This Week in the CCHA: Nov. 22, 2007

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November 22, 2007

The Semi-Awful Truth

In theory, someone will pick up some points in the CCHA this week. It has to happen.

Sure, I know that Earth is round, that illness isn’t caused by an imbalance of humors and that gazing into an emerald won’t make your eyesight perfect (although I’d be willing to put that idea through some extensive testing).

I’ll take a leap of faith and state for the record that at least a couple of CCHA teams will win a conference game or two this weekend, and what a thankful thing that will be.

There are six teams playing three CCHA series Thanksgiving weekend, and these six teams are the current bottom six in league standings. In the 38 league games played among these six so far this weekend, there are six wins. Three teams — Alaska, Lake Superior and Ohio State — have yet to taste victory in conference play.

In some ways, this is another case where numbers can lie. Alaska and Lake Superior State have played just four league games each. For Alaska, those losses came to the defending champion Michigan State Spartans at home and a two-game road trip to Yost Arena. The Lakers also lost two to Michigan (but in Sault Ste. Marie, as if that matters), and the other two LSSU losses were to the defending CCHA champs, Notre Dame, in South Bend.

And three of poor Western Michigan’s five league losses have come in overtime, two to the improved Bowling Green Falcons.

“The three overtime games that we’ve played, those are games that obviously are difficult in the sense that they’re disappointing” said WMU head coach Jim Culhane. “You don’t get anything for your hard work in those games, and you don’t get any points. You have nothing to show for it in the standings.”

Of the bottom six, Nebraska-Omaha has the most points so far, with six for UNO’s three league wins, having most recently split with Ferris State at home and swept Ohio State on the road.

Two remaining two teams in the bottom six, Northern Michigan and Ohio State, potentially are in for long seasons.

With 10 CCHA games played, NMU has seen more league action than any other team save Miami, with just two wins in 10 games played. Again, though, with NMU the raw numbers can be misleading. Six of those losses came against Michigan, Michigan State and Miami, and the Wildcats never trailed in their 3-2 over BGSU last Saturday, a win that earned them a split on the road.

But there are issues there. Northern has played a third of its CCHA schedule, leaving the Wildcats to play catch-up for the rest of the season. And they’ll do so with three goalies that have contributed to a team save percentage of .857. Sophomore Brian Stewart (2-6-0, .843 SV%) has seen the bulk of the time in net, but freshman Reid Ellingson (1-2-0, .882 SV%) and sophomore Derek Janzen (.848 SV%) have also seen time in net. Janzen has one recorded loss, but is credited with 177 minutes in five games played.

Clearly, someone has to provide stability in that net in front of a very young team.

“We have 15 freshmen and sophomore starting for us every night, and they have to contribute if we’re going to be good,” said NMU head coach Walt Kyle. “We can’t rely on four or five upperclassmen.”

Or just one. At least junior Nick Sirota has 10 goals.

Then there are the Buckeyes, who have been outscored 28-8 in six league games. You can read more about their woes, separately, below.

Once again, we appear to have a CCHA of the haves and have-nots. Four teams ranked and clearly better than the rest of the pack…and everyone else. “Those four teams are right there,” said Culhane, “are as good as anybody nationally.”

Sigh. If history repeats, a couple of squads may bottom out with single-digit league wins.

It’s enough to leave a fan feeling a little ungrateful this Thanksgiving, or perhaps looking at the world through grass/WCHA-is-always-greener lenses.

And that’s when Red Berenson, the Michigan head coach from whom we’ve come to expect such logic and reason, comes to the rescue, providing the perspective necessary to enjoy these games again.

“Two years ago, Notre Dame was hardly in the playoffs. The parity thing will sort itself out after Christmas.”

Thanks, Red.

Jim Says…and So Does Jim

Three ties in four games. It’s enough to make anyone but Jim Culhane grumpy.

“It’s about competing and executing,” said Culhane, whose Broncos host Ohio State this weekend. “You need to compete at a high level, and you need to make plays. If you do that, you’re going to give yourself a chance. If you don’t, you’re not giving yourself an opportunity.

“I look at the games that we’ve played, and other than the Notre Dame series, we’ve been in every game, competed at a high level…they have a really good club.”

Last weekend, the Broncos lost twice to the Irish in South Bend, outscored 9-2 in two games against the Irish. In Saturday’s contest, WMU had just 11 shots on goal, a new team record. Scoring isn’t the singular, major issue for the Broncos, who have been out-tallied by opponents 33-26 in 10 overall games.

It’s not any one thing that’s going wrong, because nothing about WMU needs genuine triage. “We’re looking to improve and get better as a team,” said Culhane. “Our focus is on us, and how we’re going to prepare come Friday and Saturday.

“Statistically we’re in the middle of the [CCHA] pack — goals against, power play, penalty kill. For us, we’re working extremely hard. I like the way that the team continues to battle. What we’d like to see now is to get some reward.”

Another hard-working Michigan squad is Lake Superior State, whose head coach Jim Roque also remains optimistic in this young season.

“I like our team…but our goalies haven’t played great, but at the same time our we’ve left our goalies out to dry. I think our biggest problem is that we have guys that are doing things that are hurting the team.”

Roque’s not talking about anything nefarious; he’s talking about players who tend to grip the stick when things get tight, guys who want to do it all themselves and therefore make the kinds of mistakes that end up in your net.

Even though the Lakers lost 5-1 and 6-2 at home to the Wolverines last weekend, both Roque and Berenson said that the scores weren’t indicative of the games.

“We played well against Michigan,” said Roque. “At the end of the day Monday…I can’t really get down on my guys too much. We played really well.

“Our guys played hard, but we have some guys…that are turning the puck over in bad spots. They need to be a little more team oriented right now even though it’s not going well for them.”

Said Berenson, “We were behind 1-0 on Friday, and behind 2-0 on Saturday. Billy Sauer is playing much better. We’ve been lucky.”

Michigan’s junior netminder was sometimes a liability his first two seasons, but against the Lakers Sauer helped UM’s penalty killing unit stop LSSU 15-for-15 times, including a couple of 5-on-3 Laker opportunities Saturday.

“He played really, really well,” said Roque, who remembers what a good goaltender can do for a team. “We’ve been the benefactor of that too.”

The Lakes may have netted just three against Sauer and the Wolverines, but LSSU outshot UM 36-31 Saturday and put up 25 shots on Michigan Friday.

“We haven’t scored much,” said Roque, “but it’s not for lack of opportunity.”

This weekend, the Lakers play home-and-home with fellow Yoopers, Northern Michigan. On paper, the teams are very evenly matched, with each lingering near the bottom of the stats in the CCHA in team offense, defense, power play, and penalty kill.

“I think both teams are at a point now that we’re not in any position to worry about what the other guys can and can’t do,” said Roque.

It’s Show Time!

Well, Showcase time, anyway.

As they have done every year since 1993, four teams — Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin — will showcase how hockey is played in the Big Ten.

Well, sort of. There’s no Big Ten conference, and no Big Ten trophy, and there is another Big Ten team that plays college hockey that’s never invited to this particular show.

“We need to play for a Big Ten championship,” said MSU head coach Rick Comley. “I’m not talking about a Big Ten conference.

“The Big Ten Network wants it, the schools want it. We can do this without any damage to either league. Of course, it would require all of us to play each other two times a year.”

Without taking anything away from either the CCHA or the WCHA, such a championship — as Comley knows — would be good for college hockey. With the name recognition of the five Big Ten teams who have Division I programs, it would be an opportunity for the sport itself to grow.

Comley said that he looks forward to the Showcase because of the opportunity to play more Big Ten games. That it comes during the Thanksgiving weekend is the only “bad thing,” said Comley. “I’d rather play them at home when student fans are here.”

This year, the Showcase is also an opportunity to show that the CCHA is as competitive as the early winning and poll votes would indicate. Last weekend, the Spartans lost two games to top-ranked Miami, in East Lansing, 4-2 and 3-1. The RedHawks had empty-net goals in each contest, making the games even closer than the scores indicated, but Comley said that the Spartans were outmatched both nights.

“The games were close score-wise, the quality of play was not,” said Comley. “I thought we tried hard, but we didn’t play smart. We’ve seen this all year. We play sloppy, were turn the puck over. We’re capable of playing better.”

The losses make the current defending national champion Spartans 0-3-0 this season against ranked teams; MSU started the season with a 6-0 loss to North Dakota. The losses also snapped MSU’s eight-game win streak, during which the Spartans beat Colgate, Northern Michigan, Alaska and Mercyhurst.

Michigan State isn’t the only semi-tested team from the CCHA to play the Showcase this weekend. The Wolverines are 11-1-0 heading into games against Wisconsin and Minnesota, which has head coach Red Berenson “a little surprised.”

“We’ve got all these freshmen, and three of our six defensemen every night are freshmen, and six of our forwards are freshmen,” said Berenson. “We’ve played eight games in the league, six of them on the road.

“On other hand, we haven’t played anyone with a .500 record. Those are the kinds of teams we’ve played. We haven’t played the best teams.

“Our record is better than our team. I have to give our team credit. I thought that we could get killed on the road.”

Berenson calls this weekend “a bit of a wake-up call” for the Wolverines, who most recently swept Lake Superior on the road and who are riding a 10-game win streak into the Showcase, having also beaten twice each Northern Michigan, Boston University, Nebraska-Omaha and Alaska.

“We played Minnesota the first weekend of the year at Minnesota,” said Berenson of UM’s 4-3 loss to the Gophers Oct. 13. “They won the game, but we may have outplayed them.”

Berenson said that Wisconsin and Minnesota have “really handed it” to MSU and UM in the Showcase in recent years, and both he knows as well as Comley what’s at stake here.

“I think it’s a chance to keep our image going up, or it will be a chance to question the CCHA. It’s a question of where we are.”

A Thankless Job

I took some email heat last Friday for my picks in the Robert Morris-Ohio State series, where I called OSU to lose two. At the end of the end of the weekend, RMU was 1-0-1 all-time against OSU, proving that the top team in the CHA can, indeed, beat the bottom team in our very own CCHA.

I don’t care much about making picks and predictions — I really think it’s an XY-thing — and I often make picks very tongue-in-cheek, but I was serious about the Colonials sweeping the Buckeyes because Ohio State has become a team that knows how to lose.

“Score the other end of the ice. That’s all we’re asking them to do. And win your fifty-fifty battles. And I’ve got to find out why it’s not happening. It’s disappointing. Our defense is terrible. Our defensive zone is terrible.”

That is John Markell’s summation of last weekend and, indeed, the entire Buckeye season thus far. The OSU head coach didn’t mince words after Ohio State failed to produce a win in the two contests, both of which OSU led. Friday’s 5-5 tie in Pittsburgh was a spectacular implosion; leading 5-2, OSU allowed three RMU markers in the second half of the second period.

Markell called his players’ dedication to the sport and Ohio State into question after Sunday’s contest, saying that if his players weren’t able to overcome adversity during a game — such as when RMU scored two quick ones Sunday to take the lead — then “they should never have come here.”

He said that players were able to display an ability to overcome before becoming Buckeyes and that “they’re being allowed to play here,” and therefore a sort of resiliency is the “kind of attitude [that] has got to be displayed.”

“I’ve got to get it out of them,” said the impassioned coach. “It’s not burning in there yet. It’s not burning in there. I don’t know how it can’t be.”

Two things from Sunday’s game stood out to me:

1. The Tom Biondich goal at 8:59 in the second (less than a minute after Jason Towsley scored the tying goal for RMU). During that goal, there were literally four Buckeyes — three seniors — in the crease besides goaltender Joseph Palmer.

2. The Colonial who was allowed to approach Palmer, unabated, after the whistle blew in the second. Palmer gloved the puck, the whistle blew, and an RMU player skated up to the Buckeye goaltender to challenge him. Palmer, of course, shoved him back a little but he shouldn’t have had to…since there were two other Buckeye players standing there who did absolutely nothing.

All I know is that this is the single most spectacular meltdown of a team I’ve ever witnessed, given OSU’s play the first weekend.

And when the coach is publicly grousing even a little, there’s more than just a little problem here.

On the Other Hand…

It was good to finally have empirical proof that the Robert Morris (!) Colonials do, indeed, exist.

The Colonials played hard and smart, and did what they had to do to take advantage of a team that’s learned to lose. They were very pleasant visitors, they have snappy navy away uniforms, and head coach Derek Schooley is a Western Michigan graduate who was good natured about my jabs at RMU, which are of course really swipes at a few of the teams in this league.

In fact, Schooley was so gracious that I’ll forgive him for reminding two of the three reporters in the room post-game that he’s younger than we are. On Friday’s 5-5, come-from-behind tie against OSU, Schooley said, “Pittsburgh fans loved it, though. Our people that we had there were asking, ‘Is this how you play all the time?’ I’m going to be bald and gray by the time I’m 40 if we play like that all the time, 5-5.”

By the time he’s 40. How cute.

Schooley did wax nostalgic about his playing days for Western and the old OSU ice rink. “I walked over there to look at it. I tore my ACL there my junior year. A defenseman fell on my leg…in what would have been 1993.

“I scored my first college goal there on Mike Bales [with] a goalie in net. My freshman year was an empty-netter, but my sophomore year was my first college goal there, so I wanted to go back and relive the glory, relive the dream.”

I’d say that the Colonials now have new glory to add to their lexicon, given their all-time series against OSU.

Ungrateful?

Earlier this week, USCHO.com reprinted an article by CHA correspondent Matt Mackinder, in which Mackinder reports that Wayne State University athletic director Rob Fournier is grousing about the CCHA’s treatment of the WSU hockey program.

“I tried to get more big-name schools to come here,” said Fournier, “but the CCHA just wouldn’t accommodate me in that regard. I figured if we could get some big-name schools to our place, more people would come out and see that we have a good product here. No one knows who Sacred Heart is or who St. Lawrence is, but everyone knows Michigan and Michigan State.”

Wow. The CCHA just “wouldn’t accommodate” the Warriors because more schools couldn’t schedule the Warriors in Detroit?

The implication, of course, is that the CCHA didn’t do enough to help foster Wayne State hockey and is in part to blame for its demise.

Fortunately, CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos knew just how to respond — factually.

“CCHA schools have played more than 50 games against WSU over the years,” said Anastos. “In fact, this year, Wayne State has 10 games on their schedule against CCHA schools, including three at home. Rob Fournier keeps mentioning Michigan and Michigan State. Well, everyone would like to play those schools at home, including our members [which don’t every season because of our scheduling restrictions], but based on the limited number of nonconference games available, that’s just not as easy as it sounds.”

Fournier also alleged that WSU was rejected for membership by the CCHA, but in the article the CCHA said that Wayne State never applied to the league.

Mackinder also reported that at the 2006 WSU hockey banquet, Fournier said that Wayne State would soon be affiliated with “schools in Ann Arbor, East Lansing and Kalamazoo.”

For the CCHA’s part, Anastos said he met with Fournier before WSU announced plans to drop men’s ice hockey to “discuss a scheduling concept that would rotate games, both home and away,” about which Anastos said CCHA schools “were open-minded” as long as WSU “address[ed] some issues that were of concern to” the CCHA.

“Shortly thereafter,” said Anastos, “the program was dropped.”

To suggest that the CCHA is in any part responsible for the demise of WSU hockey is cowardly. The CCHA routinely schedules nonconference games against blossoming programs and the league appears to want to extend a helping hand for the greater good of college hockey whenever it can.

Everyone in the CCHA admires and respects Warriors’ founding — and, sadly now, only — head coach Bill Wilkinson, a long-time coach in Western Michigan. And everyone in the CCHA stood to gain from the recognition the sport garnered in Hockeytown itself.

Sadly, with WSU out of the Division I mix, that leaves a four-team College Hockey America — which is not a good thing in any way. As I’ve advocated before, the CCHA could extend another helping hand and bring aboard Robert Morris and Alabama-Huntsville, expanding the league’s influence east and south, and providing college hockey of a higher profile in two significant markets.

As far as Fournier’s comments, my gut tells me that there’s more than what we’re seeing on the surface. The short week prevents further immediate investigation in time for this column, but I’ll be on it, as I’m sure will my esteemed colleague Matt Mackinder.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And what a good reason for the week to be shortened! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Many of us have much for which to be thankful, and expressing gratitude is a genuinely positive experience.

As always, I’m grateful to the entire hockey community, from everyone who stops by weekly to count my typos and occasionally laugh on purpose, to my wonderful colleagues at USCHO, to everyone involved with the league I’m lucky enough to cover, to the sport that never fails to thrill me.

Thanks everyone. Have a safe, happy holiday.

This Week in the CHA: Nov. 22, 2007

By Matt Mackinder

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November 22, 2007

First off, Happy Thanksgiving!

Everyone starts to reflect this time of year and begins to realize what they are most thankful for.

Maybe it’s health, a new job or even additions to the family.

Heck, even the CHA has lots to give thanks for this time of year, even if the league may go kaput next March. But that’s neither here nor there.

Each of the five CHA schools have something that reasons to be a thankful (or thankless) commodity:

Alabama-Huntsville — Danton Cole. It’s never easy replacing a coaching legend, but when Cole came to UAH this past spring, many within the organization have said he’s well on his way to establishing a legacy of his own. His organizational skills are second to none and he demands the best out of his players. While their on-ice record doesn’t show it quite yet, the Chargers are always a dangerous team to face, especially during crunch time (see: 2007 CHA and NCAA tournaments).

Bemidji State — The state of Minnesota. With the CHA seemingly in a state of flux for several years now and the WCHA’s denial to let the Beavers into the league that makes the most sense geographically for BSU, the fact Bemidji is located in a hockey hotbed should help. Cutting hockey at Bemidji State would be a sin, one that would rival saying “Barry Bonds is innocent” — neither one will happen.

Niagara — Juliano Pagliero and Matt Caruana. Where would the Purps be without their quiet leader in Caruana and their big man in net? Their record may still be .500, but take away their captain and their No. 1 goalie and not only would NU’s confidence suffer, but so would the play on the ice. These two have seemingly made people ask if Ted Cook and Les Reaney are still on Monteagle Ridge.

Robert Morris — Stability for at least the next six years (see below). Also, thanks for a university that took the steps four years ago to start up a Division I program and get the proper people on board to make this program grow, and in this writer’s estimation, be a top national program in the next several years, if not sooner.

Wayne State — Nine years of Division I hockey, three CHA titles, an NCAA tournament berth and a world-class coach in Bill Wilkinson. Be thankful for all that, but as Dan Aykroyd’s character Harry Sultenfuss said in the 1991 movie My Girl, “I know you’ve suffered a terrible loss and there’s really nothing anyone can do to comfort you, but I urge you to focus on the times you had … the trips you took, the sights you saw. Those days are gone now, but they’ll live on forever in your heart.”

Mmm … meatballs …

Myself, I am thankful for my family, including my beautiful wife of three years, Stephanie, and sons Ethan, who is now two, and our newest bundle of joy, Wyatt, who was born on Sept. 7. I suppose our tater-tots-for-brains dog “Eddie” should get a mention, too. And my wife’s Thanksgiving meatballs.

And you know what? Kids really do say the darndest things. A few weeks back, I had an interview set-up with Niagara coach Dave Burkholder and defenseman Tyler Gotto. Ethan always wants to talk to whoever you are on the phone with. I told my wife I was expecting a call from “Burky,” so for the next 10 minutes, Ethan whined that he wanted to “talk a Burky, talk a BURKY!”

So, once again, Happy Turkey Day, enjoy the mad dashes at the mall, find all the good sales and get the holiday music going full swing.

Schooley Signs Another Extension With Colonials

Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley signed a contract extension through 2011 two summers ago, but last week the school extended Schooley two more years to May 2013.

“I would like to thank University president Dr. Greg Dell’Omo, (athletic director) Dr. Craig Coleman and the athletic administration for their support, dedication and commitment toward Robert Morris hockey,” Schooley said. “Our program has made great strides the past four years and we look forward in helping Robert Morris build upon the success we’ve had in the infancy of the program.”

Schooley was named the program’s first head coach August 22, 2003.

Under Schooley’s guidance, Robert Morris reached the CHA finals last March and has also knocked off a number of ranked opponents. In January 2007, the Colonials garnered a 4-2 win over then-No. 2 Notre Dame in South Bend, marking the biggest upset in school history in any sport. So far this season, RMU has defeated ranked opponents in Boston University and Niagara.

“We are very happy to extend Derek’s contract and provide even more stability to our men’s ice hockey program,” Coleman said. “Derek has accomplished a great deal in just over three seasons as our head coach. We are committed to our hockey program competing at the highest level and Derek has proven that he is the right coach to get us there.”

BSU Gets Early Signing Period Commitments

Bemidji State added a trio of forwards for the 2008-2009 season during the early signing period this past week and was the lone CHA school to announce new commitments.

Darcy Findlay and Aaron Lewadniuk are the newest Beaver recruits after Shea Walters, who committed last year during this time.

Findlay is in his first season with the Cornwall Colts of the Central Junior Hockey League, Lewadniuk is in his first season with the United States Hockey League’s Omaha Lancers and Walters is in his first season playing for the North Iowa Outlaws of the North American Hockey League.

“This is a great start to the 2008 recruiting class.” said Bemidji State assistant coach Ted Belisle, who spearheads the Beavers’ recruiting efforts. “The group brings with them a good mix of offensive skill, speed and the competitive nature we like to see in players.

“Darcy is a prototypical power forward. He is a strong skater, likes to finish his checks and will fit well into the style of play the Beavers are known for. Lewadniuk is the youngest of this year’s early signing class, but is just scratching the surface of potential. Shea is a talented playmaker who sees the game extremely well and is able to make the plays as a result.”

Niagara’s Streak Nation’s Best Since ’76

Niagara extended its home unbeaten streak to 22 games (20-0-2) Saturday with a 3-1 victory over Sacred Heart, tying the Purple Eagles for the fifth-longest home unbeaten streak all-time and continuing the nation’s longest active home unbeaten streak.

Egor Mironov, Ted Cook and Vince Rocco scored for NU and freshman goaltender Adam Avramenko stopped 29 shots in the win.

“We had another great third period,” said Burkholder. “We persevered and made a couple huge plays. I give the credit to our guys for keeping the streak alive.”

Niagara matched the streak of Michigan Tech, which went unbeaten at home from Nov. 28, 1975 to Oct. 22, 1976.

Friday night, the Purple Eagles took a 4-2 decision from the Pioneers.

Chris Moran, Scott Langdon, Les Reaney and Kyle Rogers led the offense for NU. Niagara goaltender Juliano Pagliero kicked out 29 shots for his sixth win of the season.

NU continues its six-game homestand back at Dwyer Arena next weekend when it hosts Bemidji State.

RMU Takes Three Points From Buckeyes

Robert Morris took three points from Ohio State in a staggered home-and-home set over the weekend that started with a 5-5 tie Friday night and then a 4-3 win Sunday afternoon.

The Colonials used three second-period goals Sunday to take the win.

Jason Towsley, Tom Biondich, Brett Hopfe and Chris Margott scored for RMU, while Christian Boucher stopped 34 shots.

OSU outshot the Colonials, 37-26.

“I think you stress your nonconference games because you want to … get the respect in the nation,” Schooley said. “You do well, and nobody really knows how hard we play or what we do, so when you’re playing a nonconference opponent such as an Ohio State, a Notre Dame, a Boston University, teams like that, you want to do well because people notice you. They notice what Robert Morris is about.”

RMU scored four in the second period Friday night to tie Ohio State at the Mellon Arena in the second half of the Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase.

Ohio State jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 2:41 into the first period, but Nathan Longpre tied the game before OSU scored another to go up 2-1 after 20 minutes.

The two teams exploded in the second frame, scoring a combined seven goals making the score 5-5 at the intermission. Towsley, Denny Urban (first NCAA goal), Margott and Ryan Cruthers scored for the Colonials.

Boucher allowed five goals on 11 shots before Wes Russell came into the game in the second period and stopped all 13 shots that he faced.

“Pittsburgh fans loved it, though,” said Schooley. “Our people that we had there were asking, ‘Is this how you play all the time?’ I’m going to be bald and gray by the time I’m 40 if we play like that all the time, 5-5. Tonight was how we play. You could see our hard work, our energy, our take the puck to the net. Our best-skilled guys, our grinders, contributed tremendously for us tonight. Chris Margott scored the fourth goal, but as far as the other goals went, just hard-working stuff around the net.”

In the first game of the Showcase, Washington & Jefferson beat RMU’s club team, 3-2.

Bemidji State, Wayne State Split In Motown

Wayne State and Bemidji State split their last-ever series in Detroit over the weekend as BSU won 3-1 on Friday night, but the Warriors took a 5-2 win for their second straight Saturday victory.

Tyler Ruel’s first collegiate goal was the lone highlight for the Warriors Friday. Jordan Inglis assisted for his first collegiate point.

Matt Pope scored 87 seconds into the game and Cody Bostock and Matt Read (first NCAA goal) tacked on goals for the Beavers.

Matt Climie made 18 saves and Kyle Funkenhauser totaled 20 saves, respectively. The Beavers also held the Warriors scoreless in six power-play chances.

WSU then earned its first CHA win of the year Saturday as Jon Grabarek scored two goals and captain Mike Forgie and Tylor Michel added three assists apiece. WSU goaltender Brett Bothwell made 29 saves for his first win of the season.

Bemidji State struck just 3:44 into the contest on a power-play goal from Read.

Matt Krug scored the game-winning goal on a WSU power-play in the second period. The junior defenseman blasted a slap shot from just inside the blue line that found the top corner of the net. Forgie and Michel assisted on the tally that put the Warriors ahead by three.

Joey Moggach scored the other BSU goal, but Jared Katz countered.

Stavros Paskaris added two assists for the Warriors and Derek Punches scored an empty-netter.

“I thought it was a great game,” Michel said in The South End, WSU’s student newspaper. “The first period we came out strong, second period same thing, the third period they took it to us a little bit, but it’s only our second win this year, so we’re just getting a hang of that winning feeling.”

Climie finished with 16 saves.

The Warriors closed the gap in the all-time series to 22-8-5 with just their third victory over the Beavers in nearly four years (Dec. 5, 2003).

Beavers Get Exhibition Win Tuesday

BSU defeated Canadian university Manitoba, 5-1, Tuesday night at home.

Freshmen Ian Lowe, Ryan Cramer and Read scored first-period goals for the Beavers and Blaine Jarvis and freshman Emil Billberg tallied in the middle period.

Yet another freshman, Matt Dalton, made 19 saves in net for the win.

CHA Still Mum On Future

No new news on the future of the CHA, but Schooley gave his take over the weekend.

“I have great faith in the leaders of college hockey,” he said. “We’ve got four stable teams. We’re very stable and the other three remaining teams are very stable. I have great faith that something is going to happen to either help the CHA or take the other teams. We’ve just got too many good programs.

“The history of Bemidji, the history of what Niagara is doing at home, and where we’re going as a program and what Alabama-Huntsville has done — I have great faith that something will happen to these four teams. It would be a shame if it didn’t. You saw what we did this weekend. You’ve seen what we’ve done, you’ve seen what Niagara’s done, and you’ve seen what Bemidji’s done. Those are exciting things.

“I don’t think anybody wants to be an independent. Something’s got to happen, and it’s got to happen quickly. I’ve got 85 solutions that I’ve got to it. We can sit here, we can go grab a six-pack and let’s reorganize all of college hockey. But those aren’t our decisions. Those are made at the department levels, at the president’s levels, at the commissioner’s level and the higher-ups at the NCAA. The only thing I’m focused on right now is doing the best we can for Robert Morris hockey and winning hockey games.”

Pretty sure Schooley’s thoughts are echoed throughout the entire league, if not most of college hockey.

CCHA correspondent Paula C. Weston contributed to this report.

This Week in the WCHA: Nov. 22, 2007

By Theresa Spisak

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November 22, 2007

I was going to say I’ll try to keep this short this week, but holidays are no excuse; the column must go on, and go on as usual.

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Chad Rau, Colorado College.
Why: Had four points (3g, 1a) including two shorthanded goals and a game-winner in the Tigers’ sweep of Wisconsin.
Also Nominated: Tyler Ruegsegger, DU; Josh Meyers, tUMD.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Players of the Week: Peter Mannino, Denver and Alex Stalock, Minnesota-Duluth.
Why: Mannino stopped 56 of 57 shots and had five shutout periods in the Pioneers’ sweep of Minnesota State, as well as two assists on Saturday. Stalock, meanwhile, stopped 65 of 67 shots and didn’t allow an even-strength goal as his Bulldogs took three points from Michigan Tech.
Also Nominated: Jon Olthuis, UAA; Nate Prosser, CC.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Kane LaFranchise, Alaska Anchorage.
Why: Scored his first collegiate goal and had his first multi-point game in Friday’s win over Minnesota as well as helped kill 10 of 11 power plays and was a +2 for the weekend.
Also Nominated: Richard Bachman, CC; Dustin Jackson, DU.

Assignment: I’m Thankful For …

With this being Thanksgiving, I decided to ask the league’s coaches what they’re thankful for this season. Here are some responses:

Troy Jutting, MSU-M: “I’m thankful to be done with the five straight weeks on the road. We’ve played five weekends — we had one home game, but we had to travel that weekend too — so we’ll have played, to start the season, five straight weekends on the road.”

George Gwozdecky, DU: “The thing that has really been fun and pleasing for me and I think the rest of the coaching staff is that how hard these guys have worked to develop the team, to come together, to build this team. To me, that has been just so refreshing … I’m thankful for a coaching staff that has done just a marvelous job with recruiting.”

Mike Eaves, UW: “We got a great group of kids. They’re hungry to come to the rink, they want to get better and they work together to try to get that done and right now because of our youth, it’s a process.”

Scott Owens, CC: “I’m thankful to have an opportunity to coach at my alma mater. I’m thankful to have a group of great character kids that are fun to coach and come to work every day. I’m grateful for the fact we’re a relatively healthy team right now, having played this many weekends of ranked opponents in a row.”

Dave Shyiak, UAA: “I’m thankful we got our first WCHA win (chuckles) and it would have been nice to continue to play this weekend, but we got another bye week, but I’m excited to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family and enjoy the Alaska Shootout (basketball tournament).”

Bob Motzko, SCSU: “I’m thankful that we’ve been able to stay fairly healthy and knock on wood that that’s something that continues with us. We’ve just had a couple little things and that’s what we’re thankful for.”

Rocky Mountain Showdown

This weekend’s series against Denver and Colorado College will not be just another run-of-the-mill rivalry game between the two schools to battle it out for the Gold Pan. Nay, the home-and-home series pits the league’s current leaders and hottest teams, two of the top four teams in the nation.

“Well, it should be a good one as the way it’s shaping up,” said Owens, “two of the hottest teams in the country.”

“I think that if both teams were in the bottom of the league, not even ranked, I don’t think there would be a whole lot of interest from a national perspective, but we’re on the national stage right now,” said Gwozdecky. “For an early-season showdown, it definitely is creating an awful lot of interest.”

Part of the interest, and part of what should make this series a great one, is the similarity between the two teams.

“I think both teams, in many ways, are mirror images of each other. Both teams have been very stingy at giving up goals, both teams have been very productive in generating offensive opportunities and scoring,” said Gwozdecky.

“I think there’s no question that probably we have less of a question mark as who our starter was going to be in goal as compared to what CC was going through regarding Richard Bachman who answered all those questions and has played extremely well and Peter [Mannino] has played extremely well so it’s a great match-up.”

Owens concurred.

“They’re playing so well defensively and getting timely goals and we’re doing a good job so it should be a heck of a match-up.”

Must Have Been a One Game Trial Deal

In Friday’s game between Michigan Tech and Minnesota-Duluth, the public address guy at the DECC accidentally announced a penalty on Tech’s Mark Malekoff as “drawing a two-minute minor for cross-dressing,” which I think is too much information for us all.

Reader Mailbag

Faithful reader Joe Chiesa asked what the deal was with the little t used in “tUMD.” For those of you who don’t already know, it started out as a joke between Bulldog fans on the USCHO Fan Forum, mocking THE Ohio State University.

Since the Bulldog (tBulldog?) faithful have used the little t for a few years now — and I’m easily amused — I figured I’d use it this year. I’ve gotten a few complaints, but Bulldog Nation appreciates it and therefore it stays.

For now, anyway.

Matchups By the Numbers

With the holiday comes some more non-conference tilts as well as what should be two very exciting conference matchups. Here are the numbers:

No. 15 Minnesota-Duluth @ No. 6 North Dakota
Poll Movement: tUMD — up two spots after taking three points from MTU. UND — dropped one after being idle.
Overall Records: tUMD is 5-3-2 (4-3-1 WCHA). UND is 5-3-1 (3-3 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UND leads the overall series 125-69-8.
Top Scorers: tUMD — Josh Meyers (4-4–8). UND — T.J. Oshie (6-3–9), Ryan Duncan (3-6–9) and Robbie Bina (0-9–9).
Goaltenders: tUMD — Alex Stalock (10 gp, 5-3-2, 1.97 GAA, .929 sv %). UND — Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (9 gp, 5-3-1, 1.29 GAA, .948 sv %).

No. 3 Denver vs. No. 4 Colorado College (home-and-home)
Poll Movement: DU — up one spot after sweeping MSU-M. CC — up three after sweeping UW.
Overall Records: DU is 8-2 (5-1 WCHA). CC is 7-3 (7-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: DU leads the overall series 151-102-10.
Top Scorers: DU — Brock Trotter (5-8–13). CC — Bill Sweatt (4-8–12).
Goaltenders: DU — Peter Mannino (10 gp, 8-2, 1.31 GAA, .949 sv %). CC — Richard Bachman (8 gp, 7-1, 1.62 GAA, .947 sv %).

No. 10 St. Cloud State @ No. 7 Clarkson
Poll Movement: SCSU — up three spots after doing nothing. Clarkson — up one after beating Yale and Brown.
Overall Records: SCSU is 6-2-2 (3-2-1 WCHA). Clarkson is 9-3 (6-1 ECACHL).
Head-to-Head: SCSU leads the overall series 4-2.
Top Scorers: SCSU — Ryan Lasch (8-9–17) and Garrett Roe (7-10–17). Clarkson — Chris D’Alvise (5-7–12).
Goaltenders: SCSU — Jase Weslosky (7 gp, 5-2, 1.72 GAA, .936 sv %). Clarkson — David Leggio (11 gp, 9-2, 1.73 GAA, .933 sv %).

No. 13 Minnesota @ No. 5 Michigan State, No. 2 Michigan
Poll Movement: WCHA UM — down one after splitting with UAA. MSU — down two after being swept by Miami. UM — stayed put after sweeping LSSU.
Overall Records: UM is 7-5 (3-5 WCHA). MSU is 8-3 (4-2 CCHA). UM is 11-1 (8-0 CCHA).
Head-to-Head: WCHA UM leads the overall series with both schools; with MSU 100-41-9 and with CCHA UM 127-114-4.
Top Scorers: UM — Blake Wheeler (5-5–10). MSU — Tim Kennedy (10-5–15). UM — Kevin Porter (13-5–18).
Goaltenders: UM — Jeff Frazee (9 gp, 5-4, 2.66 GAA, .903 sv %). MSU — Jeff Lerg (10 gp, 7-3, 2.51 GAA, .907 sv%). UM — Billy Sauer (12 gp, 11-1, 2.08 GAA, .913 sv %).

No. 12 Wisconsin @ No. 2 Michigan, No. 5 Michigan State
Poll Movement: UW — down three after being swept by CC. UM — stayed put after sweeping LSSU. MSU — down two after being swept by Miami.
Overall Records: UW is 5-5 (2-4 WCHA). UM is 11-1 (8-0 CCHA). MSU is 8-3 (4-2 CCHA).
Head-to-Head: UM leads the overall series with UW 23-15-5 and MSU leads the overall series with UW 23-16.
Top Scorers: UW — Kyle Turris (5-10–15). UM — Kevin Porter (13-5–18). MSU — Tim Kennedy (10-5–15).
Goaltenders: UW — Shane Connelly (9 gp, 4-5, 2.89 GAA, .898 sv %). UM — Billy Sauer (12 gp, 11-1, 2.08 GAA, .913 sv %). MSU — Jeff Lerg (10 gp, 7-3, 2.51 GAA, .907 sv %).

Alaska Anchorage, No. 19 Michigan Tech and Minnesota State
These guys are lucky and get a break to enjoy their turkey.

Poll Movement: UAA — went from receiving four votes to receiving three after splitting UM. MTU — down one after getting one point from tUMD. MSU-M — stayed out of the rankings after being swept by DU.
Overall Records: UAA is 4-3-3 (1-3-2 WCHA). MTU is 5-6-1 (4-5-1 WCHA). MSU-M is 3-6-1 (1-6-1 WCHA).
Top Scorers: UAA — Kevin Clark (5-6–11). MTU — Tyler Shelast (7-2–9) and Drew Dobson (1-8–9). MSU-M — Mick Berge (6-2–8).
Goaltenders: UAA — Jon Olthuis (9 gp, 3-3-3, 2.93 GAA, .888 sv %). MTU — Michael-Lee Teslak (8 gp, 3-3-1, 1.63 GAA, .939 sv %). MSU-M — Mike Zacharias (7 gp, 2-3-1, 1.93 GAA, .926 sv %).

And Me?

I’m thankful for hockey, my friends, my family, my hockey friends and family and all of you fabulous people who read this dreck every week.

Now that this is in, I’m going to enjoy some turkey, football and pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Nov. 22, 2007

By Brian Sullivan

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November 22, 2007

To catch up on the big stories around the league: Clarkson is now up to 376 days without a home loss, Harvard is pretty good, Colgate finally won, Quinnipiac is scoring, St. Lawrence isn’t, the league might actually be earning some respect, and it’s time for Non-Conference Weekend!

Whew.

On to the minutiae.

It’s What Harvard Always Ends With

Harvard was tabbed seventh in the preseason media poll, and fifth by the coaches. With early returns starting to filter in, I will take the rare opportunity to boast that I liked the Cantabs for the final first-round bye week.

With six games in the books, Harvard is 4-2-0 and playing team defense like you wouldn’t believe. The most goals the Crimson have allowed this year is three — to Prince Edward Island, in an exhibition. Since then, it’s shutdown city: two goals to Clarkson. One at St. Lawrence. Consecutive shutouts of RPI and Union, one against Cornell, two versus Colgate, and one at Boston University.

Sophomore goaltender Kyle Richter leads the nation in goals-against average by a significant margin. His 0.99 mark is more than a quarter-goal better than North Dakota’s Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, who owns a 1.29 GAA. Richter’s save percentage — .968 — is 14 points better than Niagara’s Juliano Pagliero.

Overall, Harvard is allowing exactly one goal per game, best in the nation by a remarkable 30 points. With a relatively pedestrian 88.6 percent success rate on the penalty kill, it is easy to see that the Crimson are winning with five-on-five dominance and clean, defense-oriented play.

The only worrisome point for the team at this point is the offense. With 17 goals in six games, Harvard has put itself in tighter spots than necessary … and has lost two games because of that (both 2-1, to Clarkson and Colgate).

ECAC Hockey On the Rise

While it may not seem like much, the league is slowly winning respect from the nation at large.

In the latest edition of the glamorously titled USCHO.com/CSTV Division I Men’s Poll, eight ECAC teams garnered votes. Clarkson led the pack for obvious reasons, followed by Rensselaer and Harvard. While only that trio actually appeared in the top 20, five others were among the listed also-rans: Cornell, Quinnipiac, Colgate, Dartmouth and St. Lawrence.

The 1,151 total votes accumulated by ECAC Hockey programs are the most in over a month. But that said, the league was well-regarded entering the season, with three-quarters of the teams earning votes in the earliest polls.

On the lists that matter, the league has yet to match its aspirations. Colgate’s Jesse Winchester and Tyler Burton lead the ECAC in scoring with 13 points, good for 14th nationally. Among the top 40 scorers, however, only two other leaguemates qualify: Chris D’Alvise has five goals and seven assists for Clarkson, and QU’s Bryan Leitch is an assist behind him.

Brian Day (Colgate) and Steve Zalewski (Clarkson) each have seven goals — ninth-best in the country — and Big Green J.T. Wyman has a half-dozen.

Where ECAC players are truly making their mark is on the defensive end. Richter, Yale’s Billy Blase, Rensselaer’s Jordan Alford and Mathias Lange, Clarkson’s David Leggio, Ben Scrivens of Cornell and Bud Fisher of Quinnipiac each appear on the NCAA’s top-20 goals-against average list.

Richter, Alford, Blase, Lange, Leggio and Scrivens are top-20 in save percentage as well. Alford and Leggio each have three shutouts this year, Richter boasts a pair, and five other ECAC Hockey netminders have one goose-egg to their credit.

It’s obviously a defense-first kind of league, as it has been for some time. Half the teams in the standings are top-20 in goals-against nationally. Yale leads the country in penalty-killing (97.1 percent), with Quinnipiac, Harvard, St. Lawrence and Dartmouth not far behind.

ECAC Hockey: quietly suffocating the competition.

Stankievech Playing Rhodes Game

Congratulations to Princeton’s Landis Stankievech, who became the 20th Princeton athlete to receive a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

The senior forward aspires to study philosophy, politics and economics in his awarded time at Oxford University. Nearing completion of his mechanical and aerospace engineering major, Stankievech desires to put his education to work to tackle environmental issues.

“As an engineer I know how to approach technical and logistical problems,” he told USCHO earlier this week. “However, making changes to help our climate is going to take more than engineering solutions. It will take an understanding of economic and political situations and of the ethical arguments that go into making those changes.”

Snapshots

Rensselaer head coach Seth Appert marked John Kennedy as “hopeful” for this weekend’s tournament.

Musings

Quick shots of a personal note: I am so thankful for all of my friends and family for all their ceaseless love and support.

Thanks as well to everyone in the ECAC Hockey community. The coaches, players, parents, fans, journalists, and administrators have been warm, welcoming and professional — each and every one of you.

Thanks, Boston Bruins … well, mainly Jeremy Jacobs … for driving me ever-harder toward college hockey, where some things actually do change.

Not really last, not really least: thanks to the Samuel Adams Brewing Company. Explanation really shouldn’t be necessary. Cheers.

Turkey Tournaments 2007

By Chris Lerch

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November 21, 2007

It’s that time of year again – Thanksgiving Tournaments! It’s a little disappointing that there are no tournaments in the West this year (Augsburg and MSOE hosted ones last season). Oldtimers like me miss the MIAC tournament that used to kick off their season.

Let’s take a look at the seven tourneys on tap:

Primelink Great Northern Shootout

When: November 23 & 24

Who: Plattsburgh (host), Middlebury, Norwich, St. John’s

Outlook: Potsdam is out, replaced with a rotating fourth team. I think the host Cardinals will beat Middlebury for the title in the best of the Thanksgiving tournaments in terms of strength of the field.

Babson Tournament

When: November 24 & 25

Who: Babson (host), Curry, Hamilton, Potsdam

Outlook: I’m again picking the host school to win the title, but the Curry/Hamilton semi is a tossup.

Bowdoin/Colby Faceoff Classic

When: November 24 & 25

Who: Bowdoin (host), Colby (host), Nichols, US Under 18 Team

Outlook: This isn’t a “tournament” since the matchups are predetermined (Bowdoin and Colby do not meet). Nichols will be the underdog with the other three squads having an decent shot of coming out on top. I’m giving the Edge to the US Under-18 team, which I think will win beat both Bowdoin and Colby.

PAL Stovepipe Tournament

When: November 24 & 25

Who: S. New Hampshire (host), Suffolk, UMass-Boston, Plymouth State.

Outlook: Again I’m going with the host school. I like the Penmen in a close game over Suffolk in the finals.

John Dunham Tournament

When: November 24 & 25

Who: Trinity (host), Conn College, Trinity, Wesleyan

Outlook: These four teams all played at a tournament in Amherst last year, but it moves to Trinity this year and is named in honor of the retired Bantams coach. I’m picking Amherst over Trinity in the finals.

Skidmore Invitational

When: November 24 & 25

Who: Skidmore (host), S. Maine, Cortland, Salve Regina

Outlook: Cortland and Salve were in this tournament last year, but I think the new edition, Southern Maine, will win it all over the winner of a tossup game between Skidmore and Cortland.

Rutland/Herald Invitational

When: November 24 & 25

Who: Castleton (host), Morrisville, Neumann, Tufts

Outlook: A new tournament, and I think the hosts will make it to the finals. But I like Neumann to take the title.

Check out the action if you can, and have a great holiday!

More Than Just A Game

By Candace Horgan

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November 20, 2007

There are 59 Division I hockey programs in the country, and they are all trying to convince junior players to come play for them. Some schools, like Minnesota and Michigan, have advantages over smaller schools with their history and the possibility of playing for a national championship. Other schools, like Harvard, offer their academic reputations.

For one school, the pool of players from which to choose is demonstrably smaller, and the challenges in getting players to go there is even more difficult. Yet despite these obstacles, Air Force head coach Frank Serratore has managed to build a strong team that competes with the best schools in the country.

Last year, Air Force won the Atlantic Hockey tournament and played Minnesota in the first round of the West Regionals; in that game, the Falcons had a 3-1 lead in the third period before Minnesota rallied, winning 4-3.

Eric Ehn, a classic “late bloomer” in the words of his coach, was a Hobey Baker finalist for Air Force last season (photo: Danny Meyer / Rohmann Joint Venture).

If it was just that one game, it might be written off as a fluke. Yet Air Force played Colorado College and Denver last year and lost both hard-fought games 2-1. In the CC game, the Falcons scored a tying goal with three seconds left, but the goal was disallowed.

What type of athletes does Serratore look for to build a competitive team?

“We get at the [service] academies what I call good second-level players. The good first-level players are going to the big schools, and with us, to win with the kids that we get, we felt that we needed to get experienced players, so we started to recruit older kids.

“The liaison here at the athletic department, Jim Bowman, had sons that played hockey and understood the culture of junior hockey, and he would bring all athlete candidates to the Academy boards. He helped us get junior hockey players in here, helped sell the concept to the Academy board.”

Of course, those players face a demanding program at Air Force, as well as a minimum five-year stint in the service after they graduate. Those whom the Academy admits also must meet stringent requirements.

Says Serratore, “They have to have five things: they have to be a good student, they have to be a good person, they have to be a good athlete, they have to be healthy; they can’t have something physically wrong with them, a condition like asthma, and they also have to be a U.S. citizen, or a dual citizen with the United States.

“So, they have to meet all five of those requirements, and if just one of those requirements doesn’t fit, we can’t take them. So, there’s not a lot of kids out there that have all five of those requirements; the ones that do are the ones we approach and say, ‘Hey, we have a pretty good deal for a guy like you.'”

One of those students that Serratore recruited is senior assistant captain Frank Schiavone, whom Serratore discovered playing junior hockey in the British Columbia Hockey League.

Schiavone was approached by several schools, including Mercyhurst, Bentley and Niagara. Schiavone ultimately chose Air Force, a decision with which he initially struggled.

“Mostly, it was Air Force vs. myself, I guess. Just the decision to come to a service academy, it’s a hard decision for anyone that needs to make it. You have four of the most strenuous years you could imagine, followed by a five-year commitment, so it’s a life-changing decision. The thing that swayed me was it sets you up for a great future. Not many people can come out of college and right away have a job, especially these days.”

Another student Serratore recruited is freshman Brad Sellers, who grew up in nearby Centennial, Colo., and played for Serratore’s junior team, the Thunderbirds.

“I talked to Mercyhurst and they had kind of put in an offer for me. I was talking a lot to DU at that time, and there were a lot of other schools that were kind of looking at me, but nothing was on the table. When it came down to it, I wanted to stay in Colorado, and I felt the most comfortable with Air Force. I felt like I knew where I was coming in and the coaches were real straightforward with me, so it felt like the best fit.”

Serratore says the pool of players who meet Academy requirements means that he is competing with relatively few schools for them.

“We compete with Army, and we compete with the Ivies,” he said. “We compete with Holy Cross, schools like that.”

Though the Air Force does require a five-year stint after graduation — ten years for those who want pilot training — Serratore prefers to think of it as an opportunity for his players.

“To me, commitment is a terrible word; it should be opportunity, because that’s what our kids get, they get an opportunity. They go to school for free, they’re paid to go here, and at the end, if they’re a civil engineer, they’ll go to work for the Air Force as a civil engineer for five years, and they’ll get paid well. They’ll start at about $45,000 a year, all their benefits, they’ll get a housing allowance, so it’s not like they’re doing missionary work. They go in as second lieutenants.”

For the players, the initial transition is a great challenge, but Schiavone feels it makes the players and the team stronger.

“You go through this 40 days of basic training that’s terrible, and you go through it with everybody else. You’re not by yourself, and that’s how you get through this place. You use other people and you get help from other people. It’s a big piece of humble pie that you have to eat right away, but in the long run it’s going to turn out to be the best thing you’ve ever done.”

Schiavone also says that the upperclassmen help the freshman in their adjustment to both military discipline and the academic challenges of the Academy.

“I’m sure here, as well as at Army, we have a whole unique set of challenges that a lot of other schools don’t have. We’re up every day at 6:30 doing things, and we don’t get back from practice until 7:00 p.m., so you have about three hours do to homework before you’re either exhausted or have to shut it down for the night,” he said.

“So, having the freshman come in from seasons in juniors where you get up at nine, 10 in the morning, practice, then go back to bed and hang out the rest of the day, it’s a huge change, and I speak from personal experience. When they come in, you give them all the hints about how to get by and how to succeed in everything. I think this freshman class has really taken well to that. We have a lot of guys who have the potential to not only do good at hockey, but to do well academically, and the whole spectrum of things at this school.”

Air Force’s best-known player is Eric Ehn, who was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award last year. Ehn is someone who Serratore feels could play pro hockey after Air Force, though he is not sure at what level. Air Force, like some of the other programs in Atlantic Hockey, sometimes has late bloomers, and it is one of the reasons that the Falcons can be competitive with the best programs in the country.

Says Serratore, “You know, last year, when we played Minnesota, I watched the replay on TV, and the announcer said ‘How can this Air Force team be outplaying Minnesota, who has 15 NHL draft choices and they outweigh Air Force by 10-15 pounds per guy?’ I don’t think Atlantic Hockey is respected for the most part by the Big Four [conferences], but one thing they better respect is they better respect our best teams, because our best teams can play.

“We may not have the depth that the WCHA has. WCHA, Hockey East, CCHA, they have teams that are reload teams, the Big Ten teams — Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State — Notre Dame, Boston College, Boston University, New Hampshire, those are reload programs. We don’t have a reload program in our league. In our league, it’s a situation that’s going to be more cyclical.

“You’re going to get one team that’s got good back-to-back classes, and when those classes get to be juniors and seniors, you’re going to be pretty good. Now, you lose those guys, maybe you’re going to have to rebuild again, so it’s going to be cyclical. But the team that’s on their high cycle, the team that wins our league, is a team you better take note of, and you better be careful when you play them, because you’re playing a good team.”

With Ehn a senior, Serratore himself faces that rebuilding year, and when asked how he plans to replace Ehn, he candidly admits he probably won’t be able to.

“We’re not going to be able to replace Eric Ehn. No way. We haven’t been able to replace Andrew Ramsey. You know what I mean, some guys you just can’t replace. Your team just becomes different, the strengths of your team and the way that you plan on succeeding becomes different. Instead of relying on this line, maybe you’re relying on more of a committee deal.

“Our biggest thing is to be working on our recruiting so that our depth doesn’t fall off. Eric Ehn was a third-line center in Green Bay and he came here and all of a sudden, he just blossomed. He was a late bloomer; if everybody else knew he was going to be a late bloomer, you don’t think he’d be at Ann Arbor or East Lansing right now?”

Air Force hopes to be able to break through against a Big Four team this year, something it wasn’t able to do last year, despite playing several very close games.

“I think it gets down to, in those games with DU, CC, Minnesota, Boston College, games we have this year, they’ve got to find a way to get it done,” says Serratore. “There’s no magic formula; if there was, we’d all be purchasing it.”

“A lot of people don’t give us that credit, but I feel we really can compete with those teams,” says Sellers. “It comes more from within I think.”

Adds Schiavone, “It’s just one of those things where if we can get all cylinders firing at the same time, if we can get the power play, penalty kill and even strength to go at the same rate, we would win. In some of those games, our power play would go 0-5, or our penalty kill wouldn’t kill a penalty at a serious time, so one thing has always been lacking, and I think that is what those big schools do so well. They beat you five-on-five, they beat you on the power play and penalty kill, and that’s why it matters, and if you do all three you’re probably going to win the game.”

The team is focused on getting back to the NCAAs, and with the West Regional in Colorado Springs and the Frozen Four in Denver, Schiavone says the players are very motivated.

“We didn’t even know where the NCAAs were last year. We never put them on our schedule or really talked about it, because it was never really a thought in our head. We got the bid to play in Denver, and as you saw the tide changed real quick from a lot of Minnesota fans to a lot of Air Force fans by the third period. I think, knowing the regionals are in Colorado Springs and the Frozen Four is in Denver, a lot of guys are wanting to get back there, especially when you get a taste and get so close and not get to move on.”

Schiavone is candid when discussing life after Air Force. With the country at war, he acknowledges the topic of deployment to Iraq does sometimes come up.

“I think you know it in the back of your head, it’s something that a 20-year-old junior player doesn’t think about every day, and when you’re here, you have constant reminders of that, and it is kind of a mind-over-matter type thing,” he said. “Once you realize that, OK, I have to do this, it’s something I have to do and I signed up to do it; you know, after sophomore year, you can leave the school with no commitment, and some do, but not very many.

“Those that choose to leave, that’s probably their main reason. Like I said, the moral support you get from teammates and coaches, from people that have been deployed, is great. [Former assistant coach] Joe Doyle, he was deployed my sophomore year for half the year and he came back and nothing happened. It’s just one of those things you have to see to believe, and not everyone that is deployed comes back like you see on the news.”

Wayne State AD Vents About WSU Folding Program

By Matt Mackinder

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November 20, 2007

The annual cost of operating the Wayne State men’s hockey team is in the neighborhood of a half-million dollars.

That chunk of money will apparently be better served elsewhere on campus as the school announced in late September that this season would be the ninth and final year for men’s Division I hockey in Detroit.

“From all the people we talked to, it was all financial,” said WSU head coach Bill Wilkinson, the only head coach WSU had since it started a team in 1999 after coming over from Western Michigan. “But I guess there are several bright spots. One, it’s good we got kicked in the teeth early so that these kids can look for schools to transfer to. Every game we play, these kids will essentially be playing for contracts and they’ll be in the limelight. The bombshell is quite a setback, but we still want to go out and have a good season — this is our last shot at it.”

Wayne State head coach Bill Wilkinson (left) in happier days for WSU hockey, shown here on Senior Day 2005 with senior John Grubb and his fiancee Nicole Campbell (photo: Matt Mackinder).

The WSU women’s team, the only such D-I team in the state, will continue to operate. Many speculated that was simply a Title IX issue, but Wayne State athletic director Rob Fournier said it was not.

“I’d like to think we thought this over very carefully and reflected on all of our options,” Fournier said. “The men are simply more expensive and are the most expensive team we have here at Wayne State. This was a dollars and cents issue. Would we eliminate the women just for the sake of eliminating a program? We want to maintain programs here. I see the value of athletic teams and the effect they can have on the value of a person’s life.”

The Warriors sold out their first-ever home game, an 8-4 exhibition loss to Western Ontario on Nov. 5, 1999, at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. Their last home game will be March 8 against Niagara University.

Wayne State joined College Hockey America in 2000 and proceeded to rattle off three straight CHA tournament championships, culminating with an NCAA tournament bid in 2003 in which it barely lost to Colorado College in the regionals at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor.

But since that 2003 campaign that saw its first senior class graduate, WSU never had a winning record, going 41-85-15 in that time. The Warriors were 72-58-11 from 1999-2003.

The team is off to a 2-7-1 start this year after getting its first win two Saturdays ago against Lake Superior State.

“Of course, it’s easier to market a winning team,” said Fournier. “Look at the [Detroit] Tigers. Was it easier to sell tickets last year when they went to the World Series or back in 2003 when they lost 119 games? I’d be willing to say it was last year.”

Wayne State also never had a rink built on campus, something that may have hindered player recruitment, and was forced to play all over the suburban Detroit area at five different “home” rinks over the years, including Joe Louis Arena where the Warriors hosted Notre Dame and Bowling Green in 2002-2003. In January, WSU and Niagara will play a game at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Wayne State’s first (and again current) home rink at the Fairgrounds hosted the CHA tournament in 2006, but the event was sparsely attended with an announced attendance of just 750 for the title game that saw Bemidji State top Niagara on national TV. The Coliseum seats 5,600.

“In 2000 when I came here, the facilities were just deplorable and I was shocked that there was a Division I hockey team here with no rink on campus,” said Fournier. “I inherited the hockey program and I don’t know what the people before me were thinking. Since we’ve had hockey here, we’ve been nomads and at those arenas, we aren’t the first priority — we’re renters.

“I know there are lights out at the Fairgrounds and there is no heat and the scoreboard doesn’t work. It costs $5,000 to heat the Fairgrounds. I’ve had to cajole people to cooperate and get work done. I mean, I pay the cheerleaders to clean the toilets and I paid to have a platform built for TV cameras for the [2006 CHA] tournament. We’ve had special event nights the past couple years where we’ve served cold cuts, but by the end of the game, they were frozen cuts.”

Fournier added that it would cost $17 million to build a rink on campus. The issue has been on the agenda for many years, but again, Fournier said support has been limited.

“When this program was started, people promised the president that things would happen,” said Fournier. “Where are those people now? We’ve had talks with those people the past seven years and even in the past month. All the people complaining now that the program is being discontinued haven’t contributed one cent. No one is willing to open their wallet.”

One item that was bandied about involved the WSU men playing at City Sports Arena on Detroit’s far east side on the Grosse Pointe border. That rink is the women’s home ice, but evidently, was not sufficient for the men with a capacity of just 500.

“Bill didn’t want to play at City,” noted Fournier. “He said it wouldn’t be conducive to his team and if that’s what he thought, he knows the limitations.”

Fournier also cited the poor Michigan economy as a reason for hockey’s shortcomings.

“This whole situation upsets and bothers me,” Fournier said. “Companies are shutting down and there are no dollars for higher education. Money just isn’t there. The [automotive] Big Three is hurting and the economy isn’t humming like it was eight or nine years ago. Michigan and Detroit are suffering.”

All WSU players on scholarships will have those scholarships honored should they choose to stay at Wayne State. Per NCAA rules, however, if a player transfers to another school to play hockey, he will be eligible immediately. Goalie Will Hooper, a 2007 graduate, came to Wayne State after Findlay’s program folded in 2004.

Over the years, Wayne State did send a few players to the minor pro ranks and assistant coach Chris Luongo played in the NHL, but the coaching carousel at WSU saw the speed turned up a tad in recent seasons. Wilkinson’s longtime assistant Willie Mitchell bolted for Vermont before last season and Danny Brooks, another longtime Wilkinson assistant, left for Brown in 2002.

At the 2006 hockey banquet, Fournier hyped the men’s program, saying Wayne State would soon be in a league with “schools in Ann Arbor, East Lansing and Kalamazoo” and those schools would come to Detroit as well. According to the CCHA, WSU never applied for membership to the league, despite reports to the contrary. All CCHA schools, except for Michigan, did play WSU over the years, but being a member of the Michigan-heavy league was never going to happen, according to Fournier.

“There was no interest in us from the CCHA,” said Fournier. “I tried to get more big-name schools to come here, but the CCHA just wouldn’t accommodate me in that regard. I figured if we could get some big-name schools to our place, more people would come out and see that we have a good product here. No one knows who Sacred Heart is or who St. Lawrence is, but everyone knows Michigan and Michigan State.

“Look at Major League Baseball. Even the Yankees go to Kansas City once a year and play in their building. Imagine if Kansas City played the whole year on the road, but only had the Florida Marlins at their place. They wouldn’t get many fans either.”

“I disagree that the CCHA had no interest in helping Wayne State,” CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos said. “CCHA schools have played more than 50 games against WSU over the years. In fact, this year, Wayne State has 10 games on their schedule against CCHA schools, including three at home. Rob Fournier keeps mentioning Michigan and Michigan State. Well, everyone would like to play those schools at home, including our members [which don’t every season because of our scheduling restrictions], but based on the limited number of nonconference games available, that’s just not as easy as it sounds.

“I met with Rob a couple of weeks prior to their decision to drop their program to discuss a scheduling concept that would rotate games, both home and away, which I presented to our membership in late September. Our schools were open-minded to the concept, assuming that Wayne State would address some issues that were of concern to us. Shortly thereafter, the program was dropped.”

Western Michigan, Bowling Green, Ferris State and Lake Superior State have visited in recent years, including LSSU for Wayne State’s 2007 home opening weekend on Nov. 9-10, and WSU ventured to Michigan State and beat the then-No. 14 Spartans in overtime back on Nov. 20, 2003.

As for the future of the CHA? Air Force left for Atlantic Hockey prior to last season and now with four teams a year from now, the league’s future looks bleak.

“Well, you can’t do much with a four-team league,” said Wilkinson, who also said he doesn’t intend on retiring after the season. “You become a non-entity. I don’t see the league continuing after this season. The teams left [Niagara, Alabama-Huntsville, Bemidji State and Robert Morris] will need to find a home and I hope they do.”

“You know, what I think about most in times like this is the players and the coaches,” Fournier said. “As an AD, I don’t know that anyone ever wants programs eliminated. Track was the last program eliminated and that was back in the early 1980s. When you eliminate a program, I think it affects the general perception of the overall program. It takes part of our family away.

“But we’re doing everything in our power to keep it positive. We will still play the season and go on as planned with our TV and radio deals. We’ll do all we can do on a very limited budget.”

That inaugural game in 1999 had mass Detroit media coverage and even Gordie Howe on hand to celebrate. Next March, there may be mass coverage, only this time Wayne State hockey will be listed in the obituaries section the next day.

Portions of this article originally appeared in the Oct. 15 issue of Michigan Hockey.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Nov. 20

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown

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November 20, 2007

Jim: Well, Scott, it appears that Miami has firmly planted its stake to be the number one team in the country after sweeping defending national champions Michigan State in East Lansing over the weekend. Both games seemed to give college hockey fans what they’re looking for — two close games that were nailbiters until the RedHawks scored late empty-net goals. All of that said, Michigan kept pace with the RedHawks by earning a sweep at Lake Superior. It seems that Red Berenson and Rico Blasi have plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Scott: Jim, it sure does look like the RedHawks and the Wolverines are putting on the bullseyes. Michigan State’s two losses were close, but losses nonetheless and at home, and an eight-game winning streak is by the boards. Miami’s got Canisius up next, but for Michigan and MSU it’s the traditional CCHA-WCHA confrontation brewing this weekend in the form of the College Hockey Showcase, which has been dominated by the WCHA teams in recent years. This could be the season that the CCHA turns that around as well, what with the Wolverines looking particularly strong and Minnesota struggling — though it’s hard to forget the Gophers’ win over Michigan at the Ice Breaker Invitational just a month or so ago.

Maine’s having a tough go of it, but it’s not big Ben Bishop’s fault (photo: Melissa Wade).

Jim: I think that Minnesota is a team with talent that right now is just having a difficult time putting everything together. The Gophers aren’t alone. Out East, you have two perennial powerhouses that are truly struggling in Boston College and Maine. Both teams are riding five-game winless streaks. When was the last time you could say that? At the same time, as the powers sink, other teams are rising. Northeastern is suddenly the first-place team in Hockey East. In the CCHA, Bowling Green is surprising many by sitting in fourth-place behind three national powers. Is the landscape changing here, Scotty? Personally, I think it’s a little early to tell.

Scott: I couldn’t agree more. The fact of the matter is that when you look at the national polls, especially the top 10, the usual suspects (I now count Miami on that list) are well-represented. Now, poll voters’ rankings are based in part on expectation and reputation, especially this early in the season, but what this means is that some of the people closest to the game agree that there’s not enough evidence yet to call this a seismic shift in the balance of power. Hockey East is especially fascinating, though even there BC and BU are still .500 in league play. Maine is a real head-scratcher. It’s tempting to look first at Ben Bishop, who’s been lifted for Dave Wilson a couple of times lately, but the Black Bears have only scored five goals during that five-game winless streak. I don’t care if Ken Dryden’s in net, you’re not going to win many by averaging one goal per game. We may not be able to evaluate the real Maine until after the new year, when the Black Bears have a raft of games against the likes of BC, BU and New Hampshire, not to mention Massachusetts. Clarkson’s going to get real interesting too, with about 10 straight games coming against either national contenders or teams who are surprisingly good in the early going this year.

Jim: Maine certainly is an interesting study right now. You can’t look at goaltending at all as all of their problems are centered around the offense. When I saw them about three weeks ago at BC, I was thoroughly impressed with their overall team but concerned that they struggled to finish. The offense generated shots, but it’s that natural goal-scorer that seems to be lacking up front. This isn’t anything new for the Black Bears. They’ve been a successful team for the past few seasons despite their offensive struggles. That, though, seems to be catching up with them — at least over the last few weekends. I glanced over it on a cursory level earlier, but I have to get your take on Northeastern. With five league wins before Thanksgiving for the first time since 1989, does Greg Cronin finally have this team back to the level that we can consider them a player on the national stage?

Scott: I sure hope so. Cronin’s a good coach, and his quotability alone means I’m rooting for him and his team. Plus, it’s just a bad scene to have certain teams out of the running year after year before the season even starts. The Huskies are getting good goaltending once again from Brad Thiessen, and it looks like a couple of the veterans have stepped it up, notably Joe Vitale and Ryan Ginand. To shift gears once again, Niagara just can’t seem to lose at home. The streak is 22 games unbeaten now, the fifth-longest of all time, but a stiff test in the form of Bemidji State is next, right after Thanksgiving. I’d love to see history made at Dwyer Arena, if for no better reason than I love to see history made anytime.

Jim: A 22-game home unbeaten streak is just incredible. I credit any team that is able to be that successful in the confines of their own arena. Though it seems like a strange concept, sometimes playing at home can be stressful for student-athletes. Sure, fans can add atmosphere that make it difficult for the visiting team, but most road teams come very prepared to face the elements of an opponent’s rink and actually use that as a motivating factor. I don’t know what the formula is that has made Dave Burkholder’s team so successful at home, but whatever he puts in the water, I know 58 coaches who would like to get some.

Scott: Yeah, coaches talk occasionally about the bonding that happens on the road, or just the lack of pressure in not playing in front of the home crowd. Twenty-two games is quite the streak, no matter where they happen. And since it’s my turn to close this out, let me do it by wishing you a happy Thanksgiving, and the same to the readers, players and coaches out there.

What’s Happening in Chestnut Hill and Orono?

By Jim Connelly

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November 20, 2007

Here we are at Thanksgiving and I know at least two coaches in the country who are looking for a little bit more for which to give thanks.

Boston College bench boss Jerry York and Maine counterpart Tim Whitehead are scratching their heads right now at exactly what happened to their Frozen Four clubs from a year ago. Both suffered off-season losses, but each were still thought of as formidable threats at the start of the season.

Both teams, for the first time in a very long time – if ever – are riding simultaneous five-game winless streaks. In the last eight games combined, BC and Maine have a combined 0-6-2 record, the two ties coming from BC against Merrimack and Massachusetts.

Offense for each team has been a struggle at times. BC is averaging 2.73 goals a game, more than a goal behind Hockey East’s top offense, New Hampshire. Maine, though, has potted a league worst 1.91 goals per game.

True, the season is your and there’s no real need to start smacking the panic button. A year ago, both clubs went through tough stretchs in the season yet turned things around come March and April to reach college hockey’s ultimate stage.

But still, seeing both clubs struggle while teams like Northeastern, Massachusetts and Providence all rank in the top four of the standings, is a bit strange.

More on the Eagles’ suspensions

I don’t want to make this week’s entry all about BC, but the news came out of the Eagles camp this week that Brett Motherwell, who along with Brian O’Hanley, was suspended after the opening game of the season, has left school to sign with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.

At the same time, head coach Jerry York told Boston Herald writer John Connolly that O’Hanley will not return to the Eagles this season but will remain in school to finish his classes.

This turn of events puts to rest any thought that these two players had a chance to return from their indefinite suspensions. But it certainly doesn’t answer questions as to what these two players did to deserve such a severe penalty.

Original rumors of missing curfew certainly seem ludicrous at this point as suspending a player for an entire season seems far too severe a penalty. You can also likely throw out any type of public record offenses (i.e. arrests), as those would have surfaced by this point.

Whatever the offense, it’s clear that York doesn’t want this going beyond the doors of the locker room. There will certainly be speculation, but it seems like a strong possibility that the truth in the matter will never surface publicly.

Home Sweet Home

Home ice is certainly supposed to have an advantage in hockey, but the current streak that Niagara has put together in the confines of Dwyer Arena is almost unfathomable.

The Purple Eagles are unbeaten in 22 consecutive games at home dating back to February 10, 2006. In addition to winning or tying all of their league games in that span, they also have knocked off the likes of Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, Western Michigan and Bowling Green, to name a few.

From what I’ve always seen, fans can add to the home ice atmosphere. But a lot of the time, there’s pressure on college students to play in front of their friends and family. So that makes Niagara’s feat even more impressive.

College Hockey Showcase

College hockey fans in the midwest will once again be treated to their annual battle of the best in the CCHA and WCHA as Michigan and Michigan State will play host to Minnesota and Wisconsin this weekend in the annual College Hockey Showcase.

While all four of the teams have to be considered quite strong, this year, for the first time in recent memory, it is Michigan and Michigan State who are near the top of the national polls heading in the weekend.

This is certainly a test for the overall power of the CCHA. Michigan for the second straight week ranks 2nd in the USCHO.com poll, while Michigan State dropped a spot to 4th after falling back-to-back nights to #1 Miami.

Wisconsin and Minnesota each have had their struggles and ranked 12th and 13th, respectively. The Badgers are at .500 with a 5-5-0 record while Minnesota stands a couple of games better at 7-5-0 but are coming off an upset loss at home at the hands of Alaska-Anchorage.

Depending upon the series’ outcomes, there could be a major shift or a deafening status quo come next Monday’s poll.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The holidays have once again crept up upon us, so let me take this opportunity to wish all of my readers as well as all the coaches, players and fans out there a Happy Thanksgiving!

Miami Reasserts Itself Atop USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

USCHO Staff Report

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November 19, 2007

One week after narrowly holding onto the top spot in the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll, Miami was the runaway choice of voters impressed by the RedHawks’ road sweep of then-No. 3 Michigan State Thursday and Friday.

Miami received 48 of 50 first-place votes to retain the No. 1 ranking for the fourth straight week, followed again by fellow CCHA member Michigan, which earned the remaining two first-place nods after a sweep of Lake Superior State.

Edging up to third was Denver, which beat Minnesota State twice, and then Colorado College, which moved up three places to No. 4 with a sweep of Wisconsin. Michigan State slipped to fifth, and North Dakota dropped one spot to No. 6 during an off week, giving the WCHA and CCHA a sweep of the top six spots in the poll.

Clarkson was up one notch to seventh after beating Yale and Brown, with New Hampshire next after losing to Northeastern and bouncing back to top Providence.

Notre Dame eased up to No. 9 with two wins over Western Michigan, and Massachusetts continued its ascent through the rankings, entering the top 10 with a three-point weekend against Boston College. Also tied for 10th was St. Cloud State, which leapfrogged three teams despite having the week off.

In 12th this week was Wisconsin, while Minnesota, which split with Alaska-Anchorage and dropped one place. BC was down three spots to No. 14 this week, followed by Minnesota-Duluth, up two positions after a three-point series against Michigan Tech.

Also idle this week, Rensselaer was No. 16, followed by Niagara, which ran its nation-best home unbeaten streak to 22 games with two victories over Sacred Heart.

Harvard edged up to 18th by beating Cornell but losing to Colgate, and Michigan Tech hung in at No. 19. Northeastern entered the poll at No. 20 with wins over UNH and Massachusetts-Lowell.

Dropping out since last week was Maine.

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Two Unpredictable Weeks Down …

A Different Approach

Getting to Know the Guys

Hobartâ€™s Heights

Game of the Week

Getting Better All the Time

Giving Thanks

Weekly Awards

Enjoy

Puppy Uppers

A Very Merry Merrimack

Doggy Downers

Trouble In Paradise

Trivia Contest

Knights’ Big Nights

Looking Beyond the Stats

Nice Draw in New Hampshire

The Semi-Awful Truth

Jim Says…and So Does Jim

It’s Show Time!

A Thankless Job

On the Other Hand…

Ungrateful?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Schooley Signs Another Extension With Colonials

BSU Gets Early Signing Period Commitments

Niagara’s Streak Nation’s Best Since ’76

RMU Takes Three Points From Buckeyes

Bemidji State, Wayne State Split In Motown

Beavers Get Exhibition Win Tuesday

CHA Still Mum On Future

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Assignment: I’m Thankful For …

Rocky Mountain Showdown

Must Have Been a One Game Trial Deal

Reader Mailbag

Matchups By the Numbers

And Me?

It’s What Harvard Always Ends With

ECAC Hockey On the Rise

Stankievech Playing Rhodes Game

Snapshots

Musings

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