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This Week in the ECAC Northeast

By Paul C. Altmeyer Jr.
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Corsairs rolling along

Sitting atop the ECAC NE in sole possession of first place is UMass Dartmouth, with a 6-0-0 record, and a 8-4-1 overall mark. Head coach John Rolli is pleased with his team’s effort so far, but after playing five of the last six on the road, he can’t wait to play a home game.

“We’re just trying to get through this away game streak we’re on, and play at home,” he joked.

After one more road game, this Saturday against Western New England College, the Corsairs will play five straight at home, highlighted by the Suffolk game on January 30. The Suffolk game falls in the middle of contests against UMass Boston, Southern New Hampshire University, Fitchburg State, and Salve Regina.

Rolli is particularly pleased with his team’s defense.

“We’ve played well in league games, and we’ve only allowed six goals in six games,” he noted. “Our non-league record isn’t that great, and we’ve certainly played some very good teams and proved we can play with them.”

Of the Corsairs four non-league losses, none were by more than a two goal deficit.

UMD goalie Jeff Green is having his usual stellar season. The junior out of Medway, MA, is currently 8-4-1, with a 2.12 GAA, which leads the ECAC NE. Green’s winning percentage of .654% is second in the conference, behind SNHU’s Matt Courchesne, who has played in five games. Green’s .916 save percentage is also third in the conference.

Offensively, UMD is led by their first line, with senior center Jeff Grant flanked by freshmen wingers Joseph Hill and Jason Stahl, both of whom skated for the Valley Jr. Warriors of the EJHL last year. Hill currently leads the team in scoring with (6-10-16), with Grant and Stahl close behind.

Rolli is happy with the production out of his second line, led by junior Nick Paquin, and he was pleased to see his fourth line score six out of the 12 goals in last week’s wins over Worcester State and Assumption. After losing five out of his six top forwards to graduation last year, which included the entire second line, Rolli was worried about his offense coming into the season, but his fears have been allayed somewhat by his team’s ability to score.

As far as the defense, “they’ve played well all season long. We’re led by Tyler Crocker and [goalie] Jeff Green,” Rolli said. Crocker, a senior out of Wakefield, MA, leads the team with three power-play goals. Freshman Mickey Dudley leads all blue-liners with eight points.

In summing the season up, Rolli, who is in his 24th year behind the bench, said, “Now we have 10 games left, eight in the league, and two non-conference. We’re fortunate to be on top of the league now at 6-0-0.”

He also realizes just how strong the competition is now.

“Our league is just getting better and better. You’ve got Nichols beating Colby, Suffolk’s making noise in and out of the league, and Western New England College beats Potsdam the day after Potsdam beats Manhattanville.”

Curry College is also in close pursuit of that top stop, with 11 points and a 5-1-1 record.

Rolli is experienced enough to know the real work is still ahead.

“We have to start gearing up for next month, and then the playoffs.”

This Week in the NCHA/MCHA

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Save for two games, from now on both leagues exclusively are partaking in conference play from this point on. It’s safe to say we’ve hit the homestretch.

The NCHA all but wrapped up its Interlock schedule last weekend and currently holds a 29-19-8 record against the MIAC. While not as impressive as last season’s dominating performance, it should be noted that if St. Thomas is removed from the equation, the NCHA’s ledger grows to an even more impressive 27-13-7.

Meanwhile, the MCHA is at the midpoint of its conference schedule, and after an interesting week of games the race is figuring to be a somewhat unexpected one.

With all teams back in action a week ago, there was a bit more shuffling on the national scene.

St. Norbert still holds the top spot in the USCHO.com Division III poll, but dropped two first place votes on the heels of two home overtime wins. A weekend sweep of MIAC foes moves River Falls up to fifth, while a Stout loss to St. John’s drops them back to No. 9.

Adrian joins MSOE and becomes the second MCHA team ever to crack the top 15, sliding into the final position. UW-Superior is once again in the others receiving votes category and for the first time this season Marian cracks the poll, earning a single vote.

There’s some calm before the storm in the NCHA this week with only three games on the league docket, but the MCHA storm is a Category 5. As a result, let’s get caught up on the MCHA and also take a look at one potential NCHA sleeper before delving into the bowels of the NCHA race next week.

MCHA

2253

That is how many days it had been since Northland last registered a two game sweep over any opponent. Up until last week’s 4-3, 8-0 back-to-back victories over Crookston, the Lumberjacks had not swept an opponent since November 9 and 10 of 2001. To put it in perspective, the following weekend they played Finlandia in two exhibitions games, as the Lions had yet to become a member of the MCHA.

Last weekend saw Northland sweep its first opponent in over six years.

Last weekend saw Northland sweep its first opponent in over six years.

Also of note that Saturday’s 8-0 whitewashing was the first shutout for the Lumberjacks since, well, forever.

It really should not surprise anyone that the Lumberjacks were finally able to tack a few up in the win column. They have been on the losing side of five one goal games already this season — two coming in overtime.

Commenting on Friday’s 4-3 win, Lumberjack head coach Steve Fabiilli said, “It was nice to win one of those games. We lead most of the game and then fell behind, so it was really good to see us come back the way we did.”

The win was the Lumberjacks second of the season and they would only have to wait a day to pick up their third when they hammered the Golden Eagles 8-0 on Saturday, despite being outshot 40-22. All told, seven Northland players picked up tallies in the win.

“It just seemed like one of those days that every time we shot the puck it hit the back of the net,” said Fabiili. “We haven’t had a lot of games like that here, so it was a good weekend for sure. I’m excited for our boys because they have been working hard all year and doing everything we’ve asked of them.”

“I do think our power play was definitely clicking,” he added. “We put in four power-play goals in that game so it was really nice to see it working as well as it was.”

Not to be lost in the shuffle amidst the ocho they put on the scoreboard was the play of freshman goaltender Daniel McIntosh. He picked up both wins on the weekend and stopped all 40 Crookston shots to garner Saturday’s historic shutout. For his performances, he was named MCHA Defensive Player of the Week.

“He played really well,” said Fabiili. “I’m real happy he was able to get the wins as he’s been overdue with all of our close games. We did give up 40 shots but I think we did a good job giving up the shots we wanted to give up.

“I don’t think they had too many good scoring chances, but when they did Daniel was there to turn them away. Everyone just played extremely well; our rebound control was good and the guys did a great job of helping him out.”

The wins only give Northland three on the season, but its three more than they amassed all of last season and currently enough for sole possession of sixth place in the MCHA. Further evidence of their improvement is seen in their conference scoring margin — they are on the south side of a 35-30 deficit — a marked improvement from years past.

“We’ve been competing in some even games in our conference,” said Fabiili. “Now we have to take the next step, continue to recruit, and rebuild and continue to improve that way.

“I think if you look at it and compare last year to this year with our team … it’s a big difference.”

Dust off the Crystal Ball

“I think right now we are getting better each week, but we have 10 games to play and anything can happen. We’re doing a lot of things well but we are going to have to take it week-to-week and game-by-game and take care of things in our own end. Hopefully we can get a few bounces to go our way and set ourselves up well for the postseason,” said . . . every MCHA coach.

Surely I jest, but odds are that is about the mindset of everyone in the league at this point in the season. So as a substitute I’m going to blow the dust off my crystal ball, gaze into the murky depths of the future and figure out how the league will shake out. Like with last season’s NCHA fortune-telling extravaganza and used puck fair (where I even correctly called the sixth place tie), I figure this is a lot easier than just playing the games themselves.

Who will win the league?

Right now it looks like a two team race. Adrian has been living up to all the hype and expectations and Marian has been playing some great hockey, which is why they are both 9-1 in the league, two games ahead of 7-3 Finlandia. The two square off in a notable series in a few weeks, but Marian still has to make a trip to Finlandia this week while Adrian has already swept the Lions. The Sabres were able to draw a home split with Adrian at home earlier in the season, but between the facts that the key series will be played at Adrian and that I think Adrian just has too much talent, the regular season MCHA champion will be:

Adrian.

Could anyone else make a run at the top?

It looks unlikely right now, but if anyone does it will be Finlandia. Playing in the MCHA North Division, the Lions have an easier schedule than MSOE, and I do not see Lawrence making up three games on them. Finlandia has already played Adrian while the Raiders must play them two more times. The Lions also get Lawrence at home the final weekend of the season. At 7-3, the Lions are two games back and a much easier said than done home sweep over Marian this weekend would go a long way, but they will still need help from other teams to chase down Marian or Adrian. I do not think the Lions will pull it off, but I do foresee them finishing no lower than third overall while winning the MCHA North, which would wrap up the second seed in the MCHA playoffs.

Who will finish in fourth and host the final home playoff series?

In large part to the unbalanced schedule the MCHA is using, I am going to go with Lawrence. The Vikings are currently one game back of MSOE for the fourth spot but have won three of their last four league games following some early season setbacks. Meanwhile, MSOE has lost four straight but it should be noted they were to Adrian and Marian. MSOE’s real disadvantage here is that while both it and Lawrence still have series remaining with Concordia, Marian, Northland and Finlandia, Lawrence’s final series is with Crookston while MSOE has to hit the road to play Adrian again. Somewhere along the way, I think Lawrence can make up at least two points. Save for goaltending, MSOE has better league numbers across the board but playing it safe is not very fun. A tie for fourth here should not surprise anyone, either.

Who will be MCHA Player of the Year?

While Adrian’s success is not overly shocking, the fact they have three of the top scorers in the nation somewhat is. Leading the way — and nation — is freshman forward Shawn Skelly. He has registered 36 points with 16 goals and 20 assists in just 15 games, blistering the MCHA for 24 points in 10 league contests. When the league boasts the nation’s leading scorer, it’s hard not to give him the award.

The MCHA POTY is:

Shawn Skelly, Adrian

Who will be MCHA Coach of the Year?

Perhaps the toughest call of all. It is probably safe to say it comes down to one of two coaches: Jasen Wise at Marian or Ron Fogarty at Adrian. Very strong cases can be made for both as their teams are currently tied for the league lead, but one gets the edge due to the programs infancy and that despite a bountiful horn of resources with which to operate, it was all put together in under a year.

The MCHA COTY is (barely):

Ron Fogarty, Adrian

Will I get to a game at Adrian this season?

Yes.

How will the league standings look at the end of the season?

1. Adrian
2. Marian
3. Finlandia
4. Lawrence
5. MSOE
6. Northland
7. Crookston
8. Concordia

NCHA

With only three league games this week, it’s time to repeat a feature from last season. Next week we will examine River Falls, Stout and Superior to see if any have the potential to chase down St. Norbert.

At the midpoint of last season’s NCHA schedule, I speculated in this column whether any team in the bottom half of the league had the ability to make a run at the top half of the conference. The emphasis was on St. Scholastica and though the Saints ended up in fifth place, they made an impressive playoff run before eventually succumbing to St. Norbert in the Peters Cup Finals.

The Saints, along with Eau Claire, have the potential to make a similar run this season, but the team most seem to be talking about is Stevens Point.

The Pointers currently stand at 11-5-1 overall and are an impressive 9-1-1 in non-conference games, including a 6-1 record against MIAC teams. Aside from St. Norbert, the Pointers are the only team to defeat St. Thomas this season. And they did it on the road. Not all is rosy right now for the Pointers, however. Though they have already won four more games than they did all of last season, they are only 2-4 in conference play and stand at seventh in the NCHA.

“I’m happy with some of the steps we’ve made, but bottom line is we are still seventh place in the league and still 2-4,” said Pointer head coach Wil Nichol.

He continued: “We got picked to finish seventh in the conference by the NCHA coaches and that’s where we are right now. Did I think we’d be 11-5-1 overall right now? I don’t know. A lot of questions rested on our defense and goaltending and I think our goaltending has been pretty good as has our defense.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year for the Pointers has been the play of freshman goaltender Thomas Speer. Speer has seen action in 12 games thus far and has posted a 9-2-1 record with a goals against average of 1.41 and a save percentage of .944.

The second two of those statistics both rank in the top four nationally and Speer has already registered four shutouts on the season, only two shy of tying the Pointer career record.

“I think he’s off to a pretty good start to his career,” said Nichol. “I think the thing I like about him the most is that he’s really humble about it. He’s one of our hardest workers. He says it himself: ‘stats really don’t mean anything unless you’re a statistician,’ and he really believes that.”

As far as whether Speer will see exclusive time in net for the Pointers the rest of the way:

Stevens Point freshman Thomas Speer is among the nation's leaders in goaltending and a key reason the Pointers are 11-5-1.

Stevens Point freshman Thomas Speer is among the nation’s leaders in goaltending and a key reason the Pointers are 11-5-1.

“Well right now he’s our guy. It doesn’t mean it is set in stone but he’s pretty tough to take out of net right now.”

With Speer playing solid in net and a revamped defense, led by junior transfer Tim Manthey, out in front of him, the Pointers have outscored opponents 63-35 this season. The total lies in stark contrast to the 78-54 goal deficit the Pointers faced at this same point last season. For those keeping track at home, that is a 52 goal swing in the Pointers favor.

Ignoring three blowout wins over Concordia-WI, Northland and Lake Forest, the Pointers are still +27 compared to last season.

While the Pointers won an early season game at St. Thomas and also defeated Superior at Wessman, a major question surrounding the Pointers — and Speer — is the lack of a marquee win.

“I don’t really think it matters,” said Nichol. “Bottom line is that we are in a position where we are going to have to do awfully well in our league playoffs. The first half of our season in league play pretty much set that up.”

Regarding the potential benefits of a win over a top-ranked opponent, he noted:

“I think the most important thing in beating a team like St. Norbert or River Falls is that it’s still two points on the line. You can’t gear your entire season toward playing one or two teams. Obviously teams like that are two of the top teams in the country and are teams we try to model ourselves after, but it’s all about Eau Claire, and then Lake Forest after that.

“Our guys have been real good with that approach.”

If the Pointers do wish to make a run this season, they cannot suffer the same bouts of inconsistency they did earlier in the season. There is no greater illustration than a winless road weekend at River Falls and Stout where the Pointers were outscored 11-3. Making matters worse that weekend was a penalty kill that could best be classified as an “unmitigated disaster,” as it conceded nine goals between the two games.

Last season everyone knew the Pointers had quality offensive talent, but with a defense so laughable that the offense never had a chance to open things up it was rendered useless. So far this season, with vastly improved team defense and excellent goaltending so far by Speer, the Pointers just may be the NCHA team to make a big second half move.

Media Guidegate Update

In a story that has taken on a life of its own, I’d just really like to thank the Stevens Point radio crew, Tom Weaver and Sean McMahon, for doing everything they can to grab me media guides when they go on road trips. They always come in handy — none more so than the River Falls women’s basketball one they gave me last weekend. They might think it was rather comical, but take note: There are reasons that some coaches have compared them to Statler and Waldorf of Muppet fame. If only they had a red curtain.

This Week in the ECAC East and NESCAC

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This week brings us to the unofficial halfway point in the season. Based on what amounts to about an average of a 25 game schedule per team, this weekend puts most teams across the halfway mark and really turns the focus on making an impact in league play.

As Colby coach Jim Tortorella puts it: “Your team is playing for placement in January and for the final standings on the last weekend of the season where it usually comes down to some kind of tiebreaker.”

No doubt playing each team in the interlocking schedule just once puts a premium on the single match-up as a potential tiebreaker in the conference standings and January is loaded with interesting weekend match-ups in both leagues, which are already tight at the top among several teams in each league. In the ECAC East only two points separate first and fourth place while in the NESCAC conference it is just a single point separating four teams at the top headed into the weekend.

For teams looking to build momentum, the break is over and the rush to improve play and position in the standings is a priority. For those teams at the top, Coach Tortorella believes “that you don’t want to play to hold on to first place, you want to play first place hockey as you look to be playing at your best in February coming down the stretch.”

They all count for two points, but some match-ups mean more than others this week that will probably show later in the year. Getting on track and staying on track is the key this month and lots of teams fit into both categories — let’s see who can put it all together in the second half!

Thoroughbreds Getting on Track

At 0-6-1 in the conference, you might think Neil Sinclair’s Skidmore squad is basically out of the running in the ECAC East. One of last year’s surprise teams, the Thoroughbreds have struggled this season and look to rebound starting this week on the road against Tufts and Conn College.

“We really forgot about how hard we worked last year to be successful,” commented Sinclair. “We haven’t competed in the defensive end where we are getting outshot by large margins and have taken too many penalties that have come back to cost us on the scoreboard. We need to increase our defensive intensity when we play 5-on-5 hockey and have that translate on to our special teams.

“The power-play goals against us have largely been on the people in front of our goalie. Teddy (Levine) has done a pretty good job for us and we need to play better and start doing the little things for each other. Turning this around is about the players being accountable to themselves and there is some progress being made.”

Just last week, Skidmore’s number one goalie, DJ Delbuono, left school and the team to pursue other opportunities. The team has moved on with what it needs to focus on for a successful second half of the season. Senior Ted Levine has stepped into the void and provided stability for the team in the net but now other improvements are needed to help Skidmore climb the conference ladder.

“We are not going to sneak up on anyone anymore,” noted Sinclair. “It’s definitely harder the second time around and our kids are learning that. We have really simplified the focus right now to one shift at a time, one period and dividing the game into five minute segments. No, the results overall aren’t there yet but we are playing better and in much longer stretches than where we were at the beginning of the season.”

Leading the re-focusing efforts are a core group of players who battling through the early season adversity and committing themselves to making things better in the second half while rallying their teammates.

Juniors Mike Gibbons (5-8-13), Phil McDavitt (5-7-12), and captain Teddy Gowan (1-3-4) are leading the team by example and trying to improve overall team play including the offense which has produced just 41 goals in their first 13 games and just five in their last three games.

Sophomore Anthony Ferri (4-6-10) and freshman Alex Myolenko (4-6-10) represent the young talent that needs to gel at Skidmore to consistently perform at the high level needed to compete in the league year in and year out.

“Alex has a European style and is really gifted offensively,” said coach Sinclair. “He’s a very talented skater and brings a lot to this team. He’s exciting to watch and we are excited to have him here at Skidmore.”

The last of the core players is sophomore forward Chris Webb (2-1-3) who does a lot more for the team than what shows up on a score sheet.

“Chris is really overlooked on this team but he is out there making contributions all over the ice in every game,” said Sinclair. “We need that kind of effort every night from everyone on the roster and I hope we can continue to make strides as a young team and see some results.”

The Thoroughbreds hit the road this weekend and coach Sinclair for one is happy to see the road trip:

“It’s good to be on the road this week. Our students aren’t back yet and they have been terrific in supporting the team. Being away will give us the chance to have clear thoughts and focus on the task at hand.”

The good news is that Skidmore is just four points out of fifth place in the conference. With no need to panic, it’s time to put things together in the second half.

Mule Train Rolling On

At 6-5-0 overall and 2-2-0 since the break, Colby has not yet found the consistency it’s looking for to make a push in the conference. However, holding a 5-2-0 record in the conference has the Mules in their accustomed position near the top, as they get healthy and ready to make a run against some of the league’s best in January.

In one of the more interesting statistical stories so far this season, Colby has had three players surpass the 100-point mark for their careers this season with Arthur Fritch (100) joining teammates Josh Reber (118) and TJ Kelley (106) in reaching the century milestone.

Add in the recently graduated Greg Osborne who achieved the feat last season and Colby has produced four 100-point scorers in two seasons where only 16 have achieved that lofty goal in the school’s illustrious hockey history.

There’s no doubt the big four — including senior Joe Rothwell (74 career points) — are needed to have Colby make a run and having a healthy Arthur Fritch is already paying dividends since the start of the New Year.

“Arthur has been sidelined with some nagging injuries so far this season,” noted coach Tortorella. “We have tried to make things less demanding on him and put him in some situations that make it easier for him to contribute.”

Apparently it has worked as the big defenseman had just one goal and one assist to show on the score sheet in the first seven games but has exploded for three goals, six assists and nine points in his last four games to get back into the mix offensively for Colby.

“Arthur’s biggest strength can also be his biggest weakness,” said Tortorella. “He has a huge shot that sometimes he gets too picky with location on. We just want him to let it go on net and let good things happen around the goal.

“TJ Kelley has a mindset that every time he touches the puck and shoots he thinks it’s going in – we’re trying to get Arthur there with his confidence in just letting it go — so far the second half looks better being somewhat healthy and having some success offensively.”

Colby has gone through some changes this year but have come to rely on something old and something new to be successful this season. The old is a power play unit that has worked together for going on four years with the core group adding sophomore Michael Belliveau to the mix this season.

At 29%, the group is experienced and can change momentum in a game quickly with their ability to read the opposition’s style and defensive tactics.

“We call it R&R — repetition and recognition,” noted Tortorella. “The thing that is cool about these guys is the recognition of things on the ice at a very high speed. They have the ability to have different looks and adjust to what the defensive group is giving them real-time and creating different options out of puck movement among the five players. It’s really fun to watch and obviously very effective.”

The new component has been the addition of freshman goalie Cody McKinney who has stepped in to take the starting job and has won the confidence of his team and coach in the process.

Himself a former goaltender, Tortorella said “[t]he thing that impresses me about Cody is that he plays every game the same, He carries himself with a real sense of responsibility and purpose. I really like the way his game is developing and the maturity he displays. He has been aggressive, sometimes too aggressive but I would rather see that in a goaltender. Cody has kept us in games and really made the big save when we have needed it. The “when” save as I call it. The guys out front have confidence in his abilities back there and that allows us to play a high-level aggressive style with confidence.”

Colby travels this week to face Williams and Middlebury and coach Tortorella expects a couple of very hard fought battles.

“Williams always plays us very tough particularly at their place which is a credit to coach Kangas and his program: they just seem to have our number so we know we are going to be challenged on Friday and then have to come right back and face a strong Middlebury team on Saturday. We want to be playing our best hockey in February but will need to start that process now where the NESCAC vs. NESCAC games carry a premium on points and position in the standings.”

Everybody is looking to make things happen in January and it doesn’t really matter where you are in the standings today — it’s about where you can put yourself come February that is what these next six weeks are going to be all about.

Can you feel the excitement? Drop the puck!

The First Save of Many?

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The CHA’s demise seems all but a foregone conclusion. After Air Force departed in 2006, leaving the league with five teams, and Wayne State’s announcment that it will drop hockey at the end of this season bringing the enrollment down to four, it seems impossible for college hockey’s sixth conference to remain.

The pending question then is what happens to the remaining four members.

One answer came down on Friday as the WCHA and Bemidji State announced a scheduling agreement beginning in the 2010-11 season. Timed to coincide with the opening of the Bemidji Regional Events Center, the WCHA has guaranteed the Beavers program that its teams will schedule games home games for Bemidji. While this is far from a long-term solution for the Beavers or the remaining three programs – Nigara, Robert Morris and Alabama-Huntsville – it’s the first showing of guaranteed support by any of the remaining five men’s hockey leagues.

The release issues by Bemidji State’s athletic department states that the agreement with the WCHA would account for 12 non-league games, six at home and six on the road. The question that begs, then, is where will the Beavers find the remainder of their schedule. That is not addressed anywhere in the school’s press release.

At this point, there’s strong question about where the four remaining CHA members will even play hockey next season. The NCAA granted the conference the right to have an autobid despite being below the usual minimum of six teams. But it seems questionable whether the Men’s Division I Ice Hockey Committee will continue allowing that bid to exist.

There appears to be a no-room-at-the-inn mentality among all of the remaining five league. Atlantic Hockey, for one, has placed a moratorium for expansion on its league after adding Air Force and RIT at the beginning of the 2006-07 season. That moratorium will continue, at least, through the 2008-09 season.

None of the other conferences have shown any interest in expansion and even the WCHA’s efforts to help out Bemidji (the Bemidji women are members of the WCHA women’s league) though admirable, do not offer a long-term solution for the school.

There’s a part of me that believes that college hockey is about to see it’s first large batch of Division I independents in a long time next season. Even if they’re veiled as the CHA, a four-team league truly is nothing more than a scheduling alliance.

Much of this will not play out until after this year’s NCAA tournament when the respective league meet at the AHCA Convention in Naples, Fla., in late April.

Bemidji State, WCHA Announce Scheduling Agreement

USCHO Staff Report
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Bemidji State and the WCHA have reached a future scheduling agreement involving the Bemidji State men’s ice hockey program.

Beginning with the 2010-11 season, and in conjunction with the opening of the Bemidji Regional Events Center, the WCHA will include in its annual composite schedule guaranteed home contests in men’s ice hockey at Bemidji State.

The announcement comes as the future of the CHA — which will drop to four members at the close of this season with the demise of the Wayne State program — remains in doubt. Bemidji had been pursuing membership in the WCHA, but saw that possibility end for the near future after the WCHA announced a moratorium on new members in May.

“We’re pleased that we have been able to successfully pursue this agreement with the WCHA,” Bemidji State president Dr. Jon Quistgaard said. “We view this agreement as the first step in developing an even closer relationship between Bemidji State University and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.”

BSU director of athletics Dr. Rick Goeb added, “This is a positive step for Bemidji State University and its hockey program. It helps us in reaching our goal of attaining more home games and additional games against the one of the premier hockey conference in the country — the WCHA.”

Bemidji State hopes to play an annual 12-game, non-conference schedule against members of the WCHA with an even split of home and road contests. However, no specific details regarding the scheduling agreement have been finalized at this time.

“The WCHA congratulates the City of Bemidji and Bemidji State University on their commitment to build a new ice hockey facility,” WCHA officials said in a statement released Friday. “[The WCHA] looks forward to helping showcase the sport at the highest level to the citizens of Bemidji, Minn.”

Bemidji State’s women’s team is a member of the women’s WCHA.

Additional commentary on Magnessgate… and more

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I’ve received a lot of email from fans who were at Magness last Friday night when the controversial no-goal ended the Wisconsin-Denver game.

Some of the feedback brought up worthy points:

“Magness Arena is equipped with technology that does not allow the goal light to come on, which it did, if there is no time on the clock. You can sit in the judges box and flip the goal switch as many times as you want but if the game clock does not have any time on the clock it will not come on. Since the goal light most clearly came on, and the two referees who were standing by the goal signaled goal, and the replay clearly showed the puck going into the net, I am not sure what the question was.” – Eddie Gleason

Eddie brings up a very good point. Unless referee Randy Schmidt believed that the goal judge had a very quick trigger finger, the goal light alone was a good indication. Most arenas have a trip swtich that doesn’t allow the red light to fuction if the clock reads all zeros. So the fact that the goal light was even able to go on was a clear sign the puck entered the net before the buzzer.

“I am a DU alum that traveled to Denver last weekend for the games. My friend has season tickets right behind the penalty boxes and the now infamous replay monitor. When the apparent tying goal was scored, I jumped up and literally was looking over Schmidt’s shoulder through the glass as he reviewed the play. On the replay monitor he was looking at the camera angle from directly above the goal and not the FSN feed. The replay monitor had a camera shot of a clock (which one I have no idea) super-imposed in the corner of the video as he rolled through it frame by frame. When the clock was at 0.0 the puck was clearly in the crease 6-8 inches from the goal line. It was so obviously not a goal I was screaming at him to waive it off and was surprised how long it took him to rule no-goal. Having now seen the FSN feed and assuming that the green light is the official end of the game it is clear a mistake was made but I am not sure how Schmidt is to blame.” – Craig Praul

Craig, too, has a point that the above goal camera that is used likely did (every account I’ve heard says the same) show the puck is outside of the goal when the clock reached 0.0. But that doesn’t let Schmidt off the hockey. Seriously, Schmidt was on the goal line. His hand was pointing at the net before the buzzer sounded. His initial reaction when heading to review the video should have been that this was a goal. So to look at exactly one frame of a video and allow that to change your mind is crazy. I’ve watched tons of NHL games where you can see the video replay official winding and re-winding MOVING video, so there really wasn’t justification for watching only a single, still frame.

At this point, it’s obviously time for everyone, including myself (and I must say, 99% of the time, I’m an apologist for referees – this is just a no excuse kind of situation) to move on. The WCHA on Thursday denied Wisconsin’s appeal that would have changed the outcome of the game from a win to a tie. WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod told the Wisconsin State Journal on Thursday, “It’s a black-and-white issue. I don’t have the prerogative to change the outcome of a game.”

What prerogative McLeod and WCHA Supervisor of Officials Greg Shepherd do have is to discipline referee Schmidt for his poor judgement. Nothing on that has been formally announced to this point.

Hobey Farce?

If you haven’t done so, check out Chris Lerch’s weekly Atlantic Hockey columm that discussed the convoluted process that the Hobey Baker committee used this season to solicit nominations for its annual “Vote for Hobey” fan balloting.

Obviously the Hobey folks didn’t exactly think this one through entirely as the list, as Lerch explains, excludes some of the top players in the game while including players who are middle-of-the-pack at some of the bottom feeder teams nationally.

Scott Brown and I discussed this in Tuesday Morning Quarterback, as well. Everyone agrees, I believe, that the Vote for Hobey is a nice way to interact fans. But the Hobey Baker folks need to make sure that the marketing stunt doesn’t jeopardize the credibility of the award.

TV for the Rivalry?

With two of college hockey’s biggest rivals squaring off on Saturday night, I was surprised to learn that the Boston University-Boston College game wasn’t scheduled to be broadcast on television. The league’s TV contract with NESN calls for Friday night games to be televised (and NESN likely has a better game than BC-BU this weekend when it shows the BC @ Mass.-Lowell game tonight at 7:30). BU and BC have also been televised this season on CN8, a Comcast channel available to many cable subscribers in the region.

All hope, though, isn’t lost if you want to see Saturday night’s game and don’t have a ticket to Conte Forum. BC’s affiliation with the Atlantic Coast Conference will actually put a hockey game on their online pay-per-view channel, ACCSelect.com.

The company, which was once owned by media mogul Ted Turner and sold to Time Warner, broadcasts various sports for ACC schools. In this instance, the strange crossover to hockey, a non-ACC sport, will be beneficial to fans wishing to follow either the Eagles or the Terriers.

Saturday is one of three BC games that will be televised on ACCSelect.com. The Eagles Feb. 1 game versus Providence and their Feb. 15 game against Lowell will also be carried online.

The cost is a nominal $4.95 fee, which allows the viewers to watch the game either live or on-demand for 30 days.

This Week in the ECAC West

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With most ECAC West teams winding up their non-league games and heading back into league play this weekend, it is time for my annual mid-season review. The first half of the season has been a wild ride, with surprises, disappointment, and some incredible hockey.

The ECAC West has done an outstanding job in the non-conference games this season, amassing an amazing 39-11-4 record and a winning mark against every other league in Division III. Of particular note is the league’s 20-7-3 record against the SUNYAC, a long time rival of the
ECAC West.

Hobart carried the flag for the ECAC West in non-conference play, going a perfect 10-0, with Elmira not far behind with a 7-0-2 record outside of league.

But the teams did a pretty good job of beating each other up inside the league. Elmira was the only team to come out of the first half of the season with its league record unscathed. Every other team carries two or more league losses into the latter half of the season.

A sign of the strength of the league is the number of national categories that you can find the ECAC West at or near the top of:

Goalie save percentage: 1st Keith Longo .950% (Hobart), 2nd Paul Reimer .944% (Manhattanville)
Goals Against Average: 1st Paul Reimer 1.29 (Manhattanville)
Scoring Defense: 1st Manhattanville 1.62, 2nd Elmira 1.69, 4th Hobart 1.93
Scoring Offense: 2nd Neumann 5.31
Penalty Kill: 2nd Manhattanville 89.9%, 3rd Elmira 89.1%, 4th Utica 88.6%

Not a bad first half at all. But now it is into the stretch run for the teams, with league play dominating the thoughts of players, coaches, and fans alike. Let’s review each team individually.

Elmira

The Elmira Soaring Eagles have to be the surprise of the season so far, going undefeated through its first thirteen games. The only blemishes on an otherwise perfect 11-0-2 record are a pair of 4-4 ties at the hands of Oswego and Brockport.

Besides the ties, the stingy Elmira defense has only allowed three goals in one other contest (against Manhattanville), and has pitched a total of four shutouts if you include their preseason exhibition game against the Greater Metropolitan Junior Hockey League (GMJHL) All-Stars.

Elmira has been led this year by its captain, Michael Richard, both on and off the ice. Richard leads the team in points with four goals and 17 assists, and also was instrumental in getting the new players integrated into the team early and avoiding the Soaring Eagles usual slow start to the season.

Surprisingly enough, despite having a nearly perfect first half, Elmira only leads the league in two statistical categories. Goaltender Casey Tuttle, who has played in all but one game, naturally has the league’s best winning percentage at .917. And Rusty Masters is tied for the lead in game winning goals in the league and the nation with four.

Hobart

Despite going a perfect 10-0 outside the league for the second straight season, the Hobart Statesmen had two in-conference stumbles in a single disastrous road weekend against Manhattanville (3-1) and Utica (3-2). The Statesmen have only allowed four or more goals against in a single game, a 6-5 win over Brockport.

It has been a youth movement leading Hobart on the scoreboard, with five of its six top scorers either freshmen or sophomores. The three top freshmen scorers in the league are all Statesmen: Matthew Wallace (13 points), Thomas Capalbo (12), and Patrick Moriarty (11).

The only upper classman on the list is Shawn Houde, who leads Hobart with eight goals and six assists.

Opponents should seriously thing about declining penalties that are whistled against the Statesmen. Hobart has scored an amazing seven shorthanded goals, more than doubling the next closest ECAC West team’s total, and have no shorthanded goals scored against.

Netminder Keith Longo leads the nation in save percentage stopping 320 of 337 shots faced, for a stratospheric 95.0%.

All of this goodness helped Hobart attain its highest poll ranking ever, sliding into the No. 2 spot in the November 27th USCHO poll.

Lebanon Valley

Despite only having a 1-13-1 record, comparable to its 2-15 record at this point last season, several coaches have commented to me that Lebanon Valley is showing signs of improvement. The scores are certainly getting closer.

Six of the Flying Dutchmen’s fifteen games have been decided by two goals or less. They have only had double digits posted on them twice this season (happened three times by this point last season), and Lebanon Valley has not been shutout (once by now last year).

There are no players with double digit points yet, but five of the top six scorers for the Flying Dutchmen are freshmen or sophomores. Three freshmen, Anthony Venture, Ray Nicks, and Brad Surdam are knocking on the double digit door with nine points so far.

Lebanon Valley has platooned goaltenders this year, with sophomore Aaron Miller and freshman Rich Drazin seeing equal time in net.

Manhattanville

Despite pitching three shutouts this season, the Manhattanville Valiants have had a hard time stringing more than three consecutive wins together. Last year, the Valiants were 12-0-2 by mid-January and on a roll that took them all the way to the final four.

This season, Manhattanville is a rather mediocre (by its standards) 9-3-1 and seem to be still trying to find themselves both on and off the ice. This team certainly has a different personality than past Valiant teams.

Only one player is in the double digit scoring category, senior Jason Murfitt with eleven assists, although there is a mix of five players with double digit points.

What has kept Manhattanville in games this year is play in its own zone. The Valiants sport the best defense in the nation, only allowing an average of 1.62 goals per game, and the second best
penalty kill in the country with an 89.9%.

Senior netminder Paul Reimer has come out of the goaltending shadow left by Andrew Gallant and has played stellar hockey. He leads the nation in goals against average of 1.29, and is second in the nation in save percentage of 94.4%.

Neumann

If you like scoring then the Neumann Knights are the team for you this season. Neumann is averaging 5.31 goals per game, second best in the nation.

Senior Neil Trimm leads all of division III with 2.69 points per game, while junior Mike Hedden is out in front in goals with 25 thanks to his five game hat trick streak.

The top five scorers in the league are all from Neumann, including the only three players with double digit goals: Hedden (25), Trimm (13), and Kyle Casey (12).

With such an explosive corps of forwards, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that senior Mike Gooch leads the league’s defensemen in scoring with two goals and 21 assists.

Opponents definitely want to stay out of the penalty box against the Knights. Their power play is clicking along at 29.3%, tallying 36 goals so far this season.

But the season didn’t start out so rosy for Neumann as they struggled out of the gate, having amassed a 4-4 record by the middle of November, and only a 1-3 mark in league.

Since November 24, though, the Knights have been rolling, winning eight straight games and scoring an amazing 58 goals.

Utica

It has been an up and down season so far for the Utica Pioneers. Win three games, lose two. Win three more, then lose another.

While the Utica defense is solid again this season, the offense is averaging about half a goal less per game. Unfortunately, that difference is coming at inopportune times for the Pioneers as three of their five losses have been by only a goal.

An anemic power play hasn’t helped either as Utica stumbles along at a pathetic 9.6%, tied for second to last in all the nation.

Despite all that, the Pioneers find themselves with a very respectable 9-5 overall record, 3-2 in the league and in a three way tie for second.

In the good news department for Utica has been the performance of freshman Nick Kulas, who is tied for fourth amongst the league’s freshmen in scoring with five goals and four assists.

A feel-good trip to France over the holidays seems to have been just the ticket for the Pioneers. Utica outscored its four opponents 39-13 during the trip, and kept the offensive explosion going in its first game back in the States against Nichols 7-3, its highest goal total all season long.

Game of the Week

The most interesting series this weekend is Hobart at Neumann for a pair of games. Both teams are part of the three way log jam in second place and match up quite well on the ice.

Neumann’s high power offense will be tested against Hobart goaltender Keith Longo’s nation leading save percentage.

This series could set the tone for the second half of the league season.

This Week in SUNYAC

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Sports’ Lessons

Sports is a great way to learn many of life’s lessons. That was evident in Potsdam’s topsy-turvy weekend.

Potsdam forward Mitch West played in 18 games in his freshman year. He did not score a single point. Not a goal. Not an assist.

In his first 13 games this year, he still had no goals, though he did have two helpers.

Many players bring other attributes that contribute to a team’s success. Obviously, West is one of them.

Potsdam forward Mitch West.

Potsdam forward Mitch West.

“He’s one of our best penalty killers,” Potsdam coach Aaron Saul said. “He’s a big, physical presence who opens up ice for other players. It’s not only about points, but what else you bring on the ice and the enthusiasm you bring.”

That’s lesson number one — everyone brings something with them in life that makes a difference.

In West’s 32nd collegiate game, he finally scored a goal. And an important goal it would turn out to be. It tied the game at 6:06 of the first period, 58 seconds after Manhattanville took the lead. Manhattanville again took the lead at 3:20 of the second period, but once again, the Bears got it back exactly four minutes later thanks to Connor Treacy.

However, before Potsdam tied it up, the game took a back seat to one of the hardest and scariest collisions on the ice. West, who just moments earlier had finally scored his first goal, would spend the rest of the game in a hospital.

Matt Ruberto of Manhattanville lined Mitch West up for a check. With two six feet guys both weighing around 200 lbs. heading towards each other at skating speeds, the hit was devastating.

“Pretty scary moment there for both guys,” Saul said. “One of the hardest sounding hits I’ve seen.”

Ruberto was knocked out immediately. West got up and skated to his bench, whereupon he collapsed. The game was delayed for a long time as both players were attended to, put on a stretcher, and taken to the local hospital.

Lesson number two — enjoy the good times in life, because you never know what the next moment brings you.

Both players suffered concussions, but luckily were up and about after being checked over at the hospital. In fact, both were checking on each other after they were walking around. Thanks to having a weekend off, West should play in the next Potsdam game after two weeks of rest.

The Bears were able to regroup, tying the game, and then taking the lead at 2:57 of the final period on a goal by Spencer Noyes. Despite being outshot 13-5 in the third period, Rob Barnhardt shut the Valiants out the rest of the way, winding up with 34 saves. Potsdam pulled off the upset against the No. 5 ranked team in the nation.

“Feeling was great,” Saul said of the biggest win in his short coaching career. “I told the guys as we were getting better and better each week that it was just a matter of time that we had a win against a good team and one that was in the top ten. Great win for the program, but a long
way to go still.”

The Bears elation was short lived. The very next night, it was their turn to be shocked, losing to Western New England who was 0-12-1 before the game. Even worse, Potsdam was shutout, 3-0.

“All the credit to Chris Bernard and his staff,” Saul said. “He got the kids ready to play. They outworked us. Perhaps we were a little tired. It was a five and a half hour bus ride — the bus driver got lost.

“Emotionally, we were so high the night before, maybe they thought it was an easy game. This is a game coaches hate to play coming after such an emotional win.”

There’s the final lesson — nothing in life is handed to you. No matter what you did the day before, you still have to go out and earn your pay the next day.

Sports can teach you many lessons. For Potsdam, they got a bunch of them this past weekend.

SUNYAC Short Shots

Four Brockport players (Steve Seedhouse, Tim Crowley [who also got
three assists], Dave McNab, and Sean O’Malley) scored a pair of goals
as the Golden Eagles romped Framingham State, 10-3 … The next day,
Brockport put 59 shots on the Framingham net with Jason Dolgy getting
two goals in a 6-1 win … Pat Street only needed 19 saves leading
Fredonia to a 3-1 win over Morrisville … In the second game, Neel
Sheehan scored the first and last goals for a Blue Devils’ 3-2 victory
… Nick Catanzaro and Jarrett Gold each got two goals in Cortland’s
8-4 win over Plymouth State … Mike Mistretta made 17 saves the for
the second day’s 4-1 defeat of Plymouth State … Six different Buffalo
State players scored in beating Johnson & Wales, 6-2 … Tyler Soehner
scored twice in the Bengals 4-2 win over the Wildcats the next night.

Three Cortland players (Graham Fallon, Frank Rizzo, Barry McLaughlin)
scored two goals each in an 8-3 win over Morrisville … Nick Rolls
notched a hat trick in Plattsburgh’s 8-1 thrashing of Skidmore …
Plattsburgh is now 16-2, equaling their best start with the 1977-78
team … The longest current winning streak amongst SUNYAC teams is
Cortland and Buffalo State at six.

Game of the Week

With most schools returning for the second semester, there are
very few games as students are given a chance to settle in for
another academic grind. There are only five games on tap.

Obviously, once again the most important games are the SUNYAC
contests between Morrisville and Brockport (the Tuesday Morrisville
at Oswego game is not a conference game). The Mustangs have gotten
closer and closer to winning their first league game, so they will
be even more desperate in their final opportunity this year while
Brockport is just as desperate not to allow any points to slip away.

For the non-conference schedule, Manhattanville at Fredonia gets the
nod. The Blue Devils already played Manhattanville tough early in the
year with a 2-2 tie. With the Valiants being upset by Potsdam, it gives
both Fredonia confidence they can do the same and Manhattanville added
incentive to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

On The Periphery

Lately, my job has taken me to Fort Wayne, Indiana a few times. Now,
you may think that hockey is furthest from anyone’s mind in Fort Wayne.
After all, it’s basketball and dirt track racing country.

It turns out, there is a very interesting hockey fact associated with
Fort Wayne — it is the home of the second oldest minor league franchise
still in the same city in the country. The Fort Wayne Komets, who play
in the IHL, have been around since the 1952-53 season. Technically, the
franchise moved to Albany, N.Y. in 1990 (where it then went defunct a few
months later), but a new team immediately formed calling themselves by
the same name.

/logos/Komets14_1.jpg

Thus, for true accuracy, the Komets are the second oldest
team playing continuously in the same city with the same name.
The oldest minor league team still in the same city is from the AHL —
the Hershey Bears (1932-33, though they were originally called the
B’ars until the 1936-37 season). The Original Six of the NHL all
surpass Fort Wayne and Hershey in longevity in the same city.

Like most minor league schedules, most of the Komets’ games are on a
weekend when I’m not there. Hopefully, one time when I am in Fort Wayne,
I’ll be able to catch the rare weekday game at the Allen County War
Memorial Coliseum and check out the second oldest minor league hockey
franchise still in the same city.

This Week in the CHA: Jan. 17, 2008

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If Wayne State wants to go out with a bang, then maybe last weekend was the fuse being lit.

Making the trip to Northern Michigan for a nonconference in-state series with the Wildcats, most saw the series as two notches in the win column for NMU, this writer included.

But as we all know, games are won on the ice and not on paper (or online for that matter).

The Warriors won both games, including Saturday night coming back from a two-goal deficit in an overtime thriller, on the strength of third-string goalie Mike Devoney’s first two collegiate wins in his first two starts.

Sophomore defenseman Jeff Caister, the CHA’s top defenseman scorer, was the hero Saturday night for Wayne State and called his power-play goal 59 seconds into the extra session “lucky.”

“(Defense partner Ryan) Bernardi made a great play,” Caister said to USCHO after the game. “He waited out the defense and found me. I just put my head down and fired it and was lucky enough to get a goal out of it. We battled three periods and it’s never easy coming into someone else’s arena, taking three points, and especially a non-conference game against a CCHA team, but we kept working hard and it started to pay off, the puck started to go in and we got the three points, so we’re obviously pretty happy.”

“We worked hard from start to finish,” Warriors’ head coach Bill Wilkinson added. “With power plays, it’s not how many goals you score, it’s when you score them. We couldn’t have scripted it any better.”

Devoney made 35 saves Friday night and 19 on Saturday night.

“Mike played fabulous for us,” Wilkinson said to USCHO after Friday’s game. “They hit some posts, but we put them in the back of the net. When you get good goaltending, you get confident — plain and simple … He’s a small goalie (5-foot-7), but he’s into the game and keeps his composure.”

Senior Derek Bachynski, coming off an offseason injury, played in his third and fourth games of the season in Marquette and scored his first goal of the year Saturday night. He added an assist on the tying goal by Stavros Paskaris, who also had two assists on the night.

The sweep was WSU’s first this season and probably gave the team something positive to think about while they were stuck in the northern Michigan town of Gaylord after their new bus broke down at 4:30 Sunday morning.

This weekend, Wayne State plays Niagara at two separate Detroit-area venues. Friday night’s game will be at the Taylor SportsPlex, home arena for the Michigan AAA state finals every spring, and Saturday’s contest will commence from the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, WNBA’s Detroit Shock and one-time home of the defunct Detroit Vipers of the old International Hockey League.

But it won’t be the first time a Purple Eagle will have gone to the Palace. NU head coach Dave Burkholder was the assistant general manager and assistant coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara Falls Thunder (now Erie Otters) and coached against the Detroit Whalers (now Plymouth Whalers) at the Palace before the Whalers got their new home rink (Compuware Arena) that, ironically enough, is another former home arena for Wayne State.

“It’s an awesome facility,” said Burkholder. “I’m sure it will be a thrill for the guys.”

“I think it will be a great venue for our game,” said Wilkinson. “It’s an NHL-type of building that will give the players a chance to feel that they are playing in a professional setting. It should be a positive atmosphere for a college showcase weekend.”

While the Purple Eagles hold a 17-14-4 record against the Warriors entering this weekend, WSU is 7-4-3 in Detroit and has a three-game home unbeaten streak against Niagara. However, the Warriors have lost six of the last eight meetings with the Purple Eagles, including two at Niagara last month.

WSU and Niagara play the first half of the College Hockey Faceoff at 3:30 p.m. Top-ranked Michigan and Notre Dame go at it in the nightcap with Notre Dame being the home team.

Niagara and Robert Morris Do The Splits

Niagara and Robert Morris did battle last weekend on Monteagle Ridge and both came away with identical 7-2 wins.

Trailing 2-1 at the end of the first period, the Purple Eagles battled back with six unanswered goals Friday night.

“In the locker room, (Burkholder) pretty much told us to believe,” said NU forward Ted Cook, who scored the lone first-period goal for the Purps and then the final goal of the game. “And that’s what we did.”

Senior co-captain Matt Caruana scored twice and David Ross, Chris Moran and Tyler Gotto added singles. Co-captain Vince Rocco and Gotto added two assists, while goalie Adam Avramenko earned the win making 17 saves over the final 40 minutes after relieving Juliano Pagliero after the first period.

Nathan Longpre and David Boguslawski scored for RMU and Christian Boucher and Jim Patterson combined for 26 saves in net.

With the win, Niagara snapped a three-game winless streak.

“That’s now six periods in a row where we executed and played very well,” said Burkholder. “We need to sustain it and carry the spirit and energy and just keep it going.”

But that went for naught as the Colonials mirrored Friday’s result Saturday night by falling behind, 2-1, only to score the next half-dozen.

Chris Margott scored the game’s first goal just 80 seconds into the game giving the Colonials an early 1-0 lead. Paul Zanette and Egor Mironov replied for NU.

And then the floodgates opened.

Margott, Brett Hopfe, Sean Berkstresser, Tom Biondich, J.C. Velasquez and Boguslawski scored for RMU. Hopfe also collected two assists.

Boucher picked up his 10th victory of the season by turning aside 23 shots.

Avramenko and Scott Mollison shared time in the NU goal and Avramenko took the loss making 20 stops through 45:19. Mollison mopped up and made 13 saves in his first action this year.

BSU, Climie Dominate Chargers

And the struggles continue for Alabama-Huntsville.

The Chargers, still winless in CHA play (0-6-2), dropped both games at home last weekend to Bemidji State, including getting shut out for the third time this year by the first-place Beavers on Friday night.

BSU goaltender Matt Climie blanked UAH, 4-0, in the front half of the series with 25 saves. Defenseman Cody Bostock, who entered the game with eight goals in his 87-game career, scored twice for Bemidji State.

“There are no excuses,” Chargers head coach Danton Cole said in the Huntsville Times. “We can’t play average against a team like that. We have to play our rear ends off just to get ties.”

Tyler Lehrke and Chris McKelvie scored the other two goals. Matt Read notched two assists.

“I’m tired of it. Friday we go through this and Saturday we get back,” Cole added. “We’ve got to get past this point. The effort has to be better.”

Blake MacNicol started in goal for UAH and made 23 saves. Cam Talbot came in for part of the third period and made three stops.

Saturday night, BSU stuck it to the Chargers with a 7-1 victory.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” UAH captain Scott Kalinchuk said in the Times. “We had bigger expectations this season. It’s wearing on the guys.”

Tyler Scofield tallied two and Matt Francis, Brandon Marino, Matt Pope, Ian Lowe (first NCAA goal) and Read added one apiece. Riley Weselowski, Read and Bostock also rang up a pair of assists.

UAH got within a goal 55 seconds into the second period as Matt Sweazey scored, but it’s still the only goal UAH has scored against Climie in four games this season.

With the win, Climie earned his 40th career win and surpassed Grady Hunt for the team lead in Division I wins. He has also posted a mark of 11-3-2 in 16 appearances versus UAH, including four shutouts.

Talbot and MacNicol again saw time between the pipes, with Talbot starting and losing and making 18 saves. MacNicol stopped 11.

BSU is 11-3-1 in its last 15 games against the Chargers and is 26-25-4 all-time against Alabama-Huntsville.

Bemidji Events Center To Happen After All?

More drama in Bemidji, it appears.

The city council and Bemidji State president Jon Quistgaard agreed to a revised memorandum that makes hockey the anchor tenant of the proposed events center.

In a second action, the council voted unanimously for a funding plan to request $25 million from the state in state bonding. Keeping the city’s half-cent sales tax will help with the remaining cash needed.

The events center will no longer have a second ice pad or be able to host BSU practices, offices or a weight room, but will also be a convention center.

Quistgaard’s presentation to the WCHA last Sunday apparently went pretty well.

“President Quistgaard reported back that he felt the meeting went very well,” Bill Maki, the vice president for finance and administration at BSU, said in the Bemidji Pioneer. “The meeting concluded in a positive position that seemed to be beneficial for BSU and WCHA schools.”

The details of what was presented were not made public by the WCHA.

Still, without Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s support, the road to legislative financing of the events center is going to be rough as the events center was not included in Pawlenty’s capital projects bonding proposal released this past Monday. The events center will now become part of a bargaining process with the governor as the legislature moves forward in its efforts to pass a bonding bill, according to the Pioneer.

Grand Forks Herald sports editor Kevin Fee wrote in his blog Monday that the WCHA and BSU have an agreement in place that will help BSU’s hockey scheduling. Reportedly, Bemidji State will play 12 games against WCHA teams each season — six home and six away. Also, Bemidji State was apparently told a new arena needs to be built if the agreement is to have legs.

The 10-team WCHA has had a moratorium on expansion since Minnesota State was admitted in 1996-1997. When talk of BSU looking at the league surfaced last season, the WCHA reiterated its stance on not lifting the moratorium.

Colonials Get Pair For ’08-09

Robert Morris has reportedly received two more commitments, one a name not uncommon to the CHA. Wayne State junior defenseman Matt Krug will finish his collegiate career with the Colonials next season by transferring from Detroit to Pittsburgh.

Ironically, RMU was one of the schools that recruited Krug’s older brother and former WSU forward, Adam, coming out of junior hockey back in 2004. Adam is currently the captain of the first-year Adrian College team in the MCHA.

The other recruit for the Colonials comes from the United States Hockey League in Colorado native and Indiana Ice forward Brandon Blandina.

The 5-foot-11, 188-pound Blandina turns 19 in March and has nine points so far for the Ice. Based on stats, he seems to be a clutch player as two of his four goals have been game-winners and three of his five assists have come shorthanded.

This Week in the CCHA: Jan. 17, 2008

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First

Congratulations to Lake Superior State. With an uncharacteristic offensive output, the Lakers beat the visiting Bowling Green Falcons, 4-1, Saturday night, to claim their first CCHA victory of the season.

Saturday night’s hero was Simon Gysbers, a sophomore defenseman who had the offensive game of his life. Gysbers had a goal and three assists in the win after entering the game with two goals and four helpers in 19 games prior to the win. In 41 games last season, Gysbers had four goals and nine assists.

Add Gysbers to the list of CCHA players who like winning. “It feels good to win again,” said the blueliner after the victory.

Gysbers was also credited with blocking five shots in the two games against BGSU.

Gysbers, a 20-year-old native of Richmond Hill, Ont., is on something of a hot-ish streak of late for a team that needs all the offensive help it can get. In their last three CCHA series dating back to Dec. 7, the Lakers are 1-2-3, their best run of the season. Gysbers had goals in the win over Bowling Green and in the 3-3 tie against Nebraska-Omaha (Dec. 8), and an assist in LSSU’s 3-3 tie against Michigan State in Munn Arena (Jan. 5).

That gives Gysbers six points in LSSU’s last six games.

Ten, Eleven and Twelve

Three teams remain mired at the bottom of the CCHA standings, each with league points in the single digits.

On the surface, No. 10 Ohio State (7-15-2, 3-10-1 CCHA), No. 11 Lake Superior (3-13-4, 1-10-3 CCHA) and No. 12 Western Michigan (6-15-1, 2-12-0 CCHA) have nothing in common.

The Buckeyes, who play in the gazillion-dollar Schottenstein Center, were picked fifth by both the coaches and the media in the league’s preseason polls. The Lakers, whose remote location and limited budget gives them tangible disadvantages, were picked seventh by the coaches and ninth by the media. The Broncos, who in November of this season extended head coach Jim Culhane’s contract through the end of May in 2011, were picked 10th by the coaches and seventh by the media.

Each team is faring more poorly than expected, and it’s difficult to define each squad’s failure to thrive. Fans have been writing me to blame coaching for OSU’s and WMU’s seasons, and it’s easy to finger the loss of Jeff Jakaitis in Sault Ste. Marie for LSSU’s rough first half.

So while the big-city Buckeyes languish in a lavish building, the remote Lakers grind away in the Yoop and the Broncos continue to get pounded by the CCHA opposition both home and away, the common factor is a complete and total inability to sustain anything resembling an offense this season.

In other words, you just can’t win if you’re not scoring goals.

OSU and WMU both have 28 CCHA goals to their credit, while LSSU has 29. And while the Broncos and Lakers are outscored by bigger margins than are the Buckeyes, each team has one of the lowest-scoring offenses in the nation.

There is absolutely no reason for Ohio State to have the 41st-best — or 19th-worst — offense in the nation. The team may be young, but so is Michigan; with nearly as many freshmen on the roster as has OSU, the Wolverines have the second-best offense in the country. Anyone who has seen Value City Arena has seen the money behind the OSU program, money that at other schools — UM, MSU and Miami, for example — has brought significant and consistent results.

And the Buckeyes have the long athletic tradition that should translate into powerhouse hockey, a tradition that Jeff Jackson is taking full advantage of at Notre Dame.

Even watching Ohio State all season, I still do not know why the Buckeyes have just three CCHA wins.

The Broncos are a semi-enigma. WMU doesn’t have the Big Ten behind it, but Lawson Arena is a rockin’ little venue — with a true collegiate atmosphere and insanely loyal fans — and the school’s location and size make it very attractive to certain types of players.

It doesn’t make sense that Western was the sum of two players last season, freshman Mark Letestu and senior Paul Szczechura. With their departures, WMU lost 43 goals.

But whither Jeff Pierce and Brian Bicek? Pierce had 12 goals last season and Bicek 15; each has three this year.

And what of Jeff LoVecchio, a fantastic two-way hockey player? LoVecchio should be a CCHA stud, a household name and stats leader this season after his 19-goal output of a year ago (19-15–34) and his genuine talent. Instead, his seven goals and six assists put him second behind Patrick Galivan (7-15–22) among Bronco scorers.

And what of the Bronco goaltending? Last year, Riley Gill’s .912 save percentage was good enough to usurp Daniel Bellissimo and earn Gill a spot on the CCHA All-Rookie team.

This year, it’s freshman Jerry Kuhn who has the .912 SV% while Gill has allowed 3.44 goals per game with a .892 SV% in 17 contests.

As for the Lakers, it’s easy to say that Jeff Jakaitis held that team together last season, so let’s say it. Jakaitis had a career year that helped to raise the level of play of everyone else on that squad. And just as Michigan State had to adjust to the departure of Ryan Miller — around whom the Spartans were built — so does Lake Superior State need to adjust to life post-Jakaitis.

But the Lakers will, and will undoubtedly perform to the best of their program’s ability in the years to come. That may not be enough for Laker fans, however, who remember the glory days from the late 1980s through the end of the Jeff Jackson era, but those are the same fans who forget that too much at the university and in college hockey has changed since then ever to return.

Number 9. Number 9.

The number 9 is a fascinating creature. The sum of the digits of every number divisible by 9 equals 9. In Chinese culture, 9 is considered masculine (yang) and is associated with the dragon, the luckiest of all Chinese astrological symbols.

In Hindu, the number 9 is associated with the festival of Navratri, the nine (nava) nights when the nine forms of Shakti, the sacred female force, is worshipped.

The sum of its parts. Male and female divinity. Dragons. Sounds like 9 is the complete player.

In the CCHA, there are 10 guys wearing No. 9, and two of them had performances worth mentioning last weekend.

In Michigan State’s quest to prove itself against Notre Dame, the Spartans took three really important points and No. 9 Justin Abdelkader had the game-winning goal at 18:03 in the third period when MSU beat ND, 3-1, in East Lansing, and he had the first assist on the Spartans’ power-play goal in Sunday’s 1-1 tie in South Bend.

Ferris State’s Brendan Connolly had an unassisted shorthanded goal to get the Bulldogs on the board in FSU’s 2-2 Saturday tie with visiting Alaska. Connolly also had a goal in FSU’s 4-2 loss to Alaska Friday.

For the record, only two teams in the CCHA are currently without a No. 9: Bowling Green and Northern Michigan. And every No. 9 on every team’s roster is an impact player, in some way.

Eight Is Enough

The top eight teams should make it to the CCHA playoffs. Period.

Enough Is Enough

There’s no more hollow an award in college hockey than the CCHA’s Perani Cup.

This week, the CCHA press release contains a note about the “Perani Cup standings.” Of the top 11 vote-getters in this year’s Perani Cup race, eight are forwards.

The very phrase Perani Cup standings implies that there is a genuine competition here. For there to be real competition, the same rules should apply to each eligible player. In the race for the CCHA Perani Cup, the track is decidedly warped.

The Perani Cup winners are chosen based on the “three stars” of each league game at each CCHA arena. The problem is not with the performance of the players, but rather with the selection of each game’s “stars,” which varies widely from venue to venue. Not only is there an inconsistent number of press to participate in each arena, but I have been present at games where no one from the press has been polled to select the stars, or where an SID and I have selected the stars ourselves.

In other words, the Perani Cup is suspect because it can be completely manipulated by the sports information staffs of the teams themselves. It’s very easy to stack the Perani Cup deck.

I do want to say that all members of the press in attendance at Ohio State home games are asked to vote in the Perani Cup, and there are often a number of writers and broadcast media folks, providing a variety of opinion. However, given the widespread inconsistencies for voting for this award, I have not participated in Perani Cup voting this season.

Seventh Place

Two teams are tied for seventh place this week in the CCHA standings, a critical position to examine when the middle four teams host the first round of league playoffs just two months from now. Everyone is buzzing about the Michigan-Notre Dame series, but these two sets are also of vital importance to CCHA play this weekend.

Northern Michigan (9-14-1, 6-10-0 CCHA) at Ferris State (9-9-2, 6-7-1 CCHA)

What a weekend for both the Wildcats and the Bulldogs.

Northern Michigan, which was 7-0-0 all-time against Wayne State going into last week’s home series, lost twice to the Warriors in the Berry Events Center, 4-1 and 3-2. In Saturday’s overtime loss, the Wildcats held a two-goal lead after one period, and gave up the winning goal 59 seconds into OT on the WSU power play.

“We have to play better hockey.” That’s what NMU head coach Walt Kyle said after Friday’s loss, but it’s metaphoric for Northern’s entire season. It’s not that the Wildcats have to play far better hockey; six of NMU’s 14 losses have been by one goal, three by two.

The Wildcats began their CCHA season with a six-game losing streak against the league’s top three teams — Michigan, Michigan State and Miami — but have taken points from teams they should have beaten, such as Bowling Green, Alaska, Lake Superior. The ‘Cats even split with Notre Dame two weeks ago.

In short, Northern is playing like a middle-of-the-pack team, which is what makes this series so interesting and so critical. In ninth place with 12 points and just one point separating the Wildcats from the Bulldogs, NMU also has two fewer games at its disposal with which to gain league points, having played 16 to FSU’s 12.

Last weekend, Ferris State earned one point at home against visiting Alaska; the Bulldogs are now tied for seventh place in the CCHA standings with Alaska, over which they have two games in hand. FSU dropped Friday’s game, 4-3, and tied 2-2 Saturday. In talking to my esteemed colleague at the News-Miner, Danny Martin, FSU head coach Bob Daniels said that the Bulldogs couldn’t solve Alaska goaltender Wylie Rogers enough times to win Friday, and he called Saturday’s tie a “just result.”

The Bulldogs are 3-1-1 in their last five, and 3-3-1 in their last seven games going back to Dec. 7. In their last four league games, however, FSU is 0-3-1. The ‘Dogs swept the Broncos (Nov. 30-Dec. 1) for their last league wins.

FSU hasn’t lost more than two games in a row this season; the Bulldogs split with Notre Dame and were swept by MSU in the first half of the campaign.

Here’s a look at this series by the numbers:

• Goals per game: NMU 2.29 (11th CCHA/47th nationally); FSU 2.70(7th CCHA/t32nd nationally)
• Goals allowed per game: NMU 2.83 (t7th/t36th); FSU 2.20 (4th/t9th)
• Power play: NMU 14.0 percent (11th/39th); FSU 11.9 (12th/50th)
• Penalty kill: NMU 73.6 percent (11th/56th); FSU 84.1 (5th/31st)
• Top scorer: NMU Nick Sirota (12-10–22); FSU Cody Chupp (4-11–15)
• Top ‘tender: NMU Brian Stewart (.893 SV%, 2.94 GAA), Reid Ellingson (.893 SV%, 2.96 GAA); FSU Mitch O’Keefe (.937 SV%, 1.75 GAA), Pat Nagle (.907SV%, 2.40 GAA)

While Cody Chupp is the leading overall scorer for the Bulldogs, Brendan Connolly (7-7–14) is FSU’s leading goal-scorer.

Two more notes of interest. First is that NMU is playing better on the road than at home. Away, the Wildcats are .500 (5-5-0) with a 3-5-2 home record.

The second note is regarding Ferris State’s tendency to take penalties — a bunch of them. The Bulldogs are fourth in the nation in penalty minutes, averaging 18.9 per game. Their PK isn’t that great, but neither is the Wildcat power play. The ‘Cats, however, have returned these past two seasons to a very physical style of play, the old hardest-working-team-in-college-hockey brand of physical that can change a game.

Should be interesting.

Nebraska-Omaha (9-12-3, 6-9-3 CCHA) at Alaska (5-11-4, 5-8-3 CCHA)

There are many things about Nebraska-Omaha head coach Mike Kemp that can be called “wonderful.” Kemp is a good coach and a class act, but best of all is his way with words.

Quoted in the Omaha World-Herald after the Mavericks dropped two home games to visiting No. 2 Miami, Kemp said, “Really, all you can say is good job to Miami.”

In the two losses, UNO was outscored 10-4. In Friday’s 6-3 contest, the Mavericks had overcome a two-goal deficit after one to tie the game at the 16:09 mark in the second on Mick Lawrence’s second goal of the period, but the RedHawks led 3-2 when Charley Fetzer answered less than a minute later.

Early in the third, Matt Ambroz scored to even it up for UNO again, but the Mavericks allowed a power-play tally, an even-strength goal and an empty-netter in the last six minutes of play to give Miami that 6-3 win, a result that Kemp called a “bitter disappointment.”

The third period is something of a liability for the Mavericks this season. UNO gave up three third-period goals to Princeton in a 5-3 loss to Princeton in Omaha Dec. 30; three goals to Yale (all to Broc Little) in a 6-3 loss to Yale in Omaha Dec. 28; three third-period goals in each loss to Notre Dame in November (Nov. 30 and Dec. 1); and two third-period goals to Alaska in a 4-4 tie Nov. 24, three unanswered goals total in that contest, as the Mavs led 4-1 midway through the second.

Then there were the five third-period goals against Michigan Nov. 2, when the Mavericks were up on the Wolverines 2-1 going into the third. And four unanswered goals between the second and third periods against Miami Oct. 27, a 5-2 loss in which the Mavericks once led. And three third-period goals against Miami the night before as well.

The problem is twofold: The Mavericks have a hard time playing with a lead, and they can’t seem to bag the cliched 60 minutes of hockey.

I suggest yoga.

There are two little points separating fifth-place UNO from seventh-place Alaska, and the Nanooks have two games in hand over the Mavericks, making these contests doubly important.

UA returns to Fairbanks after a nice trip to the Lower 48, having split with Ohio State (Jan. 4-5) in Columbus and taken three points from Ferris State last weekend to give UA a 2-1-1 record in the new year and a 2-2-2 record in its last six games, dating back to a loss and tie with Anchorage Dec. 28-29.

Like Northern Michigan, Alaska started with a really unfortunate CCHA schedule, facing Michigan and Michigan State immediately with some funky downtime in the early going. Now all warmed up, the Nanooks haven’t dropped more than two in a row since their five consecutive losses in early league play.

Landon Novotney had two first-period goals in last weekend’s 4-3 win, a game in which most of the scoring occurred in the first, as UA led 3-2 after one. The Nanooks overcame a two-goal Bulldog lead in Saturday’s 2-2 tie, with Dustin Molle scoring in the second and Dion Knelsen in the third.

Senior goaltender Wylie Rogers stopped 82 of FSU’s 87 shots for a .943 save percentage in the two games.

Here is this series by the numbers:

• Goals per game: UNO 3.12 (5th CCHA/17th nationally); UA 2.35 9th CCHA/44th nationally)
• Goals allowed per game: UNO 3.58 (11th/55th); UA 3.00 (t7th/t36th)
• Power play: UNO 24.6 percent (1st/3rd); UA 16.2 (6th/23rd)
• Penalty kill: UNO 84.6 percent (4th/29th); UA 80.2 (10th/50th)
• Top scorer: UNO Bryan Marshall (9-25–34); UA Dion Knelsen (8-13–21)
• Top ‘tender: UNO Jerad Kaufmann (.882 SV%, 2.94 GAA); UA Wylie Rogers (.919 SV%, 2.59 GAA)

While Bryan Marshall leads all Mavericks in points, Mick Lawrence (15-6–21) is the team’s goal leader. And with his two goals against FSU last weekend, Nanook Landon Novotney (8-4–12) is now tied with Knelsen in goal production.

Like NMU, UNO is another team that plays better on the road; the Mavericks are 5-5-0 when travelling this season.

The Mavericks have fast, talented forwards who can chew up the big ice in Fairbanks, but the Nanooks are also fast — and big — and they have better and more consistent goaltending. Should be a telling series.

Speaking of Penalties

Has anyone else noticed how the CCHA has distinguished itself among the top penalty-earning teams in the nation? Leading the nation is North Dakota, but Miami (19.0 PIM/G), Nebraska-Omaha (18.9) and Ferris State (18.9) are second, third, and fourth, respectively. Then we have Michigan (6th/17.6 PIM/G) and Bowling Green (10th/16.7 PIM/G) also in the top 10.

That’s impressive. I hope it translates into a passionate, physical brand of play that knocks the wind out of nonconference opponents (except for NoDak, obviously) rather than a chippy, dirty kind of play that cheapens the league.

I will say that I do like Miami’s, UNO’s and FSU’s brand of physical, having seen them play in person this season.

Six Leagues of Separation

On Tuesday afternoon, I had the pleasure of chatting with two of my USCHO colleagues — AHA Correspondent and D-III guru, Chris Lerch, and CHA Correspondent Matt Mackinder — as well as Elliot Olshansky through the magic of the CSTV.com weekly chat. It was fun although far too short and limited in scope.

We did get to field a few reader questions, but too few. The first one to me was about whether the CCHA is overrated this year, something that must have come from one of the dozens of charming WCHA fans from whom I now receive fairly regular “fan” mail, an unexpected — and certainly entertaining — byproduct of the CCHA’s seeming relative strength this season.

With the PairWise up and running this week, the question of the CCHA’s standing relative to other leagues is both easier and more difficult to answer. Colorado College and Michigan tie for the top PWR spot this week, with Denver third, Miami and New Hampshire tied for fourth and North Dakota rounding out the top six.

No one should be surprised that these are the top six teams in the country. Sure, some people doubted Michigan’s season with so many rookies and Billy Sauer’s first two seasons in goal, but as I’ve said for years, no one should underestimate the House that Red Built.

Northeastern (seventh), Massachusetts (tied for eighth with Michigan State), Mass.-Lowell (10th) and Notre Dame make up the rest of the top 11 teams in this week’s PWR.

Four of the top 11 are CCHA squads, and the top 10 includes three from the CCHA, three from the WCHA, and four from Hockey East. Those top CCHA and WCHA teams have become perennial powerhouses, so why would anyone from anywhere ask if the CCHA is overrated?

All the PWR shows is that the dominance of the three leagues that have dominated for years continues — even with three interesting new comers from Hockey East, which certainly says something about the power of that league.

In Tuesday’s chat, Matt Mackinder was complaining a little bit about how many in college hockey see the AHA and CHA as “the other two” leagues. (Perhaps if we’d had Brian Sullivan on as well, he’d argue that the ECAC is an afterthought far too often, also.) The fact remains that teams in the AHA and CHA have yet to consistently compete with teams in more established leagues, mainly because they’re fairly new. It takes time to build winning programs. You need history, reputation and resources that many AHA and CHA teams lack.

In fact, you need history, reputation and resources that many teams in the CCHA lack, a category in which many coaches in the CCHA (and undoubtedly in the other, more “established” leagues) have much in common with many coaches in the AHA and CHA. I would respectfully suggest that fans of AHA and CHA teams who grouse about the lack of attention their programs receive have a little talk with fans of several teams in the CCHA who are not Michigan and Michigan State. I think they’d have a lot in common.

In our chat, Chris Lerch said that it was time for a Big Ten college hockey conference. I have very mixed feelings about this. I love the composition of both the CCHA and WCHA, and would be saddened to see each league split apart. On the other hand, there can be no ignoring the impact such a “super conference” — Chris’ words, not mine — might have on the profile of college hockey.

Me, I’m rooting for a Southern Collegiate Hockey Association. Let’s see those big SEC schools with vibrant club programs, like Georgia and Florida, jump into the game, along with other successful club programs at places like Kentucky, Texas, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Then there’s my friend Peter Berryman, who’s pulling for a Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association.

To heighten the sport’s profile, there must be more D-I teams in more places where hockey is played, watched, and loved — and that’s all over the U.S. right now.

And there’s no question that Wayne State’s departure should force the league commissioners into some serious brainstorming after this season ends.

I’ll keep dreaming about the SCHA. The University of Florida is 50 miles from Hacienda Weston. My parents would be so happy to have me covering hockey in Florida.

As would, I’m sure, many fans of CCHA hockey.

Pacing The Parade

By Roman J. Uschak
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Clarkson University made it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in eight years last season, and this fall looked to have picked up where it left off as the Golden Knights raced out to a 9-3 record and first place in ECAC Hockey.

Senior center and assistant captain Steve Zalewski also picked up where he left off in 2006-07, as he posted a team-high 10 points in his first 10 games this fall to help Clarkson as high as a No. 7 national ranking. He led Clarkson with 12 goals and 18 points through his first 21 outings this season.

“We’ve been playing well and taking steps,” said Zalewski, a native of New Hartford, N.Y., of Clarkson’s current campaign. “We’re getting better each weekend, and we’ll try to keep that going all season.”

Steve Zalewski has been a key piece of Clarkson's strong start to 2007-08 (photo: Melissa Wade).

Steve Zalewski has been a key piece of Clarkson’s strong start to 2007-08 (photo: Melissa Wade).

Zalewski proved to be a balanced scorer in his first three seasons in Potsdam, tallying 37 goals and 38 assists for 75 points in 113 games, including 18 power-play goals. He posted career highs of 16 goals and 18 assists last year, recorded nine multiple-point games and three two-goal outings, and was also named ECAC Player of the Week on three occasions.

“It’s kind of a lot of different things,” said Zalewski of his success. “I’ve improved my whole game since I got here.”

The Golden Knights have also improved as a team during Zalewski’s tenure, something he said he’s proud to have been a part of. Clarkson went from 13 wins during his freshman term to 18 victories his sophomore season and 25 triumphs last year.

“Steve has been a major factor in our program’s turnaround,” said Clarkson head coach George Roll. “He is an extremely committed young man on the ice, in the weight room and in the classroom. He, along with his fellow classmates, has been instrumental in returning Clarkson to national prominence.”

Zalewski led Clarkson with four game-winning goals last season, none bigger than the one he notched with just 41 seconds remaining in regulation in a 5-4 ECAC tournament semifinal victory over Dartmouth in March. He then had one assist as Clarkson came from behind against Quinnipiac, 4-2, in the title game and advanced to the national tournament for the first time since 1999.

“Both games were just so exciting, especially how we came back in the finals,” said Zalewski. Clarkson rebounded from a two-goal deficit with 20 minutes left against Quinnipiac to claim its first league championship in eight years, with Zalewski himself setting up the tying goal.

He humbly prides himself on his two-way play, though, not just his scoring prowess.

“Not one aspect of my game really stands out,” he said. “I’m kind of an all-around player.”

The 5-foot-10, 192-pound forward starred at Northwood Prep in Lake Placid prior to attending Clarkson, tallying 32 goals and 34 points in 38 games in 2003-04. He was also recruited by Northeastern, St. Lawrence and Yale, but wanted to become a Golden Knight following a campus visit to Clarkson.

“Northwood is right down the road,” said Zalewski, who was also sold on the facilities and coaching staff in Potsdam. “It’s pretty close to home, so my parents and family can come to the games here.”

The Golden Knights ultimately came up on the short end of a 1-0 score in overtime against national newcomer Massachusetts in the NCAA tournament’s opening round last spring, but the stage had been set for bigger and better things for the Green and Gold in Zalewski’s senior season.

It started with an assist on Oct. 12, as Clarkson avenged its NCAA loss with a 2-1 sudden-death decision over visiting Massachusetts at Cheel Arena. Ironically, Zalewski had scored his first career collegiate goal in a 6-4 loss at UMass as a freshman back in 2004.

Zalewski followed up with a shorthanded goal on Oct. 13 in a 2-0 win over Providence, had one goal in a 5-4 overtime win over local rival St. Lawrence on Oct. 26, and completed a three-game goal-scoring stretch with the game-winner the day after versus Lake Superior State.

He was just getting started. Following a 3-2 loss at Quinnipiac, Clarkson’s No. 15 fired home four goals in a 6-2 win at No. 18 Princeton on Nov. 10, his first collegiate hat trick, as the Golden Knights avenged a 7-1 drubbing from last season at Hobey Baker Rink. He had earlier set up the game-winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Harvard on Nov. 2.

“It felt good, and it was a nice relief,” said Zalewski after recording the first four-goal game by a Golden Knight in over a decade. “I’ve been a little snake-bitten lately, and it was nice to see the pucks go in.”

Zalewski also earned both ECAC Hockey Player of the Week and Future Considerations’ NCAA Player of the Week nods following his initial hat trick. Prior to his quadruple explosion, he had recorded just one goal in eight career outings against Princeton. He tailed off in his next four games, going scoreless, but got going again with an assist at St. Lawrence on Dec. 1. He picked up eight points in all during a five-game point streak that was highlighted by a three-goal, one-assist effort in a 4-2 win at Harvard on Jan. 12.

“Steve is a complete player who excels in every aspect of the game,” said Roll. “He has a great release, wins key faceoffs, and plays on our top power play and penalty kill units. He is a big reason for the team’s solid start to the season.”

Zalewski’s playing days in the Empire State will likely come to an end after he completes his college career. One of five NHL draft choices on this year’s Clarkson roster, he was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the fifth round back in 2004.

“Right now I’m not thinking about that,” he said. “I’m focused on the rest of the season, and I’ll worry about that when the time comes.”

This Week in the WCHA: Jan. 17, 2008

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What did I say last week about things looking up at the U, if only for a weekend? Yeah, maybe it was only for that weekend. Still, the Gophers are starting to score a bit more per game, so they may be sloooowly turning the corner. Now if they could only hold a lead … but regarding that, I give tons of credit to St. Cloud for never quitting and earning the tie on Saturday.

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Jimmy Kilpatrick, CC.
Why: Scored seven points (2 g, 5 a) in the Tigers’ weekend sweep over Alaska-Anchorage.
Also Nominated: Chris VandeVelde, UND.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Taylor Chorney, UND.
Why: Scored two goals and two assists against Michigan Tech in the Sioux’s weekend sweep as well as helped his team allow only two goals against and 33 total shots.
Also Nominated: Brian Connelly, CC; Drew Dobson, MTU.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Garrett Roe, SCSU.
Why: Had four goals and 11 shots on goal to help his Huskies take three points from Minnesota.
Also Nominated: Tyler Johnson, CC; Kyle Ostrow, DU; Cody Danberg, tUMD; Evan Trupp, UND; Kyle Turris, UW.

Wisconsin/Denver Revisited

The Badgers filed a formal protest with the league regarding last Friday night’s fiasco at Denver (which I don’t want to get in a whole load of detail about here), which was denied in accordance with a “no protest, ref’s decision is final” rule.

Still, questions may be coming out of the weekend regarding video replay.

After Friday night’s game, Pioneer coach George Gwozdecky admitted that in the pre-video replay days, the goal should have counted. Granted, given the actual replay, it should have counted anyway.

“I didn’t know; I had no idea,” he said when asked if he thought it was a goal. “The one reason that our coaches in this league and the administration and the referees especially pushed so hard and so long for a very expensive but very effective tool like instant video replay was to get the call right. It’s tough when it goes against you — no question about it. But as tough as it is, you can’t argue about what you see on video.”

Well, unless the video watched was not enough, as was the case on Friday.

Badger coach Mike Eaves addressed the situation on Monday at the Badgers’ weekly news conference, saying that despite Friday’s mishaps (and a few other replay issues on Saturday), he’s still a proponent for the system.

“In the long run, we should get it right, but obviously there’s bugs to be worked out,” he said. “There’s been no doubt that it’s been very helpful, and what has happened this year was supposed to happen — especially at Denver — is they were granted the right to use any and all video replay to make sure that a goal was right. It was an experiment.

“As we did a couple years ago with just the one camera angle, Denver was one of the spots that was granted the [right] to do that, but there was a bunch of errors that happened on Friday night that obviously the league has to take a look at it and how to handle it in more than one area.”

Comments have also been milling about whether this situation has tainted the league’s image given the massive screw-up. I’m honestly not sure what to think about that. Granted, it doesn’t look good, but I think the perk here is that the error was definitely a human one and one that I think can be prevented in the future.

What do you guys think?

Random Notes (and Commentary!) From Around the League

UAA — If you’re a parent (or know a kid you can fake as your own), bring them to the Sullivan Arena on Saturday. Any kid 12 or younger wearing any sports jersey can get in for free and if you’re the parent (or kid-bringer) and wear UAA apparel, you get in for $5. Plus, if you’re early, you get a water bottle.

See, I like this promotion. Gets kids liking hockey early (big plus) PLUS it includes free stuff. Who doesn’t like free stuff?

tUMD — It’s not the end of the month so it’s not really time for the “Keeping up with the Pros” segment, but former Bulldog Matt Niskanen was named to the NHL’s YoungStars Team that will compete in a three-on-three event during the All-Star weekend.

MSU-M — If you’re a big hockey card collector, you may want to check out the North Dakota-Minnesota State game in Mankato on Friday. The first 500 fans will receive a Maverick men’s hockey trading card set.

Reader Mailbag

It’s time for the thing you’ve all been waiting for — my contest. Quite a few of you have complained to me about the quality of this here column and think that USCHO should have fired me a week in and that a monkey could do a better job.

Well, if that’s still the case, here’s the contest: Do better than yours truly. I don’t expect coach quotes (but you can pull them from other sources as long as they are properly attributed). Give me 500 words of column — that really isn’t that much — only about a third of what actually gets “printed” here every week. If you win, you get your submission posted here next week and if you show up to the WCHA Red Baron Final Five, I’ll buy you a drink of your choice during one of the intermissions.

I came up with this idea about a month and a half ago, but waited until now because I’m going to be on vacation next week and darn it, I want to actually enjoy Hawai’i and not spend my entire time in coffee shops mooching free Internet to write.

Match-Ups By the Numbers

Three conference series this week and Denver and Colorado College have a Serratore brother hockey party with games against non-conference foes Air Force and Bemidji State.

No. 17 Wisconsin @ Alaska-Anchorage
Overall Records: UW — 9-10-3 (5-8-1 WCHA). UAA — 6-9-5 (2-9-3 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UW leads 37-13-8 in the all-time series.
Top Scorers: UW — Kyle Turris (9-13–22). UAA — Kevin Clark (7-10–17).
Goaltenders: UW — Shane Connelly (19 gp, 8-10-1, 2.63 GAA, .910 sv %). UAA — Jon Olthuis (19 gp, 5-9-5, 3.14 GAA, .880 sv %).

No. 18 Minnesota @ No. 16 Minnesota-Duluth
Overall Records: UM — 11-10-3 (5-8-1 WCHA). tUMD — 8-7-5 (6-6-4 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UM leads 124-66-11 in the all-time series.
Top Scorers: UM — Blake Wheeler (12-10–22). tUMD — Nick Kemp (7-6–13), Josh Meyers (5-8–13), Jason Garrison (4-9–13).
Goaltenders: UM — Jeff Frazee (14 gp, 6-7, 2.93 GAA, .890 sv %). tUMD — Alex Stalock (20 gp, 8-7-5, 2.43 GAA, .909 sv %).

No. 6 North Dakota @ No. 20 Minnesota State
Overall Records: UND — 12-8-1 (9-7 WCHA). MSU-M — 9-8-4 (3-7-4 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UND leads 26-9-7 in the all-time series.
Top Scorers: UND — Ryan Duncan (9-13–22). MSU-M — Trevor Bruess (5-11–16).
Goaltenders: UND — Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (21 gp, 12-8-1, 1.86 GAA, .929 sv %). MSU-M — Mike Zacharias (18 gp, 8-5-4, 1.94 GAA, .930 sv %).

No. 4 Denver @ Air Force, vs. Bemidji State
Overall Records: DU — 17-5 (12-4 WCHA). AFA — 11-7-4 (9-6-3 AHA). BSU — 11-9-2 (8-2-2 CHA).
Head-to-Head: DU leads the all-time series against AFA 27-2, and the all-time series with BSU 4-0.
Top Scorers: DU — Brock Trotter (12-17–29). AFA — Eric Ehn (6-18–24). BSU — Matt Read (6-12–18).
Goaltenders: DU — Peter Mannino (22 gp, 17-5, 1.96 GAA, .927 sv %). AFA — Andrew
Volkening (22 gp, 11-6-4, 2.43 GAA, .894 sv %). BSU — Matt Climie (16 gp, 9-4-2, 1.78 GAA, .927 sv %).

Bemidji State, Air Force @ No. 3 Colorado College
Overall Records: BSU — 11-9-2 (8-2-2 CHA). AFA — 11-7-4 (9-6-3 AHA). CC — 16-6 (15-3 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: CC leads the all-time series with BSU, 2-1 and the all-time series with AFA 55-6-2.
Top Scorers: BSU — Matt Read (6-12–18). AFA — Eric Ehn (6-18–24). CC — Chad Rau (17-11–28).
Goaltenders: BSU — Matt Climie (16 gp, 9-4-2, 1.78 GAA, .927 sv %). AFA — Andrew Volkening (22 gp, 11-6-4, 2.43 GAA, .894 sv %). CC — Richard Bachman (18 gp, 15-3, 1.61 GAA, .940 sv %).

This Week in D-I Women’s Hockey: Jan. 17, 2008

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[EDITOR’S NOTE: We apologize for the significant tardiness with which the column was posted. The delay was a combination of technical and human error.]

Sure, the price of gasoline is headed towards $4 per gallon, which in these parts will almost buy you a gallon of milk.

And sure, jumping on an airplane these days means subjecting yourself to every kind of indignity known to mankind (all in the name of “security” of course).

None of those things should deter anyone from heading out to the rink this weekend, to get a first-hand view of some D-I matchups that could be fun if not competitive, entertaining if not crucial. It indeed be two hours and a few dollars well spent.

Want some suggestions? Tank up the RV or stow your hair gel in a plastic baggie and head out to any of these matchups.

Friday, Jan. 18, 7 pm: Cheel Arena, Potsdam NY — Colgate @ Clarkson

Neither of these teams are nationally ranked … yet. But Clarkson does get a vote in the “bubbling under” category, and anyway, both teams (tied with 11 points each) are stepping all over each other trying to climb up the ECAC ladder.

Colgate has lost once in seven tries (4-1-2) since Dec. 1, but has racked up just two road wins this year. It’s too bad, though, that this tilt faces off at the same time Cornell @ No. 7 St. Lawrence do, just 11 miles down the road. The road teams flip venues the next day, but again, both tilts carry 4 p.m. start times. Come, on Mr. Schedulemaker! Cooperate!

Friday, Jan. 18, 7 pm: Houston Field House, Troy NY — Robert Morris @ RPI

This non-conference tilt, the first of a two-day stay by RMC, definitely does NOT have any national implications. But both squads are exceeding everyone’s expectations, including (if they are completely honest about it) their own.

The Engineers feature freshman forward Kendra Dunlop, who is fresh off her second ECAC Rookie of the Week performance (two goals and a helper).

Meanwhile, Robert Morris has 10 wins, one off the school record.

Friday, Jan. 18, 7:07 pm: Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks ND — No. 4 Minnesota @ North Dakota

Okay, the Fighting Sioux stand to get clobbered by their neighbors in this two-game weekend set, or so history would suggest. After all, they’ve gone 0-fer-ever (okay 0-for-16) against the Gophers.

But NoDak goalie Brittany Kirkham, the nation’s saves leader (726 and climbing), can make any game seem interesting.

And hey, when is any excuse not a good excuse to visit “the Ralph”, college hockey’s “Palace on the Prairie”.

Friday, Jan 18, 7:07 pm: OSU Ice Rink, Columbus OH — No. 5 Wisconsin @ Ohio State

Another two-game set. You’ll come for the two-time National champion Badgers, you’ll stay for the OSU scarlet and gray rally giveaway towels on Saturday.

Saturday, Jan. 19, 2 pm: Whittemore Center, Durham NH — Providence College @ No. 1 New Hampshire

The Wildcats will be two-days removed from their instate fight with No. 10 Dartmouth, and anyway, who can resist the allure of witnessing what is thus far, the best team in the country.

Waterbug winger Kelly Paton may be the most entertaining Wildcat since Carisa Zaban, the school’s career scoring leader who floated across the Olympic sized sheet a decade ago.

Then again, plucky Providence brings some grit to the table, which hasn’t escaped the attention of USCHO voters. And this is one of the oldest rivalries in all of women’s college pucks, one that dates back to 1977.

New Hampshire may not lose a Hockey East battle this year, but if they do, this could be the one.

And who knows, you might even spot your faithful USCHO correspondent lurking somewhere in the crowd.

Saturday, Jan. 19, 2 pm: City Sports Arena, Detroit MI — Quinnipiac @ Wayne State

For those who like gals with goals, you can see the top two lamplighters in the country, playing on the same line, no less.

We refer, of course, to Wayne State wingers Sam Poynton (21 goals) and Melissa Boal (22), who are cashing in set ups from center Lindsay DiPietro (the Nation’s top assist producer with 29) at an eye-popping pace.

Sunday, Jan. 20, 2 pm: Schneider Arena, Providence RI — Boston University @ Providence College

and

Sunday, Jan. 20, 8 pm: Kelley Rink at Conte Forum, Newton MA — Dartmouth @ Boston College

You like two-fers? (And who doesn’t.) Then, jump into the jet or jalopy and and shuttle yourself between these two campus venues, situated an hour or so apart.

It’s a perfect way to commence the countdown to Inauguration Day ’09.

Forget the Chargers and Pats (although do try to circumvent the Gillette Stadium maelstrom). This is where the real sporting action is.

This Week in Hockey East: Jan. 17, 2008

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Midterm Examination

I thought I had done a pretty thorough job in my column of two weeks ago, what with quotes from four different Hockey East coaches, but last week Dave Hendrickson wasn’t content to one-up me… he had to go and six-up me! The result was probably the first-ever Hockey East column with quotes from all ten Hockey East coaches.

I’m not feeling too competitive this week, so I was tempted to content myself with a long, meandering story about, say, what brand of whistles is most preferred by Hockey East officials (Is it a Fox40 Force? The Grays Whistle U002? Or some darkhorse contender? The suspense is mounting already!).

However, I looked over the standings and reflected on the fact that each Hockey East team plays a 27-game league schedule and that the teams are right around the halfway point in mid-January. So I thought it might be satisfying to put on my professor hat and conduct a midterm examination of sorts. At this admittedly early point in the season — in which a team’s place in the standings is more transient than ever — I thought it would be fun to reflect on who the league award winners would be at this stage. I also am going to strive for what is likely to be my first-ever quote-free Hockey East column. So here goes:

Coach of the Year
This is a challenging race at the moment. As expected, UNH and BC are rising to the top of the standings. But the most exciting story of the year has to be the emergence of UMass, Northeastern, and UMass-Lowell in the national poll. UMass achieved the highest poll ranking of the three thus far, and UMass-Lowell is a wonderful story after the program’s future was in doubt a short time ago. But right now I would have to give the award to Greg Cronin of Northeastern, as the Huskies have done the best in league play of the three and are just two seasons removed from a 3-24-7 record.

Player of the Year
There are plenty of players having really good years so far, but Boston College forward Nathan Gerbe is a decisive choice for me and probably everyone else right now. Gerbe is the kind of guy that is easy to love if he’s on your team and equally easy to despise if he is wearing the opposition’s colors. Let’s just say that he is not exactly a candidate for the league’s sportsmanship award. Gerbe is an agitator and a sparkplug — somewhat reminiscent of Brian Gionta but more mercurial in temperament, perhaps. He makes things happen, and he is the biggest reason why BC shook off their early-season doldrums and now are looking like a serious contender nationally, let alone in the league. Look at the numbers: Gerbe has posted 18-16-34 in just 19 games and is leading the nation in both points per game and goals per game. Throw in three short-handed goals on top of that. Right now, Gerbe should a leading contender for the Hobey Baker Award along with Kevin Porter of Michigan.

Rookie of the Year
This is a much tougher race to call at this stage. UMass forward James Marcou is averaging a point per game, and his teammate Paul Dainton has provided a badly-need answer to serious questions in net, posting a 7-4-5 record along with a .918 save percentage and 2.37 goals against average. Likewise, BC goalie John Muse had to fill some pretty big skates when Cory Schneider went pro last summer, and he has posted a 10-5-5 record as well as a 2.19 GAA and .922 save percentage. Initially I found it pretty hard to go against preseason favorite, UNH forward James vanRiemsdyk. Despite having played four games less than Marcou (largely due to his participation in the World Junior Championships), vanRiemsdyk has matched the Minuteman star’s point totals, posting 8-11-19 in 15 games.

In fact, when this column first came out, I did pick him… only to have an astute reader point out that I had selected BC’s Joe Whitney as a first-team all-star while leaving him off the rookie team altogether! The very simple explanation is that I’m stupid… I actually completely forgot that Whitney was just a freshman. As much as I would like to give vanRiemsdyk some hardware now in the event of jumping to the NHL in the off-season, Whitney is most deserving.

Sportsmanship Award
Here I looked for players who have put together impressive performances combined with minimal penalties. Jerry Pollastrone of UNH is a solid contender with 14 points and just 6 PIM. If we judged purely from PIM, I would go with BU forward Chris Higgins, who has been called for just one minor penalty while notching a solid 7-10-17. But ultimately my choice is Boston College forward Ben Smith, as he combine excellent offensive numbers (13-10-23 in 20GP, tied for 24th nationally in points) with just 6 PIM.

Team Sportsmanship Award
There is no judgment call here, as this goes strictly to the team with the lowest number of penalty minutes per game. Right now that would go to Umass-Lowell, as the River Hawks have just 9.9 minutes per game to date. Providence is second with 10.9 PIM per game, while this is one award that is sure to elude BC this season. They are averaging 16.1 PIM per game, last — or first, depending on how you look at it — in the league. But the Eagles surely would let the River Hawks have the gold stars on their forehead in this category if they can win another title.

Defensive Defenseman and Defensive Forward Awards
Personally, I don’t feel that I’ve seen enough teams to play this season to determine winners for these categories just yet. BC and Lowell are leading the league with just 2.20 and 2.21 goals-against per game respectfully, so I’d want to look long and hard at their teams for possibilities. Gerbe conceivably could be a contender here as well due to his speed and shorthanded numbers as well as his +15 rating. Eagle Brian Gibbons has the best +/- rating on the team with a +19, while defenseman Anthony Aiello is at +11. Lowell defenseman Ryan Blair also got my attention my a team-best +12 rating… as a freshman. For UNH, Joe Charlebois (+11) and Jamie Fritsch (+10) stand out among the Wildcat blueliners, while Matt Fornataro (+13) and Mike Radja (+13) are having great two-way years thus far.

That said, even +/- numbers don’t tell the whole story, as some of the best defensive players are matched up against some of the premier offensive players on other teams. So I will defer on winners until I get to see some more games.

First and Second-Team Hockey East All-Stars
I’m mainly going on stats here, though I’m also trying to consider each player’s supporting cast. Either way, these picks are highly arguable. A player who has had to go up against the defense of BC three times already may not look as good as someone who played BU repeatedly in the early going, when they were giving up goals about as fast as they were scoring them. With those caveats, here are my selections as of mid-January

First Team
Forward Nathan Gerbe, BC (18-16-34 in 19 GP)
Forward Joe Whitney, BC (5-22-27 in 20 GP)
Forward Matt Fornataro, UNH (7-17-24 in 20 GP)
Defense Matt Taormina, Providence (5-12-17 in 18 GP)
Defense Matt Gilroy, BU (4-8-12 in 20 GP)
Goal Kevin Regan, UNH (11-4-0, 2.27 GAA, .928 save percentage)

Second Team
Forward Bryan Ewing, BU (11-13-24 in 19 GP)
Forward Pete MacArthur, BU (8-16-24 in 20 GP)
Forward Ben Smith, BC (13-10-23 in 20 GP)
Defense Justin Braun, UMass (4-9-13 in 19 GP)
Defense Brad Flaishans, UNH (4-10-14 in 20 GP)
Goal Brad Thiessen, Northeastern (11-5-2, 2.34 GAA, .914 save percentage

There are quite a few honorable mention candidates who could claim a spot on the first two teams before the season is over. Forwards include Joe Vitale (Northeastern), Marcou (UMass), vanRiemsdyk (UNH), Jon Rheault (Providence), and Mike Radja (UNH) to name a few. Among defensemen, Maine’s Bret Tyler is tied for the team lead in points and Minuteman Mike Kostka’s numbers are almost identical to his teammate Braun. Among goalies, Lowell’s Carter Hutton and Merrimack’s Andrew Brathwaite have stellar stats but have not yet shouldered nearly as much of their team’s netminding workload as Regan and Thiessen, so they cannot be considered yet.

Rookie Team
This lineup is also highly subject to change, as there are inevitably guys who figure it around now and surge statistically through their second semester. But to date, here’s who I would pick:

Forward James vanRiemsdyk, UNH (8-11-19 in 15 GP)
Forward James Marcou, UMass (4-15-19 in 19 GP)
Forward Joe Whitney, BC (5-22-27 in 20 GP)
Defense Ryan Blair, UMass-Lowell (1-6-7 and team-best +12 in 19 GP)
Defense Kevin Shattenkirk, BU (3-6-9 in 20 GP)
Goal Paul Dainton, UMass (7-4-5, 2.37 GAA, and .918)

The most painful decision here was at goalie, as BC’s John Muse has slightly better numbers than Dainton but also has a more experienced defensive corps in front of him. Still, the pressure of coming in as a team’s only goaltender, sink or swim, means that Muse deserved serious consideration and may well pull ahead of Dainton by the end of the season. Another tough omission is BU’s Colin Wilson, the top goal scorer for the US at the World Junior Championships. He already looks to have all the makings of a NHL power forward, and he could put up big numbers the rest of the way. Fellow Terrier Nick Bonino is another solid contender at forward, while Colby Cohen is a talented blueliner for BU as well. Lowell has Scott Campbell (6-7-13) at forward as well as Maury Edwards on defense with the same point totals as Shattenkirk. I also know have heard NU coach Greg Cronin rave about Drew Muench on the blue line, so he may be one of those guys who is much better than the numbers indicate.

In any event, all of the above should be good fodder for message-board arguments as well as offering you a few players to watch when you take in some great second-half Hockey East action.

Handicapping The Second Half

I’m probably not alone among Hockey East fans in scrutinizing the Hockey East standings with real fascination on a regular basis. Here they are, going into this weekend:

Rk Team (GP) W-L-T Pts
1 New Hampshire (14) 9-4-1 19
2 Northeastern (13) 8-4-1 17
3 Boston College (13) 6-3-4 16
4 Mass.-Lowell (14) 5-5-4 14
5 Providence (11) 5-4-2 12
Boston University (13) 5-6-2 12
Massachusetts (12) 4-4-4 12
8 Merrimack (15) 4-10-1 9
Vermont (11) 3-5-3 9
10 Maine (12) 3-7-2 8

On the most obvious level, a few things stand out initially. When you look at games in hand as opposed to the total points, the picture changes to some degree. Here are some observations:

• Although there has been much talk about the topsy-turvy league standings, we’re not far removed at all from the possibility of a 1-2 finish for UNH and BC, just as most predicted at the beginning of the year.

• That said, Northeastern is four games above .500 in league play and still could win the league. Last weekend’s split against Merrimack raises a bit of a question of whether they can go another streak or be more up and down, but my gut feeling is that it will be difficult to dislodge them from a home ice position.

• If you buy my assumption that UNH, BC, and NU have the inside track on home ice between their talent and record to date, we could end up with a fascinating battle for the last home ice slot. Four teams — Lowell, Providence, BU,and UMass — have little separating them. Although Lowell and UMass are the sweethearts of the national rankings in recent weeks, the Friars, surprisingly, appear to be in the best shape when you consider games in hand. Obviously, though, any of the top seven teams appear to be good enough to go on a significant winning streak. For that matter, Merrimack, Vermont, and Maine are all good enough to beat any other team on a good night.

• Although there is a long way to go, the bottom three all face significant challenges if they are to garner the last playoff spot (let alone anything higher). For all of Merrimack’s impressive improvement this year, they have played at least three more league games than the teams that are nearest to them in the standings. Vermont and Maine are better than their records indicate, but they’re looking up at some very talented teams in BU, UMass, Providence, and Lowell.

But again, this is all a pretty superficial view. Taking a closer look at the remaining schedules, some other observations emerge:

• Providence may have some games in hand against the field, but they also are the only team in the top seven that still has to play both UNH and BC twice. On top of that, they play a pair each against Northeastern and BU as well. That’s eight really tough games for the Friars.

• UMass has home-and-home series against Northeastern and BU, but they are done with the Wildcats and have just one game left against BC — at home. They also play Merrimack twice. So that’s a relatively good draw for the Minutemen from here on in.

• For Lowell, the biggest challenge will be home-and-home pairs against BC and Northeastern.

• BU plays twice against UNH, UMass, Northeastern, Maine, Providence, and Merrimack as well as a road game at BC and another at Lowell. That looks pretty challenging, and sweeping some of those pairs and getting at least two or three points against the better teams will be necessary for the Terriers to be playing at Agganis in the postseason. One thing’s for sure: With Karson Gillespie out for several weeks with an ankle injury, we’ll find out how good Brett Bennett really is. If he can play as well as he did at Maine last weekend, that will make a big difference.

• I like UNH’s chances more than BC’s based on schedule. UNH has two games apiece to play against BU, Providence, Merrimack, and Maine as well as all three against Vermont. BC gets a pair apiece against Lowell, Northeastern, and Maine as well as all three against Providence. The two teams play each other twice, too, and that will loom large. BU often gives UNH trouble, but in general I like the Wildcats schedule a little more.

• Northeastern will be tested with two games apiece against BC, UMass, Lowell, and BU as well as a two-game road trip at Vermont. If they can finish first or second after all of that, they could go far in the national tournament. But that’s got to be the toughest schedule of the top three teams.

So based on all of this, here is my prediction for the final finish:

1. UNH
2. BC
3. Northeastern
4. UMass
5. BU
6. UMass-Lowell
7. Providence
8. Vermont
9. Maine
10. Merrimack

We’ll see if that’s remotely close to correct at the finish line.

Trivia Contest

What with many schools on break for the holidays last week, Dave decided to give himself a trivia break as well. But now it’s time to get your thinking caps back on again.

My daughter recently competed in her geography bee at school, putting the whole family into map fever for a little while. As a result, I have a question that will require some heavy use of Mapquest to solve it. I call this one “Far-Flung Teammates.” In the history of men’s hockey in Hockey East, name the pair of teammates who lived the farthest driving distance apart in North America according to Mapquest. To determine the distance, go to Mapquest and ask for directions between the two players’ hometowns as they are listed on www.hockeydb.com.

For example, let’s pick a pair of current teammates at random: Rob Ricci (Brampton, Ontario) and Francois Ouimet (Lorrain, Quebec) of Merrimack. Click on “Directions” on Mapquest, taking care to click on the “State” designation to get the right abbreviation for the US state or Canadian province (QC for Quebec, par example. When I did this for Ricci and Ouimet, I came up with the rather unimpressive total of 362.79 miles.

However, without trying too hard I came up with a pair of teammates that just shy of 2,800 miles apart… and with a little more effort I came up with another pair that was close to 2,500 miles apart. Then I got a little lucky and topped 3,700 miles. Finally I quit when I found a pair whose hometowns were separated by 4728.38 miles according to Mapquest, a drive of over 80 hours! So suffice to say that you’ll have to at least match that number to have the best possible answer.

E-mail me with your answer. If the link in that last sentence doesn’t work for you (I had problems two weeks ago), just e-mail to [email protected] to reach me. The winner will be notified by Monday night; if you haven’t heard by then you either had the wrong answer or someone else beat you to it.

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda

Given that I’ve been a San Diego Chargers fan since falling in love with their uniforms around the age of five, I was delighted with their against-the-odds upset of the Colts, especially with their two best offensive players hurt. In all likelihood, the Pats will thump them this weekend, but it still is a very satisfying win… and it’s the first time I can remember that I’ve actually liked all four teams in the playoffs!

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Jan. 17, 2008

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They say that the keys to winning in ECAC Hockey are to take care of your home games, and to take advantage of your power plays.

So who’s doing both?

Cornell — no surprise there — holds the longest current home unbeaten streak in the league. Granted, it’s only four games, so it doesn’t compare much to Clarkson’s celebrated 19-game stretch that ended at the hands of St. Cloud State earlier this season. The Big Red are a modest 3-1-1 at Lynah so far, but only the Golden Knights (9-1-0) and Union (6-1-3) can match Cornell’s number in the home-loss column.

The Knights hold steady with 16 consecutive league games at Cheel without a loss. Runner-up Union has … four.

On the flip side, can anyone explain Princeton to me? Currently the Tigers are in first place at 8-4-0, yet are only 3-4-0 in league play at Hobey Baker Rink this season. Brown hasn’t been winning anywhere, home or otherwise, and is 1-4-0 in ECAC play at Meehan right now.

The Raiders are only 0-1-1 at home in league, which could spell a second-half resurgence in front of friendly fans. The normally hostile Thompson Arena has been less beneficial to the Big Green this season than usual: Dartmouth is 2-3-1 there in league play. Rensselaer is 1-2-2 in league at Houston Field House; the Saints are 1-3-1 at Appleton against league foes.

On the man-advantage, the sizzling Bobcats are rolling along with a 17.4 percent overall efficiency rate, while Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard and St. Lawrence are within two percentage points.

However, the struggling Engineers are dead last in the country overall, scoring only seven times in 111 power-play opportunities, for a 6.3 percent success rate. Colgate (10.3) and Yale (10.8) aren’t much better off, generally speaking — both are also in the bottom seven, nationally.

From the Top

So what is it about the Tigers that has shot them to the top of the charts? Even head coach Guy Gadowsky isn’t really certain.

“The ECAC is so tight, that often one big save or one big goal can make a difference [in the standings],” he said.

On the whole, Princeton has been doing the little things necessary to win. Sophomore goaltender Zane Kalemba has won four straight games, and five straight in league. The Tigers are winning on the road. The team is 10th-best nationally in penalty minutes per game (11.7), 15th on the penalty-kill (87 percent), leads the ECAC in scoring and is riding a five-game winning streak as well.

A primary key to the success of this team has been the development of its young defenders, according to Gadowsky. Along with quick learning curves, the defense has also been blessed with a true leader in senior Mike Moore.

“There’s not a defenseman in the league I’d rather have than Mike Moore,” said Gadowsky. “He’s a great leader and a great player.”

Kalemba, despite pedestrian statistics thus far, has won the starting nod from the coaching staff.

“Zane is absolutely at his best in close games,” Gadowsky praised, “and there are lots of those in the ECAC.”

The coach admires Kalemba’s focus and composure under pressure.

“He’s the calmest guy on the team. He doesn’t panic … he takes pride in his mental toughness.”

Hopefully for all involved, Kalemba and his teammates are as focused on their impending exams as they have been on the ice in early 2008.

Underdogs Again

Talk long enough to Joe Marsh, and you’d think the Lynn, Mass., native was pulling for the Rockies in last year’s World Series, and that he’d since adorned his car with a San Diego Chargers pennant.

He didn’t, and he hasn’t, but rooting for the underdog just seems to be as much a part of him as the Scarlet and Brown that pumps through his veins.

“The mentality of being an underdog … people misread it,” said the iconic Saints head coach. “It’s not about an inferiority complex; it’s about being resilient. It’s a sense of responsibility to do what needs to be done, not a sense of entitlement.”

It’s a message that he’s been preaching to his SLU charges for years, whether they be ECAC doormats or, say, defending regular-season champions.

“We’ve gotta play like underdogs,” he pronounced in his jovial, rough-edged Boston accent.

After an uninspired start, his boys might finally be coming around to the idea.

“We’re starting to get a few breaks, the power play’s coming around a bit,” Marsh said. “We’re getting better sustained effort.”

The Saints have won three in a row, including the upset of now-No. 5 New Hampshire on the road two weekends ago. Following a stretch of five games in seven in which SLU potted precisely two goals apiece, the Saints offense has exploded with 25 goals in its last five contests.

Likewise, the defense and goaltending are coming around as well. Sophomore Alex Petizian seized the reins on a four-horse merry-go-round, and has started a couple of gems since the holiday break.

“Petizian has been playing awfully well,” agreed the coach. “[At Harvard] was his best game,” Marsh said, referring to a one-goal, 39-save victory last Friday.

Petizian might get pushed a bit harder once more with the eventual return of senior Justin Pesony.

“[Pesony’s] been hurt, he’s married, he had his first kid, he’s been back and forth to Edmonton this year … and he’s still holding a 4.0 [double-majoring] in psychology and economics,” Marsh said, aghast. “He’s also the best-conditioned athlete I’ve ever had in my life.”

Marsh also praised the team as a whole, not only for its work ethic on the ice, but also in the classroom.

“This is the sixth semester in a row of having over a 3.0 team-average GPA,” Marsh stated proudly. “I have more seasons coaching behind me than ahead of me … and these guys are making it easy.”

Growing Green

Dartmouth has an admittedly young and inexperienced team this season. This isn’t breaking news to anyone.

The news, to those who may have missed last weekend, is that these Green have some bite.

Bobby (Gaudet)’s Boys made a headlong charge at the league’s premier team in Clarkson Friday night, and came out of the fight with two points and a lot of confidence.

The team suffered a hangover loss to St. Lawrence on Sunday, but rebounded nicely with a non-conference victory at Boston University on Tuesday evening.

“We’ve had inconsistent team defense,” said Gaudet. “It’s an evolution. I have to fit the system of play to the kids we have,” he said. “You can’t just go out and find guys who will fit perfectly in your system.”

To boast briefly, before the game at BU, I encouraged some Terrier friends of mine to pay attention to Dartmouth forward J.T. Wyman. Thank you, Mr. Wyman, for making me look a little bit sharper than I probably am.

Wyman scored his 11th goal of the season on a nifty breakaway move with 1:38 remaining to ice the Terriers.

“That was kind of a vintage J.T. goal,” said Gaudet, who appreciates the creativity that Wyman and his other forwards often display. “Creativity in the offensive zone, attacking over the blueline … it’s something where we give our guys absolute freedom,” he said.

Over the past seven games, the Green have averaged exactly three goals per match: five tilts with three goals scored, plus four goals against Northern Michigan and two at Princeton.

“You can make do with three goals a game,” Gaudet laughed, when asked how he’d feel should that trend continue. “Used to be, the first team to four wins the game,” he said. “It’s really hard to score nowadays. We’ve got a younger group, and we’re not quite as honed, experience-wise … but it seems like more guys are chipping in now.”

Gaudet continued explaining how — spotted three goals — he would happily encourage stronger defensive play.

“We forecheck very aggressively, but that is defense. We don’t have the puck. We don’t play back in a neutral-zone trap,” he said.

Fortunately, when things go bad, senior workhorse Mike Devine is between the pipes to make things right. The ‘keeper might have a higher GAA than in years past (2.80), but his save percentage is right on target with his previous campaigns (.915).

For better or worse, Dartmouth might not get the drop on New Hampshire that St. Lawrence did. The Big Green square off against the Wildcats annually, and UNH is probably preparing for this Saturday’s contest with a bit more focus than it did for its previous ECAC guests.

Blue Bruno

Brown, it can safely be said, is in a slump.

The Bears have dropped 10 of 12, and haven’t won since November 9. What’s the big problem down in Providence?

“It’s a combination of things. There are a lot of aspects of our game that aren’t solid,” said coach Roger Grillo. “We’re inconsistent. Our confidence is rattled. [There’s no single thing] that we’re doing extremely well, and there’s no single thing we’re doing extremely poorly. We’re playing well enough to stay in games, but not to win them.”

The solution, he says, is hard work. “We’re a little banged up right now. We’ve gotta get healthy, and we’ve gotta work hard.”

One of the bright spots so far this season is the play of third-year goalie Mark Sibbald. While sophomore Dan Rosen has struggled after a fantastic freshman season, Sibbald has made productive use of his increasing time, posting a .921 save percentage in five full games.

One reason that Bruno has been struggling has been the injuries of key players such as forwards Matt Vokes and Jordan Pietrus, and rearguard Mike Stuart. Grillo hopes to have all three back for this weekend’s non-conference game against Merrimack, but “if not this weekend, definitely by next weekend” for the resumption of ECAC play.

Union Pays the Price

Out of context, you’d think that “paying the price” would be a bad thing. A penalty, a fine, a reciprocation.

But in hockey, paying the price is both a penalty and a reward. Just ask Union.

“We just had some guys growing into some roles [earlier this year],” began head coach Nate Leaman. “We weren’t finishing, our goaltending was [subpar] … but we were still generating chances.”

“There aren’t many games where you’re going into the third period separated by more than one goal either way,” he said of the ECAC.

So what’s the difference between a team that can finish, and one that can’t?

“In this league, there are probably about five or six different places,” Leaman laughed.

However, since the winter break, Leaman has seen a noticeable change on the Dutchmen from a team that could get the puck to the net, to one that could put it in the net.

“We know as a group that we have to play good team defense [first],” he said. “Offense comes out of good team defense. We want to be a tough team to play,” so they play aggressively in their own zone.

At the very back, the goalies are finally coming around.

“Corey [Milan] is a heck of a lot quicker, and explosive. He makes incredible saves in practice, that just leave guys shaking their heads,” Leaman described. “Justin [Mrazek] is a bigger guy; he takes up a lot of the net. He uses his body to stay square to the puck, cuts down the angles.”

Leaman anticipates a continued rotation, at least for the time being.

The Dutch play rival Rensselaer in a travel-partners home-and-home, with the weekend kicking off at the Achilles Center.

“It makes for a very special college weekend every year,” the coach said of the regional rivalry. “Throw the records out the window; it’ll be fast, it’ll be physical.”

The Dutchmen fell to the ‘Tute 3-2 in the Governor’s Cup earlier this season, but haven’t lost the rivalry weekend lately. The programs split last year’s edition, Union took three points in the spring of ’06, and the Dutch swept the deuce in the fall of 2004.

Coaches’ Corner

This week’s question involves controversy, but not in the form of lively debate between the pollsters.

Instant replay. Do you like it, and in what circumstances is it appropriate?

Everyone is for it, and most coaches agreed that it should be used only to review goals scored (or not scored). Furthermore, those asked agreed that it should be a mandatory amenity in every ECAC rink.

The only issues at hand, it seems, are to convince university accountants to spring for the systems and to properly train the officials to use the technology.

Snapshots

• Rensselaer sophomore Erik Burgdoerfer will serve a one-game suspension on Friday night. The defenseman is being penalized for a hit from behind in last weekend’s game against Cornell.

• Clarkson forward Scott Freeman is out for this weekend’s games at Colgate and Cornell. The freshman has scored two goals with eight assists in 19 games.

• Torren Delforte and Chris Potts are questionable for the Dutchmen this rivalry weekend. The forwards have combined for seven goals and four assists, in 18 and 19 games, respectively.

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Jan. 17, 2008

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Vote for Hobey — Fact and Fiction

For the past several seasons, the Hobey Baker Foundation has run a promotion called “Vote for Hobey,” where the fans can cast ballots for their favorite candidate. It’s a good idea that drives traffic to the Hobey Baker website, drawing attention to the award (and the merchandise).

There is some, albeit very small, legitimacy to the fan voting, as the winner will receive 1% of the votes in the real nominating process, where each of the Division I coaches submits a ballot with three players from his own conference plus three players from anywhere in the nation.

That is the legitimate process, which is a totally different process than the one used for compiling the players on the Vote for Hobey ballot. And this year, more than any other, there’s been controversy over how that list was compiled.

“In past years, we solicited input from the press and the leagues,” said Scott Pollack, director of communications for the Hobey Baker foundation. “But we had schools complaining about why such and such a player wasn’t on the ballot.”

So this year, schools were asked to self-nominate up to three players. In other words, the Vote for Hobey list comes right from the schools with no vetting, no review. So you have cases of schools submitting a list of players, and then issuing a press release about how their guys have been nominated for the Hobey Baker Award. And they were nominated … by the schools themselves. But not for the Hobey Baker itself — just for the Vote for Hobey promotion. This has caused confusion for fans, media and even some SIDs.

Schools around the nation took various approaches to how they selected their players. Many submitted three names simply because they could. Others submitted only players they thought had a legitimate shot at the award (for example, Michigan appears to be pushing Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik and not Billy Sauer). Some schools chose not to play at all.

Atlantic Hockey had that mixture of approaches. Here are the AHA players on the Vote for Hobey ballot:

AIC: Mike McMillan, Dan Ramirez, Jereme Tendler
Air Force: Eric Ehn
Army: Luke Flicek, Bryce Hollweg, Owen Meyer
Bentley: Joe Calvi, Jaye Judd, Dain Prewitt
Canisius: Kyle Bushee, Josh Heidinger, Dave Kasch
Holy Cross: Dale Reinhardt , Brodie Sheahan, Everett Sheen
Mercyhurst: Ben Cottreau, Matt Lundin
Sacred Heart: Alexandre Parent, Bear Trapp

Connecticut and RIT chose not to nominate any players for Vote for Hobey.

“I’ll be submitting a ballot when the legitimate process begins,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “It’s too early to tell right now who those candidates will be.”

In the “real” voting, coaches cannot vote for their own players, as opposed, of course, to the Vote for Hobey, where coaches presumably only vote for their own players.

Because of this new process, the ballot for Vote for Hobey is generating more controversy and confusion than ever. Michigan fans, for example, want to know why there are three AHA goalies on the ballot, but not Sauer, who has a GAA almost a full point lower than the top AHA goaltender on the list (Joe Calvi). Is the Hobey committee saying that these goalies are better? Sure looks that way unless you understand the process. Those Michigan fans should take it up with their own school.

The important thing to remember is that just because a player is not on the Vote for Hobey ballot does not mean that he has not been nominated for the award. The legitimate nominating process hasn’t begun yet. And the fan vote will account for barely one-half of a single coach’s ballot.

And the big question for Atlantic Hockey fans is this: does the AHA have a legitimate Hobey candidate this season? Last year, Eric Ehn could not be ignored because of the numbers he put up, plus he had the intangibles that appeal to coaches and the selection committee.

This season, Ehn has 24 points to date. Last year at this time he had 43. Ehn is 37th nationally in points per game (1.09). RIT’s Simon Lambert is the top AHA player in this category (1.19; 21st place).

Mercyhurst’s Matt Lundin is the top AHA goaltender in the national rankings for save percentage, in 15th place (.925). Andrew Volkening of Air Force is 29th in GAA nationally (2.43), tops among AHA goaltenders.

So statistics-wise, I’m not seeing an AHA player as a finalist. But there’s still plenty of hockey to play.

Neither Lambert nor Volkening are on the Vote for Hobey ballot. But go to hobeybaker.com and vote. Have fun. But remember — that’s all it is.

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week for January 14, 2008:
Brodie Sheahan — Holy Cross
The sophomore forward had a five point week to help the Crusaders to a split with Bentley, tallying three assists in a 6-4 loss on Friday and adding a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win on Saturday. Sheahan leads his team in assists with 14 and in points with 21.

Goaltender of the Week for January 14, 2008:
Matt Lundin — Mercyhurst
The junior transfer from Maine stopped all 29 Army shots for his first shutout in a Lakers’ uniform and fourth of his career.

Rookie of the Week for January 14, 2008:
Erik Peterson — Bentley
The freshman from Shorewood, Minn., had a hat trick on Friday, scoring Bentley’s final three goals to lead the Falcons to a 6-4 win over Holy Cross.

Sweet Sweep

Don’t look now, but the Mercyhurst Lakers are starting to make their move. They’ve won five league games in a row, the most consecutive wins since the 2004-2005 season when they won the league title. Last weekend, Mercyhurst swept Army while the rest of the teams in the league failed to pick up four points. Sacred Heart won and tied against AIC, while the other three series ended in splits. That means the Lakers picked up a point on the Pioneers, two on every other team, and four on Army.

“Any time you can get a sweep in this league, you’re thrilled,” said Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin.

Gotkin’s team has been plagued by the injury bug all season, with starting goaltender Matt Lundin missing significant time and Ryan Toomey suffering a season ending injury nine games into the season. And Lundin was again injured on Friday, battling through it to get a 29-save shutout.

“It’s not nearly as serious as last time,” said Gotkin. “He’ll be back. Lundin played great even though he got dinged up. Ryan Zapolski played great for us the next night. He made more saves than Lundin had to (35 in a 4-2 win).”

The Lakers now find themselves all alone in fourth place after starting last weekend tied for sixth. “We have a pretty good team. We just haven’t been able to stay healthy,” said Gotkin. “We haven’t had a healthy lineup since Oct 12.

“Ryan Toomey was going to be a big part of our offensive scheme. Losing him has definitely hurt. We’re trying to get him a redshirt and another senior season.”

I asked Gotkin if his killer nonleague schedule is now paying dividends.

“Those games were too long ago for that,” he said. “We used (games with) Notre Dame and Michigan State for experience in the way that, if we are fortunate enough to make the NCAA tournament, we can say that we’ve been in that environment, in big buildings with 10,000 fans.

“But we did use (last weekend’s series with) Michigan Tech to get ready for Army. I thought we played well in that series, and it carried over.”

Around the League

AIC: Coach Gary Wright won his 250th game behind the Yellow Jackets’ bench on January 8 with a 3-2 win against Holy Cross. AIC has 12 points in league play this season, double what it had at this time last year.

Bentley: The Falcons scored three goals in an 18-second span against Holy Cross last Friday, setting a school record. Goalie Joe Calvi was featured in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of the January 14 issue of Sports Illustrated. The freshman was AHA Rookie of the Month for October and Goalie of the Month for November.

Canisius: The Griffs’ PK is on a roll. Canisius has killed off 40 of its last 41 penalties and has scored three shorthanded goals during that stretch. .

Holy Cross: After an off weekend against RIT, the Crusaders’ power play is back on track, going 4-for-5 against Bentley on Saturday. Holy Cross’ 25.5% success rate is still second in Division I.

RIT: Thanks to Matt Smith’s overtime goal on Saturday, RIT won at Air Force for the first time since 2000 and the first time in the school’s Division I era. Ten of the last 12 games between the two schools have been decided by a goal or less.

Sacred Heart: Junior Bear Trapp had four points last weekend against AIC, putting him over the century mark for career points.

Trotter At Full Speed

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Returning from their Christmas break, the Denver Pioneers faced playing the annual Denver Cup without two of their top players. Assistant captain Tyler Ruegsegger and Rhett Rakhshani, who had scored a hat trick in seven minutes to spark the Pioneers to a come-from-behind victory over St. Cloud in mid-December, were off playing in the World Junior Tournament for Team USA.

Brock Trotter, however, was in Denver, and he stepped up. Trotter, the Pioneers’ leading scorer in 2006-2007 and currently in 2007-2008, notched three points in each game to lead the Pioneers to victory in the tournament, earning tournament MVP honors in the process.

As successful as Trotter’s collegiate career has been so far, it’s all the more impressive considering that he suffered what could have been a career-ending injury in his freshman year that resulted in him redshirting the 2005-2006 season.

Trotter was a highly-touted prospect when he came to Denver in September 2005. The Brandon, Manitoba, native had played in the USHL for the Lincoln Stars, averaging almost a point a game. He started off his freshman year strong, getting five points in his first five games, and was named WCHA Rookie of the Week for the week of October 24-30, 2005. For most people, getting that honor so early would be a high point. For Trotter, it was bittersweet.

Playing against North Dakota in North Dakota on October 29, Trotter was in the corner in the North Dakota zone chasing the puck when Fighting Sioux defenseman Matt Smaby checked him. As the two collided, Smaby’s skate severed Trotter’s right Achilles tendon. The rest of Trotter’s first year was a long process of physical rehabilitation and surgery to recover.

“It was definitely a long year, but I think I just took it one step at a time, literally,” Trotter laughs. “I went through a lot of casts, I think six by the end of the whole thing. I started rehabbing with the little things, just kind of working hard to just get back on the ice. I started walking, then started skating and before long it just comes back to you. It was a long time off the ice, but you don’t really forget how to skate or stuff like that.”

Brock Trotter leads Denver to the Denver Cup. Photo: Candace Horgan

Brock Trotter leads Denver to the Denver Cup. Photo: Candace Horgan

For Pioneers’ coach George Gwozdecky, the focus wasn’t on getting his star freshman forward back on the ice as quickly as possible to try for a third consecutive national title. Instead, Gwozdecky wanted Trotter to focus on school.

“Our biggest concern was academics,” says Gwozdecky. “It was, you don’t have hockey for the next six months, but we need you to establish a good solid foundation of your academic work. That’s one thing that we were very responsive on and we asked him to work extremely hard to get a good solid foundation and he did so, along with his rehab, and I think it’s worked to his benefit.”

Along with his academics, Trotter did a lot of different exercises to strengthen his leg. “It was just kind of a combination of things cause all my muscles hadn’t been used in so long. I pretty much had to re-strengthen pretty much everything in my ankle and my leg. As far as the actual Achilles tendon, that was probably the toughest part, just being able to re-strengthen that obviously, cause it had been cut in half.”

The work paid off for Trotter, who started practicing with the team again towards the end of the season, and continued to work over the summer to be able to play at a high level again. In 2006-07, his first full season with the Pioneers, Trotter picked up where he left off, playing in all 40 games and scoring 40 points.

Trotter started developing his offensive talent at a very young age. He started skating when he was two, and, like many other Canadians, played in a backyard rink that his father built every year.

In addition to hockey, Trotter played other sports, including soccer, golf, baseball and basketball. Ultimately, he knew he would choose hockey.

“Hockey has always been my favorite sport; I knew I was ultimately going to pursue that,” he said. “The more you keep playing hockey, the less time you have for other things.”

As he got older, Trotter faced the decision of whether to further his hockey career in Major Junior or college, ultimately choosing college, a decision that was influenced by friends like former Pioneer Brett Skinner.

“I had an opportunity to go and play in the Western Hockey League when I was 17, but I opted to go to the USHL and eventually come here. It was in the back of my mind, like all my friends ended up going to do that. That’s what western Canadian kids do, but I felt this was the right choice for me for my hockey career.”

Trotter looked at several different NCAA programs, including Minnesota-Duluth and New Hampshire, but ultimately felt that Denver was the best place for him to go.

Brock Trotter has excellent speed. Photo: Candace Horgan

Brock Trotter has excellent speed. Photo: Candace Horgan

Gwozdecky feels that Trotter is a natural offensive talent who nevertheless works very hard at all aspects of his game, something that really attracted the Pioneers when they scouted him.

“He’s a very gifted offensive player, a quick stick,” says Gwozdecky. “In a hockey sense he’s very slippery, tough to contain. I think he’s better in certain parts of his game than he was a couple of years ago. He’s one of these guys that right now in his game he’s learned to take the puck in traffic.

“I think part of his game when he was a younger player was everybody would just work to get the puck to him and then he’d get it and score. When you advance to the higher levels, everybody has to work to get the puck, so there’s no question that Brock’s game continues to develop and evolve, based upon how skilled and how dedicated he is to his game.”

For much of this season, Trotter has played with another offensively skilled Canadian, freshman Tyler Bozak. The two seemed to have chemistry almost from the moment that they paired up.

“He’s unbelievable to play with,” said Bozak. “I’ve been with him since the start of the year. We’ve kind of had instant chemistry. He always finds a way to get open. When I’m open, he’ll always give me the puck, and whenever I give him the puck, he’ll always put it in the net, so there’s not a better guy to play with. He led the team in scoring last year, and to be put on a line with him, he was a guy I looked up to. I think all the guys do; I think they try to learn from him and his offensive talent.”

For Gwozdecky, the pairing has had huge dividends.

“I’m pleased by it, but not surprised. They’re both creative players and the more you play those kinds of players together, the more they seem to be able know how each other plays, where they’re going to be, where to put the puck. They play off each other very well.”

Trotter likes playing with Bozak, and feels that the two complement each other very well. “We feed off each other. If I’m not having a great night, he’s got my back and he’s pushing me. It’s give and take. We seem to be working really well together, so hopefully that can just continue the rest of the year.

Gwozdecky once said of Trotter that the coaching staff sometimes doesn’t know what he is going to do when he has the puck. Despite that uncertainty, Gwozdecky won’t try to put up set plays for his star forward.

“When you have tremendously gifted offensive players, you never want to rein them in so you take away all their creativity. I mean, [Paul] Stastny was that way, and Brock Trotter is. You don’t want to give him specific things; it would be foolish for me or anybody else to give him specific rules as to you have to be here when the puck is here, you have to be here when the puck is there, you have to do this, you have to do that.

“One of the reasons they’re such good players is they have a creative mind. Sometimes that creativity gets you in trouble, but if you’re playing with the right players, creative players can be very effective. I think Brock has been very effective for us, and at the same time I think he’s learned what works and what doesn’t work at this level and what risks to take and where to take them.”

Bozak concurs that Trotter has a unique ability to read and react to plays very quickly, and develop plays in the offensive end of the ice.

“He’s just unreal offensively,” said Bozak. “We don’t have any set plays; we just read off of each other really well. We know what each other is going to do and where we’re going to be, so we can react off each other much quicker. We’ve gotten pretty good knowing where each other is at all times and going to the right spots as the season has progressed. I know when he has the puck he’s going to look for me and I’m usually there and when I have the puck, wherever I’m going to look he’s usually there, so our chemistry has been great so far.”

Trotter's abilities with the puck strengthen his line. Photo: Candace Horgan

Trotter’s abilities with the puck strengthen his line. Photo: Candace Horgan

As well as Trotter performed in his first full year, the season ended in disappointment, as Denver missed the NCAA tournament by one victory. Though the Pioneers, currently No. 4 in the country, have been strong so far, Trotter says that they still have a lot to accomplish. With the Frozen Four in Denver this year, the Pioneers have some extra motivation to get to the tournament.

“You try to learn from your experiences, obviously,” Trotter said. “I think our team’s doing well right now, but we can’t be content with what we’ve done so far this year. We just have to go out each week getting better. The funnest hockey is always the second half, playoffs and all that, so we gotta set ourselves up for a good shot to make a good run near the end. With [the Frozen Four] being here, it’s definitely a big motivator for us to try to get there. I know we’ll have a lot of people behind us if we can make it there.”

For someone as gifted offensively as Trotter, it’s a surprise that he is undrafted by any NHL team. Trotter does hope to play professional hockey someday, but it isn’t his focus at the moment, something that is good news for Pioneers’ fans.

“Right now, I’m just kind of worried about playing for the University of Denver. I’ve still got two more years left here, so that’s still a long ways down the road. I’m just trying to worry about this season right now, and it looks good, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”

Green (And White) Light

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The Red Cedar River runs through campus no matter how hot or cold it is in East Lansing.

As much can be said for the pulse of Michigan State hockey, which is a year-round passion in the town that had produced five Millers (two of whom won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award) and two national championships going into the 2006-07 season.

A few years ago, that pulse flatlined a bit. The most recognizable face of the program, Ron Mason, had stepped aside to become the athletic director. Several candidates were out there. Michigan State alum and national title-winning coach Jeff Jackson was available, but the job went to Rick Comley. People were nervous.

Rick Comley, with Chris Lawrence (l.) and Jeff Lerg, is after another national title for his Spartans (photo: Robert Hendricks).

Rick Comley, with Chris Lawrence (l.) and Jeff Lerg, is after another national title for his Spartans (photo: Robert Hendricks).

Comley, who has made his fame as a hockey coach despite being a great baseball player as a kid in Ontario, took the job from a legend. As the joke goes in college sports, don’t follow a legend, follow a cheater. The logic is that you’ll never eclipse the legend, but the cheater probably will have left you some great players to start with.

Mason was a legend, the all-time record-holder for wins by a coach in the history of college hockey. However, he and his protégé, Comley, had the same number of national title rings. Comley’s Wildcats of Northern Michigan had slain the big bad Boston University Terriers to start the 90’s. The little guy from the little school on the banks of the Gitchee Gumee in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula had the same amount of success as the mighty Spartans from downstate in the same time period.

When Mason hired him, it somewhat fulfilled a prophecy for Comley. He figured he and Mason, for whom he played his college hockey for at Lake Superior, would coach together one day, with Ron as the head coach and Rick as his assistant. Sounded great, the teacher and the student united for a last go-around before they retired.

The student took over, and now five years later, he has taught everyone a lesson. Like Mike Eaves did at Wisconsin, Comley calmly replaced players on the roster with players he recruited that fit his vision and style. Out with the old, in with the new. Five years later, Michigan State was once again a national champion after a 21-year hiatus. For Comley, whose team knocked out BU, Notre Dame, Maine and Boston College, it justified the trust that the administration had put in him.

It also presented him with a challenge, one that he had not dealt with for 17 seasons. He entered the season as the defending national champion. That takes a special mindset to handle, and the challenge was not to downplay it with his team while not sitting there and focusing on being the defending national champion.

“Last year, we weren’t the best team over 40 games,” said Comley, who is prepping his squad for a mid-season test from Notre Dame in a home-and-home series this weekend. “We were the best over the last four.”

MSU put it together at the right time. While not loaded with a roster of NHL players (and having lost David Booth to graduation and Drew Miller to early departure), the Spartans built around a diminutive asthmatic goalie in Jeff Lerg and a dynamic line of three juniors in Tim Kennedy, Justin Abdelkader, and Tim Crowder. Lerg’s cousin Bryan, a gifted left winger, became the embodiment of the work ethic that MSU relied on to win it all.

Comley knows the deal and he knows how to run a hockey team. He is not panicking but realizes that Miami, Michigan and Notre Dame have demonstrated that they will be major obstacles in the road. Comley wants to be in a position where he is not looking at an at-large bid. He wants to know in early March that his Spartans will be one of 16 competing for that national title that he owns at the moment.

Comley’s guys have had as good a first half as he has had at Michigan State. He has had great second halves. He has the ingredients to make another run, despite the feeling that he is missing the business-like demeanor that his team had last season.

This could be MSU’s year again, but Denver, CC, North Dakota, UNH, Northeastern, Miami, Michigan and Notre Dame all pose threats to a repeat. Comley said in the preseason that he was focused on becoming a really good team, and feels they are not far from that. However, he has not downplayed the national title run to his team.

“Who wouldn’t use that intangible to get your point across?” Comley asked. “The great thing is when watching film with the players, or in a meeting regarding our play, I can say we did x, y and z when we beat Boston College or Maine in April, but we’re not doing it now. That’s an advantage a lot of coaches would want.”

Comley is not cocky, he is confident. He isn’t rah rah, but he is emotional. His best quality is his honesty and his ability to hold people accountable, and that is why his teams have been successful at MSU. He once told me that if players play to the level he thinks they can, there will never be a problem between coach and player. Last April, they did.

He doesn’t want to make people forget Ron Mason. He doesn’t want people to forget his era of MSU hockey, the era of Kip Miller, Rod Brind’Amour, Joe Murphy and Craig Simpson. What he wanted to do was show the administration that the faith they had in him was justified, and that was most of the smile he flashed on the ice in the aftermath of their dramatic win over Boston College in St. Louis last April.

The second half tells a lot about Michigan State. They have a lot of Notre Dame and Michigan and they have some ground to make up. One thing they do have is a coach who has been there. There is no way you rule out that he won’t be there again.

Comley has achieved what he wanted to at MSU, to an extent. Don’t think for one second he is satisfied. His eyes are on another national championship.

From where he sits, he doesn’t have to look far.

A Dream Come True

By Joe Haggerty
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It literally started out as a kid’s flight of fancy between a pair of hockey-playing brothers who grew up in the comfortable suburbs outside of Boston and had a dream of someday lacing up the skates for the Boston College Eagles.

Joe Whitney and his younger brother Steve were both young skaters playing for the Boston Junior Eagles — a junior hockey program organized by hockey alumni largely from BC and Harvard — and on a whim had a Faneuil Hall artist render a caricature of the puck-moving duo in full Boston College Eagles uniforms.

“We got it in 1997 and we’re wearing BC hats and BC jerseys,” said the 19-year-old Whitney, who admits it still hangs on the Whitney mantel at their Reading, Mass., home. “We did that as a funny thing.

Joe Whitney is among the national leaders in assists as a freshman (photo: Melissa Wade).

Joe Whitney is among the national leaders in assists as a freshman (photo: Melissa Wade).

“We were little kids and we thought we were on the college team back then. [Andrew] Orpik’s older brother Brooks was a counselor back then and he still remembers me from the Eagles Hockey School.”

Junior Eagles coach John McNamara, a 1986 graduate of the Boston College hockey program, still lives across the street from the Chestnut Hill campus and would customarily take the teams to Kelley Rink on weekends to watch the “big Eagles” play. He had the older Whitney and his teammates in tow on a trip to the 2000 Frozen Four title game that saw the Eagles fall to North Dakota.

Whitney watched all those Eagles games in awe with his face pressed up against the glass of the boards, and still remembers the way he modeled his game after the heady, crafty play of Ben Eaves — the player he long looked up to while building his own game.

“I always liked Ben Eaves because he was so smart with the puck and he always made the right decisions with the puck and I pride myself in taking good care of the puck and making the right decisions with it too,” said Whitney, who was second in the nation in assists (22) heading into the mid-January. “Plus, Eaves had all the skill in the world too to go along with his intelligence. Players don’t always have the hockey sense that he has.”

The 5-foot-6, 165-pounder dreamed of someday being the next Eaves, and, well, sometimes, someday actually comes.

It has for the BC frosh, who is just behind Nate Gerbe on the Eagles in the scoring category on the strength of five goals and 22 assists through January 11, an impressive early string of production that has placed him in a rarified group with St. Cloud State’s Garrett Roe and Wisconsin’s Kyle Turris — a trio of freshmen who are among the nation’s top scorers in all of college hockey.

Whitney was already parlayed his playmaking skills into a spot running the point on the high-powered Eagles power play and has helped fill the offensive void at the Heights created by graduation (Brian Boyle and Joe Rooney), disciplinary action (Brett Motherwell) and injuries (Brock Bradford) during the early part of the season.

Longtime Boston College coach Jerry York knew what he had in Whitney after watching him continually light the lamp at Lawrence Academy Prep School and at a handful of international hockey festivals, but his rapid development into a consistent scoring threat has been impressive and a bit unexpected.

“To be perfectly honest, I thought he was going to have a little more difficulty early [in his career],” said York. “I knew he was going to be a great player for us because he’s got great skills and imagination, but he seems to have bridged that speed gap more quickly than I thought.

“He’s really been able to handle the tempo of our game,” added York. “You can’t teach what he has. He’s able to see people out on the ice and he’s almost like a point guard in basketball with the way he can set things up and know where players are — without staring at them. His head is always up on the ice, and that’s a rare trait and a pretty remarkable one to have as a player.”

That on-ice vision has been a staple of Whitney’s game since the winger was a pint-sized scoring force skating on the Junior Eagles with Harvard’s Doug Rogers and Matt McCollem and Colgate’s Kevin McNamara from the time they were elementary-school kids.

“He sees the ice better than people that are sitting up in the stands watching the game, and to me that’s a true sign of potential greatness in a hockey player,” said McNamara. “It is so much more difficult to see everything that’s happening on the ice when you’re at ice level, but you could be 50 rows up and Joe will see something on the ice that you couldn’t see up in the stands.

“I played with Craig Janney in the ’80s [at Boston College] and I would say he sees the ice like someone like that,” added McNamara, drawing a comparison with a player who put up a ridiculous 83 points in his final 1986-87 season with the Eagles. “Janney was six feet tall and that helped him in his ability to play at the next level, but their instincts on the ice are very similar and Joe is a tough and courageous kid.”

Whitney’s goals for his rookie season aren’t grounded in individual statistics or tallying ridiculous point totals, but are instead in line with the rest of his team. He’s willing to grind away along the boards and muck out the puck from the foreboding corners if necessary, and seems happy just living out his dream on the Boston College ice.

“It’s kinda weird when the National Anthem is playing [at Kelley Rink] and I look around in the stands and think that one of those people was me for the last 10 years or so,” said the 19-year-old Whitney, who spurned hockey interest from UNH and Boston University to choose BC. “It’s pretty cool. Everything I always expected it to be and then some.

“I think being a good teammate, trying to make the guys around me better if I can and doing whatever it takes to help the team win is my main goal,” added Whitney. “Whether it’s going out on the fourth line and banging guys around and playing with the bigger guys then I’ll do that. Or if it’s going out on the power play and putting up goals then I’ll try to do that too. I think ‘whatever it takes’ is the main goal.”

“Whatever it takes” seems to have been the attitude that both Whitney brothers took in playing college hockey for the Eagles, because Joe’s younger brother verbally committed to BC in September for the 2009 season. Steve Whitney reportedly spurned an invitation from the U.S. National Team Development Program to play with his big brother last season at Lawrence Academy, and now the two will be able to live out the caricature of two little boys decked out in BC hockey uniforms resting on that mantelpiece.

Did the older Whitney ever need to sell York on the hockey talents of his younger brother?

“Oh … he knows how good my brother is,” said Whitney, a flash of that scorer’s confidence spreading across his face. “I don’t have to tell him. He knows.”

It looks like, once again, the Whitney brothers are doing “whatever it takes” to make their puck dreams come true at the Heights.

Bracketology: Jan. 15, 2008

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

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

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

Here are the facts:

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

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

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

• Seedings will not be switched, as opposed to years past. To avoid undesirable first-round matchups, including intra-conference 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 first round are avoided, unless five or more teams from one conference are selected, then the integrity of the bracket will be preserved.

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

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

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

You know better than that.

Given these facts, here are the top 16 of the current PWR, and the current conference leaders (through all games of January 14, 2007):

1t Colorado College
1t Michigan
3 Denver
4t Miami
4t New Hampshire
6 North Dakota
7 Northeastern
8t Massachusetts
8t Michigan State
10 Mass.-Lowell
11 Notre Dame
12t Boston College
12t Clarkson
12t Quinnipiac
15 St. Cloud
16 Minn.-Duluth
— Bemidji State
— Sacred Heart

Current conference leaders:

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

Notes

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

• Because there are an uneven 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 tournament champion and autobid winner.

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, those being Sacred Heart and Bemidji State.

From there, we can start looking at the bubble in a more detailed fashion.

The bubbles consist of CC and Michigan at number 1, Miami and UNH at number 4, Massachusetts and Michigan State at number 8 and BC, Clarkson and Quinnipiac at number 12.

Looking at the head-to-head PairWise comparisons we break all of our ties. CC beats Michigan, Miami beats UNH, Massachusetts beats Michigan State. So all of those are broken.

Now we have to break the three-way tie at 12. Since all of them win one comparison, we break via the Ratings Percentage Index. That gives us an order of BC, Quinnipiac and then Clarkson. And we break the Sacred Heart/Bemidji tie via RPI, which gives Bemidji the 15th spot.

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

1 Colorado College
2 Michigan
3 Denver
4 Miami
5 New Hampshire
6 North Dakota
7 Northeastern
8 Massachusetts
9 Michigan State
10 Mass.-Lowell
11 Notre Dame
12 Boston College
13 Quinnipiac
14 Clarkson
15 Bemidji State
16 Sacred Heart

Step Two

Now it’s time to assign the seeds.

No. 1 Seeds — Colorado College, Michigan, Denver, Miami
No. 2 Seeds — New Hampshire, North Dakota, Northeastern, Massachusetts
No. 3 Seeds — Michigan State, Mass.-Lowell, Notre Dame, Boston College
No. 4 Seeds — Quinnipiac, Clarkson, Bemidji State, Sacred Heart

Step Three

Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals. Following the guidelines. Because of the fact that Colorado College is hosting a regional, the Tigers are placed first. We then place the other No. 1 seeds based on proximity to the regional sites.

No. 1 Colorado College is then placed in the West Regional in Colorado Springs.
No. 2 Michigan is placed in the Midwest Regional in Madison.
No. 3 Denver is placed in the East Regional in Albany.
No. 4 Miami is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester.

Step Four

Now we place the other 12 teams so as to avoid intra-conference 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 Massachusetts is placed in No. 1 Colorado College’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 7 Northeastern is placed in No. 2 Michigan’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 6 North Dakota is placed in No. 3 Denver’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 5 New Hampshire is placed in No. 4 Miami’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.

No. 3 Seeds

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

Therefore:

No. 9 Michigan State is placed in No. 8 Massachusetts’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 10 Mass.-Lowell is placed in No. 7 Northeastern’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 11 Notre Dame is placed in No. 6 North Dakota’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 12 Boston College is placed in No. 5 New Hampshire’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.

No. 4 Seeds

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

No. 16 Sacred Heart is sent to Colorado College’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 15 Bemidji State is sent to Michigan’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 14 Clarkson is sent to Denver’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 13 Quinnipiac is sent to Miami’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.

The brackets as we have set them up:

West Regional:

Sacred Heart vs. Colorado College
Michigan State vs. Massachusetts

Midwest Regional:

Bemidji State vs. Michigan
Mass.-Lowell vs. Northeastern

East Regional:

Clarkson vs. Denver
Notre Dame vs. North Dakota

Northeast Regional:

Quinnipiac vs. Miami
Boston College vs. New Hampshire

Our first concern is avoiding intra-conference matchups. We have two of these in Mass.-Lowell vs. Northeastern and Boston College vs. New Hampshire.

We can’t just switch teams here since all four are Hockey East teams. So we have to find another way, but we have a problem. We have three Hockey East teams in the second band, and two Hockey East teams in the third band. We cannot avoid an all-Hockey East matchup no matter what.

Is this okay? Yes, it is. There is a rule in the selection criteria that states:

“If five or more teams from one conference are selected to the championship, then the integrity of the bracket will be protected (i.e. maintaining the pairing process according to seed will take priority over the avoidance of first-round conference matchups).”

So we can do this, per the NCAA’s selection criteria.

But we can try to avoid one of these matchups. So we switch Mass.-Lowell with Notre Dame.

So the tournament is now fixed.

West Regional:

Sacred Heart vs. Colorado College
Michigan State vs. Massachusetts

Midwest Regional:

Bemidji State vs. Michigan
Notre Dame vs. Northeastern

East Regional:

Clarkson vs. Denver
Mass.-Lowell vs. North Dakota

Northeast Regional:

Quinnipiac vs. Miami
Boston College vs. New Hampshire

The biggest question you might ask is:

Why is Denver in Albany and Miami in Worcester? Why not the other way around?

I think the easiest answer there is attendance. UNH and BC in Worcester, Clarkson in Albany. That works for me, so that’s what I would do.

Now let’s get back to the thing I hate most, which of course is the Hockey East matchup that occurs in the first round in Worcester. Great for the attendance, but is it really what you want?

Let’s think about this a little bit more.

Let’s remember how we rank the teams 1-16. When there is a tie in the PWR, what do we do? We break it using the RPI.

But is this really the case?

Let’s go to this statement in the selection criteria of the Championship Handbook:

“If the point process provides a tie, the Ratings Percentage Index may serve as the determining factor, regardless of the difference.”

The key word here is may.

Which means that we don’t have to break ties in the PWR by RPI. It’s commonly done, but does it always have to be used? No.

So, let’s go back to ranking the teams again. We have a tie to break at 12 between Boston College, Quinnipiac and Clarkson. Yes, BC has a higher RPI than the other two, but do we have to break the tie based upon the RPI?

According to the selection criteria, the answer is no.

So, I am going to give Quinnipiac the number 12 ranking and BC number 13.

Remember, I can do that. I do not have to be strict and break the PWR tie by using RPI.

So, my rank order is now:

1 Colorado College
2 Michigan
3 Denver
4 Miami
5 New Hampshire
6 North Dakota
7 Northeastern
8 Massachusetts
9 Michigan State
10 Mass.-Lowell
11 Notre Dame
12 Quinnipiac
13 Boston College
14 Clarkson
15 Bemidji State
16 Sacred Heart

So now how does that change the tournament? Not much, except for one thing. We have different matchups in Worcester.

We now have Quinnipiac vs. New Hampshire and Boston College vs. Miami. We’ve now avoided the all-Hockey East matchup in the first round and stayed within the rules.

Our tournament now:

West Regional:

Sacred Heart vs. Colorado College
Michigan State vs. Massachusetts

Midwest Regional:

Bemidji State vs. Michigan
Notre Dame vs. Northeastern

East Regional:

Clarkson vs. Denver
Mass.-Lowell vs. North Dakota

Northeast Regional:

Boston College vs. Miami
Quinnipiac vs. New Hampshire

In the semifinals the West winner takes on the Northeast winner and the East winner takes on the Midwest winner.

That’s our first look at Bracketology. Was it what you expected? Was it not?

That’s it for this week, we’ll be back with another analysis next week.

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