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2007-08 Elmira Season Preview

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The Elmira Soaring Eagles have been stuck in a rut the last two seasons. They start slow, look like they are about to fold their proverbial tents, and then get on a roll in January to save the season.

For months now, head coach Tim Ceglarski has been wracking his brain to put in place the mechanisms to gain a quicker start this season.

“We have tried a bunch of different things,” said Ceglarski. “We have changed the way we approach things. We let our captains get on the ice earlier with our recruited guys, rather than waiting until after tryouts and selections have been made, to get the guys together sooner. We have tried to do a lot more teaching of systems earlier on to get our guys into the fold quicker. We are spending a lot more time educating our guys on the teams we play and the systems they use.”

Opening the season with a home and home against defending national champion Oswego certainly won’t make a quick start easy for Elmira. But an influx of new players might.

In the tight confines of the Thunderdomes, defense is key, and defensemen who can handle the puck through a quick transition are even more valued.
Joining Elmira this year are two freshmen from Europe who played together last season for the Bradford Rattlers (GJMHL), Karl Linden and Sebastian Gulder.

“I think Karl [Linden] is going to do great things for us,” said Ceglarski. “He is a very skilled European style defenseman who plays sound defensively, but can move the puck as well as anyone I have seen and has a knack for offense as well.”

“His partner, Sebastian [Gulder], is more of a stay at home physical defenseman,” continued Ceglarski. “He moves the puck extremely well and can shoot it pretty hard too.”

At the end of last season, goaltending was also a question for Elmira. Raphael Cundari began last year as the de facto starter, but lost the job mid-season to then freshman Casey Tuttle. But Tuttle was severely injured in the ECAC West Quarterfinal game against Hobart and has spent all summer recuperating.

Just in case, coach Ceglarski recruited two new goaltenders and appears to have struck gold. Cundari failed to make it through team tryouts, so Casey Tuttle will be the go-to guy backed up by freshmen Kevin Bolin and Rob Kunka.

“There is no question in our mind that Casey Tuttle is our guy,” said Ceglarski.

“He is very sound, looking great in practice, and hopefully he will carry the workload for us.”

Elmira returns its top three lines almost intact, but will also look to five new freshmen forwards to generate the needed offense.

One newcomer is Rick Shrank, who “is a big power forward who does everything well. He skates well, hits hard, can shoot the puck a ton. He is probably going to jump right up on our first line with Michael Richard and Rusty Masters our first weekend,” according to Ceglarski.

Solid play in the defensive zone, combined with a rejuvenated offense, will be key to Elmira getting off to a quicker start this season.

2007-08 Lebanon Valley Season Preview

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By almost all standards, last season was an unmitigated disaster for the Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchmen. The team only won two games and tied another all season. Al MacCormack, the only coach they had ever known, was forced out in December. And the team itself was almost wiped out by an administration review in late February.

But a positive outcome from the review and the hiring of former assistant Ted Russell as the new head coach in March has breathed new hope into the program.

“The main thing the coaching staff sees right now is that we are getting support from everyone at the college, that starts most importantly with the president,” said Russell. “He has had a big hand in such simple things as designing new home and away jerseys. We are getting ourselves in the community a lot more, and are getting support from the college, the community and from those who haven’t supported the program before.”

Perhaps the most important ingredient to turning around the fortunes of Lebanon Valley is changing the mindset. Hard work, positive attitude, and character will all be necessary for the long road ahead.

“It is a process that will take some time,” Russell said. “The people in the hockey world understand that as well. I’m a big believer in work ethic. I’m looking for players who can never be outworked. Those components will make a team successful.”

Russell was hired early enough last spring to be able to firm up recruits initially pursued by former coach Al MacCormack and interim coach Howard Hutton.

“There were a couple of kids that I had a hand in picking,” said Russell. “The kids that MacCormack and Hutton recruited still needed to be committed to the school. We got nine good freshmen that as a coaching staff we are very happy with. They are good character kids, and that is what we need for this class and next year’s class to turn the program in a different direction.”

Changing the direction of the team, and trying to regain some of the glory the Flying Dutchmen enjoyed in the old ECAC Northeast days, will indeed take time. Perhaps the first sign of that turnaround will be an increased level of competitiveness, both inside and outside the league. Keep a close eye on Lebanon Valley this season for signs of renewed life.

“The ECAC West, that is our biggest challenge,” said Russell. “This is a process. We aren’t expecting a lot of great things this year, but we will be competitive. That is something that we will pride ourselves on. That is definitely a step.”

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Oct. 25, 2007

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There’s a shocker; Clarkson is on top of the standings.

But for a real surprise, Quinnipiac scored twice as many goals — 10 — in its shutout exhibition win than it has in three games of NCAA competition since. The Big Red hope the same affliction doesn’t hit their squad, after an 8-0 win over Ottawa last weekend.

But that’s enough from me. Let’s hear some news from those who are really in the know.

O Canada

Many ECAC Hockey players got to ditch their practice jerseys for the first time in customary fashion, by taking on a visiting Canadian varsity side. And, in keeping with tradition, the northern guests took a beating.

The maple-leafers went 0-6-2 against the league this year, with two more tilts to go (both involving Ontario Institute of Technology, in the upcoming Shootout at Ingalls). Trois-Rivieres (les Patriotes, in case you missed them) may have proven themselves to be more trouble than they’re worth, scoring ties with Cornell (0-0) and Union (2-2), sandwiching a 5-3 loss to Princeton.

The Tigers and the Big Red are the only teams to play two games with the Canadians this season; the Red took out their residual frustration on Ottawa the evening following the scoreless draw, as previously noted.

Cornell Feeling Feisty

Answer: Mike Schafer and Olivia Newton-John.

Question: Who really wants to get physical?

For the sake of the children, please refrain from cueing that abomination up on your iPod.

The Big Red bench-master is emphasizing a return to strong, aggressive, physical play this season, after what he assessed as a far-too-passive campaign last season.

“Our kids understand what kind of team we need to be,” Schafer said. “I want our team to make sure that the other team is uncomfortable as the game goes on: taking the body, playing hard at all times.” Last year’s team failed to do that, and seemed to soften as the clock ticked down, he said.

So far, his charges seem to be getting the message.

“We were more physical last weekend than in any game last season,” he stated affirmatively.

While the process of building an aggressive, high-pressure team begins with recruiting, it’s also borne of energy and momentum within each individual game.

“Hitting is contagious,” the coach said.

But don’t you fear, Ithaca. Bring all the cowbell you like … it won’t cure the physical fever that doesn’t want healing.

One-Hour Weekends

Cornell, Dartmouth and Quinnipiac each play only one game this weekend — a situation that is common early in the season, but becomes less and less likely as the fall fades into winter. St. Lawrence and Clarkson have each had two of those 60-minute weekends already … both consisting of single games against each other, ironically. Is there a discernable difference in how teams gear up and engage in two-point weekends, from how they play with a pair to look forward to?

The answer is emphatically yes.

Coaches pointed out how a one-game week allows for total preparation for a single opponent. While most practices involve working for the upcoming game, two-game sets mean that — as one coach put it — “in the back of your mind, you’re always trying to throw things in anticipation of the second game.”

Joe Marsh at St. Lawrence believes that he uses all four lines more often than most other coaches, but with a meager two points at stake in a week, such a coach feels more confident in rolling a top-heavy lineup.

Dartmouth’s Bob Gaudet doesn’t think that players should play any more recklessly or passionately if they’re only playing once that weekend — “coaches always want top-energy every game,” he said — but he also allowed that the reassurance of a full week of rest after the contest might lead some players to play with that extra edge.

Looking at current schedules, teams that are only playing once over a weekend are more often than not taking on another one-game-weekend opponent. From a purely theoretical point of view, it’s a bit of a shame; the chance to see little American International warm up all week for one game against a heavily-favored North Dakota, for example, might result in more excitement than you’d otherwise expect.

Ah well, maybe some day. But ’til then, at least we have this game.

Cup Crazy

The Governor’s Cup is back again, just as the participants are beginning to gel. The Empire State quartet of Rensselaer, Colgate, Union, and St. Lawrence descend on Albany in what each hopes will be some early-season success in a late-season venue.

“It’s a chance to play some different guys, but it’s also about saying to them, ‘hey guys, it’s Albany; take a good look,'” and maybe you’ll reacquaint yourself in March, said SLU’s Marsh.

For Union coach Nate Leaman, it’s about “playing our rival in a big venue. It gets the blood boiling, gets the hair up on the back of your neck,” as the Dutch gear up for RPI in round one.

The ‘Tute took home the title last season, while Union brought up the rear. The Saints subbed in for last year’s third-place finisher, Quinnipiac, and Colgate attempts to prove that it’s once again a force to be reckoned with in the ECAC.

And as if you need any further encouragement to check out this four-way battle royale … the forecast shows not a trace of the blustery weather that diminished attendance last fall.

Wherefore Art Thou, Goon?

In pro hockey — notably the NHL — there are players who exist solely to get under the skin of the opposition. Chris Neil in Ottawa. Sean Avery with the Rangers. Donald Brashear, George Parros (former Princeton Tiger), Colton Orr, Shawn Thornton. There are whole lines of them, called “enforcer lines” … or at least, that’s what they’re called in all the video games.

Is there such a thing as an “enforcer” or a “goon” in college hockey?

The general consensus is that we won’t see such things at Mariucci, Yost, Lynah or Agganis, but there are collegiate counterparts.

“There are no ‘enforcer’ lines,” said Union’s Leaman, “but you have lines that can create energy.”

Leaman cited the recently departed Jake Schwan as an “energy player,” along with former player Glen Sanders (“really a fourth-line center, but he had outstanding speed,”) and current charges Justin Pallos, Sam Bowles and Jason Shaffer

Guy Gadowsky said “there is no physical intimidation [factor] in college hockey,” but agreed that “lines can have different roles. Sometimes lines will develop their own roles” apart from those expected of them by the coaching staff, added the Princeton head coach.

Snapshots

• Don’t expect to see Schafer force-feed his team the one-goalie system. He said that he’s not afraid to roll two goaltenders for as long as the arrangement is achieving results.

• Sophomore forward Travis Vermeulen is still out for the Saints, after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery last week. Described by his coach as a “very dependable player,” Vermeulen is questionable for next week.

• Matt Generous is likewise dressing in civvies this weekend after re-aggravating a shoulder injury. Marsh said the third-year blueliner would likely be out for “a couple weeks”.

• Sophomore forward Peter Boldt is a scratch for Dartmouth this weekend for an undisclosed injury. Gaudet expects him to be available sometime next month. John Gibson, however, is sidelined “until post-Christmas,” said the coach, with the dreaded Lower Body Injury. The junior defenseman played in 54 games for the Big Green in his first two seasons.

• Leaman confirmed that senior sniper Josh Coyle is still hurt, and is bordering on doubtful for the Gov’s Cup.

• Gadowsky initially indicated that sophomore goalie Zane Kalemba would start Friday’s game at Yale’s Shootout at Ingalls, but later stated that he’d “like to see all goalies get some action.”

2007-08 Utica Season Preview

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If you live in Utica, NY, the place to be on a Friday or Saturday night is at the Aud for a Utica College hockey game. The Pioneers led the D-III nation last year in attendance, packing 25,291 fans into their venerable rink over the course of twelve games. That average per game (2,107) exceeded attendance of 21 Division-I programs as well.

It is the culmination of a goal that coach Gary Heenan and the team have been building towards for several years.

“It is something that has steadily increased since our inception, and last year became an off-the-ice goal of ours,” said Heenan. “We keyed on some promotional things and getting the community involved in some events. We are very proud of that, and will look to improve on that again this season.”

An important part of the equation has been success on the ice. The Pioneers have always excelled defensively, in the standings, and are one of only two ECAC West teams to have made the playoffs each of the last four years (Manhattanville is the other).

However, the Pioneers have repeatedly fallen a goal short in the playoffs and that is something that Utica is intent on fixing this season.

“It is offense,” said Heenan. “In the six years that we have been around, offensively we haven’t been a huge juggernaut by any stretch of the imagination. That is where we have suffered. We have never been a team to put in a ton of pucks. We’ve always been top of the league in defensive play and penalty kill. We need to focus in on getting the power play going and capitalizing on more chances to get more offense out of our team.”

A key to helping the offense lies in the 20 returning players and the addition of five freshmen skaters.

“It is a unique class from all over the place,” said Heenan. “There are some guys with some very good junior hockey numbers, so we are optimistic for some production from them.”

Four forwards — Sean Timkey, Nathan Brummitt, Nick Kulas, and Sean Farley — join the team, each of whom put up solid numbers last season. The lone addition on defense, Kregg Guestin, also will be looked at to add to the mix.

“Guestin is a great skater, can move the puck well, and has a bit of an offensive flair to him,” added Heenan.

However, there were also three players from last year’s team that played significant minutes but failed to return to the team this season and will be missed for their contributions.

“We had three no shows, Brandon Laidlaw (8-8-16), Scott Phelps (3-5-8), and Zach Gieszler (1-3-4),” said Heenan. “It was a bit of a surprise. All three did well here academically and played significant minutes for us, so we expected to get them back but for whatever reason they decided to go a different way.”

Utica is a solid hockey town, and the Pioneers hope to whip the community into a frenzy this season by putting up big offensive numbers.

“We are in a unique situation here, and are privileged to play in a city that really values the product we are putting on the ice,” said Heenan. “Friday night in Utica means going to a Utica College hockey game. That is a great place to be. Our players feed off that energy in the building.”

Ten Years And Counting

By Terese Karmel
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Laura Slominski remembers precisely when women’s hockey came to Minnesota.

That was in 1995 and Slominski was in the eighth grade. Two years later, women’s hockey skated its way into the collegiate ranks when the University of Minnesota started a program.

Slominski played four years as a Golden Gopher, from 1998-2002, and is now an assistant coach — her dream job at her dream school.

She was a member of the 2000 national championship team that defeated Brown in the final, the first of three the Golden Gophers were to earn in six seasons. Minnesota defeated Harvard in 2004 and 2005 in the finals. Only Duluth, another power in the WCHA, also has three national championships.

2005 Patty Kazmaier winner Krissy Wendell (foreground) is among the stars of the Gopher women's decade of success (photo: Tim McDonald).

2005 Patty Kazmaier winner Krissy Wendell (foreground) is among the stars of the Gopher women’s decade of success (photo: Tim McDonald).

She will be among the alumni honored when the Golden Gophers celebrate a decade of excellence, the slogan they’ve coined to mark the alumni game, dinner, reception and other events this weekend.

It is a weekend to celebrate the past — with the resignation of former 10-year-head coach Laura Halldorson — and to officially welcome the heir apparent, interim head coach Brad Frost, who worked as Halldorson’s assistant and associate head coach for seven years. The school says it intends to do a full-fledged national search after the 2007-08 season — Halldorson’s August resignation caught them by surprise — and though it would appear Frost is auditioning for the job, he’s not concerned.

“I’m more excited about the opportunity to be able to be head coach than feeling the pressure, he said. “The bar here has been set really high and I plan to continue that. I’ve been preparing for it for seven years so it seems like a natural fit. This is my dream job and I certainly want to continue in it.”

In fact, whenever anyone speaks of Minnesota, past or present player or coach, it’s about the history of success.

“I’m very proud of our tradition over the past 10 years,” said Slominski, who coached at St. Cloud State University and St. Olaf College before joining the Minnesota staff two seasons ago and returning to “where I wanted to be all along.” Her experiences at other schools helped prepare her transition to the powerful Division I school.

“I grew up watching men’s hockey, she said, referring to her brother and his high school teams (he played hockey at Notre Dame for a year ). “When girls hockey came in 1995, the timing couldn’t have been better,” she said. Although she looked at Yale University, UNH — the defending national champion her senior year at Burnsville High School — and Northeastern, “and there was a lot there, when it came down to it I’m a Minnesota kid and I just wanted to play here.”

That she did with distinction, leading her team to the national championship, being named one of the 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2002 and being among the nation’s top players her entire four years at Minnesota. (In 2005, Minnesota’s Krissy Wendell won the award; most years the Golden Gophers have had finalists for it.)

She both played and coached under Halldorson, who resigned because, in her own words, “I felt the time was right. I felt good about the program — that it was in good hands,” she said alluding to Frost.

“The bottom line is that I had done my thing coaching for 20 years and I felt I needed to be doing other things,” Halldorson said.

The most current “other thing” for Halldorson is planning this weekend’s 10th anniversary celebration. From the smallest details to the slogan etched in the ice, printed on programs and signs to rounding up 36 former players, including past Olympians and all-Americans, Halldorson is embarked on a labor of love.

After notifying everyone of the event, the banquet room at the Radisson-Metrodome quickly filled up and they had to find space for an “overflow dinner,” Halldorson said. More than 250 people are expected at the banquet, including the members of the current team.

“It’s important for them to see the history and traditions of the past,” said Halldorson. Four teams, the 1997 inaugural team and the 2000, 2004, and 2005 national championship squads, will be cited for special recognition.

Of all of her accomplishments, Halldorson said she’s most proud of the fact that every woman who has played four years at Minnesota has a championship ring. The team has now been to five consecutive Final Fours.

Frost knows of the tradition and expectations behind the program. This weekend the Gophers play Minnesota-Duluth (6-0-1) twice, a tough in-state and conference rival, currently in first place in the league. The Golden Gophers are 3-2-1, having split at Ohio State last weekend in a pair of games they were expected to win. The other loss was to St. Cloud State, which they also tied.

The Golden Gophers have outshot their opponents in all of their games; overall they hold a 170-106 edge in shots, but haven’t finished enough to defeat them.

“We’re doing some things really well,” said Frost. “Right now we’re it he midst of a really tough stretch,” he said including four games with Minnesota-Duluth in the next four weeks. He said the offense has been pretty solid in putting the puck in the net. “It seems like we have control of the puck and then the other team gets it and puts it in the net. Everyone needs to do a little better job in the defensive zone,” he said.

Frost said the Gophers are still the same offensive-minded team they were during Halldorson’s reign. “We still like to go up and down the rink,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’ve been giving up too many goals.” The team has made and given up 15 goals in six games.

Senior Bobbi Ross also spoke of the tradition when she thought about the coming weekend. The current team will attend the banquet so that they have a chance to connect with the past.

“It’s a crazy tradition that raises the expectations of everyone,” Ross said. “I still feel new to it when I consider all of the people who came before. But I know I will find my place in it someday.”

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Oct. 23

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown
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Welcome to Tuesday Morning Quarterback, USCHO.com’s freeform debate about the week that was in college hockey. Every Tuesday in this space, Jim Connelly, representing the East, and Scott Brown, representing the West, will discuss the issues of the day, trade barbs, make indefensible claims about their teams and leagues and generally rant about the things that make college hockey great.

Jim: Well, Scott, some of the top teams notched their first losses of the season this weekend, but none really came as a major surprise. Denver and Notre Dame split their series, which Ohio State followed script with a loss to No. 2 Miami. If there really were any surprises among the top teams this weekend it was Boston College, which followed up Friday’s fog-abbreviated tie with No. 1 North Dakota with another stalemate against Vermont. I guess looking over the entire slate of games, the one that really raises my eyebrow is Air Force’s sweep of Quinnipiac. Which leads me to the question: Is Air Force that good or did Quinnipiac really nosedive from last season’s runner-up finish at the ECACHL tournament?

Scott: Jim, I agree on last weekend’s results. I have to confess to being a bit of a fan of both Quinnipiac and Air Force (heresy coming from the West guy, I know). I always liked the Bobcats in their Atlantic Hockey days, and their accession to the ECACHL was a plus for that league. And I always like the service academies, and Air Force in particular earned a lot of respect last year in its NCAA regional against Minnesota. QU’s biggest loss during the offseason was Reid Cashman, but the Bobcats still looked to be set going into 2007-08, so this is definitely a surprise — but we might have to wait for more evidence to be sure how big an upset these games were. I still like Quinnipiac, and I think the team will be okay. Speaking of Atlantic Hockey, how about Holy Cross beating Providence in a 6-4 slugfest? Is the AHA making a move on the rest of college hockey?

Air Force netminder Andrew Volkening permitted Quinnipiac just two goals last weekend (photo: Angelo Lisuzzo).

Air Force netminder Andrew Volkening permitted Quinnipiac just two goals last weekend (photo: Angelo Lisuzzo).

Jim: Having covered Atlantic Hockey (and its predecessor, the MAAC) for so many years, the league holds a special place in this hockey writer’s heart. But truth be told, I’m not sure I’m willing after a couple of weeks of inter-league action to say it is “making a move” on college hockey. Games are getting closer when Atlantic Hockey teams play outside their conference, but the league still posted an anemic 3-17-1 record in non-conference action over the first two weekends. If there’s any conference I have to bow to, it’s the WCHA (talk about heresy — I think we both have fevers today). The west’s senior circuit went 15-3-4 in its first two weeks of non-league action. To me, that’s just impressive.

Scott: That’s a double thumbs-up for the WCHA, a strange matter indeed. And even though it’s way, way too early to start talking like this, I’ll do it anyway — those non-league wins will look mighty pretty when the PairWise Rankings debut in January. Wisconsin, in particular, made a bit of a statement by dominating Robert Morris, a team coming off two pretty good performances the previous weekend. Checking our stats page, Badger freshman Kyle Turris sports quite the line: 5-7–12 in four games. With Turris taken third overall in 2007’s NHL draft, that raises the question: how long can we expect to see talent like this stay in college, and is our sport going the way of college basketball, where players have a cup of coffee in the NCAA and then bolt for the pro ranks?

Jim: There’s no doubt in my mind that hockey is slowly going the way of basketball, though for different reasons. Hockey allows its players to be drafted before or while attending college, something basketball does not. But top prospects have become major targets for NHL teams who would rather send a kid to the AHL and have him play an 82-game schedule than leave him in college. For the kids, too, I can’t blame them for leaving early. If you’re a top prospect, it’s better to head to the pros than risk remaining one more season in college and run the risk of injury. There is insurance in the pro game that will cover a player should he suffer a career-ending injury, while if the same injury happens in college, all of those pro dollars are out the window. And that’s just talking sensible — to say nothing of the glitz and glamour of the pro game that attracts these young kids.

Scott: On to more mundane matters — Friday’s game between Boston College and North Dakota should have been a showcase between two of the nation’s top teams, but I’m guessing a lot of fans left Chestnut Hill that evening a little disappointed, not because of what happened on the ice, but because of what was happening just above it. I’m talking about the Fog Bowl, of course, and it’s not like this is the first time this has happened. What gives in Beantown?

Jim: I’ve covered the BC beat for nearly a decade but will not pull punches when I say this is a disgrace. Boston College is a big-time Division I school. Its overall athletics operating budget is likely more than the majority of the other Hockey East schools combined. Conte Forum is an “old” building by today’s standards — it was build in the late 1980s — but for the most part it has to be considered one of the better arenas in the nation. For three straight years — two years ago in exhibition and last year against Boston University — BC has had to stop games because of the humidity inside the barn. When you have millions upon millions of dollars in your operating budget, when you have big-time sponsors and alums lining the coffers, you need to have an air conditioning system inside your arena. If I’m Hockey East head honcho Joe Bertagna, or the NCAA for that matter, I’d be making BC play its entire October, November and December (yes, it was December last year when this same problem occurred) schedule on the road.

Scott: It’s hard to find a counterargument to your points. It is strange that a school with ample financial resources — much of which are used on hockey in other ways — would be so lacking in terms of what appears to be a basic facility issue. Perhaps this can be a wake-up call for needed changes; I’m reminded of the improvements that were made at Ohio State, another big-time sports school, under then-director of athletics Andy Geiger, a great friend of the game by any measure. Anyway, that’s all the space and time we have for now. Until next week …

North Dakota, Miami Again One-Two In USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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North Dakota remained unbeaten over the weekend, giving the Fighting Sioux another week atop the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll, released Monday. UND received 42 of 50 first-place votes to handily retain the No. 1 spot in the rankings after a climate-shortened tie with Boston College and a win over Northeastern.

Miami, which swept Ohio State over the weekend, remained in second place but picked up a few more first-place nods, with seven this week. The RedHawks were followed by Michigan, which moved up three places to third after a sweep of Northern Michigan.

Colorado College, which earned two wins over then-No. 3 Minnesota, leaped into the fourth position from 10th, and BC, which tied Vermont as well as UND over the weekend, fell one place to No. 5.

Denver, which split with Notre Dame Thursday and Friday, slipped one notch to sixth, with New Hampshire easing up to No. 7 after winning its season opener against Boston University.

Michigan State took two from Colgate to finish eighth, and Clarkson beat St. Lawrence in overtime but still fell two places as the Golden Knights were leapfrogged by CC and MSU. Minnesota finished down at No. 10 after its losses in Colorado.

Wisconsin, with two decisive wins over Robert Morris, moved up to No. 11, with Notre Dame right behind the Badgers in 12th. Maine, which swept Mercyhurst, was up four spots to No. 13 and Michigan Tech used a sweep of Minnesota State to vault into the rankings in 14th. At No. 15 was SLU, holding its ground despite the loss to Clarkson.

Massachusetts moved up four places to No. 16 after tying Massachusetts-Lowell and beating Connecticut, while Minnesota-Duluth was another entrant to the rankings at No. 17 with a sweep of St. Cloud State. Idle Cornell edged up to No. 18, with Ohio State falling seven positions to 19th and Alaska-Anchorage entering the poll at No. 20 after sweeping Alaska.

Dropping out since last week were Quinnipiac, SCSU and BU.

Putting Myself In Their Skates

By Ruben Leavitt
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I walked into the Read Athletic Center about as nervous as I was for my very first hockey practice when I was eight years old — it was at 6 a.m. and I kept my dad up all night with my nervous chatter because I could not possibly sleep with all the adrenaline pumping through me.

This time it would be my first practice with a Division I hockey team, and I had not put on my skates for approximately a year.

“Don’t worry, we’ll knock the rust right off of ya,” Scott Wiley assured me in his office an hour before ice time.

Wiley is the head coach of Colgate’s women’s ice hockey team. He and I have had a great working relationship since I came to Colgate and have worked together on various projects for CUTV, including the “A Day in the Life” feature that we filmed over the course of a weekend road trip last season with the team. A couple of months ago we agreed that one really cannot understand what it is like to be on the team unless one actually is on the team, if only for one practice.

So yes, my first Division I college hockey experience would be as a women’s hockey player. “How bad could this really be?” I kept asking myself as I strapped on my equipment. I was no slouch a few years ago when I was at the peak of my hockey career — I captained my high school team to the state championships, captained the Long Island VYTRA All-Star Team to a championship, and was among the league scoring leaders — this surely could not be so hard.

Wiley was extremely accommodating during the hour before practice started. He was kind enough to get me some laces, tape, and a grey practice jersey, and asked several times if I needed anything more. He also asked if I was nervous, to which I coolly responded that I had participated in hockey practices countless times.

“Not like this, you haven’t,” he said.

On my first turn for one of the warm-up drills I was reminded of that quintessential line from D2: The Mighty Ducks delivered by Lester Averman in response to Coach Bombay’s incredulous question as to whether the Ducks had practiced during the off-season — “You know, I knew we forgot something.”

I took a nosedive on the very first opportunity I had to show my stuff with everybody watching. I got shut down by Clancy Todd, Kiira Dosdall, and the rest of the Colgate defense on every one-on-one drill. I had certainly forgotten to train for this experience during the offseason, and I paid dearly for it.

So much for men being the stronger sex — every one of the women had a harder slapshot than mine, and I could barely keep up with my group for the conditioning drills. There was a rapid pace to each of the drills the likes of which I had never experienced before. All the players were so in tune with each other that they did not even require a whistle to regulate the drills.

Practice started with some full-ice odd-man rush drills, then transition, forechecking/break-out; we then worked on some man-to-man coverage down low in the defensive zone, and finished up with some dreaded conditioning. I was sucking wind after every turn, but the time went by so quickly because of all the fun I was having in spite of my ineptitude. The players cheered me on in every drill and assured me during the breaks that I was doing great.

“I survived!” I yelled in triumph after the final whistle blew, and what I considered more amazing was that I had kept my lunch down. At the close of the practice, Wiley had me stand aside as he spoke to the players and the rest of the coaching staff, then invited me back into the circle.

“Well, Ruben,” he said. “I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that we’re gonna let you keep the jersey. The bad news is that you’re not a girl, and not good enough to make this team.”

I was in total agreement about the latter, and thanked them all for the former and for giving me the opportunity to come out onto the ice with them. After practice I spoke with a number of the players, all of whom praised me. They said they were quite impressed with my play and that it was really fun to have me out there with them.

Kara Leene indicated that good speed was the highlight of my play. Sam Hunt thought that I showed good instincts and picked up on drills quickly despite being out of practice for so long. Coach Wiley affirmed that.

“It looked like you knew what you were doing out there,” he said, though he could tell that college hockey and women’s hockey are very different from what I was used to and that I was rather rusty. I later ran into a bunch of the players in town, who gave me high-fives as they would to one of their teammates.

I am currently writing this article from my desk chair — a position I will not, and frankly cannot without serious difficulty, change because my legs are aching from soreness. I was too proud to ask for the services of the trainer after practice, but I would not decline some sort of discount for a session with the masseuse in town.

Not that I did not respect our athletes before, but I certainly have a newfound appreciation of, and a valuable personal perspective on, the challenges they meet every day. All-in-all, it was about two hours of the most intense hockey I have ever participated in, yet, unlike these women, I got to go home afterwards to recover for the next few days; they all had to come back the following day to do it again.

Not only do they have the research papers, exams, and classes just like the rest of us, the women’s hockey team must do these things battling the exhaustion that comes from two-hour practices six days per week, games that they must devote seven hours to getting ready, playing, and cooling down every weekend, and road trips that can be as long as five hours each way.

They are high quality athletes, all with a special gift to play what I consider the hardest sport in the world (where else does one have to suffer high-speed play with 70-80 mph solid rubber disks whizzing by, all while on ice?).

I consider it an honor to have been a member of Colgate’s women’s team, even for a brief period of time. Kara and Sam asked if I would like to come out again with the team sometime before the end of the season; I responded that if my legs ever recover I would surely love to do so and that I would work my hardest to be in better shape for a second go-around.

Potsdam Women Join ECAC West D-III

USCHO Staff Report
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ECAC commissioner Rudy Keeling announced Friday that the ECAC Women’s West Hockey administrators voted to accept Potsdam as its tenth member during the annual league administrators meeting on Thurs., Oct. 18.

Located in Potsdam, N.Y., and founded in 1816, Potsdam has roughly 4,300 undergraduate and graduate students. With the addition of women’s ice gockey, Potsdam will now field ten women’s and seven men’s varsity sports, which compete primarily in the SUNYAC.

The Bears will begin conference play starting in the 2008-09 season, playing their home games at the Maxcy Hall Ice Arena located on the campus of SUNY Potsdam. The 2007-08 season will be the first for the Bears at the club level. They will play as a member of the Northeast Women’s Collegiate Hockey Association (NEWCHA), boasting a 14 game league schedule as well as competition against prep school, midget, and intermediate clubs.

Jay Green will lead the Bears behind the bench for their first season as a club program and will continue to guide them once they make the transition to varsity status. Green has an impressive hockey pedigree, both as a player and coach. At Potsdam, Green has been involved with ice hockey for over ten years, acting as an assistant coach for the men’s program and a hockey school instructor. His coaching background also includes a stint overseas in Sweden where he coached with Sudrets Hockey Club, as well as time at his alma mater Elmira College and North Adams State College.

On the ice, Green was a member of the Elmira College ice hockey team that reached the 1980 NCAA Championship game, and earned his letter in all four seasons he skated with the Soaring Eagles.

The ECAC Women’s West Hockey League is currently comprised of: Buffalo State, Chatham, Cortland, Elmira, Neumann, Oswego, Plattsburgh, RIT, and Utica.

This Week in the CCHA: Oct.18, 2007

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We Are the Champions

“It’s kind of the worst nightmare,” said Michigan State head coach Rick Comley after Saturday’s loss to North Dakota. “It’s what you fear after six months of people patting you on the back and then you come in here and play a team of that caliber.”

It was not the way any team would have liked to have started its season, but for the defending NCAA D-I champions, a 6-0 loss to open play is an embarrassing introduction.

Five of the Sioux’s six goals were even strength, and when was the last time Jeff Lerg posted a .727 save percentage in a game?

“You’re trying hard not to overreact to it,” said Comley a couple of days after the opener. “I would say that these two teams match up very, very well. We just didn’t play at a high enough caliber to score and take some pressure off our end.”

Comley said that the game was a “slap in the face” and a “reality check.”

“We just gave up way too many easy goals,” said Comley. “If you’re going to do that, you’re in trouble.”

It’s just one game, Spartan fans. Don’t call for the guy’s head yet. Wait until MSU raises the championship banner Friday night against Colgate, at least.

Comley did like Engelstad Arena and said that the experience of traveling to UND was a good one for his team. “They’re the kind of team we’d like to play a lot. It’s good for our fans, good for our fans to get out there.”

Is This the Real Life?

Is this just fantasy?

Hardware to start the season, for Ohio State, at the expense of a team from that conference west of here?

It’s true. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes.

When the Buckeyes beat the Wisconsin Badgers, 5-3, for the title of this year’s Lefty McFadden Invitational, they did more than take a trophy; they beat Wisconsin for the first time in program history. Sure, the teams have only met three times since the late 1960s, but everyone remembers OSU’s loss in the Frozen Tundra game at Lambeau Field Feb. 11, 2006, and Ohio State’s history against top WCHA teams hasn’t been exactly sterling in recent years.

Head coach John Markell called it a “good start with a young team,” as OSU dressed eight freshmen in the game. The Buckeye rookies, however, range in age from 18 to 21, as Markell and his staff opted to bring in older rookies to help balance a team with many newcomers.

However well the OSU freshmen may have played, it was the senior class that really paced the game. Senior John Dingle — nearly unrecognizable without a beard — had a beauty of a game-winner against UW.

The pace of that title game was much faster than I’ve ever seen any OSU team. It was certainly faster than what UW head coach Mike Eaves expected after OSU’s slower 2-1 win over Mercyhurst Friday.

“I think the large part is they played cranked up,” said Eaves, who also repeatedly stressed the youth of his own squad. The Badgers had seven freshmen in the lineup and only three seniors.

What bugged me about Eaves’ post-game comments about youth, however, was that they sounded like an excuse, not a reason — and I wasn’t buying it. Four of UW’s rookies are NHL draft picks, and three of those are first-rounders. Sure, OSU’s team was older, but doesn’t superior skill count for anything, and shouldn’t a middle-pack team from the WCHA be prepared for the pace of a middle-pack team from the CCHA?

Wisconsin got past Notre Dame Friday night to play OSU Saturday, and in the Friday contest, UW was the better prepared team. “I think our guys were deer in the headlights,” said ND head coach Jeff Jackson after the 4-1 loss.

It’s true the Irish looked sluggish in the first but they played the Badgers evenly in the second. In the third period, Wisconsin simply turned up the heat as better teams do. They were fast, their goals were pretty, and they took the game.

Kyle Turris, the freshman center for UW, is completely for real, but every bit was good was Notre Dame’s Mark Van Guilder, who had three goals in two games and looks to be poised for a career season.

Jordan Pearce’s performance in net for ND (.929 SV%) should allay any fears about that position for the Irish. OSU’s Joseph Palmer (.931 SV%) deserves props for a good weekend as well.

Another hard-to-ignore player was Mercyhurst freshman Scott Pitt, who spurned major junior hockey in Ontario for a go at college.

Another One Bites the Dust

Another RedHawk record, that is.

Senior captain Ryan Jones netted his program-best 14th game-winning goal, and he’s just one point shy of hitting the century mark for points at Miami.

As went Jones last weekend, so went the RedHawks, who recorded a season-opening sweep of Hockey East opponent Vermont in the fabulous Steve Cady Arena. Miami allowed just two goals in two games against the Vermont Catamounts, who had won six meetings prior to the contests.

“We’re a deep team,” said Miami head coach Enrico Blasi. “We’re going to stress ‘team’ all year, and that’s what you saw this weekend. If we’re going to go all the way, we’re going to go together.”

And that point of emphasis is different from previous years how, Coach?

Junior goalie Jeff Zatkoff had both the wins for Miami with a .959 save percentage in the pair.

You’re My Best Friend

In all of college hockey, there is no one better to talk to than Mercyhurst’s Rick Gotkin. He’s a good coach and a great man, gentle and smart with a quick wit and an easy manner.

Even if the Lakers didn’t win a game at the Lefty in Dayton last weekend, Gotkin was certainly on his game.

After losing Saturday, Gotkin said, “I don’t think a lot of people give Mercyhurst a chance. You’ve got potentially Frozen Four teams [here]. You’ve got three big-time programs. We like to think we’re a good program, but certainly no one confuses us with Notre Dame and Ohio State, but it’s a great privilege to be here.”

Three of the four lockers in the Nutter Center were on the arena level, while one was a level up. Guess which team had to take the stairs?

“We’ve got a little bit of a long commute here, but it’s no excuse,” said Gotkin, who added that the logistics were interesting between periods, though. “By the time you come up here, it’s time to go back down.”

Gotkin also wants you to know that Rick Comley is no enemy of Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America. Gotkin made a point of bringing up the episode at the end of last season when Comley questioned the autobid logic of the NCAA tournament selection, to which fans of certain conferences took great exception.

The Laker head coach said that Comley was taken out of context. Said Gotkin, “Rick Comley’s always been a friend of the little guy.”

Gunpowder Gelatine

Peter Boyd (OSU), Jared Brown (NMU), Louie Caporusso (UM), Carl Hagelin (UM), Matt Rust (UM), Patrick Schafer (OSU), Sergio Somma (OSU) and Tommy Wingels (Miami).

Congratulations to the CCHA freshmen who registered their first collegiate goals last weekend. And Rust scored two.

Everybody Play the Game

CCHA play begins this weekend with two series, and everyone gets at least one game of some kind this weekend as the season still builds toward full-on conference play. Tonight, Notre Dame hosts Denver and Bowling Green travels to Niagara. Michigan and Northern, Ohio State and Miami kick off the conference play.

There are a bunch of nonleague games, and someone named Bentley plays Western Michigan for two. These are the quickest picks around.

Miami (2-0-0) vs. Ohio State (2-0-0)

This home-and-home rivalry is getting as interesting to Ohio college hockey fans as just about anything served up north of the border. Sure, it doesn’t have a history as long, and only one of these teams is named after the state in which it plays, but it’s always rockin’ good hockey when these teams meet and the fans appreciate it. (At least they do at Steve Cady Arena. Buckeye nation is a little distracted by another sport this week, as in most weeks.)

Both teams are coming off winning weekends, as the RedHawks handled Vermont twice and the Buckeyes took the Lefty McFadden. OSU leads this all-time series 56-51-10, but Miami has a 5-2-3 edge in the last 10 meetings — which doesn’t even span three full seasons. The teams met five times last year alone; Miami was 2-1-2 in those games. Home ice doesn’t seem to matter so very much; they tied in each building. OSU hosts Friday, Miami Sunday. OSU 3-2, Miami 3-2

Michigan (1-1-0) at Northern Michigan (1-1-0)

The Wolverines are 27-16-3 all-time against the Wildcats, Red Berenson is 23-9-3 against NMU and Berenson is 12-4-0 against Walt Kyle’s NMU. It may be a good thing for Michigan that these games are in Marquette; last year, the teams split their regular-season contests in Yost before UM swept NMU in the CCHA quarterfinals.

Last weekend, Michigan beat Boston College with a fluky goal in overtime at the Ice Breaker before losing 4-3 to Minnesota in the title match. Against those two top-10 teams, junior goaltender Billy Sauer’s save percentage was .841. Perhaps it’s unfair to single him out, but the Wolverines may not have the necessary firepower to overcome any weakness between the pipes this season. The Wildcats beat Michigan Tech before losing to Duluth in the title game of the inaugural Superior Showcase. This week, I go with the odds. UM 4-3, 4-3

Bentley (0-2-0) at Western Michigan (0-0-0)

These teams have never met. The Falcons, who hail from a land called Massachusetts and whose head coach is younger than my baby sister, finished seventh in AHA play last season and are expected to fare roughly the same or worse this year. The Falcons are also seeking their first goal of the season, having been shut out last weekend by both Rensselaer and Quinnipiac. Perhaps that marker can be had by junior Jeff Gumaer, Bentley’s leading scorer of a year ago. The Broncos, who are 5-2-0 against AHA teams in Lawson Arena, are playing their first D-I games of the season. Defend that realm! WMU 3-2, 3-2

Bowling Green (0-0-0) at Niagara (1-1-0), RIT (0-1-0)

Scott Paluch earned his first win as the BG head coach against Niagara, so maybe this trip won’t be completely painful. Last weekend, the Falcons creamed visiting Windsor 12-1 in exhibition play, so this weekend marks the first of hockey that counts for BG. The Purple Eagles split a pair of games last weekend, losing 4-2 to Merrimack before beating Holy Cross 6-2. Egor Mirinov and Vince Rocco each have two goals and a helper for Niagara. RIT, coached by former BG assistant and Falcon alum Wayne Wilson, lost to Colgate 6-5 last Saturday. In that game, Matt Smith led all Tigers with two goals, while Simon Lambert had three assists. BG 3-2, RIT 4-2

Colgate at MSU

They’re raising the banner in Munn Arena Friday night. That’s the national championship banner, the one that the Spartans earned in St. Louis in April, the thought of which will keep many a CCHA fan warm all winter. If that isn’t motivation enough, dropping a game 6-0 to North Dakota should do it for MSU.

Colgate and MSU have met just once before. MSU 3-2, 3-2

Denver (2-0-0) at Notre Dame (1-1-0)

These teams have met just three times since the Irish returned to the CCHA, and Notre Dame last beat Denver in 1978, well before these current players were born. The Pioneers are 33-9-3 all-time against the Irish, but with such little recent history, that can be a lesson in how statistics mislead. Denver beat ND, 6-3, in their last meeting in Colorado (Oct. 22, 2005), and the Irish are winless against the Pioneers in the last 10 meetings (0-9-1).

Last weekend, Denver beat Maine twice,with senior goaltender Peter Mannino limiting the Black Bears to just one goal in two games, earning himself a .982 save percentage. The Irish dropped a game to Wisconsin before beating Mercyhurst, but junior Jordan Pearce (.920) looked more than up to the task. So did Irish frontman Mark Van Guilder. Denver 3-2, ND 3-2

Ferris State (0-2-0) at Wayne State (0-2-0)

Just writing about this makes me sad, and not only because the Bulldogs dropped two to Union last weekend. Our honorary member of the CCHA, the Wayne State Warriors, are playing their last season of hockey. It’s a dirty shame. Just as Michigan gains a D-III program, a D-I squad is going to fold. This is bad for Wayne State, the Detroit metro area, the CHA, the CCHA, and college hockey.

That having been said, I hope the ‘Dogs remember how to play hockey this weekend. Against Union, both senior goaltender Derek MacIntyre and freshman Pat Nagle had losses, but Nagle’s save percentage (.929) may foreshadow a starting position. It doesn’t help any netminder when your team scores just one goal in two games — and way to go Justin Lewandowski. Total homer call. FSU 3-2, 3-2

UA at UAA

These are the first D-I games for the Nanooks in the Doc DelCastillo era. The rivalry between Fairbanks and Anchorage — which for the locals also rivals that fabled twosome in Michigan — only adds to the ante.

The Seawolves netted two third-period goals to force a 4-4 tie against Boston University in the Nye Frontier Classic last weekend. Robert Morris — Robert Morris! — took the actual tournament after having beaten both BU and Wayne State. But I digress.

Anchorage leads this all-time series 75-48-10, and the Seawolves went 3-0-1 against the Nanooks to take last year’s cup. Josh Lunden had three goals and two assists in two games last weekend for the ‘Wolves, while his classmate Kevin Clark had two goals and three helpers. UAA 4-2, 4-2

Maverick Stampede

I know it has corporate sponsorship, but I can’t bring myself to say it. This is the least appealing of any of the this season’s exempt tournaments. Admit it. If you didn’t have a team with a stake in this one, you wouldn’t pay attention. UNO, Alabama-Huntsville, Canisius and Manitoba. Manitoba. I love Canadians — and I’m sure that these are very nice — but this playbill is as off-Broadway as you can get. UNO is 9-2-0 against Manitoba, 5-0-2 against UAH, and 1-0-0 against Canisius. Mind-boggling, that the Mavs have played the Bison more than their other two prospective D-I opponents together. Nebraska meets Manitoba in Friday’s second game, and I suspect they’ll play UAH Saturday for the title, but I wouldn’t bank on anything here. UNO 5-3, 3-2

Western Ontario at LSSU

Western Ontario is out for revenge! When these teams last met, the Lakers exploded in a three-goal third period to pull ahead of Western Ontario — whose mascot I didn’t even look up — by a 4-1 score (Oct. 2, 2002). It’s exhibition hockey, folks.

Fat Bottomed Girl

This one is glad to be back for another season.

This Week in the WCHA: Oct. 18, 2007

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The Basics

Hi, my name is Theresa and I’m a hockey dork.

With that out of the way, I’d first like to thank the powers that be at USCHO.com for giving me the opportunity to cover the WCHA this season. If I can do half as well as those before me, I’ll count this season a success.

Now, so you know a little of the background of the person who will be covering the “best conference in college hockey,” here’s a bit about me.

A native Coloradoan, I attended Boston University, where I played four years on the women’s club ice hockey team (forward and defense; mostly the latter) as well as becoming a certified official, so I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about most of the time. You may disagree, faithful readers, and if you do, let me know about it.

In regards to my hockey play, many joke that I’m a hack in the Freddy Meyer mold (I’m not) and fellow columnist — and goaltender — Brian Sullivan (ECACHL) will point out that I have a notable inability to score on him … to which all I have to say is “Fiiiiiiive-hooooole.”

As for hockey analysis, I did radio play-by-play and color in college and USCHO.com is the fourth hockey publication I’ve written for.

But enough about me — let’s get down to business.

Rocktober Inspiration

The story of the Colorado Rockies (baseball team; not the 1970s hockey team) this fall has been an inspirational story to many — including the University of Denver hockey team.

Coach George Gwozdecky has been a fan of the Rockies since the team honored the Pioneers after their championship seasons and is acquaintances with Rockies manager Clint Hurdle (the two go to the same Starbucks).

“They have inspired many of us,” Gwozdecky said on the WCHA media teleconference call. A few days later, after his team’s 5-1 exhibition victory over the University of Calgary, he expanded on the reasons why.

“The thing that really shows me is the esprit de corps, the togetherness, the chemistry, the care they have for each other,” he said. “They’re an inspiration to us all. I mean, here we go, same old Rockies — and they’ve been magnificent.”

For a Pioneers team that struggled with cohesiveness and arguably leadership at the end of last season, Gwozdecky can hope his team takes a few pointers from the 2007 edition of the Rockies. If the Pios do, they have a good shot at getting to — and winning — the Frozen Four, being held at Pepsi Center, a mere 1.08 miles from Coors Field.

Gophers: Stoa Roadblock, Warming Up, Leaders of a WCHA Conspiracy?

Although the Minnesota Golden Gophers main holes this season may be on defense, the offense just gained a small one with the loss of junior forward Ryan Stoa, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first period of Saturday’s 4-3 win over Michigan.

“We’re going to miss him as a leader and a person this upcoming season,” said coach Don Lucia.

The Gophers, who had a slow start in the Ice Breaker Invitational, scored three power-play goals to overcome a 3-0 deficit against Rensselaer to win 4-3 and then followed it up by beating the Wolverines by the same score in front of basically a home crowd at the Xcel Energy Center.

And while I don’t particularly believe in conspiracies, it sounded like RPI head coach Seth Appert thought there was a bit of unfair dealings in his team’s loss to the Gophers, thanks to his team’s five power plays compared to Minnesota’s 11.

“You don’t expect to get any calls coming into this rink, playing Minnesota with WCHA refs,” said Appert after the contest. “We came out on the short end of some unfortunate calls in the third period.”

There were no such problems in Saturday’s game, however, with both the Gophers and the Wolverines recipients of four power plays during the contest.

Keeping Up with the Pros: Early Departures Edition

Before I was a college hockey fan, I was a fan of the National Hockey League. Since becoming a college hockey fan, however, I’ve started to notice the number of former college players in the pros and specifically the number of WCHAers. As a result, I’d like to start a weekly bit that keeps up with former WCHA players who are now in the professional ranks somehow, somewhere.

If you read my season preview (and if you didn’t, please go read it now) and Eric Schmoldt’s last year, you probably noticed that the main theme has been players leaving early. As a result, I decided to research the players the WCHA lost to early departures over the past two seasons for this week’s “Keeping Up with the Pros.”

With all the talk of early departures the past two seasons, I wondered exactly how those players who left early were doing. Therefore, I decided to do a little research and figure out where everyone was.

For the Gophers: Ryan Potulny has seen spot duty with the Philadelphia Flyers and has started this season in the AHL with the Philadelphia Phantoms (2-1-3). Phil Kessel is having a good start with the Boston Bruins (3-2-5) and Erik Johnson is similarly doing well with the St. Louis Blues (1-1-2). Kris Chucko (Quad City Flames) and Alex Goligoski (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) are also in the AHL with the same stat lines as Johnson, while Danny Irmen has one assist so far with the AHL’s Houston Aeros.

For the Sioux: Jonathan Toews is already off to a big start, with four points (1-3-4) already for the Chicago Blackhawks. Drew Stafford (Buffalo Sabres; 1-2-3), Matt Smaby (Tampa Bay; no stats) and Travis Zajac (New Jersey Devils; 3-3-6) also are all on NHL rosters. Brian Lee is in the AHL (Binghamton Senators; 0-3-3) as is Jordan Parise (Lowell Devils; 1-1, 2.5, .931 in two games played), while Rastislav Spirko is over in the Czech Republic playing for Slovan HC (2-1-3).

For the Badgers: Among the four early departures, only two are currently on NHL rosters (Joe Piskula, Los Angeles; Joe Pavelski, San Jose) and only one has had regular playing time (Pavelski; 1-1-2). Robbie Earl (Toronto Marlies; 2-1-3) and Jack Skille (Rockford Ice Hogs, 1-2-3) are both a step down in the AHL.

For the St. Cloud Huskies: Andrew Gordon is 0-2-2 with the AHL’s Hershey Bears this season, while Tim Boron has yet to catch on with a team for this season.

For the Pioneers: The success story for the Pioneers’ crew of early departures so far this season has been Paul Stastny (Colorado Avalanche; 5-8-13), though Matt Carle should come on strong later this season with San Jose (0-2-2). Ryan Dingle is in the AHL playing for the Portland Pirates (0-2-2) while Geoff Paukovich’s season (ECHL; Stockton Thunder) hasn’t quite started yet.

For the Bulldogs: Of the two players that have left early over the past two years, both are in the NHL — Matt Niskanen (Dallas Stars; 0-2-2) and Mason Raymond (Vancouver Canucks; 0-1-1).

For the Tigers: Colorado College has been blessed with only one major early departure in Brian Salcido, who has started this season with the AHL’s Portland Pirates (0-3-3).

For the Mavericks: David Backes (1-2-3) and Steve Wagner (0-3-3) are playing for the St. Louis Blues while fellow Maverick Ryan Carter is with the Anaheim Ducks (0-0-0). Kyle Peto is playing professional hockey in England for the Basingstoke Bison (1-6-7).

For the Michigan Tech Huskies: Nothing to see here, folks; Tech hasn’t lost anyone the past two years.

For the Seawolves: Jay Beagle is scoreless so far for the AHL’s Hershey Bears while Nathan Lawson is waiting for the season to begin with the ECHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners.

Reader Mailbag

I know this sometimes works with columns and sometimes doesn’t, but I’d like to try and make this column reader-friendly and interactive. Therefore, if you have a question or a theme you’d like to see in this column regarding teams, players, coaches or issues related to the WCHA, let me know. Depending on the nature of the question, I’ll try to get it answered within two weeks. So, e-mail me today and see your question either next week or in two weeks.

Easy, eh? Just remember — mail = good. Send mail to [email protected].

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Oct. 18, 2007

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Moral Victories …

… are usually still losses. Or in the case of Canisius’ rally against St. Cloud last Saturday, a tie.

At the beginning of this season, commissioner Bob DeGregorio and several coaches told me that the time for moral victories — coming close against teams from the “Big Four” conferences — was over, and Atlantic Hockey teams needed to win those games. Yes, there has been one or two a season (Sacred Heart’s victory at Cornell and RIT’s win at Quinnipiac last year, for example) but the league needed more.

But the AHA had to settle for a few more moral victories this past weekend as the league kicked off the 2007-2008 college hockey season with a slate of non-conference games that resulted in a combined record of 0-9-1.

The tie was courtesy of Canisius, which after having lost 7-0 at St. Cloud on Friday and finding itself down 3-0 midway through the contest on Saturday, rallied for a 3-3 tie thanks to a 43-save performance from senior goaltender Bryce Luker.

“We did some good things in the first game that set the stage,” said Canisius coach Dave Smith. “We were disappointed in the score but happy with the improvement that we saw during the game.”

Luker, a transfer from Michigan Tech last season, was 0-11 for the Griffs last year. He had played well against St. Cloud in his freshman year at Michigan Tech, making 47 saves in, coincidentally, another 3-3 tie. But Smith said that wasn’t the reason Luker got the start on Saturday.

“It was predetermined,” said Smith. “We knew there was a history but what we really wanted was to give Bryce a chance early in the season and he really played well. Andrew Loewen is still our number-one guy, but we have a lot of confidence in Luker and games like this give him confidence as well. Confidence makes them better and they’ll be pushing each other to have an opportunity to play.”

While the large crop of Canisius underclassmen has drawn most of the attention recently, Smith said his upperclassmen showed the way as the Griffins fought back to earn the tie on Saturday in front of a stunned crowd of over 6,000. The Griffins were missing some key players (Jason Weeks, Brandon Cummings and Cory Conacher) so the seniors needed to take charge, and they did.

“(Kyle) Bushee was a stud all weekend,” said Smith. “Dave Kasch played great up front. Greg Brown doesn’t always have numbers in the box score, but he makes big contributions. It’s the older, experienced guys that understood what was needed and went out and led and got it done.”

Smith says his team gained valuable experience playing in the hostile confines of the National Hockey Center.

“It was a tremendous environment,” he said. “It was so loud, you couldn’t hear anything after they dropped the puck because of the crowd.”

And even though the Golden Griffins didn’t win a game, coming from three goals down on Saturday to tie a nationally-ranked team felt like a win to Smith’s team.

“It felt great,” he said. “It felt outstanding. We worked our tails off for it.”

Canisius travels this weekend to Omaha for the Maverick Stampede tournament where the Griffins will play Alabama-Huntsville in the first round and then either Manitoba or host UNO on Saturday.

“These games this past weekend and coming up are important games not just because of who we play but how we play in them,” said Smith. “They set the stage for the rest of the season.”

Close, But …

Some AHA teams came close to wins last weekend. Army lost a one-goal game at Bemidji State (and 3-0 with two empty-net goals), and RIT dropped a 6-5 decision at Colgate. The Tigers fell behind 3-0 early, but stormed back and led 5-4 in the third period before Colgate came back for the win.

And in the Lefty McFadden Invitational in Dayton, Mercyhurst led Ohio State 1-0 after two periods before allowing two power-play goals in the third and losing 2-1. Not only did the Lakers lose the game, they lost highly-touted transfer goaltender Matt Lundin to a shoulder injury that will keep him out of the lineup for an extended period.

“They say six to 12 weeks,” said coach Rick Gotkin. “We’re hoping it’s closer to six. The good news is that he doesn’t need surgery.”

Lundin stayed in the game despite the injury, finishing with 46 saves.

“He played great. He was a warrior,” said Gotkin.

Freshman Ryan Zapolski started the next night, surrendering four goals on 37 shots in a 4-1 loss to Notre Dame.

Gotkin was looking for the bright side.

“This speeds up the development of Ryan Zapolski,” said Gotkin. “He wasn’t going to play more than six or seven games this season, but now we’ll need him immediately. What a situation he was put in, making his first start against Notre Dame. But he played pretty well.”

Asked about his league’s struggles, Gotkin pointed to the disparity in scholarships between the rest of the leagues and Atlantic Hockey. “There’s a big difference between 11 and 18,” he said. “Whether you’re playing Ohio State, with 10 NHL draft picks, or Notre Dame or Niagara or Bemidji.”

Still, Gotkin says his team couldn’t have played much better than they did this past weekend.

“Last year we opened at Ferris State and gave up 12 goals on the weekend,” he said. “This year we played Ohio State and Notre Dame and gave up six goals, four on the power play.

“There were about 40 NHL scouts at the tournament and I can’t tell you how many of them congratulated us on the way we played,” Gotkin added. “We lost, but I like where our team is right now. It feels different than last year.”

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week for October 15, 2007:
Simon Lambert — RIT
The senior from Ste. Therese, Quebec, assisted on three of RIT’s five goals in a 6-5 loss at Colgate. That raises his career totals to 62 assists and 104 points.

Goaltender of the Week for October 15, 2007:
Bryce Luker — Canisius
Luker was 0-11 last season but played magnificently against St. Cloud, stopping 43 of 46 shots as the Griffs earned a 3-3 tie on Saturday. It was Canisius’ first point ever against a ranked opponent.

Rookie of the Week for October 15, 2007:
J.P. Martignei — Holy Cross
Martignei assisted on both Crusader goals in a 6-2 loss to Niagara.

Quote of the Week

This one comes from Air Force coach Frank Serratore on how he thinks the AHA preseason poll was conducted. He told the Boston Globe: “I think all the guys in our league were thinking about last year and saying, ‘OK, who do we dislike the most?’. “First of all, we dislike RIT because they came in from Division III and won the regular season, so we dislike them the most. Secondly, we dislike the team that won the playoffs, which is Air Force. Thirdly, we dislike the team that lost to Air Force because they got to play in the championship game, and that’s Army. Then I think they just filled it in the rest of the way down.”

Around the League

Air Force: The Falcons host Quinnipiac in their first official games of the season this weekend. Serratore’s next win will be his 150th at Air Force. If Air Force sweeps, he’ll also pick up career win number 200, as he also won 49 games behind the bench at Denver.

Army: The Black Knights opened their season with a pair of loses at Bemidji State last weekend. Josh Kassel stopped 22 of 23 shots in a 2-1 loss on Friday, while freshman Jay Clark stopped 25 of 26 on Saturday in a 3-0 loss (the other two Bemidji goals were of the empty-net variety). The series pitted twin brothers against each other as the Black Knights’ Zach McKelvie faced off against sibling Chris, who assisted on the Beavers’ first goal on Saturday. Their older brother Ryan is an assistant at Bemidji.

Mercyhurst: Matt Lundin’s injury is especially frustrating since he was scheduled to play his old team this weekend as the Lakers travel to Maine. Lundin played 23 games for the Black Bears from 2004-2006. “This was going to be a big weekend for me being with my old team,” Lundin told the Erie Times-News. “But this is a non-conference series, and I’d much rather be hurt now, if I had to be, against these teams early in the season than being hurt in the middle or near the end of the season when we’re playing conference games and preparing for the playoffs.”

AHA News: RIT’s University News department has put up a video of the league’s Media Day held in Rochester back on September 26. Speakers include commissioner Bob DeGregorio and coaches Brian Riley, Paul Pearl, Dave Smith and Wayne Wilson. This is not a streaming video, so your best bet is to right-click and download it here.

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Oct. 18, 2007

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Well it’s about darned time.

The 2007-2008 college hockey season is back in full swing, and there are more than a couple teams in ECAC Hockey who are eyeing big returns on the heels of last season’s successes … or failures.

Early Risers

The non-Ivy programs have all played their season openers, and while the weather is still autumnal, these coaches have the leg up when it comes to early-season assessments: who’s feeling good, who needs to shake it off, what needs to be tweaked, switched, or overhauled.

The Saints are already 2-1-0 overall, having scored eight goals (including one empty-netter) and allowed six. The defending regular-season champs kept Clarkson, Providence and Massachusetts completely off the board on 14 power-play opportunities against, and did not take a major penalty among the 16 whistled against them. However, SLU put up a big 0-fer in the power-play department, failing to touch the twine in 11 opportunities.

Also notable, Joe Marsh & Co. started a different goaltender in each of the first three contests: last year’s number-one Alex Petizian defeated Clarkson with 27 stops on 29 shots; Justin Pesony frustrated the Friars on 34 of their 35 attempts, while sophomore Kain Tisi allowed three goals on 17 shots versus UMass in the sixth full game of his career. Third-year Casey Parenteau already has three goals to his credit, as well.

The Golden Knights already have a quartet of games under their belts, including a warm-up tilt with Canadian neighbor Acadia’s varsity team. Following the evenly played but disappointing loss at St. Lawrence to open the regular season, Clarkson and last season’s Dryden Award winner David Leggio shut down the opposition in 2-1 and 2-0 victories over the aforementioned Minutemen and Friars, respectively.

The Knights’ special teams are in the same situation as the Saints’, scoring only once in 15 man-advantages, while shutting out the other side in 11 shorthanded situations. With these low-scoring games, only Nick Dodge has multiple goals so far … with two.

The Colgate Raiders showed some firepower in two victories over Sacred Heart and Rochester Tech, potting a half-dozen in each game despite only managing a pedestrian two-for-12 on the power-play. In the season opener against SHU, workhorse Mark Dekanich was barely tested, facing only a dozen shots on net; both of the goals that beat him were of the power-play variety.

At the other end of the spectrum, the upstart RIT Tigers popped 42 pucks Deks’ way, scoring two on the advantage and three more the old-fashioned way in a 6-5 scoring stampede at Starr. Freshmen made some noise early on for the Raiders, as Brian Day flipped the red-light switch three times, and Francois Brisebois has four assists. Tyler Burton as four helpers and a goal as well, but we expect nothing less out of him.

In Quinnipiac’s only NCAA game so far, the Bobcats shut out Atlantic Hockey lightweight Bentley 3-0 on Tuesday night. It took a while for the ‘Cats to warm up, as over 36 minutes of play hit the books before QU dented the twine, but by the final buzzer it was all smiles on Rand Pecknold’s bench as transfer Peter Vetri notched his first game, win, and shutout in two years. The former Hockey East Rookie of the Year at UMass-Lowell stopped 21 shots for the honor, and Bryan Leitch (two goals) and Ben Nelson (two assists) tallied multi-point games.

Rensselaer started the season in rough fashion, despite devouring Bentley at the Houston Field House 4-0 in the season-opener. After that, the ‘Tute took it on the chin with 4-3 and 4-1 losses to Minnesota and Boston College, respectively, in the Ice Breaker Invitational in St. Paul.

In the former, the Gophers rallied with four straight scores, on the wings of three power-play goals in front of a hostile crowd and a WCHA officiating crew. (RPI was whistled for 11 penalties totaling 33 minutes, while Minnesota — which trailed for 50 minutes of the game — was only found guilty of five infractions for ten minutes. I wasn’t there; I can’t say what’s what … but I am skeptical, to say the least.)

Against BC, the Engineers again held the fort for 50 minutes, before three straight power-play goals late in the third period (and yet another night with four consecutive goals against) buried the Institute Icers. Mathias Lange stopped 24 of 28 against the Gophers, while Jordan Alford saw considerably more rubber, deflecting 44 Eagle shots.

RPI’s power play — this is becoming a troubling pattern — is one of 14, but the penalty-kill units have given up six goals in 25 tries. Junior forwards Andrei Uryadov and Matt Angers-Goulet each have two goals and an assist so far, while frosh Tyler Helfrich has chipped in with three assists.

The Union Dutchmen took a running start on the season, bopping visiting Ferris State on consecutive evenings 2-0 and 4-1. Justin Mrazek started both games, letting in just the one in 44 shots on net and earning himself ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week honors. Senior Torren Delforte scored once each night, junior Matt Cook saw the red light once and added three assists, and the power play clicked nicely with two goals in ten opportunities.

The PK kept the Bulldogs off the scoresheet in 11 tries, and UC has a bye week of sorts (with an exhibition against Trois-Rivieres) before tilting lances against RPI in the Governor’s Cup on the 26th.

Snapshots

• Union star forward Josh Coyle is expected to miss this weekend’s exhibition with a sprained knee, which he sustained in the first game against Ferris State. Coach Nate Leaman assessed the injury as being worth a two-week rest, so last season’s 31-point scorer may or may not be game-ready by the Governor’s Cup.

• Still stuck on the Dutch, Leaman was pleased with the Jason Walters/Matt Cook combo, as well as the chemistry between Adam Presizniuk and Mario Valery-Trabucco in the first two games. If you’re in Schenectady this weekend, don’t be surprised to see highly-regarded Cory Milan between the pipes against the Canadians.

• Up at Clarkson, Philippe Paquet is still out, nursing an injury sustained a few weeks ago, said coach George Roll. The boss said that Paquet potentially hurt himself during dryland training, and will continue to rest up for “a couple more weeks.”

• Paul Kerins didn’t play in any of the Engineers’ first three games, but was seen skating in Minnesota during the Ice Breaker. It is unknown when he will return, after playing 34 games for Seth Appert and the ‘Tute last year.

This Week in Hockey East: Oct. 18, 2007

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Friday The 13th… In Everything But Number

Friday. October 12, 2007
7:00 p.m.

It’s opening night for Hockey East, a show that’s about to begin its 24th season. Phantom of the Opera, Broadway’s longevity king, is a baby by comparison. Chris Terreri, Tim Army and Peter Taglianetti were leading Providence to the inaugural league title before Phantom was even a glimmer in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s eyes.

There have been a few exhibition games already, but tonight the real ones begin.

You settle in. It’s been a long offseason. You’re ready for action. Unless you’re a Merrimack fan, your team is opening on the road and tonight there’s no TV coverage.

But that doesn’t stop you. You hop on the Internet and you’re in business.

You’ve already donned your team’s jersey. You’ve been watching tapes of past championships for the past few hours. You’re wearing your Hockey East hat with “Old Time Hockey” printed on its bill. You might even have caused an aluminum foil shortage at the supermarket just so you could “put on the foil.”

You are so in the mood. Let’s get the show on the road! Drop the puck!

Last year was a pretty good one for the league. Five teams in the NCAA tournament; two got to the Frozen Four. Bridesmaids, yeah. But a bounce of the puck here, a different penalty call there. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

This year will be different. This time, college hockey’s Holy Grail. You can feel it in your blood. Your fingers tingle.

You pour yourself a beverage. Perhaps it fizzes… Or foams… Maybe ice cubes clink within the glass. You take a sip. Or guzzle down gulp after gulp.

Impatient, you juggle three pucks you’ve collected at games when they’ve flown into the stands. You had to shoulder aside little kids in the process, but you never felt guilty. You knew you’d appreciate them more than the kids.

You add a fourth puck to the juggling act, but there goes the beverage, splattering onto the floor. Oh, well. There’s more where that baby came from.

Finally, a score comes in.

Only it’s not a final. They’re going into overtime. Boston College is playing Michigan in the Ice Breaker tournament. This evokes two memories, neither of them good ones. In the first, it’s overtime of the 1998 national championship game and these two teams have been going at it hard.

There’s a sour taste in your mouth and it has nothing to do with your beverage. It’s the memory of Josh Bleeping Langfeld beating Scott Clemmensen in overtime. Hail to the phfttttt!

The other memory is every bit as foul. With the Ice Breaker being held in St. Paul, Minnesota, you’re mind is inexorably taken to the 2002 title game. The Maine Black Bears, riding a great coaching performance by Tim Whitehead and the spirit of Shawn Walsh, come within 53 seconds of a national championship. But an extra-skater goal sends the game into overtime and a Gopher power-play goal wins it for the home team.

You look down at the floor. If it were ice, you’d spit on it.

You live and die with Hockey East. You don’t wear Joe Bertagna underoos, as someone once joked — a quip you found as funny as BU’s triple-overtime loss in 1991 — but you’re loyal to a fault and proud of it. Especially loyal to your own team, but if not them then one of their fellow members of the best college hockey league on the planet.

Teetering on the precipice of a very foul mood, you pull yourself back. It’ll be different this year. Like 1993, 1995, 1999 or 2001. Especially 1999. Three of the four teams in the Frozen Four. Hockey East vs. Hockey East in the finals.

Yeah, baby. This is our year. And what better team to get off on the right foot with than BC. Scoring, veteran defense–

7:51 p.m.
Michigan 4 Boston College 3 (OT)

Well, it’s just one game. That whole “getting off on the right foot” thing has always been highly overrated. Almost as overrated as all the other leagues.

You call for a pizza. Extra everything including anchovies. Especially anchovies. They’ll supply the mojo for the rest of the night.

9:00 p.m.

Massachusetts and Clarkson going into overtime. Not bad, 1-1. Clarkson was picked to win the ECACHL and UMass is playing a ton of kids, including a freshman goalie. Given up only one goal? Yeah.

Looks promis–

9:06 p.m.
Clarkson 2 Massachusetts 1 (OT)

Oh, well. A couple of overtime losses to good teams. Nothing to jump off the Tobin over.

In fact–

9:07 p.m.
St. Lawrence 4 Providence 1

Oh-for-three. Geez. You spot anchovy stains on your jersey.

Well, you figure, at least the New Hampshire exhibition score should be coming in. That’ll stem the tide.

Will that be Umile’s 400th win? You can’t remember if exhibitions count for that sort of thing but doubt it.

You take a wild guess on the eventual score. Probably 6-1. Something like that. All that UNH scoring power against a Canadian team.

Fuggetaboutit. Maybe 7-1.

9:16 p.m.
New Brunswick 4 New Hampshire 3

You stare at the screen. Slap it on the side.

It can’t be. Someone is playing tricks on you. Is there a practical joker out there who thinks this is April 1st?

You look again. It’s true. The Wildcats lost.

A belch erupts from deep in your stomach. All you smell is partially digested anchovies.

Or maybe you didn’t even belch. Maybe that’s just your brain throwing together some sloppy metaphor for a team like UNH losing to New Brunswick.

Either way, dazed, you suspect you’ve ordered anchovies for the last time.

9:19 p.m.
Merrimack 4 Niagara 2

Stop the presses! Hockey East won a game!

You feel like you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole. Merrimack, the one team that is winning? The Warriors were supposed to finish last. Suddenly they’re the league’s mainstays, meeting the barbarian hordes at the gates of the city, the last line of defense while a powerhouse like UNH loses to New Brunswick?

A cold chill creeps over you. Has Stephen King staged a coup d’état and overthrown the league office? Is he sitting there, cackling and rubbing his hands, while feeding disinformation so that people like you can go quietly, or perhaps not so quietly, insane?

That beats any other explanation.

9:55 p.m.
Miami 2 Vermont 1

You’ve taken off your Hockey East cap and jersey.

You’re biting into the last slice of pizza, though it’s as cold, hard and tasteless as the cardboard container it came in. Solemnly, you sip your drink.

You think, well, at least there’s BU and Maine. Both are playing out West, BU in Alaska and Maine at Denver. The Black Bears might have a tough time, but the Terriers are a slam dunk against Robert Morris.

But those scores won’t be in for another hour and a half. Drained of enthusiasm, you drift off to sleep thinking, “At least BU’s an automatic.”

11:25 p.m.
Robert Morris 3 Boston University 2

You rub your eyes. You blink. You blink some more.

Mayday! Mayday!

You look about. Your heart pounds.

Abandon ship!

Your hands shake. Stunned, you can’t move.

DEFCON ONE! DEFCON ONE!

And then…

Then it hits you.

You begin to laugh, first with a nervous titter but it builds and builds until you are roaring with laughter. Laughing so hard tears stream down your face.

You really fell for it, didn’t you? Swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

It’s all been a nightmare! Of course! One that seemed startlingly vivid, that much was true, except for one thing: its outrageous absurdity.

New Brunswick beating UNH? Everyone losing but Merrimack? And especially Robert Morris beating BU.

Robert Morris? No offense to them, but Robert Morris?

You’re actually a little disappointed that your subconscious couldn’t conjure a more realistic nightmare. Hadn’t it ever heard of a thing called verisimilitude?

New Brunswick? Robert Morris?

So much for verisimilitude.

Still, it had been quite the leg-puller.

You keep laughing your butt off even while knowing you’re still dreaming. You don’t have to pinch yourself to find that out. A room full of monkeys could type Shakespeare before tonight’s nightmare results could come true.

Giggling uncontrollably at the outlandish extremes of your subconscious, you let it play out a little longer. You don’t pinch yourself. You let the nightmare run its course and end with the predictable finale.

11:27 p.m.
Denver 2 Maine 0

Of course. It couldn’t end any other way.

Not only with a loss, but a goose egg.

So predictable.

11:30 p.m.

Enough is enough, you figure.

Time to wake up.

So you pinch yourself.

Nothing.

Really?

You pinch yourself again.

Still nothing.

How very bizarre.

Shrugging, you stand up and let yourself fall face-first into the floor, hands at your side.

You slam into the surface and seem to bounce, like a pro wrestler having taken a spectacular fall.

Blood gushes from your nose. Needles of pain shoot through your brain. You put your hand to your face and it is instantly covered,red and sticky.

You realize you overdid it, this making sure to wake up from the nightmare. You didn’t have to rearrange your face in the process. You wipe more blood away.

But at least it worked.

At least that’s what you think… until your eyes lock in on the screen and… after blinking several times, you stare again at the scores.

This Week in the CHA: Oct. 18, 2007

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Robert Morris endured a 12-hour travel day last Wednesday from Pittsburgh to Anchorage to win two straight games and the Nye Frontier Classic last weekend.

And the Colonials upset a nationally-ranked team along the way, too.

Yes, again.

RMU used three third-period power-play goals to topple then-No. 9 Boston University in its opening game last Friday.

“Christian Boucher (33 saves) played outstanding in goal for us tonight,” said RMU head coach Derek Schooley of his senior netminder. “Our seniors stepped up in the third period and provided great leadership for our team. I am very proud of the team, but we need to realize this is just one game.”

The Colonials fell behind early with two BU goals, but RMU would not go away quietly, getting three goals in the final 14 minutes of the game from senior Sean Berkstresser, freshman Scott Kobialko (his first career goal) and senior Tom Biondich.

Robert Morris was then crowned the Nye Frontier Classic champion Saturday evening after defeating Wayne State, 4-1.

The Colonials have started the 2007-2008 season 2-0, which marks the first time that has happened in the program’s history.

“I can’t say enough how proud I am of this team and the effort that they gave this entire weekend in Alaska,” said Schooley. “We played great defense all weekend and combined that with stellar goaltending. We received many timely goals from many different players.”

On Saturday, RMU picked up in the first period where it left off in the third period of Friday night’s contest by scoring the game’s first four goals, including two markers in the first session.

Senior Ryan Cruthers, freshman Nathan Longpre (first NCAA goal), junior Jason Towsley and senior David Boguslawski scored in the victory.

Wayne State’s Jon Grabarek broke up RMU’s shutout bid with a power-play goal at the 17:06 mark of the third period, when he beat sophomore goalie and Quinnipiac transfer Wes Russell.

Russell played the final 9:05 of the game. Boucher had stopped all 19 shots that he faced to that point.

Three Colonials were named to the All-Tournament Team: Boucher, Cruthers and Towsley.

Next up is No. 13 Wisconsin this weekend in Madison. Is another upset in the making?

“The Badgers are a nationally-recognized program with some high-end first-round talent,” said Schooley. “They play a very good defensive game and are well-coached. The Kohl Center is an excellent atmosphere to play in, so it should be a very challenging, fun weekend for our program.”

“(Robert Morris is) an interesting team,” Badgers head coach Mike Eaves said in the Capital Times of Madison. “They have 14 seniors and they’ll be a crusty, old bunch of college students who are probably as old as Ross Carlson was (25) when he graduated.

“It’ll be a challenge. They’ll be strong, they’ll be physical and they’ll want to make another statement this weekend. So I think it’s a benefit the fact that they beat BU because that’s going to get our attention for sure. If anybody was thinking who the heck Robert Morris is, they put themselves on the map last weekend.”

Schooley wishes more people would take a look at that map.

“I don’t know how many people in Pittsburgh understand what we have here,” Schooley noted in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “It’s pretty special.”

Niagara Does Weekend Split

Son bested Dad in the father-son showdown at Merrimack last Friday night as the Warriors (and sophomore defenseman Dave Burkholder, Jr.) beat Niagara (and head coach Dave Burkholder), 4-2.

The Purple Eagles fell behind 3-1 after two periods, but came out on a mission in the third, outshooting the Warriors 11-5 in the final 20 minutes. Senior captain Matt Caruana scored in the middle period and Kyle Rogers in the third, but Merrimack added an empty-netter to seal the victory.

“Our third period was our best period of the night,” NU’s Burkholder said. “But we need to bring that for 60 minutes. Merrimack played unbelievable defense and their goalie played terrific.”

Following the game, Burkholder met near center ice with his son and the two shared a hug. The family affair took an interesting twist prior to the game, as Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy’s wife gave birth to the family’s third daughter, Karolyn.

Saturday night, Niagara exhibited its blueprint for defeating Holy Cross: fall behind early and come storming back.

It worked last season in a 5-4 overtime thriller and it worked Saturday as the Purple Eagles beat the Crusaders, 6-2, to earn their first victory of the season. Niagara fell behind 2-0 in the first period and then scored six unanswered goals.

“In the first period, I felt that we played very well five-on-five, but we spent 13 minutes on the penalty kill,” Burkholder said. “We felt that once we got one, we would be all right. Then they came one shift after another.”

Sophomore Egor Mironov had his second three-point game of his career with a pair of goals and an assist and junior co-captain Vince Rocco added two third-period tallies to help freshman goaltender Adam Avramenko earn his first career victory.

Junior Ted Cook and sophomore Chris Moran also scored for NU and junior Les Reaney contributed three assists.

Cook’s goal, like 21 he scored last season, came on the power play.

Bemidji Arena Deal To Be Nixed?

Bemidji State president Jon Quistgaard has given the men’s hockey program two goals to reach by the end of the year — get into the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (even though an expansion moratorium has been put in place by the WCHA) and raise $2.5 million to ensure the financial viability of the BSU program.

Easier said than done, but that may all go by the wayside if Bemidji City Council has its way and delays construction of a new arena in the city.

City Councilor Jerry Downs last week said the city is working with Bemidji State to try to reach a lease agreement on the proposed events center. He would prefer to delay the project one year rather than continue forward without a specific proposal.

“You can’t put a square peg in a round hole,” he said in the Bemidji Pioneer. “We’re not going to force this project.”

If questions are still unanswered by Dec. 15, Downs suggested that the project be put on hold for a year.

In a year, there may be no BSU hockey, even though Quistgaard has noted that he has no intention of folding the program a la Wayne State.

Former BSU hockey coach and current CHA commissioner Bob Peters said that the team had already raised $100,000 as of two weeks ago. Peters said the majority of the remaining monies would be raised through the sale of suites in the new rink. He also said that he recently spoke with the WCHA and the conference is all in favor of BSU’s efforts.

“There is a great deal of support coming from the WCHA,” Peters said in the same Pioneer article. “They do not want to see a team from the great state of Minnesota go down.”

But an arena needs to be in place first, and if that is delayed a year …

Bemidji State Sweeps Away Army

The Beavers christened their 52nd year of hockey at the university with a two-game sweep of Army last weekend on home ice.

Friday, junior Travis Winter fired a shot through heavy traffic in front of the net with 3:12 to go in the third period to break a 1-1 deadlock and lift BSU to a 2-1 win.

Orlando Alamano recorded his first career shutout for Bemidji State last weekend (photo: BSU photo services).

Orlando Alamano recorded his first career shutout for Bemidji State last weekend (photo: BSU photo services).

The Beavers found themselves down 1-0 before most of the 1,382 in attendance had time to get in their seats. Owen Meyer put the first shot of the season over the left shoulder of Bemidji State senior goaltender Matt Climie just 32 seconds into the game.

Senior co-captain Jake Bluhm buried a one-timer from St. Cloud State transfer Matt Francis to tie the game later in the period.

Army looked to have taken a 2-1 lead midway through the third period on a shot off the stick of Luke Flicek. Climie was taken out on the play and the referee quickly waved off the goal. After a brief discussion between officials and explanations to both benches, the goal was disallowed due to an Army player being in the crease.

Freshman forward Matt Read earned his first collegiate point with an assist on Winter’s game-winner.

Junior goaltender Orlando Alamano turned away all 22 Army shots he faced for his first collegiate shutout as the Beavers completed the two-game sweep over the Black Knights Saturday with a 3-0 victory.

Bemidji State defenders also blocked 10 shots.

Freshman Jamie Ruff netted his first NCAA goal to give BSU a 1-0 lead early in the third period. Fellow rookie Ian Lowe was credited with an assist on the play for his first collegiate point as well.

Seniors Matt Pope and Blaine Jarvis each added empty-net goals during the final 25 seconds to secure the victory.

Alamano, now 4-2-0 in his career, posted his first win since a Jan. 6 victory versus Wayne State. It was also the first BSU shutout since Climie made 21 saves in a 1-0 win over Wayne State last Dec. 1.

Bemidji State’s sweep of Army extends the Beavers’ winning streak to four games as the team is now 4-0 versus the Black Knights all-time.

Wayne State Off To 0-2 Start — Again

Wayne State lost both of its games last weekend at the Nye Frontier Classic and in doing so started the season 0-2 for the third straight year.

Senior captain Mike Forgie and junior Derek Punches scored for the Warriors Friday, but three straight goals by Alaska-Anchorage in the second period proved to be the difference in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

The Seawolves doubled Wayne State’s shot total, 26-13, while both sides went 1-for-4 on the power play.

Sophomore goalie Brett Bothwell stopped 21 shots for Wayne State.

With the loss to Robert Morris Saturday night, it marked just the third loss to RMU all-time and the first since Feb. 11, 2006.

“Last year, we went down there (WSU) and had a weekend we’d like to forget,” RMU senior forward Ryan Cruthers said prior to last weekend. “But then they came up here and beat us two straight. We need to turn that around.”

Mission: accomplished.

Freshman goaltender Kyle Funkenhauser, making his first collegiate start, totaled 18 saves and held Robert Morris to one power-play goal in eight chances.

Wayne State’s six-game road trip continues this weekend as the Warriors head to Ferris State.

UAH Blue-White Game Goes To Shootout

In an exciting come-from-behind contest, the Alabama-Huntsville White squad rallied from a 4-0 deficit to top the Blue team, 6-5 in a shootout, on Saturday afternoon.

The first three shots by junior forward Josh Murray of the Blue team found the back of the net. Junior forward Kevin Galerno made it a 4-0 lead minutes after Murray’s third goal.

The White squad finally got on the scoreboard when freshman Andrew Coburn scored. White junior forward Matt Sweazey then added a hat trick of his own.

Freshman forward Brady Cook then gave the White team their first lead of the afternoon at 12:34 of the second period.

Sophomore forward Cale Tanaka tied the game for the Blue team.

The shootout saw Morrison score the lone goal as the fourth man in the lineup for the White squad after both sophomore Blake MacNicol and freshman Cameron Talbot stood tall in net for the first part of the shootout.

“Defensively, I’m not real happy,” UAH head coach Danton Cole said in the Huntsville Times. “But once they settled down and remembered the system, they did all right. There were some good things, but this is going to be a process.”

Freshman goalie Wyatt Russell also saw action during the contest.

Colonials Get Local ’08-’09 Commitment

Robert Morris has reportedly received a verbal commitment from Pittsburgh-area native Furman South, a 19-year-old defenseman with the Baystate Breakers of the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

A Sewickley native, the 6-foot-2, 198-pound South has two goals and two assists with 20 penalty minutes in eight games this season.

USCHO Announces 2007-08 Women’s Game of the Week Broadcast Schedule

USCHO Staff Report
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Beginning November 3, USCHO will present the fourth season of the Women’s Game of the Week, the only weekly national Internet broadcast for women’s hockey. Fans will be able to access the live and archived video feeds available through the USCHO women’s page.

The 2007-08 season will combine the past, present, and future of women’s hockey to provide unprecedented global coverage of the sport. The NCAA portion of the schedule will feature premier Division I and III regular-season matchups, and postseason coverage including the 2008 Frozen Four in Duluth, Minnesota. In addition, the Game of the Week is proud to introduce exclusive video coverage of past college standouts in the inaugural season of the CWHL as well as the new season of the WWHL. The schedule will conclude next April with coverage of the 2008 IIHF Women’s World Championships from Harbin, China in partnership with USA Hockey.

The Game of the Week is once again proud to offer a star-studded lineup of guest color analysts drawn from the ranks of the sport’s alumni. Former college greats who have appeared on the program include Patty Kazmaier Award winners Angela Ruggiero (Harvard ’04), A.J. Mleczko (Harvard ’99) and Ali Brewer (Brown ’00), as well as former Olympians Colleen Coyne (New Hampshire ’93), Natalie Darwitz (Minnesota ’07), Molly Engstrom (Wisconsin ’05), Sara DeCosta-Hayes (Providence ’00), Tricia Dunn-Luoma (New Hampshire ’96), Jamie Hagerman (Harvard ’03) and Carla MacLeod (Wisconsin ’05).

Game of the Week founder Brian Schulz will return for his fourth season of play-by-play. Schulz called men’s and women’s hockey games for Harvard University from 1999-2001, and also broadcast the 2001 and 2004 World Women’s Hockey Championships.

The broadcast schedule will begin Saturday, November 3 with live video coverage of Wisconsin Stevens-Point at Gustavus Adolphus. Specific CWHL and World Championship games to be announced at a later date.

2007-08 USCHO Game of the Week Broadcast Schedule

(all times EST)

Saturday, November 3, Wisc Stevens-Point at Gustavus Adolphus, 3:00PM
Saturday, November 17, Williams vs. Plattsburgh, 2:00PM
Saturday, November 17, Elmira at Middlebury, 5:00PM
Sunday, November 18, Middlebury Tournament Day 2, 2/5PM
Friday, November 23, St. Lawrence at Dartmouth, 7:00PM
Tuesday, November 27, Harvard at Dartmouth, 7:00PM
Saturday, December 1, Calgary at Minnesota (WWHL), 8:00PM
December 8-9, TBA (CWHL)
Saturday, December 15, Mercyhurst at Dartmouth, 2:00PM
December 29-30, TBA (CWHL)

January 5-6, TBA (CWHL)
Saturday, January 12, Boston College at Minnesota, 3:00PM
Sunday, January 20, Boston University at Providence, 1:00PM
January 26-27, TBA (CWHL)
February 2-3, TBA (CWHL)
Friday, February 8, Minnesota at Edmonton (WWHL), 10:15PM
Saturday, February 9, Ohio State at Minnesota, 8:00PM
Saturday, February 16, Amherst at Middlebury, 3:00PM
Saturday, February 23, Wisconsin at Minnesota, 4:00PM
Saturday, March 1, Boston College at Providence, 1:00PM

March 8-9, Conference Playoffs
March 14-16, NCAA Quarterfinals
March 20-22, 2008 Frozen Four

April 4-12, 2008 IIHF World Championships

*Schedule subject to change

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Oct. 16

By Jim Connelly and Scott Brown
-

Welcome to Tuesday Morning Quarterback, USCHO.com’s freeform debate about the week that was in college hockey. Every Tuesday in this space, Jim Connelly, representing the East, and Scott Brown, representing the West, will discuss the issues of the day, trade barbs, make indefensible claims about their teams and leagues and generally rant about the things that make college hockey great.

Scott: Well, Jim, the new season is under way, and I know we’ll get to the games pretty quickly, but in the meantime let’s discuss the big bombshell of the last couple of weeks, which is Wayne State. The announcement that the Warriors are dropping men’s hockey is still reverberating — especially around the College Hockey America league offices. With that league now down to four teams after this season, is this the death knell for the CHA?

Peter Mannino compiled an 0.50 GAA and a .982 SV% as Denver swept Maine to open the season (photo: Melissa Wade).

Peter Mannino compiled an 0.50 GAA and a .982 SV% as Denver swept Maine to open the season (photo: Melissa Wade).

Jim: Certainly, Scott, this is a bombshell. Though nothing has officially been announced, I can’t see the NCAA — or the rest of the college hockey community — allowing the CHA to keep operating and receiving an NCAA tournament bid with just four teams. So, I think the most proper conversation now is where each of the four remaining teams belong. Assuming that all four programs remain — and as I say that I have no inside information that any of them would not — it would seem that a couple of teams could head to Atlantic Hockey.

Robert Morris, neighbors to Mercyhurst, and Niagara, a short ride from Canisius, seem like natural fits. Bemidji State is a geographic fit for the WCHA and Alabama-Huntsville really isn’t close to any of the current teams. If the WCHA or any other western league don’t want to open their doors to Bemidji and UAH, Atlantic Hockey might be interested in expanding to 14 teams. No matter how you slice it, though, the remaining CHA members will have to rely on the rest of the college hockey world for some help.

Scott: I agree on Niagara and Robert Morris, and both programs would be assets to Atlantic Hockey. When you mention Bemidji and UAH, though — aye, there’s the rub. The WCHA has not been willing to seriously consider Bemidji, due in part to arena issues, and I don’t think the league wants to go back to an odd number of teams.

That calls into play entertaining possibilities for playing Fantasy College Hockey Conference Realignment, where Michigan Tech goes to the CCHA, or Tech stays and the CCHA gives the WCHA Nebraska-Omaha to boot to make 12 WCHA teams, then takes Niagara itself. These scenarios are about as likely as me winning the Hobey Baker, but they’re fun to think about. The real irony is that the two teams in the biggest trouble — BSU and UAH — are traditional programs with a long history together in Division II. Losing either would be a crime, in my opinion.

Jim: I think your scenarios are certainly crazy, but you can’t rule out anything at this point. My thought is that the five remaining commissioners need to assemble at some point this season and make conscious decision on what’s best for the game. But you said it perfectly — losing any program is an absolute crime. And speaking of crimes in the CHA, how about Robert Morris stealing one from Boston University last weekend? What do you think happened there?

Scott: On the surface, this looks like a breathtaking upset, but this Robert Morris squad is one of the favorites in the CHA — which has had a number of wins over “Big Four” conference opponents in the past — and the Colonials are senior-laden, much like the 1999-2000 Niagara squad that beat New Hampshire in the first round of the NCAAs. Could RMU be this year’s surprise team on a national level? I’m not making any bets just yet, but it’s possible.

Of course, the fact is that BU outshot RMU 35-15, and the Colonials scored three goals on the power play in under four minutes, so maybe this falls into the “goalie stands on his head” variety of win (Christian Boucher, in this case) that won’t reflect the rest of the season. This can’t make Jack Parker feel better about his netminding, though, after losing John Curry to graduation. On the other hand, how ’bout them Gophers … and Pioneers … and Sioux … and Seawolves, for that matter? Quite a weekend for the WCHA.

Jim: It’s almost unimaginable how incredible a weekend that the WCHA had. Maybe that’s a hint of revenge for last year’s Frozen Four? The fact that the league earned wins wasn’t even the most impressive — it was the opponents they beat. Denver’s sweep over Maine was incredible, as was Minnesota over Michigan on Saturday. Add North Dakota over the defending national champions and Alaska-Anchorage earning a tie with BU, and my only word is “wow.” Oh and before you rub it in, yes, I recognize the major digger that Hockey East took on Friday night. When Merrimack is the only team in the league to earn a win, that’s a bad night.

Scott: I wasn’t going to say anything about that … okay, maybe I was. Regardless, though, we don’t know how much stock to put in early results like these. After one weekend, it looks like the WCHA is gunning hard to reclaim the NCAA title, but with lines not set, systems not fully developed, and starting goaltenders not even established in some cases, it’s tough to know how seriously to take wins and losses at this point. Luckily for the teams that lost over the weekend, this isn’t college football, where one bad loss can remove you from the national title picture a week into the season.

Jim: You’re very right that it’s better to lose early in the season than late. Plus, I think at least Boston College and Boston University can take some solace in the fact that they are working to break in somewhat fresh goaltenders. True, Karson Gillespie at BU has been around for a few years, but he’s always taken a back seat to Curry. Regardless, the opening weekend of college hockey surely gave us plenty to talk about around the country. I’m sure week two will do just the same.

North Dakota Firmly Atop USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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With a shutout of defending NCAA champion Michigan State Saturday, North Dakota cemented its hold on the top spot in Monday’s USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll.

The Fighting Sioux, who won 6-0 against the Spartans, earned 46 first-place votes to easily retain the No. 1 ranking they held in the preseason.

Following UND was Miami, which beat then-No. 20 Vermont twice and rose to No. 2, with Ice Breaker champion Minnesota at No. 3 after wins against Rensselaer and Michigan. Boston College, which lost to the Wolverines before rebounding to top the Engineers, came in fourth, and Denver skyrocketed eight places to fifth after sweeping Maine.

Michigan’s split at the Ice Breaker was good enough to send it up four places to No. 6, with Clarkson holding its ground in seventh with a loss to St. Lawrence and wins over Massachusetts and Providence in the two weeks since the preseason poll.

New Hampshire, which has yet to open its regular season, was No. 8, trailed by Michigan State and then idle Colorado College in 10th.

Notre Dame, which lost to Wisconsin before rebounding to beat Mercyhurst, was No. 11, with Lefty McFadden champion Ohio State — a winner over both of the same teams — moved up seven spots to 12th.

Wisconsin’s split in Ohio put the Badgers at No. 13, with idle Quinnipiac next. St. Lawrence, like Clarkson one of the few teams to have three games under its belt already, was No. 15 after beating Clarkson and Providence but losing to UMass.

The remaining five teams in the poll were St. Cloud State, which took three points from Canisius, and then Maine, Boston University — which fell nine places after losing to Robert Morris and tying Alaska-Anchorage at the Nye Frontier Classic — and finally idle Cornell and UMass.

Minnesota’s Stoa To Miss Season With Knee Injury

USCHO Staff Report
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Minnesota junior left wing Ryan Stoa will miss the remainder of the 2007-08 season with an injury suffered in Saturday’s win over Michigan.

Stoa, who scored the team’s first goal of the season to spark Friday’s comeback from a three-goal deficit against Rensselaer, suffered a knee injury in the first period of Saturday’s victory that will require surgery. The Bloomington, Minn., native ranked seventh on the team with 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points during 2006-07.

Minnesota's Ryan Stoa (l.) goes down to the ice Saturday alongside Michigan's Brian Lebler (photo: Melissa Wade).

Minnesota’s Ryan Stoa (l.) goes down to the ice Saturday alongside Michigan’s Brian Lebler (photo: Melissa Wade).

“I’m really disappointed for Ryan,” said Gopher head coach Don Lucia. “He worked extremely hard this offseason and had really taken a step in his development.”

Stoa played in all 41 games as a freshman and appeared in 41 of 44 games last season. Including his goal and assist last weekend, Stoa has 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 career points.

“We’re going to miss him as a leader and a person this upcoming season,” Lucia said. “I know Ryan will work extremely hard to get back on the ice and have a great year next season.”

Minnesota opened the season with a pair of victories, capturing the IceBreaker Invitational with wins over Rensselaer and Michigan by identical 4-3 scores. The Gophers open Western Collegiate Hockey Association play this weekend with a two-game series at Colorado College on Friday and Saturday.

2007-08 Providence Season Preview

By
-

When Tim Army first returned to his alma mater two seasons ago, the Friars turned out to be the biggest surprise in the league for the first half of the season before faltering in the stretch. Last season was a different story, as the Friars never really got all cylinders firing together on a regular basis. When the skaters played well, the goaltending sometimes was shaky. When the netminders held up their end, the skaters failed to light the lamp sufficiently. Fourteen of the team’s 23 losses were by two goals or less, including one-goal losses to BU, BC, UNH, and Vermont — the latter three all on the road.

All of which is to say that no one should look to Army to abandon his go-getter brand of offensive hockey.

“We’re excited about our team,” Army said. “For two years we’ve made some progress; I don’t think our record was necessarily reflective of the way we played last year. But I think we’ve solidified things over the last two years, and now we have our second recruiting class in, so we’ll have 16 freshmen and sophomores playing. We’ll be young.

“Obviously, the league is highly competitive, and you’re going to be challenged every night. But when you look at our team, we’ve improved in the areas of speed, overall skill, and hockey sense. We’ve gotten bigger, I think grittier, a little edgier. We want to play with discipline, but we want to play a little edgier. I think the group of freshmen coming in will further enhance those elements, and we’ll continue to play the type of game that we’ve tried to play — a puck-pursuit, puck-possession, attacking type of game.”

Several players will be critical factors in determining whether the Friars can get back in the black on the ledger of wins and losses. “Goaltending will be important; Tyler Sims and Ryan Simpson are two key guys. Key guys for us up front are Jon Rheault and Nick Mazzolini, and on the back end you look at Cody Wild, Mark Fayne, a freshman named Joey Lavin. Those are some key names, but we look to everyone to continue to improve and develop and contribute.”

Army also can think of some likely suspects in terms of breakout seasons as well. “I think Greg Collins and John Cavanaugh had good seasons last year [as freshmen], but I think that they’re capable of building on that. I think Chris Eppich was a freshman who struggled a bit last year but who has a high skill element. He’s another of the sophomores who might start to leap forward. Pierce Norton also has showed signs of developing; he’s another guy who could do real good things for us.”

ARMY

ARMY

But the substantial influx of freshmen-nine of them-might have the biggest long-term impact on the program. The biggest coup is the aforementioned Lavin, a recruit from the U.S. Under-18 Team. “Extremely mobile,” Army said of the freshman. “Six-two, very rangy, very intelligent player. We’re very active with our defensemen; I think you’ll see a great deal of offensive activity from Joey.”

Given the youth movement in the program, though, several other freshmen will be counted on to step in and play. “Paul Golden’s a walk-on freshman from Thayer Academy, but he’s got some talent. Paul’s one of those guys who will add depth and develop over time. The other guys: Eric Baier, six-foot two, another mobile defenseman who played for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, and then up front Kyle MacKinnon from Walnut, California, played for Langley up in the British Columbia Hockey League and put up big numbers. I think he’ll have an immediate impact.”

Army touted quite a few other newcomers for their size, speed, and skill as well. Many of the rookies will see substantial minutes. It remains to be seen whether the combination of Army’s offensive vision and his program’s ability to recruit will reap dividends quickly, but the longer term looks promising … and likely to lead to more entertaining hockey for all who watch the team play.

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