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Saints, Bagnall Lead ECACHL Awards

USCHO Staff Report
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St. Lawrence defenseman Drew Bagnall was named the ECAC Hockey League’s Player of the Year and the league’s Best Defensive Defenseman at the league’s annual banquet. The senior was one of several individuals to earn recognition at the annual event.

Clarkson’s David Leggio was the league’s Ken Dryden Award winner as the Goaltender of the Year, after being named a first-team all-league selection. Rookie of the Year honors were shared between Quinnipiac’s Brandon Wong and Yale’s Sean Backman, while St. Lawrence’s Kyle Rank was named Best Defensive Forward. Joining Bagnall, Leggio and Rank as first-team all-league selections were Quinnipiac’s Reid Cashman, Dartmouth’s David Jones and Clarkson’s Nick Dodge. Union’s Olivier Bouchard was named the league’s Student-Athlete of the Year.

St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh was named the Tim Taylor Coach of the Year, and his team took home the Turfer Athletic Trophy for the second year in a row. The Turfer Athletic trophy is given to the team that the coaches believe best fits the ideals of both Turfer Athletic and the ECAC Hockey League: Sportsmanship, Commitment, Tenacity and Innovation.

Bagnall becomes just the ninth defenseman in league history to earn Player of the Year honors and is the first defenseman since 1998 to claim the award. One other St. Lawrence defenseman has claimed Player of the Year honors, and that was Dan Laperriere in 1992. Bagnall had 15 league points from the blue line with five goals and 10 assists. Three of his goals were game-winners this season. The senior led a defense that held league opponents to 2.50 goals per game, while helping his team capture the league’s regular-season crown. Overall, Bagnall has six goals and 17 assists on the season. Drew was also a unanimous selection to the league’s first team, and is the second straight Saint to claim Best Defensive Defenseman honors.

Leggio posted a league-best .927 save percentage in conference games along with a 2.25 goals against average. He helped backstop the Golden Knights to their second-place finish, while posting a 13-4-4 mark in league games. Overall, Leggio, who is a junior, led the conference’s netminders with a 2.15 GAA and a .931 save percentage. His save percentage is also ranked 10th nationally. Leggio also has two shutouts this season – a 5-0 blanking of Bowling Green and a recent 3-0 victory vs. Harvard in the playoffs. Leggio is the only Golden Knight to earn Goaltender of the Year honors since the award was first presented in 1996.

Rank was among the league’s top scorers with 25 points in conference play on 13 goals and 12 assists. His 13 goals tied for third among the league’s snipers. Two of his goals were short-handed efforts, and two were game winners. Overall, the senior averages 0.89 points per game with 15-17-32 numbers through 36 games. His 32 points leads St. Lawrence in scoring. He is the fourth Saint to earn Best Defensive Forward honors.

Joining Rank as first-team forwards are Dodge and Jones.

Dodge helped his Golden Knights lead the league in scoring with 3.36 goals per game in conference matchups and 3.53 GPG overall. The junior had 20 points in league games with eight goals and 12 assists and led his team overall with 37 points on 17 goals and 20 assists. Nine of his goals this season have been game winners.

Jones led the league in scoring with 31 points on 11 goals and 20 assists. In 22 games, the junior averaged 1.41 points per game and had two game-winning tallies. Overall, he has played in 31 games and has 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points on the season. His points per game average of 1.35 ranks fifth nationally.

On defense, Cashman earned his second trip to the league’s first team after leading all blue liners with 22 points in conference games. He had one goal and 21 assists (first in the ECACHL) in league outings for a 1.00 points per game average. Overall, he leads the nation’s defenders in scoring with three goals and 37 assists for 40 points on the year. A senior, he is averaging 0.97 assists per game, which is third in the nation.

Wong and Backman tied for Rookie of the Year honors after both posted 14 goals in league games this season. Their 14 goals led not only the rookies, but all players in league contests. Wong finished the ECACHL season with 12 assists to give him 26 points, while Backman had 10 assists for a 24 point output. Overall, Wong has 26 goals and 17 assists for 43 points on the year and is third among the nation’s rookies with an average of 1.13 points per game. Backman is 11th among the nation’s first-year players with 31 points on the year from 18 goals and 30 assists for 0.62 ppg.

In earning Coach of the Year honors, Marsh becomes the first ECAC Hockey League mentor to claim the honor four times. Marsh also won the award in 1989, 1996 and 1999. The Saints started the season as an underdog in both the coaches’ and media’s preseason polls (sixth and seventh, respectively) before they worked their way to the No. 1 position at the end of the year to claim the William J. Cleary Cup as the regular-season champion.

Prior to the start of the 2006-07 season the league’s coaches and administrators voted to rename the Coach of the Year Award and call it the Tim Taylor Coach of the Year Award in honor of long time ECACHL head coach Tim Taylor. Taylor played his collegiate hockey at Harvard and spent 28 seasons behind the bench at Yale before leaving his post at the end of last season.

The inaugural Student-Athlete of the Year Award was given to Bouchard, who has maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.5 at Union while studying neuroscience with a concentration in pre-medical studies in a non-native tongue. He is a Dean’s List student and is a three-time ECACHL All-Academic Team selection. Bouchard has served as an on-ice leader throughout his four-year career. He ranks seventh in Union’s Division I history in points with 86 on 43 goals and 43 assists. He led the team in scoring last season, and has netted a career-high three game winners and two overtime goals this season.

The league also recognized its top rookies, with Wong and Backman leading the way on the six-man list. Dartmouth’s T.J. Galiardi was the third forward named to the team, while Harvard’s Alex Biega and Cornell’s Brandon Nash were the defensive picks. St. Lawrence’s Alex Petizian was named the top rookie netminder. Petizian and Backman were unanimous selections.

ND’s Brown Named CCHA Player Of The Year

USCHO Staff Report
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Notre Dame senior goaltender David Brown (Stoney Creek, Ont.) became the first player in program history to be named the RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Year at the annual CCHA Awards banquet on Thursday, March 15.

Nine individual honors were awarded at Detroit’s historic Fox Theatre, including six determined by a vote of the league’s 12 coaches.

Brown leads the nation in goals against average, posting a 1.68 average in 33 games, and is tied for fourth nationally in save percentage with a .927 mark. He is the first Notre Dame player to be named player of the year in the 17 years that the Irish have been a member of the league.

Western Michigan forward Mark Letestu (Elk Point, Alta.) was selected the CCHA Rookie of the Year after finishing second in the nation in the regular season in points per game for rookies with a 1.24 average over 34 games. He also ranked first in the CCHA in shorthanded goals with five, fourth in the league with 21 goals and seventh in scoring at 42 points.

Jeff Jackson was recognized as the CCHA Coach of the Year after leading the Irish to a 19-point improvement in the standings over last season and their first regular-season CCHA championship. This is the second CCHA Coach of the Year award for Jackson, who won in 1990-91 with Lake Superior State.

Ohio State junior forward Tom Fritsche (Parma, Ohio) was presented with the Terry Flanagan Memorial Award in recognition of his perseverance, dedication and courage in his battle with severe ulcerative colitis, a chronic intestinal disorder that caused him to lose 40 pounds and miss the first half of the 2006-07 season. Fritsche’s return gave an immediate lift to the team despite him not being at full strength. Ohio State won the Ohio Hockey Classic in his first two games back, including a win against then-No.4 Miami in the championship game.

The seventh annual Mike and Marian Ilitch Humanitarian award was presented to Michigan senior defenseman Tim Cook (Montclair, N.J.). Cook is involved in several Ann Arbor-area programs including the Big Brother program and From the Heart Council for Mott Children’s Hospital visits. Cook has been a regular at the hospital the last four years and has taken the lead on getting the Wolverines more involved each year. The Ilitch Humanitarian is given to the league’s top citizen based on his contributions off the ice, as well as on, to his team, his program, his school and his community.

Wolverine teammates won both defenseman awards with senior Matt Hunwick (Sterling Heights, Mich.) earning the Best Defensive Defenseman Award and sophomore Jack Johnson (Ann Arbor, Mich.) receiving the Best Offensive Defenseman Award. Hunwick was a force on the defensive side of the nation’s top offensive team and finished tied for fourth in the CCHA in plus/minus with a +18. Johnson finished the regular season tied for first in the nation in points-per-game for a defenseman averaging one point-per-game. Johnson was named Defenseman of the Week three times while Hunwick picked up the same honor once this season.

Miami junior forward Nathan Davis (Rocky River, Ohio) was selected as the Best Defensive Forward after he helped the RedHawks finish third in the CCHA in team defense and he finished the regular season with a +17 rating.

Nebraska-Omaha senior defenseman Michael Eickman (Grand Forks, N.D.) received the CCHA Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award for the second straight year. Eickman currently has a grade point average of 3.937 and has been on the Dean’s List every semester he has been enrolled at UNO. He will graduate in May with a degree in psychology and will enroll in the School of Dentistry at Nebraska in August of 2007.

Silver And Gold

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Outside the Robert Morris locker room was Derek Schooley. Young and enthusiastic, Schooley was fighting a losing battle to hold back tears. He looks younger than some of his players, and if his face told it all, he took this loss as hard if not harder than they did.

Doug Ross was 100 feet the other way, around the corner in the bowels of the 95WKGGO Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. The Michigan native who has spent more of his hockey career in Huntsville, Alabama, than anywhere else had a bit of a smile. The veteran had been in overtime of CHA championship games before and lost. The what if’s were over.

Ross, who showed up in Huntsville to start up a Division III hockey program 25 years ago, had just coached his last CHA game. He’ll get two weeks to coach what presumably will be his last as his gutsy Chargers will face a national powerhouse in the opening game of the NCAA tournament. However, no matter what happens on his last day as an NCAA head coach, Doug Ross will be America’s coach.

ROSS

ROSS

Ross, who grew up playing junior hockey with Mark and Marty Howe in suburban Detroit, has been the only coach the Chargers have ever known. He won titles at the D-II and D-III level with Huntsville, but had never made it out of the CHA with an automatic bid to the elite field of 16.

The Holy Cross miracle of last spring notwithstanding, the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America have not fared well in the NCAA tourney. Two years ago a game Bemidji State team took the defending national champs from Denver to OT, rallying late to tie. The Beavers lost but came as close as any team not from the Big Four conferences to seeing a regional final.

Ross’ veteran-laden team brought only one color to Des Moines, and that was its road blue. As the No. 5 seed out of five teams, the Chargers were not given much of a chance. Down 3-0 to Wayne State in the play-in game, they rallied to win in OT with four unanswered goals. Down 3-1 to offensive juggernaut Niagara, the top seed, they rallied with four goals and held on for a wild 7-5 win. In the title game, they saw their senior goalie knocked out after three first-period goals allowed, and inserted a freshman with very little experience.

That same freshman was the one who had given up three to Wayne State before being pulled. Doing an impression of Ken Dryden, Blake MacNicol, the former Bay State Breaker, allowed one more goal, then made save after save in periods two, three, and OT. His shutout performance, coupled with the third straight game in which Huntsville scored four or more consecutive goals, gave Ross perhaps his most memorable win.

“I think these kids like me, and I think they like playing for me,” said Ross, who sounded somewhere between humble and truthful after Huntsville’s upset of Niagara. “They told me that they want to send me out with a CHA title, and that they want to win for me. That’s nice. At the same time this is a resilient bunch with a lot of seniors and I’d rather win out to send them out a winner.”

If most other coaches played that piece of humble jive, I’d compliment them on their team-first attitude but might not completely believe it. Coaches have egos, but the great ones check it at the door so that their kids shine in the spotlight. Young coaches have chips on their shoulders and something to prove. It’s only natural. Ross has neither youth, anything to prove, nor an ego. Schooley has the youth, but also the composure of a older veteran.

Ross is unique. He’ll be between periods at a CHA championship tourney game and be up chatting with the pep band. He’ll be in OT against Bemidji State, like he was last season at the CHA championship tourney in Detroit, and he’ll be out near the concession stand chatting with fans.

He trusts his assistants, especially the guy who should be the next coach there in Lance West. Ross maps out things, and West gets them done. That’s confidence in self, knowing that you can delegate, stand somewhat in the background and watch the team be successful.

I first met Ross in 1996. I was coaching in the Central Hockey League, and Huntsville had a team in our league. UAH was coming off a D-II national title, and the pro Channel Cats were defending Southern Hockey League Champs and had just moved up to the CHL. Huntsville nicknamed itself the “Hockey Capital of the South.”

Ross was running the Chargers though practice before we were scheduled to skate. One of his best players was a really small kid who looked 13 years old. After practice I introduced myself and asked Ross who the young stud was. He told me it was his son Jared, who could be a pretty decent player one day.

Jared Ross went on to dominate the CHA for four years and is now in the American Hockey League after Doug Ross mentored him into a promising pro career. He has done the same for countless other players in careers on and off the ice.

My first win as a full-time head coach came when I was with the Memphis RiverKings in the CHL. We beat my old team, Macon, with a rookie goalie fresh out of UAH named Steve Briere. Two seasons before that, another former UAH goalie, Derek Puppa (you may remember his Vezina Trophy-winning brother Darren from the Buffalo Sabres), put together a season for the Huntsville Channel Cats that ranks among the best in minor professional hockey history and was capped off with a league title and an MVP award.

In this game there was no underdog, only two winners. Robert Morris and its young and talented bench boss will play again next season, and learn from what had to be the most stinging defeat in their three-year hockey history. Schooley is an up-and-comer and he’ll get past this, and improve on what has been getting better every year.

Doug Ross has won his last big game at UAH. No matter what the final score is in the regional semifinal they play, Ross has won this season. He took a last-place team to the big dance in his swan song season, going there for the first time. He did it by overcoming two-, three-, and four-goal deficits.

Root for the Chargers from Sweet Home Alabama. In his silver-anniversary season, Ross has won gold.

2007 Women’s College Hockey Postseason Archive

USCHO Staff Report
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The following is a complete list of USCHO content related to women’s hockey postseason games and awards.

NCAA National Collegiate Tournament

Quarterfinals, March 19-10

UMD 3, Mercyhurst 2 (OT)
BC 3, Dartmouth 2 (2 OT)
St. Lawrence 6, New Hampshire 2
Wisconsin 1, Harvard 0 (4 OT)

WCHA Tournament

Final, March 4, at Minnesota

Wisconsin 3, Minnesota 1

Semifinals, March 3, at Minnesota

Wisconsin 4, OSU 0
Minnesota 3, UMD 2 (OT)

Hockey East Tournament

Final, March 4 at UNH

UNH 3, Providence 1 (Column)

ECAC West Tournament

Final, March 4 at Plattsburgh

Plattsburgh 3, Elmira 2

ECAC East Tournament

Final, March 4 at RIT

Manhattanville 3, RIT 2

Semifinals, March 3 at RIT

RIT 5, UMass-Boston 3
Manhattanville 3, N.E. College 1

Patty Kazmaier Award

Final 10
Final Three

Conference Awards

Hockey East
WCHA Awards
ECACHL Awards
CHA Awards

Previous Postseason Archives

2006 Postseason
2005 Postseason

Bracketology: March 14, 2007

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It’s playoff time and it’s a guessing game everywhere to see what can happen. We’re trying to take some of the guessing out of the process and to educate everyone as to what can or may not happen.

In Part I of this week’s Bracketology, we took a look at the current structure of the bracket, and at the same time we took a look at the teams on the bubble and some of the possible scenarios that can occur with them, including Denver’s fate, which can still turn on a dime and has so many different scenarios.

Let’s take a look at some situations which might be labeled in the Useless Facts category, though if you’re a fan of the team or league in question, then they certainly are Useful.

Taking a look at scenarios and outcomes with our PairWise Predictor, here are some situations that you may or may not have thought about.

And don’t forget, we’re using .003 as our bonus for quality road wins. We don’t know exactly what it is, but this is our best guess based on history.

Just The Facts

Well, here are some of the facts, repeated from the last Bracketology in case you missed it.

Teams That Can Look Forward To The Dance

A total of nine teams have punched their tickets, according to my calculations.

Those teams are Minnesota, Notre Dame, St. Cloud, New Hampshire, Clarkson, Boston College, Boston University, Michigan and Alabama-Huntsville.

Teams That Are, Or Can Be, TUCs That Must Wait Until Next Year

These teams, while they are now or can be TUCs, are done with their seasons: Colorado College, Vermont, Cornell, Nebraska-Omaha and RIT.

Teams That Must Win Their Conference Tournaments To Get In

These teams need to skate with their conference trophies this weekend in order to get in: Wisconsin, Quinnipiac, Lake Superior, Sacred Heart, Army, Connecticut and Air Force.

The Dreaded Bubble

You’ve got it, we’re now at the bubble. That place where you really don’t want to be because anything can happen. It’s even worse when you can’t do a thing about your position by your own volition.

The teams on the bubble are North Dakota, Michigan State, Massachusetts, St. Lawrence, Maine, Miami, Michigan Tech, Dartmouth and Denver.

Nine teams battling for six spots, and perhaps only three spots should Wisconsin, Lake Superior and Quinnipiac all win their tournaments.

Number One Seeds

Four number-one seeds and eight teams alive to get those number-one seeds.

Those teams are Minnesota, Notre Dame, St. Cloud, New Hampshire, Clarkson, Boston College, Boston University and North Dakota.

What’s interesting here is that North Dakota can be a number-one seed, but at the same time it can be out of the tournament.

The Number

The CCHA, Hockey East and the WCHA can all get five teams into the tournament as a maximum. The ECACHL’s maximum is three teams, while Atlantic Hockey and the CHA will only get one.

As a minimum, Hockey East will get three teams in, the WCHA three teams, the CCHA two teams and the ECACHL, the CHA and Atlantic Hockey one as a minimum.

We’re Number One! Or Are We?

Here’s an interesting situation for the current number-one in the PairWise, Minnesota. Just because you’re number-one at the moment doesn’t mean you’re safe there, or even as a one-seeded band member.

Here’s how Minnesota falls down to fifth in the PairWise.

CCHA: Notre Dame defeats Michigan for the CCHA title and Michigan State takes third place.

ECACHL: Clarkson defeats St. Lawrence for the ECACHL title and Dartmouth takes third place.

Hockey East: Boston College defeats Massachusetts for the title.

WCHA: St. Cloud defeats Wisconsin for the title and North Dakota defeats Minnesota for third place.

Atlantic Hockey: Sacred Heart defeats Connecticut.

And there you go, Minnesota is now number five overall. The good news for Gopher fans is that this is the lowest that Minnesota can go in the overall PairWise.

From Rags To Riches, Or Riches To Rags

Here’s an interesting scenario. It will make the CCHA fans downtrodden and then overjoyed, or the other way around.

We mentioned that the CCHA can have a minimum of two teams in the tournament and a maximum of five. But did you know that it only takes switching the results of four semifinal games in just two championship tournaments?

Here’s the rags story for you:

Atlantic Hockey: Sacred Heart defeats Connecticut.

Hockey East: Boston College defeats Massachusetts.

WCHA: St. Cloud defeats Wisconsin in the championship game and Minnesota defeats North Dakota for third place.

ECACHL: Dartmouth defeats St. Lawrence for the title and Clarkson defeats Quinnipiac for third place.

CCHA: Notre Dame defeats Michigan for the title and Lake Superior defeats Michigan State for third place.

In this scenario, only Notre Dame and Michigan get into the tournament.

But CCHA fans, turn those frowns upside down!

Reverse the two semifinal results in the ECACHL and CCHA and what do you get?

Keep Atlantic Hockey, Hockey East and the WCHA with the same results.

Now:

ECACHL: Clarkson defeats Quinnipiac for the championship and Dartmouth defeats St. Lawrence for third place.

CCHA: Lake Superior defeats Michigan State for the championship and Notre Dame defeats Michigan for third place.

So all we did was reverse the results of the four semifinals in the ECACHL and CCHA tournaments and then kept the winners the same for Saturday. And what do we have now?

Five CCHA teams in the tournament because it keeps Miami and Michigan State in the tournament and Lake Superior gets the automatic bid.

Four games, two vastly different results.

We Lost, But We’re In?

In Part I of Bracketology we chronicled how Michigan Tech can still be left out of the tournament with two wins at the Final Five.

But did you know that Tech can also get invited to the tournament with a loss in the play-in game?

It seems illogical, doesn’t it, that Tech can be left out of the tournament with two wins at the Final Five, but can make it with a loss in the first game that it plays?

Here’s what has to happen:

CCHA: Michigan defeats Notre Dame for the title and Lake Superior wins third place.

ECACHL: Clarkson defeats Quinnipiac for the title and Dartmouth defeats St. Lawrence for third.

Hockey East: Boston University downs Massachusetts.

Atlantic Hockey: Sacred Heart defeats Army.

WCHA: Minnesota defeats St. Cloud for the championship and North Dakota defeats Wisconsin for third place.

This is exactly what I was talking about with Michigan Tech and Dartmouth in Part I, how the scenarios for them getting an at-large berth range from winning games to actually losing games.

It Is Hockey, After All

And that is why the tie is a great thing. Or is it? How about a situation where almost every team in the Top 14 is tied with at least one other team?

CCHA: Notre Dame defeats Michigan for the title and Lake Superior wins the third-place game.

ECACHL: Clarkson defeats Quinnipiac for the title and St. Lawrence wins the third-place game.

Hockey East: Boston College defeats Massachusetts.

WCHA: North Dakota defeats Michigan Tech for the title and Minnesota takes third place.

Atlantic Hockey: Connecticut defeats Sacred Heart.

You get Notre Dame standing alone in first and North Dakota stands alone in seventh. Other than that, you have ties for second (a three-way tie), fifth, eighth (another three-way tie), 11th and 13th.

How About Ties That Matter?

Here’s a situation where a three-way tie results in two teams being put out of the number-one seeded band.

CCHA: Notre Dame defeats Michigan for the title and Lake Superior wins the third-place game.

ECACHL: Quinnipiac defeats Clarkson for the title and St. Lawrence wins the third-place game.

Hockey East: Boston University defeats Massachusetts.

WCHA: North Dakota defeats Michigan Tech for the title and Minnesota takes third place.

Atlantic Hockey: Connecticut defeats Sacred Heart.

Clarkson winds up winning the three-way tiebreaker for fourth place with New Hampshire and Boston University.

We Want To Be Number One

How about a great battle for the number-one overall seed?

We can create a three-way tie for that position between Minnesota, Notre Dame and Boston College.

CCHA: Lake Superior defeats Michigan for the title and Michigan State is third.

ECACHL: St. Lawrence wins the title over Dartmouth and Quinnipiac takes third.

Hockey East: Boston College defeats Massachusetts.

WCHA: Wisconsin wins the title over North Dakota and Minnesota takes third.

Atlantic Hockey: Sacred Heart defeats Army.

You get a three-way tie, and a round-robin, so you have to break by RPI. Minnesota, you’re number one.

Above The Bubble, But Gone

When you’re on the bubble, sometimes you just want to get to the 13th or 14th ranking.

In this case, you’re plumb out of luck if you do.

Not only are you out of luck if you’ve finished 13th or 14th, but also if you’ve finished 12th. Ouch, that hurts.

CCHA: Lake Superior defeats Michigan for the title and Michigan State is third.

ECACHL: Quinnipiac defeats Clarkson for the title and St. Lawrence is third.

Hockey East: Massachusetts defeats Boston College.

WCHA: Wisconsin defeats St. Cloud for the title and North Dakota defeats Minnesota for third.

Atlantic Hockey: Army defeats Air Force.

In this case, after breaking the ties, your highest autobid is Massachusetts at 10. Fellow autobids Wisconsin at 15 and Lake Superior at 16 are in, but then you have Quinnipiac, Army and Alabama-Huntsville knocking out St. Lawrence (12th), Maine (13) and Miami (14).

That’s a tough one for St. Lawrence.

What Do You Have?

I wish I could play around with the Predictor all day, but I can’t, as work calls.

But what do you have?

Show me some interesting stuff — but make sure you use .003 for the RPI bonus, or it doesn’t count.

• For example, I know there can be a five-way tie for 10th place. Can you get there?

• Can you get both Michigan Tech and Dartmouth into the tournament at the same time without either one winning its conference tournament title?

• Hockey East can end up with just three teams in the NCAAs. Can you make it happen?

And of course, if you can contradict some of my statements in these last two Bracketology articles, please tell me so I can correct myself. I’m by no means the expert, nor the know-it-all, and I don’t profess to be.

So, if you’ve got something interesting, email me at [email protected] and we’ll see what you’ve got.

In the meantime, don’t get fired because you’ve been playing with the Predictor all day at work, and enjoy the games!

NCAA D-III Semifinal Preview: Manhattanville

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With a 5-3 victory over the Babson Beavers (18-10-1) last Saturday in the NCAA Quarterfinals, the Manhattanville Valiants (21-1-5) finally got a monkey off their backs. The Valiants had failed to get through the quarterfinal round each of the last two seasons even though they were the higher seeded team in both cases.

“It relieves a lot of pressure,” said Manhattanville coach Keith Levinthal. “Now that we have won three playoff games in a row, against three very good opponents, we are pretty optimistic about our prospects in Wisconsin.”

The Valiants defeated Elmira and Neumann in the ECAC West playoffs to get their playoff streak started.

In each of those games, however, Manhattanville has shown an alarming trend as the Valiants roared out to multi-goal leads only to see their opponents storm back to tie or get within a goal in the closing moments of the third period.

The game against Babson was no exception as Manhattanville built a 4-0 lead just 1:07 in to the second period on goals from four different players. The Beavers chipped away at the deficit with a pair of goals in the second period and a third tally just sixteen seconds in to the third stanza. But for the third straight game, the Valiants were able to hold on and add an empty net goal late as insurance.

“We made it exciting. Babson is really well coached and disciplined,” said Levinthal. “We had a chance to put that game away and just stopped doing what makes us successful. Then it got interesting. We have done that a fair amount of times, but have been living dangerous and surviving these things.”

As Manhattanville heads to Superior, Wisconsin to face the defending national champion Middlebury Panthers in the semifinals, the Valiants know that they need to stick with their game plan for a full sixty minutes.

“Middlebury is certainly going to be a big challenge for us, but it is something we are looking forward to and excited about,” said Levinthal. “We’re going to do what we are good at. Obviously, we have to be aware of certain things that they do, but at the end of the day, we are going to go in the way we got into this tournament.”

Notes:

• Manhattanville’s win against Babson in the Quarterfinals last weekend marked the Valiants first ever win in the NCAA playoffs.

• Manhattanville had previously lost to NEC (4-2) in 2005 and Elmira (2-1 2OT) in 2006 in its previous two NCAA appearances.

Chancellor Appointment Could Be Boon For UML

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In a move that could have significant positive impact on Massachusetts-Lowell’s hockey program, the university will appoint Martin T. Meehan chancellor for the Lowell campus, according to a report in the Boston Globe.

Meehan, a U.S. Congressman representing the Lowell area since 1992, has, according to Lowell head coach Blaise MacDonald, been a “strong supporter” of Massachusetts-Lowell’s hockey program.

His appointment comes just weeks after it became public that the university’s Board of Trustees will form a task force to examine Lowell’s membership in Hockey East.

According to the Globe, Jack M. Wilson, president of the University of Massachusetts system, recommended Meehan to the Board of Trustees. The Trustees will vote on his candidacy on Wednesday but the Globe notes that in the past the 19-member board has largely followed the recommendations of the president.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Stephen Tocco, recently made public the board’s review of Lowell’s league membership. Tocco told the Lowell Sun that the goal of this review process is to “bring people into the [Tsongas Arena], get people excited and bring a national championship.”

In an interview last week, MacDonald made clear that dropping Lowell’s program altogether is not an option for the task force.

Previously called the University of Lowell, the school competed in Division II for a number of years, winning three national championships in four years from 1979 to 1982, before stepping up to Division I and joining Hockey East in 1984-85. (It became the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in 1991.)

Recent success for UML hockey has been limited. After appearing in three NCAA tournaments from 1988 to 1996, the River Hawks have not been back to the national tourney, despite two 20-win seasons under MacDonald, who just completed his sixth season leading the team.

UML finished this year’s campaign 8-21-7 overall and 7-16-4 in Hockey East and failed to make the Hockey East playoffs.

Bowling Green’s Matsumoto Turns Pro

USCHO Staff Report
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Junior Jonathan Matsumoto signed a professional contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday (Mar. 14), and will forego his final year of college eligibility at Bowling Green State. The Orleans, Ontario native concludes his Falcon career with 113 career points, 56th all-time in the BGSU record books.

“I just want to thank coach Paluch and his staff in helping me become the player I have,” said Matsumoto. “They have allowed me to play in so many situations that it helped me reach that next level.”

This past season Matsumoto was one of three Falcons to play in all 38 games, leading the team with 33 points (11g, 22a). His 22 helpers also led the team, while his 12 goals were second among the Orange and Brown. The junior recorded multiple point games nine times this year, with the Falcons going 6-3-0 in those contests.

He also led the team with 31 penalties and was second on the team with 71 penalty minutes. The forward finished the 2006-07 campaign with six power-play goals (tied for the team lead), and one game-winner versus Michigan State.

Matsumoto had a breakout year in 2005-06 when he finished with 48 points (20g, 28a), second on the team. Of his 20 goals, 12 came with the man-advantage, while he scored a point in 28 of the 36 games he played in as a sophomore. He recorded his only hat trick versus No. 4 Boston College and was named to the all-tournament team at the UConn Holiday Classic after scoring a tournament-best three goals.

“Jonathan has been an outstanding player for us the past three years,” said BGSU head coach Scott Paluch. “We wish him the best of luck in his pursuit of a career in the National Hockey League.”

Following his sophomore campaign the Flyers drafted Matsumoto with the 79th overall selection (3rd round) of the 2006 NHL draft. He was the highest Falcon selection since Peter Ratchuk was taken in the first round of the 1996 NHL Draft.

For his career the junior played in 110 games, finishing with 113 points (49g, 64a). He recorded 58 penalty minutes and 135 PIM, while also producing 28 power-play goals and eight game-winners.

A Quick Recovery

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If Minnesota-Duluth senior forward Jessica Koizumi feels some urgency to bring home the biggest prize this weekend from Lake Placid, who could blame her?

Koizumi has already had a minor personal triumph, defying the predictions of trainers and coaches when she hobbled back onto the ice just three games after tearing the meniscus in her right knee in an early December game against Ohio State. An MRI revealed it was only 75 percent torn, eliminating the need for surgery, but whether she’d return to the ice her senior year was still up in the air.

Jessica Koizumi

Jessica Koizumi

Her return has been triumphant. Last Friday she scored the tying and winning goals in Minnesota-Duluth’s upset victory over No. 2 Mercyhurst, on its own ice, to lift her 23-10-4 team to the national semifinals Friday at 8 p.m. EST against No. 6 Boston College.

The 3-2 victory snapped Mercyhurst’s 24-game unbeaten streak and sent the Lakers, rated first in the country for much of the season, to their third straight NCAA quarterfinal loss.

“When I tore my knee it was devastating,” Koizumi said. “My teammates kept saying keep believing … it may not be that bad.”

And as it turns out they were right.

A custom made brace helped get her back on the ice although she wasn’t ready for senior night ceremony and had to wear street clothes. She also couldn’t play against Wisconsin. “That was real emotional for me,” she said.

When she finally played again, she wasn’t all that confident.

“But it soon got to the point where I could do things,” she said. “Everyone was amazed at so quick a recovery.”

Several things accounted for it, not the least of which is the great shape Koizumi is in.

“I have very strong legs,” she said. “I can squat 300.”

She also took her rehabbing very seriously and was constantly working at getting back on the ice.

“She was extremely fit,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller, who is back in the Frozen Four for the first time since leading the Bulldogs to their third straight NCAA title in 2003. “All the other muscles around her knee were strong. And she has no extra body fat. We wouldn’t let her play against Wisconsin even though she wanted to, but we had to consider the bigger picture. Now I’d say she’s 100 percent.”

When she first returned, Koizumi said she was most frustrated because she was on the third line, after being used to the first line. Now she’s on the second line, or she could find herself back on the first.
She also feared the status of an outsider but she wasn’t gone that long and the team was there for her. “You just don’t know what to expect,” she said.

As apparently Mercyhurst didn’t in the quarterfinal.

“That was a huge upset,” said Koizumi. She said in the final minutes, when her team was down a goal, she looked at the clock and thought, “this could be the end of my college career.”

The tying goal came with 1:44 left on her own rebound after she had hit the puck in the air. “I got my own rebound and saw a little space and put it in,” she said.

The winning goal came on a power play shot. “The tying goal definitely boosted me up,” said Koizumi. “We went from not believing to thinking we can do anything. We came out in the overtime with the attitude that we had nothing to lose. They were the two seed, we were eight. They had 1600 fans in the stands. We had 12. Everything was going against us.”

Except the game.

Minnesota-Duluth, which has been wracked with injuries all season, is in pretty good shape for the weekends with 11 forward, six defensemen and three goalies.

“We kept getting injuries but that made us stronger because other people had to step up and that has made us deeper,” said Koizumi. Her own injury helped motivate her to finish the season strongly.

“Every minute I’m out there, I appreciate,” she said.

NCAA D-III Semifinal Preview: Middlebury

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It has become a rite of spring in the D-III hockey world when the Middlebury Panthers advance to the Frozen Four and a shot at winning another ice hockey national championship. This year the spring indicators took awhile to come to the forefront and while this team seems to be a late bloomer, they are peaking at the right time.

“Yeah, somehow we managed to get back again,” commented Middlebury coach Bill Beaney. “We really came united as a team and began to play the way we as coaches and as the players knew we could play.”

The Panthers are 8-0-1 in their last nine games and the turning point in their season maybe found in the week that followed the loss at Norwich.

“We gave the team two days off from practice after the Norwich game and figured they would come out flying on Wednesday,” Beaney explained. “When we got on the ice we saw that we weren’t on top of our game so we sent them off. We didn’t practice on Thursday. That was the weekend where we beat UMass-Boston and tied Babson. We decided we needed to change the environment — we still coached but needed to let the players find themselves and just really have fun with what was left of the season. I think that we were caught up in the perceived pressure of what was expected — basically, they just decided to play for each other.”

In the past nine games the Panthers have been dominant, outscoring their opponents by a 48-16 margin. During the past five games, Middlebury has returned to the form that has seen it win the past three consecutive national championships.

“We realized that in the past five games, any one of them could have been our last for the season,” said Beaney. “We played well against Williams and then turned it up a bit in Maine against Colby and Bowdoin. We caught Fredonia a little flat and we were at the top of our game. Then against a very strong UMass-Dartmouth team we weren’t on our A game, largely due to their talent and skill, but still found a way to get it done — that was a very good sign.”

Backing the Panthers during the stretch has been the goaltending tandem of junior Ross Cherry and sophomore Doug Raeder. Both goaltenders have virtually identical numbers (.901/.902 save percentages and 2.23/2.24 goals against averages respectively) and have been used based on match-ups in the all-important playoff and early round NCAA tournament games.

Junior defenseman Tom Maldonado leads Middlebury in assists and will be a key contributor against Manhattanville on Saturday. (Photo: Will Costello)

Junior defenseman Tom Maldonado leads Middlebury in assists and will be a key contributor against Manhattanville on Saturday. (Photo: Will Costello)

“Everybody is in great spirits and both goaltenders are playing well,” noted Beaney. “Last weekend was definitely a match-up thing with Ross (Cherry) and I am not sure what we will do this weekend but we’ll make that decision soon. Manhattanville is a very skilled team with some older kids who have a lot of junior experience so this environment isn’t going to intimidate them. We can’t give them a lot of good looks at the goal regardless of who is in the net.”

Key to the Panthers will be a lot of guys that have been there before including Mickey Gilchrist (18-15-33), Tom Maldonado (3-23-26), John Sales (8-15-23), Brent Shirreffs (9-8-17) and Eric LaFreniere (4-7-11).

“The nice thing about this run is that our best guys have come forward. They know the situation and have stepped up,” stated Beaney. “Add in a Justin Gaines who has played well and the leadership John Sales has brought to this team and we have a team right now that is collectively better than the individual talent levels combined.”

The sap is running in Vermont — a traditional rite of spring for the sugar houses producing maple syrup. The Panthers are off to Superior for the Frozen Four — another rite of spring in Vermont.

Middlebury Factoids

• Middlebury has won last three national Championships and 8 of the last 12
• Middlebury’s women’s team also has a streak of three straight national titles and is participating in the women’s Frozen Four this weekend
• Saturday’s win over UMD was Beaney’s 400th career win at Middlebury in his twentieth year behind the bench

This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey:
March 15, 2007

By Matt Rennell
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It’s hard to believe the season is almost over. It seems like just yesterday I was writing up my season preview, which had Middlebury as the No. 1 team in the country. The time sure has flown by and what an amazing ride it has been. In the end; however, my top two teams to start the season are two of the final four teams playing hockey.

My pre-season rankings had Middlebury as No. 1 and Plattsburgh right behind them. Of course, no one, except those die-hard Cardinal fans, would have guessed that the Cardinals would be entering the final weekend with a record of 25-0-2, slaying every opponent in their path. Likewise, who would have guessed that a team who was 10-15-0 last season would still be alive? It’s been that type of year in Division III hockey; parity is becoming the name of the game. The question now is will we end up with a rematch of last year’s title game? Or will the upsets keep on coming?

Amherst @ Plattsburgh

Back in October, it would have been no surprise to see Plattsburgh back in the semi-finals, but if anyone says that they picked the Lord Jeffs to be here, they’re lying.

After a 3-4-0 start, Amherst transformed into an almost unbeatable force. They have since gone 17-1-3 and are coming off road wins against Middlebury and RIT. Those road wins have helped prepare the Lord Jeffs for this weekend.

“Sometimes being on the road really takes the pressure off,” said Amherst coach Jim Plumer. He also says that his team is entering the weekend with a “nothing to lose” mentality. “I think we’ve probably felt that way for a couple of weeks. We’re much looser and excited than we were at this point last week.”

Danielle Blanchard

Danielle Blanchard

While their run has been impressive, the “almost unbeatable force” meets their toughest test Friday night as they face the “unbeatable force”, the 25-0-2 Cardinals. The Lord Jeffs suffered a 5-1 loss to the Cardinals back in December and Plumer left the rink very impressed with the Plattsburgh squad.

“They’re a great team. I can’t think of a team that has more depth and talented players in my years in Division III hockey,” said Plumer, who is completing his fourth season as coach of the Lord Jeffs. “Anyone of their kids can capitalize on a mistake.”

Plumer expects the Cardinals to come out firing. “I think they’re going to be really excited to play. I expect them to come at us with all the talent and heart that they have.”

Plattsburgh’s potent offense is led by Danielle Blanchard, who Plumer says is by far the best player his team has faced this season. Blanchard leads the Cardinals with 47 points and has routinely produced when her team has needed a goal. But the Cardinals offense is more than just Blanchard, and because of that Plumer is looking to his defense to win the game.

“We pride ourselves on playing strong defense,” said Plumer. The main component of that stingy defense is freshman goaltender Krystyn Elek. Elek is 15-4-3 on the season and has stopped 142 of the last 148 shots she has faced during the playoffs. “She means a lot to the team. The kid is very competitive.”

Plattsburgh is without a doubt the heavy favorite this weekend, even Plumer will admit to that. However, this is the playoffs, and as Amherst has proven several times, anything can happen. Cinderella has made it to the dance, but will the glass slipper fit when it’s over?

Wisconsin-Stevens Point vs. Middlebury

Talk about a tale of two teams. The Pointers come into the NCAA semifinals playing their best hockey of the year, winning five in a row including wins over Wisconsin-River Falls, Wisconsin-Superior, and Gustavus Adolphus. Meanwhile, the Panthers enter the weekend struggling a bit, having lost two of their last four games. Those two losses were at the hands of fellow semifinalists Plattsburgh and Amherst. Both teams were NCAA semifinalists last season; however, they did not face each other during the final weekend of the season.

Shannon Tarrant

Shannon Tarrant

The Pointers’ season has been unpredictable to say the least. They have a combined six wins over Gustavus Adolphus, Wis.-Superior, and Wis.-River Falls, yet they have losses to Wis.-Eau Claire and Lake Forest. The rest of their losses came against the three previously mentioned teams. They are riding their longest winning streak of the season into this weekend and have allowed more than two goals in a game just seven times this season.

The heart and soul of this Pointer team is their defense. Led by goaltender Amy Statz, they have held opponents to just 49 goals on the season. However, unless the Pointers plan to keep Middlebury off of the scoreboard, they will have to score more than a goal of their own. To do so, their offense will have to pick up where they left off last weekend.

Sophomore’s Nicole Grossmann and Michelle Sosnowski have contributed the bulk of the Pointer offense this season, combining for 28 goals and 22 assists. In the NCAA Quarterfinal against Gustavus Adolphus, the two picked up a goal and two assists to spark the Pointers to a 4-1 win. It will be interesting to see how they fare against Middlebury’s equally top-notch defense.

That stingy defense is led by Shannon Tarrant. The senior defenseman has been the leader of the nation’s third best defense. Of course, she has had help from goaltenders Lani Wright and Angie Todd, whose numbers ranked right up there with the best in the country.

Oh, and they can score too. They have six players with at least 10 goals and 10 players with double-digit points. The top three point producers are NESCAC Player of the Year Abby Kurtz-Phelan, Annmarie Cellino, and Shannon Sylvester. Together they have totaled 102 points including 13 game-winning goals.

The one concern for Middlebury heading into the weekend is not how they have been playing, but the lack of goals going in the net. If you throw out the empty-net goal against Manhattanville, they have scored three goals on their last 104 shots. If the Panthers plan on playing in the late game Saturday night, they will have to have better production than that.

This game is going to be a defensive battle to the end. It would not be a surprise to see this turn into a 1-0 overtime thriller. I can’t wait, drop the puck!

Grills Heating Up

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Chelsea Grills could tell long before last Saturday’s game that it would be a special one for St. Lawrence women’s hockey.

“I looked around the locker room and everyone was in a zone,” she said.

Especially her.

Chelsea Grills

Chelsea Grills

Grills, who redshirted last season with injuries to both legs, had four points in the No. 5 Saints’ lopsided 6-2 victory over No. 4 New Hampshire in Durham. It was a return to the form that earned her ECAC Rookie of the Year honors in 2004.

She scored the game’s biggest goal with three seconds left in the first period with her shift winding down, when she blocked a shot from the point and took it the distance, giving the Saints a comfortable 3-1 lead headed into the intermission.

Grills wasn’t done, assisting on each of the Saints’ final three goals.

“I have two great linemates,” Grills said of Carson Duggan and Sabrina Harbec, both of whom scored goals against UNH.

“We moved the puck – tic-tac-toe,” she said describing the crisp efficiency with which the Saints executed their offense.

Grills knew how important it was to get on board first. A week earlier the Saints had lost 7-3 to Dartmouth in the ECACHL championship game.

“This was the reverse of what happened there,” said St. Lawrence coach Paul Flanagan. “There we dug a hole for ourselves and couldn’t get out similar to what happened to New Hampshire against us. We got off to a good start.”

Grills has been on a mission to be a leader for her team – especially since last year she could only cheer for them.

“I don’t want this team to lose so I have to give 110 percent all the time,” she said.

Flanagan says Grills is one of those quiet leaders who gets the respect of her teammates by her actions, not her words.

“She’s matured a lot in her approach to leadership by setting an example,” he said. “She’s a great playmaker who complements the others.”

Grills said after she came back in the fall, it took her a few games to adjust but eventually she got consistent. “This year it all paid off,” she said. “All I wanted to do is play hockey.”

Grills is third in scoring on the team behind Harbec (67 points) and Duggan (41 points) with 40 points in at least 10 fewer games than the other two. For the season, St. Lawrence has scored 160 goals, among the nation’s leaders.

The Saints (29-7-3) will play No. 1 Wisconsin (34-1-4), the NCAA defending champs, 5 p.m. EST in Friday’s first NCAA semifinal. Grills said the team welcomes the challenge of facing Wisconsin. “Underdog? We went into UNH as the underdogs,” she said. That win has given the Saints confidence. “We can’t go there scared. We just have to play our game,” she said.

After they beat the Wildcats, Grills said when she stepped on the bus to go back to campus, “I got a different feeling than before. Everyone’s confident at the same time.”

Flanagan agreed the confidence level is high on his team. So is the experience. With the exception of the freshmen, they’ve been here before.

In 2004 and 2005, they lost to Harvard in the semifinals. Last season, after edging Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA quarterfinals, the Saints lost 1-0 to Wisconsin in the semifinal game, which Flanagan said was a great contest.

This season, however, there is a new wrinkle.

Chelsea Grills is back.

North Dakota’s Better Half

By Patrick C. Miller
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Back in mid-December, North Dakota was mired near the bottom of the WCHA. When their team fell out of the national polls, many Fighting Sioux fans were ready to abandon all hope of it making the NCAA tournament.

As is often the case, when a hockey team is performing worse than expected, fingers point toward the goalie. UND goalie Philippe Lamoureux admits that he was part of the problem.

“I really felt that I was doing a disservice to this team with sub-par performances in my play,” he said.

Fortunately, he was prepared to do something about it.

LAMOUREUX

LAMOUREUX

“I took it upon myself to come out with better performances in the second half,” he explained. “I really wanted to make a statement that I was going to be one of the guys who turned the ship around for us.

“When you’re accountable for what you do on the ice and you get a collective group to get started in the right direction, you’re going to have team success.”

As it turned out, Lamoureux was right, and reports of UND’s demise were greatly exaggerated. The Sioux finished third in their league, are now potentially a second seed in the NCAA tournament and will return to the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul this week in good position to defend the tournament championship they won last season.

“It’s about playing your best hockey at the right time of year,” Lamoureux said. “It’s a little bit of pressure off when we know that we’ll be making the national tournament. But we want to go down to St. Paul and we want to win two games. That’s our focus.”

So just how did the Sioux pull their season out the dumpster and position themselves for a run at an eighth national title? UND coach Dave Hakstol says Lamoureux, 22, a junior and a Grand Forks native, is one of the players responsible for the team’s remarkable comeback during the second half of the season.

“The guys have played well in front of him, but Phil’s certainly battled hard for his teammates,” Hakstol said. “When you get good, solid goaltending, that tends to filter through the rest of your team confidence-wise.”

Sioux forward Ryan Duncan, a leading candidate for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, put it like this: “In my opinion, Phil’s been the MVP of our second half. He’s been the biggest reason why we’ve turned our season around. He’s just been phenomenal.”

Lamoureux downplays his role in UND’s second-half revival. “It was a small thing for me to elevate my play,” he said. “In the grand scheme of things, it was in the hope that the team would have success.”

After playing off and on for two seasons in the shadow of former UND goalie Jordan Parise, Lamoureux is getting the opportunity he sought. He has 20 consecutive starts since Christmas, the most of any Sioux goalie in 33 years. During that stretch, he’s compiled a 14-2-4 record, a .928 save percentage and a 1.98 goals against average.

He’s not complaining about the playing time, nor is he concerned about burning out.

“This is the position I want to be in,” Lamoureux said. “This is something I relish. Fatigue is definitely not a factor. You need to take some time off for rest early in the week, but as far as game time goes, I’m 100 percent and ready to play.”

Before coming to UND, the 5-8, 156-pound Lamoureux spent three seasons with the Lincoln (Neb.) Stars of the USHL. He was the 2004 USHL goalie of the year in a season that Lincoln won the league championship.

After Parise turned pro after last season, Lamoureux became UND’s No. 1 goalie. He welcomed the opportunity for more playing time and the chance to prove himself. Unfortunately, nothing went as planned early on. When Maine swept UND at home Oct. 20-21, two of its top forwards — Jonathan Toews and T.J. Oshie — suffered injuries that would hamper their performance until the second half of the season.

The Monday after losing to Maine, Lamoureux suffered a high ankle sprain in practice.

“It was weird,” he recalled. “I just turned awkwardly in my butterfly and my ankle popped. It was just a freak accident. I tried to stand up and it was like pushing on nothing.”

Freshman Anthony Grieco stepped in and went 3-0-1 for UND. Then the Sioux went to Alaska Anchorage Nov. 17-18 and were swept by the Seawolves 6-2 and 4-2. Lamoureux went back into action at home against Colorado College Nov. 24-25, a series UND split. But the ankle continued to bother him.

Philippe Lamoureux has started 20 consecutive games for UND (photo: John Dahl, SiouxSports.com).

Philippe Lamoureux has started 20 consecutive games for UND (photo: John Dahl, SiouxSports.com).

“There was still pain whenever I’d go down,” Lamoureux said. “It wasn’t excruciating pain, but I knew it was there and it might have been something in the back of my mind. I just had to learn to play with it.”

That, however, was easier said than done. With Lamoureux in goal, UND was swept at home Dec. 8-9 by Wisconsin and then by Michigan Tech Dec. 15-16. Going into the holiday break, Lamoureux was 4-8 with a .886 save percentage and a 3.11 goals-against average. Goaltending was weakness of the team, but lack of scoring was also a problem.

“It was a combination of a lot of things,” Lamoureux said. “Guys were putting a lot of excess pressure on themselves to play well. It wasn’t so much that the effort wasn’t there. It was a tough time for the team to really find itself.”

The most important gift the Sioux goalie and his teammates got for Christmas was time — time to heal, time to think and time to relax.

“I went to the outdoor rinks with my brothers just to have fun playing hockey again,” he said. “That was really rejuvenating for me. And physically, it was good to get away from playing goal and keep the stress off my ankle. I had almost a week and a half off from playing goal. It was a good time for me to get refreshed and excited about playing again.”

The Sioux began the second half of the season at the Ledyard National Bank Classic Dec. 29-30 at Dartmouth. Playing without Toews and defensemen Taylor Chorney and Brian Lee, who were in Sweden for the World Junior Championships, the Sioux beat Dartmouth and St. Lawrence to win the tournament. They’ve been on a roll ever since.

After going 7-10-1 the first half of the season, UND went 14-2-4 the second half. With Toews and Oshie healthy again, the scoring improved. But the biggest difference has been on the defensive side, where the Sioux are giving up one fewer goal per game than they did in the first half of the season. And Lamoureux is one of the key reasons for the improvement.

“When he’s playing as exceptional as he is now, it allows us to make a mistake and still have confidence that he’s going to come up with a big save for us,” said sophomore defenseman Joe Finley.” It gives you an opportunity to step up in the play more. We’re not afraid to give up an odd-man rush when he’s shutting the door like that.”

UND’s success has provided the team with a much-needed morale boost for the postseason.

“It wasn’t very fun the first half,” Lamoureux said. “The second half has been a blast. The bottom line is that winning fixes everything. When we started winning, it just makes it that much more fun to come to the rink and that much more fun to play.”

And perhaps nobody on the team is having more fun than Lamoureux.

“This is definitely the situation I want to be in, being the starting goalie for the Fighting Sioux,” he said. “Being a hometown kid, I just want to make sure I represent the team and the program the best I can. It’s all about tradition here and I just want to be a part of it.”

Clarification about Maine’s “bonus” points

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I just wanted to make a short post here to correct an inconsistency in what I’ve reported over the past few days about Maine’s bonus points. The Black Bears indeed will have bonus points tacked onto their RPI for two road wins at North Dakota, but Maine’s season opening win against Minnesota will not accrue bonus points for this bubble team.

The win over Minnesota came at the Hall of Fame Game on October 6. The game was played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, not Minnesota’s home rink, Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis.

This year’s criteria stipulates that teams earn bonus points only for quality road wins, and, despite the fact that the Xcel Energy Center was likely filled with 15,000-plus screaming Minnesota fans that evening, the game technically was at a neutral site. Thus Maine won’t be earning any bonus points for that win.

It is a strange loophole in the criteria certainly. The whole point of bonus points is to reward a team that goes into a hostile road environment and earns a victory. No doubt, what Maine accomplished fell into that class of win but because the game wasn’t played at Minnesota’s actual home facility, it’s treated the same as if the Black Bears beat the Gophers in Orono.

All of that said, the crack programming team at USCHO.com was far ahead of yours truly and had the mathematical formulas for the PairWise Rankings programmed correctly. Thus, all of the scenarios I have drawn up over the past few days that show Maine a strong favorite to still make the NCAA field are still correct.

We’re only a few days away before the final games play themselves out and the NCAA field is set. The discussion on these blog posts has been excellent and I look foward to continuing to read your thoughts!

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: East

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Editor’s note: Tuesday Morning Quarterback was delayed this week by technical issues.

It seems like all year we’ve heard rumblings about Clarkson and the success the team has had this year up in Potsdam, N.Y.

The Golden Knights are 23-8-5, the fourth-best record in the country. Last weekend, Clarkson rolled over a playoff-experienced Harvard team in the league quarterfinals and a return to the ECACHL final four for the first time since 2004.

What’s strange about this team, though, is the fact that much of the year it has been lost in the national picture. The Golden Knights, in a way, have gone about their business. They didn’t win the regular-season title in the ECACHL, which given the fact that they sit fifth in the current PairWise Rankings is a shock to many.

Nick Dodge (r.) leads balanced and dangerous Clarkson in scoring.

Nick Dodge (r.) leads balanced and dangerous Clarkson in scoring.

Clarkson has risen to the top without many marquee names. When I looked at the Golden Knights’ current statistics, the only name that immediately stuck out was leading scorer Nick Dodge, who has potted 17 goals and 37 points in 33 games. But the Golden Knights actually have four 30-point scorers (Minnesota, by comparison, had six and has played four more games; Notre Dame has four as well, though one player has cracked 40 points).

In net, Clarkson’s goaltender David Leggio has a 2.15 goals against average, a .931 save percentage, and already has racked up 22 wins. But with names like Curry, Brown, Fallon and Goepfert grabbing headlines, Leggio, like his team, has gotten lost in the crowd.

So just how good are the Golden Knights? For one, if they should run through their next two games against Dartmouth and the Quinnipiac/St. Lawrence winner, Clarkson will not only capture its fifth ECACHL tournament title (and first since 1999), there’s also a likelihood that the Golden Knights can earn a number-one seed in the NCAA tournament.

Once they arrive at the big dance, teams should fear this Clarkson team. They’re balanced (six scorers with 10 or more goals), have solid special teams (power play is ranked third, penalty kill is 14th) and seem to be getting excellent goaltending — all three a major factors in the tournament.

So get ready, upstate New York — for the first time in a few years (likely since St. Lawrence in 2000) championship hockey is back in full force.

Status Quo

All four of the top seeds advanced in last weekend’s Hockey East and Atlantic Hockey playoffs.

No really, they did.

Is it just me, or did anyone else have higher expectations for the underdogs?

In Atlantic Hockey, the tournament was set up for the upset with a single-elimination format. Instead, we ended up with two routs (Sacred Heart over American International, 4-0; Army over Bentley, 6-2), a kind-of-close game (Air Force over defending champ Holy Cross, 3-0) and only one squeaker (Connecticut over Mercyhurst, 5-4).

Hockey East produced three series sweeps in which Game 2 wasn’t close (Boston College over Northeastern, 7-1; New Hampshire over Providence, 6-0; and UMass over Maine, 5-2).

The only series to really produce heart palpitations was Boston University and Vermont . After BU lost at home on Thursday for the fifth time this season, head coach Jack Parker decided to use a little Psychology 101 on his club and treated Friday and Saturday’s games as road games — complete with packing bags and moving out of the comfy confines of the Terriers’ home locker room.

The mental exercise helped, though barely. BU won Friday’s game two, 2-0, but was taken to overtime by a gritty Catamount team in Saturday’s rubber game before Brandon Yip, last year’s OT hero in the Hockey East title game over BC, scored on the power play to advance the Terriers to the Garden.

What each conference’s top-heavy domination created last weekend is a scenario in which the conference tournaments may not have a strong bearing on the NCAA field. All four Hockey East teams are likely to make the tournament (though it’s still possible that Massachusetts could get bumped), while, as expected only Atlantic Hockey’s winner will punch an NCAA ticket.

That said, each conference tournament should conceivably produce the most competitive hockey possible with none of the games appearing to have blowout potential on paper.

Eastern Bias

I love that headline, I really do.

For years, the college hockey world has rumbled about the fact that everything in the college hockey universe seemingly skewed towards the east (except the number of national championships). Things seemed to get better over the past couple of years as the WCHA has pretty much dominated the game, capped by their all-WCHA Frozen Four at the 2005 NCAA tournament in Columbus, Ohio.

Well, all ye of eastern following, brace yourself for the wind of disgruntlement to once again return.

There’s a good chance that when the NCAA tournament field is announced this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2) that it could have a strong eastern flavor. Right now, five eastern teams are locks: New Hampshire, BC and BU from Hockey East, Clarkson for the ECACHL, and the Atlantic Hockey champion (though Air Force is further west than most teams, it still plays in what’s considered an eastern conference). UMass is likely to receive a bid as well, and St. Lawrence can make a strong case with a win in the ECACHL semifinals.

Add to that Maine, which despite losing in two games to UMass in the Hockey East quarterfinals, has a good chance of making the field because of two quality wins at North Dakota this season. The Black Bears also won a game against Minnesota, but that game isn’t in their “quality wins” category because it was played at the Xcel Energy Center (albeit in front of 19,000 screaming Minnesota fans), a “neutral” site, as opposed to Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena. Regardless, the Minnesota win strengthened Maine’s NCAA hopes.

Should Quinnipiac or Dartmouth win its conference tournament, it would earn an automatic qualifier, potentially giving the eastern teams nine tournament bids. If that were the case, the CCHA and WCHA could each get three bids and CHA champion Alabama-Huntsville would close out the field.

It there is some disgruntlement among those in the west, particularly the WCHA, it would be justified. The league has the highest RPI among the six conferences. Unfortunately for the WCHA, last weekend, Wisconsin and Michigan Tech ousted Denver and Colorado College, respectively, from the WCHA playoffs and likely from the NCAA picture, though Denver still has a slim chance.

Wisconsin and Tech themselves are both bubble teams, with the WCHA tournament title being the only sure way into the NCAAs, though Tech can do it without the championship.

So eastern fans, come March 18th if you’re going to head to the USCHO.com message board, you might want to do so wearing flame-retardant materials.

Bracketology: March 13, 2007

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It’s time once again to do what we like to call Bracketology — College Hockey Style. It’s our weekly look at how the NCAA tournament would wind up if the season ended today, and how it might end up after future results.

It’s a look into the possible thought processes behind selecting and seeding the NCAA tournament, and we’ll be bringing you a new one every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced.

Let’s dispense with the particulars, since we’ve beaten them into everyone’s heads. If you want to review them, just read the beginning of the Feb. 28 Bracketology to get your fix.

Here, then, are the top 16 of the current PairWise Rankings (PWR), with the bonus, as well as all conference tournament champions and number-one seeds in conference tournaments that are not in the Top 16 (through all games of March 13, 2007):

1 Minnesota
2 Notre Dame
3 St. Cloud
4 New Hampshire
5 Clarkson
6 Boston College
7 Boston University
8t North Dakota
8t Michigan
8t Michigan State
11 Massachusetts
12t St. Lawrence
12t Maine
14 Miami
15 Michigan Tech
16t Dartmouth
16t Denver
— Sacred Heart
— Alabama-Huntsville

Current number-one conference seeds and champions:

Atlantic Hockey: Sacred Heart
CHA: Alabama-Huntsville
CCHA: Notre Dame
ECACHL : St. Lawrence
Hockey East : New Hampshire
WCHA: Minnesota

Notes

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

• The number-one seed in each tournament is the assumed champion of the tournament; therefore, that team gets an autobid to the NCAAs.

Step One

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

We break ties in the PWR by looking at the individual comparisons among the tied teams, and add in Alabama-Huntsville and Sacred Heart.

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

The bubbles consist of North Dakota, Michigan and Michigan State at 8 and St. Lawrence and Maine at 12. The bubble at 16 is moot because Alabama-Huntsville has claimed a spot in the tournament.

Looking at the individual comparisons, North Dakota wins comparisons against both Michigan and Michigan State and Michigan wins the comparison with Michigan State.

At 12, SLU defeats Maine in the comparison.

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

1 Minnesota
2 Notre Dame
3 St. Cloud
4 New Hampshire
5 Clarkson
6 Boston College
7 Boston University
8 North Dakota
9 Michigan
10 Michigan State
11 Massachusetts
12 St. Lawrence
13 Maine
14 Miami
15 Sacred Heart
16 Alabama-Huntsville

Step Two

Now it’s time to assign the seeds.

No. 1 Seeds – Minnesota, Notre Dame, St. Cloud, New Hampshire
No. 2 Seeds – Clarkson, Boston College, Boston University, North Dakota
No. 3 Seeds – Michigan, Michigan State, Massachusetts, St. Lawrence
No. 4 Seeds – Maine, Miami, Sacred Heart, Alabama-Huntsville

Step Three

Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals. Because New Hampshire is hosting a regional, the Wildcats are placed first. Following the guidelines, we now place the other No. 1 seeds based on proximity to the regional sites

No. 4 New Hampshire is placed in the Northeast Regional in Manchester.
No. 1 Minnesota is placed in the Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids.
No. 2 Notre Dame is placed in the East Regional in Rochester.
No. 3 St. Cloud is placed in the West Regional in Denver.

Step Four

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

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

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

So therefore:

No. 2 Seeds

No. 5 Clarkson is placed in No. 4 New Hampshire’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 6 Boston College is placed in No. 3 St. Cloud’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 7 Boston University is placed in No. 2 Notre Dame’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 8 North Dakota is placed in No. 1 Minnesota’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.

No. 3 Seeds

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

Therefore:

No. 9 Michigan is placed in No. 8 North Dakota’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 10 Michigan State is placed in No. 7 Boston University’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 11 Massachusetts is placed in No. 6 Boston College’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 12 St. Lawrence is placed in No. 5 Clarkson’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.

No. 4 Seeds

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

No. 16 Alabama-Huntsville is sent to Minnesota’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 15 Sacred Heart is sent to Notre Dame’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 14 Miami is sent to St. Cloud’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 13 Maine is sent to New Hampshire’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.

The brackets as we have set them up:

West Regional:

Miami vs. St. Cloud
Massachusetts vs. Boston College

Midwest Regional:

Alabama-Huntsville vs. Minnesota
Michigan vs. North Dakota

East Regional:

Sacred Heart vs. Notre Dame
Michigan State vs. Boston University

Northeast Regional:

Maine vs. New Hampshire
St. Lawrence vs. Clarkson

Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups. We have three of them.

We have to move Maine out of the Northeast, so we swap the Black Bears with Miami.

Now we have to move St. Lawrence and Massachusetts. We just swap the two.

So the tournament is now fixed.

West Regional:

Maine vs. St. Cloud
St. Lawrence vs. Boston College

Midwest Regional:

Alabama-Huntsville vs. Minnesota
Michigan vs. North Dakota

East Regional:

Sacred Heart vs. Notre Dame
Michigan State vs. Boston University

Northeast Regional:

Miami vs. New Hampshire
Massachusetts vs. Clarkson

Bracketing the Frozen Four, if all four number-one seeds advance, then the top overall seed plays the No. 4 overall, and No. 2 plays No. 3. Therefore, the winners of the Midwest and Northeast Regionals face each other in one semifinal (Minnesota and New Hampshire’s brackets), while the winners of the West and East Regionals (St. Cloud and Notre Dame’s brackets) play the other semifinal.

What Do We Know So Far?

Well, let’s take a look at the PairWise and we can draw some conclusions using both logic and running scenarios through our PairWise Predictor.

Teams That Can Look Forward To The Dance

A total of nine teams have punched their tickets, according to my calculations.

Those teams are Minnesota, Notre Dame, St. Cloud, New Hampshire, Clarkson, Boston College, Boston University, Michigan and Alabama-Huntsville.

Teams That Are, Or Can Be, TUCs That Must Wait Until Next Year

These teams, while they are now or can be TUCs, are done with their seasons: Colorado College, Vermont, Cornell, Nebraska-Omaha and RIT.

Teams That Must Win Their Conference Tournaments To Get In

These teams need to skate away with their conference trophies this weekend in order to get in: Wisconsin, Quinnipiac, Lake Superior, Sacred Heart, Army, Connecticut and Air Force.

Which Brings Us To The Bubble

You’ve got it, we’re now at the bubble, the place you really don’t want to be because anything can happen. It’s even worse when you can’t do a thing about your position by your own volition.

The teams on the bubble are North Dakota, Michigan State, Massachusetts, St. Lawrence, Maine, Miami, Michigan Tech, Dartmouth and Denver.

Nine teams battling for six spots, and perhaps only three spots should Wisconsin, Lake Superior and Quinnipiac all win their tournaments.

Let’s go into the bubble in detail, shall we?

Just When You Thought It Was Safe

For those of you who thought that North Dakota and Michigan State, in a tie for eighth in the PairWise, were locks for the tournament, think again.

While it is true that North Dakota is almost a lock, Michigan State, on the other hand, is not.

For North Dakota, it’s pretty simple: win one game and you are in. Doesn’t matter if it’s against St. Cloud in the semifinal or against Wisconsin/Michigan Tech/Minnesota in the third-place game. One win and you’re in. Pretty simple.

But — and there always is a but — North Dakota can be put out of the tournament.

Using our PairWise Predictor, put in these results:

CCHA: Lake Superior defeats Michigan State in the championship while Michigan defeats Notre Dame in the third-place game.

ECACHL: St. Lawrence defeats Dartmouth in the championship while Clarkson defeats Quinnipiac in the third-place game.

Hockey East: Massachusetts defeats either Boston College or Boston University in the championship.

WCHA: Michigan Tech defeats Wisconsin in the play-in, then defeats Minnesota and St. Cloud. Then Minnesota defeats North Dakota in the third-place game.

Atlantic Hockey: Connecticut or Army defeats Air Force in the championship.

Yup, North Dakota is out, despite being 13th overall in the PairWise because of four automatic bids beneath the Fighting Sioux. Granted, a far-fetched scenario, but North Dakota is out here.

Riding The Swing

As for Michigan State, the Spartans are in a real precarious position. I label them as one of two teams who have the most to lose this weekend. The other is St. Lawrence.

Michigan State, tied for eighth in the PairWise, could be in real trouble should it lose two games this weekend. Even one win might not be enough. The Spartans are affected by a lot of things and there are many scenarios that put them in with no wins or one win. The one thing in the favor of the Spartans — if all the favorites win every game and Michigan State loses two, the Spartans are in.

St. Lawrence is almost in the same position, but with fewer swings towards the positive should it only win one game. Winning one game would really put the Saints on the bubble, but losing two games will put St. Lawrence out of the tournament.

So, in my mind, these two teams have the most to lose by losing two games.

I’ve Fallen And I Might Not Get Up

We put Denver, Maine and Miami in this category. These teams faltered last weekend and now can only sit back and watch to see what develops.

All hope looks lost for Denver, but that’s not the case. In fact, there are a few key things that can happen.

Michigan State must lose two games. Dartmouth must also lose two games.

In addition, Notre Dame must then defeat Michigan in the CCHA championship and Clarkson must win the ECACHL.

But the biggest key, Wisconsin must, and it’s a huge must, defeat Michigan Tech on Thursday night. If that doesn’t happen, Denver’s season is over.

So here’s the rundown using the PairWise Predictor:

CCHA: Michigan State loses two games while Notre Dame wins the CCHA.

ECACHL: Dartmouth loses two games while Clarkson wins the championship.

WCHA: Wisconsin must defeat Michigan Tech, then St. Cloud must win the WCHA.

Hockey East and Atlantic Hockey: It doesn’t matter what happens there.

So if you’re a Pioneer fan, you have a big interest in the Wisconsin-Michigan Tech game on Thursday as you do if you are a Badger or Husky fan.

There are other scenarios that get Denver in, for example Dartmouth only losing one game, but the Wisconsin win is a must.

Or is it?

Astute readers have pointed out that Denver can get in even with a Michigan Tech victory over Wisconsin on Thursday.

Here’s how:

CCHA: Notre Dame wins the CCHA over Michigan and Lake Superior takes third

ECACHL: Clarkson defeats Quinnipiac for the title and Dartmouth downs St. Lawrence for third

Hockey East: New Hampshire defeats Boston College

Atlantic Hockey: Air Force defeats Army

WCHA: Michigan Tech wins the WCHA over North Dakota and Minnesota takes third place

So there you go, more hope for Pioneer fans!

Now let’s look at Maine and Miami. Maine is in a better position than Miami, mainly because Maine is propped up by its two quality wins, giving it a .006 boost in its RPI. But again, when you’re not playing, teams can pass you with wins.

So for Maine and Miami, you want the other bubble teams to lose. Should enough of them lose, you’re in the tournament.

Not A Minute More

Massachusetts is also one of those teams that pretty much rides it out. The chances of the Minutemen making the tournament are very high. Most scenarios have them in, but with a semifinal loss, they take a chance that they are out.

It’s pretty simple for the Minutemen: win a game and you’re in. Lose the semifinal and your chances are still good, but you have to wait and see.

In Or Out? Not Until The Final Buzzer

Well, we’re down to Michigan Tech and Dartmouth on the bubble. These two teams are interesting in the fact that wins can still equate to not making the tournament.

What do I mean? Well if Michigan Tech wins two games in the WCHA tournament, the Huskies can still be left out of the NCAAs. If Dartmouth wins one game in the ECACHL tournament, it can still be left out of nationals.

Conversely, if Michigan Tech loses the play-in game, it can still get in. Dartmouth, by losing two games, can not get in, though.

Now, getting Michigan Tech in with two wins is not a problem. A lot of scenarios to do that, but to leave the Huskies out with two wins — yes, it can happen.

CCHA: Lake Superior wins the CCHA over Michigan State and Michigan defeats Notre dame in the third-place game.

ECACHL: St. Lawrence defeats Clarkson for the title while Dartmouth takes third over Quinnipiac.

Hockey East: Massachusetts defeats Boston University for the championship.

Atlantic Hockey: Sacred Heart defeats Connecticut for the championship.

WCHA: Michigan Tech defeats Wisconsin, then Minnesota, but loses to St. Cloud in the championship and Minnesota defeats North Dakota in the third-place game.

And Michigan Tech is out of the tournament, with a 14th-place finish in the PairWise, but with three autobids behind the Huskies, thus taking their spot.

So, as you can see, while Michigan Tech may win two games this coming weekend, it does not guarantee a spot in the tournament.

As for Dartmouth, winning one game may not be enough to get it into the tournament, but there is also the possibility that it can. Not only is there that possibility, but it can also occur if Dartmouth loses its semifinal game to Clarkson.

Yes, folks, scratch your heads.

Here’s what has to happen:

CCHA: Notre Dame defeats Michigan for the title and Lake Superior takes third place.

Hockey East: Massachusetts defeats Boston College for the title.

WCHA: St. Cloud defeats Minnesota for the title, Wisconsin defeats Michigan Tech on Thursday and Wisconsin takes third place.

Atlantic Hockey: Sacred Heart defeats Connecticut.

ECACHL: Dartmouth wins third place by defeating St. Lawrence while Clarkson defeats Quinnipiac for the title.

Dartmouth winds up in a three-way tie for 14th, which is broken by the RPI tiebreaker, giving it the win over Denver and Michigan Tech. Last team into the tournament.

So Dartmouth, despite losing its semifinal, is in the tournament with one win, that coming in the third-place game.

The keys for Dartmouth appear to be Sacred Heart remaining a TUC, Wisconsin winning two games, and the fact that it can lose to Clarkson, but must defeat St. Lawrence in the third-place game. A third-place win over Quinnipiac will not get the Big Green into the tournament in the same scenario.

What Have We Learned?

We’ve learned a few things here. There are nine definitive locks for the NCAA tournament, including UAH, which is already in with the CHA autobid.

There is a huge bubble with varying degrees of success for getting into the NCAA tournament.

Weird things can happen with the numbers.

What appeared to be a certainty may or may not be.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the PairWise.

Part II of Bracketology will come Wednesday, when we’ll take a look at some odd scenarios and interesting possibilities that may arise after this weekend’s results.

NCAA D-III Semifinal Preview: St. Norbert

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Another year, and another trip to the Frozen Four for St. Norbert. Making their fourth Frozen Four appearance in the last five seasons, the Green Knights clearly want nothing more that to finally skate away with a national title, but there is another element to the weekend that head coach Tim Coghlin wishes all Division III players were able to experience.

“I wish everyone could experience a Frozen Four,” he said. “We’ve been very lucky to have been able to get that experience. Think about it, there are about 1500 or 1600 student-athletes sitting at home right now, and its such a great event that I wish everyone could experience one.”

Though everyone cannot always make the Frozen Four, St. Norbert has earned its trip and once again has an opportunity to finally shake the “always a bridesmaid never a bride” tag. In their short but successful history, the Green Knights have done everything except claim a national title, having bowed out two times in the semifinals, and two more in the title game. If St. Norbert wishes to finally get over the hump this season, it will have to first go through Oswego State in Saturday’s semifinals. The Lakers are a formidable opponent, and one the Green Knights have never faced before.

“We saw them play in 2003 when they beat Middlebury 6-0, and they reminded me a lot of a team you would see in our league. They looked very much like an NCHA team,” said Coghlin.

Though a few years removed from that experience, Coghlin doesn’t feel much has changed when it comes to Oswego’s potency.

“They have been one of the dominant, if not the dominant team out East this year. They are a very good team. From what I have seen and heard of them this year they are very skilled up front, very skilled on defense, and I think they matchup very well with us.”

This year’s edition of the Green Knights differs a bit from years past as they have no bonafide star player on offense, but rather four lines who are all capable of getting on the board, regardless of the situation.

“As opposed to having a go-to guy, I like to think that maybe we have five. The key for us, in getting off the ground is that it’s not necessarily the guys you would expect. Just last weekend you saw a guy like Ryan Petersen, who stepped up and gets the ball rolling for us.”

Though the sophomore forward earns his keep mainly by being an excellent defensive forward and penalty killer, he still has amassed 19 points on the season and is among the team leaders in scoring over St. Norbert’s last ten games, proof- positive that the Green Knights can strike from anywhere.

Down the stretch, the Green Knights have received big goals from a multitude of players, most notably senior Troy Boisjoli (17-9-26) and junior Marc Belanger (20-20-40). Boisjoli has been especially clutch, notching goals in four of St. Norbert’s five playoff games, while Belanger does most of his damage on the powerplay, and leads the team with nine powerplay markers. Petersen, Boisjoli and Belanger all scored against Bethel, and account for nearly half of the Green Knight’s postseason goal production.

As Coghlin sees it, Oswego offers a similar blend of diverse scoring.

“Sometimes you really have to key on a line, like with River Falls, you really have to pay attention to their top line,” he said. “Look at Oswego though, I think they are very balanced and we will have to use our balance against theirs and just drop the puck and play.”

One thing potentially working in the Green Knights favor is their Frozen Four experience. Discounting freshman, every St. Norbert player has been there before, and the seniors will be making their third trip to the finals.

“We are certainly a bit comfortable knowing the routine,” he said.

Additionally, the Green Knights are no strangers to trips to Superior, as it’s a trip they must make every season.

“We are comfortable that we are familiar with the building, too, and we’ve had some success up there so it’s certainly something settling on our mind. We are treating this very business-like, treating it like just another trip to Superior.”

While the trip to Superior may be a familiar one for St. Norbert, the chance to return home from the Twin Ports with a national title in hand is a first.
This time however, it won’t be UW-Superior or St. Scholastica waiting, but rather an Oswego State team who will challenge St. Norbert in ways the Green Knights are used to challenging others.

SNC Notes

• St. Norbert is in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the past 11 seasons, where it holds an overall ledger of 9-8-1. This is the Green Knights’ fourth trip to the Frozen Four in the past five seasons. In their most recent appearance, St. Norbert fell 3-0 to Middlebury in the 2006 championship game.

• The Green Knights have never played Oswego State, but are 7-1-1 all-time against SUNYAC opposition. In its history, St. Norbert is 17-13-4 against East Region opponents. The last time St. Norbert faced a SUNYAC team in the NCAA Tournament was in the 2004 semifinals, defeating Plattsburgh State 4-1.

• St. Norbert features the best scoring defense in the nation, surrendering a mere 1.73 goals per game. Ironically, Oswego State ranks second, allowing only 1.85.

• The Green Knights do not have a top 20 scorer nationally, but do boast eight players with over 20 points on the season, paced by junior forward Marc Belanger and sophomore forward Jeff Hazelwood, who check in with 40 and 39 respectively.

• Junior goaltender Kyle Jones (25-3-2, 1.72, .915) has started every game between the pipes this season for St. Norbert, and leads the nation in goals-against-average. Overall, he has started the last 37 games for St. Norbert and 68 of its last 70.

Could the WCHA only get three NCAA bids?

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Is it realistic that the WCHA could have only three NCAA tournament bids this year? That despite the fact that the conference itself has the best overall RPI of the six conferences and has two of the top three teams in the PairWise Rankings?

As scary as it may seem, the answer to that question is yes!

Right now, only three teams from the WCHA – Minnesota, St. Cloud State and North Dakota – are in the top 14 in the PWR. Michigan Tech, which still has games to play in the WCHA Final Five, and Denver, which is eliminated from the league tournament, are both on the bubble tied for 14th with Dartmouth. Based on RPI, though, which is the tie-breaker, Dartmouth would take the final at-large bid.

Additionally, if you factor in bonus points, things get even worse. Maine, which has three quality wins that earn bonus points (two at North Dakota, one at Minnesota) would leapfrog a handful of teams to 12th (based on a .003 bonus) or possibly even 11th (based on a .005 bonus) pushing both Tech and Denver out of the picture.

None of this takes into consideration the fact that there are still potential league tournament upsets that could reduce the number of at-large bids available. If Lake Superior won the CCHA or Quinnipiac won the ECACHL titles, that would move the PWR bubble to 13 or even 12. Granted the WCHA has two teams still alive in Michigan Tech and Wisconsin, both of which can play themselves into the tournament and thus guarantee an additional bid for the conference.

Take a look at a conference breakdown, factoring in .003 bonus points, should the season end today:

Hockey East: 5 teams

CCHA: 4 teams

WCHA: 3 teams

ECACHL: 2 teams

Atlantic Hockey and CHA: 1 team each

What all of this proves is simply that, just like anyone who follows men’s basketball knows, the current formula for picking the NCAA tournament field is far from perfect. A conference as tough as the WCHA has the ability to beat itself up like we saw this weekend with both Michigan Tech and Wisconsin eliminating Colorado College and Denver, respectively, from the WCHA tournament and likley the NCAA picture.

If you don’t believe me, I strongly suggest checking out the PairWise Predictor tool that USCHO.com has now made live. It allows you to plug in multiple scenarios for which teams will win next weekend and, based on that, produces an updated version of the PWR. Outside of either Wisconsin or Michigan Tech winning the WCHA Final Five, there are very few scenarios that yield more than three NCAA berths for the WCHA.

Notre Dame Tops USCHO.com/CSTV Poll For Sixth Straight Week

USCHO Staff Report
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Notre Dame made it a six-for-six run at the summit of the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll, collecting 31 of 40 first-place votes to finish No. 1 again in Monday’s release. The Fighting Irish swept Alaska last weekend in the CCHA quarterfinals to hold their ground at the top of the poll.

Next up was No. 2 Minnesota, which got by Alaska-Anchorage in three games in the WCHA first round, and then third-ranked New Hampshire. The Wildcats shut out Providence twice to reach the Hockey East semis and moved up a notch in the rankings.

Fourth was St. Cloud State, which traded places with UNH after needing three games to oust Minnesota-Duluth, while Clarkson was again fifth after sweeping Harvard.

The next three teams were likewise unchanged from last Monday. North Dakota, which won its playoff series in two games against Minnesota State, was sixth, followed by archrivals Boston College (sweep of Northeastern) and Boston University (winner in three games over Vermont).

UND and BC are arguably the hottest teams in the country, as the Eagles sport an eight-game winning streak and the Fighting Sioux have lost just once in their last 17 games.

Another pair of bitter rivals rounded out the top 10: No. 9 Michigan, up a spot after winning two straight against Northern Michigan, and 10th-ranked Michigan State, which climbed three places by sweeping Nebraska-Omaha.

St. Lawrence continued to move up the poll one place at a time, to No. 11 this time in the wake of a sweep of Colgate, and Massachusetts used two more wins over Maine — giving the Minutemen four straight victories against the Black Bears — to jump three spots to No. 12.

Miami came in at No. 13, down four spots after being swept by Lake Superior State. The RedHawks are the highest-ranked team gone from the conference playoffs, and must hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament to continue their season.

Dartmouth was No. 14, up three places after taking two straight from Princeton, and Denver fell four slots to 15th after being swept out of the WCHA playoffs by Wisconsin. Michigan Tech, which ousted Colorado College in three games, rose two places to No. 16, followed by Maine.

DU and Maine, like Miami, will see their NCAA fates ride on the results of this weekend’s championships.

Quinnipiac re-entered the poll at No. 18 with a sweep of Cornell, while CC was No. 19 and Wisconsin, with its chance at defending its NCAA title still alive, returned to the rankings at No. 20.

Dropping out this week were Vermont and Cornell.

An Epic

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USCHO will have a recap of Wisconsin’s epic quadruple overtime win over Harvard sometime today. Here are some other links in the meantime:

Recapand Quotes from Wisconsin Athletics

Recap from Harvard Athletics

Wisconsin State Journal

Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

A few other thoughts: There seems to be plenty of confusion about save records out there, due to the NCAA record book somehow forgetting Desi Clark’s 78-save performance in Mercyhurst’s 5-4 triple overtime loss to Harvard in the 2005 NCAA quarterfinals. Brittany Martin, I would imagine, set a record for highest save percentage among anyone who faced over 60 shots. And of course, Molly Schaus had 73 saves for BC against Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal in February.

As many of the above articles have pointed out, 5125 was the second-largest crowd in NCAA tournament history, falling short only of the UMD-Harvard final in 2003. Like this game, both teams rose to the occasion, and the game went multiple overtimes.

Amazingly enough, the Harvard junior and seniors have played in the only three triple overtime games in the last 10 years in women’s D-I hockey, winning the 2005 quarterfinal against Mercyhurst while losing this year’s Beanpot semifinal and NCAA quarterfinal. As Sean Pickett points out on the message board, Harvard has played in 10 of the 21 longest games in women’s college hockey history.

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