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This Week in the MIAC

By Josh Carey
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Battling For Position

Just one week to go before the MIAC postseason begins in earnest and teams are frantically jostling for playoff positioning. Four teams have locked up playoff spots, leaving just one opening for the two teams battling for it. Before delving into the playoff possibilities this week, let’s take a look back at last week’s results, where the upper half of the league was able to establish its dominance over lower ranked squads.

Conference leader Bethel faced a tough test against a St. Olaf team fighting for its playoff life. The Oles entered last weekend three points behind Gustavus in fourth, and one point behind St. John’s. With the Gusties on the bye, the Oles had a prime opportunity to jump into the playoffs. On Friday, St. Olaf jumped out to a two goal lead as Thor Josefson and Justin Green each notched their first goals of the season. The Royals stormed back with four unanswered, however, eventually holding on for a 4-3 win.

It took 27 minutes for Saturday’s first goal by the Royals’ Tom Menozzi. Each team tallied once after that, giving Bethel their second one goal victory of the weekend. Aaron Damjanovich made 39 saves for victory number 16 on the year.

The St. Mary’s-St. Thomas match-up provided a portrait of two teams in very different positions. The Cardinals sat four points out of the final playoff spot and would likely need at least a split to keep their playoff hopes alive. St. Thomas sat in second place, but had just fallen to Hamline in a weekend where the Pipers took three of four points from the Tommies.

“The Hamline series was a tough series.” St. Thomas coach Terry Skrypek said this week. “We were kind of down after that weekend and we felt we had to take a run at St. Mary’s… .We turned some corners there and got it going. The kids seemed to be rejuvenated and played well.”

The Tommies came out firing against the Cardinals Friday, scoring the first three goals of the game and taking a 3-1 lead into the first break. St. Mary’s wouldn’t get another goal as St. Thomas won, 5-1. Saturday was more of the same as the Tommies went 3-for-8 on the power play and Tyler Chestnut pitched the shutout in net as St. Thomas claimed a 5-0 shutout. It was only the second four point weekend for St. Thomas in the 2007-08 season.

The Pipers were looking to keep momentum from the St. Thomas series against eighth place Augsburg.

On Friday, Hamline needed all four of their goals, despite the Auggies putting just 17 shots on Matt Wanvig. Nick Zilka and Dustin Fulton each had a goal and two assists in the 4-3 win. Hamline continued their goaltender rotation Saturday, as Zachery Faust got the start. Once again Augsburg put under 20 shots on net, but actually led 2-1 after two periods. Then Dustin Fulton put in two goals for the Pipers, and Andrew Birkholz responded to an Auggies tally with the game winner, giving Hamline another 4-3 win and the crucial series sweep.
The final series of the weekend pitted a fifth place St. John’s team against a team in ninth, the Concordia Cobbers. The Johnnies found themselves striving to hold down the fifth and final playoff spot, and could leapfrog an idle Gustavus team with a sweep. And sweep they did.

Josh Hand put up a valiant effort in just his second decision of the year for Concordia, stopping 32 of 36 shots. But the Johnnies held the Cobbers to just 20 shots in the 4-2 victory. On Saturday, St. John’s put 56 shots on Jeremy Boniface to win 7-1. Thirteen Johnnies had points in the win. Vince Wheeler earned both victories for St. John’s, allowing just three goals on the weekend.

“He’s been pretty solid for us all year long.” St. John’s coach John Harrington said of his junior goaltender. “We’ve played a solid schedule all year long and he’s been good. There’s been only one or two games where he’s had bad stretches and he always gives us a chance to win.” Wheeler improved to 12-9-2 on the season with the sweep.

Current Events

The effect of the top teams coming out ahead last weekend is that the MIAC playoff field is mostly set. While what teams will be participating is all but a certainty, the X-factor is who goes where in the five team tournament.

The Bethel Royals sit atop the MIAC standings with 23 points, and they can finish no lower than third, despite having the week off. St. Thomas sits just two points back in second place. The perennial conference powerhouse holds the tiebreaker on the Royals, meaning they need only two points to take the top spot away from the Royals. But the Tommies need a sweep to guarantee home ice throughout the playoffs as Hamline, currently with 20 points, can finish anywhere from first to fifth.

A Pipers sweep of the Johnnies would leapfrog them above the Royals and St. Thomas, unless the Tommies sweep as well. Hamline holds the tiebreaker on St. Thomas as a result of their three point weekend two weeks ago. A three-way tie between the top teams awards the top spot to St. Thomas, with Bethel second.

But the Pipers don’t get to focus their attention solely towards the top of the standings. They’ll be facing a St. John’s team that currently sits in fourth place and will be striving to climb their way out of the play-in game. Just two points behind the Pipers, the Johnnies can clinch third place with three points this weekend.

If they fall, however, they could quickly find themselves traveling to play Gustavus Adolphus in the opening round, as the Gusties face last place Concordia this weekend. Gustavus holds the tiebreaker over both Hamline and St. John’s. But those two teams must split four points this weekend, meaning that Gustavus can finish no better than fourth, and can still find themselves out of the playoffs if they slip up.

The St. Olaf Oles can still jump above the Gusties if Gustavus somehow drops both their games to a Concordia team with just one point in league play this season and the Oles sweep St. Thomas. It’s a monumental task, especially in light of the fact that the Gusties hold the tiebreaker on the Oles, meaning the duel sweeps is the only way St. Olaf makes it into the postseason tournament.

Each of St. Mary’s, Augsburg, and Concordia were swept last weekend, and have been eliminated from postseason consideration.

It all makes for an extremely tight race towards the postseason in what St. Thomas coach Terry Skrypek calls an increasingly competitive conference.

“Our league has really improved from top to bottom this past year. Even a St. Mary’s team was a very good team, knocking off Bethel the weekend before they played us. You never know on a given night. The league overall, because of the coaching, has really taken a step up.”

Series of the Week

St. Thomas and St. Olaf provides an interesting contrast between two teams. The Tommies can lock up first place with a sweep, or with a win and a Hamline loss. The Oles are on the opposite end of the coin. They need to pull the upset on the fifth ranked team in the nation both nights, and get an unprecedented sweep by Concordia over Gustavus. Suffice it to say the clock has all but run out on the Oles season.

“We’re still fighting for a title and we have a chance to have home ice advantage, which is crucial in the playoffs.” St. Thomas coach Terry Skrypek said of his team’s focus heading into this weekend. “The thing is, with St. Thomas in the position we’re in, it seems like every team plays their best against us, and it will be the same this weekend… .
[St. Olaf is] kind of a defense-minded team. They don’t score a lot of goals, but a lot of their losses this year have been close.”

Despite the possibility of an upset from a St. Olaf team with their backs against the wall, this is only the runner up for Series of the Week.

That honor goes to a crucial match-up between the Hamline Pipers and St. John’s Johnnies. Hamline sits at third in the conference, one spot and two points ahead of the Johnnies. The swing from third to fourth couldn’t be more crucial as the fourth place team is relegated to play an extra weeknight contest before the weekend semifinal round.

Both teams are looking for a little help from St. Olaf that would allow the Pipers to finish as high as first, with St. John’s still having a shot at second.

One of the keys to the series will be how St. John’s deals with a Pipers power play unit that is averaging a conversion rate above 30% on the season. Johnnies coach Harrington understands the challenges his PK unit, which held Concordia to 0-for-10 last weekend, will face.

“We need to stay out of the penalty box more, because the competition here is going to get tougher. Not only this weekend, but into the playoffs.”

This series has a chance to be a goaltending showcase as St. John’s Vince Wheeler (2.68 GAA, .891 save%) takes on Hamline’s goal line duo of Matt Wanvig (2.88, .895) and Zachery Faust (2.25, .913).

“They’re a good team, a formidable team.” Harrington summed up. “We’re going to be concerned with stopping their top people and staying out of the penalty box.”

A Change Won’t Do You Good?

Finding itself with an extra week between the end of the regular season and the start of the NCAA Tournament this year, the MIAC decided to expand the dates of the conference tournament this season. Typically the 4-5 game would take place on the Tuesday following the end of regular season play. The semifinals would be two days later, and the conference champion would be crowned on the Saturday before the NCAA Tournament field was set.

This year, the play-in will take place next Thursday, followed by the semifinals on Saturday and the league championship the following Wednesday. This would set up a scenario in which the league champion would be crowned exactly one week before a potential opening round game in the NCAA Tournament (in the event of a 7-3 eastern split in the tournament field).

The coaches I spoke to this week weren’t in favor of this change, and expressed a desire to go back even further in the chronology of the MIAC Playoffs.

“I don’t think our conference has laid that out the way a true five team playoff should be.” John Harrington from St. John’s claimed. “Other than having to play an extra game, it doesn’t really put your team at too much of a disadvantage. When we first started the five team playoff, it was three days in a row — more like the Division I WCHA playoffs — where it made it more difficult to come out of the 4-5 match-up because you had to play three games in three days.”

“Personally I liked the way we used to have it because the way we used to have it gave a little bit of an advantage to the teams at the top.” St. Thomas’ Skrypek agreed. “When we had the 4-5 game on a Tuesday, they didn’t get as much rest and that was the advantage. When you get a champion, you want to give that champion a little bit of an advantage.”

Skrypek also alluded to how the league modeled the original playoff system after the WCHA, making it very difficult for the lower seeds to advance consistently. He did note that the extra week forced the league’s hand this season.

MIAC Executive Director Dan McKane says the change is likely temporary and a result of the extra week between the conclusion of the regular season and the national tournament. He expects the league will return to the previous format next season, although that decision is not set in stone. It seems the league’s coaches would be in favor of such a move, and the topic will be sure to generate some discussion in the off season.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Wednesday Edition

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown
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Scott: Well, Jim, with the Beanpot in the books, I thought I’d turn our gaze West again for a bit, because two teams out here are suddenly threatening to run away from the national pack. Michigan won twice more over the weekend to stay No. 1 in the national polls, but it’s North Dakota that really has my attention now. The Fighting Sioux have acquired a reputation for fast finishes under Dave Hakstol’s tenure, and that looks like it’s happening once again. UND swept Denver last weekend and did so in impressive fashion, rallying from a three-goal deficit Friday and then cruising Saturday. (And they did it without Hakstol this time, since the coach was serving a suspension handed out for shenanigans two weeks ago at Minnesota.) How do you rate the Sioux’s chances in the WCHA and nationally right now?

Kevin Regan has stopped more than his share of rubber this season for New Hampshire (photo: Melissa Wade).

Kevin Regan has stopped more than his share of rubber this season for New Hampshire (photo: Melissa Wade).

Jim: Any Dave Hakstol team is a major threat in my opinion, particularly in February, March and April. The last two seasons, North Dakota has been one of the hottest teams in hockey down the stretch and it appears they’re once again poised to make a similar run. Last weekend’s sweep was extremely impressive, particularly Friday’s game. Coaches love a team’s ability to rally — that “never say die” attitude. You always hear coaches talking come tournament time about their team’s ability to never give up. North Dakota certainly proved that last weekend. But before we boast entirely about the West, I have to bring our focus back East. New Hampshire has quietly risen to the top of the crop, having not dropped a league game since mid-December and currently sitting tied for second in the PairWise with none other than North Dakota. Is it time to realize that this UNH team might be the real deal?

Scott: Good point, because New Hampshire’s an interesting situation this season. The Wildcats have somehow stayed largely out of the national spotlight despite having another outstanding year, and they’re in position to salt away the Hockey East regular-season title sooner rather than later. I guess perhaps the Michigan-Miami horserace and the logjam in the WCHA have distracted people from what’s going on in Durham, but Dick Umile’s got a national champion-caliber team again. Kevin Regan, in particular, has had a great senior season, and we all know how important goaltending becomes in a single-elimination tournament. New Hampshire hasn’t lost in its last seven games (North Dakota’s unbeaten streak is the nation’s longest at 11), but that will be tested against Boston College this weekend. BC’s got to take at least three points to retain a shot at the regular-season title, don’t you think?

Jim: This is a major “must” weekend for Boston College. They have been playing decent hockey of late but looked sluggish and undisciplined at times last weekend against UMass-Lowell. That was a weekend where they were very lucky to come away with any points. The BC-UNH matchup, though, is definitely the marquee series this weekend in Hockey East. And I’ll up your ante: BC needs to sweep if it wants to win the regular-season title. Staying East, I also wanted to mention BU. After a solid sweep of Maine that saw the Terriers post back-to-back overtime victories last weekend, BU has won four in a row for the first time this season. They’re not exactly national-championship caliber, but this is a team that really could cause problems in the postseason tournament. All year they’ve scored goals but been unable to keep the puck out of their net. Allowing just a single goal last weekend against Maine is certainly a step in the right direction, don’t you think?

Scott: Agreed. For most of the season, BU’s suffered through the same kind of downturn as another perennial contender, Minnesota. The difference is that the Terriers haven’t been able to stop the opposition from scoring, whereas the Golden Gophers can’t buy a goal of their own. In fact, Minnesota’s struggles on offense this season are nearly unprecedented, both five-on-five and on the power play, where the team’s efficiency has been cut almost in half from last year. This is the same program which year after year has finished in the nation’s top five in scoring, and now the Gophers are averaging 2.38 goals per game and have scored once — exactly once — in each of their last four contests. For a guy who gets to see a lot of Minnesota hockey, it’s been baffling, and unlike BU there doesn’t seem to be an upturn in sight.

Jim: It must be rough to consistently watch a club that can’t bury a puck to save its life. Don’t feel that the Gophers are alone as there are some big-name clubs down at the bottom of the scoring roster. Minnesota-Duluth, Harvard, Vermont and Ohio State are all averaging below two and a half goals per game. And then there’s Maine, which boasts the sixth-worst offense in the country, averaging just 2.14 goals per game — tied with perennial Hockey East cellar-dweller Merrimack. But before we start a debate over the size of goaltenders’ pads and such, realize that Miami posts a more-than-healthy 4.25 goals per game, with Michigan, BC and New Hampshire all pretty close behind. Speaking of scoring, it’s never too early to start talking about players who might win the Hobey. I see BC’s Nathan Gerbe night in and night out, and he’s a definite candidate. Michigan’s Kevin Porter is leading the scorers with 48 points right now. There’s a long way to go, but who else would be on your preliminary Hobey ballot?

Scott: Among the guys I see regularly, UND goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux has been the biggest asset to his team. The Sioux can score in bunches, but they can also win the close ones thanks to his efforts in net. Of course, it’s nearly impossible for a goaltender to win the Hobey these days, Ryan Miller notwithstanding, so among the scorers I think the two guys you’ve mentioned are the leading candidates: both are among the national scoring leaders while playing for quality teams, which usually translates into Hobey support. Among Western guys, I think Billy Sauer at Michigan should also get some attention, though he probably won’t, along with Miami’s Ryan Jones and Ryan Lasch at St. Cloud State. Interestingly, last year’s winner, Ryan Duncan of UND, isn’t really on the radar right now. How about some more Eastern guys from you?

Jim: Gerbe is hands-down the favorite out East and could be the winner if he keeps up his pace, but other guys deserving mention include Colgate goalie Mark Dekanich, who’s among the national leaders in save percentage and goals against average, and defenseman Matt Taormina, a solid two-way player at Providence. And RIT d-man Dan Ringwald could attract some attention based on scoring alone. There’s a lot left to say on this one, but we’ll save that for another time…

Bracketology: Feb. 19, 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 next 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 February 18, 2008):

1 Michigan
2t New Hampshire
2t North Dakota
4t Colorado College
4t Miami
6 Denver
7 Michigan State
8t Boston College
8t Minnesota State
8t Minn.-Duluth
11 Clarkson
12 Wisconsin
13t Notre Dame
13t St. Cloud State
15t Princeton
15t Northeastern
— Bemidji State
— Army

Current conference leaders:

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

Notes

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

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

Step One

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

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

Let’s look at the ties.

The ties consist of UNH and North Dakota at 2, CC and Miami at 4, BC, Minnesota State and UMD at 8 and Notre Dame and St. Cloud at 13.

Head-to-head we get UNH over North Dakota, CC over Miami, BC winning the round-robin based on RPI and Notre Dame over St. Cloud.

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

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

Step Two

Now it’s time to assign the seeds.

No. 1 Seeds – Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Colorado College
No. 2 Seeds – Miami, Denver, Michigan State, Boston College
No. 3 Seeds – Minnesota State, Minn.-Duluth, Clarkson, Wisconsin
No. 4 Seeds – Notre Dame, St. Cloud, 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 Michigan is placed in the Midwest Regional in Madison.
No. 2 New Hampshire is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester.
No. 3 North Dakota is placed in the East Regional in Albany.

Step Four

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

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

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

So therefore:

No. 2 Seeds

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

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

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

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

The brackets as we have set them up:

West Regional:

Notre Dame vs. Colorado College
Clarkson vs. Miami

Midwest Regional:

Army vs. Michigan
Wisconsin vs. Boston College

East Regional:

St. Cloud vs. North Dakota
Minn.-Duluth vs. Denver

Northeast Regional:

Bemidji State vs. New Hampshire
Minnesota State. vs. Michigan State

Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups. We have the All-WCHA Regional in Albany to contend with.

So we have to move St. Cloud. We can’t send the Huskies to Colorado Springs, since that creates another All-WCHA matchup, so we go to the next seed, which is New Hampshire. So we switch St. Cloud with Bemidji State.

Then, we have to move Minn.-Duluth. We switch the Bulldogs with the next seed, Clarkson.

And finally, one more move to create attendance, which is to switch Army with Bemidji State.

Let’s bracket again.

Midwest Regional:

15 Bemidji State vs. 1 Michigan
12 Wisconsin vs. 8 Boston College

East Regional:

16 Army vs. 3 North Dakota
11 Clarkson vs. 6 Denver

Northeast Regional:

14 St. Cloud vs. 2 New Hampshire
9 Minnesota State vs. 7 Michigan State

West Regional:

13 Notre Dame vs. 4 Colorado College
10 Minn.-Duluth vs. 5 Miami

Again, it looks like New Hampshire is getting the short end of the stick from me. But it’s not as short as going from Worcester to Madison like last week. And yes, there is precedent for this (a 2 or higher seed not getting the 15 or 16 seed). Cornell had this situation years ago when it got Minnesota State in Providence in the first round because of all the WCHA teams in the tournament.

So, it has been done before. And not because of any New Hampshire hate from me (and trust me, there is none).

So, I am happy with this week’s bracket. The attendance issue looks just fine to me as well.

We’ll be back with another analysis next week.

This Week in the ECAC West

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Elmira Clinches Regular Season Title

With a three point series against Manhattanville last weekend, Elmira secured the regular season title. But it certainly wasn’t easy, and started out with a rocky game on Friday.

Manhattanville’s Vinny Ciardullo scored on a turnover at center ice midway through the first period, and the Valiants’ trap gave the Soaring Eagles all kinds of trouble.

“There was a lot of neutral zone trapping going on, which is what you see when you play Manhattanville,” said Elmira coach Tim Ceglarski. “We didn’t do a very good job of pressuring that. We really took our time on our breakout and let them set up, and that didn’t work very well. Our young team didn’t react very well to seeing the trap in our rink.”

Elmira came back in the second period with a pair of goals, sandwiched around another tally for Manhattanville, to even the game, 2-2. But despite a great opportunity for the Valiants in overtime, the game ended in a tie.

“First goal they scored was a turnover in the neutral zone, second goal was a bad play by us,” said Ceglarski. “They capitalized on almost all of their opportunities. They had a clear chance in overtime on a 2-on-1 slap shot from the hash marks that missed and would have won the game for them. We were lucky to get out of there with a tie and get the one point we needed.”

Saturday was a different night and a different strategy from Elmira. Instead of trying to set up a deliberate breakout to get through the Manhattanville players at center ice, the Soaring Eagles aggressively attacked and bulled their way through.

“Saturday was entirely different,” said Ceglarski. “We took the play to them and prevented them from setting up. Our composure was the best it has been all year long. We had some real nice goals where guys were moving the puck really well. Our team probably played the best game they have all year long and it was at the best time.”

The change in tactics paid off. Elmira scored first late in the opening period and then it was off to the races as the Soaring Eagles rolled to a 5-1 victory and the regular season title.

If you had to boil Elmira’s success this season down to a single factor, it would be team defense. Everyone on the team, forwards, defensemen, and goalies, have all bought into the system and are executing it to a “T”.

“Our team defense has been crucial,” said Ceglarski. “Our group of defensemen are extremely strong. [Goaltender] Casey [Tuttle] is not only making the saves he is supposed to make but is making some big saves along the way. The way that our forwards have bought into our team defense concept has been great.”

Around the League One Last Time

Even though Elmira has clinched the regular season title and home rink throughout the league playoffs, don’t expect to see the Soaring Eagles take this weekend off or play the scrubs like happens in the NFL.

“We’re not going to relax at all, but it does feel good that we have a home game on March 1,” said Ceglarski. “There is no pressure on our guys about having to get one point or two points this weekend. Our goal all year long has been to win the series against every team in our league. We have a few guys who have been out due to injury, and this is a good opportunity to get them back in the lineup.”

Since the ECAC West doesn’t have an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, Elmira’s games against Hobart still have national playoff implications for both teams. Both teams are trying to firm up their resumes for when the NCAA selection committee convenes and decides on the Pool B and C bids, and also where the quarterfinal games will be played if they get in.

“The series against Hobart has a huge impact in NCAA selection,” said Ceglarski. “Winning the series against every team in our league is going to be crucial in one of the components. Our intention is to approach it as if national tournament aspirations are on the line. We’re not going to sit back at all.”

Manhattanville and Neumann are only separated by two points and meet this weekend at Playland Ice Pavilion to decide things. In all but one whacky scenario, this series will determine the No. 2 seed in the league playoffs. That seed gets home ice for the semifinal round so it is a prize worth playing for.

That single weird scenario is if Neumann secures three points on the weekend. If that happens, then Manhattanville and Neumann would finish tied for second place. And the Knights hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

However, if that happens, and if either Hobart and/or Utica sweep their weekends, we could end up with a three-way or four-way tie for second place, with each team at 17 points. In this case, we get into a case of circular reasoning, where each team holds at least one of the tiebreakers against another team and there is no clear cut favorite. I’m not quite sure how the ECAC West would sort this scenario out.

Idle last weekend, Neumann — for the second straight season — has five players above 30 points.

Both Manhattanville and Neumann can both make strong cases to the NCAA selection committee for a tournament bid. But the teams need to be careful because getting swept this weekend by the other would tarnish the luster.

Hobart always seems to play Elmira tougher than any other ECAC West team. The Statesmen have been playing at an inspired level of late, but consistency within a game has been a problem. A sweep of Elmira would get them rolling into the playoffs, and also look great on a NCAA résumé when combined with their perfect non-conference record.

Utica has to watch out for the proverbial trap this weekend as a pesky Lebanon Valley team visits the Aud. A Pioneers sweep would put them in the running to perhaps host a playoff game, depending on how the other series play out.

A player who has really stood out for the Pioneers down the stretch is freshman Nick Kulas, last week’s Rookie of the Week. He has been on a roll, including scoring a pretty goal to get Utica going last Friday, finishing with two goals and an assist in the pair of games last weekend.

Kulas is the top ranked freshman in scoring for Utica, second overall on the team, with nine goals and seven assists.

“He’s a scorer,” said Utica coach Gary Heenan. “He’s been scoring for us. He is so cool and calm with the puck and has been consistent all year. His confidence keeps growing. That is a freshman out there who is playing on our first line and getting things done and has been a good addition for us.”

Upset City

By Nicholas Jon Wood
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In a week where few favorites won, the top two teams in the country came away from their contests unscathed. St. Norbert, now unbeaten in their last 22 games, continued to roll, while the Soaring Eagles from Elmira took three crucial points from formerly fourth ranked Manhattanville.

The Green Knights received 14 of the 20 first place votes while Elmira received four.

Thanks undoubtedly in part to the upheaval from all these upsets, Plattsburgh — who fell to SUNYAC rival Potsdam, 4-2, in their only game of the weekend — remained in third. The new No. 4 team in the country also capitalized on the carnage above them.

St. Thomas continued to impress, vaulting four spots after their sweep of St. Mary’s. Their tough weekend on the road against Elmira dropped the Manhattanville Valiants one spot to fifth.

Similarly, Norwich also dropped a spot after besting Skidmore, 6-0, before falling to Castleton, 4-3.

UW-River Falls also jumped up multiple spot in the polls, leaping ahead three positions after defeating then-No. 11 UW-Stout, 5-3.

And then there is Adrian. After totaling 23 goals against University of Minnesota-Crookston in January and 25 against Northland in early February, the Bulldogs put up 36 goals — 16 on Friday before adding four more Saturday — against Concordia this weekend. An amazing accomplishment and worthy of an additional first place vote and a boost one rung up the national ladder this week.

Defending national champion Oswego also continued to hit their stride at the right time of year, shutting out Cortland, 3-0, in their only contest to move three big spots up the poll. Last week’s seventh ranked team, the Hobart Statesmen, didn’t fare quite so well, falling three positions after splitting with fellow ECAC West foe Utica.

The Bowdoin Polar Bears moved up a slot to No. 11.

Middlebury now has the dubious honor of the steepest weekly descent this season, dropping six spots to No. 12 after losing road contests to both previously unranked Babson (4-2) and a squeaker (4-3) at UMass-Boston.

While UW-Stout dropped two positions to No. 13 after losing to new No. 7 River Falls, Babson re-entered the poll at No. 14 after impressive wins over Middlebury and Williams. Idle Neumann slipped down one rung to No. 15

After falling twice — to Hamilton and Amherst (in OT) — New England College dropped out of the poll.

Wolverines, Fighting Sioux Go One-Two In USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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Michigan remained atop the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll Monday, earning 48 of 50 first-place votes after a sweep of Lake Superior State.

The Wolverines held their ground, but the identity of the No. 2 team tailing them changed. North Dakota rose into the second position, picking up the other two first-place nods in the wake of two wins over Denver. The Fighting Sioux now boast a nation-best 11-game unbeaten streak.

New Hampshire also climbed one spot, to third; the Wildcats took three of four points against Providence over the weekend. Colorado College moved up a place as well, claiming the No. 4 ranking despite a split with St. Cloud State as Miami fell back three spots after losing twice to Ferris State. The RedHawks are now fifth amidst a four-game winless streak.

Defending NCAA champion Michigan State moved up to No. 6 with a sweep of Western Michigan, moving past seventh-ranked Boston College. The Eagles beat Harvard in last Monday’s Beanpot championship game before splitting a pair with Massachusetts-Lowell.

Denver fell two places to eighth, with Notre Dame holding firm at No. 9 after taking three points in a series at Alaska. Wisconsin again completed the top half of the poll, once again No. 10 with a split versus new No. 11 Minnesota State.

Clarkson edged down one position to 12th after beating Brown but losing to Yale, while Minnesota-Duluth followed the Golden Knights at No. 13. The Bulldogs split a pair at Michigan Tech over the weekend.

Northeastern was tied for 14th this week, losing to Boston University in the Beanpot consolation and then splitting with Massachusetts. Also No. 14 was fellow Hockey East school Providence.

St. Cloud State moved up three places to No. 16, with Princeton still 17th after losing to Harvard but topping Dartmouth. UML stayed in 18th, followed by Quinnipiac, down three positions to No. 19 with losses to Harvard and Dartmouth. Niagara again rounded out the top 20; the Purple Eagles tied their lone game of the weekend against RIT.

This Week in the MIAC

By Josh Carey
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Advantage Unknown

Last weekend saw several series in the MIAC that could have provided some answers to the league’s muddled playoff picture. The conference’s second team, St. Thomas, was facing off against the fourth place, Hamline. A clear victory by the Tommies could have sent the Pipers flying out of the playoffs and had Bethel biting their nails in their attempt to secure home ice advantage throughout the postseason.

Gustavus Adolphus and St. John’s were nestled in the third and sixth spots heading into the weekend. The Gusties would be looking to lock up a spot outside of the play-in game, while the Johnnies were on the outside looking in, but had the comfort of knowing that fifth seeded team, St. Olaf, would be on the bye.

And Bethel had what seemed like a golden opportunity to at least stay even with St. Thomas, considering they had a weekend series against St. Mary’s. The Cardinals had just four conference wins and were looking up at the playoff chase unfolding above them.

No one could have predicted the mish-mash of results that ensued.

On Friday, the Gusties took a 7-3 victory from St. John’s. The teams traded goals until halfway through the second period, when Gustavus started on a streak of four unanswered to take a 6-2 lead. Josh Swartout got the win in net for Gustavus, while neither Vince Wheeler or Stu Van Ess could get above a .750 save percentage on the night for the Johnnies. James Leathers led the Gusties with a goal and two assists, while Nate Meinz netted a goal and an assist for the Johnnies.

The next match-up saw a reversal of fortunes, as Wheeler allowed only three goals on 32 shots and Swartout was pulled from the game in the third period. Despite 32 minutes of penalties, the Johnnies skated to a surprise 7-3 victory, led by Tom Freeman’s two goals.

Even Bethel was bitten by the upset bug. The Royals were able to secure a 6-2 victory on Friday over St. Mary’s, in large part to 26 saves from Aaron Damjanovich and three players (Jeff Balvin, Christian Fogerty, and Kent Bostrom) having at least three points each.

However, the Cardinals fought back for a 5-3 win on Saturday, in a game that saw the two teams go a combined 3-7 on the power play. Dan Smith had an outstanding game in net for the Cardinals, stopping 35 of 38 shots to secure the win. Adam Gill scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season in the win, while Bostrom once again blazed the trail for the Royals, scoring two of his team’s three goals.

Major Upset

But the biggest surprise of all last week was Hamline’s ability to take three points from No. 5 St. Thomas — and that only a late Tommies rally on Saturday avoided the clean sweep. The Pipers are a program that has not made the playoffs since the inception of the current MIAC playoff format, while the Tommies compete for the league championship year in and year out.

“Our guys were ready to play St. Thomas, and I think we showed up and were ready to play right from the start.” Pipers head coach Scott Bell said this week. “St. Thomas has been the benchmark for success in our conference… They have some kids that can really play there, so it’s nice for our kids to be able to say ‘Hey, we can play with anybody.’”

Hamline did come out to play Friday, scoring the first three goals of the series in under 10 minutes of play. Despite recording just 17 shots officially, the Pipers were able to put five pucks past St. Thomas goaltender Tyler Chestnut. But Bell believes his team’s chances weren’t the result of weak play by the sophomore netminder.

“We had a breakaway. We had a power-play goal. We had a really nice play by Dustin Fulton over to Andrew Birkholtz on the back side. I don’t think their goalie played poorly, I think we just made some really nice plays.”

The Pipers own goaltending tandem performed well on the weekend, with Matt Wanvig making 32 of 36 saves in Friday’s victory and Zachary Faust stopping 33 of 36 pucks the next night.

“During the second period Matt Wanvig was our best player. And if you’re going to beat teams like St. Thomas, you have to have good goaltending.” Bell said.

The two sophomores provide a top-notch rotation between the pipes for Hamline, with both goaltenders stopping 90% of the pucks thrown at them this season. So with the Pipers angling for a playoff position, what does Bell do with his goaltenders if his team makes the postseason?

“That’s a good question. If we come down to getting a nice seed in the playoffs, in the semifinals — one might have that game, and the other might have the finals. And just let them know ahead of time so they can both prepare for that.”

It’s certainly quite the turnaround for a program like Hamline to be realistically discussing a possible berth into the semifinal round. And given this weekend’s results against the Tommies, maybe even going farther than that. But the potential in front of the Pipers this year isn’t keeping Bell from maintaining his focus.

“I think [Augsburg] is playing their best hockey of the year right now and whoever your opponent is, you have to come in and do your best, because anybody can beat anybody on a given night.”

As this past week of play in the MIAC has shown.

Around the League

One series last week did go as planned as Augsburg beat a Concordia team with just one win on the season. Andrew Kent made 69 saves in the two games to get his fourth and fifth wins of the season. The Auggies went 3-10 on the man advantage, and got a hat trick from Dan Carlson in Friday’s win. Alec Holen and Cory Johnson each had three points for the Cobbers Saturday.

Series of the Week

A couple of interesting situations present themselves in conference play this week. St. Thomas will look to rebound from their one point weekend against St. Mary’s. But the Cardinals knocked off the current top ranked team last week. The question becomes if the Tommies will slide into the postseason on a losing skid, or come in strong. On the other side, the Cardinals will be looking to keep their playoff hopes alive with a strong effort against the No. 8 team in the country.

But the Series of the Week goes to the only match-up involving two teams in the thick of the playoff race. Bethel was upset by St. Mary’s last week, and how they come out against a St. Olaf team that was knocked from the current playoff picture on their bye last week will be telling for their chances moving forward.

The Oles are fighting for their playoff lives, a point back of St. John’s with a tough game against the Tommies looming next week. Bethel needs to avoid a slipup, and make sure they get at least three points out of the series to put pressure on St. Thomas to take the title away from the Royals when Bethel is idle next week.

Nothing Decided Yet

Only six points separate first place Bethel from sixth place St. Olaf in the standings heading into this weekend. However, the Royals have played two more games than everybody but Gustavus, which is idle this week. This logjam in the standings creates a tight playoff race worth watching as the season winds down. Bethel currently has the top seed, but just two points on St. Thomas. The Tommies can’t get too comfortable either, as they sit just a point above Gustavus and Hamline.

St. John’s and St. Olaf are battling for the fifth playoff spot, but St. Mary’s might have something to say about that, despite the fact it would take a remarkable effort against St. Thomas this weekend. Only the Auggies and Cobbers are eliminated from playoff contention, meaning that the race in the MIAC will be down to the wire. If this weekend is anything like last, the fun might only be beginning.

Next week: Final playoff scenarios and a look at where the MIAC stands in the NCAA selection process.

This Week in D-I Women’s Hockey: Feb. 14, 2008

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Okay. By now last week’s bench clearing brawl involving the RIT and Canisius College mens teams have made the YouTube rounds. One clip has had nearly 19,000 viewings to date (and rising daily).

But last week’s women’s action produced a few YouTube-worthy clips of its own.

Take the goal scored by North Dakota junior Casie Hanson in the Sioux’s 2-1 loss to St. Cloud State, .

It, too, is posted on “the Tube”, but with a slightly smaller view count than the brawl clip.

About 18,800 fewer views, as a matter of fact.

Which is a shame, because Hanson’s full extension lunge is well worth the watching.

It might even remind you of a similar goal scored by Bobby Orr.

That won a Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins, back in 1970, a full 17 years before Hanson was born.

Thus it’s not a surprise that she was unaware that her feat rivaled Orr’s, in its athleticism if not its importance.

“I haven’t seen that goal,” she said.

Then again, she didn’t see her own eye popper, either.

That’s because she had already crashed into the boards by the time the puck got past St. Cloud goalie Kendall Newell.

“I didn’t see it go in,” she said. “When everybody started cheering, it was like, ‘holy cow. It actually went in.’”

The play unfolded in the NoDak end, then proceeded up the right boards, where Hanson’s linemate Melissa Jaques took over near the red line.

That’s when Hanson began to accelerate.

“I was yelling to her,” Hanson said. “I knew she was on her back hand, because she’s a lefty. She was getting dragged down, so I’m just yelling ‘pass it over, pass it over’. Then it’s like, ‘oh, crap it’s a little farther than I thought.’”

By this time, Hanson was already barreling down the slot. Rather than let the scoring opportunity slide past her, she heard the little voice inside her head. And it was yelling, “lunge”!

“When I saw it,” she said, “I knew I wouldn’t be able to skate to it, if I didn’t dive for it. So it was like, ‘gotta go. Get a goal. Basically it was a lucky goal.”

Then again, “luck,“ as legendary baseball man Branch Rickey is believed to have said, “is the residue of design.”

You won’t find that on YouTube, though.

Nor will you find the goal scored last week by Vermont goaltender Kristen Olychuck. That’s right, a goal by a goaltender.

It’s one of hockey’s rarest feats, and it’s believed to be the first ever netted by a women’s college netminder.

In this case, Olychuck saw the goal. She just didn’t know she was it was her goal.

In fact it wasn’t officially her goal until a few hours after the end of Vermont’s 3-1 loss to Boston University, Friday.

It was awarded to her after a video review of an errant pass by a BU forward while awaiting a delayed penalty called to Vermont.

That’s when it was discovered that Olychuck was the last Catamount to touch the puck before it slid the length of the ice and into the BU cage, which had been vacated by goalie Allyse Wilcox.

“I saw that they were getting a penalty,” said Olychuck, who transferred this year to UVM from Sacred Heart. “And I was yelling for one of my players to touch the puck. The girl from BU who had the puck, shot it, and I made a stick save into the corner. She went to pick it up and tried passing it to her point man. But it was a little off, and it trickled all the way down the ice.”

Initially awarded to freshman defenseman Hannah Westbrook, Olychuck had no inkling that she would end up on the score sheet, herself.

“I didn’t even think about it,” she said, “I was too excited that we had scored. It was pretty funny.”

The goal sent Bruce Bosley, UVM’s womens’ hockey contact, scurrying for the record books. Thus far, he hasn’t come up with a precedent.

So far now, at least, Olychuck is alone in the goalie scoring race.

“That’s cool,” she said. “I didn’t even know we (goaltenders) would be on the stat sheet as having goals and assists. Just the goalie stats. I didn’t think that we would be on there. Now they’re talking about putting me on the forward line.”

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Feb. 14, 2008

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It’s tough to interview people when they can’t hear you speak.

This correspondent successfully ditched three solid months of rotating illnesses, but one of them finally caught up to him, just in time to look menacingly infectious in the Beanpot press box.

The cold’s run off with my voice, so I’m sorry to say that this week’s edition of You Read My Stuff will be short on external voices. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it up to you in inconspicuous statistics and whimsical wordplay.

Class Rank

That’s it; that’s the end of non-conference play. Three weekends left, 36 games, all against the teams you love to hate.

Before we dive headlong into the remaining three dozen, some quick yet labor-intensive results on the ECAC versus the rest.

I gotta be honest with you, the numbers don’t look good.

Overall, the league finished 42-44-4 against everyone else, not including non-conference games against league opponents (e.g. the Governor’s Cup games). Against the generally accepted elite (Hockey East, the WCHA, and CCHA … henceforth to be referred to as the Big Three), the figures weren’t nearly as ambiguous.

22-37-4.

That’s a .381 winning percentage against everyone from Merrimack to Minnesota State, Notre Dame to Northeastern. The league’s top teams struggled to represent the true quality of the ECAC: Clarkson was 5-6-1 out-of-league, Princeton finished 3-4-0, Cornell at 2-3-2. Only Quinnipiac, Yale, Colgate and Dartmouth finished with winning NC records.

The Bobcats only played two games against Big Three opponents, with wins over Vermont (8-11-7 this year) and Western Michigan (7-20-3, last in the CCHA) in the Catamount Cup. They’re 6-4-0 against CHA/AHA foes.

Yale also played two with the Big Three, defeating Nebraska-Omaha (13-13-4) and falling to Minnesota State (15-10-4), both on the road. The Bulldogs are 3-2-0 against the rest.

The Raiders finished 0-3-1 against the Trio, suffering a sweep at Michigan State (no shame in that), and a tie (shootout loss) at Wisconsin (13-11-6) followed by a loss to Northeastern (13-10-3) in the Badger Shootout. That leaves the ‘Gate with a 6-2-0 record from the remainder of its non-con schedule.

At the bottom of the standings, Dartmouth is ironically 4-1-0 against the more elite competition. The victims include the likes of Boston University (10-14-4) and New Hampshire (18-7-1), with victories over Vermont and Northern Michigan (12-15-3) as well. Even more impressive is the fact that not a single one of those five games was played at home, and the only loss was at Denver (19-8-1).

This conference fattened up on the CHA and Atlantic Hockey teams with a 20-7-0 record, but it did endure defeat at the hands of Alabama-Huntsville, Air Force (twice), Niagara (twice), Connecticut and RIT.

Then there are situations like RPI’s.

The ‘Tute has played Minnesota, Boston College, Colorado College, Maine, and Notre Dame and Miami twice apiece … and they lost every single one of those games. Head coach Seth Appert has put a premium on having a strong non-conference schedule, in line with his belief that teams must play and beat the best — and consistently so — to be the best. It’s been a bitter slog for Puckman this season, but it’s hard to argue with Appert’s premise.

It should be noted that Brown didn’t shoot low either. Of the Bears’ seven NC contests, four were against Hockey East, and one against the CCHA. (The other two were against Army and Yale.) Like RPI, Bruno had no luck whatsoever: 0-6-1 in the septuplet.

The Engineers, Bears and Big Green should be lauded for scheduling so many upper-echelon programs. There are very few arguments to be made against a top-flight out-of-conference docket.

What We Know

Six games left apiece; no more of this “games in hand” nonsense. Here’s how things are shaking up so far.

Most of the league is hoping that the current teams at the top — the Golden Knights, Bobcats and Tigers — don’t finish with more than the minimum possible 24 points. Clarkson plays the other two in the last week of the regular season, and if Clarkson loses out … and the others only beat Clarkson … then there will be a three-way tie between them with two dozen points.

Brown and Dartmouth (nine points each) are relegated to the bottom nine; neither of them can make up enough points to pass by Clarkson, Quinnipiac or Princeton. Both teams have four remaining home games, and play each other in Hanover on the 22nd.

Rensselaer could still conceivably take a bye in the first round. Princeton and Quinnipiac — tied for second right now — don’t play each other, so if they each lose out and the Engineers claim all 12 points, the ‘Tute could finish alone in second place.

St. Lawrence, with a dozen points, could still swing a share of first place, but can’t win it outright, according to the aforementioned 24-point minimum.

Current standing spots nos. four through eight are composed of Cornell, Union, Harvard and Yale (tied for sixth) and Colgate. Each of these teams can, theoretically, finish anywhere between first and last.

And might I just take this opportunity to say kudos to the ECAC scheduling committee for making sure that no one has to end the season on a six-game road swing, no one got a gift five-of-six homestand, and everyone’s running down the stretch with an equal number of games to go.

It’s not an easy task, I assure you.

Game of the Week

Union @ Cornell: Friday, 7 p.m.

This is another opportunity for one team to gain separation, or the other to leapfrog its way into a first-round bye.

Cornell sits only one point ahead of the Dutchmen for fourth place, but the Big Red have only themselves to blame.

The Ithacans made a long trip even longer in getting swept by the North Country. Cornell, which had been in second place as last weekend commenced, instead took a 4-1 loss at Clarkson and a 4-2 defeat at St. Lawrence. The Red had just taken nine points from their previous six contests, but now find themselves scuffling for the bye week.

Union endured an almost equally disappointing weekend. The Dutch had been 8-1-3 at the Achilles Center following a February 1 victory over Princeton, but two ties (against Quinnipiac and Dartmouth) sandwiched a loss to Harvard, and may have sucked a modicum of the fast-inflating mystique from Union’s stomping grounds.

The Dutch are among the half of the league with four road games to go, and only two back in their own Friendly Confines. They’re only 4-6-0 away from home, while Cornell is 6-2-2 at Lynah and has four to play there yet. As a side note, the Red will also be without the services of frosh forward Joe Devin, who was suspended for a game by the league for a contact-to-the-head incident against St. Lawrence last weekend.

The odds are stacked in Cornell’s favor as the hosts and fourth-seed incumbent. But it should go without saying: trying to make sense of the ECAC is like trying to analyze an Italian election. (Just look at all those wacky parties!)

Crucial Weekend

For a couple of reasons, I’m picking a travel-partner four-way.

Quinnipiac & Princeton @ Dartmouth & Harvard

QU and the Green tangle Friday night, by the way, so the rest of it should sort itself out for you. Grab some paper if you have to.

As I’ve made abundantly clear, the former are at the top of the standings, and the latter are not. Dartmouth needs to secure points any way possible in order to avoid the Green Mile that the Potsdam trip has quickly become. Harvard is out to prove to everyone — itself included — that it’s a club to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, they haven’t made too many consistent cases yet.

The Bobcats and Tigers are jostling for position at the top, of course, and each has a more than reasonable shot at Clarkson’s top position. However, what may be more pressing for these squads is to refrain from surrendering ground to the likes of Cornell and Union, who are hot on their heels.

Plain and simple: Dartmouth hasn’t won much at all lately, but took two ties on the road last weekend. Harvard lost an overtime heartbreaker in the Beanpot to Boston College, ending its first winning streak (two games) since early November.

Excepting a two-game “wtf?” against Niagara three weeks ago, QU hasn’t lost a game since November 30, a streak of 14 (again, not counting the deuce … take that any way you please … with the Purple Eagles). Princeton is 9-1-0 in its last 10, and boasts a near-freakish 9-3-0 road record to make up for bizarro-world 5-6-0 marks at home.

No doubt about it, it’s a big big test for the New Englanders.

This Week in the CHA: Feb. 14, 2008

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Niagara and Robert Morris each won their CHA series last weekend with the Purple Eagles getting a win and a tie at home against Alabama-Huntsville and RMU sweeping Wayne State in Detroit.

As it stands going into this weekend, NU and Robert Morris are tied for second place in the CHA, each five points back of conference-leading Bemidji State, which hosts the Colonials this weekend.

Niagara plays one nonconference game at brawling RIT.

Friday night, NU trailed by a goal for the majority of the first two periods, then gained a 2-1 lead on the Chargers early in the third period before UAH tied the game at 2-2.

Josh Murray put the Chargers on the board only 17 seconds after the opening draw.

“You can’t afford to take a period off in the CHA,” said Niagara co-captain Matt Caruana. “We needed more energy and life on the bench for the rest of the game.”

Caruana put the Purple Eagles on the board early in the third period before Kyle Rogers made it 2-1 for NU.

Joe Federoff scored the game-tying goal at 11:33 of the final period, but NU head coach Dave Burkholder saw positives in the tie.

“If we keep playing like we did the last 40 minutes of the game tonight, we will be all right down the stretch,” said Burkholder.

Only three penalties were called all game between the two teams — just one on the Chargers — and the Niagara power play was nonexistent. The last time UAH was called for only one penalty was March 16, 2002 in the CHA tournament at Dwyer Arena against Wayne State.

“We do have skill on the power play,” said Niagara co-captain Vince Rocco. “But if they [power plays] don’t come our way, we still need to find a way to get it done.”

UAH goaltender Blake MacNicol stopped 35 shots on the night while Niagara’s Juliano Pagliero made 19 saves for the Purple Eagles.

Pagliero earned his third shutout of the year the next night in a 5-0 win.

Rogers, Ryan Olidis, Ryan Annesley, Paul Zanette and Egor Mironov scored to back Pagliero’s 21-save performance.

“It was a very physical game both ways,” Burkholder said. “After last night, that was the response we needed. It was just one of those nights that when you look down the bench and you see everyone playing very well.”

Niagara is now undefeated in seven straight games (5-0-2).

MacNicol made 20 saves for UAH before Cameron Talbot played the final 14 minutes of the game and stopped a half-dozen shots.

Back west in the Motor City, Robert Morris defeated the Warriors, 3-1, Friday night and then capitalized on poor discipline by WSU Saturday to escape with a 4-3 win in overtime.

Sean Berkstresser started the scoring for RMU, only to have Stavros Paskaris tie the game for Wayne State.

Ryan Cruthers tallied the game-winning goal just 3:12 into the third period, a shorthanded goal and his first goal in five games, giving RMU a 2-1 lead. Chris Margott iced the game with 3:20 left in the final frame.

Christian Boucher made 21 saves for the win and Brett Bothwell stopped 27 shots for the Warriors.

Saturday night, Wayne State gave up a third-period lead and went on to lose, 4-3.

Margott’s power-play goal less than two minutes into overtime gave RMU a five-game season sweep of WSU.

The teams combined for 34 penalty minutes after a combined 32 minutes Friday.

“We had no discipline,” WSU head coach Bill Wilkinson told MichiganCollegeHockey.com. “It was very uncharacteristic of us to play that way. We talked about it at the meeting today that we had to have better discipline through the whole game.

“And what did we do at the end? Take a stupid penalty that cost us the game.”

Cruthers scored twice for the Colonials and Nathan Longpre added a goal 17 seconds after Cruthers’ second goal for a short-lived 3-2 lead in the third period.

Jeff Caister, Derek Bachynski and Jared Katz scored for WSU. Katz’ goal tied the game late in the third period.

At the end of regulation, a scrum in the corner of the Wayne State zone produced three penalties, two against the Warriors that put RMU on the power play for the OT.

It was the fifth time in eight games WSU has blown a third-period lead.

“There’s not much to say,” WSU captain Mike Forgie told The South End afterwards. “Just frustrated about giving up another third period lead. We took a dumb penalty, ref blew a call. There’s nothing we can do about that, they capitalized on it, and there it is — game over.”

Wayne State has just two home games left in its program’s history — March 7-8 against Niagara.

Another WSU Defenseman To Transfer

Caister is also the latest soon-to-be ex-Wayne State skater to make a commitment for next season as he’ll reportedly suit up for Wilkinson’s alma mater, St. Lawrence.

This season, Caister has had a breakout season in leading all CHA defensemen in scoring with three goals and 22 points, along with being among the nation’s top point producers from the back end.

He’s also an assistant captain for the Warriors as a sophomore.

Caister is the fourth WSU player — all defensemen — to transfer for next year. Junior Matt Krug and freshman Brock Meadows will head to Robert Morris and freshman Eric Roman will go to Division III to skate for Adrian.

Every Goalie Helmet Has A Story

Pagliero has the utmost respect for his coaches, the Niagara tradition and the players who came before him on Monteagle Ridge. He shows this as many goalies do: with a special design on his helmet.

He pays homage to former Niagara goaltender Allen Barton on his helmet and the story is as quirky as they come.

On the back of his helmet, the word “Wolfy” is scrawled. Barton’s nickname? Nope. An inside joke with Barton? Absolutely.

“Last year I did my best to draw penalties,” admitted Pagliero on PurpleEagles.com. “When I got hit, I went down hoping for a call. I remember one time when I actually did get hurt — I dislocated my shoulder at Colgate. Barton was on the bench and he was wondering what I was doing, expecting me to get up again. Finally, I turned to him and told him, ‘No, it’s really out,’ so he ended up going into the game.

“After the game, he told me that he just thought I was crying wolf again, so I guess the name kind of stuck.”

More CHA Future Talk

From Chris Lerch’s Atlantic Hockey column last week:

While the Lakers are looking to move up in the league, they’re not looking to move out of Atlantic Hockey, despite rumors to the contrary.

“We have no interest in leaving Atlantic Hockey,” said Mercyhurst athletic director Craig Barnett, who coached at Findlay in the CHA before the school dropped its hockey program in 2004. “Rick Gotkin built this program over 20 years to this level. We don’t want to change any of the relationships we have. It wouldn’t be a smart move for Mercyhurst College.”

Barnett has some theories on why Mercyhurst and Canisius keep coming up as possible teams to bail out the CHA.

“We’ve said all along that we want to help and do what we can,” he said. “Our location comes up as well. The same for Canisius, plus its strong relationship with Niagara.”

In an ideal world, Barnett said he would like to see Atlantic Hockey absorb the CHA teams, and form two divisions, each with an automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “But I’d support a 14-team league with one auto-bid if it helped to save these programs.”

Lerch suggested to Barnett that what could happen is four independent teams next season begging for games, asking if some teams could change their non-conference schedules to accommodate them.

“On our media day, the same day when Wayne State announced (that it was dropping hockey); that was the time to start looking at those kind of options,” said Barnett. “There are a lot of scenarios and rumors out there. We hear them, too. We’ll do what we can, but we’re going to act in the best interests of our program, which means we have no interest in leaving Atlantic Hockey. We want to be associated with the AHA.”

Purps Get Another Ontario Commitment

Forward Wes Consorti has reportedly picked Niagara as his college destination.

Consorti, who turned 18 last Halloween, has 29 goals and 73 points for the Hamilton Red Wings of the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League this season, good for a spot in the league’s top 20 and third overall on the Red Wings.

The 5-foot-9, 185-pounder from Brantford, Ontario, posted a 31-goal season a year ago with Hamilton and added 11 points in 19 playoff games for the Red Wings, a team that had league MVP and current UAH goalie Cameron Talbot among its members.

Wayne State Memories Aplenty

As Wayne State enters the home stretch to the demise of its program, let us not forget the good times of the WSU years.

Three straight CHA tournament titles. One NCAA tournament appearance. Several players signing pro contracts. The Dave Peca incident. Six home rinks. Classy Bill Wilkinson.

And an unbelievable, if not epic, rally back on Dec. 4, 1999, against Findlay at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. Who remembers this game?

First, in the second period, WSU defenseman Ryan Michela and Findlay forward Ben Patey dropped the gloves, but Michela was only able to punch Patey’s helmet.

“I think it was bolted down to his head,” Michela said afterwards.

Then, down 5-1 eight minutes into the third period, the Warriors staged an incredible comeback with five goals in a 10-minute span to win, 6-5.

Brian Fish and Jason Clark scored 45 seconds apart and then Tyler Kindle, Clark and Steve Nichols, the latter at 18:49 of the period, gave WSU the win.

Unreal.

Have more memories like this? Send them to Matt Mackinder at [email protected]. WSU memories will be a weekly feature in this space for the remainder of the season.

This Week in the CCHA: Feb. 14, 2008

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Enthusiasm? About Valentine’s Day? From this girl reporter?

Over the years, I’ve made it clear that Valentine’s Day is every bitter, divorced, middle-aged hockey writer’s least favorite holiday … and yet already I’ve broken with personal conviction and mentioned the Hallmark holiday by name three times in this column.

I sense your confusion. You’re thinking, Has she found true love (other than Steve Cady Arena)? You’re thinking, Has she misplaced her copies of Avalon and Surfacing? You’re thinking, has she escaped the semi-winter of central Ohio for someplace of sunnier disposition?

And I know that you’re aware that Mercury remains retrograde until Monday.

Rest assured, my CCHA pals, that I have not found true love, that I will indeed wallow in Roxy Music and Sarah McLachlan at some point this weekend to celebrate this manufactured holiday in a way that befits it most, and that I’m still mired in Columbus.

And I’m still bitter, single, and another year closer to that membership in AARP.

Bitter and divorced, but perhaps not as unrequited as years past. Michigan and Miami may have exchanged places in the PairWise and the poll, but they are still Nos. 1 and 2. Michigan State — still very much in the NCAA hunt in spite of two losses last weekend — is still the defending national champion. And Notre Dame is in the mix.

The English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once said, “Whoso loves believes the impossible.”

I believe that the CCHA has as good a shot as any conference at another national title this year.

How’s that for love?

Ryan Jones, The New Fabio

No, I’m not saying that Jones should chuck his hockey career and become a bodice-buster cover model. Nor am I suggesting that Fabio would lay the kind of give-the-opponent-the-lead-within-the-first minute hit that Jones did last Saturday when the RedHawks played the Wolverines.

It’s the flowing locks. I haven’t had hockey-hair envy like this since Ryan Jestadt graced the Ohio State roster.

Um, but back to that hit thingy that I mentioned. Actually, it was a penalty for high sticking 19 minutes into the game, which led directly to Travis Turnbull’s goal from Brandon Baurato at 1:08 to give the Wolverines the early 1-0 lead.

The significance of this goal cannot be understated. After losing 4-2 in their own barn to the Wolverines the night before, the RedHawks undoubtedly wanted to make a statement from the opening drop of the puck. Certainly, captain Ryan Jones was just the man to fire up his squad.

But statement made was of the wrong kind. I’ve said before that I love Jones’ brand of dirty — that’s no slam — and I’m not going to fault a kid whose passionate play led to something genuinely fortuitous for the other guys.

However, that’s exactly what happened. Jones netted the first goal of the game for the ‘Hawks seven minutes later and Andy Miele — a midseason pick-up for Miami from the USHL’s Chicago Steel — made it 2-1 at 14:26.

The Wolverines opened the game up with three goals to Miami’s one in the second, added another power-play score at the 35-second mark of the third, and that RedHawks had to catch up two goals in the final 10 minutes to force the tie and earn their one little point in their own arena.

That early goal gave Michigan an edge for the remainder of the game. Yes, the RedHawks were leading 2-1 after one, but there was never a sense that they could or would run up a lead on Michigan the way the Wolverines had done on them the night before.

Oh, and here’s a note about Jones: He needs five more penalty minutes to reach 300 career minutes with Miami. When he does so — and it’s got to be when, not if — he’ll be the second player in Miami school history to hit the mark.

So Good to Be so Blue

Even though this is the feel-good Valentine’s Day of the decade for CCHA fans — at least for this CCHA fan — there’s room enough for the right kind of blue.

I’m talking about the Maize and Blue, of course.

For fans throughout the CCHA, Michigan is the New York Yankees: You love them if they’re yours, but you hate them if they’re not.

This makes sense to me only because I grew up a Red Sox fan. As I have no pony in this race, though, I’m perfectly, happily in love with the Michigan Wolverines.

And why not? Red Berenson, Mel Pearson, Billy Powers, and the rest of the UM staff make this look easy. Yes, you can argue that it’s easy to recruit to Michigan, that the Wolverines have many draft picks — blah, blah, blah. The recruiting advantage didn’t exist until Berenson took the reins and built an empire.

It’s Valentine’s Day. Don’t be a hater.

Watching Friday’s 4-2 Michigan win over Miami was a revelation. The Wolverines led 4-0 after one on goals by Louie Caporusso, Aaron Palushaj, Kevin Porter and Max Pacioretty.

That’s four freshman and one of two seniors, the team’s captain. The goals came within the span of six minutes in the middle of a period in which the Wolverines dominated every aspect of play.

Poor Jeff Zatkoff, the excellent Miami goaltender who had led the nation in save percentage and goals-against average until the games against Michigan, was left to fend nearly for himself as the Wolverine offense overwhelmed a RedHawk defense that’s so good that it’s still tops in the nation after giving up nine goals in two games.

Given the buzz Michigan’s performance created, it’s easy to forget the Wolverines’ record in their last six games: 1-1-4. The 4-2 win broke a four-game winless streak, the longest such stretch for UM since the 2005-06 season, when it happened twice.

That the Wolverines have registered just five, four-game winless streaks in this millennium is remarkable. And you have to go back to the 1998-99 season for a winless streak of more than four games.

In 2004-05, a four-game losing streak had Andrew Ebbett proclaiming, “This isn’t Michigan hockey!”

There was none of that this year. The Wolverines simply ventured into Steve Cady Arena for their first time ever, and beat the pants off the No. 1 team in the country.

And let’s not get overly dramatic now. The Wolverines are in first place in the CCHA, one point ahead of the RedHawks. With six regular-season games left, Miami has a real shot at a title, and even Michigan State — five points out of first place — is a mathematical possibility.

The RedHawks lost three points at home to the Wolverines, who haven’t lost yet on the road (10-0-2). “By no means is this the end of the season,” said Miami head coach Enrico Blasi after Saturday’s game. “We’re 25-4-1 — give me a break.”

The games were fast, fast, fast. Flipping back and forth Saturday night between the UM-Miami and OSU-UNO games, I was struck immediately by the difference in speed between the two contests. Watching both UM-Miami games was like watching two NCAA tourney contests.

Both goaltenders are outstanding, but Billy Sauer showed tremendous poise in Steve Cady Arena. On the road, Sauer is 9-0-2 with a .921 save percentage and 2.15 GAA.

Michigan and Miami may, in fact, have the two best offenses in the nation. This may not be a statistical anomaly. The Michigan freshmen are certainly no longer rookies, and Miami’s depth is impressive. Nathan Davis returned for the RedHawks to make them even deeper — he scored Saturday night — and Andy Miele has three goals in his six games with Miami, including two Saturday.

Max Pacioretty earned his ROTW honors. Wow.

I don’t think anyone is going to beat either of these teams before Detroit, so I’m definitely looking forward to March … and maybe even April.

Our Love Affair Is a Wondrous Thing

The hype that surrounded the Michigan-Miami series was impressive, within the confines of college hockey.

On Tuesday night, I was a guest on “The Pipeline Show,” with Dean Mallard and Guy Flaming on TEAM 1260 radio in Edmonton, Alberta. Somehow, Dean and Guy have convinced the good folks of that fair city that I’m an expert to be consulted about CCHA hockey. We have a good time every time I visit. We talk hockey, and there’s something about a “pants party.” I’m not lying.

Anyway, when I was on Tuesday night, Dean asked me about the attention paid to the Michigan-Miami match-up. He made an analogy to NCAA football, and referred to the BCS Bowl, another one-two punch.

He asked — and I’m paraphrasing here — “Is it like that?”

I love Canadians. I love that someone in Canada would ask, with all seriousness, if the meeting between Nos. 1 and 2 in college hockey receives the same attention as the meeting between Nos. 1 and 2 in college football.

I love that someone in Canada thinks that the meeting between Nos. 1 and 2 in college hockey receives as much attention as, say, Uno, the first beagle to win the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in the canine pageant’s 132-year history.

In the dictionary next to the word niche is Ron Mason’s picture.

Meow … .and Then Some

With all the hype (within the confines of college hockey) surrounding the UM-Miami series, it would be easy to overlook the most interesting thing that’s actually happened in the CCHA in the month of February.

It would be easy, that is, if you weren’t an old cat lady like me.

That the Northern Michigan Wildcats are 2-0-2 in their last four games is noteworthy; that they tied Michigan twice in Yost Arena and beat Michigan State twice at home to build that recent record is enough to make any ‘Cat fan purr.

“They’re two really, really good teams,” said head coach Walt Kyle. “We certainly caught some breaks in both series.”

The kinds of breaks that the Wildcats caught include “really good goaltending all four nights,” said Kyle, plus “a little bit more puck luck than them — they both hit a lot of posts.”

NMU had to come from behind in both 3-3 ties in the Michigan series, with freshman Mark Olver scoring the game-tying goal the first night, five-on-three, with 8:20 left in the third.

In the second Michigan game (Feb. 2), the Wildcats were down two goals midway through the second. Wolverine Chad Kolarik had made it 3-1 at 10:18 in the second, but Wildcat sophomore Matt Butcher stole the puck at the Michigan blue line seconds later, flew in two-on-one on UM goaltender Bryan Hogan and scored at 10:55 to make it 2-1. Junior Nick Sirota completed the comeback and forced the tie at 7:01 in the third.

Last weekend, the Wildcats outscored the Spartans 6-1 at home, with Sirota earning the hat trick in Friday’s 3-1 contest (but not earning POTW honors), and senior Matt Siddall scoring two Saturday. Olver also had a goal in Saturday’s 3-0 win.

Sophomore Brian Stewart had 55 saves against MSU, 74 the weekend before against UM.

“The guys worked really hard, there’s no question about that,” said Kyle. “When you’re playing teams with that kind of success, you have a lot of respect for them.”

It’s been a see-saw season for the Wildcats, who began their CCHA play with series against Michigan, Michigan State, and Miami. NMU went 0-6-0 in those contests, but since then has performed more than respectably since.

“We fell on our face the one weekend against Wayne State [Jan. 11-12],” said Kyle. “Other than that, we’ve played pretty well and consistent.”

The Wildcat team is young, dressing as many as 17 freshmen and sophomores per game. But solid goaltending and this season’s experience have combined to make this a formidable team down the stretch.

“Brian has emerged as our go-to guy,” said Kyle of Stewart, who came into his own in a first-round CCHA road playoff series against Ohio State last season.

“We don’t have a lot of guys in the junior and senior classes,” said Kyle. “Over the course of the year…we’ll play really, really well, then we’ll be way off. We’ll do that in the course of a game, or over the course of a couple of games.

“Some of our young guys, like TJ Miller, Alan Dorich, Ray Kaunisto … we had a big senior class last year, so those guys didn’t have a lot of minutes. Now they’re playing and playing well.”

Kyle said that the Wildcats have three goals for the remainder of the season. “Number one is to prepare, to be successful. And we want to get home ice, and finish as high as we can.

“We have to understand that we’re not where we want to be yet.”

The Wildcats are my Valentines this weekend (in the absence of Nate Guenin, of course). NMU will play OSU twice in the Schottenstein Center, a building where, says Kyle, “We haven’t had a lot of success.”

While the ‘Cats eliminated the Buckeyes last year in Columbus in the first round of the CCHA playoffs, they did so at the OSU Ice Arena. Those two wins were their first in my adopted hometown since 1981.

The Wildcats have yet to win at the Schott. As the Buckeyes have just two league wins on their home ice this season, the NMU may finally be requited in Columbus, at last.

Just Heartbreaking

All kidding aside, when a story like Kevin Quick’s comes to light, it’s heartbreaking.

In college hockey, we like to think that “our” kids are somehow a caliber apart from athletes in other sports. It’s a conceit that does little justice to any student-athletes, but that’s the way we are.

In Sunday’s Buffalo News, columnist Bucky Gleason reported that Quick — who had been dismissed from the UM squad for violation of team rules the week before — had stolen a credit card and used it to make thousands of dollars worth of purchases.

The Tuesday Michigan Daily repeated the allegations, adding that Quick hadn’t returned the Daily’s calls.

Both the story in the Daily and a story in the Ann Arbor News cited a Newport News Daily Press story in which Quick said he’d have to face some legal music back in Ann Arbor.

See how tricky this is? I don’t have any direct evidence of anything, and I’m not trying to malign the kid. All reports point to credit card issues.

Quick’s father, Kevin Sr., was quoted in the Buffalo News as saying his son had “made a mistake” and is “suffering the consequences.”

Quick himself told the Newport paper that he had “made a bad decision” that had “cost [him] a scholarship.”

Quick signed a tryout contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, last Saturday. I don’t mean to be unnecessarily sarcastic, but that’s some consequence.

If it comes out that Quick’s transgressions were against teammates, the betrayal will feel enormous.

Love that February Hockey

And with six regular-season games remaining, the series to watch this weekend is Bowling Green at Nebraska-Omaha, played at the Mavericks’ beloved Civic Auditorium.

There’s a lovely history here between the teams, dating back to UNO’s first season as a full member of the CCHA. That was the year that the Mavericks beat the Falcons in a CCHA playoff play-in game (March 14, 2000) to advance to Joe Louis Arena, where they then beat up the Wolverines, 7-4, en route to a 6-0 loss to Michigan State in the league title game.

It’s all the stuff of Maverick hockey lore now, and since then UNO has had much success against BGSU. Last season, the Mavs went 6-0-0 against the Falcons, including a first-round CCHA playoff home sweep of BGSU.

The games this week are every bit as important as those that ended BG’s season last year. The Mavericks are two points ahead of the Falcons in league standings, but the Falcons have two games in hand on the Mavs. UNO is in fifth place, BGSU in sixth.

Nothing says love quite like a Falcons-Mavericks series, especially in the old Aud. And you thought a certain sliver of Maverick fans call themselves the Red Army because of their team’s colors.

Nah. It’s all about the love, baby.

This Week in the ECAC Northeast

By Paul C. Altmeyer Jr.
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Oftentimes in sports, things don’t always go as you would expect them. (For further clarification, ask any fan of the New England Patriots.)

That can certainly be said of the Worcester State Lancers program this season. Currently in 12th place with a 2-10-0 record, the team in enduring an injury riddled campaign the likes of which have never been seen by coach John Guiney.

“Overall, it’s been pretty rough, but it’s all injury related,” said Guiney. “In 16 years of coaching, I’ve never seen anything like this. Mark Rintel broke his leg in the fourth game of the season, Billy O’Neill’s missed the whole second semester with a concussion.

“In the same game Rintel got hurt, we had Mark Bucci cut tendons in his hand when he went into the corner and a skate blade went through his glove into his hand. Matt Auwater also suffered a high ankle sprain. All of these injuries, plus the flu, has made it a real strange season.”

Despite an overall record of 2-18-0, and a losing streak that ran more than two months, Guiney feels the team can’t be judged on wins and losses.

“Our record isn’t indicative of the team we have, it’s just bad luck,” he said. “We’ve played better recently. The kids recognize where we’re at, that we’re missing Rintel and O’Neil, and they’ve stepped up.”

With the shortened bench, Guiney has had to make adjustments.

“You move some guys around due to the injuries, and you realize you don’t have the depth you thought you did back in October. At the beginning of the year, we had three good lines, and four to five good defensemen. The injuries changed things dramatically.

“The kids have kept a good attitude. They come to practice, they work hard. It hasn’t been a negative season, it’s been a tough season. We’re a young team, we only have three seniors. We’re looking forward to next year.”

Guiney has been helped out by some of his players realizing they need to take on more.

“Some of the kids have been stepping up,” Guiney noted. “Lee Belisle’s done a really good job for us. These kids are 100% behind what we’re doing. Injuries are a bad excuse. We’re putting a lot of pressure on these kids, as we’re asking them to play a lot of minutes. There are no gifts in this league.”

Among those players seeing a lot of ice time are Chris Wallin, William Knauber, and Nathan Perrault. These three have suddenly become the defense. Another player who has shown his coach a lot in terms of toughness is freshman forward Justin Brownstein.

“He may have a broken wrist. I know he’s playing hurt, but he shows up to play. I keep asking him how he is, and he keeps telling me ‘I’ll be okay.’ These kids don’t look at the schedule or record. It would be easy to quit, but they haven’t done that.”

As the season winds down, Framingham State has games left against Curry, Sale Regina, Assumption, and Plymouth State. Guiney hopes to end strong.

“On paper, we could win a couple of games. We have the ability, but it’s the depth. We have small numbers to work with. You could sit and dwell on how bad it’s going, but what good will that do?”

This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey: Feb. 14, 2008

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The old saying goes, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Well, I was guilty of this last weekend when I had all but penciled in Stevens Point as the NCHA champions and top team in the West. The Pointers were unbeaten at 17-0-2 and coming off a huge 3-2 victory over Gustavus Adolphus on Tuesday night, then they ran into the red hot Superior Yellow Jackets.

Superior (16-4-1) broke the unbeaten streak on Friday night with a 3-1 win and then won again Saturday, taking down the Pointers 2-1 in overtime. Senior forward Gina Baranzelli was the hero notching her 17th goal of the season at 3:17 of overtime for the game-winning tally.

Not only did the sweep catapult Superior back into contention in the west, the Yellow Jackets now have the inside track for the NCHA regular season title and conference tournament hosting rights.

Superior enters this weekend’s series with Eau-Claire trailing Stevens Point by three points. However, the Yellow Jackets have two games in hand on Point and they face 7-12-2 Finlandia the following weekend to wrap up their regular season. Superior certainly has a good shot at taking all eight remaining points out there and as long as they get seven, they will win the NCHA regular season title because they hold the tiebreaker on Stevens Point.

Between Stevens Point, Gustavus Adolphus, and Superior, the west has a very good shot at getting three teams into the NCAA tournament for the first time. If this scenario does play out, in my opinion, the Frozen Four will be in the west and hosted by the number one seed in that region.

The resurgence of Superior, spells doom for teams in the East like Trinity, RIT, Elmira, and Amherst, as they will all be fighting for one Pool C slot. (Assuming that Plattsburgh and Middlebury win their conference titles, which isn’t guaranteed, but for argument’s sake, we’ll consider that the case.)

#1 versus #2 Showdown

Tuesday night, Top-ranked Middlebury and second ranked Plattsburgh took the ice at the Stafford Ice Arena with Eastern bragging rights on the line. Plattsburgh promoted the game as their third annual “Stuff the Stafford” night in an attempt to break the attendance record for a Division III women’s hockey game. The record of 2,335 was set at the 2005 National Championship game between Middlebury and Elmira, hosted at the Murray Athletic Center in Pine Valley, N.Y.

Plattsburgh’s attempt fell short as 1,052 came out to watch the Cardinals defeat Middlebury 3-0 and sweep the season series from the Panthers.

Both Kevin Houle, head coach of Plattsburgh and Bill Mandigo, head coach of Middlebury, commented how the game didn’t have the feel of a 3-0 game.

“It was a typical Plattsburgh/Middlebury game,” Houle said. “Each team had good chances. I think we had some better chances and opportunities. The puck was in our end a little bit more because of Middlebury’s aggressive fore check but we were able to create and convert on some odd man rush opportunities because of their aggressiveness.”

“It was a good game,” said Middlebury head coach Bill Mandigo. “They (Plattsburgh) played very well and capitalized on our chances. That was the only difference as I thought we played a pretty good game, we just couldn’t put the puck in net.”

Their leader and the nation’s top scorer, junior forward Danielle Blanchard’s goal, a little over halfway through the second period sparked Plattsburgh.

“Blanchard is one of the best if not the best player in the country,” Mandigo said. “She’s a terrific competitor and dynamic on the ice. She’s certainly fun to watch and you hold your breath when she’s out there as an opposing coach.”

The Cardinals would go on to add two more goals as Shay Bywater scored late in the second and then Claire O’Connor put the nail in the coffin putting Plattsburgh out in front by three, six minutes into the third period.

In goal, Danielle Beattie was tremendous for the Cardinals picking up her sixth shutout of the season stopping all 23 shots she faced. With the win, Beattie moved to 16-2-0 on the year and lowered her goals against average to 1.26, good for ninth in the nation.

“She (Beattie) played very well,” Houle said. “She was there when we needed her to be. She did a good job controlling rebounds and kept Middlebury from getting second and third chances all night.”

This weekend, both Plattsburgh and Middlebury face stern conference tests as the Cardinals will host their archrival, Elmira, with ECAC West tournament hosting rights on the line. Middlebury will host Conn. College on Friday and then fifth ranked Amherst on Saturday to decide NESCAC tournament hosting rights.

Plattsburgh is unbeaten in their last seven games against Elmira and will be looking to take that momentum, along with the win over Middlebury and try to clinch the regular season title and hosting rights.

“Anytime you win it’s a confidence builder,” Houle said. “However, once Saturday rolls along, we have to be ready to play. We’re certainly going to be able to come to the rink positive this week after the Middlebury win, but it’s anybody’s game once the puck is dropped this weekend.”

Coach Houle pointed to production from any one of three lines as a key to this weekend’s games.

“Our top three lines are very strong and we need contributions from different people on those lines,” Houle said. “Players like Claire O’Connor and Laurie Bowler are a little underrated in my mind and can certainly be ones that step up.”

Houle stated that he and his team wouldn’t be making any special preparations for the Elmira series and rather worry about what they’re going to do.

“We know their tendencies and we’ll be aware of them but we’re just going to bring good energy to the rink,” Houle said. “We can’t afford to get down early. Once we’ve been up, we’ve been pretty successful most of the time.

Middlebury on the other hand took Wednesday off to re-group and will practice again on Thursday to prepare for Conn. College and Amherst.

“I’ve said it all season and we’re taking everything one day and one practice at a time.”

Mandigo and the Panthers will focus on Conn. College on Friday before turning their attention to Amherst on Saturday.

“Amherst is a well coached and fast team,” Mandigo said. “They have a good goalie and Jim Plumer has done a good job building up their program. It will certainly be a good challenge.

For us to be successful we need everyone to step up. The seniors need to continue to lead. The freshmen have played very well especially in a tough road game like Plattsburgh. I’m pretty happy with our effort and attitude, we just have to start to click and put the puck in.”

Outside of the games mentioned above, the ECAC West playoff picture will start to get a lot clearer this weekend as hosting rights will be decided, third place Utica takes on fifth place Neumann, and sixth place Buffalo State travels to seventh place Oswego. Neumann will be looking to claw their way into a first round hosting spot and Buffalo State and Oswego will be fighting for the sixth and final playoff spot in the newly expanded ECAC West tournament this year.

This Week in the WCHA: Feb. 14, 2008

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Denver flirts with being back again, Colorado College loses one at home and again, the league race continues to get tighter, with no one wanting to share the love.

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Matt Hartman, SCSU.
Why: Led all WCHAers with five scoring points in the Huskies’ split with Colorado College. Hartman had five assists, including four on Friday, four shots on goal and was a +3.
Also Nominated: Scott McCulloch, CC; Kael Mouillierat, MSU, M.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Players of the Week: Peter Mannino, DU; Shane Connelly, UW.
Why: Both goaltenders helped their respective teams to three-point weekends. Mannino stopped 64 of 66 shots for a .970 save percentage in the Pioneers’ series against Minnesota. Connelly, on the other hand, stopped 46 of 48 shots for a .958 save percentage for his Badgers against Michigan Tech.
Also Nominated: Brian Connelly, CC.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Tyler Bozak, DU.
Why: Scored three points, including Saturday’s game-winner and Friday’s lone goal in the Pioneers’ weekend series against the Gophers. Bozak also had eight shots on goal, was a +3, had six hits and blocked four shots.
Also Nominated: Tyler Johnson, CC; Bennett Royer, MTU; Ben Youds, MSU, M; Garrett Roe, SCSU.

It’s Not Six Words, But Concise Nevertheless

If you peruse the USCHO.com Fan Forum at all, I’m sure you’ve noticed the threads that have popped up in the Café as well as the D-I and Women’s forums, asking fans to describe their team in six words.

This past Friday against Denver, Minnesota head coach Don Lucia summed up his team’s year in a simple sentence that, with some careful editing, could fit the bill:

“Again, 30-some shots and score one goal. That’s our team.”

SCSU — Back In, Well, A Hunt

I’m going to be honest here — I don’t understand the St. Cloud State University Huskies. At all. The team has three 30-point scorers — one soon to have 40 points — can split with the dominant CC Tigers twice … and yet is near the bottom of the conference. I can understand that the loss of Bobby Goepfert hurt, but it’s not like Jase Weslosky has been awful in net. Maybe it’s the inconsistent defense. Still, the Huskies are (understandably) happy when they can get points, especially from the WCHA elite.

This brings me to one of the favorite quotes I’ve collected all season, from coach Bob Motzko after Saturday’s win over the Tigers:

“We came out here this weekend with the, well, we wanted to get a win, obviously, but we wanted to get back in the hunt,” he said. “We don’t know what we’re chasing, but at least we’re back in the hunt right now and that’s what we wanted: to get back in and play good hockey.”

Spring Surprise

One of the surprise teams of the second half — in a good way — has been the Minnesota State University Mavericks, who have rattled off a six-game winning streak, have vaulted into the polls (15th last week; 13th this week) and the PairWise (tied for eighth) and hope to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002-2003, when the team finished third in the conference.

Why are the Mavericks doing so well? Like most teams in the league, they’ve got a young roster and, perhaps like the Sioux, it’s all about coming together.

“We’re a young hockey team,” said coach Troy Jutting. “[The players are] getting adjusted to what the college game is all about and they’re playing together as a team very well.”

Like most coaches, Jutting isn’t worried about the playoffs yet.

“There’s a lot of season left really, when you look at it in terms of the NCAAs,” he said. “I’m sure the players are optimistic but I also know that we have a big weekend this weekend in Madison and that’s what we’re trying to focus on.

“It’s kind of what we’ve done all year. Let’s not worry about what the polls are … let’s worry about us and make sure we’re doing what we need to do and I think the kids have done a very good job of staying focused on what we are and who we are and not worrying about that other stuff.”

As for this weekend’s series in Madison, Jutting is looking forward to it — not only for the conference match-up, but if the team does progress down the road, they’ll be playing in buildings much like the 15,237-seat Kohl Center.

“It’s a great series for us at this time of the season because hopefully, if things work out, there’s going to be other times where we’re going to have to play in that type of environment so it’s a great experience for the kids.”

Random Notes (and Commentary!) From Around the League

UAA — The Nye Frontier Classic shall now be known as the Kendall Hockey Classic, as Kendall Autos has bought out the Nye Frontier Family.

I guess this is just to say that yes, the tournament is still around in case you see some unfamiliar stuff on the schedule next year.

WCHA — Want to take a break from voting for Hobey? You can vote for some of your favorite WCHAers to represent the West in the Frozen Four Skills Challenge. Go to NCAAsports.com and vote for CC’s Jimmy Kilpatrick and Scott McCulloch, DU’s Andrew Thomas, Minnesota’s Evan Kaufmann and DU’s Peter Mannino.

Yes, this came out last week, but I missed that memo.

Reader Mailbag

I got several responses from fans and their travel habits. Not many people gave me actual mileage (kind of what I was looking for, actually), but told me about their travel exploits.

Steve G., a Badger fan from Dayton, Ohio, has been driving and flying to rinks since the end of the 2002-03 season with the goal to see all Division I teams on their home ice. The ones I’m jealous of are Findlay and Fairfield (vs. Iona) — two schools that no longer have D-I hockey.

Matt Drawz and his dad are trying to see the Gophers in every WCHA arena at some point, have been to Duluth and St. Cloud thus far and are hitting up Anchorage in a few weeks.

Paula Cutler, a St. Cloud season ticket holder, decided to tell me about her longest trip — a trek to Rochester for Regionals last year:

“Two of us loaded up the truck with munchies and the DVD player and headed out for the 19-hour (over 1k miles) trip. We left Thursday, March 22nd from Brooklyn Park, Minn., at 6am, arrived in Rochester, N.Y., around 1am their time,” she explained. “Went to the three games at the regional and unfortunately watched my Huskies not get that monkey off their back with a tournament win, but made my five seconds of fame on ESPN2. :)”

I did get mileage from a couple people. Bryn Jarcho, a Minnesota State fan, will total 3,302 miles by the end of the year after next week’s trip to Colorado College. David Krawczyk, who won the column contest a few weeks ago, will total 11,830 miles by the time the Frozen Four rolls around, missing only the Badgers’ series at CC. A trip to Anchorage helped that total out, in case you were curious. Last year, Dave logged 5,750 miles traveling to see both the men’s and women’s teams.

Match-Ups By the Numbers

Colorado College and Minnesota each get a chance to rest and heal up for the end-of-season craziness.

No. 13 Minnesota State @ No. 10 Wisconsin
Overall Records: MSU, M — 15-10-4 (9-9-4 WCHA). UW — 13-11-6 (9-9-4 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UW leads the overall series, 14-11-3.
Top Scorers: MSU, M — Trevor Bruess (7-18-25). UW — Kyle Turris (11-18-29).
Goaltenders: MSU, M — Mike Zacharias (26 gp, 14-7-4, 2.10 GAA, .921 sv %). UW — Shane Connelly (27 gp, 12-11-4, 2.30 GAA, .917 sv %).

No. 6 Denver @ No. 3 North Dakota
Overall Records: DU — 19-8-1 (13-6-1 WCHA). UND — 17-8-2 (14-7-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UND leads the overall series, 126-109-7.
Top Scorers: DU — Tyler Bozak (14-12-26). UND — T.J. Oshie (12-14-26), Ryan Duncan (10-16-26).
Goaltenders: DU — Peter Mannino (27 gp, 18-8-1, 2.15 GAA, .921 sv %). UND — Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (27 gp, 17-8-2, 1.73 GAA, .934 sv %).

No. 12 Minnesota-Duluth @ Michigan Tech
Overall Records: tUMD — 11-9-6 (7-8-5 WCHA). MTU — 10-13-5 (6-10-4 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: MTU leads the overall series, 115-69-16.
Top Scorers: tUMD — Nick Kemp (7-7-14), Jason Garrison (5-9-14), MacGregor Sharp (5-9-14). MTU — Peter Rouleau (9-11-20).
Goaltenders: tUMD — Alex Stalock (26 gp, 11-9-6, 2.13 GAA, .922 sv %). MTU — Rob Nolan (16 gp, 6-8-1, 2.68 GAA, .896 sv %), Michael-Lee Teslak (14 gp, 4-5-4, 1.84 GAA, .930 sv %).

No. 19 St. Cloud State @ Alaska Anchorage
Overall Records: SCSU — 12-13-3 (7-11-2 WCHA). UAA — 7-14-7 (3-14-5 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: SCSU leads the overall series, 40-12-5.
Top Scorers: SCSU — Ryan Lasch (20-19-39). UAA — Kevin Clark (7-16-23).
Goaltenders: SCSU — Jase Weslosky (21 gp, 9-10, 2.51 GAA, .917 sv %). UAA — Jon Olthuis (25 gp, 6-11-7, 2.87 GAA, .886 sv %).

Hallmark Holiday

Well, you all know what today is. If you have a significant other, make today special for him or her if s/he so wants you to. If not, spend the day with another love — hockey. This weekend is “Hockey Weekend Across America” and cities all across the country will have various events going on to support this amazing sport.

Hell, even if you do have a significant other, go watch some hockey anyway. I’m going to drag the boy to go see the Avalanche as they take on the Blues (this year’s Frozen Four site versus last year’s Frozen Four site). I’ll also root for the former WCHA’ers on both squads (Tyler Arnason, David Backes, Jeff Finger, Erik Johnson, Ryan Johnson, Jordan Leopold, Paul Stastny, Steve Wagner) as well as the other college hockey products.

Share the hockey love, people.

Atlantic Hockey Hands Out Discipline, Suspensions (UPDATED)

USCHO Staff Report
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Atlantic Hockey on Wednesday assessed additional penalties and suspensions to four players from each team after a brawl between Canisius and RIT on Saturday, February 9. The penalties include regular-season suspensions for RIT’s Ricky Walton and Canisius’ Carl Hudson.

Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DeGregorio and Gene Binda, supervisor of officials, have reviewed the tapes from the game, according to the league. DeGregorio assessed the additional penalties under the league’s policy on Supplemental Discipline.

The two teams combined for a total of 251 minutes in penalties, which included misconduct penalties, fighting majors and disqualifications. Amateur video and photographs and an edited Canisius team video circulated widely on the internet in the aftermath of the event.

“Atlantic Hockey, the NCAA and the culture of collegiate hockey will not allow or condone fighting,” said DeGregorio. “This was not representative of the student-athlete experience that Atlantic Hockey and its members are striving to achieve.”

Additional games have been issued to Phil Rauch, Taylor Anderson, Jason Weeks and Hudson of Canisius and Tyler Mazzei, Louis Menard, Stephen Burns and Walton of RIT. Although the league declined to state the amount of games Hudson and Walton were suspended in its press release, USCHO learned on Thursday that Hudson and Walton will be suspended for the remainder of the regular season.

Canisius supports the decision by the league, while RIT is appealing the ruling.

Canisius athletic director Bill Maher issued a statement on the announcement on Thursday.

“We fully support the decisions made by the commissioner and his staff,” Maher said. “These suspensions are both substantial and appropriate under the circumstances. We have high expectations and standards for our student-athletes and in this case we failed to meet those standards. We regret that this incident occurred, however, now that the suspensions have been finalized, we intend to use this experience as a teaching opportunity and to reinforce Canisius College’s commitment to the highest levels of sportsmanship.”

Unlike Canisius, RIT has yet to release any statement on the sanctions except for comments by its athletic director, Lou Spiotti, in the league’s official press release on Wednesday. However, USCHO has learned that the school has submitted an appeal to Atlantic Hockey which will be heard by the league on Friday.

Hudson received two game disqualfications in the contest while Anderson, Menard and Walton all received single game disqualifications. Canisius’ Josh Heidinger also received a game disqualification, but did not receive additional discipline.

No suspensions or disciplinary actions toward the officiating crew were announced by Atlantic Hockey. In a press release last Saturday, Canisius described the officials as having “lost control of the contest” as did broadcast and print media accounts of the 4-1 RIT win.

The supplemental discipline penalties will be served beginning with the next scheduled contest. Canisius hosts Holy Cross in two league contests this weekend, while RIT is in non-conference play hosting Niagara in a single Saturday tilt.

“We fully support the decisions made by the commissioner and his staff,” said Maher in the league’s announcement on Wednesday. “We have high expectations and standards for our student-athletes and in this case we failed to meet those standards. We regret that this incident occurred, however, now that the punishments have been distributed, we are ready to move forward with the remainder of our season.”

“It is with great regret that RIT and our proud hockey program played a role in this incident,” said Spiotti. “It does not reflect well upon our student-athletes and staff, the Atlantic Hockey Association, and the game of college ice hockey. We are in support of the measures taken by the league office and will do everything in our power to prevent this from ever happening again. It is our intent to use this as a learning experience and move on with the remainder of the season as a strong partner in Atlantic Hockey.”

Canisius-RIT – the suspensions

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Some of the longest suspensions in the history of college hockey were handed down by Atlantic Hockey last night in the aftermath of the Canisius-RIT melee that took place last Saturday night.

Commissioner Bob DeGregorio issued a total of 20 additional games worth of suspensions to eight separate players, suspending two of the players involved for the remainder of the regular season.

Canisius sophomore defenseman Carl Hudson and RIT senior co-captain Ricky Walton will each sit out the remainder of the regular season. For Hudson, who originally was assessed a double game disqualification which carries with it a three game suspension, he will sit a total of seven games. Walton, who was originally suspended for just one game, will miss five additional games.

The remaining six players – Canisius’s Phil Raush, Taylor Anderson and Jason Weeks and RIT’s Tyler Mazzei, Louis Menard and Stephen Burns – all will sit out their club’s next game before returning to the lineup.

Walton and Hudson’s suspensions are among the longest in recent memory as a result of on-ice actions. Both played key roles in adding fuel to the fire at separate times during the fight.

Walton’s actions came first. As things were beginning to be brought under control, he punched a Canisius player from behind. Shortly thereafter Hudson, who had already been placed in the penalty box by the referee, exited the box, re-engaged in the altercation and proceeded to pound the head of an RIT player into the ice.

DeGregorio said that these actions warrented the extreme suspensions.

“Those suspensions were based on the degree of each player’s involvement [in the altercation],” said DeGregorio. “Hudson came out of the penalty box and re-engaged an RIT player. His actions re-ignited a very volitile situation and could’ve resulted in serious injury to either an RIT player or himself.

“In Walton’s case, in my judgement it was the severity of his involvement in the incident, particularly with the ‘sucker punch’ from behind of a Canisius player followed by additional fisticuffs.”

According to sources, RIT is appealing the suspensions, something DeGregorio confirmed.

“RIT does have an appeal filed and it will be heard [Friday] morning] before the Atlantic Hockey executive committee,” said DeGregorio. Canisius, meanwhile, issued a statement from Athletic Director Bill Maher on Thursday stating that the school fully accepts the supplemental punishment calling it “both substantial and appropriate under the circumstances.”

The executive committee is comprised of four athletic directors or senior administrators from Atlantic Hockey member schools: Holy Cross’ Bill Bellerose, Bentley’s Bob DeFelice, Sacred Heart’s Don Cook and AIC’s Richard Bedard.

With the committee hearing the appeal on Friday morning, the decision should be rendered before RIT’s next game Saturday night against Niagara.

Should nothing change based on the appeal, a total of 30 man games will have been lost to this altercation and Atlantic Hockey will have sent a very loud and clear message that fighting will not be tolerated. DeGregorio said that fighting is simply not part of “the culture of college hockey” and that he certainly doesn’t want it to be part of the league.

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Feb. 14, 2008

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It Got Ugly

Canisius and RIT have a rivalry dating back to the 1970s. The two schools, located just 65 miles apart down Interstate 90 in Western New York, have played 56 times so far, the last 10 as Division I programs. Prior to that, the teams were conference foes in the ECAC West and the New York Collegiate Hockey Association.

There has been some bad blood before — a brawl in warm-ups back in the early 1990s, for example — but nothing compared to the melee that occurred between the two teams in the third period of Saturday night’s game at RIT’s Ritter Arena.

I was fortunate (and unfortunate) to be a witness to the event, and here’s one reporter’s recollection, accompanied by links to some videos.

With 7:33 to play and RIT leading 3-1, after a whistle just as Canisius crossed the RIT blue line (reportedly for the Griffs having too many men on the ice, a possible explanation for why there are six Canisius skaters involved in the fight), RIT’s Andrew Favot put a late hit on a Canisius player. There had been plenty of those throughout the game as tempers had continued to escalate.

That simple altercation caused the emotional dam to burst and resulted in a pile-up along the boards with all skaters involved. Canisius’ Carl Hudson threw RIT’s Justin Hofstetter to the ice, and was escorted to the penalty box. Things began to settle down when RIT’s Ricky Walton hit Canisius’ Jason Weeks in the back of the head, re-igniting things and provoking Hudson to come out of the penalty box and rejoin the fray, first attacking Walton and then straddling Favot and repeatedly smashing his helmeted head into the ice.

RIT goaltender Louis Menard took a few steps from his crease when he saw Hudson come flying out of the penalty box, and this somehow convinced Griffs’ goalie Taylor Anderson to join in the fray. He skated into the RIT zone and squared off with Menard.

The absurdity of a goaltender’s brawl brought the curtain down on the affair, as over 200 penalty minutes were assessed, including game disqualifications to Walton, Canisius’ Josh Heidinger, Anderson and Menard. Hudson got a double DQ, meaning a three-game suspension.

Here are some videos of the brawl. This one is from Canisius’ camera and has been edited. It shows the initial incident as well as Walton’s punch and the goalie fight.

This video, taken with a cell phone, shows Hudson leaving the box and at the 28-second mark, as the camera pans left from the goalie fight, we can see him slamming Favot’s head into the ice.

And finally, another cell phone video, capturing most of the same events, but from start to finish.

Neither RIT coach Wayne Wilson nor Canisius coach Dave Smith is saying too much, looking to put the incident behind them. Their immediate comments after the game to USCHO reporter Scott Biggar were:

Smith: “Emotions were running high. Our guys did stick together. There are unwritten rules of fighting. When a sucker punch reignites a dead fight, guys have to stand up to that.”

Wilson: “They wanted it to be a rivalry, and I guess it is a rivalry. They had a guy jump off the bench, another leave the penalty box, the goalie came all the way down the ice, and a player hitting our guy with his helmet. We’re going to defend ourselves.”

When I talked with Atlantic Hockey Commissioner Bob DeGregorio on Monday, he was still waiting to see the various tapes from the game. “Based on the reports I have received, there will be additional penalties assessed,” he said. “We’ll look at all the videos and reports, and issue a statement at the appropriate time.”

The appropriate time was Wednesday night, when it was announced by the league that “additional games” were assessed to Anderson, Hudson, Walton and Menard, plus Canisius’ Phil Rauch and Jason Weeks, and RIT’s Tyler Mazzei and Stephen Burns.

While the release was vague in terms of how many games each player had been assessed, league officials have gone on the record to say that Hudson and Walton have been suspended for the remainder of the regular season. Anderson and Menard got an additional game, and Rauch, Weeks, Mazzei and Burns got one game each. Most of the new players on the suspension list can be seen in the various videos throwing punches, so their penalties seem fair. The player that got the short end of the stick in my opinion is Menard, who did not instigate any hostilities and seemed to be only defending himself.

“Right now we’re focused on the game (Saturday) against Niagara,” said Wilson. “They’re playing well right now and it’s a chance for us to finish our non-conference schedule with a.500 record, which would be another step for our program.”

Niagara will be the fourth ranked team the Tigers have played this season. They’re 2-1 with wins over Cornell and Minnesota and a loss to Boston College.

While it may not seem ideal to play a non-conference game this late in the season, Wilson says there are positives.

“It worked out for both teams that we both had this weekend open,” he said. “It’s a chance to maybe develop another rivalry with a team that’s close by.”

RIT playing out of conference allows teams with games in hand to catch up and in some cases pass the Tigers, who have a tenuous hold on first place. Four teams are within striking distance and two can pass RIT this weekend.

“Anything can happen,” said Wilson. “We’re in first right now, and we’d like to stay there. But last year that was our only goal because that’s all we could play for. This year we have other goals, with the major one getting to the NCAA tournament and to do that you have to win the playoffs. Anything can happen there no matter where you finished in the regular season. Look at Air Force last year.”

Canisius is also looking to put the events of last Friday behind them, but at the same time not look too far ahead.

“We made the mistake earlier in the season of looking at the standings,” said Smith, whose team is five points out of a home-ice spot with six games left to play. “We’re best when we focus on the short term. Right now we want to play a strong first period on Saturday and take things from there.”

Player of the Week for February 11, 2008
Tom Dickhudt — Bentley
The Falcons got swept for the first time this season, but Dickhudt did all he could to prevent it, getting six points on the weekend with a goal and five assists.

Goaltender of the Week for February 11, 2008:
Josh Kassel — Army
This is getting old. Kassel wins the award for the third week in a row. The junior stopped 56 of 57 shots to help the Black Knights to a three point weekend against Holy Cross.

Rookie of the Week for February 11, 2008:
Adam Roy — Holy Cross
The other goalie in the Army-Holy Cross weekend had a pair of pretty good outings himself. Roy made 63 saves on of 66 shots to help the Crusaders salvage a point against the Black Knights.

On the Rebound

A 3-0 loss to Canisius on January 18 was Army’s fifth loss in a row. The Black Knights had managed just one win in their previous 11 games, and things looked bleak with another game against the Griffins and then a huge series with Air Force, with both games to be nationally televised.

Junior goaltender Josh Kassel had taken the loss in that game, and with competition fierce between himself, freshman Jay Clark and newly-eligible sophomore Joey Spracklen, Kassel feared the worst.

“I kind of had a feeling I wasn’t going to start after giving up three goals and losing the game,” he said. “But I thought I played pretty well and made some big saves.”

Kassel asked Army coach Brian Riley for another start, looking to play well against Canisius and earn the right to face Air Force the next weekend.

“(Kassel) wanted another shot,” said Riley. “He knew he pretty much had to win that game to play against Air Force.”

Kassel rose to the occasion, stopping 22 of 23 shots as Army won, 2-1. The Black Knights went on to sweep Air Force the nest weekend, both by 2-1 scores, and are undefeated in their last seven games, with Kassel allowing only five goals over that span. Army has vaulted into a tie for second place, just a point behind RIT with two games in hand.

“We weren’t playing that bad, but he had nothing to show for it,” said Riley. “The difference was we started getting some bounces.”

“We were letting in fluky goals — weird bounces, pucks going in off of shin pads,” said Kassel. “Once we won that game, guys started to settle down and were able to do their thing.”

Kassel has won the AHA Goaltender of the Week Award three times in a row, but Riley says all his players can take pride in their recent success.

“It’s a combination of things,” he said. “It starts with Josh and then works out from there. We’re not a team that’s going to score a lot of goals. We have to be strong in our own zone.”

Army faces AIC this weekend. The Yellow Jackets have already won more games than they did all of last season, and Riley says his team needs to keep its focus, with a chance to be in first place come Saturday night.

“AIC is looking at this weekend saying, ‘Hey, we still have a shot at home ice,'” said Riley. “They’re playing really well right now. I keep saying this to our guys but it’s true: every game you play in the second half of the season is the biggest one of the year so far.”

Around the League

AIC: The Yellow Jackets swept Bentley for the first time since joining the MAAC/Atlantic Hockey. AIC’s win on Saturday was its eighth of the season, surpassing last year’s win total, with at least eight more games to play.

Connecticut: It looks like the injury suffered by goaltender Beau Erickson on Friday will end his season. Even so, he had 801 saves, second-best in the Division I era at UConn.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers always seem to have trouble with in-state rival UConn, but not this season. Sacred Heart swept the season series from the Huskies for the first time ever.

This Week in the ECAC East and NESCAC

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OK welcome to the insanity that is the league standings at this time of the year in both the ECAC East and NESCAC. Don’t like your team’s position in the standings? Just hope they have a good weekend and almost anything can happen.

With just four games left in the regular season, it’s really getting interesting now and if you weren’t scoreboard watching before this week (don’t deny it) you almost have to now, just to figure out who is where.

Coming off an impressive 3-0 win at Middlebury last Saturday, Norwich has a six point lead over second place Babson and unless they completely fall apart, they could clinch the top spot in the East this weekend.

And now the fun begins with second through fourth separated by just three points and second through sixth separated by just five points in the standings. Home ice and playoff seeding are all on the line in these final two weekends. So, in essence, the playoffs have already begun as teams look to grab points and earn the all important tiebreakers with conference rivals.

Oh, so the ECAC East isn’t close enough for you? Let’s take a look at the standings on the NESCAC side of the fence where things are just a bit tighter across the board.

Two points separate first place Middlebury from fourth place Amherst with Bowdoin and Colby sandwiched in the middle. Amazingly, it’s even tighter in the lower half of the potential playoff bracket as just five points out of a home-ice position we find fifth place Wesleyan holding a one point advantage over eighth place Trinity with Williams and Conn. College smack in the middle trying to improve their position and play their very best hockey leading into March.

We are coming down the home stretch and with just two weekends of hockey to be played in the regular season. It’s all on the line for just about everybody — now’s the time to kick it up a notch!

Pilgrims Peaking

Last Saturday’s 4-0 win over the second place Babson Beavers has Tom Carroll’s New England College team starting their patented late season run into the playoffs. This year’s squad has all of the ingredients for success into the post-season with a potent offense, stingy defense, solid goaltending and efficient special teams.

“We are pretty healthy right now,” stated Carroll. “Or at least we are getting there. This really is the time of year when we want to get on a run and carry a high level of play right into the conference playoffs. We have been playing pretty well and know we will have to play at our best hockey each night out there and really concentrate on the things we can control — our play and the game we are playing in.”

Leading the way for the Pilgrims are a couple of seniors who bring big game talent to the rink every night and cause anxiety from opposing coaches with what they can create for themselves and their teammates.

Brian Pouliot (12 goals, 17 assists, 29 points) and Mike Carmody (8-15-23) are as good a tandem as there is in the conference in leading their respective lines to great production at even strength and even more productivity on the power play.

Senior forward Mike Carmody has opposing coaches conscious of his every move on the ice for NEC.

Senior forward Mike Carmody has opposing coaches conscious of his every move on the ice for NEC.

“They are probably are consistently our best players each and every game,” said Carroll. “Both Brian and Mike are special quality kids that you look for all of the time but realize how special they really are as they are finishing the final season in their senior year. Of course it’s a little different with Brian who came in as a transfer but he has fit right in with this team and both of these guys are very important in making us competitive every time we step on the ice.”

The Pilgrims are on the road this weekend against Hamilton and Amherst and finish with key games against conference opponents Salem State and Southern Maine at home. All of these contests will go a long way in deciding home ice for the playoffs.

Babson Building on Success

“You look at the success that guys like jerry York and Jack parker have had in winning over 700 games and it’s truly amazing how consistent their program shave been year in and year out,” Babson head coach Jamie Rice observed.

“Even in our league with what Mike [McShane] and Bill [Beaney] have done at Norwich and Middlebury it makes the rest of us strive to have a program like them where you can compete every season with quality student athletes in your school who are looking to establish or build on a successful reputation and quality program. We are working towards those goals and want to build on the success like we enjoyed last season and consistently compete at the highest levels each season.”

Coach Rice certainly has the Beavers in the hunt again this year. Given their second place standing is tenuous with four games left, you probably shouldn’t be looking to see them run to the title from a probable sixth place regular season finish. But their coach would like to see them play solid down the stretch run starting this Friday night at home against NESCAC leading Middlebury.

One of the keys for Babson this season has been their balance, evidenced by their point distribution.

Three players have registered over 20 points and another three are just one to two points away from that mark. This makes it very difficult to match-up on a specific line when playing the Beavers. Sophomore Jason Schneider (10-10-20) and junior Pat McLaughlin (10-9-19) are the only two players in double figures for goals but have a lot of support up front from teammates Mike Venit, Shane Farrell, Brad Baldelli and captain John Geverd.

“John is really a great leader as a two-year captain,” noted coach Rice. “Much like Tom Sullivan before him he brings a maturity and quiet calm and commitment to the game and the team that just keeps the guys loose and focused on the task at hand. John could certainly be a bigger scorer but we don’t necessarily ask him to do those things when he is out on the penalty kill or matched up with shutting down an opposing team’s scoring line.

“He really goes out and does anything he is asked to do for the team even when he is maybe not at 100% physically. He’s played over 100 games here at Babson during his career so far and that is pretty special considering we only play on average about twenty-five per year plus the playoffs — it really speaks to John’s dedication and durability.”

Babson’s last four are against NESCAC opponents who are all bunched together in the playoff battle so they know they are going to get everyone’s best efforts over these next couple of weekends.

“This is what we are playing for,” stated Rice. “You want to put yourself in a position to compete at the end for something meaningful so it’s all about playing your best hockey at the right time of the year — we capitalized on that last season and hope we can re-create that magic this year.”

Polar Bears on the Prowl

“This is fun,” noted Bowdoin head coach Terry Meagher. “It’s really what you play for all season is to be in a position to compete with the best in the league at the end of the season for the title. This team has been such a fun group to coach this year — they are always loose and ready to go so I think we will have some fun these last two weekends and see where everything ends up.

“It’s always crazy right up until the last games on the last Saturday and I don’t expect it to be much different this year so we just have to focus on what we do and try to get points in every game we play.”

Senior Mike Westerman (12-16-28) is leading the team in scoring this season and has received support offensively from freshman Ryan Leary (16-5-21) who is scoring at almost a goal per game clip.

So far, freshman Ryan Leary has demonstrated his scoring knack around the league with 16 tallies.

So far, freshman Ryan Leary has demonstrated his scoring knack around the league with 16 tallies.

“This time of the season the goals are definitely harder to find,” noted Meagher. “It’s the time you are looking for the big save form your goalie and consistent and opportunistic play from the guys up front that can make the difference.”

Senior Paul DeCoster and sophomore Chris Rossi have almost split time in the net this season with DeCoster holding the edge in goals against average and overall record for Bowdoin. Both netminders will be looking to improve their save percentages in the season’s final weeks and tune their game up for the playoff run that will surely be a battle based on the topsy-turvy performances seen amongst the NESCAC teams this season to date.

“We have Wesleyan and Trinity who are fighting for their points and position on the road this week and then we finish at home with St. Mike’s and Norwich so there can’t be any letdowns,” advised Meagher.

“It really is what we have played for all season and in just a blink of an eye the season will be over so you want to take measure of the opportunities left here and take advantage of them if you can keep playing into March.”

Coaches are looking for the Pepto and even the players are highly attuned to the ramifications of what winning or losing two points means at this time of year. It seems like it can never get better than the prior season and then it does. Amazing.

Drop the puck!

This Week in Hockey East: Feb. 14, 2008

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The Latest Hot Team

On Jan. 19, the Vermont Catamounts’ record stood at 4-9-6 and it sure looked like a season to forget. They were giving up goals by the bushel and not scoring all that much themselves. A “rebuilding year” seemed like the best euphemism available.

Now, just a few weeks later, the Catamounts are launching a legitimate bid at home ice. They’re 4-2-1 in their last seven games and last weekend came within 16 seconds of taking three of four points from then 12th-ranked Providence. On the road.

How times have changed.

“We still, unfortunately are making some mistakes that are costing us at times,” UVM coach Kevin Sneddon says, “but the difference is we’re getting contributions from all three of our offensive lines, as well as some very good play from our fourth line.

“You have to have solid goaltending, and Joe Fallon has started to play like he has been over the past three years. He went through such a tough first half, but we feel like we’ve got him back and that’s exciting for our team, especially with a young defensive core that does still make mistakes in games. Knowing they have a guy between the pipes that’s going to make up for some of those mistakes is huge for us.

“I love our energy. The team is probably skating better than it’s skated all season. The trials and tribulations of the season both on and off the ice have really formed a nice character and identity for this team, and hopefully we’re starting to play our best hockey as we head into the most important time of the season.”

A key contributor has been Viktor StÃ¥lberg, who has collected points in seven of the last eight games. StÃ¥lberg leads a “third line” that has produced like a top one.

“They’ve just been sensational in making things happen at really both ends of the rink, and have been a threat every game, if not every shift,” Sneddon says.

“Viktor is a special player, at 6’3” our fastest player, one of the fastest players in the league. I think he’s starting to learn, more and more, the North American game. Taking the puck to the net hard, using his speed to drive the net, being able to play strong along the wall.

“He’s starting to learn and grasp the concepts of a more tight checking game than what he might be used to in a Swedish League. I think he could be a very special player not only this year, but certainly in the future for us.”

In Vermont’s first two years in Hockey East, its success came early in the season. The Catamounts attracted attention in the national rankings, sat pretty in the league standings, and then had to weather the stretch-run charges. Both seasons, they failed to hold onto home ice.

This year has been a different story. When you’re 4-9-6, you’re not distracted by national rankings, the PairWise or holding onto home ice berths. You’ve got to be focused purely on winning the next game.

“Our first two years, we fought to stay in that home ice playoff spot,” Sneddon says. “I think that the pressure kind of got to the guys. Instead of applying pressure, we let the pressure affect us and kind of slid down in the standings because of that. You can’t get too worried about power rankings and NCAA tournament bids, and home ice.

“This year, we’ve come from the bottom of the league, slowly climbing our way up. I’ve never felt that our team has even thought about national rankings, or the NCAA Tournament, or anything.

“We’re just trying to get better every weekend. As a result I think we’ve been able to chip points away in league play just by focusing on one game at a time and that’s certainly now more important than ever.”

Still In The Hunt

It might be tempting to dismiss the Merrimack Warriors this year, thinking some interesting talent among the underclassmen, but hey, they’re in last place, five points out of a playoff berth. Wait till next year.

Hello, McFly? Been watching what’s been happening in the league this year? Five points out is not the end of the season.

“We need to take points every week,” Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy says. “It becomes more and more crucial with the fewer games you have left. It’s a challenge. Our players are looking forward to being in the mix, being only five points out with eight games to go. We wish we were in better shape, but you are what you are, and we need to go from here.

“This is the time of the year that matters the most. Points are hardest to come by. Home ice and playoff opportunities are decided. It’s the time of the year when best players have to step up.”

Aside from top scorer Rob Ricci, two of those best players are sophomores Matt Jones and J.C. Robitaille, both of whom have taken major strides forward from their freshman season.

Jones, a classic power forward, leads the team in goalscoring with 13 goals and four assists. He’s scored goals in three of the last four games. It’s a major leap in production from his six points as a rookie.

“A lot of our freshmen were left on their own last year and had to compete against other teams’ top lines,” Dennehy says. “There was a lot of on-the-job training.

“We noticed a distinct improvement in Matt’s game between the beginning of last year to the end of last year. He took that into the summer, came into this season and got off to a great start.

“Even without playing with Rob Ricci as he is now, he still is one of the best players on the ice every night. It’s a tribute to his play.”

Similarly, Robitaille has recorded nine goals and four assists. Since Jan. 6, he’s totaled seven goals in nine games.

“J.C. Robitaille came into college from Quebec and never really committed to the strength and conditioning one would expect of an incoming Division I freshman,” Dennehy says. “He could play hockey, but he was not physically prepared.

“He quickly understood what he needed to do off the ice, and he did that and then some. It’s helped his skating and his strength down low. He was put in a position last year where he probably was not ready for it, but now as we move forward with this program, the experience that he and the other underclassmen have gotten will pay off down the road.”

Goaltender Andrew Braithwaite, another sophomore, earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors two weeks ago for his 78-save weekend, especially his 49 stops to steal a 1-1 tie with Providence. Braithwaite (2.39 GAA, .918 Sv%) recorded only three decisions last year but has played every minute in 2008.

“We want to start from the net out as we build this program,” Dennehy says. “We took him on a team that had two established goalies last year because you can never look by goaltending, especially at Merrimack where you can be the star of the game at times.

“He hasn’t looked back since coming off the bench on December 30th. He’s another incredibly intelligent young man and he knows what he needs to do.”

Dennehy points to a few specific areas for his young team to improve in.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to take fewer penalties, and not in clusters,” he says. “It completely debilitates your bench. A lot of times your better players have to kill penalties, and you go into a third period being physically and mentally exhausted.

“Having said that, when you take penalties, you have to kill them consistently and we’re only at an 81 percent clip right now, which needs to improve.

“We need to finish our chances offensively. We had 33 shots last Friday against Northeastern and two first-period breakaways and we didn’t finish. Teams are very good defensively and you have to convert your chances.”

Still On Top

The New Hampshire Wildcats continue to be the league’s top team, having now won their last nine league contests.

“If the team plays the way we are playing now, we’re happy,” UNH coach Dick Umile says. “The last month of the season, we’ve been playing solid two-way hockey. We’ve got production from a lot of people.

“Goaltending has been strong for us, our seniors, our best players, have been playing real hard hockey for us and younger kids, freshmen, have chipped in.”

UNH’s lead — five points over BC and six over Providence — looks safe but the next two weekends will say for sure. The Wildcats next four games are against those two teams. First up are the Friars in a home-and-home series this weekend.

“I think those two teams are playing as well as anyone right now,” Umile says. “We’ve had an unbelievable rivalry with [Providence]. Three of the last [four] years we’ve met them in the quarterfinal round; the games have been really close.

“Timmy [PC coach Tim Army] has tried to change the style up there over the last couple years and I really like the way they play. Johnny Rheault is one of the top forwards in the league. This will be a good match up. There are a lot of similarities between the two teams.

“The following weekend we’ve got Boston College, who we won’t worry about until after this weekend. But BC is coming off the Beanpot [championship]. Once Jerry [BC coach Jerry York] got through that first half — he got his team through some suspensions and some injuries — he got his team playing extremely well.

“It’s a major task for us right down to the end. It’s Hockey East at its best.”

Trying To Get Back On Track

Massachusetts finally got into the 2008 win column with its Feb. 2 victory over Maine. However, with a 1-7-1 record since rising to a ranking of fifth in the country, there’s plenty of work to do.

A top priority has been to stay out of the penalty box, a problem this year until recent weeks.

“One of our strengths last year was that we were the least penalized team in this league and we were one of the top two or three least penalized teams in all of college hockey,” UMass coach Don “Toot” Cahoon says. “That helped us control our net special teams play.

“If you don’t have the huge power play production — not many of us do — you can’t rely on the one, two or three goals on the power play each and every game. You can’t possibly be putting your penalty killers in the position of having to kill six, seven, or eight penalties and expect you are not going to crack at some point.

“The other part of that equation is that like a lot of other teams in our situation right now, our best players kill penalties, they play four-on-four and they play on the power play. Now you get late into a game and if you have had those guys out there killing six penalties along with their regular shifts, along with some four-on-four play, and now you need energy, alertness, and sharpness, you can’t perform at the highest level.

“That is the one thing that we have begun to correct. We felt [it] would be an Achilles’ Heel and it certainly came into play in January when we took some really bad penalties that became our undoing in games.”

The offense has also struggled in 2008, averaging only 2.22 goals per game. Over the entire season, the Minutemen rank eighth in league games with a 2.58 mark.

“Obviously scoring goals has been a real problem for us since Christmas on a consistent basis,” Cahoon says. “If you tie yourself in a knot worrying about the scoring, it [gets] in the way. We have given up a few more goals as a result of it.

“That comes down to just our playing the type of hockey positionally and situationally that we need to play to succeed. We have gotten away from what we do best in some instances.

“If we get back to playing the game as thoroughly as we are capable of playing, the scoring will take care of itself. If we make the right plays in the right situations and we are smart on our line changes and everyone is into it and there is a lot of enthusiasm and we are playing well, the scoring will increase itself.”

Senior P.J Fenton ranks third on the team with 19 points. He’s recorded points in eight of the last dozen games and is a key contributor on the left point on the power play.

“That requires a confidence level and a great deal of poise when you take a forward and put him back there,” Cahoon says. “I know BC does with great success, but you don’t see that too often.

“P.J has done a good job of not putting himself in difficult circumstances out there and not been a liability defensively on that front and given us an added dimension on the power play.

“People tend to look at all of your big name players and say that they are going to be point producers, but I don’t think that that is the most important part of his game. The most important part of his game is the alertness, making the smart plays, winning a battle in the corner, being in good position.

“He is just a solid player who is very talented.”

Conference Call Humor

After a snafu prevented Massachusetts-Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald from being heard on the league’s media conference call, he muttered, “You lose a couple of games and you’re a nobody.”

He then recounted talking on the line he’d dialed in on only to be ignored. “It was like being at home.”

MacDonald recorded the humor hat trick with the following quip after being asked about this week’s opponent, the Boston College Eagles. “They’ve got a lot of guys my size.”

Topping all that off — though perhaps in a you-had-to-be-there moment — was the blood-curdling shriek that interrupted Northeastern coach Greg Cronin’s response to a question.

Everyone fell silent, wondering what horrific event had just occurred.

CSTV.com reporter Elliot Olshansky quickly apologized. He’d been listening on his cell phone while walking outside and a passing car drove through a puddle, drenching him.

Rumors that Hockey East will be archiving a pay-per-listen copy of the tape have been denied, but in the past league commissioner Joe Bertagna has shown no more willingness to pass up a new revenue stream than a potato chip at a buffet.

Trivia Contest

Given that we are in an election year and that this was the biggest week for primaries with Super Tuesday, Scott offered you a “Red Army” challenge last week.

In the 2004 presidential election, the divide between red states (won by the Republican Party) and the blue states (won by the Democratic Party) was quite divided by north and south across much of the country. So the question: Give us a starting lineup (three forwards, two defensemen) of the all-time leading Hockey East men’s point scoring leaders from the red states.

What makes this interesting is that there are not exactly a lot of hockey hotbeds in the red states. Here is the complete list of those that voted for Dubya in 2004, going west to east, more or less: Alaska, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Well, Scott’s last question received droves of responses … but we only had one brave/crazy soul who submitted a reply this time, so he is the default winner. We should’ve heard from J.P. Joubert, as he has a relative on the list! Here’s what Scott Donnelly submitted:

F Jacques Joubert (BU); 131 points; South Bend, Indiana
F David Spina (BC); 103 points; Mesa, Arizona
F Mark Mowers (UNH); 197 points; Decatur, Georgia
D Eric Weinrich (Maine); 70 points; Roanoke, Virginia
D Peter Harrold (BC); 58 points; Kirtland Hills, Ohio

His cheer is “See You At The Tsongas….Go River Hawks”

Since it’s pretty hard to follow up that mind-bender, we’re going to skip the question the next couple weeks and charge up the trivia batteries.

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

Hey, I love all you readers, but this Valentine’s Day shout-out has to go to my wife.

We’ve been married for over 31 years and she’s still my best friend.

This one is for The Kid.

This Week in the ECAC West

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And Down The Stretch They Come

There are just two weeks to go in the regular season of the ECAC West and the playoff race has tightened up. Two teams have a shot at the top, while three other teams are vying for home ice. Let’s take a team-by-team look around the league and see where they stand.

First, a review of the playoff format and tiebreaker criteria for the ECAC West. The tiebreaker criteria are:

1. Comparison of game results between the tied teams (head-to-head)
2. Number of league wins
3. Comparison of results against common opponents
4. Overall record

Teams that finish in the top five positions make the playoffs. The fourth place team will host the fifth place team in the first round on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The winner of that game will meet the regular season champion on Saturday, Mar. 1, while the second place team will host the third place finisher on that same evening.

The winners of those two games will play for the league championship the following Saturday, Mar. 8, at the higher seed’s rink.

The Elmira Soaring Eagles have been flying high all season long, riding the warm air currents of a 19 game unbeaten streak at the start of the season to the top of the league. But they hit a bit of a wind sheer in its last two games, losing to Neumann and tying Hobart, and that has given a glimmer of hope to the rest of the league.

The Soaring Eagles are still in the pilot’s seat and are the hands down favorite to take the regular season league title. They have a four point lead with four games remaining.

Any combination of two points from Elmira’s pair of games this weekend with Manhattanville will clinch first place, since the Soaring Eagles would own the tiebreaker criteria against the Valiants.

If Elmira gets swept by both Manhattanville and Hobart in its remaining games, the Soaring Eagles could finish as low as third.

Manhattanville currently sits in second place, only one point ahead of third place Neumann. The Valiants must take at least three of four points from Elmira this weekend to have a chance at first place. But they would need help from Hobart, doing the same to Elmira next weekend, to finish off the title.

Realistically, Manhattanville is looking to secure second place and a home semifinal playoff game. If the Valiants can’t take three points from Elmira this weekend, it will come down to the last weekend in a series with Neumann, who currently owns the tiebreaker (head-to-head).

Neumann is idle this weekend, so the Knights will have to scoreboard watch as the other teams are in action. They could finish as high as second, if Elmira takes it to Manhattanville this weekend and then Neumann cleans up against the Valiants next weekend.

Or the Knights could end in as low as fifth place if the wheels completely fall off the bus. Finishing in their current third position would allow Neumann to avoid the midweek quarterfinal play-in game on Feb. 27.

Hobart and Utica round out the playoff contenders. They are currently tied for fourth place and play a pair of games at The Cooler this weekend.

Utica owns the tiebreaker criteria against Neumann, and a single win this weekend will take the same criteria against Hobart. The Pioneers can finish as high as second or as low as fifth.

Realistically, Utica will most likely finish third. They complete the season in a two game series with Lebanon Valley next weekend and those points will allow Utica to move up in the standings while the other teams beat each other up. A determining factor in Utica’s final standing will be whether the recently surging offense can up the torrid pace.

Hobart, like Neumann and Utica, can finish anywhere from second to fifth. Hobart owns the tiebreaker with Neumann, but needs to sweep Utica this weekend to take the tiebreaker from the Pioneers.

With Utica getting points from Neumann next weekend, the Statesmen need to sweep the Pioneers this weekend to have a realistic chance of finishing above fourth place.

Lebanon Valley is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and now are just playing for pride to finish off their season. They have a rare late season non-conference game this Saturday at Geneseo then head to Utica for a pair of games to finish off the year next weekend.

Falling Records

Manhattanville senior Jason Murfitt continues to knock down school records in remarkable fashion. He broke the all-time Valiants scoring record last Friday when he notched a goal at 13:09 of the second period, helping his team to a 8-1 win over Lebanon Valley.

Murfitt now has 118 career points, surpassing Chris Seifert’s (1999-2003) previous standard.

The next record on Murfitt’s radar is career assists. He currently has 67 helpers and is eyeing Seifert’s career record of 72 assists.

Camouflage Night at The Cooler

Hobart Hockey Helpers (HHH) is going stealth for this Friday’s game with Utica. The Statesmen will be wearing camouflage uniforms for the game in an effort to raise awareness and money for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Hobart junior defenseman Ryan Adler dons the camouflage.

Hobart junior defenseman Ryan Adler dons the camouflage.

One of the jerseys will be raffled off during the game, and the rest will be auctioned off at a later date from the HHH website. Also for sale at the game will be HHH hats with donations going towards the project.

Coming together to support the camouflage sweater event is a partnership of alumni, local businesses and restaurants.

Game of the Week

Both of the series this weekend could have a huge impact in the standings. Manhattanville has the last chance to put the brakes on Elmira’s run for the title, while the Soaring Eagles are looking to hit their stride again after two recent stumbles.

Lower down in the standings, Hobart and Utica are each trying to break out of their fourth place tie. Both have identical 5-5-1 league records and have been up-and-down in league play since the holidays. If a team is going to make a late season move, now is the time.

If you are a fan of college hockey, either series would be worth attending this weekend.

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