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Maine Hockey Player Charged With Assault, Unlawful Sexual Touching

By Emma Potvin
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The University of Maine men’s hockey team will be missing a center until the university can review facts surrounding charges against him of assault and unlawful sexual touching.

Early Sunday morning, freshman Tanner House allegedly grabbed a woman’s breast at 103 Ultra Lounge, according to Orono Police Capt. Josh Ewing.

Around 1:15 a.m., the woman was talking to one of the club’s bouncers near the entrance to the club. She told police that during the conversation, House, whom she did not know, approached and grabbed her left breast.

The woman tried, unsuccessfully, to keep House in the building until she could call the police. When he left, club staff followed him toward the Orchard Trails apartment complex while the club’s manager Robbie Snow reported the incident to Officer Derek Dinsmore, who was across the street in his police car.

The officer called Sgt. Scott Lajoie, who met up with the staff members following House. Lajoie brought House back to the club where he was issued a summons and charged. The police report did not say if House was intoxicated.

House is scheduled to appear at Third District Court in Bangor at 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1.

UMaine Athletic Director Blake James was unavailable for comment, but according to UMaine Director of University Relations Joe Carr, House was suspended indefinitely as of Monday.

When a UMaine athlete gets into trouble he or she is required by the athletic code of conduct to notify the university within 24 hours.

The university will conduct two investigations. As the Athletic Director, James will decide if House has violated the athletic code of conduct and how he will be punished. House will also be investigated by UMaine Student Affairs to decide if he has violated the student code of conduct.

Carr would not comment on how severely House could be punished. “The problem with describing a range is that we risk suggesting what the punishment might be.”

Both investigations are conducted independent of the legal process. The reviews are expected to take three or four days.

This Week in the CCHA: Nov. 8, 2007

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Another World

The CCHA and Buckeye football are conspiring to ruin my life. The two-week on-site playoff system forces weeknight games, while Ohio State avoids playing on Saturdays when the pigskin boys are home, giving us Thursday night contests and Sunday afternoon games when the Buffalo Bills are actually on local television because they’re playing the god-awful Cincinnati Bengals, whom they beat for their third win in a row that I could have watched had OSU football not been playing last weekend, but who’s complaining?

Anyway, all of this creates a shortened work week for both this column and my job at a large, Midwestern community college, a job that prior to this term I called “teaching.” Technically, I’m an adjunct instructor, but with over 100 beginning composition students this fall, I’m really a body attached to a right hand that grips a pen that provides comments that many (not all) students consider arbitrary.

With that, of course, said students have much in common with many readers of this column.

(Did you know that during the Great Regression, many banks reposed farms because of the dust bowel? Learn something knew every day.)

So, between the job that supports my writing habit, this weekly column, and the twice-weekly water aerobics class at the Columbus Parks and Recreation Aquatic Center — think brightly colored dumplings bobbling in a sea of broth — I’m going to shortchange you, dear reader.

And the cable’s out in my neighborhood, so I’m at the Clintonville Cup o’ Joe polishing this for deadline on Thursday morning.

Why don’t you grab a cup of joe yourself and come along for my CCHA ride?

Mail Bag

It may only be a month into the season, but it’s never too early to receive hate mail from Northern Michigan fans. July isn’t too early to receive hate mail from Northern Michigan fans.

After the Wildcats lost four consecutive close games to the ranked Wolverines and Spartans — three by one goal, one by two — a concerned NMU fan wrote to me about giving his Wildcats a little respect.

The truth is that the four close games to two of the toughest teams in the league had already gotten my attention, and as planned I wrote this up in last week’s column, as the Wildcats were preparing to host No. 1 Miami for two games at home.

See what happens when you taunt me, Yoopers? Ryan Jones scores four goals in a game and your ‘Cats lose 9-2.

Of course I’m kidding. About the taunting, not the goals. The first fan to write in with something nice this season was an NMU fan, whose identity must remain secret to protect his life. I tutor with a recent NMU grad, a Wildcat hockey fan who has been suspiciously pleasant, and my hairdresser is from Marquette and no one is pointing directly at my head and laughing. To my face.

After the Wildcats lost 3-2 to Miami Saturday, head coach Walt Kyle said, “The first thing is we don’t want to settle for competing. We want to beat them.”

You, Coach, and everyone else Miami has played so far this season.

Last week, I received email from an OSU fan unhappy with his team’s 2-6-0 start. This correspondent made a really good point when he said that the Buckeyes are good as underdogs, but “don’t put them in the light!” It’s true that this is a program that has struggled when it’s had — as Markell has said himself — a target on its collective back.

But this same reader suggested that Paul Pooley return to Columbus to “take his alma mater,” and that OSU should send Markell to Bowling Green to “replace Scott Paluch.”

Yikes. I’m not in favor of any of those coaching changes. Pooley is an integral part of the Notre Dame coaching staff. In fact, Jackson made bringing Pooley along a condition of his hiring. There is no way that I’d change anything at the top in South Bend right now.

As for Paluch at Bowling Green, I’m a big fan. He inherited something of a mess and is working to rebuild an entire program. He’s a Falcon alum who is an outstanding spokesman for the university, he’s very well liked and well respected in the world of college hockey, and he looks like a younger version of my uncle, Bill.

Seriously, give Paluch a little more time.

As for Ohio State, I think Markell and his staff are doing just fine. This year’s inexperienced Buckeyes are struggling, but I like what I’ve seen from them in several periods. If they can play like they did against Wisconsin, in their last period against Minnesota, and their first period against FSU Sunday, they’ll be okay. I’m reserving judgment for this season.

I also received email from several of the Maverick faithful, who would like to see Mark Wilkins fired after their home sweep at the hands of No. 2 Michigan last weekend. I saw the second half of the Friday game, and I didn’t see anything egregious. I did not see the whole series.

That having been said, teams usually don’t lose because of officiating. Teams lose because they are beaten — by their opponents, by themselves. Allowing four third-period goals (not including the empty-netter) is certainly one way to lose a game; allowing nine goals on 43 shots certainly doesn’t hurt the cause, either.

Perhaps the Maverick faithful should cut Wilkins — and their own team — some slack. UNO is 0-4-0 to begin the CCHA season because of losses to the top two teams in the country. I’ve seen Miami in person. I’ve seen Michigan on television twice. These are teams that are not overrated.

“We’re not likely to see two better teams than that all season long,” said UNO head coach Mike Kemp on the Mavericks’ four losses. “The big thing is that our young guys don’t get discouraged and keep making progress.”

And, finally, earlier in the season I suggested that the CCHA take Alabama-Huntsville and Robert Morris (Robert Morris!) into the league should the CHA fold with the departure of Wayne State. An astute reader suggested that all of Division I hockey should consider realignment to help the sport sustain itself and grow.

I have to agree. I like the idea of the CCHA expanding to include UAH and Robert Morris. One of the things I really like about CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos’s tenure is the way he has raised the profile of the league, expanding its television markets and reaching out to younger fans.

Should the league take in these two teams, the conference would have a presence in two markets that are important to the growth of the sport, but I have to say that I can’t see it as a long-term solution. The sport needs to expand further into other big sports markets, and the leagues need to be aligned in such a way that they support the growth of the sport, too.

That having been said, I love the charm of a league like the CCHA, with a mix of big schools and smaller programs, and I’d hate to see that lost.

Hey, I Still Have Room in One of My Comp Classes

I rarely visit fan message boards, including our very own, but every once in a while, someone sends me a link to something that is too good to ignore. Like this, for example:

“Another reason Poles don’t mean anything!!!”

Another poster wrote in response, summarizing exactly what I was thinking.

“First the Hapsburgs, then the Nazis, then the communists, now this. When will the Poles get the respect they deserve?”

Thank you, both of you. Thanks to the reader from southern Ohio who sent me the link.

And thank the hockey gods for WCHA fans.

And Speaking of Arbitrary

We all know that polls are opinions and not games played, but capturing the top two spots and three of the top five in this week’s poll is something to note.

Believe it or not, there are regular poll voters who reside outside of and are in no way affiliated with the CCHA.

And How!

Last week in these very pixels, Bowling Green head coach Scott Paluch said that all his team needed to do was to put together a few wins to gain some confidence. Now we get to see whether his theory is correct.

With two overtime wins home-and-home last weekend against Western Michigan, the BGSU Falcons put together their first consecutive wins over a Division I opponent since their six-game win streak in the middle of the 2005-06 campaign.

“We want to feel good about this,” said Paluch after BG’s 5-4 win at home Saturday night. “This was a big sweep for us.”

“Big” is an understatement. The last time the Falcons swept a CCHA opponent was Jan. 6-7, the end of that six-game win streak from two years ago, a home-and-home sweep of Ohio State. Last season, the Falcons split with the Broncos (Jan. 5) for one of their five league wins on the season.

Freshman Nick Eno earned the 3-2 win Friday, and junior Jimmy Spratt had the 5-4 win Saturday. Eno becomes the first freshman goaltender to start his career 2-0 since Bob Petrie did something similar in 1993-94. For Petrie, those were wins in consecutive games; Eno’s wins were interrupted by the BG loss to Notre Dame, for which Spratt earned the credit.

The Falcons doubled up their shots on the Broncos in those two games, outshooting WMU 30-16 Friday and 44-22 Saturday. Pity Western netminders Riley Gill and Jerry Kuhn. Gill made 47 saves on the weekend and was relieved by the freshman Kuhn in the second period Saturday night. Kuhn went on to make 19 saves and earn the loss because Gill allowed the first four goals before WMU tied it up in the first period — and Kuhn allowed the game-winning goal in OT.

Mike Nesdill had the equalizer late in the third period for the Falcons Friday, assisted by David Solway, who had the overtime game-winning goal … on which Nesdill earned the first assist. Kevin Schmidt had two goals in the 5-4 win, including the game-winner.

The season may be young, but there is no reason for the Falcons not to feel good about starting 2-1 in CCHA play for the first time since 2004-05.

Also Splitting the Wins

When the Ferris State Bulldogs recorded their second consecutive shutout by beating Ohio State 4-0 last Friday, they did so without the guy who earned the 3-0 win over Notre Dame the week before, the CCHA Goaltender of the Week for Week 3, Mitch O’Keefe.

Instead, FSU went with Pat Nagle for Friday’s game, in which the freshman earned his first career shutout. Head coach Bob Daniels had been rotating goaltenders and saw no reason to change that last weekend.

O’Keefe went on to beat the Buckeyes Sunday, 4-2.

They Pass … He Scores!

Not only did Nagle and O’Keefe split the winning ways in Columbus, but each earned a legitimate assist on his team’s game-winning goal.

Nagle was the sole helper on Justin Lewandowski’s marker at 3:21 in the second Friday, while O’Keefe started the play that led to Justin Menke’s power-play game-winner at 6:00 in the second Sunday.

Defending the Last Line of Defense

When Kuhn went in for Gill in WMU’s 5-4 overtime loss to BGSU, the Falcons were up on the Broncos 4-0. “It was definitely a tough position for Jerry to come in,” said Bronco senior defenseman Jonathan Lupa. “He stood on his head and kept some goals out and really gave us a chance to win that game.”

Michigan head coach Red Berenson wants you to know that Billy Sauer — who is improved this season after tough freshman and sophomore campaigns — kept the Wolverines in the early going of that 6-3 win over UNO last Friday. “[We] knew that he could make the save if we made a mistake — and we made too many mistakes. That’s what your goalie can do for you.

“This is the CCHA. It’s tough to win on the road. We’re lucky we’ve won four games on the road. You can’t do that without good goalkeeping.” Sauer’s save percentage was .914 in the sweep.

And after Friday’s 4-0 loss to Ferris State, in which sophomore goaltender Joseph Palmer was replaced by classmate Nick Filion, OSU senior captain Matt McIlvane defended Palmer, whose play this season has definitely surpassed his performance last year.

“He’s carried us through the season,” said McIlvane. “How many games are you going to win when you score zero goals? That’s our problem right now; it’s not Joe Palmer. He’s our best player right now.”

All Goalies, All the Time

Congratulations to Jeff Lerg, who made his program-record 61st and 62nd consecutive starts in two wins over Alaska in Fairbanks last weekend. Lerg made 47 saves for a .959 save percentage in those two contests.

“Alaska is pretty good at creating traffic, but Jeff Lerg controlled the puck very well,” said MSU head coach Rick Comley.

Back in the Lower 48, NMU freshman goaltender Reid Ellington made his first start in that 3-2 loss to Miami. Ellington is something of a rarity in our league, having come directly from high school (Cloquet High School, Minn.). Ellington made 29 saves as the RedHawks outshot the Wildcats 32-21.

More Kudos

Players who netted their first collegiate goals last weekend: Robin Bergman (ND), Alain Goulet (UNO), Blake Martin (UNO), Rich Purslow (UNO), Todd Rudasill (OSU), David Solway (BGSU), and Justin Vaive (Miami).

Rudasill, who had the only two goals in OSU’s 4-2 loss to FSU Sunday, grew up in the Columbus suburb of Powell. A local boy playing for the Buckeyes is a big deal, and after the game we asked Rudasill about notching his first two collegiate goals in his first game as a Buckeye, in front of his family.

None of the Rudasills were in attendance. The forward’s parents have moved to Pennsylvania, and his sister — a student at Miami University — couldn’t make the trip for his game.

Just Plain Scary

Miami’s Ryan Jones is second in the country in goals per game, with eight markers in eight contests. Teammate Justin Mercier has seven goals in eight games. Jones leads the country in game-winning goals (three).

Miami leads the nation in scoring offense, averaging five goals per game, and the RedHawk defense allows just 1.50 goals per contest (tie-third).

Miami’s power play is converting at 20.6 percent, and the RedHawk PK is effective 94.1 percent of the time.

Through eight games, Jeff Zatkoff’s save percentage is .944.

Also Wicked Good

Michigan State’s Tim Kennedy and Michigan’s Kevin Porter are tied (with St. Cloud State’s Garrett Roe) for the national lead in power-play goals (five).

Porter had his third career hat trick last Friday in Michigan’s 6-3 win over UNO. His first two that night were on the power play; the third came four-on-four.

More Congratulations in Order

Congratulations to Jim Culhane, whose contract has been extended at Western Michigan through May 31, 2011, which is two weeks after my 47th birthday and a year and change after the CCHA hosts the Frozen Four in Detroit.

Culhane has built an interesting and entertaining program in Kalamazoo, one that slays giants on a regular basis. During his tenure, the Broncos have defeated 33 nationally ranked opponents — all without the Big Ten resources down the road a stretch. His players, too, have a combined grade point average of 3.00 or higher for nine of their last 10 semesters at WMU.

Congratulations, too, to Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna, whose contract with Hockey East has been extended through the 2010-11 season. We at USCHO are big fans of Bertagna, who always manages to smile and hug me whenever we meet. My theory about that latter is that Bertagna’s just so relieved that I cover a league other than his that he’s overcome with emotion upon seeing me in person.

The job security couldn’t happen to two nicer or more deserving gents.

Best Wishes to the Pletsches

Fred Pletsch, the CCHA Director of Communications, and his wife, Kelly, were in a severe car accident in Michigan Oct. 30. Both are banged up pretty badly and they face recoveries that will take time, but both will recover, thankfully.

Fred — who answered my email today from the hospital, where he gets to eat yogurt and watch “zero hockey” — is at least in good spirits.

Please keep them in your thoughts.

Top Of The Heap

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In the media and as fans, we pay a lot of attention to streaks and records. They are the fodder for endless debates about who is the best and what new things have been accomplished, no matter the sport.

At the start of the 2007-2008 season, the two-time defending national champion Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team hadn’t lost since Minnesota-Duluth beat them 2-0 on November 24, 2006. Coach Mark Johnson and his players, including senior captain Emily Morris and senior assistant captain Jinelle Zaugg, have set out to give themselves another opportunity to win the national title.

In the process, the Badgers set a new standard for women’s college hockey excellence when they beat Ohio State on October 13, 4-0, winning their 31st consecutive game and breaking the old record of 30 held by New Hampshire. The Badgers extended the streak to 32 before St. Cloud finally defeated them 2-1 on October 19.

JOHNSON

JOHNSON

Despite the talk in the media as the Badgers got closer to breaking the record, Johnson claims it wasn’t something the team discussed at the start of the year.

“I didn’t know it existed,” Johnson quipped. “It wasn’t a priority on our list of things to do this year. Those things just happen. In none of our meetings, our individual meetings, our team meetings, did we really talk about it. I’m guessing that some of them (the players) were aware of it, but it wasn’t because the coaching staff was talking about it. Those things obviously are a credit to what the players have been able to do over a long period of time.”

His players also say that the record was never something they knew about. Said Zaugg, “We don’t really keep track as far as records or stats go; we try not to think about it. I think all that kind of stuff just gets into people’s heads, so whether we’re beating shutout streaks or point streaks or whatever, that’s all such a small part of our game, and the big picture is the team going for another national championship.”

Since taking over the program in 2002-2003, Johnson has helped turn Wisconsin into one of the best teams in the country. Last year, when they defended their national championship, beating Minnesota-Duluth 4-1, the team tied a record for most wins in a season with 36.

Of course, Johnson has a history with records and championships. Playing for his father, “Badger” Bob Johnson, at Wisconsin in the late ’70s, Johnson helped Wisconsin win the national title in 1977, his freshman year. Johnson, who played three years at Wisconsin, holds school records for both goals scored in a season (48) and career (125).

Johnson finished his career at Wisconsin with the highest points-per-game average of any player in Badger history (2.05) and second all-time in scoring with 257 points, trailing only Mike Eaves, with whom he played on the 1977 team. Eaves currently coaches the men’s team, and beat Johnson out for that job despite Johnson serving as the assistant coach of the men’s program under Jeff Sauer.

“Our friendship still exists,” says Johnson of Eaves. “It’s probably stronger than it has been because we’re in the same city and we’re working at the same university. My wife and Mike’s wife get together usually once a week and walk our dogs and now I’ve got one of my sons playing for Mike; he’s a freshman, and so our friendship is probably as strong as it’s been since we played together at Madison in the late 1970s.”

Johnson departed Wisconsin after his junior year to play for Herb Brooks on the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. Brooks told Johnson the team would go as far he could take it, and Johnson led the team in scoring over the course of the Olympic tournament, finishing with 11 points.

When the movie Miracle came out in 2004, Johnson says his players asked him about it.

“Obviously they want to know about the accuracy of the movie and if certain things that happened were true. When your coach is out in the public like that they’re going to want to know some inside stories or scoops or what we did with that team or how that team was picked or what happened in Lake Placid, so it becomes a conversation piece between our players and certainly myself.”

Winning the title last year was special for Johnson and his players, since it took place in Lake Placid, N.Y., site of the 1980 U.S. triumph.

“I think the second one being in Lake Placid, you know, makes that one special, so it’s going to be with us for a long time just because of where it was and how it happened.”

For Morris, who grew up near Lake Placid in Massena, winning that game meant playing in front of her family. “My family could be there and specifically my grandfather. He was able to drive up from Massena and he was the first person I saw when I was walking up the stairs of the 1980 rink. That was a pretty special moment for me because he’s been such a crucial character in my success, and being in Wisconsin he doesn’t get to see me play too much.”

Despite Johnson’s fame from the 1980 Olympic team, the players feel it is Johnson’s unique understanding of the game that has proven most useful in molding the Badgers into a powerhouse.

“I didn’t watch a lot of hockey growing up, as far as big-time hockey,” says Zaugg. “I had always kind of heard of the 1980 team, but nothing particularly stood out for me; I didn’t know him so I didn’t follow him. When I came here, I got to know him more as a person than anything he had done in history, and really respected and admired his approach to everything and his humility. I think of that more than what he’s done in the past.”

Sophomore Meghan Duggan has had great success under Johnson. She finished her freshman year second on the team in scoring to Sara Bauer, and feels Johnson taught her a lot during her first year.

“He kind of breaks down everything and his knowledge of the game is unbelievable; he can teach the smallest thing to you and enhance your game 10 times as much as it was,” Duggan says. “Just little things like where to place the puck when you’re shooting and how you’re supposed to think when the puck drops and stuff, and just the knowledge of the game he brings to our team is a huge advantage over any other team in the conference or the country.”

Morris feels that Johnson’s greatest attribute as a coach is his ability to keep things on an even keel.

“I think he’s an unbelievable coach and a human being. He doesn’t harp on anybody for making a mistake. He lets us be ourselves and lets the team take on its own identity as the year goes on. I think that’s been really successful and allows us to really jell and I think that’s been a big factor in our success.”

For Johnson, coaching the women has proved to be an adjustment, but one that proves to be continually rewarding.

“Well, there are differences. I mean, the biggest difference is that we’re made different,” said Johnson. “When you have differences, your approach is going to be a little different; the communication skills that a woman requires the men may not require. When you get to the gist of trying to improve as a hockey player, the ability for both genders to be competitive and passionate about what they do, there are a lot of similarities in regards to it but emotionally there’s certainly a difference and as a coach you have to be aware of that.

“There are a lot more positive things in regards to me having an opportunity to work with the women than people might anticipate. Like I say, they’re very passionate, about what they do. They’re committed, they listen very well, they want to become better, and if you like to teach the game, or are a teacher of the sport, obviously dealing with that type of pupil is going to be very rewarding.”

Johnson and his players are excited about trying to win a third consecutive national title, but expect a serious challenge. In addition to the loss to St. Cloud, Minnesota defeated them 3-2 on November 3, and the players feel teams are coming after them.

“We just have to stay focused and play our game,” says Duggan. “We can’t control any of that. We can only control what we can control and just play and not let targets on our backs prevent us from accomplishing what we want to.”

Echoes Zaugg, “I think every team’s gunning for who is No. 1, and I think whether we’re ranked No. 1 or not, they’re going to be gunning for us just because we’re Wisconsin and we’ve been able to win two national championships. No matter what, I think we have to be aware of that and come out ready to play whoever we’re playing, whether we’re playing the best team in our league or the lowest team in our league.”

Johnson himself feels the competition in the women’s game is getting stronger every year, but hopes to be able to get his team an opportunity every year to win.

“The goal, I think, at the beginning of every season is the same, to make sure you give yourself an opportunity at the end to win a championship. Every year is going to be different; the one thing we’ve seen in the women’s game the last several years here is the competition and the parity throughout the country has gotten better, and so it just makes the task of whoever is going to win the national championship that much more difficult.

“Certainly we’ve been fortunate the last couple of years, but this year is going to be no different than it was last year. It’s going to be tough to put yourself in that position, but hopefully the process is going to be similar and we’ll have a chance at the end of the year to hopefully do something special, and that’s what you try to work for when you start in September. So, the goal is the same.”

HEA Commissioner Bertagna’s Contract Extended

USCHO Staff Report
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The Hockey East Association has extended the contract of Commissioner Joe Bertagna through the 2010-2011 season, it was announced Tuesday by Dana Skinner, Director of Athletics at Massachusetts-Lowell.

Bertagna, 56, came to Hockey East in 1997 after 15 years with the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). He is the longest-serving commissioner in Hockey East’s 24-year history.

“Hockey East continues to be regarded as one of the finest hockey conferences in the country, and Joe deserves considerable credit for that,” said Dana Skinner, Chair of the Hockey East Executive Committee. “His passion for the sport of hockey combined with his extensive insight of collegiate athletics will prove valuable as the league establishes new standards of excellence in the coming years.”

A native of Arlington, Mass., Bertagna has forged a unique career in ice hockey, combining a quarter-century of college hockey administrative work with 35 years of coaching goaltenders of all ages, from youth hockey through the National Hockey League. He started his administrative work with the ECAC in 1982, carrying a number of titles and overseeing 90 men’s and women’s programs in Divisions I and III. His accomplishments at the ECAC included the league’s first television package, the first hockey-only corporate sponsorships, and the establishment of the first U.S. women’s intercollegiate ice hockey leagues.

Bertagna made his mark immediately at Hockey East, engineering a multi-year television deal in his first month on the job. Shortly thereafter, league tournament attendance rocketed forward, leading to the event’s first-ever sellout in 2000. Bertagna was also instrumental in bringing about the formation of the Hockey East Women’s League, just as he initiated league play for both Division I and Division III women’s programs while with the ECAC.

Nationally, Bertagna has served as the Executive Director of the American Hockey Coaches Association since 1991. In that role, he has overseen the growth of AHCA membership from just under 300 members in 1992 to over 1,300 members today. He also served a four-year term on the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee, the final two years as chairman. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation and USA Hockey.

The 1973 Harvard graduate has enjoyed a fruitful playing and coaching career. After starring in goal at Arlington (Mass.) High School, Bertagna went on to Harvard and played for Hall of Fame coaches Ralph “Cooney” Weiland and Bill Cleary. A two-year starter (1971-73), he led the Ivy League with a 2.45 GAA in 1972. After Harvard, Bertagna played professionally for the Milwaukee Admirals and in Cortina, Italy. While in Italy, he led his S.G. Cortina d’Ampezzo squad to the 1975 Italian Championship.

Considered one of the most influential goaltender coaches in North America, Bertagna has been coaching goalies of all ages for 35 years. He has operated his own summer goalie camps since 1973, attracting nearly 300 goaltenders annually to the Boston area. His articles and DVDs have reached thousands of goalies in North America. He began his professional goalie coaching career in 1985 with the Boston Bruins, staying with the Bruins as the goaltender coach until 1991 and rejoining the team for the 1994-95 season. He also has coached with Team USA (1991 Canada Cup and 1994 Winter Olympics) and with the Milwaukee Admirals (1994-96).

A talented writer, Bertagna edited “Crimson in Triumph,” a book dedicated to Harvard athletic history. He also edited two successful issues of “Not The Boston Globe,” a newspaper parody sold throughout New England in the mid-1980’s. His creative skills have also led him into broadcasting, freelance writing and producing highlight videos for Harvard and the Boston Bruins. He continues to contribute to the college hockey community as a writer.

Bertagna enjoyed a brief college coaching career at Harvard in the late 1970s, serving as men’s junior varsity coach in 1976-77 and launching Harvard’s women’s ice hockey program in 1977-78. He served as head coach of Harvard women’s hockey for two seasons.

Bertagna and his wife Kathy reside in Gloucester with their three children, Bobby (11), Joey (9) and Grace (6).

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Nov. 6

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown
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Jim: Well Brownie, three big series played this weekend out in your part of the world with North Dakota and Colorado College, Denver and Minnesota, and Wisconsin and Michigan Tech all going head-to-head. I thought all had a chance for splitsville, and two of the three actually headed that way. I was surprised, though, at the series that turned out to be the sweep with Denver taking two against Minnesota (in Minneapolis, no less). Was this a surprise to you, someone who sees the Gophers on a regular basis? And was Denver really as dominant as the scoreboard suggested?

Scott: JimCo, the Pioneers played very well, that no one can deny, but it started from the goalmouth out. The Gophers outshot Denver both nights, but Peter Mannino simply refused to let Minnesota back in the game once DU had taken leads each game. Right now, Minnesota is suffering from an old-fashioned inability to put the puck in the net. The Gophers are one of those teams that is expected to excel year in and year out no matter what losses they suffer, but the offseason departures are having a big impact this time around. I expect Minnesota to improve substantially as the season goes along, but it might take a little while before we see that progress on the scoreboard. Speaking of making progress, how about Princeton being ranked this week after beating Colgate and Cornell (a team we talked about last week)? Has Guy Gadowsky turned the corner with the Tigers?

Guy Gadowsky's Princeton Tigers are 3-0-0 so far (photo: Princeton sports information).

Guy Gadowsky’s Princeton Tigers are 3-0-0 so far (photo: Princeton sports information).

Jim: You know, I was looking through the standings just to confirm that Miami, at 8-0-0, was the only unbeaten and untied team. And then, lo and behold, there’s Princeton perfect through its first three. I think it’s early to say that things have turned around at Princeton, but a 3-0-0 start is certainly worthy of notice. What’s important, though, was that the Tigers pulled out wins in tight games against Cornell and Colgate. Those are the types of games that maybe in the past few years, when things weren’t going swimmingly well, that Princeton might not have won. It will be interesting to watch how this team progresses this season. Another team that seems to be playing well in the ECACHL is Clarkson. Two wins over the weekend against Harvard and Dartmouth pushed the Golden Knights back to the top 10 in the poll. But by your estimation, is Clarkson really a top-10 team?

Scott: Clarkson has regained a lot of its nameplate recognition under George Roll’s leadership, but looking at the Golden Knights’ record thus far, it’s hard to know how much of their No. 8 ranking is due to respect carried over from last season. Clarkson is 6-2-0, but only one of those wins has come against a team currently in the top 20 (that being No. 20 Massachusetts, though Clarkson is also 1-1 against St. Lawrence, which was ranked until this week). I say we give the Golden Knights the benefit of the doubt; this weekend we’ll know more after they play Quinnipiac and none other than Princeton. Continuing the East theme, I’ve heard rumblings that Atlantic Hockey might look at raising its 11-scholarship cap to something closer to the NCAA max of 18. Your take?

Jim: I believe that the 11 vs. 18 scholarship limit in Atlantic Hockey is something that is always on the table for debate. The challenge that the league and its membership faces is that not every school in the league can afford to move to 18 scholarships at this time. Remember that what is now Atlantic Hockey began as a cost-containment league (called the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, or the MAAC) for schools that didn’t have the budgets to compete in one of the “Big Four” conferences. The institutions that comprise Atlantic Hockey are far different from the original teams from the MAAC. But it’s difficult to force your membership to change their overall philosophy on how they finance the sport. While there are certainly schools in Atlantic Hockey that can easily afford to increase scholarships to 18, there are also schools who struggle right now to get near the 11 scholarship level. I’ve long been a proponent of increasing scholarship limits to a middle-range number such as 15. Then, based on reaction from the member schools, consider 18 scholarships three to five years down the line.

Scott: That would be a welcome change from my perspective, especially given the CHA’s troubles. College hockey has a long tradition of excellence by schools that a lot of people outside our sport have never heard of — I remember long ago hearing a fan mention how cool it was that Michigan Tech was a former NCAA ice hockey champion. That’s part of the appeal of the game, as opposed to football, where the dominant powers are factories with enrollments of 40,000. Back to the games, though, we’d be remiss in not mentioning Miami once again. Shall we just reserve the RedHawks a block of rooms at the Frozen Four right now?

Jim: Well said, Brownie, regarding what makes college hockey special. To answer your question about Miami, though, I think we should wait before booking their flights to Denver. I think Miami is a good, if not great team, but it’s still very early in the season. If we’re talking about Miami two weeks from now and the RedHawks are sporting a perfect 12-0-0 record (after facing Notre Dame and Michigan State for two games each) then I’ll concede this is a Frozen Four team. But not a second earlier!

Scott: Fair enough. Until next week!

It’s always sunny in Miami

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Things are certainly looking bright and sunny for Miami these days. Having started the year 8-0-0, the RedHawks were one vote away from a unanimous No. 1 in Monday’s USCHO.com poll (who was the idiot who still insists on giving Michigan State one first-place vote?) What’s astounding, though, is not the perfect start for Miami, but the manner in which they are winning.

The RedHakws have yet to allow more than two goals in a game, but at the same time they’ve scored five or more goals in five of their eight contests. They’ve outscored their opponents 40-12 overall and 34-10 in six CCHA games. At this point, Miami seems to be the New England Patriots of college hockey. It’s just incredible.

Offensively, Miami has seen its goal scoring spread throughout the club with 13 different players having recorded a goal. Only senior Ryan Jones and rookie Carter Camper (how’s that for a hockey name – ‘Carter Camper camped out at the right post’?) have hit double-digits in points. Truly, this is a very balanced team.

As I mentioned last week, the next few names will be important for Miami to prove their worth. This week’s pair at home versus Notre Dame will be tough, but not as difficult as next week’s series at Michigan State appears to be.

Maybe then that sole Spartan voter will be justified?

Perfect Princeton

By the way, I was just about to write about Miami remaining the only team without a blemish to date. And then I realized that Princeton has quietly begun the season with three straight wins (yes, they’re an Ivy, so they start later than the rest of the college hockey world). What’s impressive is the league competition that they’ve beaten – Yale might not be the strongest, but both Cornell and Colgate had some decent pre-season expectations.

Shockers

Probably the wrong tag, but here are a few results from the weekend that caught my attention:

Denver sweep of Minnesota: Sure there’s a lot of parity in the WCHA, but seriously, how often will a team go to Mariucci and sweep the Gophers… convincingly.

Mercyhurst over Air Force: The Lakers are reeling after losing their top goaltender, but still were able to go to Colorado Springs and upset defending champion Air Force.

Northeastern over New Hampshire: The Huskies struggled to keep the puck out of the goal on Friday night in a 7-4 loss, then rebounded with a 2-1 win at Durham on Saturday.

Canisius over RIT: Maybe the Griffs are better than expected, but RIT was coming off a win against Cornell last weekend. Great win for coach Dave Smith and his young program.

Bowling Green’s two OT wins over Western Michigan: Okay so these two don’t shock me, but any time you win back-to-back OT games you deserve some recognition.

Middlebury Takes Over Top Spot in USCHO.com D-III Poll

By Nicholas Jon Wood
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Even though they do not take the ice until Nov. 16, Middlebury is the new number one team in the USCHO.com Division III men’s hockey poll. Earning half of the 20 first place votes, Middlebury doubled up Manhattanville — five first place votes — who are unbeaten (3-0-1) in their first four games.

Wisconsin-River Falls is 3-0 and ranked third, up from sixth, while Norwich rose to fourth.

The biggest ascension came by fifth ranked Plattsburgh, whose 5-0 start — including a win over defending champion and previously top ranked Oswego — impressed the voters enough to garner two first place votes and a nine spot rise from their previous No. 14 ranking.

Wisconsin-Stout, St. Norbert, Elmira, Oswego, and St. Thomas round out the top ten. St. Norbert received the remaining first place vote.

Babson, previously eighth, and Hobart — 4-0 and previously unranked — are now Nos. 11 and 12 while idle Bodwoin and Mass-Dartmouth fell two and four spots, respectively. Despite winning their first two games, Bethel remained at No. 15.

Neumann, who split their first six games, and UW-Superior (0-1-1), dropped out of the poll, after being ranked seventh and ninth in the inaugural edition.

Miami Near-Unanimous No. 1 In USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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Following a sweep of Northern Michigan to remain perfect on the season, Miami consolidated its position atop Monday’s USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll.

The RedHawks received 49 of 50 first-place votes to land at No. 1 again, followed by Michigan, which moved up to second with two wins over Nebraska-Omaha. North Dakota traded places with the Wolverines this week, finishing third in the wake of a split with Colorado College.

Michigan State, which won two games at Alaska, climbed two spots to No. 4 and received one first-place vote in the poll, and Denver used a sweep of Minnesota to move up two places as well, to fifth this week.

New Hampshire split a series with Northeastern and dropped to No. 6, trailed by Boston College, also down two spots after tying Maine in its lone game of the weekend.

Clarkson moved back into the top 10 at No. 8 with wins over Harvard and Dartmouth, while Colorado College was again ninth and Wisconsin No. 10 again after a split with Michigan Tech.

Maine edged up to 11th, with Notre Dame next at No. 12, up two places after a sweep of Lake Superior State. Michigan Tech held its ground at No. 13, while Minnesota suffered the week’s biggest freefall, down six spots to 14th. Idle Minnesota-Duluth came in at No. 15 once more.

Rensselaer nosed up to No. 16 after tying both Yale and Brown, and St. Cloud State was 17th, up two positions after taking three of four points from Alaska-Anchorage.

Princeton made its poll debut at No. 18 by beating Cornell and Colgate, and Niagara came in at No. 19 after splitting a road series with Bemidji State that left the Purple Eagles’ 20-game home unbeaten streak intact. Rounding out the poll was Massachusetts, again No. 20 after beating Merrimack.

Dropping out since last Monday was St. Lawrence.

Here We Go Again

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A new season brings new changes. New programs, new coaches, new chances for every team and player. Like last season, this blog will complement the excellent job done by our league correspondents.

Over the summer, on the D-III section of the Fan Forum, a user wanted to know what people could change about D-III hockey. I’ve been keeping a list in my head since then, waiting for the start of the season to weigh in on that. So here goes:

1. An autobid for the MCHA – Matt Webb has a fantastic preview on the MCHA and rightfully slams the NCAA for dragging its feet and the right hand not knowing what the left is doing. And while we’re at it, let’s make an exception and give one to the ECAC West as well. It’s one of the strongest conferences in the sport, and the champ always seems to get in anyway.

2. Restore the old 27 game schedule. It’s been a limit of 25 now since 1991 and was even higher in the 1980s (with playoffs, the 1988-89 RIT team played 37 games). Twenty-five ganes (24 in the case of the NESCAC and ECAC East) leave too little room for non-conference games. Norwich, for example, has 19 league games, the Primelink Tournament and their own tournament. And they play Plattsburgh every year. That ‘s it. Until Potsdam dropped out of the Primelink, the Norwich Invitational was the only mystery in terms of who the Cadets would play from year to year. Extend the season one more week and add the two games.

3. Count inter-region games for NCAA selection purposes. First they counted. Then they didn’t, Now some of them do (as long as they are over a holiday break). Just count them and be done with it. The NCAA wanted to discourage these types of games to reduce travel and keep things as regional as possible. Way to hinder your sport. But in reality, the rules may have increased the likelihood of these games taking place since they’re considered almost exhibitions and some teams who may not wanted to take the risk of playing a tough non-region game now see no downside in losing such a game. Just count everything.

4. And while we’re at it, get rid of the regional rankings and go to national ones. Again, NCAA, stop regionalizing a national sport. This isn’t D-III basketball or football, which, frankly, are farther away from their D-I counterparts than hockey is. No other D-III sport has players this close to D-I in terms of talent, with so many coming out of juniors and quality prep programs.

5. Allow D-II teams that abide by D-III rules to participate in the D-III national tournament. There is no D-II in hockey, really. Let’s stop pretending there is.

6. And last, but not least, change the selection criteria for the NCAA to the D-I method, which is straightforward and out in the open. In D-I, teams know exactly what they had to do in their final games of the season to get into the tournament, and the field is selected as soon as the final game was over, because everyone knows what the criteria was and how it is going to be applied. D-III hockey was closer to that a few seasons ago, but now we’re back to a back-room method that excludes teams like UW-Stout and Neumann and can’t provide a rational answer as to why.

OK, I figured to get the rant out of the way so I can focus on what’s going on on the ice in later editions of the D-III Blog. Check back frequently for more on the most underrated college sport.

SUNYAC Weekly Column

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A Season Nearly Spoiled

It takes hundreds of nuts to hold a car together, but it takes only
one nut to scatter it all over the highway.

That analogy can apply to most anything, including a sports team. It
takes so many intricate details and hard work to put a team together,
but a few bad decisions can destroy the whole effort.

This past weekend, Brockport hosted a pair of games against Manhattanville. On the first night, the Golden Eagles dressed just 13 skaters. The second night, they had 14, but one less goalie. This was all due to various members of the team violating school rules.

“Players broke some team rules, and we had to discipline them,” Brockport coach Brian Dickinson said. “Penalties were handed out. All the players served their suspensions. We’re hoping we can move forward. The players are remorseful for what happened.”

The team may have dodged a bullet. The school could have decided to make an example of the hockey team, and severely punish them, spoiling their entire season. A season that the players have eagerly looked forward to as a conclusion to the rebuilding effort started four years ago.

Amazingly, despite being so shorthanded and going up against the number four ranked team in the country, Brockport did not get embarrassed. In what had the makings of two blowouts, the Valiants ‘only’ won 4-0 and 4-1, though Brockport did get out shot badly (53-18 and 48-18, respectively). Todd Sheridan (49 saves) and Greg Van’t Hof (44 saves) stood on their heads to keep their teams in it.

The irony of this situation is some good may have come out of it in terms of the team believing they can achieve some lofty goals this year.

“We talked a lot had we had a full complement of players, we could have done better,” Dickinson said. “We’re proud with the effort that our guys worked hard all sixty minutes.”

Looking forward, Brockport has two key games at home this weekend against Fredonia and Buffalo State.

“Fredonia and Buffalo State are two teams that were one and two points ahead of us last year,” Dickinson said. “We feel we’ve improved as have they. They’re teams that play sixty minutes hard and don’t finesse you to death, and that’s the type of team we like to consider ourselves to be.

“We know these are two types of teams that we need to beat, and we would love to start the season out with some points.”

A season that was nearly spoiled by a few bad decisions.

400

Plattsburgh’s victory over Potsdam was Bob Emery’s 400th as coach, all of them with the Cardinals.

“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” Emery said. “There are guys with 400 wins but with 400 losses. I am happy with the fact that we did it in so few years. But actually, getting 400 could just mean you’ve been coaching a long time.”

It may mean he has coached a long time, but getting to 400 wins in his 19th season means that Emery has a winning percentage that places him fifth amongst all coaches. It is currently .732.

He becomes the sixth coach in Division III to reach that milestone. Tops on the list is the only non-active coach in that category, Don Roberts (32 years at Gustavus Adolphus, 1965-1996), with 515 victories. Next is Bill Beaney (24 years at New England College, 1978-84, and Middlebury, 1987-2007) with 487, John Rolli (22 years at UMass-Dartmouth, 1985-2007) with 466, John Dunham (32 years at Trinity, 1975-2007) with 441, and Bill O’Neill (25 years at Salem State, 1982-2007) with 424. (Note that the above numbers do not include this
season.)

Mike McShane is listed with 502 victories, but a good portion of those were at St. Lawrence and Providence. If you only count his years at Division III Norwich, the number is 258.

Interesting, too, that all but Beaney did their entire tenure at one school.

SUNYAC Short Shots

Plattsburgh outshot Morrisville, 50-9, and Ward Smith scored two goals and two assists as the Cardinals won the first game, 5-1 . . . In their second match up, the shots were 48-18 in favor of Plattsburgh with Nick Rolls getting a pair of goals in a 6-2 Cardinals’ victory. For the weekend, Plattsburgh went 9 for 18 on the powerplay . . . Steve Seedhouse scored a hat trick, Tim Crowley got a shorthanded goal, and Chris Koras assisted on four tallies as Brockport beat Lebanon Valley, 9-1 . . . No one scored in the first 37:10 of the Fredonia vs. Manhattanville game which ended in a 2-2 tie . . . Rick Miller made 40 saves and Peter Vaisanen scored a pair as Potsdam beat Adrian, 6-4, despite getting
outshot, 44-18.

Fredonia’s Colin Sarfeh scored shorthanded to close out the scoring in a 5-2 win over Cortland . . . Geneseo scored twice within 39 seconds in the final two minutes, but it was too little, too late in a 5-4 loss to Neumann . . . Buffalo State lost to Manhattanville, 4-2, with the difference being two powerplay goals on delay of game penalties . . . Plattsburgh outshot Potsdam, 52-16, Mike Baccaro and T.J. Cooper each got a pair of goals, and the Cardinals went 5 for 11 on the powerplay in an 11-1 trouncing . . . Fredonia lost their first game against Utica, 3-2, with eight seconds left in overtime . . . They came back the next day to win, 4-3, thanks to a pair of goals by Jordan Oye and a shorthander by Neal Sheehan.

Geneseo defeated Morrisville, 5-2, with the final two goals by Mathieu Cyr including a penalty shot . . . Oswego’s Matt Whitehead tied the second game against Elmira, 4-4, with 1:22 remaining which is how it ended . . . Barry McLaughlin got a hat trick and Brent Fallon scored shorthanded as Cortland beat Lebanon Valley, 6-3, after trailing 3-1 . . . Geneseo and Morrisville traded their first goals 21 seconds apart in an Ice Knights 3-2 victory.

Game of the Week

Two games stick out, but for opposite reasons and both take place on Friday.

At the bottom of the heap, you have Potsdam at Cortland. The winner could be the team that has a shot at sneaking into the playoffs while the loser may very well be heading down a track they want no part of.

At the top, and the game that is not to be missed and obviously the pick, is Plattsburgh at Oswego. After all, how can you pass up any game in this rivalry?

The Lakers have gotten off to a bit of a rough start, losing and tying Elmira on their opening weekend.

“It was obvious we played not to lose instead of to win,” Oswego coach Ed Gosek said of Friday’s game. “On Saturday night, we played much harder. Competed much harder. But we didn’t have the discipline to win.”

They now go up against Plattsburgh in their first SUNYAC game while the Cardinals already have six points in the league.

“They’re rolling,” Gosek said. “They won three convincing games. We know we have our hands full.”

Plattsburgh may be 3-0, but it hasn’t been against top-notch competition.

“Our guys know we haven’t been challenged,” Emery said. “For our guys to think we have is the wrong perspective. We’re playing the national champions and they have everybody back. They’ve lost just one guy. We’ll be ready to play emotionally. Whether we are successful, we’ll have to see.”

If Plattsburgh is ready to play, expect an entertaining game.

“I’m expecting a skating game,” Emery said. “They want to play. They want to skate. Not every team wants to do that. We want to play. We want to skate. It should be a wide open game for the fans.”

Gosek repeated what he always says because it is so true: “It’s Oswego-Plattsburgh. It wouldn’t matter if they were 20-0 and we were 0-20 and visa-versa. It’s a great rivalry. It’s what college hockey is all about.”

Which is why you shouldn’t miss the game.

On The Periphery

The first five years of my life were spent in West Babylon, Long Island. Famous residents of West Babylon include Captain Kangaroo, Jessica Hahn, and Geraldo Rivera. It also includes four time Olympic gold medalist in the discus, Al Oerter.

In fact, Oerter was our next door neighbor. My older sister and I used to play with his two daughters. I didn’t know him too well — after all I don’t remember too much of those years. However, he was my first connection to a famous person.

I remember our family sitting around the TV rooting him on during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics where he claimed his fourth consecutive gold in the same event, a record that he held onto until Carl Lewis won his fourth straight gold in the long jump in 1996.

Unlike Lewis, Oerter was a pure amateur, working his whole career at Grumman Aerospace and practicing the discus in his spare time.

I did call him once when I was in college. I was doing a paper on the use of computers and video in helping athletes perfect their form. Oerter was a big believer in this technology, and used it to help make a comeback at the age of 43 for the 1980 Olympic team. When I told him who I was, he was very nice and generous with his time. That interview and information probably was a key reason I got an A on the paper.

Oerter passed away last month of heart failure at the age of 71. What struck me most about Oerter is that he was the quintessential clutch performer. All four of his gold medal throws were Olympic records. All four of his wins were over the current world record holder.

In 1964, he competed with torn rib cartilage and a disc injury. In 1968, he won in pouring rain. Twice he made the Olympic team only because they held two U.S. Olympic trails, using the second one to finally qualify. He did hold one world record, becoming the first person to throw over 200 feet.

What effects me most about Oerter was his puritanical sports philosophy. He truly believed in the pureness of competition — the ideal of sports as a joyous pursuit and not as means to material gain.

He once said, “It’s not ‘What do you get for this?’ A lot of people think, ‘Why do this unless you get something?’ The reward of getting a feeling of yourself, of challenging yourself and seeing what you can do, is not perceived.”

Remember this, the next time you lose perspective while competing or spectating. Remember that Oerter religiously followed the Olympic creed:

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

It may make the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.

Re-Engineering Expectations

By Tom Reale
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“Honey, we’re moving to Troy, New York.”

For many, and on their own, the words wouldn’t be considered a measure of excitement, given the reputation Troy has gained over the years as a burned-out burg, a city with its glory years of the Industrial Revolution well behind it.

For Seth Appert and the hockey program at Rensselaer, however, those words marked the beginning of a new and increasingly optimistic era in the Collar City as he informed his wife Jill — with her input, of course — that he had been hired to become the 12th head coach in the history of Engineers hockey.

The New Foreman

“I never got into coaching because I thought one day I would want to run my own program,” says Appert. “I got into coaching because I love hockey.”

RPI head coach Seth Appert (photos: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).

RPI head coach Seth Appert (photos: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).

Following the resignation of long-time head coach Dan Fridgen, who departed as the winningest coach in school history, a hotly contested application and speculation process began for what quickly became the most sought-after vacancy of the 2006 offseason. At least two former NHL head coaches and dozens of current and former NCAA head coaches and top assistants were either rumored or confirmed to have applied and/or been considered for the job.

At first, Appert flew under the radar despite his outstanding record at the University of Denver under George Gwozdecky.

“I knew the tradition of the hockey program and I knew about the two national championships and how there was a great reputation academically, but after that I didn’t really have much knowledge about the school.”

Ken Ralph, then the athletic director at Rensselaer, contacted Appert by phone, but nothing substantive happened until a recruiting trip for Denver to western New York.

“I had a day off in Rochester and decided to drive over on my own. I walked the campus and got the chance to meet Ken, and as the day went on I realized that I was in a very special place. Even just by being on campus, you could tell that there were a lot of positive things happening. That’s when my interest really became serious.”

So Appert started doing his research and learned what there was to know about RPI as an institution and as a program. He interviewed, and eventually was named one of three finalists for the position, along with one of the former NHL coaches and another top assistant at one of the elite schools in the nation.

Ultimately, the position was offered to Appert, and he took the reins of a program mired in a historic funk. The Engineers finished the 2005-06 season with a 14-17-6 record, marking several ignoble feats — the first consecutive losing seasons since the late 1980s, and the first time failing to meet the 15-win plateau in consecutive years since the mid-1970s. The previous year had been only the second 20-loss season in school history.

Once a staple at the ECAC Final Four, the Engineers have not seen tournament success since 2002, when it was the Final Five in Lake Placid. The senior class of 2006 became the first never to make an appearance at the league’s neutral-site finals since the class of 1982, one of the final years before the school began granting athletic scholarships for the first time, and during an era where only eight teams out of 17 made the postseason at all.

His challenge: rebuild the program in his own image, and restore success on the ice.

The New Blueprints

Appert’s pedigree was hardened against some of the fiercest competition in the nation. Even when his teams were not among the best in the nation, they were regularly playing those teams in conference night in and night out.

“When I was at Ferris State, the CCHA was arguably the best league in the country,” he says of his days as a player, facing off against the mighty Michigan and Lake Superior teams of the mid-1990s, among others.

The paradigm started to shift after he took the assistant’s position at Denver. “A lot of the programs of the WCHA started to improve just before I started there,” he says, “and a lot of that is thanks to the commitments that each of the institutions made to hockey. Schools across the league were putting plenty of resources into their programs and recruiting just took off.”

Not only did the Pioneers win two national championships during his tenure there, the league itself won six NCAA crowns overall during his nine years in Denver.

“There’s a lot of open, free-wheeling hockey in the WCHA,” he says. “The league as a whole is more offensive-minded.”

And that’s exactly the type of hockey Appert wants to play in Troy.

“We aren’t planning to shy away from our defensive responsibilities. I think we can be a great offensive team with a lot of speed and still be very good defensively, but we do want to be an offensive-minded team. We want to have our defensemen be able to get up into the play and join the attack.”

It isn’t just the influence of George Gwozdecky and the WCHA that helped Appert draft his blueprint, though.

“I just happen to see the game that way. I enjoy coaching that style, and a lot of the elite recruits in the country want to play the game that way too.”

He doesn’t expect that importing the WCHA style will make the Engineers untouchable by any stretch of the imagination, but Appert does expect that it will make the team more than competitive in the long run.

“We’re excited to bring this style into the ECAC, but that’s not to say that there aren’t currently some teams which have an offensive focus. We’re just going to try to be more of a speed-oriented transition team in the next few years.”

The New Crewmen

Appert and his lieutenants, former Maine standout and NHL veteran Jim Montgomery and former Army and Bemidji State assistant Shawn Kurulak, have wasted no time in applying the new game plan to the arena of recruiting.

Reminders of past successes are always nearby for Appert and his charges.

Reminders of past successes are always nearby for Appert and his charges.

They are very particular about the type of player that they are looking for, but all three men believe they can attract exactly what they need to return the program to some of its past glories.

“We believe we can get back to being a national powerhouse, and we want to recruit young men that see themselves competing for a national championship at RPI,” says Appert. Any coach in the NCAA worth his salt would easily say the same thing.

But Appert goes deeper: “At the same time we also are looking to recruit young men who come from families that value education. If we’re recruiting against a big name school that may not be as strong academically and the young man is only interested in hockey and that’s all he cares about, he might not be picking RPI, but he also might only be playing for a year or two before he moves on to the National Hockey League.

“We want a more rounded individual — we want men who want to win championships and play in the NHL, but also men that value the family atmosphere that we want to foster in our program and also value the education that they can get at Rensselaer.”

To this end, Appert’s first full recruiting class as head coach included several young players from out west who were drawn by the promise of immediate playing time without having to stop over for a year or two in the junior ranks — something which most western teams would not be able to offer.

“I don’t know if that’s going to be the trend. At times when the situation calls for it and the right individual comes along, it’ll happen.”

Three young Minnesotans fit the profile in the Class of 2011 — defensemen Bryan Brutlag and Jeff Foss, and forward Chase Polacek. Each is only a few months removed from graduating high school.

“In those cases, there were three young hockey players that I was aware of that were great students and talented hockey players who had an interest in coming out east and not playing in the USHL. When I was hired there were 80-some kids already committed for 2007, so a lot of the best junior hockey kids were already taken. We had to get a little more creative when it came to infusing the talent level in the program. We needed the talent level and we needed the speed.”

So far, all three appear to be playing crucial roles for the Engineers this season. Each has suited up in all of the team’s seven games. Brutlag and Foss have been key components of the RPI defense, while Polacek leads the team in shots and is tied for fourth on the team in scoring.

Other members of Appert’s first recruiting class have stood out as well. Forward Tyler Helfrich has already been named ECAC Hockey rookie of the week twice, and sophomore Peter Merth, Appert’s first recruit at RPI, has developed into a key two-way defenseman — exactly the prototype for the new scheme.

The New Foundation

Even the most casual observer would have been able to pick out the Engineers at the Ice Breaker Tournament, sticking out as a sore thumb among teams universally recognized as being among the top programs in the nation — Boston College, Michigan, and Minnesota.

Further, the coaches at those schools — Jerry York, Red Berenson, and Don Lucia — had combined for nearly 1,900 NCAA victories during the course of their careers. Then there was Appert, who arrived in St. Paul with … 11.

“We didn’t have a tournament banquet or anything, but I think if all the coaches had had the opportunity to speak I would have had to tell our guys that they were getting the short end of the stick in terms of coaching experience in the tournament, considering how impressive those three gentlemen have been not just for their programs but for all of college hockey,” said Appert.

Roundly picked to finish last on the weekend, the Engineers did just that. However, the manner in which they conducted themselves during two losses at the Xcel Energy Center turned some heads, and turned a few doubters into believers. By the end of the weekend, there was little doubt that the team had stood its ground and had belonged.

It seemed to be an upset shocker in the making as RPI jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second period against then-No. 5 Minnesota before a stunned hometown crowd. The Engineers were winning draws, scooping up loose pucks, taking their shots, and blocking those coming from some of the top players in the game. The shocker, however, was not to be, as the Gophers clawed their way back into things late in the second and took the lead with less than two minutes to play.

The next afternoon against then-No. 2 Boston College, Appert’s charges again scored the first goal of the game and then battled the East’s top team until the bitter end, when they gave up two goals on an extended penalty kill to ultimately drop the contest 4-1.

Still, they were very much a part of games in which conventional wisdom had picked them to be trounced. It was of little consolation to Appert and the Engineers, despite the accolades that poured in from around the college hockey world.

“We went out there to win. We didn’t go out there to play well and lose. Our players were bitterly disappointed after not finding a way to pull out that victory against Minnesota. I’m pleased that we played well for much of the five-on-five play, but we did not go there for moral victories.”

The New Skyline?

For five years, the ECAC has held its championship tournament just nine miles to the south of campus at the Times Union Center in Albany. For five years, the team has been on the outside looking in. But over the last two years, RPI has dominated October in the building.

Last weekend, the Engineers won the Governor’s Cup by defeating Union and Colgate in Albany for the second straight year. They are the only team ever to hold the Cup.

Off to a 5-2-0 record, RPI has also returned to the national rankings for the first time since mid-November of last year, when the team went 4-1-3 in Appert’s first eight games behind the Engineer bench, including a win at Denver. Last year, however, things went downhill in a hurry, as early hopes were dashed behind the reality of the ECAC schedule as the team struggled mightily in the league setting after doing well early against non-conference opponents.

Cautiously, the Engineer faithful hope that this year will be different.

“Last year we didn’t set any goals because we needed to know where we were starting from,” says Appert. “This year we know what we have and where we want to go. We have very specific goals and we’re working hard every day to try to achieve them.”

And as he mentioned following last weekend’s tournament, those goals do not stop with the Governor’s Cup.

Whatever the winds of fortune bring to the men of Troy this season, their leader is ready to dig in for the long haul.

“We love the area, we really do,” Appert says of his family’s move to the Capital District. “We couldn’t be happier here, both professionally and personally. It’s been very positive on all fronts.”

MCHA Season Preview

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It has been nearly a decade since Lawrence, Marian, Northland and MSOE formed the fledgling four team league known as the MCHA. Now eight strong and rising in prominence, its evolution is almost complete. This evolution, however, has led to numerous procedural maneuvers over the past year, so before even bothering with the hockey, let’s figure out exactly what the league has been up to.

Reinforced

The most exciting news entering the 2007-08 season is the addition of two more programs to the league. Adrian College in Adrian, MI and Concordia University in Mequon, WI will begin play this season as full-fledged members of the MCHA. Both are immediately eligible for MCHA and NCAA postseason play.

The additions now give the league seven D-III teams which means a MCHA team will be going to the NCAA tournament this season, right? No. But we’ll get to that later.

The Concordia Falcons are led by former NHL player Tony Hrkac. College hockey fans probably remember the Thunder Bay, Ontario native best as the anchor of the famous “Hrkac Circus” line at the University of North Dakota in the mid-eighties. The Falcons will play their home ice contests at Ozaukee Ice Arena.

The Adrian Bulldogs, meanwhile, take the ice under the leadership of Ron Fogarty. The Sarnia, Ontario native joins Adrian after four seasons as an assistant at Bowling Green. Prior to his time at BGSU, he held assistant positions and Clarkson and Colgate. The Bulldogs will welcome opponents to Arrington Ice Arena, a brand-new 1000 seat on-campus facility.

Reshuffled

The additions of Concordia and Adrian would appear to set up the MCHA for a 14 game conference schedule in which each team plays every other twice — a schedule that would open the door for more non-conference games, something the collective MCHA is determined to play. However, despite members having defeated non-conference opponents such as Babson, St. Olaf, Lake Forest, Gustavus Adolphus and UW-Superior over the past few seasons, the MCHA is resigned to play a 20 game conference schedule for at least the next two seasons.

It’s not for lack of desire that this is the case, but rather a lack of options. The only other leagues in the West Region, the NCHA and MIAC, are currently tied into an interlock schedule that will remain in place through the 2008-09 season. This effectively limits possibilities for teams from either league to schedule games against MCHA competition.

Since Finlandia joined the league in 2004-05 the MCHA has played a balanced schedule with all teams meeting four times per season. However, the addition of Concordia and Adrian makes it impossible to continue this schedule.

In response, the league has split into two four-team divisions, North and South; teams will play four games against opponents from the same division but only two against those from the other. The North Division consists of Finlandia, MN-Crookston, Northland and Lawrence; the South MSOE, Adrian, Marian and Concordia.

It should be noted the division winners will be granted the top two seeds in the conference playoffs, while the remaining six teams will be seeded by overall conference record. A little confusing perhaps, but the league has little choice until 2009-10 when it hopes to become part of a three-way interlocking schedule with the NCHA and MIAC.

Restructured

Overshadowed by many of the other changes swirling around the league this off season is the new manner in which the MCHA will be hosting its conference playoffs.

In the past, the MCHA Frozen Four was held at a pre-determined site with the host team having to bid on the hosting rights. Beginning this season, however, the Frozen Four will be hosted by the team who won the previous season’s regular season title.

“This gives us more time to plan the weekend out and really try to create a conference-wide event,” said MCHA Commissioner Terry Brand.

Included in the weekend will be invitations to all MCHA teams, players, parents and media to participate in a banquet in which all conference awards will be presented.

“It should be really nice to make it more high-profile,” said Brand. “This way everyone is there and the awards can be handed out all at once. It sure beats getting handed the award by your coach before practice.”

As they won last year’s regular season MCHA championship, MSOE will host this season’s festivities at the Kern Center in Milwaukee.

The move is part of a plan to raise the visibility of the league, as allowing the previous season’s champion to host should raise the likelihood that the host team will also be playing in the event while still allowing the host institution ample preparation time.

Brand added, “I really think it will work out well. This is something wholly unique to DIII hockey as far as conference tournaments go.”

Reconsidered

When the MCHA announced the addition of Concordia and Adrian, it raised hopes among many that by boasting seven Division III teams the MCHA would soon possess an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA tournament.

If only it were that simple.

In 1998 the NCAA enacted a moratorium preventing the creation of new auto bids for single-sport conferences, of which the MCHA is one as it is a hockey-only conference. The only exception is for conferences who have, according to the NCAA, “maintained the same original seven members since February 1998.”

Unfortunately, the MCHA does not fall into that category, and as such, the moratorium has hindered conferences such as the MCHA to showcase its teams on a national stage. It should be noted it is merely one of numerous conferences who are affected by this situation.

A proposal was introduced earlier in the year aimed at developing a procedure for single-sport conferences to obtain an automatic qualifier (AQ). Much to the chagrin of conferences like the MCHA, however, the proposal was not endorsed by the NCAA’s President’s Council.

The President’s Council did not flatly reject the resolution, but chose not to endorse it as they are in the midst of an all-encompassing examination of the future of Division III which is not yet complete. The scheduled time of completion of said examination? 2011.

As stated in an October 8 NCAA news release, the President’s Council refused to sponsor the original proposal “expressing reluctance to create a new opportunity to achieve automatic qualification when a possibility exists that Division III may be restructured.”

In terms of the immediate future this appeared to be a death knell for MCHA AQ hopes. However, salvation may come sooner than expected as the NCAA issued an October 8 news release stating that as a result of a President’s Council request to consider interim solutions for dealing with single-sport conferences and automatic qualifying bids, the Championships Committee has proposed a waiver for single-sport conferences.

According to the release, the waiver “would permit it to treat currently existing single-sport conferences similarly to multi-sport conferences for championships purposes.”

It further adds, “The proposed waiver process would permit the Championships Committee to award automatic qualification to a single-sport conference formed before September 2007 and including at least seven active members. The process would permit the committee to waive current legislation, which permits only single-sport conferences that have maintained the same original seven members since February 1998 to receive automatic qualification.”

The MCHA falls under the new classification.

MCHA AQ hopes took another step forward on October 22 as the waiver proposal garnered the endorsement of the NCAA Management Council. With the endorsement of the Management Council, it’s on to President’s Council. If endorsed by the President’s Council this time around, history suggests the proposal has a strong chance of being passed at the 2008 NCAA Legislative Session.

So what does all this actually mean? It’s a big if, but if things go the way the MCHA would like them to and the proposal gains the endorsement of the President’s Council and then is voted into passage by NCAA member institutions, it would open the door for a MCHA AQ beginning in 2008-09. If not? Back to the drawing board.

Reckoning

Now, I may just be a guy from a middle-sized town in the middle of the middle-west, but I find this entire process thoroughly depressing. Even more important is how this bureaucratic labyrinth has handcuffed, at least temporarily, leagues such as the MCHA. Why must this be the case?

It’s important to look back at the October 8 release that mentioned the President’s Council’s failure to sponsor the original proposal. Again, the stated rationale was a “reluctance to create a new opportunity to achieve automatic qualification when a possibility exists that Division III may be restructured.”

It is somewhat discouraging to learn that an organization as large as the NCAA couldn’t have managed to do two unrelated things at once.

It has been said the current moratorium on AQs for single-sport conferences stems from a NCAA fear that some teams (regardless of the sport) might slap together hodgepodge conferences so as to improve NCAA tournament prospects for themselves. If this is indeed the case, I agree with the NCAA that selfish conference hopping is something that cannot be permitted and would do little to improve the state of college athletics.

What I cannot agree with is the response to that fear — a foolish catch-all moratorium that treats single-sport leagues as second-rate citizens while doing little to cope with the ever-evolving landscapes of niche sports like hockey.

The NCAA’s fears are rendered baseless in this case as it is impossible to contend that the MCHA was formed merely for the sake of trying to weasel a team into the NCAA tournament. To the contrary, it was formed out of absolute necessity by MSOE, Lawrence, Marian and Northland — four independent teams hoping to add a modicum of consistency to their scheduling while also seeking to increase their competitive opportunities.

There simply were no other options. Over the past nine years the league has worked hard to sustain itself and has done a wonderful job. As a result, it has absorbed four more programs that were in similar situations and now sits as a fully viable D-III hockey conference.

So while the NCAA asks “why?”, I ask “why not?” At heart, the two things driving the policies that have created this problem are the NCAA’s fear of flash-in-the-pan conference forming, and the NCAA’s refusal to fix one “problem” while addressing another.

As has been discussed, it doesn’t take very long to determine that the MCHA was not formed to sneak a team into the NCAA field. It’s also quite easy to determine that stating nothing can be done at this time because the NCAA is tied up for the next four years is the height of laziness and lunacy.

The latest proposal passed by the Management Council is encouraging and progress is being made in terms of resolving this issue. There is cautious optimism that the current version will win endorsement of the President’s Council which, as mentioned, is usually a strong sign that the proposal will ultimately succeed.

Hopefully that is the case and this matter can finally be resolved in the manner in which it already should have been. Until that time however, it’s fit to say: Give the MCHA an AQ and give it to them now. There is no train of rational logic that can justify any other course of action.

The league has earned it.

Northland Lumberjacks

Head Coach: Steve Fabilli, 3rd year overall and at Northland (3-49-1)
2006-07 Overall Record: 0-26-1
2006-07 MCHA Record: 0-19-1 (6th)
Key Returners: G Bo Storozuk, so., (0-25-1, 5.57, .890), D Matt Tannenberg, so., (2-6-8), F Andy Finco, so., (1-6-7); F Josh Spiegel, so., (4-2-6); D Eric DeCaires, sr.,
Key Losses: F Jim Junker (6-10-16); D Taureen White (2-3-5); F Lindsey Boulter (10-6-16)
2007-08 Projected Finish: Eighth

When anyone brings up Northland, the first thing that comes to mind is sophomore goaltender Bo Storozuk. As a freshman last season, Storozuk finished with 1,032 saves, the third highest single-season total in NCAA Division III history.

Though winless on the season, Storozuk maintained a save percentage of over .900 until the final few weeks of the season. While not normally considered stellar, it should be noted he was facing upwards of 50 shots per night.

Though he hinted at the possibility of some goaltender competition, Lumberjack head coach Steve Fabiilli expects Storozuk to once again lead the way.

“Our goalie position will be very important for our success,” he said. “Bo was a work horse for us last year and I expect him to be even more solid for us this season.”

If Northland seeks to improve on a winless season, Storozuk will be vital to a team that only features three upperclassmen. Entering his third season at the helm, Fabiilli expects the youth his team to pay off in the long run, though he admits there may be some bumps along the way.

“With a young team, mistakes will happen, the freshmen will have to adjust to college hockey and our sophomores will have to continue to adjust.”

He added, “I expect major contributions from all of our freshmen, I think we have a talented group who came in and they will be looked upon to make key contributions to this hockey program.”

Among the freshman Fabiilli expects quality offense from are a septet of forwards in Kent Lillejord, Ray Tremblay, Tony Huberty, Nick Matson, Chad Moore, Shaun Newman, and Rick Delecke.

“They were brought in to help us produce more offense and I expect them to have a very successful year.”

The Lumberjacks also add a pair of sophomore transfers up front in Jack Carlson and Jeff Diehl, both of whom join the squad after a year at UMass-Boston.

The additions, along with a handful of sophomore forwards will hopefully work to aid a Northland offense that ranked last in the MCHA last season with a meager 1.3 goals per game.

The one position where Northland has some experience is on the blue line. The corps is led by senior captain Eric DeCaires and sophomore Matt Tannenberg.

The combination of them along with Storozuk should improve the numbers for a Lumberjack defense that allowed just fewer than six goals per game last season.

It’s no secret to anyone that it’s going to take a while for Northland to get things going, but if all goes right, the current crop of youth the Lumberjacks have cultivated will help pave the way.

Concordia-Wisconsin Falcons

Head Coach: Tony Hrkac, 1st season overall and at Concordia (0-0-0)
2006-07 Overall Record: n/a
2006-07 MCHA Record: n/a
Key Returners: n/a
Key Losses: n/a
2007-08 Projected Finish: Seventh

Under the leadership of Tony Hrkac, the Falcons enter the MCHA for their inaugural season. Hrkac, a former North Dakota standout and player for 10 different NHL teams, is excited about his opportunity to lead the young program.

“This is a great school just outside of Milwaukee,” he said. “It’s not too big and is in a nice area. They are very excited for hockey here, and it’s been a pleasure working here.”

He does admit, however, his first experience on the recruiting trail wasn’t quite what he was expecting.

“It was different because I haven’t really done this before,” said Hrkac. “Last year was a learning experience in trying to get kids to come here.”

The Falcons’ recruits come from a variety of places, including juniors, high school, AAA and club programs. The one recruit Hrkac singles out is Sam Aide, a transfer from NJCAA Minnesota State-Bottineau.

“Sam Aide stands out right now,” said Hrkac. “He is our captain and though it will take a little while for us to click, I expect him to come in here and be one of the leaders.”

According to Hrkac, roster spots are still wide open for competition, and that goes for the goaltending position as well.

“It’s still wide open. We have four goalies right now and we’re going to try everybody and see where it goes from there.”

If the first year or two for recently new programs such as Morrisville, Neumann and Castleton are any indication, the Falcons may be in for a rough ride this season, but Hrkac understands his club is going to have to go through a learning process before they can expect too much, though he likes what he sees so far.

“The kids are playing hard and working hard but we have some work to do. It takes time to get on the right track with something like this.”

“All I can ask is that hopefully we come out and don’t quit, and try to establish a reputation as a team that is going to play hard.”

Minn.-Crookston Golden Eagles

Head Coach: Gary Warren, 7th season overall and at Minn.-Crookston (66-83-13)
2006-07 Overall Record: 7-16-3
2006-07 MCHA Record: 5-13-2 (5th)
Key Returners: F Teal Plaine, sr., (12-15-27); F Matt Hann, sr., (9-14-23); F John Lombardi, so., (5-12-17); F Brian Ferguson, so., (9-5-14); D Brett Groenke, sr., (6-6-12); D Ryan Tucker, sr., (1-9-10); D Matt Marchel, so., (3-6-9)
Key Losses: F/D Ryan Leadens (10-16-26); G Kyle Knudsen (6-5-1, 3.80, .880)
2007-08 Projected Finish: Sixth

The Golden Eagles had a bit of a down season last year, but are only three years removed from playing for the MCHA title. If they wish to make a push to do so again, they return a solid core in which to do it with.

It all begins with speedy senior captain Teal Plaine. Plaine led the Golden Eagles in scoring last season and was the eleventh leading scorer in the MCHA.

Other forwards who figure to fit into the Golden Eagle attack are sophomores Brian Ferguson and John Lombardi, both of whom registered double digit points last season, and senior Matt Hann who checked in at second in scoring for last season’s team.

On the defensive side the Golden Eagles will hit the ice with an experienced unit led by seniors Ryan Tucker and Brett Groenke. Junior MSU-Bottineau transfer Kirk Graham and sophomores Matt Marchel and Clarke Dingeman round out the blue line for the Golden Eagles.

The graduation of Kyle Knudsen in net leaves a hole that looks to be filled by the eventually winner of a three way battle for the starting spot. The competition is between senior Jaden Isakson, sophomore Justin Klinkhammer and junior MSU-Bottineau transfer Eric Everson, though reports have suggested Everson has the inside track.

Coach Gary Warren knows how to win, that much is for sure. With 25 years and over 400 victories to his credit, it’s a safe bet to never overlook the Golden Eagles. It hasn’t been very long since they were at the top of this league.

Lawrence Vikings

Head Coach: Mike Szkodzinski, 2nd year at overall and at Lawrence (13-14-2)
2006-07 Overall Record: 13-14-3
2006-07 MCHA Record: 8-11-1 (4th)
Key Returners: F Marc Howe, so., (15-12-27); F Nick Jennette, jr., (8-15-23); F Billy Siers, so., (9-9-18); D Josh Peterson, sr., (3-12-15); F Aaron Lafave, jr., (2-10-12); D Mike Ackley, jr., (1-8-9); D Austin Montgomery, sr., (2-5-7); F Masa Takahashi, so., (4-0-4)
Key Losses: F Joe Searl (18-17-35); D Kalle Larson (10-9-19); F Evan Thornton (6-7-13); F David Olynyk (2-7-9); G Andrew Isaac (12-10-1, 3.17, .906)
2007-08 Projected Finish: Fifth

In only his first season on the Lawrence bench, head coach Mike Szkodzinski coached the Vikings to a 13-14-2 record and a fourth place league finish. Additionally, they finished the season on a high by downing Marian, 4-2, to claim third place in the MCHA tournament. While a record just shy of .500 doesn’t seem like much of a milestone, it was the best record for Lawrence in the MCHA era.

In his first season, Szkodzinski spoke to his goal of developing a culture of success in the program, and he feels it just might be starting to catch hold.

“We are continuing our process of developing a culture that displays a consistent work ethic along with a disciplined attitude. We feel we took a step toward that last season and hope to keep moving forward this year.”

While things are looking up for the Vikings, questions remain and they deal largely with the lack of experience on this year’s edition. In key losses to graduation, Lawrence lost 35 point scorer and team leader in forward Joe Searl, as well as goaltender Andrew Isaac, who saw action in 24 contests a year ago while posting a record of 12-10-1.

“It will be a challenge to mesh 12 new faces with our returning players,” said Szkodzinski. “There is no special recipe to replace experience … and that is something we lack headed into our schedule.”

And a brutal schedule it is. The Vikings’ first six games feature non-conference tilts with NCHA foes St. Norbert and Lake Forest, sandwiched around league series with MSOE and Adrian.

The brutal early stretch will no doubt help Lawrence in the long run, but if they wish improve a team that ranked in the middle of the MCHA pack in nearly every statistical category, Szkodzinski suggests the Vikings will have to rely on their defense.

“We are impressed with our defensive group. Josh Peterson, Mike Ackley, and Adam Brand have showed poise and the ability to make the first pass,” he said.

Depth also figures to be a strong suit on the defensive side.

He continued, “Moving Aaron LaFave back to the point has also given us a little more mobility back there. With the additions of (freshmen) Pat Brenner and Corey Garrett, we feel we have a solid group on the blue line.”

With Searl now gone, Szkodzinski expects a balanced attack to fuel the offensive attack.

“We will be a team that scores by committee for the most part.”

Forwards Szkodzinski cited as forming this committee are sophomores Marc Howe, Masa Takahashi and Billy Siers, as well as junior Nick Jennette. The quartet accounted for 84 points of offense last season. Also expected to contribute up front are freshman forwards Josh DeSmit, Matt Jacobs, and Scott Minarcik.

The battle for the number one netminder is wide open between freshman Evan Johnson and Riley Stank, as well as junior Jim Ryan. Expect the Vikings to rotate goalies until a number one emerges later in the season.

As it was late last season, news is encouraging from the Lawrence camp. It translated into wins last year and it will be interesting to see if it can this year as well — especially considering the Vikings’ rough early season schedule.

Marian Sabres

Head Coach: Jasen Wise, 4th season overall and at Marian (38-41-6)
2006-07 Overall Record: 14-12-1
2006-07 MCHA Record: 12-6-2 (3rd)
Key Returners: F James Goodfellow, jr., (17-18-35); F Nick Cinquegrani, so., (14-15-29); F Carl Bresser, sr., (15-11-26); F Bill Griffore, jr., (11-10-21); F Andrew Corvo, jr., (10-11-21); D Nick Henkemeyer, so., (2-12-14); D Jeffrey Wills, jr., (3-10-13); D Gregory Copeland, jr., (1-12-13); G Cullen Caldwell, so., (9-5-2, 2.45, .916)
Key Losses: D Brett Fox (4-10-14)
2007-08 Projected Finish: Fourth

The Sabres have posted a 25-12-3 conference record over the past two seasons and have finished in the top half of the league both times. Now in his fourth season, its safe to say that the Sabres are finally, fully, head coach Jasen Wise’s team.

Since Wise took over, the Sabres have developed a reputation for fundamentally sound hockey and relatively mistake-free execution.

Despite that, they have been unable to break into the true upper-echelon on the league. There’s a chance that happens this year, however, as the Sabres return practically the entire roster while also adding some talented youth.

The Sabres should be extremely solid in net following a surprising freshman season from Cullen Caldwell. The sophomore was among MCHA leaders in nearly every goalie statistic last season and led the league in save percentage.

The Sabres should be improved offensively as they return all leading scorers from last year. Led by junior James Goodfellow’s 35 points and sophomore Nick Cinquegrani’s 29, five 20 point scorers return for Marian. Cinquegrani led the MCHA in freshman scoring last season and also led the entire league with four shorthanded goals, and Goodfellow has donned the captain’s “C” this season.

With two games already under its belts, Marian looks to have added depth up front in the form of freshman Brendan Hull and Dmitri Sentsov. Hull is seeing time on the Goodfellow line, while Sentsov is paired up with Cinquegrani’s.

Though the Sabres ranked behind MSOE and Finlandia in scoring defense last season, they only allowed 2.55 goals per contest. Like the offense, the defense only shows signs of improving.

While captain Brett Fox graduated, the Sabres return the rest of their blue liners, and will be led by juniors Jeffrey Wills, Gregory Copeland and Kyle Jones, as well as sophomore Nick Henkemeyer.

Aside from being solid on the defensive end, the quartet all registered double digits on the score sheet a year ago.

The Sabres should be an extremely intriguing team to follow this season. As they are trying to crack the upper limits of the MCHA standings, they are as solid as can be on paper. They are solid in net, on offense and defense; with an experienced core group that has added some freshman skill to it. If anyone is looking for a MCHA sleeper, they need look no farther than Marian.

Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders

Head Coach: Mark Ostapina, 13th season overall and 7th at MSOE (147-156-14 overall, 84-72-6 at MSOE)
2006-07 Overall Record: 19-6-2
2006-07 MCHA Record: 16-2-2 (1st in MCHA)
Key Returners: F Blair Hanberg, sr., (24-13-37); F Lee Swallow, sr., (16-23-39); D Jason Woll, jr., (6-17-23); F Simon Labrosse-Gelinas, jr., (6-16-22); F Jacob Anderson, jr., (5-15-20); D Ken Walters, sr., (3-6-9); D Ross Chawansky, sr., (0-7-0)
Key Losses: F Brian Soik (7-27-34); F R.G. Flath (19-14-33); F Michael Duta (10-16-26); F Nick Bilpush (12-6-18); G Matt Burzon (13-3-2, 2.83, .901)
2007-08 Projected Finish: Third

Though the Raiders lost to Finlandia in last season’s Harris Cup title game they remain three-time defending MCHA regular season champions. Up until the loss, the past few MCHA seasons had begun with nearly everyone agreeing: MSOE was the best team in the league. They may once again end up so this season, but MSOE’s status is a bit murky due to some significant losses to graduation.

Gone are the Raiders’ primary goaltender in Matt Burzon, defenseman David Yolo, and forwards Nick Bilpush, Michael Duta, R.G. Flath and Brian Soik. All told, those players accounted for 111 points last season. Soik proves to be the biggest loss of all, as the All-American captain ranks second on the Raiders’ all-time scoring list and was twice named MCHA Player of the Year.

Led by a pair of senior forwards in Lee Swallow and Blair Hanberg, the Raiders still return plenty of firepower and will likely be right in the mix for the conference title. Last season Swallow’s 39 points paced the Raiders while Hanberg closely followed with 37.

Swallow and Hanberg are Soik’s old linemates and in an ironic twist, they still are. Joining them on MSOE’s top unit this season is freshman Michael Soik, Brian’s younger brother. With the new Soik donning Brian’s old #18 and bringing plenty of talent to boot, the Raiders top line should hardly miss a beat.

MSOE’s offense ranked second in the league in scoring last season at just under five goals per game and should remain potent as they also return a pair of junior 20 point forwards in Simon Labrosse-Gelinas and Jacob Anderson.

The Raiders led the league in team defense last season, allowing a paltry 2.15 goals per game, and appear to be primed to do so once again.

The entire defensive corps aside from Yolo returns, and is led by junior two-way threat Jason Woll. A pair of seniors in Ross Chawansky and Ken Walters, as junior David Yolo and sophomore Michael Jantzi also will figure in prominently on the Raiders’ blueline.

If MSOE has one question mark it is in goal, where aside from losing Burzon, it also lost backups Joe Dovalina and Josh Rudolph to graduation.

The Raiders are carrying four goalies on their roster currently, but freshman Chris Keller appears to have the inside track on the #1 role as he garnered both starts — and both wins — in the Raiders’ opening weekend sweep of Lake Forest.

While MSOE’s losses are significant, they are in no way significant enough to remove MSOE from the discussion when it comes to who will stand atop the MCHA at the end of the season. If the Raiders can get consistent play in net, their offense and defense should be potent enough to compete, and beat, anyone in the league.

Adrian Bulldogs

Head Coach: Ron Fogarty, 1st season overall and at Adrian (0-0-0)
2006-07 Overall Record: n/a
2006-07 MCHA Record: n/a
Key Returners: n/a
Key Losses: n/a
2007-08 Projected Finish: Second

The Bulldogs might be the most interesting thing to happen in Division III in quite a while. Other recent additions to the D-III realm such as Neumann, Castleton and Morrisville struggled mightily in the first season or two.

Adrian apparently has no such plans.

Within a short time of announcing plans to bring hockey to the college, the school announced Bowling Green assistant coach Ron Fogarty as its first coach. They also announced plans to construct 1,000 seat Arrington Ice Arena. The on-campus facility is already completed and will host all Bulldog home games.

The level of commitment the school has shown to hockey has Fogarty excited about his prospects at Adrian.

“Our school president played hockey and loves hockey,” he said. “They take it very seriously. Having a rink on campus is huge; with prime ice-time for practice and the new facility it’s been great. We’ve been treated very well.”

The support the school has shown the athletic department appears to have paid off in the Bulldogs’ first recruiting class. It’s a class which, by any standards of D-III, looks to be an excellent one. Some would go as far as to say it’s one of the strongest in the nation.

Leaning on his experience in Division I as well as broad-based connections, Fogarty recruited a class stacked with productive Junior A talent and drew heavily from Ontario. Shockingly, the result is the Bulldogs looking like the MCHA’s strongest club on paper. Handing the Bulldogs the conference title would be a tad irresponsible however, as we all know paper can’t skate.

While proud of his initial recruiting class, Fogarty knows a roster with nothing but first year players poses plenty of risks.

“Those are the two biggest things,” he said. “Bringing the team together under a new system, and from there adjusting to a number of different systems we are going to run.”

He continued, “With a lot of freshman we are going to need to adjust to the college rules. This is a lot different from juniors and the kids are going to need to adjust or it will hurt us. That’s the biggest learning area for us: what we can and can’t do at the college level.”

It’s going to take some time before the cream rises to the top of Adrian’s crop, but Fogarty pointed to a few individuals he expects large contributions from.

On defense he singled out Quinn Waller, Jeremy Klaver and Chris Stansik.

“Stansik is our most skilled defenseman and has the ability to take it coast to coast, he said. “Waller is a heck of a player we are glad to have here and Klaver should also be an important player for us.”

Offensively, Fogarty has two lines he likes in terms of scoring, but singled out Shawn Skelly, Eric Miller and Adam Krug. Krug, now a junior, is a transfer from D-I Wayne State and led the Warriors in scoring two seasons ago.

“They are our go-to line right now,” he said. “They are all excellent passers and it’s been fun to watch and coach them. Skelly in particular has an excellent shot. This is our most entertaining line.”

He also singled out the line of Kyle Watson, Drew Satterly and Mike Towns. Averaging over 6’2” and 210 pounds, the trio of freshman have specifically shown the ability to play defensively as well.

Fogarty insists the goalie situation is still wide open, though Brad Fogal saw the most action in the Bulldogs opening weekend split against Potsdam.

It’s certainly not going to come to Adrian right away and no one in the MCHA is going to hand them anything, but thanks to starting a program and holding nothing back in terms of coaching, commitment and facilities, the Bulldogs certainly have the tools to put an excellent team out on the ice.

Finlandia Lions

Head Coach: Joe Burcar, 6th season overall and at Finlandia (42-47-5)
2006-07 Overall Record: 19-8-0
2006-07 MCHA Record: 15-5-0 (2nd)
Key Returners: F Josh Paquette, sr., (21-25-46); F Mike Parks, sr. (12-16-28); F Ryan Sullivan, jr., (24-14-38); F Joe Beaudry, jr., (14-23-37); F Keith Johnstone, jr., (10-12-22); F Travis Hanson, sr., (8-10-18); D Tiger Marcotte, jr., (8-22-30); D Blake Miller, sr., (9-12-21); G Lukas Alberer, sr. (11-3-0, 2.49, .889)
Key Losses: None
2007-08 Projected Finish: First

Last season was only their third year in the MCHA but it didn’t stop the Lions from claiming their first ever Harris Cup, as they downed reigning champion MSOE 4-3 on a last-minute goal. It might seem as if there was nowhere to go but down but it certainly isn’t the case. Heading into the final game of the regular season last year, the Lions had a chance to seal up the regular season MCHA title, but were deterred by an experienced MSOE team.

The Lions certainly have eyes on claiming the double this season and they should be in good position to do so, as by any form of analysis, they are loaded.

Finlandia returns all but four players from last year’s edition, including almost 90% of its scoring, five of its six top defenseman, and its number one goaltender. Head coach Joe Burcar points to the Lions’ experience as a definite plus.

“We have great core of returning players and we expect them to lead by example on and off the ice. We feel that our upper-class has lead and will continue to do so,” he said.

The Lions are led by a talented and experienced senior class that is led by a pair of forwards in 46 point scorer Josh Paquette and 28 point scorer Mike Parks. Forwards Travis Hanson and Jason Aldrich, as well as defenseman Blake Miller, will also take the ice for their final seasons. All told, the group of five accounted for 128 points last season.

If that was telling enough about the Lions’ upper class presence, take a look at the junior class. Forwards Ryan Sullivan, Joe Beaudry, Keith Johnstone and Corey Blake, along with defenseman Tiger Marcotte accounted for 141 points last season.

Overall, that’s 269 points of returning offense from the Lions’ veterans alone.

Junior netminder Lukas Alberer will be the go-to-guy between the pipes again this season after posting an 11-3 record last year.

Finlandia surprised a lot of people last season, including non-conference foe UW-Superior. Their success is fueled largely by a uniquely styled high-octane offense and a willingness to get physical on either end of the ice. Coincidentally, the Lions led the MCHA with 5.30 goals per game last season while also ranking second in the league in scoring defense.

There really isn’t much new when it comes to this year’s edition of the Lions, but with such a deep and talented group of upperclassmen, they may be the MCHA’s best bet to garner some attention nationally before the season is over.

This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey: Nov. 1, 2007

By Derek Dunning
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The 2007-2008 women’s D-III hockey season is upon us as four teams officially began play last weekend. First-year program Adrian College headlined as the biggest news of the weekend, splitting a two-game series with Neumann College. The Knights are a formidable opponent that received honorable-mention status in the USCHO.com pre-season poll and have been knocking on the doors of ECAC West powerhouses Plattsburgh and Elmira the past few seasons. Also, Oswego State opened up strong for the second straight year sweeping a two game series in Chatham.

This season brings us many new questions including:

Will Plattsburgh finally lose after last year’s 27-0-2 undefeated season?

Does Middlebury have the firepower to regroup after losing in last year’s title game to Plattsburgh, after winning the previous three National Championships?

Will Elmira come back with a vengeance after losing just one senior and missing out on the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history?

How will the transfer of leading scorer Danielle Nagymarosi back to Manhattanville affect RIT?

Will this be the year that the western region finally crowns their first National Championship team?

And last but certainly not least, can Amherst continue to build off of last year’s Cinderella team that made it all the way to the Frozen Four?

All these questions remain to be answered, but over the next five months we will get them!

Since there have been so few games so far, I figured I’d start my first column of the season off with my pre-season top 10 rankings.

10. St. Thomas Tommies
Tom Palkowski (1st season)
06-07 Record: 15-12-0
Last time out: Lost 3-2 in MIAC Finals to Gustavus Adolphus

I’m making a little bit of a bold statement right off the bat picking the Tommies as 10th in my poll over teams like Superior, Bowdoin, and Neumann. However, I feel the Tommies are going to be one of the teams to really keep an eye out for this year.

Last season, St. Thomas was all over the board playing some tough competition really well in certain games and then getting blown out in some games by the top teams and losing some games they shouldn’t have. Some of that can be attributed to the in-experience of the Tommies. They had only three seniors and the majority of the roster was composed of freshmen and sophomores. The biggest loss for the Tommies was in goal losing Katie Jetland. Jetland was a two-time All-MIAC selection and was integral part to their back to back 20 win seasons in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006.

However, the good news is that they do return sophomore goalie Lauren Bradel, who had a promising freshmen campaign posting a 9-6-0 record with five shutouts, a 2.23 GGA, and a .924 save percentage on her way to making the All-MIAC Rookie team.

St. Thomas also returns eight of their top nine scorers from last year led by sophomore Jill Kobow (11-16-27), junior Jackie Carroll (16-10-27), and senior Ashley Reinhardt (10-11-21).

9. Wis. River Falls Falcons
Joe Cranston (9th season, 113-80-15)
06-07 Record: 14-9-4
Last time out: Lost 5-4 to Lake Forest in the NCHA Consolation game

River Falls, like St. Thomas, was another tough team to figure out last year. They scored some nice wins over Stevens Point, Superior, and St. Thomas. However, they also lost to Lake Forest, Eau-Claire, and tied St. Mary’s and Hamline to start the season.

The mirror-image of St. Thomas continues with the losses the Falcons’ sustained losing their starting goalie Amber Lindner along with defensemen Jenny Wallace. The key to the Falcons’ success this year will be to find an adequate replacement for Lindner between the pipes as they return nine of their top 10 scorers.

A super sophomore class that accounted for three out of the top four scorers on the River Falls last season leads the returnees. Cassie LeBlanc (10-15-25), Stefanie Schmitz (14-9-23), and Abby Sunderman (12-6-18) will be a big part of how well the Falcons fare this year along with Senior Jenna Scanlon (11-10-21) rounding out the top-returning scorers for River Falls.

8. Manhattanville Valiants
Lauren McAuliffe (1st season)
06-07 Record: 19-8-1
Last time out: Lost 3-1 to Middlebury in the NCAA Quarterfinals

Manhattanville hits the ice this year with a new look ECAC East conference. Manhattanville’s main rival, RIT has left the conference for the ECAC West leaving the Valiants as the lone big gun remaining in the ECAC East. However, Manhattanville was far from the dominant team they were the first five seasons the NCAA sponsored a DIII women’s championship where they won 20+ games every year and reached the National Championship game twice before falling to Elmira both years.

The Valiants got a little revenge last year on the Soaring Eagles though when they defeated RIT in the ECAC East finals, dropping RIT into the Pool C selection and eliminating a very good Elmira team from a chance at the NCAA’s because RIT beat out Elmira in the criteria due in large part to beating the Eagles earlier in the season head to head.

Manhattanville returns every single player from last year’s squad and they also will have last year’s national leading scorer in Danielle Nagymarosi who transferred back to Manhattanville after spending a year at RIT.

Along with Nagymarosi, the Valiants will turn to a very strong returning senior class led by Amanda Nonis (16-16-32), Jamie Longo (13-18-31), Cory Alcorn (13-9-22), and Jessica Zimmerman (9-13-22).

7. RIT Tigers
Scott McDonald (2nd season, 22-4-2)
06-07 Record: 22-4-2
Last time out: Lost 2-1 to Amherst in the NCAA Quarterfinals

RIT burst onto the national scene last season with a breakout year winning 20+ games for the only the 2nd time in program history. The Tigers went the entire first half of the season undefeated before finally falling to DII St. Anselm in mid-January.

RIT did lose Danielle Nagymarosi as well as All-American defensemen Stacey McConnell, but they do return 5 of their top 7 scorers and standout sophomore goalie Karen Quigley. With Nagymarosi now gone, look for senior Isabelle Richard to become a household name in Tiger country this year. Richard’s 21 goals and 31 assists for 52 points were good for 2nd most in the country last season trailing only Nagymarosi.

The Tigers will also look to juniors Maegan Geypens (16-25-41), Courtenay Cooper (7-14-21), Dayna Birch (6-13-19), and sophomore Melissa Hall (5-13-18).

RIT joins the ECAC West this year and will have a much more difficult schedule this season having to play Plattsburgh, Elmira, Utica, and Neumann all twice in league play as well as a New England road-trip to play Middlebury and Amherst on back to back nights.

6. Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties
Mike Carroll (9th season, 172-48-11)
06-07 Record: 25-3-0
Last time out: Lost 4-1 to Stevens Point in the NCAA Quarterfinals

Gustavus Adolphus had one of their most talented if not best team in the history of their program last year losing just three times and bowing out in a heartbreaking end to the season, falling to Stevens Point in the NCAA Quarterfinals after many picked the Gusties as one of the prime challengers to possibly being able to knock off Plattsburgh.
The Gusties also graduated the most decorated player in the history of the program in 4-time All-American defensemen and 2007 Laura Hurd Award winner (formerly the D-III Player of the Year award) Andrea Peterson. To make matters worse for the Gusties they also lost their 2nd leading scorer Kelly Crandall (17-17-34) as well.

However, all hope is not lost for Gustavus Adolphus. The Gusties return the rest of their top 10 leading scorers from last year led by seniors Margaret Dorer (9-23-32) and Molly Doyle (18-9-27). Rounding out the top five returning scorers are sophomore Melissa Mackley (9-18-27), and juniors Jenny Pusch (14-12-26) and Jessica Doig (12-13-25).

5. Middlebury Panthers
Bill Mandigo (20th season, 352-90-13)
06-07 Record: 23-4-2
Last time out: Lost 2-1 to Plattsburgh in the National Championship game

The Middlebury Panthers had their streak of three consecutive national championships snapped last year at the hands of Plattsburgh. Three of the Panthers’ four losses were as a result of Plattsburgh and their only other loss came in the NESCAC Championship game, where they fell to an upstart Amherst team 2-1 in triple-overtime.

Middlebury was hit hard by graduation last spring as they lost three of their top four leading scorers in Abby Kurtz-Phelan, Shannon Sylvester, and Shannon Tarrant. They also have lost Allison Graddock, Ellen Sargent, and Emily McNamara. Those six seniors accounted for 45 percent of Middlebury’s offense last season.

On the brighter side, Middlebury does return one of the nation’s best goaltending duos with senior Angie Todd (1.10 GGA, .936 Save %) and sophomore Lani Wright (1.64 GGA, .917 Save %).

This season, Middlebury will need junior Annmarie Cellino (14-20-34), senior Karen Levin (11-16-27), junior Molly Vitt (8-11-19), and sophomore Ashley Bairos (9-6-15) to step up and lead the offense if the Panthers are going to continue their streak of four straight seasons with 23 or more wins.

4. Amherst Lady Jeffs
Jim Plumer (5th season, 51-46-8)
06-07 Record: 20-7-3
Last time out: Lost 4-3 to Stevens Point in the NCAA Frozen Four Consolation game

Amherst lost four games in the first four weeks of the season last year. They went on to lose just one more game the entire season until the Frozen Four where they dropped a 3-2 decision to eventual champion Plattsburgh, and then fell to Stevens Point in the third place game as well.

Amherst was last year’s Cinderella story and captivated the D-III women’s hockey world during their run to the Frozen Four. The Lady Jeffs return all of their top six scorers from last season, as they will all be sophomores and juniors for the 2007-2008 season.

If Amherst is going to keep their place among the nation’s elite they will need Tarasai Karega (20-17-37), Anna MacLean (15-17-32), Lindsey Harrington (15-14-29), Kate Dennett (12-9-21), Kirsten Dier (5-18-23), and Michelle McGann (4-19-23) will have to score and play prominent roles again for the Lady Jeffs.

In goal, Amherst returns one of the nation’s best and the goalie they rode down the stretch run last season in sophomore Krystyn Elek. Elek went 15-6-3 with a 1.64 GGA and .939 save percentage.

3. Elmira Soaring Eagles
Paul Nemetz-Carlson (5th season, 79-26-5)
06-07 Record: 19-5-3
Last time out: Lost 3-2 to Plattsburgh in the ECAC West finals

Elmira was the tough luck team of season. The Eagles were all set and awaiting a probable Pool C selection into the NCAA’s after losing in the ECAC West championship to Plattsburgh, who accounted for three of their five losses last season.

Then, the upsets started. Elmira’s NCAA fate was all but sealed once Amherst knocked off Middlebury taking the NESCAC automatic bid and Manhattanville knocked off RIT claiming the ECAC East automatic bid. Elmira more than likely would have gotten a Pool C bid before Manhattanville and Amherst.

The Eagles return this season having lost just one senior and they will look to start and enacting their revenge this weekend as they open up regular season play against Chatham.

Leading the way for the Eagles this year will be juniors Kayla Coady (20-27-47), Jamie Huntley (12-9-21), sophomores Jenna McCall (12-19-31), Tiffany Hart (5-18-23), Melanie Henshaw (9-9-18), Jamie Kivi (4-13-17), and senior Farren Hart (9-7-16).

Elmira had added two near players this year in Amanda Ritzel and Laura Mulligan. Look for Ritzel to fit right in from the start and compete for a lot of ice-time as a staple on the Eagles’ blue-line along with Jamie Kivi and Tiffany Hart.

2. Wis. Stevens Point Pointers
Anne Ninnemann (2nd season, 20-7-2)
06-07 Record: 20-7-2
Last time out: Beat Amherst 4-3 in the NCAA Frozen Four consolation game after falling 5-1 to Middlebury in the national semifinals.

Some may be surprised that I picked Stevens Point so high in my pre-season rankings. The coaches certainly disagree with me as they ranked the Pointers 7th in the USCHO.com pre-season poll.

However, this year I feel could be the year the west finally gets their national champion. Stevens Point returns all but two players from last year’s squad. The biggest loss came in between the pipes losing All-American goalie Amy Statz. Statz was the #1 goalie for her entire four-year career at Point. She backstopped the Pointers to some memorable seasons including a National Championship game in her freshmen season before falling to Middlebury 2-1.

Other than that though, Stevens Point has all their goal scorers back led by sophomores Nicole Grossmann (17-12-29) and Michelle Sosnowski (13-11-24). Rounding out the top five returning scorers for the Pointers are senior Katy Lankey (10-7-17) and sophomores Tracy Butler (8-9-17) and Kellye Nelson (7-10-17).

Anne Ninnemann did a stand-up job coming in just one year after graduating from Point to coach the Pointers all the way to the Frozen Four including getting past Gustavus Adolphus to make the trip to Plattsburgh last year. With another recruiting class under her belt, and another year of experience for a young team, Stevens Point is my pick to be one of the chief contenders to deny Plattsburgh a repeat opportunity.

1. Plattsburgh Cardinals
Kevin Huole (5th season, 96-16-6)
06-07 Record: 27-0-2
Last time out: Won the NCAA Championship by defeating Middlebury 2-1.

Was there ever a doubt who was going to be number one? While the Cardinals did lose some key players from last year’s undefeated squad in senior captain Jessica Moreau (12-9-21) and All-American goaltender Breanne Doyle (21-0-2, 1.36 GGA, and .934 Save %), and two transfers in Lindsay Littman and Sandra Grant, who went to RIT, the Cardinals return a very dangerous squad.

Plattsburgh is without a doubt led by junior all-everything Danielle Blanchard. Blanchard has the ability to single handedly take over a game her numbers prove it scoring 24 goals and tallying 27 assists on her way to 51 points. Unfortunately, for Plattsburgh’s opponents the firepower does not even come close to stopping there. Sophomore Laurie Bowler (22-16-38) was arguably one of the best if not the best freshmen in the country last year on her way to becoming ECAC West Rookie of the Year.

Rounding out the top-returning scorers for the Cardinals are juniors Lindsay Brown (14-19-33) and Claire O’Connor (7-22-29). Also, senior Julie Devereux (4-21-25) and sophomore Kayla McDougall (10-11-21) return as well.

Head Coach Kevin Huole has not become complacent after winning the National Championship as he has brought in a freshmen class consisting of eight new players even though there were only two seniors on last year’s squad.

The key for the Cardinals this season will be finding a replacement for Breanne Doyle between the pipes. They will turn to junior Danielle Beattie and newcomers Mandy Mackrell and Amanda Hoy to try and help fill the large role that Doyle played in last year’s championship undefeated team.

SUNYAC Women’s Hockey Conference on the Horizon?

Last but not least this week, I’ll close by touching on the subject of the rapid growth of DIII women’s hockey. This season, three new teams begin NCAA varsity play as Adrian, Norwich, and Concordia (Wisconsin) have all added programs and begin play this year.

Just recently, Potsdam announced their return to varsity women’s hockey, as they will join the ECAC West for the 2008-2009 season as a full member after playing at the club level this season.

With the addition of Potsdam next year, there will be five SUNY Athletic Conference teams playing at the varsity level. Plattsburgh, Oswego, Cortland, and Buffalo State are the other four schools. Geneseo has a women’s club hockey program right now and could be looked into as a possible sixth team.

This got my imagination going and I began to wonder if the SUNYAC was looking into adding a women’s hockey conference.

“We would want to have seven teams in order to make a women’s SUNYAC division,” said Josh Reilly, SUNYAC Publicist. “It has been talked about but the numbers are not there right now so it’s most likely still a long process off.”

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Nov. 1, 2007

By
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Welcome, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another season of chair-kicking, trash-talking, ego-deflating, weekend-ruining, zebra-hating ECAC Hockey action!

Everyone’s mum before the games, so the controversy is pretty minimal so far. We’ll be sure to catch up with the most loquacious personalities afterwards, though.

Big Greenhorns

Dartmouth is a little wet behind the ears this season after taking a massive roster hit between defections and graduation. Head coach Bob Gaudet is anything but inexperienced, however, and he is enjoying the challenges and achievements of his remodeled program.

“This is by far the youngest team I’ve ever had,” he said last week. “It’s a lot of fun for me.”

His roster averages just over one year of experience … between 27 listed players, the mean year is sophomore plus a quarter, if you will.

“There are a lot of positive things that can be taken from seeing something grow.”

The 21st-year NCAA coach has been leading the Green since his seniors were in elementary school. His experience with two decades of ups and downs — not including varsity years playing for the Green himself — allow him to see this campaign in a rich and optimistic manner. Like a video-gamer embracing the obstacles of the next level, Gaudet says he’s thrilled to coach such a talented and malleable squad.

“Getting the potential out of your team … getting them to the next level … is really fulfilling,” he said. “[The goal of my entire career] has been to try to play literally one shift at a time.”

While Gaudet falls under the category of “richly seasoned,” as far as coaches go, he’s certainly not one to avoid a competitive statement every now and again.

“I’d put our recruiting class up against anybody’s,” he said.

Vermont down, 28 … or 32 … or 36 … or more … to go. Coach has plenty of time.

Big-headed Bobcats?

Quinnipiac started the season ranked 14th in the nation in the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I poll, and promptly fell off the list after being swept at Air Force. For a team picked by some to make a run at the Frozen Four, what happened?

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Air Force,” began coach Rand Pecknold. “Their goalie [Andrew Volkening] was great both nights, he made some great saves.

“We went into the weekend thinking shut down Eric Ehn [who had two assists on the weekend]. He was good, but it was all four lines [that hurt us],” he said.

However, Pecknold then focused on his own bench.

“We were flat. We were not anticipating, not jumping on pucks, not winning battles.

“We were pretty highly ranked before we played a game. Textbook coaching 101: thinking we were better than we are,” he explained.

“My top seven or eight players all played very poorly,” Pecknold added. “Not just on the weekend, but in all three games [thus far].”

Pecknold then praised some of his younger, hungrier charges for playing passionately in their meager ice time.

“Some of the best players were freshmen,” he said.

Apart from a case of overconfidence, Pecknold also repeated his assertion that the graduation of All-American defenseman Reid Cashman has seriously hampered the Bobcats’ special-teams productivity.

“There’s definitely a void on the power play,” he lamented. “Reid was probably one of the best four or five power-play kids in the nation last year.”

The ‘Cats have so far been declawed by the opposition, running at only 15 percent on the man-advantage (three for 20).

Engineering My Embarrassment

Just kidding; I’m really not egotistical enough to believe that what I say is in any way, shape or form “bulletin board” quality. That said, Seth Appert — among others — took a moment to point out to me that my preseason preview for Rensselaer was, shall we say, a tad misinformed.

He wasn’t talking about the rankings; no coaches pay much attention to those, of course. The bone he picked was regarding the irresponsible absence-of-mention of such impact freshmen as Tyler Helfrich, Chase Polacek or Bryan Brutlag, who have combined for three goals and nine assists already. So, to those players and all you true ‘Tute diehards: my bad.

Beyond my stunning incompetence, Appert also mentioned that — oh yeah! — the Engineers are having a pretty good season so far, too.

“We’re getting very good leadership,” he said. “You may not see them leading the scoring, but [they’re] doing a very good job in the locker room and on the ice [leading by example].”

The four senior skaters — Andrew Lord, Jonathon Ornelas, Jake Morissette and Dan Peace — have accumulated four goals and eight assists in 24 total games. Senior Jordan Alford hasn’t done too poorly either.

“We’re getting very good goaltending. [Mathias] Lange and Alford have had very good practices, very good workouts, and very good summers.”

As a tangent, Appert discussed a remark he made a week or two ago, stating that his goaltenders needed to stop at least 91 percent of their shots in order for the team to be successful.

“If you look around, very few teams have had success … without 91 [percent] or better goaltending,” he said, citing his own experience at Denver, but also pointing toward recent Frozen Fours.

Rensselaer’s current tandem has combined for a 1.56 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage, including three shutouts in four starts by Alford. Ninety-one percent may end up a sour disappointment at this rate.

Coaches’ Corner

Ah, if only we had the surliness, the self-righteousness, the outdated macho brashness, the Quebec-hating brain-bendingly bedazzling Don Cherry on board. How I’d love to worship and cripple him and his stubborn arrogance, all at the same time.

But seriously, in the first of this season’s weekly coaches’ polls, the ECAC branch of the fraternity was asked two questions: what have you found to be the biggest misconceptions or myths about hockey held by the average fan, and can a goalie rotation be successful indefinitely, or does one goalkeeper have to take the reins at a certain point?

The results were mixed for the first query, but surprisingly uniform for the latter.

One coach doesn’t feel that the general public has enough appreciation for how quickly decisions have to be made on the ice. He said that plays seem to develop more slowly and much more conspicuously from the stands, whereas the actual speed of the game requires major decisions in fractions of a second.

Another bench boss said that many fans fail to comprehend exactly how many different hats a head coach has to wear, from recruiting, to admissions, to scholastics, to actually training and coaching a team. He focused on recruiting, which is absolutely true: these guys log more miles than astronauts in their scouting and recruitment trips.

The final notable response to question one is the idea that “goalies are crazy.” Let’s face it, with the amount of protection goaltenders get from the latest innovations in equipment and the rule book alike, they’re probably the sanest ones on the ice.

As far as rotating goalies, the league’s coaches were pretty much on the same page: yes, it can work.

Conditions like skill, durability, and personality all have to be compatible of course, but many of the responding coaches cited Denver’s championship duo of Peter Mannino and Glenn Fisher, or Maine’s Mike Dunham/Garth Snow tandem, or even Quinnipiac’s Jamie Holden and Justin Eddy a half-dozen years ago.

Got any questions you’d like to ask the coaches? Keep it clean, but send it here. [email protected].

This Week in D-I Women’s Hockey: Nov. 1, 2007

By Dan Hickling
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Lester Patrick wears a ponytail

She was the Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey during her playing days at Providence College. Now, come next Wednesday, Cammi Granato will be it’s Lester Patrick.

Granato, the first marquee name the sport ever had, will now be the first individual female honored by the NHL with a major award.

On Nov. 7, she (along with three others) will receive the Lester Patrick Trophy, which is presented to those who have rendered outstanding service to hockey in the U.S.

There is no doubting her credentials, there.

Granato, of Chicago’s storied hockey playing clan, lifted the PC Friars on her shoulders during her time there between 1989-1993, captained the first U.S. Olympic team in 1998 (to a gold medal, we should add), and in general, made it cool for girls to play hockey.

(That 1998 squad, by the way, was honored en masse with the Patrick Trophy).

“She’s obviously done a lot for women’s hockey,” said Boston College coach Katie King, the former Brown standout, and Granato’s Olympic teammate. “If you ask anybody outside our realm about any hockey players they know, they say Cammi. She’s known all over the place. She was definitely a pioneer for our sport, and you can’t take that away from her. I think it’s great that she’s getting that (award). I think it’s awesome that she’s being recognized that way.”

While Granato’s impact (both in and out of the rink) is felt across the Hockey Universe, it is at its strongest, and most emotional, at her alma mater.

Bob Deraney, who is in his ninth year as Friars head coach, certainly feels it.

“She’s the matriarch of women’s hockey,” he said. “You can ask anybody. She’s the one that everybody knows. She’s the face of women’s college hockey. And for the NHL to recognize her solidifies that. That could pick anybody to win that award, and they picked her. I think that’s the statement above all statements as to what she means to the sport.”

Most of today’s Friars hadn’t yet hit kindergarten when Granato was wearing the Black and White.

But to them, she’s more than just a name from by-gone days.

She’s their Cammi.

“Absolutely,” said PC senior Sarah Feldman. “There’s a lot of tradition here. I came in here and learned that right away. To have someone like Cammi Granato be an alum is unbelievable.”

Ironically, the Patrick ceremonies in New York take place within a few days of the annual Hockey Hall of Fame inductions in Toronto.

Which begs the question…is Granato worthy of that honor, too?

“I don’t see why she wouldn’t be,” said Deraney. “I was trying to think about why not, and there’s nothing. She should be in the Hall of Fame. Just like there’s a women’s (wing) to the Baseball Hall of Fame. There’s no finer candidate, than Cammi, as a player, and as a person.”

Gophers hunting

No. 6 Minnesota is in the midst of a horrendous four-game stretch pitting them against both Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin. The Gophers made it through the first half okay, sweeping UMD 3-1 and 5-1.

That bounced the Bulldogs from the nation’s No. 1 ranking, allowing, you guessed it, Wisconsin, to take over the top spot.

(Welcome to the fire, you Gophers. By the way, how did you enjoy the frying pan?)

“The way the WCHA is,” said Minnesota co-captain Bobbi Ross, prior to Wednesday’s practice. “We’re not going to have particular easy stretches, by any means. Having Wisconsin and Duluth is going to really test how we can keep our intensity. We’re going to have to (have that) in order to be successful. I think so far we‘ve done a really good job of not being overwhelmed. We‘re more excited.”

USCHO Offensive Player of the Week Ross played a huge part in Minnesota’s twin wins over their Northern cousins, piling up six points (3g, 3a), and setting the tone for the sweep by netting TWO shorthanded goals in Friday’s opener.

“The shorthanded goals we got,” she said, “were a huge momentum changer. It just gave us a whole lot of confidence, and it got us really fired up. I’m sure it lowered the spirits of Duluth. No team likes to be scored on, short-handed. There’s nothing more dispiriting.”

As for the task of trying to topple a second straight No. 1, Ross said that Minnesota has to stick to what it does best when they hit the Kohl Center surface in Madison.

“They have some players (e.g. Jinelle Zaugg and Hilary Knight) who are pretty big threats,” she said. “We need to minimize our mistakes in that respect. If we give them an inch, they’ll take a mile, and it will end up in the back of our net.

We have to focus on ourselves, as much as we can. It’s about getting our stuff together and playing like we can. That will determine our success.”

Friars find footing on unlikely ice

Deraney’s Friars had some tough sledding in games against ranked opponents–No. 4 St. Lawrence and No. 8 Connecticut–losing twice by a combined 13-0.

So their lot didn’t figure to improve on Tuesday, when they had to skate into Conte Forum to face No. 7 Boston College.

But it did.

Providence scored three times in the first period, then held on for a 3-2 triumph over the Golden Eagles.

“It means a lot,” said Feldman, who played for BC for two years before transferring to Providence. “You’ve got to get that first win. We needed that win, sooner than later to get our season rolling.”

Feldman daggered her old mates by scoring the first goal, at 6:41. The Friars later got goals 20 seconds apart from Mari Pehkonen and Alyse Ruff. All this from an offense that hadn’t found the net in a hefty 143:57 span.

“We’d been struggling a lot with momentum,” said Feldman. “That first goal is key. They weren‘t the prettiest goals, but they counted.”

In the third period, Feldman had to pick herself up off the ice after being leveled by her old friend, BC defenseman Becky Zavisa.

“I had my back turned,” she laughed. “She’s a big girl. You hit her, you’re going to go down hard. It wasn’t a dirty hit. I probably should have had my head up, anyway.”

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Nov. 1, 2007

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Big Orange

There were a lot of unknowns coming into last Saturday’s game between RIT and Cornell at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena. The Tigers were 0-2, coming of a disappointing home opener and facing a ranked opponent. Cornell was playing its first official game of the season.

And for the Tigers, playing in that building for the first time since 1986, there was a fear that the crowd would be small (last year’s AHA playoffs drew a maximum of 731 fans and even last year’s NCAA Regional attendance was only 3,887) or even pro-Cornell, since its fans typically travel well.

When asked what he was concerned about heading into the contest, RIT coach Wayne Wilson joked, “That there’ll be nobody there and that we’ll lose.”

No worries. The Tigers scored two first-period power-play goals en route to a 4-1 win over the Big Red in front of 5,142 fans, a record for both RIT and Atlantic Hockey for a regular-season home game.

“It was a great atmosphere,” said Wilson of the crowd, the great majority of which was rooting for the home team. “There was so much orange. The fans really got into the game.”

Matt Smith opened the scoring near the end of the first period with a power-play roofer that beat Cornell goaltender Ben Scrivens. Freshman Sean Murphy added another power-play goal two minutes later, weaving though the Big Red defense and beating Scrivens stick-side.

“Murphy’s goal was a great goal, a highlight-reel goal,” said Wilson.

After a scoreless second period, Cornell cut the lead in half midway through the third when Joe Devlin banked in a shot off of Tiger goaltender Louis Menard’s skates. But according to Wilson, there was no panic on the Tigers’ bench.

“Even though they scored and had a territorial advantage (in the third period), there was a sense of confidence on the bench,” he said.

The backbreaker came with under four minutes to play when senior captain Simon Lambert broke down the left wing and went hard to the net, stuffing the puck past Scrivens. Tyler Mazzei finished the scoring with an empty-net goal.

“(Lambert’s goal) was a great effort,” said Wilson. “He outraced everyone to a loose puck and took it to the net through traffic.”

It was a big win in more ways than one for the Tigers, who had lost at Colgate and at home to Bowling Green this season.

“We had some tough breaks in those games,” said Wilson. “We also had some lapses, especially the first 10 minutes against Colgate. (Against Cornell) we had solid goaltending and no weak links on defense. We had a good power play and our penalty killing was excellent. It’s the game we had to play to win against a team like Cornell.”

While it was the first time the Tigers had played in Rochester’s pro arena in over 20 years, RIT hopes to do so again in March in the AHA playoffs, and to hold more regular-season games there in the future.

Considering that RIT sold out its first home game of the season the week before, turning away over 300 people before the puck was dropped at Ritter Arena (capacity 2,100), the need for a larger venue is clear.

“It was a good starting point,” said Wilson. “Hopefully word spreads. Winning certainly helps. (The staff at Blue Cross Arena) said they would welcome us back.”

RIT opens league play this weekend with a home-and-home series with Thruway rival Canisius.

“We need another good effort,” said Wilson. “It’s not the coaches who set the bar, it’s the players themselves. Against Cornell they set the bar at a higher level, and now they have to keep it there. Now that becomes the only acceptable level of play. You have to play up to your potential every game if you want to achieve your goals.”

Crusaders Cruising

The Holy Cross Crusaders had a rough season in 2006-2007, winning just 10 games after a 27-victory campaign in 2005-2006. But coach Paul Pearl says things weren’t as grim as they seemed.

“I actually thought we were pretty good last season,” he said. “We had some tough breaks and struggled at one position.”

One of the bad breaks, literally, was to the leg of all-league defenseman John Landry, putting a premature end to his senior season. And a trio of goaltenders had big shoes to fill for the departed Tony Quesada, raising the team’s goals against average from 2.38 to 3.34. The Crusaders lost nine one-goal games last year and tied five times, so that extra goal a game was costly. Holy Cross won just three games after Thanksgiving.

This season, Holy Cross has already won twice and tied in four games, including a 6-4 win at Providence, the first time Holy Cross had ever beaten the Friars.

“We were young in net last year and have a lot of new faces as well this year,” said Pearl. “The first game (a 6-2 loss to Niagara) was close until the end. We were tied after two periods before we let it get away from us.”

Holy Cross’ last three games were on the road, including the win at Providence and a three-point series against an improved Mercyhurst squad.

“Last year we really struggled on the road,” said Pearl. “For Providence, we had a game under our belts and played much better. The same goes for Mercyhurst. They’re a very good team with good goaltending that’s going to get even better when Lundin comes back. We played well to take three points there.

“This season we expect the young players to improve every game and our veterans to step into new roles and improve on last season.”

Goaltender Ian Dams had a save percentage of .888 last season, but is at .921 through two games this year, while rookie Adam Roy has also played well with a .917 percentage.

“I’m really happy with the goaltending and the way we’re playing in general right now,” said Pearl. “But it’s early. (Mercyhurst coach) Rick Gotkin says that you shouldn’t even look at the standings until February.”

But if you do look at them now, Holy Cross is only of only two AHA teams with an overall winning record The Crusaders host Army this Saturday and Sunday in a pair of afternoon games, with Sunday’s contest televised on ESPNU.

“That’s exciting for our fans,” said Pearl. “And I’ve been really pleased with the response to the B2 broadcasts, too. The quality is good and it gives our fans a chance to see every game.”

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week for October 29, 2007:
Dain Prewitt — Bentley
The junior forward had two goals and an assist to lead his Falcons to a 4-0 win over the visiting Falcons from Air Force.

Goaltender of the Week for October 29, 2007:
Louis Menard — RIT
Menard stopped 22 of 23 shots against No. 18 Cornell in front of a record home crowd to help the Tigers to a 4-1 win.

Rookie of the Week for October 29, 2007:
Adam Roy — Holy Cross
Roy made 44 saves, including 35 over the final two periods, to lead the Crusaders to a 4-1 win at Mercyhurst.

Around the League

Air Force: The Falcons’ 3-1 start equals their best in 11 seasons under Frank Serratore. Serratore picked up his 150th win at Air Force two weeks ago and as well as his 200th overall. He’s close to another milestone — three more wins and he’ll break the all-time record at Air Force, currently held by both Chuck Delich (1986-97) and John Matchefts (1975-85).

Canisius: Their season is only five games old, but the Golden Griffins have already played in three overtime contests. Canisius tied St. Cloud 3-3, lost to Sacred Heart 5-4 in overtime, and tied the Pioneers the next night. That’s not counting the Griffs’ 4-3 loss to Alabama-Huntsville in which the deciding goal was scored with just 3.5 seconds to play.

Mercyhurst: Last year defense and goaltending were the Lakers’ main concerns, but this year Mercyhurst has had the opposite problem, scoring only seven goals in six games to date. Things don’t get any easier as Mercyhurst plays its next six games on the road at Air Force, Michigan State and RIT.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers staged two third-period comebacks last weekend against Canisius. SHU won 5-4 on Friday and tied 2-2 on Saturday. That makes three straight overtime games for the Pioneers, who have a home-and-home with Connecticut this weekend.

AHA: The league has started handing out Players of the Month awards as well as Players of the Week. POTMs for October are Simon Lambert (RIT), Andrew Volkening (Air Force) and Joe Calvi (Bentley).

This Week in the CHA: Nov. 1, 2007

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When Ryan Cruthers transferred from Army to Robert Morris two years ago, RMU head coach Derek Schooley hoped the talented forward could add to the Colonials’ offense and put up some decent numbers.

Are 17 goals decent enough for you?

Cruthers popped 17 (including nine on the power play) and added 20 assists last year in his first season in Pittsburgh to lead the team in scoring. He had 31 total points in his two years at Army in 13 more games.

Now a senior on a very senior-laden RMU team, Cruthers has picked up where he left off the last two-thirds of last season.

“Ryan has always been a goal scorer and a point producer,” Schooley said. “When he was at Apple Core (Eastern Junior Hockey League) and I was at Air Force, I saw him play quite a bit. I can’t say enough about him. He’s been what we expected since he came here two years ago.”

Ryan Cruthers has been a sparkplug on offense since joining Robert Morris (photo: Robert Morris University).

Ryan Cruthers has been a sparkplug on offense since joining Robert Morris (photo: Robert Morris University).

The 6-foot, 180-pound Cruthers initially began his college hockey career with the Black Knights in 2003, but he said Army didn’t give him enough choices hockey-wise.

“I wanted to be able to play hockey after school,” Cruthers said. “Playing there wouldn’t have been the best option. And academically, that really wasn’t the best option either.”

So after the 2004-2005 season concluded, Cruthers made an official visit to Robert Morris and committed that very same day.

“Coach really has a passion,” said Cruthers. “I liked what he was setting out to do with a young team and I really liked the area and everything about it. It was a very easy choice to make.”

Putting Cruthers on a line with Chris Margott and Sean Berkstresser this season, Schooley said that line may be among the best in the CHA.

“Margott and Cruthers are very, very skilled,” noted Schooley. “Berkstresser is your power forward that goes into the corners and makes space for the other two. This line is also very mature, both mentally and physically. They are as good a line as there is in the CHA.”

Cruthers (three goals, seven points) and Margott (six assists, seven points) are 1-2 in RMU scoring this year. Berkstresser sits fourth.

“I think my role on this team is to go out and lead by example,” Cruthers said. “I want to get these guys on my back and that’s what Coach has told me he wants out of me. I just want to take control on the ice.”

Beyond all the positives, it would be hard to believe that Cruthers, 23, was a sub-par skater when he arrived at Robert Morris. The year he sat out due to the NCAA transfer rule, Cruthers worked with Marianne Watkins, a skating instructor at the Island Sports Center who has NHL experience with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“My whole life growing up on Long Island, I never had an instructor or anyone like that to help me out,” said Cruthers. “I just learned on my own. Then when I came here, the first opportunity I had with her, I took it. That year I was ineligible, I would go work with her when the team was out of town and I think my skating is a lot better now. It’s still not pretty, but definitely better.”

“Ryan works so hard,” added Schooley. “He works exceptionally hard and I’m very pleased with how far he’s come. He goes out, contributes and does his job. But if there’s something to be said, I’m sure he’ll say it and people will listen. His skating isn’t even a detriment and he’s developed a mean streak.

“He just keeps improving and is a pleasure to watch.”

Wayne State Still Winless

Robert Morris defeated Wayne State, 3-1, Friday night and 4-1 Saturday night to keep WSU without a win (0-5-1).

Freshman Kyle Burton scored his first career goal and Jake Sparks and Jason Towsley scored Friday night before Wayne State senior captain Mike Forgie broke Christian Boucher’s shutout with 7:08 remaining in the game.

Forgie leads WSU with three goals and has scored in every series this season.

Boucher finished with 22 saves, while freshman Kyle Funkenhauser stopped 23 for the Warriors.

RMU also held Wayne State scoreless on all five of its power-play chances.

Saturday night, the Colonials popped three power-play goals. Cruthers, Brett Hopfe, Kyle Frieday and Chris Margott all scored for RMU and Boucher stopped 27 shots.

Funkenhauser made 18 saves for the Warriors, whose lone goal was freshman Dylan Exton’s first NCAA tally.

The Warriors were 0-for-8 with the man-advantage over the weekend.

Niagara Extends Home Unbeaten Streak

The nation’s longest home unbeaten streak is now 20 games as Niagara swept Western Michigan at Dwyer Arena in a two-game set last weekend.

NU is now 18-0-2 at home since Feb. 2006. It marks just the second time in the last 23 years that any team in NCAA Division I hockey has posted a 20-game run.

Despite getting outshot, Niagara came away with a 4-2 victory over Western Michigan on Friday.

Senior captain Matt Caruana scored a pair of special-teams goals, including the game-winning, shorthander in the third period. Caruana, who has recorded a point in every game this season, matched the Niagara career record for shorthanded goals with his fifth, tying him with Mikko Sivonen.

The Broncos outshot the Purple Eagles, 44-22, including 18-6 in the final stanza, but Juliano Pagliero was solid in net, making 42 saves in the win.

Freshman Paul Zanette earned his first career goal in his first game of the season and Egor Mironov also scored for the Purple Eagles.

The next night, Caruana, Mironov and Chris Moran scored in the 3-1 win. Pagliero made 25 saves and has now stopped 101 of the last 104 shots to come his way.

“This is one of the best team efforts that we have had in the last couple years,” Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder said.

With the victory, the Purple Eagles are 3-0-0 against CCHA opponents this season. WMU goalie Riley Gill took notice, but also may have directed a low blow towards Monteagle Ridge.

“They’re a good team and they play well together,” Gill said. “They really took the body to us. I think that’s one thing our team noticed kind of out of the ordinary. They love to take the body, but other than that, compared to some of the other buildings we play at, like Michigan in front of 7,000 people, (Dwyer Arena is) not really intimidating in any way.”

This weekend, now 18th-ranked Niagara opens up CHA play when it travels to Bemidji State for a pair.

Lowell Rude Hosts To Chargers

As seems to be the pattern, Alabama-Huntsville was also the victim of a sweep over the weekend.

Josh Murray scored his third goal in as many games, but Alabama-Huntsville dropped a 4-1 decision at Mass.-Lowell on Friday night.

The Chargers also lost Saturday night, 3-1.

Sophomore netminder Blake MacNicol made 30 saves in net for the Chargers on Friday.

“Alabama-Huntsville is a gritty team,” UML head coach Blaise MacDonald said. “They hung in there and that’s a tough game to win. I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in there and getting it done.”

Saturday night, Joe Federoff mustered UAH’s only tally in the loss. Freshman goalie Cameron Talbot kicked out 31 shots.

The Chargers open home action on Friday and Saturday hosting Minnesota State. The first 500 fans Friday will receive a free magnet schedule and that night’s contest will also feature a pregame ring ceremony honoring the 2006-2007 CHA tournament champs.

“From where we’ve come from the first day in practice to where we’re at, I’m real happy,” Alabama-Huntsville head coach Danton Cole said in the Huntsville Times. “As long as we’re learning, there’s a lot of good to be done. Although I’d rather learn a lot by winning.”

St. Cloud Takes Pair From Beavers

Bemidji State’s struggles to score continued Friday as the Beavers outshot St. Cloud State, 40-29, but suffered a 2-1 loss.

The Beavers even blocked 22 SCSU shots.

Tyler Scofield scored BSU’s lone goal after a Matt Pope goal was waved off late in the first period. Blaine Jarvis found Pope from the corner for a one-timer in front of the net on a power play. A review of the goal showed that Pope kicked the puck into the net.

Orlando Alamano made 27 saves in net.

The Huskies dominated in a 6-1 win Saturday night as they were again outshot, 36-30.

SCSU scored three power-play goals and one shorthanded.

Cody Bostock scored for BSU on a power play.

Freshman Matt Dalton made six saves during the first 20 minutes, but allowed four goals. Matt Climie made 18 saves over the game’s final 40 minutes.

It doesn’t get any easier this weekend, either.

New BSU Arena Proposed For South Shore

Bemidji State will apparently get its new arena after all, just not downtown where the events center was originally planned.

A meeting held Wednesday in Bemidji revealed the south shore of Lake Bemidji as the new destination — about one mile from downtown.

Mayor Richard Lehmann said that the city has made an offer to buy nearly 130 acres of land from ShoreQuest owner John Zacher and neighboring landowners for the purpose.

It had originally been proposed that the events center/hockey arena would be constructed first and the city would add on a convention center and a second sheet of ice. However, Lehmann said Wednesday that the phased plan may no longer be necessary.

“This offers us the opportunity to do it all at one time, if we can partner right,” he said in the Bemidji Pioneer.

The City Council is considering a $50 million facility. Half of the funding for the project would come from the city’s half-cent sales tax, if extended by the Legislature. The remaining $25 million would include the $3 million already received from the state and an additional $22 million in bonding dollars, if approved by the Legislature.

BSU’s hockey program would be the primary tenant of the facility.

School officials were asked during the press conference whether university students had been polled about the potential location of a new arena.

“In general, students want a better venue for Division I hockey,” said Bill Maki, BSU’s vice president of finance and administration, in the same Pioneer article.

Five More Verbal Commitments

In another move that shows players feel CHA teams are stable for next season, Robert Morris, Bemidji State and Niagara reportedly all received verbal commitments this week.

The Colonials newest recruits are 19-year-old New York Apple Core forward Nick Chiavetta and 20-year-old defenseman Josh Jones from the Hawkesbury Hawks.

Currently Apple Core’s leading scorer, Chiavetta has five goals and 20 points this season — also good for a sixth-place tie in the early EJHL race. He was also a member of St. Mary’s (Massena, N.Y.) back-to-back high school state championship teams in 2005 and 2006.

Jones is a Pittsburgh-area native (Scenery Hill) and is the top defenseman scorer for the Central Junior Hockey League’s Hawks with 14 points through 18 games.

Cornwall Colts captain Darcy Findlay is on his way to the Beavers. The 20-year-old from Quebec leads the Ottawa-based CJHL in scoring with 15 goals (including three hat tricks and eight multi-point games) among 30 points (with eight multi-point games) in 17 games with the Cornwall Colts.

Goalie Andrew Hare and Buffalo native Danny Baco are both off to Niagara next fall.

Hare will be a true freshman (1990 birthdate) with the Purple Eagles and is with the Burlington Eagles of the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League this year. He has been the goalie of record in all 10 wins for the Eagles this year and also boasts a 2.32 goals-against average with a .933 save percentage and one assist.

The 19-year-old Baco is a smallish forward (5-foot-8, 168 pounds) and has been injured as of late, but still has a goal and an assist in six games with the United States Hockey League’s Lincoln Stars.

The Future of the CHA

Nothing new to report.

Sorry, folks. Check back next week.

This Week in Hockey East: Nov. 1, 2007

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Dave Hendrickson is not available to write the Hockey East column this week. To raise awareness regarding world hunger, Dave is attempting to eat enough to sustain one human being for a whole year in the two weeks between his last column and his next column.

The Spirit of ’76

You’d have to go back a long way to find a Boston University team that began the year winless in its first five games. All the way the back to the Bicentennial, in fact. For those of you old enough to remember, that was the era of disco, mood rings, beanbag chairs, and Charlie’s Angels. For Dave Hendrickson, it was the year of trying to imitate John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever while simultaneously coming to terms with turning 40.

“It was the 1976-77 season, Mike Eruzione’s senior year,” Jack Parker said. “So you know what the good part of that is?” Parker asked me.

“Yes, I do,” I replied, and Parker laughed heartily. “That team won the ECAC Tournament and went to the Final Four,” he reminded me.

So could a similar fate be in store for this year’s edition of the Terriers, currently 0-4-1?

“That’s a long way off,” Parker said. “I couldn’t have told you that that team was going to wind up like that either. I do know that it was nice to get our first win [in the ’76-77 season]; it was against Harvard over at Harvard in overtime, and Tony Meagher got the winning goal.”

That said, Parker — whose memory for hockey details never fails to impress me — saw some parallels between the woes of yesteryear and today. “I think it was a lot of the same stuff,” Parker said. “We were sloppy in our own zone — playing pretty well and then giving up a big break. We didn’t get great goaltending early on — it wasn’t horrible goaltending — and all of a sudden it just took off.”

Regardless of whether the current team does serious damage in the months to come, Parker is bullish on the Terriers. “Sooner or later we’re going to get a win, and we’re a good team. I’ve maintained that all along. I like my team; I like all the ingredients we have. I think we’re going to score goals, and I think we’re going to get better defensively. We’re not doing either one of those things right now, but we’ve got enough to be a very good team.”

Between CSTV and CN8, I watched the better part of the Terriers’ pair of games in Ann Arbor last weekend — when I wasn’t channel surfing to catch UNH on NHPTV or the Red Sox. On Friday, I actually was wowed by BU’s skating and tenacity regardless of the score. They appeared to play a terrific game; they just couldn’t score and gave up a few fateful rushes. But Saturday they did not match that effort.

“I would say you’re correct on both counts,” Parker said. “I thought Friday night we played very well. I think what happened was we played really well and didn’t get a W, and guys came out down and flat the next night because they put in a real good effort and can’t win a game. So psychologically that had something to do with it; we were flat as hell.

“But to their credit, after getting blown out in the first two minutes and not touching the puck the first four or five minutes, we settled down and played hard for a while. But then we’re playing okay, putting in a good effort in a 2-1 game … and we give them a goal.”

Much has been said about whether Karson Gillespie or Brett Bennett would be the heir to the throne in goal following the graduation of John Curry. So far both have been good but not outstanding — not great enough to steal a close game, obviously. Are we any closer to determining the primary netminder?

“Not yet. I think it’s too early to make that decision. Neither one of these guys has played a lot of hockey in the last couple of years. Gillespie’s been sitting behind Curry for his entire career, so he’s only played one or two games each year. Bennett only played one game last year sitting behind Curry, and the year before that he missed two-thirds of the year at Ann Arbor [with the U.S. Under-18 team] because of an injury. So we need to get the cobwebs out and get in game shape and in a game frame of mind and we’ll see what happens. If somebody separates themselves fairly quickly, we’ll make a move, but it’s every other game for a while.”

Besides, goaltending has not been the Terriers’ biggest negative to date. They have ample talent, and freshmen Colin Wilson, Kevin Shattenkirk, Nick Bonino, and Colby Cohen obviously are big additions in terms of skill and poise. Wilson and Shattenkirk are already two of the team’s better power-play personnel. But the collective talent has only translated to 11 goals in five games thus far.

“We’re trying a few things differently on power plays; we’re trying a few things different in our zone, but in general we have stop squeezing sticks so tight,” Parker said. “One of the things I told them that I wanted them to do was that early on I thought we were trying to be too fine and overpassing the puck, so we were urging them to take some more shots. At the end of two periods on Friday at Michigan, we had attempted 57 shots to their 27, so we were trying to put pucks on the net and get things accomplished.”

With league games against Providence and Mass.-Lowell this week, BU has an opportunity to feel considerably better about themselves by beating two teams that are beatable without being pushovers by any means.

“I’m worried about their attitude more than ours,” Parker said, speaking of his team’s self-image in comparison to the perception of the Terrier coaching staff. “We had a meeting the other day and said, ‘Boys, the good news is that as far as I’m concerned we know you’re a better team than you do right now. It’ll come; don’t worry about it.’ So we’ll see what happens against Providence.”

U!N!H!

When I called Wildcat coach Dick Umile on Monday and asked him how he was doing, his answer was jovial. “It’s all based on the weekend. If you win, then Sunday and Monday are good days.”

During my channel surfing on Friday night, BU was all over Michigan in the first period. Meanwhile, Colorado College burst out of the gate to take a 3-1 lead against their all-too-hospitable hosts. I told Umile that by the end of the night I was wondering what the hell happened in both games.

“It’s a crazy game, isn’t it?” Umile said. “It was pretty wide open. They were pretty opportunistic, Colorado, in that first period. It was very wide open, and obviously it settled down after that. We did a better job of slowing them down, doing a little more forechecking. So it was a good weekend, good hockey. Both teams played well: good atmosphere.”

By the end of the weekend, the Wildcats were the owners of a sweep against a top ten team, making them 3-0-0 to start the season despite playing ranked teams in all three games.

“The most important thing is that defensively we’re competing hard,” Umile said. “That’s one thing we want to do is play harder off the puck. From the end of last season, I think it’s something we’re going to need to improve in. You try to get better at it every week, so that at the end of the season — the playoffs, the championships — you’re sound defensively and able to keep them out of the scoring area. I like the way that the team competed; I think we’re making progress in that area but we’ve got a ways to go, and I like the balance of the team.

“I think we have a little of everything: some physical presence, speed, transition, and we’ve got five freshmen playing up front for us. I thought our freshman line [of Phil DeSimone, Paul Thompson, and Danny Dries] did a good job. So there’s balance in our team, and goaltending and defense are our strength.”

The upshot is that UNH is now No. 4 in the nation, the highest ranking of any Hockey East team. “That’s okay — wherever,” Umile said. “You know how I feel about that. You want to be up there. It says a lot for the program and what you’ve accomplished. Especially after three games against BU and Colorado, we’ll take three wins any day. But there’s a long, long way to go.”

The next challenge will be a Northeastern team that is on the rise… and which also seems to play UNH tough, even in years when they’ve had less talent than they have now. Umile had nothing but kudos for NU coach Greg Cronin.

“Greg’s done a terrific job; he’s changed the whole attitude,” Umile said. “They’ve always been a tough physical team to play, up and down, but he’s recruited some good skill players. They’re well-coached, and they have a good goaltender. I talked to the North Dakota coaches, and they thought [Northeastern] played very, very well. I know that they lost two games to Maine, and that’s disappointing at the start of the season. But they’re a good program, and that’s the most interesting thing when you look at the preseason polls, where Northeastern was. I tell you what, we thought that they would be right up there knocking at the door and trying to bump somebody off that top bracket.”

Backup netminder Brian Foster looked very solid on Saturday with a 31-save effort in a 4-2 win over Colorado College. But Umile was not prepared to say whether we would see Foster again as soon as this weekend, given that he’s playing behind a potential All-American in Kevin Regan.

“I haven’t made that decision yet. We’ll go game by game here. I probably won’t want make that decision till the end of the week.”

Northeastern could really use a win, but UNH has no glaring weaknesses. It should be a good test for both teams.

Weekend Warriors

You can be sure that Dave Hendrickson didn’t bet his last doughnut on Merrimack starting the year with a 3-0 record. Granted, those wins came against CHA opponents, and, yes, the Warriors reverted to form by getting stomped by Boston College last Friday and swept with a loss at home on Sunday. Still, bear in mind that Merrimack took just three games to match last season’s total number of wins, as the program suffered through a 3-27-4 record last year.

“It’s funny: There were games last year where we may have played better and not won just because of our inability to score,” Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy said. “Scoring goals takes pressure off of every other facet of your game. It takes pressure off of your goaltending, and it’s obviously much easier to play with a lead than to come from behind. I think that’s been the difference where we’ve gone out and scored some goals, had some success.”

That said, playing a national contender like BC was a reality check. “As good as BC’s offense is, their defense is quite good too,” Dennehy said. “Their goaltender was quite good this weekend, which made it difficult to score, and that made it harder for us.”

Dennehy had an interesting analysis of his team’s 7-1 loss at BC on Friday night. “There’s a fine line between not giving your opponent any respect and giving them too much,” he said. “If you don’t respect an opponent like Boston College, they can run you over. But if you respect them too much, the same thing can happen. I think that was the case on Friday. We gave them too much space — sort of played it safe — and if you give good players time and space, they’ll make plays. That was Friday night in a nutshell.”

While the result was the same on Sunday in terms of failing to get the W, there was much reason for encouragement. The Warriors actually outshot BC by a 35-33 margin, including a 13-8 advantage in the first period and an 18-7 edge in the third.

“[On Sunday] we played more of our style of game,” Dennehy said. “We were in their face, up in the play. We shortened the rink on them. If the scoring chances were reversed, it might’ve been an ugly game. We had our chances; we just didn’t capitalize the way we had the week before. A lot of the credit goes to [BC freshman goalie] John Muse, who played pretty well.

“And then the other difference is the power play: They executed on their power play, whereas ours wasn’t very good. But the best part of this league is that you get to measure up against the best teams in the country. The good news is that we’re better than last year; the reality is that we still have a ways to go before were where we want to be.”

One early star has been freshman Francois Ouimet, plucked from obscurity as a star player in one of the less-scouted Canadian junior leagues.

“I’m not a genius, but it’s pretty easy to see when he has the puck as much as he has and what he can do with it that he can be a significant player,” Dennehy said. “We’ve been happy with Francois’ play — a little bit of a recruiting coup for us. We need to do that more and continue to bring in players of that caliber. Fraser Allen is another late recruit for us who’s arrived on campus and done a great job for us. You could argue that he’s been our best defenseman. He’s been playing in all situations. Our freshman class has chipped in; we’re still scraping off the rust of a few guys who’ve come back. I think we’ll only get better as the year goes on.”

Goaltenders Patrick Watson and Andrew Brathwaite have had their ups and downs thus far, but there’s no question that they still have room for improvement as well.

“I’m happy with the results for the most part, especially going into last weekend. Coming out is a little difference — obviously licking our wounds a little bit. The one thing that concerns me is that I don’t want to trade chances. We have the ability to score goals more than last year for sure, but at the end of the day I don’t think we want to be a run-and-gun team. It’s a little alarming that we’ve given up 30 shots a game. But I’m happy for the guys that we’ve got off to a good start; it’s a testament to their hard work.”

Trivia Contest

Dave has been too busy eating eclairs to come up with a trivia question thus far, so it’s high time that we get the competition rolling this season. In my usual sadistic fashion, I am going to give you a question without even knowing for sure what the best answer is.

Given that my last name means that I generally have been called last in school and anywhere else where the alphabet is utilized, I want to do justice to the end of the alphabet. So I am asking our loyal readers to give me a starting lineup — goalie, two defensemen, and three forwards — that would represent the players at those positions who are closest to the end of the alphabet in the history of Hockey East men’s hockey.

A few rules:

• You can only use a given last name once. If there were three former Hockey East players named, say, Zzywcyzk, you can only use one of them.

• The player needed to play for a Hockey East team when it actually was in Hockey East. So guys who played for that 1976-77 BU team — Dave Silk, for example — would not qualify.

• In terms of position eligibility for forwards and d-men — as well as for scouring the archives if so inclined — I would recommend that we defer to that most remarkable database, www.hockeydb.com.

If there is any justice in the world, the winner will be a guy who was a trivia winner last season: Kurt Zwald.

E-mail me with your answer. 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.

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

Tuesday the Red Sox held their parade. I talked to Jack Parker about it, and I agreed with his assessment that the 2007 Sox were more fun to root for than the 2004 Sox. It’s amazing how fast Dustin Pedroia has become a fan favorite. Even a student of mine who is an ardent Yankee fan admitted that he is a closet Pedroia fan. Most likely it’s because the average person can look at Pedroia and relate to him in stature and in terms of his somewhat modest physical gifts.

Yet the comeback of Jon Lester, the surprising poise of Jacoby Ellsbury, the improbable home run from Bobby Kielty, and the classy but quiet stardom of Mike Lowell gave us much to appreciate — especially in comparison to A-Rod and Scott Boras trying to upstage the series win with A-Rod’s announcement about not returning to the Yankees. I hope the Yanks stick to their guns and let the best player to never play in a World Series see if he can get a better deal elsewhere — not in Boston, I pray.

On the other hand, the USCHO e-mail list-serv has been full of USCHO staffers bemoaning how insufferable Sox fans have become. I am entirely sympathetic. There will always be bandwagon fans who love to root for teams on top. As someone who inexplicably adopted the San Diego Chargers as a favorite team at a very young age — I think it was the uniforms — I can’t relate.

I love rooting for underdogs. And I think that there are an awful lot of people who go to the Sox games just because it’s the thing to do. Hell, the one time I took my family this year, we squatted in some nice field boxes until the actual ticket holders arrived … in the bottom of the fifth inning! If you spend over $100 for a ticket and then miss half the game, you cannot be much of a baseball fan.

One other note for this week: As very few of you know — and probably even fewer actually care — my day job is working on the cooperative education faculty at Northeastern University, helping students find six-month, full-time jobs in their chosen fields.

As such, I have written a couple of books to help out young job seekers. My first and best-selling is called Find Your First Professional Job: A Guide For Co-ops, Interns, and Full-Time Job Seekers. The book teaches young professionals how to write resumes, interview strategically, and perform effectively once they are in a professional workplace. If you or someone you know could use such a book, you can only order the newest edition by going to this website.

This Week in the WCHA: Nov. 1, 2007

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Baby Steps

If we’re going by factual errors, I only had one last week — I mistakenly had Kyle Turris as a potential first-round draft pick when, in fact, he already was drafted. Oops. If we want to get technical about things, I was half-right — he was a first-round pick as in a third-overall type of first-round pick.

Thanks to Dwayne and Fan Forum poster icebadger for pointing that one out.

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

North Dakota’s T.J. Oshie was designated Red Baron WCHA (RBW) Offensive Player of the Week (PotW) for his hat trick Saturday night against Michigan Tech. Oshie also had 11 shots and a +1 rating during the weekend. Denver’s Tyler Ruegsegger and Minnesota’s Justin Bostrom were also nominated.

Minnesota State’s Mike Zacharias was the RBW Defensive PotW for stopping 52 of 54 shots to aid his Mavericks to a win and a tie over Alaska-Anchorage last weekend. The junior also earned his second career shutout on Saturday. Other players nominated were Tech’s Michael-Lee Teslak, the Sioux’s Jean-Philippe Lamoureux and St. Cloud’s Jase Weslosky.

Garrett Roe’s five points against Bemidji earned him RBW Rookie of the Week honors. The St. Cloud State forward had four points (2g, 2a) on Saturday and a tally on Friday as well as six shots on goal. Denver’s Tyler Bozak, Tech’s Bennett Royer, the Gophers’ Alex Kangas and Duluth’s Justin Fontaine were also nominated for the honor.

Keeping Up with the Pros: Wave Goodbye, Everybody! Edition

The people (all four of them who voted) were split on whether to keep this section or make it a monthly deal. Since I ultimately have control over what goes into this, I’m going to do a monthly update on the leading former WCHAer in each of the “main” pro leagues — NHL, AHL, ECHL, IHL and CHL.

Is that a fair compromise? If it isn’t, I suspect I’ll be hearing from someone any way …

NHL: Paul Stastny, Denver — 5-10-15, 15th overall.
AHL: Toby Petersen, Colorado College — 4-9-13, 3rd overall.
ECHL: Travis Morin, Minnesota State — 6-5-11, 2nd overall.
IHL: Cory Laylin, Minnesota — 3-1-4 and Tab Lardner, MTU — 1-3-4, t-8th overall.
CHL: Alex Leavitt, Wisconsin — 4-7-11, t-4th overall.

Also, for those of you who wondered why or how I missed a few players two weeks ago? The WCHA Yearbook came out this past weekend and it lists all former WCHA’ers in the National Hockey League. Last season alone, there were 95 WCHA alumni on NHL team player personnel lists. If we go back in the annals of history, we find that the total number of WCHAers in the NHL is a whopping 383.

Now you can see why I may have missed a player or two. That number itself may be off by one or two — there are so many players that the Yearbook had to use some tiny print.

While I don’t have the comparable numbers for this past season for any of the other conferences, I was going to compare the numbers of NHL alumni for 2005-06 between Hockey East (164) and the WCHA (366) since I have last year’s Yearbooks for both conferences. However, I realized that technically wasn’t fair since Hockey East is half as old as the WCHA. Former Terrier Jim Craig played in the NHL, but isn’t listed since Boston University was part of the ECAC in those days.

Hopefully at some point during the season I’ll be able to track down a CCHA Yearbook to compare the numbers that way to continue to prove that “Best Conference” tag.

Reader Mailbag

Geez, after all of you were so anxious to fire off some e-mails to me last week, I barely received anything this week. Check that — hardly anything except some people who had to rub it in about Tech’s 3-1 victory over the Sioux which I obviously didn’t predict. See the prediction sidebar for my thoughts on that.

Matchups By the Numbers

Voilà, mini series previews, just for you, the readers. Before you start clicking that “E-mail WCHA Writer” link down there at the bottom, this is a start. These may disappear completely or, more than likely, get more detailed as the season goes on. The goaltender stats may also not be the goaltender who has played the most games — that will undoubtedly change next time around.

No. 9 Colorado College at No. 2 North Dakota

Both teams fell in the polls this week — CC five spots and UND one — but of course, who cares about polls this early? The Tigers slipped thanks to a sweep at the hands of New Hampshire while the Fighting Sioux split with No. 13 Michigan Tech. Though both teams earned a victory in Grand Forks last season, the Sioux hold a 5-3-2 advantage over the Tigers at the new Ralph, a 77-18-5 overall advantage in Grand Forks and lead the overall series 127-73-9. However, CC holds the recent edge, going 11-5-2 in the last 18 games.

Top Scorers: CC — Jack Hillen (1-4-5). UND — Taylor Chorney (0-6-6).
Top Goaltenders: CC — Richard Bachman (3 gp, 2-1, 1.65 GAA, .943 sv%). UND — J-P Lamoureux (5 gp, 3-1-1, 0.43 GAA, .983 sv%).

No. 7 Denver at No. 8 Minnesota

Denver dropped one spot this week after a split with the Bulldogs, while Minnesota’s sweep of Ohio State earned it a two-spot jump. Looking at the all-time series, Minnesota holds the edge — 92-59-11 overall, 51-21-6 in Minnesota and 6-3-1 against the Pioneers in the last 10 games. The two teams did split at Mariucci Arena last season, though.

Top Scorers: DU — Brock Trotter (3-2-5) and Tyler Ruegsegger (2-3-5). UMN — Blake Wheeler (3-2-5).
Top Goaltenders: DU — Peter Mannino (6 gp, 4-2, 1.69 GAA, .922 sv%). UMN — Alex Kangas (1 gp, 1-0, 1.00 GAA, .970 sv%).

Alaska-Anchorage @ No. 19 St. Cloud State

The Seawolves dropped out of the polls this week — from 20th to third in the “receiving votes” category after tying and losing to Minnesota State. On the other side of the puck, St. Cloud State moved from fourth in “receiving votes” to 19th after a sweep of unranked Bemidji State. The Huskies lead the overall series 39-12-4, the series in St. Cloud 28-3-2 and have had the advantage over the last 10 games 7-3-0, winning the last four (all in St. Cloud). Moreover, the Seawolves have not yet won at the National Hockey Center, which opened in December 1989 (0-26-2).

Top Scorers: UAA — Josh Lunden (5-4-9). SCSU — Garrett Roe (5-5-10).
Top Goaltenders: UAA — Jon Olthuis (5 gp, 2-1-2, 2.53 GAA, .884 sv%). SCSU — Dan Dunn (1 gp, 1-0, 1.00 GAA, .972 sv%).

No. 13 Michigan Tech at No. 10 Wisconsin

Michigan Tech’s split with North Dakota bumped the Huskies up one spot while the Badgers moved up a spot despite their bye week. The Badgers lead the overall series 86-43-7 and have a 53-16-4 over the Huskies at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin also took last season’s series 3-2, but it came down to a meeting in the WCHA Final Five to do so. This is also Wisconsin’s WCHA opener and 10th opener against the Huskies.

Top Scorers: MTU — Malcolm Gwilliam (2-4-6). UW — Kyle Turris (5-7-12).
Top Goaltenders: MTU — Michael-Lee Teslak (4 gp, 2-1, 1.20 GAA, .948 sv%). UW — Scott Gudmandson (1 gp, 1-0, 2.01 GAA, .926 sv%).

Minnesota State @ Alabama-Huntsville

Neither team was ranked or received votes and it stays the same this week, though a reader did think the Mavericks should have least gotten a vote since they went 1-0-1 against the Seawolves (still receiving votes). The Chargers lead the overall series 19-13-4 and lead the Mavericks 13-7 at the Von Braun Center. However, Minnesota State has a slight edge in the last 10 games with a 5-2-3 record.

Top Scorers: MSU-M — Trevor Bruess (1-2-3). UAH — Josh Murray (3-1-4) and Tom Train (1-3-4).
Top Goaltenders: MSU-M — Mike Zacharias (4 gp, 1-1-1, 1.87 GAA, .933 sv%). UAH — Blake MacNicol (2 gp, 1-1, 3.51 GAA, .873 sv%).

No. 15 Minnesota-Duluth

The Bulldogs get a weekend off, after rising two spots in the polls thanks to a split against then-No. 6 Denver.

Top Scorer: MacGregor Sharp (2-3-5).
Top Goaltender: Alex Stalock (6 gp, 4-1-1, 1.64 GAA, .937 sv%).

This Week in the CCHA: Nov. 1, 2007

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It’s Alive! It’s Aliiiiiive!

Collectively, they are The Thing that Wouldn’t Die.

Tales of the Michigan Wolverines’ demise this season — or at least their descent to the realm of the mere mortals — seem a bit exaggerated. Picked in both the CCHA media and coaches preseason polls to finish fourth, the Wolverines are ranked third in the nation, having started 5-1-0.

In a home sweep of Boston University last weekend, the Wolverines outscored the Terriers 10-4, with seven of those goals coming from alleged rookies — you know, the kind of kids who wind up at Michigan and look like they’ve been playing college hockey for longer than two minutes, the kids Wolverine fans and coaches pray will stay longer than two seasons.

Three of Michigan’s four goals Friday were from youngsters. On the weekend, two newcomers — Max Pacioretty and Aaron Palushaj — netted their first collegiate goals.

One of the more welcome developments for Michigan this season is the steadier play of junior goaltender Billy Sauer. It was Sauer’s cool play that kept the Wolverines in Friday’s 4-2 win during the early going, when BU outshot UM 15-6 in the first period.

Said head coach Red Berenson, “Billy kept us in the game. If Billy hadn’t had a much better than average game, then we wouldn’t be talking about a victory. The whole game would have taken a different direction. He was the difference.”

In the second period, the phenomenal speed of freshman Matt Rust was the difference. After Rust stole the puck at the Michigan blue line, flew by a BU defender down the opposite way and scored five-hole on Brett Bennett, the momentum changed completely and the Wolverines dictated the tempo of the rest of the game. Rust scored two in that contest, including the third-period game-winner.

Back to Sauer, it’s important to note that he is just 19 years old, having come in as a 17-year-old freshman. His save percentage (.889) is another example of how statistics can be misleading, belying how much improved he is this season.

And with a team so young and allegedly inexperienced, maybe this is something to note, too: this season, junior defenseman Mark Mitera has already scored the second goal of his career, while his classmate, forward Danny Fardig, has notched his seventh. Mitera, of course, is an excellent defenseman but never an offensive threat and Fardig has always been a hard-working role-player on a team of stars … but goal scorers?

“We have a lot of players that can take advantage of their chances,” said Berenson after Saturday’s win. “It could be one or two players or lines one night, and then another two players or lines another night. I think we have four lines that have a chance of scoring.”

Is there anything scarier?

If Michigan gets guys like these to pitch in along with the players who are supposed to score — along with a steadier presence in net — I’m going to regret picking them to finish third, and everyone else in the league is going to keep wondering what it takes to bring this program back to Earth.

Dr. Jekyll Paging Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde?

The team that played Minnesota for the last 20 minutes Friday night — that’s the Ohio State team I want to see all season.

Down 2-0 going into the last period of play in their two-game set in Mariucci Arena, the Buckeyes utterly dominated every aspect of play in the third period, outshooting the Gophers 22-3 in the final 20, scoring one goal, and throwing everything they had at Minnesota goaltender Alex Kangas, who literally saved the game for UMN.

“If it wasn’t for Alex, Ohio State would have won the game,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia.

See? I don’t make this stuff up.

The Gophers looked like boys compared to OSU’s men in the third — something that, undoubtedly, could never have been claimed before in the history of humankind — as the Buckeyes possessed the puck in every imaginable way for over 17 of the 20 minutes of the period. They never stopped coming. They never seemed to stop for breath. Their passes were flawless, crisp, their reading of the ice nearly perfect, the chemistry and execution amazing … except, of course, where it counted, on the scoreboard.

“We play like that the rest of the year, I’ll be very, very happy,” said OSU head coach John Markell. “We did a pretty good job here for four and a half periods in a very difficult building.”

The Buckeyes are another team laden with rookie talent, although the newbies in Columbus are of a different variety than those in Ann Arbor. OSU’s “youngsters” run the gamut from 18-21 in age — senior forward Tom Fritsche is younger than freshman goaltender Dustin Carlson and his classmate, defenseman Erick Belanger — and the NHL cachet is a little higher among the Michigan freshmen, but half of OSU’s team is also new to the CCHA, giving the Buckeyes a fresher look and some much-needed enthusiasm.

In the end, it was an underrated senior, Kyle Hood, who scored his first of the season from classmate Tommy Goebel to give the Buckeyes their only goal of the game against Minnesota Friday, but freshman Peter Boyd had his second career goal Thursday, the only other OSU marker of the weekend.

And like the Wolverines, the Buckeyes are seeing much better play between the pipes this season, as sophomore Joseph Palmer (.896 SV%) has settled nicely into his starting role. It was Palmer who kept OSU in those games against Minnesota early in both games, before the Bucks had awakened to the fact that they can play.

Seniors and freshmen, slow starts and fast finishes, a Jekyll-and-Hyde team. Adding to this mix is what appears to be a real tentative nature in the opening periods of play, perhaps an apprehension about making mistakes or taking unnecessary penalties. Ironically, though, it’s when the Buckeyes get physical that their play gets good.

That Thin Veil Between …

… this and the other side, a.k.a. winning and losing, is something that the Northern Michigan Wildcats must feel on the verge of breaking through.

Northern may have just one win to its name this season, but the Wildcats have just completed two respectable consecutive weekends of hockey against two of the top teams in the country. NMU is 0-4 against Michigan State and Michigan in its last four games, but every one of those contests was close, with the last three being one-goal affairs.

Last weekend, the Wildcats lost 5-4 and 3-2 to the defending national champion Michigan State Spartans in Munn Arena, coming back from a substantial lead in each game to just this close.

After a 1-1 first period Friday, the Spartans opened a three-goal lead by the seven-minute mark in the second, and led 5-1 by the end of the stanza.

But two goals by sophomore Ray Kaunisto — two-thirds of his goal production from 41 games a season ago — and senior Tim Hartung’s first of the year made it a 5-4 game. Hartung’s goal and Kaunisto’s second (with the extra attacker) came in the final six minutes of play.

Saturday, the Wildcats were down 2-0 after one and never quit.

“I’m happy, but obviously not happy with the final result,” said NMU head coach Walt Kyle. “Our effort was great. We played hard.”

Last year, assistant head coach John Kyle told me that the ‘Cats wanted to take back their old moniker, The Hardest Working Team in College Hockey. Remember those days, with Roger Trudeau and Chris Gobert, and a host of guys only the Wildcat faithful remember?

Well, after taking it to Ohio State in the old Ice Arena during the first round of the CCHA playoffs last year and playing four close games against two of the top teams in the nation, I’m beginning to think that John Kyle is on to something.

Outworking opponents will be key to NMU rising above the bottom third of the CCHA standings this season. In 157 minutes, sophomore Derek Janzen has a respectable save percentage (.889), but his classmate Brian Stewart (.842 SV%) has seen the rest of the play.

On the other side of the puck, just four players — freshmen Jared Brown and Phil Fox, Kaunisto, and junior Nick Sirota — are responsible for 11 of NMU’s 13 total goals in six games so far this year.

A Punishing Trend

When these guys aren’t sitting in the penalty box, they play pretty well. Through their first three contests, the Bowling Green Falcons have outscored opponents 6-3 and are plus-18 as a team when they’re playing even strength.

In three contests, however, BGSU is 1-2-0, and has been outscored overall, 9-7.

“We’re still that team … searching for the confidence,” said BG head coach Scott Paluch. “It’s kind of a carry-over from last year. We didn’t win a lot of games down the stretch, but we were pretty good and the majority of those guys are back.”

With just three seniors on this year’s squad, including Derek Whitmore and his three goals in three games, the Falcons are young and promising. The key to turning the corner for this year’s Falcons, said Paluch, is getting “a string of wins.” The closest thing the Falcons had to a string of wins last season was the opening exhibition win against Windsor followed by a 2-1 overtime win over Connecticut to start the D-I season.

Staying out of the penalty box, playing in special teams as they do five-on-five, and improved consistency in net are reachable Falcon goals. “We’ve got to go through it,” said Paluch. “We’ve got to get to the point where we get to the point where we get a string of wins and get that confidence. We’ve got a group of guys who work hard and believe in each other.”

The net is looking up for BGSU, with junior Jimmy Spratt (.880 SV%) and freshman Nick Eno (.906 SV%) splitting time so far. Spratt has had “two good outings,” said Paluch. “Nick Eno jumped in and got us the win in RIT, and that was good. I can honestly say that in every game, our goalies have given us a chance.”

The Falcons will be missing sophomore forward Kai Kantola for three games. Kantola (1-2–3) was suspended by the CCHA for three games for checking junior Irish defenseman Luke Lucyk from behind at 16:13 in the first period of BG’s home 4-2 loss to Notre Dame Oct. 23.

“It turned out to be a pretty violent collision,” said Paluch, who said that the he was satisfied that the league had done its “due diligence” in reviewing the play. “We feel very comfortable with what the league did,” said Paluch. “It was clear that Kai was not trying to injure anybody, but it really turned out to be a pretty vicious hit. The best thing is that Luke was able to get up and continue playing and we feel great about that.”

This weekend, the Falcons are home-and-home against the Western Michigan Broncos, and Paluch said that his team already understands the importance of these games.

“Western’s starting their CCHA season and we’re a game into it, and already it feels like a playoff series. Both teams need some confidence. They forecheck hard, they come at you hard in the neutral zone … you’ve got to be ready to play.”

Just Plain Scary

In six games, the Miami RedHawks have outscored opponents 28-8, averaging 4.67 goals per contest (third in the country) and allowing just 1.33 (tie-second) for the second-best scoring margin in the country.

With their 6-0 start, the RedHawks also have the longest current unbeaten streak in the nation.

They’re doing this without Nate Davis, by the way. Remember him? He’s their leading scorer from a year ago, the guy who had 21 goals and the 21st-best points per game in the country last year.

So far this year, it’s guys like junior Justin Mercier (who?) with six goals in six games, a pair of rookies — Carter Camper and Tommy Wingels, who have the two funnest names in the league — have seven goals between them, and The Great Instigator, senior Ryan Jones, with four goals who lead the RedHawk charge. Throw junior Alec Martinez and senior Nino Musitelli into the mix, and you have six Miami players who have already tallied two or more goals.

(When did Nino Musitelli become a senior? How does that happen? And when did he get 26 penalty minutes?)

But it’s not just scoring that makes Miami so scary; it’s the whole package. It certainly helps that junior Jeff Zatkoff (5-0-0, .951 SV%) is off to a roaring good start.

This 6-0-0 start is the second such beginning in school history, but looking back to the last time — as we saw last week — is not such an encouraging thing to do. The last time the RedHawks began the season 6-0-0 was in 1997-98, when they finished 19-14-4 overall and fifth in the CCHA.

“I Got a Rock”

Last weekend, the RedHawks beat the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks twice in Steve Cady Arena, their third consecutive sweep of UNO in three straight series. It was a tough weekend for the Mavericks, who allowed five goals total in the final five minutes of each game.

In Friday’s 7-2 loss, it was a 4-2 game with five minutes left in regulation. Carter Camper scored at 15:07, followed by Charley Fetzer at 17:17, and Brian Kaufman at 18:47. Jeremie Dupont gave up seven goals on 24 shots.

Saturday, the RedHawks netted two in the final minute of play. It was Camper at 19:00, and Gary Steffes with the empty-netter at 19:21. The score was 3-2 until Carter’s game; the ‘Hawks won 5-2. This time, it was Jerad Kaufmann giving up four goals on 32 shots.

By all accounts, Saturday’s game was a rough one. Miami head coach Enrico Blasi called it “intense,” and Maverick Dan Charleston said that his team “came together” as a result of the series and “fought through a lot of adversity.”

Adversity. That is rough. How rough? UNO’s Jeric Agosta received five minutes and a game misconduct for hitting from behind, Maverick Brandon Scero earned 10 minutes, and RedHawk Alexandre Lacombe earned a 10-minute major as well — all in the first period.

“I thought our guys did a great job of killing penalties,” said UNO head coach Mike Kemp. “When you get that much time on the power play, I think our guys did a great job, especially on the five-on-threes.”

Kemp also said that he wishes the game had been rougher. “I didn’t think it was all that rough, to be honest. Take a look at the calls.”

In all, there were 23 penalties called for 84 minutes.

Headless No More

It took a while, but the Alaska Nanooks have finally announced their 2007-08 captains: seniors Aaron Lee and Wylie Rogers, and junior Tyler Eckford.

Rogers is the first Nanooks goaltender in 17 years to be named captain.

I still remember the first time I met Rogers when the Nanooks played Ohio State in 2004. It was Thursday, Dec. 2, and the Nanooks were there to practice. Like a lot of freshmen who haven’t seen many rinks like the Schottenstein Center, Rogers was walking around the place with a big grin on his face, eager to take the ice.

I was struck by his curly red hair, his baby face, and very friendly demeanor — and by the way he played. Rogers had 59 saves in two losses, and did everything he could to keep UA (then UAF) in those games.

Captain Rogers. Couldn’t happen to a nicer, red-haired, baby-faced, not-so-little kid.

The Secret to Immortality

The secret to immortality is to play in Alaska. Just ask Michigan State goaltender Jeff Lerg, who stands to tie MSU’s record for consecutive goalie starts (60) this weekend against the Nanooks.

“That means I have to play in Alaska,” said the junior whose save percentage (.878) is deceptive after a 6-0 loss to start the season against North Dakota three weeks ago.

“It is really just a nice compliment, obviously, from the coaching staff and everyone here to put that much confidence in me,” said Lerg, “to keep playing me on a consistent basis.”

This is the asthmatic who has had to struggle to overcome not only illness but the (obviously mistaken) notion that a goalie short in stature can’t win games.

The Strange Dominance of the Western Menace

While John Markell and OSU fans may have been able to take something positive out of the Buckeyes’ series in Minnesota, two losses are, well, two losses.

Already this season, the WCHA owns the CCHA, with the CCHA’s record standing at 3-10-1 in a remarkable 14 games (through three weeks!) between the two conferences.

Unreality

I got to watch two CCHA teams play nonconference games last Friday, on different cable channels, from the comfort of my own home.

Chris Kunitz has an NHL championship ring, the Spartans won the NCAA title and the Boston Red Sox have captured their second World Series in four years.

Daddy, does this mean I’ll finally get that pony?

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