Wayne State,” stated Richard Brosal, B2 Networks executive vice president for business operations and marketing. “We are pleased to be involved in the conference’s men’s postseason for the second straight year, and for the first time, we will be broadcasting the women’s tournament as well.”

The men’s final will be on CSTV.

No Bemidji Rink To Spell End Of Program?

In a letter to the editor of the International Falls (Minn.) Daily Journal, the following was posted this week regarding the new arena and events center in Bemidji. It’s an interesting read to say the least, and written by a member of the Bemidji Chamber of Commerce.

We all know how important hockey is to the fabric of our state. Yet the state of hockey could soon be tarnished. Bemidji State University is at risk of loosing its 51-year tradition of hockey excellence, including 13 national titles and the highest winning percentage in all of college hockey, most of it under well-known head coach R.H. “Bob” Peters.

Playing Division 1 hockey for the past eight years in the College Hockey America, Bemidji State has to change leagues soon as the CHA is losing teams. It has worked out a scheduling agreement with the Women’s College Hockey America (he obviously meant WCHA) for 2010 and is in hopes of joining the WCHA. In order to join the league, they must build a new facility with 4,000-seat capacity. The city of Bemidji, in cooperation with BSU, has purchased 127 acres along Lake Bemidji for an extensive multi- use development including a 4,000-seat event/convention center.

The city’s contribution to this is $66 million and the project needs $22 million in bonding money (in addition to $3 million received last year) from the state to become reality.

Governor Pawlenty has previously supported this project, but with transportation issues it did not make this year’s bonding list. Without the arena, there is no entry to the WCHA and Division 1 hockey ends very soon at BSU.

The city of Bemidji, BSU and the Bemidji Chamber of Commerce have come together for an intensive lobbying effort to influence the state powers to save one of the most revered hockey programs in the state of hockey. Please support efforts to get bonding money for this regional multi-use project. Without it, there is no Division 1 hockey at Bemidji State University.

Michael J. Beard
President-elect
Bemidji Chamber of Commerce
Bemidji, MN

RMU Gets Third Wayne State Transfer

Robert Morris is notorious for getting transfers from other CHA schools and next season will be no different as the third soon-to-be former Wayne State player will transfer to Pittsburgh next season.

Freshman forward Chris Kushneriuk is the latest to reportedly give the nod to the Colonials, joining freshman defenseman Brock Meadows and junior defenseman Matt Krug.

Last year, RMU had three Niagara transfers in forwards Doug Conley and Aaron Clarke and defenseman Bryan Mills.

More Wayne State Memories

Huntsville fans will love this one.

The 2002 CHA tournament win at Niagara is a sour point in UAH history, but was nonetheless WSU’s second-straight tournament championship.

In the final, the game between the Warriors and Chargers went to overtime after Tyler Kindle’s goal with 1:13 left in the third period tied the game at 4-all for WSU.

The electricity at Dwyer Arena was just that, electric. Fans were on the edges of their seats knowing anything could happen.

And then it did.

But when Dusty Kingston scored at 9:12 of the extra period, controversy ensued that is as revered in Huntsville as Brett Hull is in Buffalo.

Jason Durbin appeared to be shoved into Alabama-Huntsville goalie Mark Byrne and Kingston jumped on the loose puck and banged it home.

“It’s funny, though,” Durbin said in 2005. “Dusty scored the goal, but I didn’t celebrate because I was pushed into their goalie and I figured the goal would be waved off. But there was no whistle, nobody was waving, so we started celebrating. Top to bottom, that team was dominant and it showed as we won the regular-season title and the playoff championship.”

Wayne State won its third CHA title in 2003 and UAH won its first in Cinderella fashion last year.

GUEST COMMENTARY: Controlling The Escalating College Hockey Arms Race

By Gerald D. Skoning
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The rosters of Division I college hockey teams consist almost entirely of players who have spent a year or two playing for “junior” hockey clubs. Only a very few players on these Division I clubs have entered college directly out of high school. As a result, the quality of college hockey has been enhanced, but this improvement has had a negative impact on the “student” part of the vaunted student-athlete experience.

The mother of a freshman hockey star for an ECAC team candidly expressed her dismay after watching her son’s team lose to another perennial ECAC powerhouse by a score of 3-2. Her concern wasn’t over the team’s loss on the ice, but rather over her son’s academic difficulties.

I had asked her how he was doing in the classroom his first term in college. She sighed, “Unfortunately, he’s really struggling. He was an ‘A’ student in high school, graduating near the top his class. We were so proud of his academic success. But, then he was away from the classroom for a whole year while he played 75 games in Juniors for the Flin Flon Bombers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. He’s a better hockey player for it, but he is really rusty with the books.”

It’s a familiar story for many families of kids who aspire to Division I hockey. The rosters of most every Division I hockey program are filled with kids who played in Alberta (AJHL), Ontario (CJHL), Sioux City, Iowa (USHL), or British Columbia (BCHL). They range from 20- or 21-year-old freshmen to 24-year-old seniors who are stronger, faster, smarter and much older hockey players than those who just graduated from high school.

They play a year or two in juniors in the hopes of improving their recruitment opportunities and perhaps landing full-ride scholarships at one of the traditional college hockey powerhouses like North Dakota, Wisconsin, or Michigan. Most likely, their dreams also include a high NHL draft position, based in part on their experience in juniors.

Junior programs are a Canadian tradition as iconic as the Mounties or the Maple Leaf. Long before college hockey teams in the U.S. began recruiting heavily out of juniors, those programs attracted Canadian players with NHL aspirations. Juniors rivalries provided a live hockey entertainment alternative to the infamous “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcasts on CBC on long winter nights in small towns dotting the frozen tundra of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

Today, college hockey coaches love the junior programs. They recruit players who are battle-tested, and whose skills have been polished beyond the rough-edged talent seen in high school hockey. To college coaches, it’s like having a farm team system from which to draw a talented roster. College coaches regularly tell talented high school recruits to defer admission for a year or two for some seasoning and development in the juniors. A ready-made farm system.

Also, the pervasive junior program makes recruiting college hockey players much easier for coaches. Instead of screening hockey recruits from hundreds of high schools scattered across the United States and Canada, college hockey coaches have a ready-made, pre-screened pool of candidates. This cuts down on recruiting travel and expense … one-stop shopping in the USHL, AJHL, BCHL, and so on.

On so many levels this system is hard to argue with. Of course, parents love the juniors as well. To them, it may save the family a staggering tuition bill of up to $45 thousand per year. For them, delaying college for a year or even two is well worth the personal sacrifice their kids make in playing a 70- to 80-game season (or two) in remote regions of the Canadian wilderness.

The number of players on a college hockey roster who have come directly from high school has dwindled to a precious few. The two or three who do play varsity Division I hockey have become mere tokens, for all intents and purposes. But they are players for whom the academic challenges of higher education will be less daunting since they were enrolled in school the entire year before entering college.

How did we get to this point? When did this new, higher level of professionalism creep into the wonderful game of college hockey? Other major college sports like football, basketball and baseball have no such junior programs to groom their athletes. There are no “junior” football or basketball programs to develop and burnish young talent (although some may claim junior colleges occasionally serve that purpose). Yet the quality of play on college gridirons and basketball courts in the United States is remarkably strong. Why is ice hockey different?

Maybe it relates to the NHL aspirations of the hockey player or the hockey parents, or both. Or, perhaps it’s the lure of full-ride athletic scholarships that motivates the kids to make this enormous personal sacrifice.

One wonders if it is possible to “unring the bell” and return to recruitment of student-athletes for college hockey directly out of high school. Of course, no college hockey coach is likely to be the first unilaterally to spurn recruiting those hot junior hockey prospects. Such a move would be wildly unpopular with alumni, fans, current players looking for talented freshmen to bolster championship prospects, and students who long for a national championship.

A coach refusing to recruit junior hockey prospects would be as unpopular as a U.S. president deciding unilaterally to eliminate our country’s nuclear arsenal. The coach who unilaterally decides it’s important to the student-athlete to return to recruiting directly out of high school would be summarily fired and ridden out of town on a rail.

The issue is worthy of attention by the entire college hockey community. Colleges and universities that recruit predominantly from various junior hockey programs should recognize the academic sacrifices their recruiting practices perpetuate.

The NCAA should study the issue of the increasing dominance of junior hockey recruiting to determine whether it would be feasible to impose a uniform nationwide stand-down in this increasingly competitive juniors arms race, and return to recruiting athletes directly out of high school. This might go a long way toward putting the “student” back in the student-athlete equation.

Mr. Skoning is a Chicago attorney who specializes in labor and employment law. He was captain of the 1964 Princeton University hockey team (which did not win the Ivy League championship, as this year’s team did for the first time in 55 years). While attending the University of Michigan Law School, he was assistant captain of a team sponsored by Jiffy Mix Company, consisting of several Michigan players from their 1963 NCAA championship team. The Jiffy team, which played in the International Metro League based in Southern Ontario, won the Michigan State Amateur Championship in 1966 and the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1967. After service as an officer in the U.S. Navy, he played for 10 years with the Chicago Cardinals of the Continental Hockey League.

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: March 6, 2008

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The NCAAs Start Now

With no AHA teams on the “Under Consideration” list, it’s obvious that only the league’s tournament champion is going to the NCAAs. So that makes the AHA playoffs essentially an extension of the big dance. Lose, and you go home. Your seniors have played their last game.

So expect things to be turned up a notch as the playoffs start. Here’s a look at each of the five matchups.

No. 10 AIC at No. 1 Army

How They Got Here: The Yellow Jackets (8-21-5) looked like they were ready to make a move in the standings after a sweep of Bentley in early February, but went 0-5-1 in their last six games to again finish in the basement. The Black Knights (17-13-1) went through a miserable stretch from Thanksgiving to mid-January that saw them win just once in 12 contests (1-8-3). But Army and goaltender Josh Kassel got hot after that, going 11-1-1 down the stretch to move from seventh to first place. It’s the first regular season title in the 105-year history of the program. Army won all four meetings between the two teams this season.

How Army Wins: Get their usual stellar goaltending and score goals the way they have in the last three games.

How AIC Wins: Keep the Black Knight’s potent first line in check, and get playoff-caliber goaltending. Both Tom Fenton and Dan Ramirez have the ability to steal a game. But can they steal two?

Black Knights to Watch: Josh Kassel (Goaltender, 1.97 GAA; .925 save percentage), Luke Flicek (Forward, 37 points), Owen Meyer (Forward, 38 points), Bryce Hollweg (Forward, 38 points)

Yellow Jackets to Watch: Jereme Tendler (Forward, 21 points), Chris Bolognino (Defense, 15 points), Dan Ramirez (Goaltender, .897 Save Percentage)

Outlook: “We sure didn’t look like a top team in the middle of the season,” said Army Coach Brian Riley. “When we lost to Canisius (on January 18) we were five games under .500 and in seventh place. But things really came together.”

The Black Knights have been one of the hottest teams in college hockey over the past two months, going 11-1-1 en route to their first regular season title in the 105-year history of the program.

“We learned to play in the moment,” said Riley. “Not to get too caught up in a successful weekend and realizing that it doesn’t mean much if you don’t so well the next time you play. We really have been taking things one game at a time and not looking too far ahead.”

They’ll need to keep that mindset against an AIC squad that’s pulled off its share of upsets this season.

“They’re a good team,” said Riley. “One game we outscored them by a lot, but the rest were good, hard fought games. They’ve shown that they can beat the top teams in the league. It’s a whole new season, and we have to ready.

“It’ll be playoff hockey. Low scoring, goaltending and special teams. It always comes down to that.”

No. 9 Holy Cross at No. 2 RIT

How They Got Here: The Tigers (17-11-6) got off to a slow start, but have just one loss in their last eight games, and held a tight grip on second or third place for the latter part of the season. The Crusaders (10-17-7) won just twice in their final ten games of the regular season to fall into the ninth slot. RIT swept a pair of games at Holy Cross in the teams’ only other meeting this season.

How Holy Cross Wins: Win the special teams battle, get points from its big first line (the whole team is having trouble scoring right now), and be more physical than in its last meeting with the Tigers. Take advantage of the Tiger’s inexperience in the post season — RIT has just six players on the roster who have been involved in a playoff game — a loss to Manhattanville in the ECAC West semifinals on March 4, 2005, the team’s final game in Division III.

How RIT Wins: Shut down the Reinhardt-Sheahan-Sheen line the way the Tigers did back in early January, and stay out of the box. Holy Cross has the third ranked power play in D-I (23.0%). The Tigers are ranked seventh (21.9%) but take way more penalties (18.1 minutes per game compared to 10.4 minutes per game for the Crusaders).

Tigers to Watch: Simon Lambert (Forward, 45 points), Matt Smith (Forward, 33 points), Dan Ringwald (Defense, 23 points), Louis Menard (Goaltender, .909 save percentage)

Crusaders to Watch: Brodie Sheahan (Forward, 32 points), Dave Reinhardt (Forward, 24 points), Everett Sheen (Forward, 23 points), Adam Roy (Goaltender, .915 save percentage)

Outlook: RIT has picked the right time to get its power play in gear and get scoring from its third and fourth lines. The Tigers have scored a power play goal in each of their last nine games, and are click at a 40.5% rate over that span. Anton Kharin, who had 14 goals as a freshman last season and was on the league’s all-rookie team, had just one goal heading into last weekend, but he tallied three to help the Tigers sweep Bentley.

The problem that’s been plaguing Holy Cross for the better part of the season is a basic one — not putting the puck in the net. The Crusaders offense ranks ninth out of ten teams in the league.

“It’s pretty simple — we’re just not scoring,” said coach Paul Pearl.” We’ve been playing better defense for a while now but can’t score to take advantage of that.”

I asked Pearl if other teams are keying on his top line (Reinhardt-Sheahan-Sheen), which has carried the bulk of the scoring load.

“It’s everybody,” he said. “Those guys don’t always skate together. We’ve had lots of guys skating together but everybody is struggling. The defense and goaltending are strong in this league, but we have to do a better job of getting to the net and getting good scoring chances.”

The Crusaders power play has been a bright spot, and they’ll need to capitalize on an RIT team that takes more than its share of penalties.

“We’re going to have to take advantage of those opportunities,” said Pearl. “We’ve got a good goaltender. They’ve got a good goaltender. They’re a talented team. It’s going to be good playoff hockey in front of a big crowd.”

No. 8 Bentley at No. 3 Air Force

How They Got Here: Bentley (9-19-6) fell from sixth to eighth place last weekend in a bottled up AHA standings by getting swept at RIT. Air Force (17-11-6) took three of four points from AIC at home last weekend to lock up the critical third playoff seed. The 17 wins by the Falcons is a school record. The teams met four times this season with Air Force holding a 2-1-1 advantage.

How Bentley Wins: Get healthy (Erik Peterson was dinged up last weekend in the RIT series and Jeff Gumaer has missed the last six games) and get as many shots as they can on Andrew Volkening. The (Air Force) Falcons are allowing only 23 shots a game this season. Bentley has pulled off three upsets in the AHA postseason in the last five years.

How Air Force Wins: Play its game, which is to outwork its opponents and thereby limit scoring chances. The (Air Force) Falcons made the adjustment to life without Eric Ehn, and are undefeated in their last five games.

(Air Force) Falcons to Watch: Brent Olson (Forward, 31 Points), Jeff Hajner (Forward, 30 Points), Greg Flynn (Defense, 26 Points), Andrew Volkening (Goaltender, 2.14 GAA)

(Bentley) Falcons to watch: Dain Prewitt (Forward, 30 points), Erik Peterson (Forward 27 points, Marc Menzione (Forward, 25 points), Joe Calvi (Goaltender, .915 save percentage)

Outlook: You’d think that Air Force coach Frank Serratore would be happy with three points last weekend and a third place seed, thus avoiding any chance of having to play in next Friday’s play-in game should his Falcons advance.

“We didn’t sweep any series at home this season,” said Serratore, whose team was able to take two from Quinnipiac to start the season, but failed to take more than three points at home against Atlantic Hockey competition. “That was a big disappointment.”

Last weekend, AIC managed a tie at Air Force before getting blown out 5-0 the following evening.

“They played a very good game (on Friday),” Serratore said. “They were very prepared.”

The Air Force coach says his team needs to do a better job against Bentley.

“We better come prepared,” he said. “We better win the first night because we haven’t been able to win two in a row (at home) all season. We’re going to have to keep their top line off the board and get to Calvi, who’s a very good goalie. Depth is our strength. We’ve got guys on the third and fourth line with good numbers.”

At least this time, Air Force will have three chances to get two wins at home.

“If you can’t beat someone twice in your own barn, you don’t deserve to advance,” Serratore said.

No. 7 UConn at No. 4 Sacred Heart

How They Got Here: The Pioneers (14-17-3) flirted with first place most of the season but went 2-4 over their last three weekends to finish as the fourth seed. Connecticut (12-19-3) was in the AHA basement three weeks ago but won their final four games. Sacred Heart took all four games against the Huskies this season.

How Sacred Heart Wins: Use their home ice advantage (a league best 9-3-2) and get plenty of shots on Huskie netminder Beau Erickson. Win the special teams war (Sacred Heart leads in the nation in combined special teams with the second-best power play and the 29th-ranked penalty kill).

How UConn Wins: Keep the momentum going. Stay out of the box and win the goaltending battle.

Pioneers to Watch: Bear Trapp (Forward, 36 points), Alexandre Parent (Forward, 35 Points), Dave Jarman (Forward, 31 points), Stefan Drew (Goaltender, .909 save percentage).

Huskies to Watch: Chris Ochoa (Forward, 22 points), Andrew Olson (Forward, 20 points), Beau Erickson (Goaltender, .915 save percentage)

Outlook: The Huskies have had some success against their in-state rival, knocking them out of the playoffs two years ago. But Sacred Heart swept the season series this year. UConn is the hotter of the two teams right now, and is bolstered by the unexpected return of goaltender Beau Erickson, who was thought to the lost for the season after suffering a knee injury against Sacred Heart back on February 8.

“It was really loose at first,” said UConn coach Bruce Marshall of his goalie’s knee. “But he made a really quick recovery and the most recent MRI showed no damage. He stood on ice the ice for the first time (a week ago) Tuesday and got in the net for real on Thursday, taking a typical workload of shots. We figured we’d start him Friday and see what happened. There was no sense breaking him in slowly because we need him to play two games on a weekend. He came in and played really well.”

Erickson pitched a shutout, and then allowed only two goals on Saturday.

“Sacred Heart’s a tough team, especially in their barn,” said Marshall of this weekend’s matchup. “We’re pretty young with just one senior and two juniors that play. We need to stay out of the box. They’ve got one of the top power plays (in the nation). We’re going to have to cash in on opportunities when we get them.”

Marshall says he’s wishing it was a one game series instead of a best-of-three, especially as the underdog.

“I liked the old system,” he said. “One and done. I think it makes things more exciting.”

No. 6 Canisius at No. 5 Mercyhurst

How They Got Here: These teams should be familiar with each other — they played four times during the regular season including last weekend with Canisius (11-18-6) holding a 2-1-1 advantage over the Lakers (11-18-7). Mercyhurst is winless in its last five games. Canisius has managed to get at least a point in all but one of its last ten conference series.

How Mercyhurst Wins: Eliminate costly mistakes (the Lakers recently went through a stretch where they allowed a shorthanded goal in four straight games) and forget last weekend. Use their home ice advantage, where they are 1-0-1 against the Griffs this season.

How Canisius Wins: Turn the games into shootouts (the teams combined for 18 goals last weekend) and win the special teams battles. Both squads like to run and gun and have goalies that can make the big save, so I think it will come down to special teams.

Lakers to Watch: Ben Cottreau (Forward, 32 points), Matt Pierce (Forward, 20 points), Scott Pitt (Forward, 20 points), Matt Lundin (Goaltender, .911 save percentage)

Griffins to Watch: Vincent Scarsella (Forward, 30 points), Josh Heidinger (Forward, 25 points), David Kasch (Forward, 25 points), Andrew Loewen (Goaltender, .911 save percentage)

Outlook: Canisius took three points from Mercyhurst last weekend to earn the sixth seed and the right to play…Mercyhurst.

“It should be a great series,” said Canisius coach Dave Smith. “You’ve got the two teams closest in the standings and we know each other pretty well.”

Smith says his team is peaking at the right time and points to two of his players in particular — freshman Vincent Scarcella and senior Kyle Bushee.

“Scarcella has 15 points in the third period this season,” he said. “He was big for us last weekend. And Bushee is one of the top defenseman in the league, probably in the top two.”

Smith expects a close series between two evenly matched teams.

“I think it will be good, physical playoff hockey,” he said. “It will come down to execution and goaltending. Hockey is a game of mistakes and whoever makes the fewest will come out on top.”

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week for March 3, 2008
Chris Forsman — Canisius
The sophomore defenseman had a career-best four points with two goals and two assists in a 5-5 tie against Mercyhurst on Saturday. .

Goaltender of the Week for March 3, 2008:
Beau Erickson — Connecticut
Heeee’s baaaack. Reports of a season-ending injury to Erickson were apparently untrue. After a negative MRI, the sophomore returned to action, stopping 52 of 54 shots against Holy Cross to help the Huskies to their fourth win a row.

Rookie of the Week for March 3, 2008:
Vincent Scarsella — Canisius
The local product had a goal and three assists to help the Golden Griffins take three points from Mercyhurst. Scarsella has 30 points (8 goals, 22 assists) top among rookies in Atlantic Hockey.

Monthly Awards

Player of the Month for February, 2008
Simon Lambert — RIT
The senior had 15 points including nine goals in the month of February. Lambert leads the AHA in scoring with 34 points and is tied for fourth in the nation with 45 points overall.
Other players nominated: David Turco, (AIC), Erik Peterson (Bentley), Kyle Bushee (Canisius), Rob Forshner (Holy Cross), Matt Pierce (Mercyhurst), Alexandre Parent (Sacred Heart)

Goaltender of the Month for February, 2008:
Josh Kassel — Army
This was a no-brainer as Kassel put together one of the best months by any college goaltender ever. The junior had a 0.88 GAA and a .965 save percentage in February, leading Army to a 7-1-1 record.
Other goalies nominated: Andrew Volkening (Air Force) Taylor Anderson (Canisius), Louis Menard, (RIT), Stefan Drew (Sacred Heart)

Rookie of the Month for February, 2008:
Adam Roy — Holy Cross
The Crusaders didn’t have a lot of success in February (2-4-1) but it wasn’t because of Roy. He posted a 2.24 GAA and a .930 save percentage.
Other rookies nominated: Derrick Burnett (Air Force), Joe Calvi (Bentley), Cory Conacher (Canisius)

Hindsight

So who did a better job predicting the final AHA standings?

Place Actual Coaches Poll Yours Truly
1st Army RIT RIT
2nd RIT Air Force Air Force
3rd Air Force Army Mercyhurst
4th Sacred Heart Mercyhurst Army
5th Mercyhurst Sacred Heart Sacred Heart
6th Canisius Holy Cross Holy Cross
7th UConn UConn UConn
8th Bentley Canisius Bentley
9th Holy Cross Bentley Canisius
10th AIC AIC AIC

I think the coaches did a slightly better job. They had Army and Canisius slightly higher than I did, and I had Bentley closer to where it finished than the coaches did. The biggest surprises were Army, Canisius, and Holy Cross.

This Week in the WCHA: March 6, 2008

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Here we are, everybody — the final season of the regular season. We’ve got playoff spots to be decided with everybody except Wisconsin and Alaska Anchorage having a hand in their final fate.

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Jack Hillen, CC.
Why: Became the top scoring defenseman in the WCHA and in the nation with two goals and two assists in the Tigers’ 5-2 victory against Minnesota State last Friday.
Also Nominated: Kael Mouillierat, MSU; Chris VandeVelde, UND; Michael Davies, UW.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, UND.
Why: Helped the Sioux team to a road sweep of Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, stopping 50 of 51 shots for a .980 series save percentage.
Also Nominated: Michael-Lee Teslak, MTU; Peter Mannino, DU; Derek Peltier, UM.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Alex Kangas, UM.
Why: Aided the Gophers in getting three points from Alaska Anchorage last weekend and staying in the hunt for playoff home ice, stopping 26 shots in each game for a .945 series save percentage.
Also Nominated: Richard Bachman, CC.

Keeping Up With the Pros — Monthly Drive-By

This is the last time you get this feature mentioning the top-scoring former-WCHAer in each of the main professional leagues. Rejoice.

NHL: Dany Heatley, UW — 31-38-69, 16th overall.
AHL: Grant Stevenson, MSU, M — 25-37-62, fourth overall.
ECHL: Travis Morin, MSU, M — 29-36-65, t-fourth overall.
IHL: Tab Lardner, MTU — 32-33-65, second overall.
CHL: Alex Leavitt, UW — 30-66-96, first overall.

On Brawling, Fighting and General Mischief

With all the brawls and handshake lines screwed up this year — most recently last weekend between St. Cloud State and Wisconsin — it made me wonder about what was going on in the league. If, for instance, this has been par for the course or if there actually have been more extracurricular activities this year than in years past.

“It definitely is,” said league commissioner Bruce McLeod, “but it’s really kind of part of something else … the rhetoric regarding chosen officials’ calls, issues like these post-game things. We had a handshake thing in Minnesota and we didn’t even get to a handshake at St. Cloud last weekend … just in general, the rhetoric about officiating is way up.”

McLeod then went on to compare said rhetoric to the mid- to late-1980s. “People are leaving the rinks talking about officiating and not about the games anymore.”

He also mentioned — and I got this from talking with a few other coaches as well — that it’s not contained to this league.

“It’s not just in the WCHA either,” he said, mentioning discussions with other league commissioners. “Supervisors wanting to quit in the middle of the year, ‘I can’t take this any more,’ and that type of thing, so it is definitely happening and kind of a phenomenon that’s not particular to the WCHA.

“But the question is, why is this happening?”

That question, of course, is the big one here.

“Everyone says, ah, the WCHA, the league’s so tight. Well, it’s been tight before,” he said. “Or you can say, ah, officiating’s not that good. Well, I’ve been around long enough to know that … officiating does have some good years, it goes up a little bit and maybe the next year’s not quite as bad.”

McLeod discussed the officiating, mentioning some of the errors made this year — particularly those in St. Cloud and in Denver. He also was a little surprised that penalties actually went down this year, given that the league went with the two-referee, two-linesman system for around 70 games — more than any other conference. In ruminating about other possibilities, he mentioned the lack of scoring and how it seems now that every goal, every call or non-call, is now crucial to the outcome of the game.

In short, it’s an unanswerable question … until you look deeper into the actual numbers. I went through the box scores of every league contest over the past two years and found the following:

This year we’ve had …

• six fighting majors with corresponding game disqualifications
• 32 total five-minute majors
• 60 total 10-minute penalties doled out (misconducts, game misconducts, DQs)
• 36 double-minors for roughing
• 366 total roughing minors
• 98 unsportsmanlike conduct minors
• 59 penalties given at the ending mark of a period (20:00 or 5:00 in the case of overtime)
• 4,117 total penalty minutes

Last year we had …

• 22 fighting majors with corresponding game disqualifications
• 52 total five-minute majors
• 77 total 10-minute penalties
• 33 double-minors for roughing
• 379 total roughing minors
• 74 unsportsmanlike conduct minors
• 42 penalties given at the ending mark of a period
• 4,982 total penalty minutes.

Given that total penalty minutes went down, I looked at the percentage game to see if the perception equals reality. That is, have there really been more skirmishes this year than last year?

2.2 percent of penalty minutes this year have been because of fights (counting fighting majors and the corresponding game DQs). Last year, 6.6 percent of penalties were due to fights — a considerably higher number. If you factor out the brawl between Colorado College and Alaska Anchorage which accounted for half the fighting minutes, it goes down to 3.4 percent — still higher than it is this year. Going through the box scores, the frequency of skirmishes seems to be similar, which makes me think the perception may just be to increased exposure and discourse.

A few things have gone up, however. The number of penalties after the final buzzer of a period (or game) has gone up — everything that happened in the second period of the Denver/North Dakota game happened after the buzzer. There has been a higher percentage of roughing calls in general — 17.8 to 15.2, a higher percentage of double-minors for roughing — .035 to .026 and we’ve had more unsportsmanlike conduct calls — 4.8 to 3.0. The percent of 10-minute misconducts (not disqualifications — misconducts or game misconducts) has also gone up — 13.3 to 11.5.

What does this all mean? Several coaches I spoke with said there’s a need for the league to fix things internally to stop the melees, and McLeod agreed with that. Again, though, the question becomes one of how. You can’t stop emotions from boiling over during the course of a period or of a game or of a series. Despite the penalty of missing a game, players still fight, although it is rare.

Personally, I think part of it comes down to a lack of respect. Off-ice incidents have gone up as have concerns about the character of players. Penalty minutes are on track to be the lowest they’ve been in five or six years, but misconduct and unsportsmanlike conduct calls are up.

The NCAA is trying to get team fan bases to treat opposing players, coaches and fans with respect — which is all well and good, don’t get me wrong. However, maybe they should focus more on the players themselves …

State Bragging Rights in Colorado …

With home ice locked up, the two Colorado-based teams can focus a little more on the Gold Pan and for state bragging rights. Colorado College holds it now and can retain it by getting at least two points, while Denver needs three or more to win it back.

“Obviously we know we need to win this darn thing outright because they hold it right now so we’re going to do everything we can to win the series,” said DU head coach George Gwozdecky. “That’s what we’re focusing on and … at the same point, continue to improve over the course of our last few games and see if we can be playing well going into the postseason.”

The Tigers obviously want to retain the authentic mining utensil, but for a different purpose. If they win the one game they need to clinch the Gold Pan, they also clinch a share of the MacNaughton Trophy for the league’s best record.

“It’s Denver and it’s the last weekend of the year — there’s almost always something at stake,” said CC coach Scott Owens. “This time it’s the Gold Pan, it’s the MacNaughton Cup for us, it’s the possibility of being in the top band of the PairWise.

“We weren’t able to close it out Saturday against a very good Mankato team and now we’ve got to find a way to win a game this weekend.”

… As Well as in Minnesota

Perhaps lost in the mix is also the DQ Cup, which will either be won by Minnesota or Minnesota-Duluth this weekend for Minnesota state bragging rights. The Gophers currently lead in the standings, with a 3-1-2 record and a .667 winning percentage. However, if the Bulldogs can sweep, they can easily overtake the Gophers, with a 3-2-3 record and a .563 winning percentage.

Random Notes (and Commentary!) From Around the League

DU — Props to goaltender Peter Mannino for breaking a 39-year-old DU record for career shutouts. His 1-0 shutout of Michigan Tech on Friday was his 14th — eclipsing the previous record of 13 held by Gerry Powers.

Reader Mailbag

Pretty much all the e-mails I received this week were regarding league tiebreakers and playoff possibilities and the like. I know several of you have e-mailed me regarding NCAA possibilities; if your team is on the bubble, its fate is extremely volatile. If you’d like said team to get in, hope it wins — the PairWise and RPI for your favorite group of hockey players is dependent on a lot of factors.

I do advise you, however, to read Jayson Moy’s Bracketology columns, as he is the site’s expert on the matter.

As for league tiebreakers for seeding, they are as follows:

a) If two or more teams are tied, head-to-head competition during the regular (conference) season will be used to break the tie.
b) If two or more teams are still tied after (a), the highest seed will go to the team with the most WCHA (conference) wins during the regular season.
c) If two or more teams played a four-game series during the regular season and the teams have the same win-loss records for those series and the same number of WCHA wins, the team having the least number of goals scored against it in the four-game series shall have the higher rank. If two or more teams played a two-game series during the regular season proceed to tie-breaker d).
d) If two or more teams are still tied after applying the provisions of (a), (b) and (c), the team having the greatest `winning margin’ during the regular season will have the higher rank. Winning margin = WCHA goals for during the regular season minus WCHA goals against.
e) Games played against WCHA opponents in holiday tournaments will not be counted in the determinations.

Match-Ups By the Numbers

I present to you the numbers for the last regular-season series.

No. 7 Denver and No. 5 Colorado College (home-and-home)
Overall Records: DU — 22-11-1 (16-9-1 WCHA). CC — 24-9-1 (19-6-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: DU leads the overall series, 152-103-10.
Top Scorers: DU — Tyler Bozak (15-14-29). CC — Chad Rau (25-12-37).
Goaltenders: DU — Peter Mannino (33 gp, 21-11-1, 2.16 GAA, .919 sv %). CC — Richard Bachman (29 gp, 22-6-1, 1.76 GAA, .934 sv %).

No. 11 St. Cloud State @ No. 1 North Dakota
Overall Records: SCSU — 17-14-3 (12-12-2 WCHA). UND — 23-8-2 (18-7-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UND leads the overall series, 47-26-8.
Top Scorers: SCSU — Ryan Lasch (22-24-46). UND — T.J. Oshie (14-21-35).
Goaltenders: SCSU — Jase Weslosky (27 gp, 14-11, 2.20 GAA, .928 sv %). UND — Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (32 gp, 22-8-2, 1.68 GAA, .934 sv %).

Michigan Tech @ No. 9 Minnesota State
Overall Records: MTU — 12-17-5 (8-14-4 WCHA). MSU, M — 17-13-4 (11-11-4 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: MSU, M leads the overall series, 17-11-3.
Top Scorers: MTU — Peter Rouleau (12-14-26). MSU, M — Trevor Bruess (7-18-25).
Goaltenders: MTU — Michael-Lee Teslak (20 gp, 6-8-4, 1.95 GAA, .926 sv %). MSU, M — Mike Zacharias (31 gp, 16-10-4, 2.18 GAA, .919 sv %).

No. 18 Minnesota-Duluth @ No. 14 Minnesota
Overall Records: tUMD — 12-14-6 (8-13-5 WCHA). UM — 14-13-9 (8-11-7 WCHA).
Head-to-Head:
Top Scorers: tUMD — MacGregor Sharp (7-10-17). UM — Blake Wheeler (13-16-29).
Goaltenders: tUMD — Alex Stalock (32 gp, 12-14-6, 2.26 GAA, .918 sv %). UM — Alex Kangas (22 gp, 7-6-9, 2.14 GAA, .924 sv %).

Playoffs: What We Know

• Colorado College, North Dakota and Denver have all clinched home ice.
• Alaska Anchorage, Michigan Tech and Minnesota-Duluth are all heading on the road, no matter what.
• Everyone else (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Minnesota State, St. Cloud State) is separated by four points and fighting for the last two home playoff spots … and will end up playing each other next weekend.
• Both CC and UND still have a shot at first place and the aforementioned tiebreakers (probably up to tiebreaker number three) will be used.
• Whichever of those two teams does get first will face the Seawolves.
• UND can finish no lower than second.

A special thank-you to Brandon Geist for his help in digging through old boxscores.

This Week in the ECAC East and NESCAC

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Championship Weekend!

It’s here and by most coaches’ accounts there should be a heavy presence of local and state law enforcement officials around hosting arenas and nearby towns looking out for those who have outstanding warrants for grand larceny.

It’s been happening in college towns and ice arenas all over New England all winter.

The suspects are heavily padded and wear distinctive masks in an effort to keep their identities hidden. They make no bones about robbing opposing offensive players of sure goals and stealing wins for their teams. At this the most critical time of the season, they are bold enough to do it in full sight of thousands of fans both at home and on the road.

Yes, right now it’s all about the goaltenders and which team has the hottest netminder coming into the final four pairings for each conference this weekend in Northfield and Waterville.

“It’s really all about goaltending and special teams at this time of the year,” noted Middlebury head coach Bill Beaney. “Everyone left needs to continue to have that position play well if they want to keep playing. We are lucky in having two guys with big game experience who really haven’t lost other than last year’s NCAA championship game. The experience is great but they still have to go out and play well.”

“It’s amazing how much goaltending controls the game now,” said Norwich head coach Mike McShane. “Everyone left in the playoffs has had great goaltending and [Ryan] Donovan from UMass-Boston has been a big reason for their success this year. He stood on his head when we beat them in overtime in the regular season so the kids know we can’t take anything for granted in getting something on the scoreboard this weekend.”

We have already seen surprises in the quarterfinal round and wonder: are there more to be seen this weekend? The ECAC East has the number 1, 4, 6 and 7 seeds remaining in the tournament and NESCAC has the number 1, 2, 4 and 6 seeds remaining. The match-ups are set so let’s see if I can improve on my 50% pick rate from last weekend and define the 2007-08 conference champs.

ECAC East

#7 UMass-Boston @ #1 Norwich

The Cadets are hosting again this year — not much of a surprise there as it has become an end of winter ritual for the conference championships to be held in Northfield. When the Cadets have it going in all phases they are as good as anyone in the country so look for Norwich to play aggressive attacking hockey and try to play the game with an early lead.

“We had a close game the first time around even though we outshot them by a 3-1 margin,” commented McShane. “Right now we have to play smart and take care of the puck and stay out of the box. They have some very talented players and Peter [Belisle] has got them going good right now. They have nothing to lose so you know they will be loose and we need to step up and play our game. The crowd will be a big help for us and being at home is a factor.”

For the upstart Beacons, the trip to the final four is a step this team couldn’t have thought possible just a season ago. New blood, a new coach and a hot goaltender has changed all of that and they are not afraid of anyone now having knocked off the defending conference champion last week at Babson.

Beacons sophomore Ryan Donovan goalie will need to be exceptionally sharp to unseat the Cadets at home.

Beacons sophomore Ryan Donovan goalie will need to be exceptionally sharp to unseat the Cadets at home.

“Having Ryan [Donovan] back there has covered up some of our issues up front but we know we can’t get outshot again like we did the last time — their skill players are too good to give opportunities to without seeing it on the scoreboard,” stated head coach Peter Belisle.

“We watched the film of the first game yesterday and know we need to try and pressure the puck in their end of the ice and keep it deep — make it more of a puck possession game. We are excited for sure– not just to be there but to play in a big game which means so much to this program. We had a bus full of kids attend the game at Babson last week and it looks like we will have another bus this weekend to support us. We would like to make the trip worth their while, too.”

Prediction: Donovan has established himself as one of the best in the league at stopping the puck — he is going to get a chance to prove it again against one of the best offensive teams in the country. Don’t see OT this time around but no blowout either. Cadets win it, 5-2, and move to Sunday’s championship game.

#6 Salem State vs. #4 New England College

The Pilgrims are no strangers to playing at Norwich in early March either and should the Cadets win the early game, NEC best not get caught looking ahead to playing Sunday or Bill O’Neill’s Salem State team will take the opportunity away based on a well tested formula of good goaltending and good special teams.

“New England may have the most talented group up front,” commented Norwich coach Mike McShane. “They have an awesome group of Swedes and real skill players like [Mike] Carmody and [Brian] Pouliot.”

Add in the goaltender that Southern Maine’s coach Jeff Beaney feels is the best in the conference and New England can make things tough on the opposition with their tight team defense.

Pilgrims goalie Ron Baia looks to lead NEC past a hot Salem State team.

Pilgrims goalie Ron Baia looks to lead NEC past a hot Salem State team.

“[Ron] Baia went into a little slump for a few games towards the end,” noted Beaney. “But he was solid against us in the regular season and made two huge saves at 1-0 and 1-1 in the playoff game last week that made a big difference in the game. He’s as good as anyone when he is on and he was on last week.”

For the Vikings, who come into the semifinals having upset the third seeded Castleton club, there shouldn’t be any worries about playing on the road. That said, they lost 5-2 at New England on the final weekend of the regular season and gave up an empty-net goal as the game’s final tally. The Vikings have relied heavily on Ryan Hatch in goal, who has played all but one game for Salem State, and freshman forward Justin Fox (16 goals, 21 assists, 37 points) who has five power-play goals to go with four game-winning goals this season.

Prediction: The first game saw the overall shots pretty even for both teams but with big momentum swings during the three periods of play. Many of the NEC seniors remember the run to the NCAA tournament just a couple of years ago so experience will be the difference here. The Pilgrims advance to face the Cadets by a 4-1 score.

Championship Game: NEC vs. Norwich

These two teams are more than familiar with each other and their lone regular season contest saw a typical one goal game swing the Cadets’ way by a 5-4 score. Baia did not play in that game but he may suffer the same fate as his teammate Aaron Harvey this time around. Norwich is at home and playing for something they lost last year so look for the Cadets to skate with the hardware and a trip to the NCAA’s. Cadets win, 4-3.

NESCAC

#6 Trinity @ #1 Colby

It is all about being hot at the right time. When — not for how long — you are playing well.

Trinity has been riding solid defense and great goaltending by Wes Vesprini down the stretch to join the party at Colby, the fourth different school to host the conference championship over the past four years.

Colby freshman Cody McKinney has drawn praise from his opponents and teammates alike for his outstanding play.

Colby freshman Cody McKinney has drawn praise from his opponents and teammates alike for his outstanding play.

“We need to keep working hard and pressing since our challenge is scoring goals,” commented head coach Dave Cataruzolo. “We are playing against a team that is scary with skill players like [TJ] Kelley, [Josh] Reber and [Arthur] Fritch and they have gotten great goaltending from their freshman [Cody] McKinney. They earned the right to play at home and they play very well in that building so we have our work cut out for us for sure.”

On Colby side of the ledger, head coach Jim Tortorella notes that every team is 0-0 this weekend and the only game that means anything is on Saturday afternoon.

“In a one-and-done tournament, you can’t focus beyond one shift on the ice. You just need to keep perspective, to keep the routine and focus on the here and now — don’t let your mind do things that will take you from focusing on the now. Our kids are excited to be playing at home and we will have great support here. All of the teams playing at this time of the year have earned the right to be here so we just need to prepare for Trinity.”

Prediction: Vesprini has been hot of late and McKinney has been hot all season. Leading assist man Josh Reber didn’t play the first time around the Bantams won 2-1 and he really makes the Colby offense go. The Bantams are goal challenged but will keep it very close. Think this one is a 2-1 game again but the home team moves on to Sunday’s title match.

#4 Amherst vs. #2 Middlebury — Yet another match-up where the playoff pairing sees a rematch of a game played within the past two weeks.

Amherst traveled to Middlebury on the final weekend of the regular season and lost to the Panthers by a 4-2 score that included a clinching empty net goal with just eight seconds remaining.

“That game could have gone either way,” commented Panther head coach Bill Beaney. “We scored a couple of power-play goals and received some good goaltending and those are the keys to success at this point in the season if you want to keep playing.

“Amherst has a very good team with good goaltending and great special teams so this will be a close game. We are healthy for the fist time in a long time and have everybody ready to go. Sometimes it’s easier to play these games away from home — there are fewer distractions. I am expecting a very good game against a strong team and we’ll see what happens.”

One thing working in Amherst’s favor is that they will not be facing the Panthers on the big ice sheet but on the tighter confines at Colby which should help the Lord Jeffs. Cole Anderson got the win in last week’s overtime game against Conn. College and he or fellow freshman Jonathan Larose will have to match the big game experience of Middlebury’s Ross Cherry or Doug Raeder. The Lord Jeffs converted on two power play opportunities last week and will need to take advantage this week if the Panthers spend any time in the box.

Prediction: Amherst has talent and solid defense backed by very good goaltending. Middlebury has talent and a team chemistry that just seems to rise to the occasion this time of the year. Tom Maldonado leads a special group of seniors to their fourth consecutive championship game by a 3-1 score.

Championship Game: Middlebury vs. Colby

The game in mid-January went Middlebury’s way by a 4-1 score. The Mules are 10-3 at home this season and have given up just seven goals in their last seven home games, going 6-1-0 in that stretch. This game should mirror the first in its pace and spirited play with few penalties or mistakes. Goals will come at a premium and one in the extra session will decide it. A 2-1 win for the Panthers is decided on their overall big game experience which is clearly an acquired skill.

It’s hard to believe we are at the final weekend for conference play but it has indeed arrived. It has been another phenomenal season for sure with surprises and great hockey top to bottom in both conferences.

This will be the last column of the season before we move to previewing and covering the NCAA tournament over the next couple of weeks. Many thanks to all of the member institutions, the players, the coaches, assistant coaches and sports information directors for their support in helping me keeping you informed on the ECAC East and NESCAC conferences. Your support is much appreciated.

To all the fans, parents and students, I hope you enjoyed your team on the ice this season and are excited about the big games still left to play. There can only be one team that wins its final game and the numbers of eligible teams are dropping dramatically as we move into mid-March. The stakes are high and so too is the level of play. This really is as good as it gets!

Drop the puck!

This Week in D-I Women’s Hockey: Mar. 6, 2008

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Do you believe in miracles? … YES!!!!!

So, we know that anything can happen in a hockey tournament. We always knew that thanks to a little Olympic moment that occurred in Lake Placid, back in 1980. So as the conference tournament action heats up in earnest, it’s not a bad idea to assess each school’s chances.

One can make a plausible case for any of the 16 remaining schools to capture its league tournament. Probable? No. But possible …?

That’s what makes this little exercise fun. Read on.

CHA Tournament

Hosted by Niagara: Dwyer Arena, Lewiston N.Y., March 7-8

No. 1 Wayne State, no. 2 Mercyhurst, no. 3 Niagara, no. 4 Robert Morris

Why Wayne State could win: Does having the top scoring line in the nation (Melissa Boal, Sam Poyton, and Lindsay DiPietro) count for anything? Sure it does.

Why Mercyhurst could win: Even though the Lakers come in an unfamiliar (for them) seeding, the title is still theirs until someone takes it from them.

Why Niagara could win: Since five-time champion Mercyhurst didn’t win the CHA outright this year, it stands to reason that the day will come that they don’t make it into the conference title game. That could happen if Ashley Riggs can score enough to outpoint Meghan Agosta. From there, it’s a matter of finding their way past Wayne.

Why Robert Morris could win: That’s could, not should. Nonetheless, the Colonials did double their conference win total over last year. Yep, they won two, which is how many wins they’d have to take this weekend. They could do it again, if they don’t run into Mercyhurst.

ECAC Tournament

Hosted by Harvard: Bright Center, Cambridge Mass., March 8-9

No. 1 Harvard, no. 2 St. Lawrence, no. 3 Dartmouth, no. 4 Clarkson

Why Harvard could win: Well, you’d like the chances of the No. 1 ranked team in the land under any circumstances. And anyway, nobody in the conference (and only New Hampshire overall) managed to beat Harvard. The Crimson are 18-0-0 since then, and a perfect 24-0-0 this year against ECAC rivals. Until it happens, it ain’t happening.

Why St. Lawrence could win: The Saints beat first round foe Dartmouth twice, then did hold Harvard to a 2-0 score.

Why Dartmouth could win: Because super sophomore Sarah Parsons is capable of breaking any game open. Why not two in a row?

Why Clarkson could win: Beginner’s luck? Hey, the Golden Knights are already in the throes of their best season in the program’s five year history, and are in the ECAC Championship Tourney for the first time.

Hockey East Tournament

Hosted by Connecticut: Freitas Ice Forum, Storrs Conn., March 8-9

No. 1 New Hampshire, no. 2 Connecticut, no. 3 Providence, no. 4 Boston University

Why New Hampshire could win: The Wildcats have dominated Hockey East the way Harvard has the ECAC. The class of the league, which they showed by going undefeated (20-0-1) in league play. UNH has the top two scorers in the conference (Jenn Wakefield and Sam Faber) and six in the top 10. Or perhaps a better answer is, “because they always win it.”

Why UConn could win: The home ice advantage. The Dominique Thibault advantage. The sophomore lead all HEA goal getters with 24, and now owns the school’s single season points mark (with 48 of them). And the Huskies will have to rack up lots of scoring to get past UNH.

Why Providence College could win: While UNH is the HEA’s perennial regular season winner, it’s the Friars who have historically owned the conference tournament. They’ve won three of the first five HEA tourneys. Who’s to say they couldn’t do it again. Besides, they did spoil UNH’s unblemished conference mark with a tie, which is more than any other HEA school can say.

Why Boston University could win: Another fledgling program that is making strong headway. The Terriers would love to experience the NCAA’s a year before hosting the Women’s Frozen Four.

WCHA Tournament

Hosted by Minnesota Duluth: DECC, Duluth Minn., March 8-9

No. 1 Minnesota Duluth, no. 2 Minnesota, no. 3 Wisconsin, no. 4 St. Cloud.

Why Minnesota Duluth could win: You start with goaltending, which is where Kim Martin comes in. She leads all WCHA net minders in save percentage (.951) and is especially tough to beat at home. And besides, in this league, the regular season winner always (save for 2001) has always won this thing.

Why Minnesota could win: Handed Duluth three of its four losses this year. Would only have to do it once this weekend.

Why Wisconsin could win: Dikembe Mutumbo said it best. “Never underestimate the heart of a champion.” And the Badgers are the two-time NCAA champions. It’s up to someone to prove otherwise.

Why St. Cloud could win: They Huskies are the best of the Nation’s four lowest seeds. Well, maybe they won’t make it out of the tournament. But they’ll sure have some fun trying.

This Week in the CCHA: March 6, 2008

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Congratulations, Wolverines!

Picked fourth in the preseason league coaches and media polls and third preseason by this reporter, the Wolverines surpassed all expectations by capturing their 10th regular-season league title last weekend.

Upon winning, head coach Red Berenson said that his young team “found a way to win games night after night, home and away, close games, games that we played really well, games that we didn’t play so well.”

The Wolverines did so with a combination of talent, grit, determination, enthusiasm — and improvement from almost every player who returned last year, and no one more so than junior goaltender Billy Sauer.

Congratulations, too, to senior forward Kevin Porter, who with 22 goals and 20 assists in 28 league games, is this year’s CCHA scoring champion. Porter’s teammate, T.J. Hensick, was last year’s leading CCHA scorer.

To date, nine Wolverines have captured the league’s scoring title.

Awards, Revisited

How could I have missed Matt Siddall?

Several Northern Michigan fans wrote in last week to protest Siddall’s absence from the annual Girl Reporter All-Goon Squad, and rightly so. With 33 penalties for 102 minutes in 33 games, the Wildcat senior with 14 goals and 14 assists leads all CCHA players in minutes and is the first man this season to reach the century mark in minutes.

Perplexed by my own oversight — why hadn’t I even thought of Siddall? — I called NMU assistant coach John Kyle to ask him to define my problem, a risky endeavor.

“A lot of them [the penalties] come here, on the big sheet of ice,” said Kyle. “He’s one of our top penalty killers. He’s trying to contain on a big sheet of ice. He’s a big, physical guy.”

Affectionately known as “Sid Vicious” by the Northern faithful, Siddall “doesn’t like being disrespected,” said Kyle. “That sums him up. If the game is physical but clean, he’s out of the box. He knows he can police the ice if he has to.”

And that’s why I overlooked him. The two Wildcat games I saw this season were here in Columbus, against Ohio State, and they were fairly clean, well-played, back-and-forth games. I’d say there was plenty of respect on OSU’s part, since they’re so down in the standings and the Wildcats beat them in the first round of the last year’s CCHA playoffs in the OSU Ice Arena.

It’s not that I didn’t notice Siddall — clearly a heck of a player, and a great defensive forward — but there was little need for him to enforce.

And, in my defense, Siddall’s been a bit more disciplined in the second half of the season, said Kyle. “He’s been doing the right things. He’s been getting it done on the ice, taking fewer penalties and scoring.”

Siddall got it done on the ice in more ways than one in Northern’s 1-1 overtime tie with Michigan Tech Dec. 14. Siddall scored the tying goal for the Wildcats at 18:32 in the second, and was one of two Wildcats who received game disqualifications for a spectacular brawl that erupted with 10 seconds left in the five-minute overtime.

Kyle said that Siddall sometimes need to “clarify his commitment to fair play…to be sure the play is fair on the ice.”

Fair enough.

More importantly, Siddall is another player — like Michigan State’s Justin Abdelkader and Miami’s Ryan Jones — whose brand of dirty is something I admire. Not only can Siddall enforce when the need arises, but he can instigate and irritate opponents into making mistakes. And like Ohio State’s Zach Pelletier, he can alter the game with one, clean, bone-crushing, open-ice hit.

“With one portion of a shift, he can change the complexion of the game,” said Kyle. “He’s got that size and strength and he has the mentality. If you want to mix it up with us, you’ll pay for it.”

Awards Revisited, Part 2

Apologies to Michigan junior Travis Turnbull, whom I incorrectly originally listed last week on the All-Rookie CCHA Team of Guys Who Do Play for Michigan.

No, it’s not that Turnbull in any way plays like a rookie; this reporter, however, wrote like one last week.

Another Hockey State of Mind

After Miami beat Ohio State 4-3 last Friday night, I said to RedHawk captain Ryan Jones, “That was a fun game to watch.”

He said, “For you.”

Actually, it was a great hockey game and not just for the home fans who watched the No. 5 RedHawks survive a tenacious lower-tier Buckeye team. It was a made-for-television contest, with CSTV doing the honors. Miami jumped out to a three-goal lead after one, but the school with the Big Ten name recognition forced an excellent match for the remaining two periods, and all of it played in the made-for-college-sports Steve Cady Arena, which never disappoints.

Beyond that, the intensely fought game was an appropriate cap to what has become a genuine college sports rivalry.

Who would have thought? I’ve never been a fan of the cluster system, the CCHA’s compromise to accommodate a 12-team league, but the scheduling has produced an instate rivalry worthy of greater attention. The history between these teams will never be as long or storied as that between Michigan and Michigan State, but what Miami and Ohio State have built in recent years is as good and intense as any other hockey Division-I hockey being played.

In addition to playing each other four times annually, the RedHawks and Buckeyes have also met in the title game of the Ohio Hockey Classic in Columbus for the last three years straight, bringing the total number of times these Miami and OSU seniors have faced off against each other to 19.

Jones said that 19 contests against Ohio State was “enough” for him, and after Friday’s hard-fought match, he sounded completely sincere. “Four years, 19 games against one team — I wish them all the best in playoffs and if we meet them in the finals, that would be great.”

Miami senior goaltender, Charlie Effinger, was 4-2-1 all-time against the Buckeyes with his win Friday at the Cady. “It’s always fun,” said Effinger. “It’s a great rivalry. It seems that we always get up for each other. It’s been a pleasure to be a part of it the last four years.”

In the last four years, Miami has owned a 10-5-4 lead in the series, which more often than not produces close games. Including the four ties, nine games in this series have been decided by one or fewer goals in the last four seasons. Miami has outscored Ohio State 56-47 in those 19 games, and the three games played for the OHC title have been, fittingly, split, with each winning one contest, each losing, and the 2005-06 game a 1-1 tie, although Miami won that title by way of a shootout.

The RedHawks swept the Buckeyes this season, winning two 5-1 contests in the first half of the year, but winning by just one goal in the last three, including the two last week.

The two schools disagree on the actual number of games the teams have played against each other, echoing that rivalry north of the border. According to Ohio State, the all-time series now stands at 56-56-10 while Miami insists that it has a 56-55-10 edge; the RedHawks don’t count one OSU win before Miami hockey was a varsity sport.

The records discrepancy “speaks to the heart of the rivalry,” said Effinger.

OSU freshman forward Kyle Reed said that the upperclassmen warned the 14 newcomers to this year’s Buckeye squad early in the season that games with Miami would be among the most bruising that they’d play. “You’re always getting hit,” said Reed. “The Battle of Ohio… playing Miami…you always get up for it. They’re big, tough, and they get the pucks to the paint in critical areas. They’re just a team that keeps coming.”

Senior OSU captain Matt McIlvane said that Friday’s contest was “intense” and fairly typical of games between the two schools separated by roughly 111 miles. “There was hard hitting. There were some good goals.”

And while sports fans in general tend to see Michigan as Ohio State’s most hated foe, McIlvane said that hockey operates by different rules. “Michigan’s more of a football rivalry that carries over into hockey. Miami, in my opinion, is our big rival. You can’t see a team this often and not have a rivalry develop.”

And when you play a team this many times, there’s more developing than just rivalry. “It’s definitely a fierce rivalry,” said OSU senior Tommy Goebel. “It’s funny, though, because half our friends are on each team. [Miami defenseman Kevin] Roeder is a comedian out there, so I always talk to him.

“Obviously, you play against guys enough, you’re going to talk to them a little bit, whether it be nice or otherwise.”

Round One

It’s the first round of the CCHA playoffs, with the middle four teams hosting the bottom four, and the top four teams earning first-round byes.

In the two years of this new playoff system, put into action three seasons ago to protect the top teams from PairWise damage, the bye-week, top-four seeds have advanced to Joe Louis Arena in seven of eight second-round series played. Only Miami failed to advance last season, falling in two games at home to Lake Superior State and the Lakers’ red-hot goaltender Jeff Jakaitis, but the RedHawks’ NCAA options were good enough to get them into the tourney without a trip to Detroit.

Last Friday at Steve Cady Arena, someone asked me who the top four teams should fear from the bottom eight. “Everyone from Western up,” I said.

Then Western Michigan shut out Notre Dame 3-0 and, unknowingly, put me in my place.

I have to say that the second half of the CCHA season offered superb hockey for fans. The race for the first-round home spots was exciting, with Ferris State and Northern Michigan emerging as teams that no one would want to face postseason. One of the league’s bottom-tier teams, Lake Superior State, ended the season as strongly as did the Bulldogs and Wildcats.

Even the Broncos ended a nine-game winless streak with a win over the nationally ranked team that won the regular-season championship a year ago.

Here is a brief synopsis of each team playing this weekend, in order of league finish. All stats are conference-only, and the statistics that follow the slash in each bulleted list indicate a team’s ranking among CCHA opponents for the same category in conference play. The head-to-head matches are to the right.

No. 5 Ferris State

• Overall record: 15-14-5
• Home record: 7-6-3
• Last 10 games: 5-3-2
• Goals scored per game: 2.75/5th
• Goals allowed per game: 2.57/5th
• Power play percentage: 18.4/5th
• Penalty kill percentage: 85.2/4th
• Top scorer: Cody Chupp (7-13–20)
• Top goal scorer: Brendan Connolly (11-8–19)
• Top goaltender: Mitch O’Keefe (.920 SV%, 2.35 GAA)
• Secret weapon: Freshman defenseman Scott Wietecha, with his +13 rating, two game-winning goals, and presence on the power play

The scrappy Bulldogs finished fifth in the league this season in part because of their record in February, culminating in last Saturday’s toppling of then-No. 1 Michigan, in Big Rapids, on Senior Night. That fifth-place finish is the highest for FSU since they captured the league’s regular-season title in 2002-2003.

One reason for FSU’s late-season success is an awakening offense, including the play of junior forward Justin Lewandowski, who rides a six-game point streak into the weekend. Blair Riley and Mike Fillinger are having good second halves, with Riley netting six goals since the start of the year to Fillinger’s seven.

The ‘Dogs are not afraid to take shots, out-gunning opponents 932-804 this season, and scoring 3.06 goals per game on average at home.

This FSU squad has the balance to get through the first round, with excellent goaltending from O’Keefe and solid defense.

And don’t forget that O’Keefe has four genuine assists this season on a team that knows how to play the transition game.

No. 6 Northern Michigan

• Overall record: 15-17-4
• Home record: 7-8-2
• Last 10 games: 5-2-3
• Goals scored per game: 2.71/6th
• Goals allowed per game: 2.79/6th
• Power play percentage: 14.6/7th
• Penalty kill percentage: 75.8/11th
• Top scorer: Nick Sirota (15-12–27)
• Top goal scorer: Sirota
• Top goaltender: Brian Stewart (.917 SV%, 2.76 GAA)
• Secret weapon: Freshman defenseman Erik Gustafsson, with his +17 rating and 17 assists, who makes things happen

This is a team with a number of tools at its disposal, not the least of which is goaltender Brian Stewart, the big, quick guy who beat Ohio State in Columbus last season in the first round of the CCHA playoffs.

The ‘Cats are deep at every position and peaking at the right time of the season. NMU has three double-digit goal scorers, with Mark Olver (13) and Matt Siddall (13) joining Nick Sirota. And the team plays excellent defense, with a +16 team rating in league play.

Matt Siddall told the Marquette Mining Journal this week that the Wildcats will have to “get some shots on net” if they are to win their first-round playoff series. “We have to play Wildcat hockey — forecheck hard, get the pucks in the corners and hold pucks for long possession time.”

That’s exactly what the Wildcats will have to do, re-capture the title of the Hardest Working Team in College Hockey. If they outwork their opponent, they can beat anybody.

No. 7 Bowling Green

• Overall record: 16-18-0
• Home record: 7-8-0
• Last 10 games: 4-6-0
• Goals scored per game: 2.61/8th
• Goals allowed per game: 3.00/8th
• Power play percentage: 14.0/9th
• Penalty kill percentage: 75.8/11th
• Top scorer: Derek Whitmore (23-7–30)
• Top goal scorer: Whitmore
• Top goaltender: Nick Eno (.918 SV%, 2.51 GAA)
• Secret weapon: Junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt, a bruising defenseman capable of jumping into the offensive play

The Falcons are hosting a first-round playoff series for the first time in four years. “We wanted fifth place, so we didn’t accomplish that, but we did earn the right to play at home in the playoffs,” said head coach Scott Paluch, “and that was a positive step.”

Part of the reason the Falcons didn’t capture fifth was their play in their last 10 games, which was decidedly mediocre. Yes, it was tough to draw two nationally ranked teams in that stretch, but if BG was to finish strong, a point or two from either of those teams would have helped significantly.

Another negative for BG in the second half is the power play, which was flying until the holiday break. Two power-play droughts — one for 43 attempts, another for 21 — stymied the Falcon special teams, and BGSU scored eight times with the man advantage in the last 17 games of the season.

Still, the season ended with BGSU tying for the most wins its seen in six years under Paluch, a definite positive step.

No. 8 Nebraska-Omaha

• Overall record: 15-16-4
• Home record: 6-8-4
• Last 10 games: 4-4-1, with an exhibition tie against the U.S. Under-18 Team
• Goals scored per game: 3.11/4th
• Goals allowed per game: 3.54/10th
• Power play percentage: 23.1/1st
• Penalty kill percentage: 82.4/8th
• Top scorer: Mick Lawrence (15-15–30)
• Top goal scorer: Lawrence
• Top goaltender: Jerad Kaufmann (.883 SV%, 3.10 GAA)
• Secret weapon: Junior defenseman Juha Uotila, who returned to the ice with renewed purpose after sitting out the first half of the season because of academics

This week, head coach Mike Kemp told the Omaha World-Herald that he and his team have to put the history between the Mavericks and the Nanooks behind them for this series, that the only way UNO can advance is to focus on the here and now.

“If we play the kind of hockey the kind of hockey we played against Mankato, we’ll go a long way,” said Kemp after UNO’s 4-2 win over ranked Minnesota State Feb. 26. What kind of hockey was that? Smart, said Kemp.

The Mavericks will have to get smart without the stellar forward Bryan Marshall (10-20–30), who has been out since he injured his knee in mid-February. The good news is that the Mavs’ other scorer in double-digits, Brandon Scero returns from injury this week.

The key to UNO’s success — aside from brainy play — is the creativity of the Maverick offense, which is diminished but not completely crippled without Marshall in the line-up. UNO has the 10th-best scoring offense in the country, a good thing since its weakness is between the pipes, a serious liability for play this time of year.

No. 9 Alaska

• Overall record: 8-19-5
• Away record: 4-10-2
• Last 10 games: 3-6-1
• Goals scored per game: 2.18/t10th
• Goals allowed per game: 2.86/7th
• Power play percentage: 13.8/10th
• Penalty kill percentage: 80.9/10th
• Top scorer: Dion Knelsen (9-16–25)
• Top goal scorer: Landon Novotney (13-6–19)
• Top goaltender: Wylie Rogers (.925 SV%, 2.51 GAA)
• Secret weapon: Junior defenseman Tyler Eckford, third among blueliners nationally in points per game

Perhaps Alaska’s real secret weapon is its ability to win road playoff series. This is the fourth year in a row that the Nanooks have traveled for the first round of CCHA playoff action, and the ‘Nooks have won each of the last three series. In the last three seasons, although UA has never played at home, the Nanooks are 9-6-0 in CCHA playoff action.

UA is fast, skilled and gets excellent goaltending from Wylie Rogers, but with a penalty kill that leaves a bit to be desired and facing the top power play in the country, the Nanooks know what they have to do to find success in Omaha this weekend.

“The biggest thing that we have to do is stay out of the box,” head coach Doc DelCastillo told the Fairbanks News-Miner this week.

While UA is one of the least penalized teams in the nation, special teams goals have worked against the Nanooks. In their 5-3 loss to LSSU to end the regular-season last weekend, the Nanooks gave up a shorthanded marker and a 4-on-4 goal, and UA let in a power-play goal in their two losses previous to that contest.

No. 10 Lake Superior State

• Overall record: 9-18-7
• Away record: 2-10-6
• Last 10 games: 5-2-3
• Goals scored per game: 2.32/9th
• Goals allowed per game: 3.61/12th
• Power play percentage: 14.3/8th
• Penalty kill percentage: 71.5/12th
• Top scorer: Zac MacVoy (8-16–24)
• Top goal scorer: Nathan Perkovich (10-5–15), Rick Schofield (10-5–15)
• Top goaltender: Brian Mahoney-Wilson (.894 SV%, 3.15 GAA)
• Secret weapon: Schofield, a freshman forward whose under-the-radar performance this season makes him the perfect would-be Laker hero

The Lakers are riding a four-game unbeaten streak into these playoffs, making them warm if not hot outright. In their last four, the Laker offense has awakened, most notably the trio of Dan Eves, Zac MacVoy and Rick Schofield. In that span, Schofield has three goals and two assists, Eves has two and two, and MacVoy has five helpers.

And in that span, Brian Mahoney-Wilson and Pat Inglis (.874 SV%, 3.91 GAA) have split time in net, with Mahoney-Wilson earning two wins and Inglis a win and a tie.

The strength of this team comes from its work ethic and steady, disciplined play; the Lakers are averaging just 13.8 penalty minutes per game.

No. 11 Ohio State

• Overall record: 11-23-4
• Away record: 4-9-3
• Last 10 games: 3-5-2
• Goals scored per game: 2.18/t10th
• Goals allowed per game: 3.32/9th
• Power play percentage: 11.9/12th
• Penalty kill percentage: 82.3/9th
• Top scorer: Tommy Goebel (14-8–22)
• Top goal scorer: Goebel
• Top goaltender: Joseph Palmer (.894 SV%, 2.99 GAA)
• Secret weapon: Goebel, a senior who is 18th nationally in goals per game

As always, the fate of the Buckeyes rests just as much in their own hands as it does in their opponent’s. If OSU brings its best game to a contest, the Buckeyes are hard to beat.

A big key to OSU’s play is how Joseph Palmer performs between the pipes. Last year as a freshman, Palmer could get rattled, but he’s settled down this year to give OSU a chance to be in most of its games. He also has an able back-up in freshman Dustin Carlson.

A very young club, this team didn’t gel until the second half, and once it did it played some pretty good hockey. OSU is fast, so the big ice in Marquette shouldn’t be an issue.

The Buckeyes have a few interesting, fun-to-watch forwards, especially freshmen Peter Boyd and Kyle Reed.

But the Bucks have difficult scoring, period. Goebel is their only double-digit goal scorer, and their power play is a real weak spot.

No. 12 Western Michigan

• Overall record: 8-25-3
• Away record: 1-14-1
• Last 10 games: 1-8-1
• Goals scored per game: 1.89/12th
• Goals allowed per game: 3.57/11th
• Power play percentage: 12.5/11th
• Penalty kill percentage: 83.0/6th
• Top scorer: Patrick Galivan (4-17–21)
• Top goal scorer: Cam Watson (8-3–11)
• Top goaltender: Riley Gill (.898 SV%, 3.46 GAA)
• Secret weapon: Hope

The Broncos, with the worst win percentage in the nation, have the toughest road to The Joe. “We now enter what we like to call the second season,” said WMU head coach Jim Culhane this week.

For the Broncos’ sake, the second season had better be more fruitful than the first. In a season with few on-ice highlights for WMU, the Broncos shut out Notre Dame, 3-0, last Friday to cap a nine-game winless streak. It was the first shutout of sophomore goaltender Riley Gill’s career, the first shutout for the Broncos this season, and their first win of the season over a ranked opponent.

If Western is to survive this weekend, the Broncos will have to play flawless hockey against a team that has had a very good second half.

A Fitting Reminder

Even Mother Nature reminds us never to count out those resilient Wolverines.

The Associated Press reported today that a graduate student at Oregon State University snapped a photo of a wolverine in Sierra Nevada late last week.

The wolverine had thought to be gone from California and the animal is not easy to find in its natural habitat, so the electronic sighting — the student was using motion-detecting equipment in the study of weasels — is a welcome one.

And very timely.

This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey: Mar. 6, 2008

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Streaks

All coaches say that they want to see their teams playing their best hockey at the end of the season. Well, two teams have taken that message to heart and have saved their best for the second half of the season to surge to the top of their respective conferences.

Amherst currently holds the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at 15 games. The Jeffs are 13-0-2 as they head into the NESCAC final four this weekend, where they will compete for the conference title and automatic bid with Middlebury, Trinity, and Colby.

Wis.-Superior isn’t far behind as the Yellow Jackets have gone 14 games without a loss. Superior is 13-0-1 in their last 14 and this past weekend won their first ever O’Brien Cup (NCHA championship). They beat Lake Forest 3-0 in the semi-finals and then downed Wis.-River Falls 2-1 in a dramatic, come-from-behind overtime victory.

The Yellow Jackets’ unbeaten streak and title hopes were in serious jeopardy on Sunday when they ran into a smoking hot goaltender in Wis.-River Falls’ Cassi Campbell. The Falcons shocked the country with a huge 2-1 upset win over fifth-ranked and second-seeded Wis.-Stevens Point and looked to have done it again the next night until Wis.-Superior’s Brianne Mosher tied the game with 25 seconds left and the Jackets’ goalie pulled.

“Brianne had been working hard all game and was always around the net,” said Wis.-Superior head coach Dan Laughlin. “We had our chances but weren’t able to convert until then.”

Wis.-Superior then rallied from there and scored the golden goal 10:51 into the first overtime when Teagan Cassan lit the lamp giving the Yellow Jackets their first O’Brien Cup title in program history.

“We won the face-off and got a shot on net and Cassan was able to put in for us,” Laughlin said. “It was great to see because we had lost a couple games earlier in the season in like that.”

Wis.-Superior now sits at 22-4-1 and the odds on favorite to win the Pool B bid. However, this was not always the case as at one point the Yellow Jackets dropped four games in a nine game stretch with losses to Adrian, Wis.-Stevens Point, Gustavus Adolphus, and Wis.-River Falls.

“We established goals from day one,” Laughlin said. “We just had everyone concentrating, trying to stay focused and work on them all year. We got some key players back in the second half of the season that added to our ammunition and helped us achieve our goals.”

Wis.-Superior now plays the waiting game this week and await their fate and the rest of the conference tournament results starting on Wednesday with the MIAC Championship between St. Thomas and Gustavus Adolphus (1-0 Gustavus) and then the ECAC East, ECAC West, and NESCAC tournaments will all crown their champions this weekend.

“We’ve been trying to keep things loose and obviously working on our skills,” Laughlin said. “Towards the end of the week we’ll start working on special teams and get some rest. The long layoff between games can go both ways as it can get teams out of their normal rhythm but it also helps getting some time to recover and heal from the bumps and bruises.”

With the NCAA tournament selection process completely up in the air right now, Laughlin commented on how it’s pretty much impossible to predict how things are going to shake out come Sunday night.

“There’s over a hundred different scenarios that could still happen,” Laughlin said. “A lot of things depend on the East. Where ever we end up and who we play, so be it. Whatever route we take, it’s going to be tough.”

East Region Conference Championship Outlook

There is still plenty left to be decided in the East as all three eastern conferences will hold final four type format tournaments this weekend to decide their champions and automatic bid winners.

The ECAC West tournament will be hosted in Plattsburgh, N.Y. and the top-ranked and top-seeded Cardinals are the heavy favorites. Plattsburgh will play dark horse Utica in the early game on Saturday. Utica has been playing very good hockey in the second half of the season with wins over Amherst, Elmira, and RIT so they’re certainly capable of pulling an upset on Plattsburgh if the Cardinals overlook them.

In the late game, RIT and Elmira will renew their developing rivalry with a lot on the line. The winner will move a leg up on the other in the Pool C race and of course have the chance to play for the ECAC West’s automatic bid as well. The two sides have been pretty much evenly matched all season. They both split with Utica and dropped games to Plattsburgh and Middlebury. The difference comes with RIT defeating Amherst and Plattsburgh once while Elmira lost to the Lady Jeffs and only tied Plattsburgh.

Plattsburgh (22-2-1)

Star Player — Jr. Forward, Danielle Blanchard
26 goals, 19 assists = 45 points (7 PPG, 5 SHG, 6 GWG)

Key Player — So. Forward, Laurie Bowler
18 goals, 6 assists = 24 points (1 PPG, 2 SHG, 1 GWG)

Goalie — Jr. Danielle Beattie
(18-2-1) .930 Save Percentage, 1.32 GGA

RIT (19-6-0)

Star Player — Sr. Forward, Isabelle Richard
12 goals, 16 assists = 28 points (7 PPG, 1 SHG, 4 GWG)

Key Player — Fr. Defense, Katie Stack
13 goals, 11 assists= 24 points (3 PPG, 2 SHG, 2 GWG)

Goalie — Jr. Sandra Grant
(15-5-0) .924 Save Percentage, 1.75 GGA

Elmira (19-5-1)

Star Player — Jr. Forward, Kayla Coady
19 goals, 13 assists = 32 points (4 PPG, 1 SHG, 5 GWG)

Key Player — So. Forward, Lauryn DePaul
12 goals, 6 assists = 18 points (3 PPG, 0 SHG, 4 GWG)

Goalie — Jr. Ally Cubberley
(12-3-1) .938 Save Percentage, 1.55 GGA

Utica (18-8-0)

Star Player — So. Forward, Andrea Maxon
13 goals, 15 assists = 28 points (7 PPG, 0 SHG, 5 GWG)

Key Player — Sr. Forward Kelly Bills
8 goals, 10 assists = 18 points (3 PPG, 0 SHG, 4 GWG)

Goalie — So. Jill Doherty
(9-6-0) .929 Save Percentage, 1.70 GGA

The ECAC East Tournament will be hosted in Purchase, N.Y. at the Playland Ice Casino and the home of the top-seeded Manhattanville Valiants. Manhattanville will take on Salve Regina in the first semifinal. New England College and UMass-Boston will meet in the other semifinal. Manhattanville is the odds on favorite especially since St. Anselm isn’t allowed to compete in the conference playoffs because of their Division II status.

No team has a chance at an at-large bid in this conference so the conference champion will be the ECAC East’s lone representative in the tournament this year.

Manhattanville (20-6-0)

Star Player — Jr. Forward, Danielle Nagymarosi
25 goals, 18 assists = 43 points (7 PPG, 0 SHG, 5 GWG)

Key Player — Sr. Forward, Amanda Nonis
15 goals, 16 assists = 31 points (6 PPG, 1 SHG, 1 GWG)

Goalie — Jr. Karine Turmel
(8-3-0) .932 Save Percentage, 1.54 GGA

UMass-Boston (14-11-0)

Star Player — So. Forward, Maria Nasta
19 goals, 25 assists = 44 points (2 PPG, 1 SHG, 4 GWG)

Key Player — Sr. Defense Rose Devlin
4 goals, 5 assists = 9 points (3 PPG, 0 SHG, 1 GWG)

Goalie — Jr. Jessica Sams
(7-4-0) .919 Save Percentage, 2.51 GGA

New England College (14-10-1)

Star Player — Jr. Forward, Sarah Graham
22 goals, 16 assists = 38 points (6 PPG, 1 SHG, 2 GWG)

Key Player — Jr. Forward, Jaime Collins
9 goals, 15 assists = 24 points (0 PPG, 0 SHG, 5 GWG)

Goalie — So. Mary Roux
(12-7-1) .919 Save Percentage, 2.64 GGA

Salve Regina (11-13-2)

Star Player — Jr. Forward, Caitlin Campbell
14 goals, 11 assists = 25 points (3 PPG, 0 SHG, 3 GWG)

Key Player — Fr. Forward, Gabrielle Gardner
12 goals, 11 assists = 23 points (6 PPG, 0 SHG, 2 GWG)

Goalie — Jr. Tamsin Gosselin
(4-8-1) .915 Save Percentage, 2.90 GGA

The NESCAC Tournament could provide the same excitement as the ECAC West Tournament with four of their own powerhouse teams converging on Middlebury, Vt., this weekend. Middlebury is the top seed and will host fourth seeded Colby who is coming in off a big win against Trinity two weeks ago and a win last week against Conn. College. In the other semifinal, Amherst meets Trinity in a game that will feature two of the best goaltenders in the country that could easily steal a game for their team.

Middlebury and Amherst are the neck and neck favorites with Trinity a step or two back and then Colby a step behind the Bantams. The biggest advantage to pick Middlebury is they will be playing at home on their huge Olympic ice sheet. However, Amherst can skate with the best of them so I’m sure Coach Plumer’s team won’t be affected too much by the big surface.

Middlebury (19-2-3)

Star Player — Jr. Forward, AnnMarie Cellino
12 goals, 29 assists = 41 points (2 PPG, 1 SHG, 1 GWG)

Key Player — Jr. Forward, Erika Nakamura
13 goals, 10 assists = 23 points (4 PPG, 1 SHG, 5 GWG)

Goalies — So. Lani Wright
(10-1-2) .949 Save Percentage, 0.98 GGA
Fr. Lexi Bloom
(9-1-1) .945 Save Percentage, 0.97 GGA

Amherst (18-3-4)

Star Player — Jr. Forward, Tarasai Karega
15 goals, 12 assists = 27 points (8 PPG, 1 SHG, 3 GWG)

Key Player — Jr. Forward, Lindsey Harrington
6 goals, 11 assists = 17 points (4 PPG, 1 SHG, 2 GWG)

Goalie — So. Krystyn Elek
(11-3-3) .942 Save Percentage, 1.27 GGA

Trinity (18-4-3)

Star Player — Fr. Forward, Kim Weiss
15 goals, 12 assists = 27 points (3 PPG, 1 SHG, 5 GWG)

Key Player — So. Forward, Michelle Chee
11 goals, 11 assists = 22 points (8 PPG, 0 SHG, 4 GWG)

Goalie — So. Isabel Iwachiw
(14-3-3) .959 Save Percentage, 1.10 GGA

Colby (14-8-3)

Star Player — Jr. Forward, Laura Anning
17 goals, 12 assists = 29 points (3 PPG, 0 SHG, 3 GWG)

Key Player — Jr. Forward, Rebecca Julian
18 goals, 14 assists = 32 points (3 PPG, 0 SHG, 3 GWG)

Goalie — Jr. Lacey Brown
(10-4-2) .937 Save Percentage, 1.95 GGA

Pool C Pecking Order

Here’s my guess at the current Pool C pecking order if the season ended today. I’m keeping conference leaders in there in case they lose.

1.Plattsburgh
2.Middlebury
3.Stevens Point
4.RIT
5.Amherst
6.Elmira

I think you can switch Elmira and RIT if Elmira beats the Tigers. However, Amherst did beat Elmira head to head so that comparison would be very interesting. I think Stevens Point gets in over the RIT/Elmira/Amherst trio, I have a feeling this tournament is heading West this year and it’ll be easier with three West teams.

This Week in the ECAC West

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No. 1 Elmira Soaring Eagles vs. No. 2 Manhattanville Valiants

So far, the ECAC West playoffs have gone as scripted, with the higher seeded team winning all three games. Elmira and Manhattanville now get to play in the finals this Saturday at the Thunderdomes to see who will take home the league title.

Elmira defeated Hobart 6-3 last Saturday to earn a spot in the finals. A wild four minute span in the middle of the first period, in which four goals were scored, highlighted a closely played contest.

Rusty Masters started the spurt of goals with a hard working play to get Elmira on the board, then Derrick Ryan snuck a second goal off a post past Hobart goaltender Keith Longo less than two minutes later to give the Soaring Eagles a 2-0.

Just when the Thunderdomes got rocking, Hobart took advantage of a lapse in Elmira’s concentration to score two quick goals of its own to tie the game 2-2. Matthew Wallace and Nick DeCroo tallied just over a minute apart to get the Statesmen back in the game.

“The next face off after Ryan’s goal, we missed all of our coverage and a minute later missed a coverage at the blueline and they went in,” said Elmira coach Tim Ceglarski. “After that, our guys settled down at the blue line, especially in the second period, and played pretty well.”

Settle down, indeed, as Elmira scored the next three goals to take control of the game on the way to the victory.

“It was another great college hockey game,” said Ceglarski. “The atmosphere with the crowd was amazing. We fell asleep for a minute and a half in the first period, but other than that we were able to solve their forecheck a little bit and break the puck out of the zone.”

A bit of a fracas erupted early in the third period, as Hobart’s Blake Bonham and Elmira’s Nicolas Dumoulin tussled. But despite the gloves and helmet’s staying on during the scuffle, the referee’s were quick to hand out game disqualifications to both players after they were separated.

That means Dumoulin, a key member of Elmira’s blueline squad, will miss this weekend’s championship game.

Manhattanville had a game of its own against an always hard working Utica team last Saturday in the semi-finals. Thanks to a one man wrecking crew in the form of junior Chris Trafford, who scored four goals during the game, the Valiants rolled over the Pioneers, 6-2, to get to the championship game.

Trafford’s goal outburst was the first time in school history that a player has scored four goals in a single game.

“Scoring goals is something we have had a hard time doing all year, but it makes life a lot easier,” said Manhattanville coach Keith Levinthal.

Trafford scored Manhattanville’s first two goals of the game, both in the opening period, completed the hat trick early in the third period and then chipped in an empty netter with 35 seconds remaining to seal the victory and cap off a night to remember.

“He’s been doing it all year,” said Levinthal. “He scores goals. He is a team guy, has been on board and is a finisher. We got a lot of good scoring chances in that game and when he gets those chances he is going to score. We were able to generate a lot of odd many rushes and get traffic in front of their net.”

Coach Levinthal started freshman goaltender Steve Parry against Utica, only his third start of the season. But after a good game at the end of the regular season against Neumann, Levinthal thought it was worth another start for Parry and it paid dividends for the Valiants as he stopped 19 of Utica’s 21 shots.

“When I was in college, I was an English major at Hobart because I couldn’t be a science major,” related Levinthal. “I wasn’t going to be an econ[omist]. It really came down to English or history. My dad was history, so I figured I would go my own way. So that is kind of how we made the goalie decision last Saturday.”

Who will be in net for Manhattanville this Saturday in the championship game? Good question. When I talked to Levinthal earlier this week, he and his coaching staff were still evaluating all the factors and hadn’t made a decision.

No matter who ends up in goal, they know that it will be an uphill battle against Elmira in the Thunderdomes.

“[Elmira is] very different than any other team we play in the league,” said Levinthal. “They are very thoughtful and disciplined in their approach. Elmira is very methodical and also frighteningly disciplined. It is a big contrast in style and a big challenge for us. There is a reason why they only have two losses so far this season. To go in there and win a game will be a major effort.”

The same goes from the Soaring Eagles perspective as well, who went 2-0-1 against Manhattanville during the regular season.

“It is hard to beat any time three times in a year,” said Ceglarski. “Manhattanville is a well coached team. We’ve had three great games against them and developed a very good rivalry. We have similar programs and it will be interesting to see how the weekend unfolds.”

ECAC West All-USCHO Teams

It has been an incredible year of hockey in the ECAC West. This season has showcased the depth of the talent in the league. I am now pleased to announce my picks for this year’s ECAC West All-USCHO Teams.

The most difficult category to choose this season was the forwards. There was an abundance of players who had outstanding seasons, both on the scoreboard and winning all the little battles that lead to wins, and narrowing down the list to the top six was very difficult.

Unfortunately, cuts had to be made and several great players fell off the charts. Honorable mentions, if they were handed out, would have gone to players like Nick DeCroo (Hobart), Matt Fitzgibbons (Utica), Kyle Casey (Neumann), and Mark Van Vliet (Neumann).

Choosing defensemen was relatively easy this year, as there were several who rose to the top of the heap, but another tough pick was the rookie goaltender. With the league dominated by veteran netminders, there wasn’t much opportunity for a freshman to find time in net this season.

Chris Trafford is my pick for Player of the Year. He has consistently found the back of the net all season long and has been a large factor in the success that Manhattanville has had.

Rookie of the Year goes to Matthew Wallace from Hobart. The Statesmen have a wealth of young talent this season, but Wallace stood above the rest to get the award.

Last, but certainly not least, Tim Ceglarski (Elmira) is Coach of the Year. The ECAC West coaches picked Elmira to finish fourth in the pre-season poll and I predicted they would end up in third. But Ceglarski got the Soaring Eagles off to a quick start and kept them going all season long, ending up ranked in the top three nationally almost all year.

ECAC West First Team

Forward: Chris Trafford, Manhattanville, Sr.
Forward: Mike Hedden, Neumann, So.
Forward: Michael Richard, Elmira, Sr.
Defense: Mike Gooch, Neumann, Jr.
Defense: Russell Smith, Elmira, Sr.
Goal: Casey Tuttle, Elmira, So.

ECAC West Second Team

Forward: Neil Trimm, Neumann, Jr..
Forward: Jason Murfitt, Manhattanville, Sr.
Forward: Rusty Masters, Elmira, So.
Defense: Nicolas Dumoulin, Elmira, Jr.
Defense: AJ Mikkelson, Manhattanville, So
Goal: Keith Longo, Hobart, Jr.

ECAC West Rookie Team

Forward: Matthew Wallace, Hobart
Forward: Patrick Moriarty, Hobart
Forward: Nick Kulas, Utica
Defense: Karl Linden, Elmira
Defense: Kyle Whitaker, Hobart
Goal: Sergiy Sorokolat, Manhattanville

Player(s) of the Year

Chris Trafford, Manhattanville

Rookie of the Year

Matthew Wallace, Hobart

Coach of the Year

Tim Ceglarski, Elmira

That’s a Wrap

And so another season of ECAC West hockey comes to an end. The wonderful thing about this league is that it never fails to provide a season filled with exciting, nail-biting hockey.

I would like to thank both the loyal and the casual readers of my column for your continued support and patronage. The emails and conversations with you throughout the season certainly make the games more entertaining.

Bracketology: March 5, 2008

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

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

This is the first installment of Bracketology, and we’ll be bringing you a new one every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced.

Here are the facts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Host institutions that qualify will be placed at home.

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

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

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

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

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

You know better than that.

Given these facts, here are the top 16 of the current PairWise Rankings (PWR), and the conference leaders (through all games of March 4, 2008):

1t Michigan
1t North Dakota
3 New Hampshire
4t Colorado College
4t Miami
6 Denver
7 Clarkson
8t Michigan State
8t Boston College
8t St. Cloud State
11 Minnesota State
12 Minnesota
13t Wisconsin
13t Minn.-Duluth
15 Providence
16t Notre Dame
16t Princeton
— Bemidji State
— Army

Current conference leaders:

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

Step One

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

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

Let’s look at the ties.

The ties consist of North Dakota and Michigan at 1, Colorado College and Miami at 4, Michigan State, Boston College and St. Cloud State at 8, and Wisconsin and Minn.-Duluth at 13.

North Dakota defeats Michigan in the head-to-head comparison, CC defeats Miami and Wisconsin defeats Minn.-Duluth.

As for the three-way tie, it’s a round-robin, so we break via the RPI.

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

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

Step Two

Now it’s time to assign the seeds.

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

Step Three

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

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

Step Four

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

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

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

So therefore:

No. 2 Seeds

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

No. 3 Seeds

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

Therefore:

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

No. 4 Seeds

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

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

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

The brackets as we have set them up:

West Regional:

Minn.-Duluth vs. Colorado College
Minnesota vs. Miami

Midwest Regional:

Wisconsin vs. North Dakota
Boston College vs. Michigan State

East Regional:

Army vs. Michigan
St. Cloud State vs. Clarkson

Northeast Regional:

Bemidji State vs. New Hampshire
Minnesota State vs. Denver

Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups.

We have three. Minnesota State vs. Denver, Wisconsin vs. North Dakota and Minn.-Duluth vs. Colorado College.

We can switch Minnesota State with Boston College, which would make a lot of sense since it is the only place it can go and BC can bring more attendance to Worcester. So we do that.

Now we’re left with Wisconsin vs. North Dakota and Minn.-Duluth vs. Colorado College. We get into our argument again about protecting the overall number-one seed.

Well, I have to be consistent, right? So I switch New Hampshire with North Dakota.

Our new brackets:

West Regional:

Minn.-Duluth vs. Colorado College
Minnesota vs. Miami

Midwest Regional:

Wisconsin vs. New Hampshire
Minnesota State vs. Michigan State

East Regional:

Army vs. Michigan
St. Cloud State vs. Clarkson

Northeast Regional:

Bemidji State vs. North Dakota
Boston College vs. Denver

You’re probably asking why we don’t switch out Army and Minn.-Duluth to avoid another intraconference matchup. Well, if you look at it, you really corrupt the integrity of the bracket by doing so, so I’ll leave it as is.

Ugly. But, what can I do?

Let’s examine it another way.

Let’s look at the Colorado College vs. Miami comparison. CC wins it due to RPI giving the Tigers an extra point, and the tie is broken by the RPI. But since they are tied, are they swappable? i.e., can we make Miami number 4 and Colorado College number 5?

If we do this what happens?

Let’s start the process by placing the host teams. So we place No. 5 Colorado College in Colorado Springs and No. 13 Wisconsin in Madison.

From there let’s seed the number-one teams. The No. 13 team gets the lowest number-one seed, in this case, Miami. Let’s get it all to fall in line now.

Midwest Regional:
13 Wisconsin vs. 4 Miami
11 Minnesota State vs. 6 Denver

West Regional:
15 Bemidji State vs. 1 North Dakota
12 Minnesota vs. 5 Colorado College

East Regional:
16 Army vs. 2 Michigan
10 St. Cloud State vs. 7 Clarkson

Northeast Regional:
14 Minn.-Duluth vs. 3 New Hampshire
9 Boston College vs. 8 Michigan State

What we’ve done is fill it in per the numbers, swapping the 2 vs. 3 games of the West and Northeast Regional because CC is hosting a regional.

How does this look? We can make one swap to avoid one intraconference matchup by swapping Michigan State with Denver. This benefits us in many ways. It draws the Michigan State crowd to Madison and leaves Boston College in Worcester.

Midwest Regional:
13 Wisconsin vs. 4 Miami
11 Minnesota State vs. 8 Michigan State

West Regional:
15 Bemidji State vs. 1 North Dakota
12 Minnesota vs. 5 Colorado College

East Regional:
16 Army vs. 2 Michigan
10 St. Cloud State vs. 7 Clarkson

Northeast Regional:
14 Minn.-Duluth vs. 3 New Hampshire
9 Boston College vs. 6 Denver

This actually looks like a very legitimate bracket.

Except for one thing.

Can we really swap CC and Miami? Possible, but I don’t think it can happen.

So we’ll go with the original bracket we worked out for this week.

500 Reasons Not to Make the NCAA Tournament, Part II (replacing Part I)

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For about six hours today, this exact blog space was occupied by a story reacting to what we thought was new legislation instituted by the NCAA men’s ice hockey committee that would require at-large teams in this year’s NCAA tournament to posses a record at or above .500.

Well, according to an email that USCHO.com received from the NCAA today, that was a misprint.

So go on with your life, Minnesota-Duluth. Your tournament life may still hang by a thread, but at least it doesn’t hang by your record.

For the record, below is the commentary that I provided when I believed that a team needed a .500 record to earn an at-large tournament bid. Knowing what we do now, I have not changed my opinion one iota on the topic:

Personally, I think this is a good move by the NCAA. Certainly, this could have been outlined more clearly by the committee, but to institute a standard that in order to qualify for an at-large bid you have to be above .500 certainly makes sense. This isn’t the first time that the .500 and above rule has been applied to the ice hockey tournament. Just a few years ago, Teams Under Consideration were actually defined as those teams with a record of .500 or better. When leagues like the MAAC (now Atlantic Hockey) and the CHA were organized, the insular schedules of member clubs created a plethora of .500 teams in each league that were, at the time, far inferior to many other clubs. Thus the definition of TUCs was changed to look at the RPI, not the overall record.

Recent tournaments, and this year’s included, saw teams hovering around .500 near the end of the season still hold solid positioning in the PWR and that’s likely what led to the committee making the “.500 rule” change this past off-season.

Certainly, this caught a lot of us in the college hockey world by surprise (mostly media types like myself and fans like you) but in the long haul I believe this is a good move to ensure the integrity of the tournament.

Like I said, I stand by all of what I wrote here. I don’t think that a team with a record below .500 belongs in the tournament unless they can prove the belong by winning their conference tournament (and yes, I do believe that winning a conference tournament proves you belong).

Maybe this is a topic to be tackled in the off-season by the committee and, if passed, would appear in print when it’s not just a typo.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: March 4

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown
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Editor’s note: Tuesday’s original publication of this column referenced the .500-or-better provision in the 2008 NCAA Championship Handbook, which would have removed Minnesota Duluth from tournament consideration based on its sub-.500 record. That language has now been identified by the NCAA as a misprint.

Scott: Eight? Eight? I know we usually start by talking about key games, but this is getting surreal. Eight WCHA teams in the top 14 of the PairWise Rankings. You know, Jim, I’m a West guy and a Minnesota resident, but this is making my pupils dilate. I do believe that by the numbers, the WCHA has had the best season of any of the six Division I conferences, but eight teams, even if just for the moment? Now, lest any of our readers start hyperventilating, the conference won’t get eight teams into the NCAA tournament. Someone in the WCHA will lose a first-round playoff series and drop down, and some tournament champion will come out of nowhere to pick up an autobid, and so forth and so on. But still … eight?

Jim: Do you want to kick my dog while you’re at it, Brownie? It’s depressing enough that the East will struggle to win the national championship yet again. But with a possible eight WCHA teams and three, maybe four, CCHA teams in the mix, you might as well call this the Western College Hockey National Championship. I understand that the WCHA is having a decent year. And that the league, because of that, has a strong schedule for every single team. But it seems like this is almost no longer a national tournament. A lot of this has to do with the changes over the past five or six years in the tournament criteria. The rebalance of the RPI, the elimination of the “last 10” or “last 16” criteria. All of these edits have played towards the WCHA. In fact, it would play well towards any league in which the out-of-conference record is extremely solid and no one team runs away in league play. I understand that the criteria are what they are. But doesn’t this all seem a little unbalanced to you?

Jerry York's Eagles have had a tough go of it lately (photo: Melissa Wade).

Jerry York’s Eagles have had a tough go of it lately (photo: Melissa Wade).

Scott: Absolutely, it does. That many WCHA teams in the tournament would not be good for the sport, because it would sap the national aspect and threaten to turn the NCAAs into a replay of the WCHA playoffs. Worse yet, it would provoke outrage toward the selection process, which I believe has served Division I well over the past several years, and the call to do “something” — potentially something rash and ill-advised — would be hard to resist. Luckily for Eastern fans and believers in the PWR, it’s not going to happen for the reasons mentioned previously. Some of those WCHA teams are going to play one another in the first round, and some are therefore going to lose. Heck, Minnesota plays Minnesota Duluth this weekend to wrap up the regular season, and either could find its national hopes crippled when that series is over. Those results will then let a team like Notre Dame or Providence back in when it’s all said and done. And apologize to the dog for me, would ya?

Jim: I agree that the end product should be more reasonable, but we’ll see what actually happens when the numbers shake out. Moving East, Hockey East seems to have a pretty interesting weekend ahead for itself. Six teams are still in the hunt for the final three home-ice spots. Three teams are battling for the final playoff spot. Lost, somewhat, in all of this is Boston College. A few weeks ago, we were talking about the Eagles’ dominance, having taken home the Beanpot title and suffering just one league loss in a 10-game span. That has all since turned around. BC has just one win in its last six and now faces the strong possibility of playing on the road in the opening round of the Hockey East playoffs. All of this comes despite the fact that the Eagles remain tied for eighth in the PWR. Pretty wacky, eh?

Scott: Hockey East’s got a fascinating weekend of possibilities left. With only New Hampshire having locked down home ice (and that by a mile), I’ll be scoreboard-watching to see where the rest of the league shakes out. BC stands to be the big loser in all of this if it can’t get a win or two against Northeastern. The Eagles are just 1-4-1 since the Beanpot, and the one-point performance against Providence last weekend really hurt in terms of the standings. We could see those teams again in the quarterfinals, with the venue to be determined. Vermont’s an intriguing case, too: such an awful first half but an impressive stretch run. Given the Cats’ recent quality of play, I wouldn’t exactly want to run into them in the tournament, especially since their only route to the NCAAs may be the Hockey East playoff title. Staying East, how about the ECAC playoff pairings? It’s a little weird to see both Cornell and St. Lawrence on the docket for the first round, isn’t it?

Jim: Cornell and St. Lawrence are just a couple of shockers in the ECAC. The other two in my mind are Harvard, a few weeks ago vying just to host a first-round game and now they’ll get a bye this weekend, and Quinnipiac, seemingly positioned to make a run for the title and its first NCAA at-large bid, the Bobcats seemed to self-destruct down the stretch all summed up by an 8-0 drubbing at the hands of Clarkson last weekend. Oh, and while my mind is on playoffs, I do want to give a tip of the cap to Army. The Black Knights took home the league title last weekend, the first regular-season championship that the school has earned in the 105-year history of the program. Three years ago, when this year’s seniors were rookies, this team struggled to an eighth-place finish. Under head coach Brian Riley, this group certainly has hit an impressive stride.

Scott: Agreed. Hats off to Army — I’ve always had a soft spot for the service academies. Bouncing around a bit, Bemidji State wrapped up the CHA regular-season title last weekend and now gets an odd week off before the semifinals, so it’ll be interesting to see how that affects the Beavers’ bid for a third NCAA appearance in four years. And we’d be remiss not to mention the CCHA as well. As with the ECAC, the top four teams are off this week, but fourth-seeded Notre Dame will be watching the 5-12 playoff series, pitting Ferris State against Western Michigan. The Fighting Irish need wins to get into the NCAAs, and if Ferris advances, that quarterfinal series could be explosive. The Bulldogs have gone 5-2-1 in their last eight, with six of those games coming against Michigan, Miami and — Notre Dame, which FSU beat and tied a month ago. Not exactly the team you want to face at a critical time of year if you’re ND. That wraps up the random-commentary portion of my thoughts, so Jim, you got a shout-out left for anyone?

Jim: I think I’m out of shout-outs for now, thanks. But I will expand on what you’re saying about Ferris State. I think the Bulldogs have to be looked at as a very dangerous team assuming they can advance past the opening round. Notre Dame is fortunate that this will be a best-of-three series on its home ice. But Ferris will likely enter the series with boosted confidence after taking three points from the Irish late in the season. A key for Ferris will be the play of its goaltenders. Both Mitch O’Keefe and Pat Nagle had moments of brilliance down the stretch, but both also have had their struggles throughout the year. Should either of these dufflebags emerge as standouts in the postseason, you might see Ferris as the darkhorse in the CCHA playoffs.

Bracketology: March 4, 2008

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

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

This is the first installment of Bracketology, and we’ll be bringing you a new one every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced.

Here are the facts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Host institutions that qualify will be placed at home.

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

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

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

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

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

You know better than that.

Given these facts, here is the top 16 of the current PairWise Rankings (PWR), and the conference leaders (through all games of March 4, 2008):

1t Michigan
1t North Dakota
3 New Hampshire
4t Colorado College
4t Miami
6 Denver
7 Clarkson
8t Michigan State
8t Boston College
8t St. Cloud State
11 Minnesota State
12 Minnesota
13t Wisconsin
13t Minn.-Duluth
15 Providence
16t Notre Dame
16t Princeton
— Bemidji State
— Army

Current conference leaders:

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

Step One

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

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

Let’s look at the ties.

The ties consist of North Dakota and Michigan at 1, Colorado College and Miami at 4, Michigan State, Boston College and St. Cloud State at 8, and Wisconsin and Minn.-Duluth at 13.

North Dakota defeats Michigan in the head-to-head comparison, CC defeats Miami and Wisconsin defeats Minn.-Duluth.

As for the three-way tie, it’s a round-robin, so we break via the RPI.

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

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

But, we have to go back and check the criteria again.

The 2008 Championship Handbook states:

“To be considered during the at-large selection process, a team must have an overall won-lost record of .500 or better.”

Therefore we take a look and see that Minn.-Duluth is not at .500 or better and therefore cannot be selected to the tournament. So we replace Minn.-Duluth with the next team in the rankings.

The beneficiary? Providence.

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

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

Step Two

Now it’s time to assign the seeds.

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

Step Three

Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals. Following the guidelines, there are no host teams in this grouping, so that rule does not need to be reinforced.

We now place the other No. 1 seeds based on proximity to the regional sites.

We seed Colorado College first, since it is hosting a Regional.

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

Step Four

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

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

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

So therefore:

No. 2 Seeds

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

No. 3 Seeds

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

Therefore:

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

No. 4 Seeds

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

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

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

The brackets as we have set them up:

West Regional:

Providence vs. Colorado College
Minnesota vs. Miami

Midwest Regional:

Wisconsin vs. North Dakota
Boston College vs. Michigan State

East Regional:

Army vs. Michigan
St. Cloud State vs. Clarkson

Northeast Regional:

Bemidji State vs. New Hampshire
Minnesota State vs. Denver

Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups.

We have two. Minnesota State vs. Denver and Wisconsin vs. North Dakota.

We can switch Minnesota State with Boston College, which would make a lot of sense since it is the only place it can go and BC can bring more attendance to Worcester. So we do that.

Now we’re left with Wisconsin vs. North Dakota. We get into our argument again about protecting the overall number-one seed.

Well, I have to be consistent, right? So I switch New Hampshire with North Dakota.

Our new brackets:

West Regional:

Providence vs. Colorado College
Minnesota vs. Miami

Midwest Regional:

Wisconsin vs. New Hampshire
Minnesota State vs. Michigan State

East Regional:

Army vs. Michigan
St. Cloud State vs. Clarkson

Northeast Regional:

Bemidji State vs. North Dakota
Boston College vs. Denver

Ugly. But, what can I do?

I don’t like it, but that’s the bracket this week.

And then there was one…

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We’ve reached the first full week of March with only one regular season league championship still up for grabs. The WCHA will come down to the final weekend of play, with North Dakota sitting just two points behind league-leader Colorado College.

The Tigers may have the tougher opponent this weekend then they’ll face in-state rival Denver, while North Dakota squares off against St. Cloud State. SCSU did prove a problem for Wisconsin over the weekend, earning a split, but they’ll be traveling to Grand Forks for this final weekend which gives the edge to the Sioux.

Though most league titles have been settled (if you’re just joining us New Hampshire won Hockey East, Clarkson took the ECAC crown, Army won its first-ever league title in Atlantic Hockey, Michigan edged out Miami for the CCHA crown and Bemidji State was victorius in what may be the final regular season for the CHA) there still plenty at stake for the three leagues still in regular-season action this weekend.

In addition to crowning a champ, the WCHA still has a four-way battle for the final two home ice positions between Wisconsin (currently in 4th), St. Cloud and Minnesota State (currently tied for 5th) and Minnesota (currently in 7th, three points out of fifth).

The ultimate battle to the finish will be in Hockey East. Despite New Hampshire wrapping up the title earlier than any other team in the nation, the remaining teams are all locked in various battles.

There’s a six-team battle for three home ice spots between Boston University, Vermont, Providence, Boston College, Northeastern and Mass.-Lowell. Five points total separate second-place BU and Vermont from NU and Lowell (both currently tied for sixth).

Similarly, there’s a three-way battle for the final playoff spot in Hockey East (the only league in the country that makes its regular season mean something by eliminating teams at season’s end). UMass seemingly has the fast track, holding a slim two-point lead over Maine and a four-point lead over Merrimack. What’s interesting is that Maine holds the tie breaker over UMass and Merrimack, which faces UMass this weekend, would hold the tie breaker over either Maine or UMass (Merrimack would have to sweep the Minutemen this weekend to get into a tie and thus would win the season series).

The most intersting storyline in Hockey East is Maine. It desperately needs a sweep of a somewhat hot Lowell team this weekend to qualify for the playoffs. Maine, along with BU, BC and Providence, have never missed the playoffs in the 24-year history of the league.

WCHA Dominance in the PairWise

If the NCAA Tournament Selection Show were taking place today, the WCHA would have a 50/50 chance of winning this year’s national championship based on the field itself (WCHA fans, I’m sure, will argue that the league’s “superiority” would give them better than a 50/50 shot, but to that I digress).

Currently, eight of the ten WCHA teams rank in the top 14 of the PairWise rankings. That was made possibly when Minnesota crept from the 15th spot to the 12th position over the weekend, while a skidding Minnesota-Duluth club held on for dear life to the 14th and final PWR rank.

I don’t have the math brain to say what the chances are the through the playoffs that eight WCHA teams will maintain their PWR. Obviously, the lower the seeds that advance to the Final Five the better the chance that we’ll see seven or eight WCHA teams.

It does create a bit of an interesting issue. As one who enjoys the “national” flavor of the tournament, I’d prefer to see no more than six teams from the same conference. The fact that five conferences could split the final eight non-WCHA tournament spots is a bit absurd, particularly given the fact that two of the top five teams in the PWR come from the CCHA (and that conference also has a third team, Michigan State, appearing to be a tournament lock).

What could throw a wrench in all of the plans, of course, would be lower-seeded teams winning conference tournaments to earn the automatic bid. In the ECAC, that certainly seems feasible as it does in Hockey East.

It’s far to early to begin griping about an unbalanced tournament field, but certainly something to keep an eye on in coming weeks.

Who’s Hot

There are a few teams that are streaking towards the finish line in a rather impressive manner:

North Dakota: 15 games without a loss is pretty impressive, though Minnesota-Duluth gave them a run for their money over the weekend.

Connecticut: The Huskies have won four straight and had top goaltender Beau Erickson make a surprise return to the lineup this weekend. That helped UConn climb from the Atlantic Hockey cellar to sixth place.

Harvard: Left for dead entering the Beanpot, the Crimson dropped only the Beanpot title game down the stretch to go from hoping for home ice in the opening round of the ECAC playoffs all the way to a first-round bye.

New Hampshire: The Wildcats locked up the regular-season crown with plenty of time to spare and, though they had a hiccup with a tie this weekend against Merrimack, have gone 11 games without a loss.

Controversial Goal in Maine/UMass series

A couple of people inquired why I haven’t had any commentary about the controversial goal at the end of the UMass-Maine game that led to the Black Bears winning in overtime last Sunday afternoon.

To recap the play, which I was fortunate to watch live on ESPNU, a Maine defenseman cleared a puck the length of the ice with about two minutes left in the overtime. The trail linesman signaled for icing, but the rough ice conditions led to the puck slowing down. Just as it was about to cross the goal line for icing, the lead linesman waved off the icing ruling that the UMass defenseman giving chase (I don’t remember who it was) could have played the puck.

Maine’s Andrew Sweetland, hot to the heels of the UMass defenseman, pressured the puck behind the net, created a turnover and centered the puck to Wes Clark who deflected it over the goaltender Dan Meyers for the victory.

UMass coach Don ‘Toot’ Cahoon was lived after the play, chasing the officials around the ice, holding his hands on his head. While it would seem that Cahoon had a gripe, after I slowed the play down on replay numerous times, it would appear that if the UMass defenseman stretches out his stick, he would have reached the puck before it crossed the goal line.

What Cahoon does have a gripe with, though, is how late the linesman waved off the icing. The puck had already crossed the line before the signal was made, putting the UMass defender in an awkward situation – he was expecting a whistle and instead was now forced to play the puck with a forechecker close in toe.

One thing I know from this play – it was not a black and white call. I could understand why either side would argue for or against the icing call. It’s unfortunate that the game was deciding on the ensuing play. But if anything this play teaches a solid lesson to all players – you have to play until the whistle. Letting up for even a second because you believe the play will be blown dead can be costly in a fast-paced game.

Enviable: Green Knights Still Nation’s Best

By Nicholas Jon Wood
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As much as things change . . . St. Norbert knows the sentiment. Not that they are complaining. For the second week in a row, only the Adrian Bulldogs’ bite could keep the Green Knights away from a unanimous coronation on their tremendous regular season.

Earning 299 of 300 possible points is definitely nothing to scoff at; nor is their 25 game unbeaten streak. Heading into the NCHA championship tilt Saturday evening against No. 11 University of Wisconsin-Stout, St. Nobert has sets its gaze firmly on the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

The second ranked Plattsburgh Cardinals might have something to say about that, however. In defeating then-No. 5 Oswego in the SUNYAC championship game, 4-3, Plattsburgh at worst secured themselves a home playoff game in the NCAA quarterfinals. And depending on how the numbers shake out, their lot could even improve.

By virtue of its 6-3 victory over last week’s No. 7 Hobart in the ECAC West semis, third ranked Elmira advanced to take on No. 4 Manhattanville in the much-anticipated conference championship tilt. The Valiants advanced by downing Utica, 6-2.

Ascending one spot this week to fifth was Norwich, whose 8-0 blanking of Skidmore, combined with the defending national champions’ conference title game loss, was enough to curry the voters’ favor.

St. Thomas, meanwhile, jumped up two spots to No. 6 after besting Bethel, 7-1. The Lakers fell to seventh.

The poll’s new No. 8 is perennial power Middlebury, who shut out Williams, 6-0, to advance to the NESCAC semifinal this Saturday in Waterville, Maine. Falling equally far down as Oswego, Hobart — despite its ECAC West quarterfinal win over then-No. 15 Neumann — dropped two spots to ninth.

Most perplexing again this week is Adrian’s plight. 5-3 and 1-0 overtime victors over Milwaukee School of Engineering and Finlandia, respectively, the Bulldogs — winners of 20 straight games — dropped a spot to No. 10. They did earn the lone first place vote not allocated to St. Norbert, but the MCHA regular season and conference champs have apparently failed to earn the respect of most D-III voters. Let’s hope they get a chance to prove their worth on the ice in the NCAA tournament.

Remaining at No. 11 was UW-Stout, who knocked off in-state rival Eau Claire 3-2 in overtime to advance to the NCHA championship to face off against the nation’s top ranked team.

Thus ends the familiarity. Of the bottom four teams in the poll, three were unranked a week ago. New No. 12 Hamline scurried up the poll ladder after taking down St. John’s, 4-2. Idle UW-River Falls — whose season is probably over after getting upset by St. Scholastica last weekend — fell one spot to No. 13.

Rounding out the poll was newcomer Colby (4-1 winner over Wesleyan) and New England College, who reentered the mix after defeating Southern Maine,

5-2. Both teams next play in their conference — NESCAC and ECAC East — semifinals on Saturday.

All losers in their conference playoff games, Bowdoin, Babson, and Neumann dropped out of the poll.

North Dakota Moves To No. 1 In USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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North Dakota ran its nation-best unbeaten streak to 15 games last weekend, taking over the top spot in Monday’s USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll in the process.

The Fighting Sioux garnered 37 of 50 first-place votes after sweeping Minnesota Duluth Saturday and Sunday, replacing Michigan as the No. 1 team in the nation. The Wolverines fell to second with a split against Ferris State, but won the CCHA regular-season title and retained 12 first-place votes.

New Hampshire, the Hockey East regular-season champion, held at No. 3 after taking three of four points from Merrimack. The Wildcats own the country’s second-longest unbeaten streak at 11 games and took the remaining first-place nod. Meanwhile, Miami moved up one place to fourth with a Tuesday-Friday sweep of Ohio State. The RedHawks switched places with fifth-ranked Colorado College, which split a pair with Minnesota State.

Michigan State was again No. 6 after sweeping Bowling Green, followed by Denver. The Pioneers, who split with Michigan Tech, stayed in seventh this week.

Clarkson moved up two spots to eighth after wins over Princeton and Quinnipiac to wrap up the ECAC regular-season championship. Following the Golden Knights was Minnesota State, and then Boston College at No. 10. The Eagles were down two spots after losing and tying against Providence.

Opening the second half of the rankings was No. 11 St. Cloud State, which swapped positions with Notre Dame this week. The Huskies split with Wisconsin, which stayed in 13th, while the No. 12 Fighting Irish split their series with Western Michigan.

Minnesota rebounded to No. 14 by taking three of four points against Alaska Anchorage, with Princeton down a spot at No. 15. The Tigers lost to North Country opponents Clarkson and St. Lawrence over the weekend.

Boston University split a pair with Massachusetts to remain in 16th, with Providence and Minnesota Duluth next. Harvard edged up to No. 19 by tying Colgate and beating Cornell, and Niagara returned to the poll at No. 20 with a sweep of Robert Morris.

Dropping out since last week was Northeastern.

This Week in SUNYAC

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18 Championships

The Plattsburgh State Cardinals won their 18th SUNYAC title with a 4-3 victory over Oswego. Plattsburgh had not won the crown the past three years, tying their longest drought. Interestingly, after breaking that streak last time, they went on to win six straight. Even when they don’t win it, they are always there. Plattsburgh has been in 17 straight finals.

“This is probably the most gratifying SUNYAC championship. The league is getting tougher and tougher,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “Most importantly, I’m happy for the players. They work hard. There are no superstars. We won a lot of one goal games this year. We found ways to win.”

Before the fans could even sit down after the national anthem, Oswego struck. Derrell Levy received a pass from Rich Zalewski and from the high slot, slapped it by Bryan Hince through a screen 10 seconds after the opening face off.

“We got off to a good start, but it was still a feeling out process,” Oswego coach Ed Gosek said.

“We were focused on no neutral zone turnovers, and we start the game off with a neutral zone turnover,” Emery said. “Obviously, when you enter a rink and there are 3,000 fans in the rink and you can take the fans out, it’s an advantage. But, our guys were very confident. We came back before.”

Afterwards, Oswego got into penalty trouble, and Ryan Scott was forced to come up big to keep Plattsburgh off the scoreboard as the Cardinals out shot Oswego 11-4 in the period. However, despite three power play opportunities, the quick goal was the only marker on the scoreboard.

The Cardinals finally knotted the game on a Dylan Clarke shot at 2:33 in the second. The goal was due to slow defensive play by Oswego. Plattsburgh dumped the puck in, but had to cycle out four players to avoid an offsides. Yet, despite all that time, Oswego was unable to get the puck out of their zone.

Then, Plattsburgh finally got a power-play goal on their fourth try to take a 2-1 lead. Joey Wilson scored through a screen set by an Oswego defender as Scott never saw it at 6:45.

Oswego stunned Plattsburgh by scoring a goal just after killing off a two-minute 5-on-3 disadvantage. Brendan McLaughlin just out of the box converted a 3-on-1 after Plattsburgh gave the puck away at 14:17.

However, the momentum didn’t last long as Plattsburgh answered with a man advantage goal 1:06 later. Wilson got his second of the night once again through a screen on the power play.

“We live and die by our power play, and it was our power play that scored two important goals,” Emery said.

The second period was jam packed with penalties.

“No flow whatsoever,” Emery said of the whole game. “From a hockey mind set, it wasn’t a good game to watch.”

“Second period was controlled by special teams,” Gosek said. “Hard to get any flow, any rhythm. For us, a team that likes to roll four lines, it was hard to get any flow. Not an excuse, but a difficult period.”

Perhaps the most difficult time for Oswego was when Peter Magagna, on the power play no less, flew into a pile in the crease with an elbow to Ward Smith (who did not return in the third period). Magagna was given a five-minute major, and though Plattsburgh committed a number of penalties negating most of that advantage, it was still a terrible blow to Oswego’s chances.

“It’s not a disciplined penalty,” Gosek said. “He needs to play with an edge to be effective, but he needs to channel it.”

The Cardinals took the only two goal lead of the game at 10:10 of the final period when Oswego coughed it up behind the net. Shawn Dennis wound up with the puck in front without a defender nearby. He easily beat Scott for just his second goal of the year and a 4-2 lead.

“Our D didn’t do a good job on their last goal in the third period,” Gosek said. “Our next goal really should have been the tying goal.”

Oswego cut the lead back to one on another power-play goal at 14:54 by McLaughlin from the slot after Oswego kept it in the zone on an attempted clear off the glass by Plattsburgh.

Oswego was able to pull their goalie in the waning moments of the game, but Plattsburgh held off all attempts and took the championship.

“I give Oswego a lot of credit,” Emery said. “They never quiet. It was not over till the final buzzer.”

“They’re a good team and they found a way to get it done,” Gosek said of his opponents.

Oswego is 16-2-0 when scoring the first goal this year, with those two losses coming at the hands of the Cardinals.

The All Tournament selections are Brendan McLaughlin, Joey Wilson, Tony DiNunzio, Francois Gagnon, Nick Rolls, and Bryan Hince. Hince was named the MVP. He made 23 saves as Plattsburgh out shot Oswego, 45-26.

What Next?

Oddly, the SUNYAC season ended a week before the national selections are made. Was the SUNYAC aware that the NCAA playoffs started later this year?

“We didn’t know till the fall,” Emery said.

Gosek said, “It didn’t get the attention that was needed. Everybody’s schedule was already made.”

There were discussions to move the play-in game to the weekend after the regular season ended, and then spread out the semifinals and championship on the two following weekends which would have stretched the schedule back out to avoid a gap. However, the coaches voted against that proposal.

“Having a week off only hurts you if you think it’s going to hurt,” Emery said. “Look at Oswego last year. They had a week off and did just fine in the nationals.”

Speaking of Oswego, they once again are in the position of putting their fate in a committee’s hands. This year, it’s going to be a close call as Oswego has to hope there are no upsets in the other conference tournaments.

“We hope for the best,” Gosek said. “We certainly think we’re a top 10 team in the country. I don’t know how other teams did since December, but we only lost two games [now three] since then. I’d like to think they will put teams in that are playing great down the stretch and not teams who played great in October. We still feel good about our chances.”

“It would be nice to get two SUNYAC teams in,” Emery said.

In the meantime, Oswego will continue to practice as if their season will go on.

“We’ll give them tomorrow off, then come back and practice the rest of the week,” Gosek said. “Pretty much same schedule as always.”

Plattsburgh knows exactly what they are doing and probably where. They just have to wait to find out who they will be playing.

“99.9% sure we’ll host a game in the first round,” Emery said. “We’re going to practice on Monday. We’ll have a couple of extra days off. We’ll scrimmage this Saturday.”

With the national tournament just a bit over an hour away in Lake Placid, does Plattsburgh have an extra incentive to win their quarterfinal game?

“I would hope that when you play the game you don’t need any extra incentive,” Emery said. “It’s going to be nice if we make it since it’s being played down the road, no doubt about it, but you should be playing as hard as you can all the time.”

All Rookie Team and Defensive Awards

For the third year, in order to bring some publicity to players who are not recognized by the traditional end of season awards, the coaches felt there was a need to name an All Rookie team as well as awards for the best Defensive Defenseman and Defensive Forward.

A reminder on how these were selected to avoid any confusion. I did not make these selections. Since the SUNYAC did not wish to expand the number of awards they hand out, I volunteered to mediate the process. The coaches made the selections following the same rules as the other SUNYAC awards — the coaches nominated candidates from their own teams, they then voted for their choices from the nominated players without being allowed to vote for any player on their own team, and I tabulated the results based on the same scoring system. They may not be sanctioned by the conference, but I believe they hold the same credibility as the other officially sanctioned SUNYAC awards.

Here are the 2007-8 All Rookie Team and defensive awards:

F: Dylan Clarke (Plattsburgh)
F: Nick Petrels (Buffalo State)
F: Eric Satim (Plattsburgh)
D: Ryan Corry (Plattsburgh)
D: Brent Fallon (Cortland)
G: Bryan Hince (Plattsburgh)

Best Defensive Defenseman: Mike Novak (Oswego)

Best Defensive Forward: Steve Seedhouse (Brockport)

It should be noted four of the six players on the All Rookie team are from the squad that won the regular season and playoff championship. It certainly bodes well for Plattsburgh’s future and indicates how much work the rest of the league has to do.

The voting this year was very close, so I’m going to mention a few other players who just missed being named to the above list as sort of an unofficial honorable mention.

Two forwards who almost made the All Rookie team were Rob Sgarbossa (Morrisville) and Fraser Smith (Potsdam). Steve Rizer (Fredonia) deserves mention on defense. For the Best Defensive Defenseman award, Steve Sankey (Geneseo) who won it last year, and Jeff Sylvester (Fredonia) received a lot of support as did Greg Lee (Potsdam) for the Best Defensive Forward.

On The Periphery

What does one do when he covers a league that ends one week earlier than the others? Why, go to a hockey game somewhere else. Even if that somewhere else is almost 500 miles from home.

I spent this week in Fort Wayne, Indiana on business. This time I got lucky. The Fort Wayne Komets were in town on Wednesday, and I went to the game.

Normally, when it came to going to games, I did so in New York state, thoroughly enjoying yet another year covering the SUNYAC.

It’s not just the great hockey but the folks who are involved. The coaches have been great this year putting up with my phone calls and always calling me back when they are not immediately available. A special thanks to them, but let’s try something new for next year guys, like no changes for next season.

Thanks to all the Sports Information Directors, especially to those who had to put up with my last minute requests for a piece of trivia, a photo, or a press pass. I appreciate all those radio and TV stations that ask me to be a part of your broadcast. Thanks to our new Division III editor, Nicholas Jon Wood, who helped make me look good.

Then, there are you readers who make this all possible and worthwhile. For those of you who told me the first thing you do Friday morning is read this column, we’re going to have to wait till October to renew our dates.

And of course, a loving thanks to my wife (who’s favorite team — remember, she is the camel collector — Connecticut College was eliminated in the NESCAC quarterfinals in overtime) for putting up with my disappearance nearly every weekend night. Now, I have to explain why I am going to Lake Placid without her…

A Bracketology

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ECAC East: Norwich

ECAC Northeast: Curry

MIAC: Hamline

NCHA: St. Norbert

NESCAC: Colby

SUNYAC: Plattsburgh

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

If it’s Hobart:

First Round:

Curry at Oswego

Colby at Hobart

Second Round:

Curry/Oswego at Elmira

Colby/Hobart at Plattsburgh

Manhattanville at Norwich

Hamline at St. Norbert

If it’s St. Thomas:

First Round:

Curry at Colby

St. Thomas at Hamline

Second Round:

Curry/Colby at Elmira

Oswego at Plattsburgh

Manhattanville at Norwich

St/ Thomas/Hamline at St. Norbert

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

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

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Playoff Fever!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two champions crowned in the West

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ECAC Tournaments Kick Off

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

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

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

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

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

Who’s Left Playing?

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

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

This Week in SUNYAC

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No Repeat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scott ended up with 19 saves as Amborski stopped 40.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back In The Finals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conference Championship Game Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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