NCAA D-III Quarterfinal Preview: Norwich At Oswego

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March 9, 2007

Call it the second chance game.

Both Oswego and Norwich finished first in their respective conferences. Both lost in their conference semifinal playoff game on home ice. Both were given second chances with an at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs. Perhaps it’s fitting they meet in the NCAA Quarterfinal Round at Oswego on Saturday at 7:00 P.M.

“I think that’s why you have the at-large bids because there are times teams have a great year, but they lose one game at the wrong time,” Norwich coach Mike McShane said.

“We’re excited to have a second life and try to make the most of it,” Oswego coach Ed Gosek said. “Certainly our playoff success hasn’t been that great lately, so we’re looking forward to proving ourselves.”

These two teams also have a lot in common in their makeup and playing style.

“Both teams have quick, skilled forwards who can handle the puck,” Gosek said. “Both have solid defensemen. Both have good goaltenders.”

Norwich averaged 4.3 goals per game and have four players with double digit goals: Rick Cleaver (24), Nikita Kashirsky (17), Eric Lauriault (11), and Raphael Robitaille (11). Lauriault leads the team with 27 assists while Cleaver has 20 helpers.

Oswego is also loaded with offensive firepower. The Lakers averaged 4.92 goals per game also with four players in double digits: Brendan McLaughlin (23), Ryan Ellis (16), C.J. Thompson (14), and Garren Reisweber (13). McLaughlin has 28 assists, Ellis 26, and Peter Magagna 22.

Though both teams have good defenses, the goalies will still see a lot of action. These are not teams that play a trap or defensive style of game. They go at their opposition, plain and simple.

“It will be an up and down game,” Gosek said. “The teams will be playing extremely hard. It’s going to come down to special teams and goaltending.”

“Defense has to stay strong, especially against their forwards,” McShane said. “Goaltending has got to be there.”

The goaltending is an interesting aspect of this game. Ryan Scott is a junior for Oswego with a 2.43 GAA and .911 save percentage. He has the experience, but not the playoff wins. Meanwhile, the Cadets have mostly relied on a freshman, David Thompson (1.91 GAA, .908 save pct.).

Goaltending is potentially the biggest wildcard in this contest.

As for special teams, McShane said, “They have a very good powerplay.”

“They’re a very disciplined team,” Gosek said. “You aren’t going to get a lot of powerplay opportunities. When you do, then you have to take advantage.”

McShane echoes those sentiments when asked what the key will be for the game, “Taking advantage of the opportunities that develop.”

Norwich is second best in the nation allowing only 13.8 penalty minutes a game. Indeed, Oswego will not have many opportunities to show off their 21.8% effective powerplay. Oswego is also fairly well disciplined, committing 17.1 penalty minutes per game. Norwich will need a few more chances as they convert 19.1% of their powerplays.

How the game is called is another key wildcard to keep an eye on.

With the way these two teams play, Gosek will most likely get one of his wishes: “I hope it’s a great game for the fans to watch.”

There is one item that separates these two teams. After Saturday, one of them will not get a third chance.

Hendu’s Story: From Dream To Reality, Part II

By David H. Hendrickson

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March 9, 2007

Part II: Youth Hockey

By the time Ryan was eight years old, he was playing for two teams. The two could not have been more different.

He had begun with Pentucket Youth Hockey’s Learn-To-Skate program. When he turned six, he graduated to Mite Instructional hockey, where coaches skate on the ice to provide direction and a buzzer signals the line shifts, even if there’s a breakaway. In Ryan’s season of Mite Instructional hockey, he scored a single goal.

The three amigos. Ryan surrounded by cousins Cherie and Kevin, who both played for rival Masconomet (photos: Karyn Hendrickson).

Within two years, however, his hard work at developing his skills had moved him up to Pentucket’s top Mite team. And what a team that was. It would go 21-5-2 and win its league’s championship game, a nailbiter in which Ryan’s picturesque breakaway goal was the decisive blow. After the game, the head coach called it “our biggest goal of the year.”

At the other end of the spectrum, however, was Ryan’s other team. It would play over 30 games and win only once.

The Lowell Jr. Chiefs played within the high-octane Metro Boston Hockey League. “Metro” hockey, as it was called, offered the best competition, the best coaching and the most extensive practices. Although it was far more expensive and demanded a gargantuan increase in travel over playing “town” hockey — games might be more than two hours away — the rewards seemed well worth it. Metro’s track record of developing the best players was hard to argue with.

For all Metro’s selling points, however, parity wasn’t one of them. Town teams could take players only from their allotted region and played parity rounds early in the season to allow them to move up or down to an appropriate division within their league so that all teams were competitive.

Not so within Metro. All the kids who were born in 1984, Ryan’s birth year, played in the same division. If your team wasn’t competitive, too bad; you might want to switch to a better one next year. Unlike town hockey, you could try out wherever you liked, a fact that resulted in many of the best players congregating on the same teams. After all, it’s a lot more fun to win all the time than get the snot kicked out of you. Powerhouse programs such as the Jr. Terriers and the South Shore Kings, for example, featured Kenny Roche, Ray Ortiz, Sean Sullivan and Brian Boyle, already dominant stars at this level.

The Jr. Chiefs, on the other hand, were a ragtag group with only a few diamonds in the rough like Ryan and quite a few more lumps of coal, kids who weren’t going to shine at the elite level of Metro hockey no matter how much they might be buffed and polished.

This Jr. Chiefs team, however, had one major selling point. Its coach, Dave Brien, held the equivalent of a USA Hockey Master level certification. He’d attended week-long coaching symposia as far away as Calgary, Alberta, places where he’d talked shop with coaches from the NHL and various national teams, men who made their living at coaching. To think that anyone else could teach Ryan more about the game was folly.

“We’ll get our brains beaten in for a while,” Brien admitted. “But we’ll try to hold onto most of our good kids, and eventually we’ll be very good.”

It turned out to be an accurate prediction, but that still didn’t make it easy to take the seemingly endless string of lopsided losses. The key was keeping your eye on the prize. My philosophy was that when it came time to impress high school or college coaches, no one was going to ask Ryan what his won-loss record was as an eight-year-old. They were only going to care how good a player and teammate he was. In that respect, Ryan was making leaps and bounds.

“He grew from a timid, somewhat shy kid to a leader who was a dominant aggressor,” Brien says. “He was extremely coachable. He took everything as gospel and really grew over the years.”

And so when championship-caliber Metro teams came calling, even those much closer to home, we stayed with Dave Brien. Driving an extra half hour each way to practices was a more than reasonable price for exceptional coaching, a philosophy that extended to my daughter Nicole’s competitive swimming as well. One year that she trained with a particularly distant swim team our two cars’ total mileage exceeded 100,000 miles. Small wonder that we were never driving the last models, but instead running a string of jalopies into the ground.

Of course, had the Jr. Chiefs gone 1-30-1 year after year, Ryan might have become too accustomed to losing and eventually lost his competitive fire. That never happened, however. During the Chiefs’ toughest years, Ryan’s Pentucket teams were either winning championships or were in the hunt. By the time we parted ways with Pentucket Youth Hockey, the Chiefs had become quite competitive.

Only one of the many early losses with the Jr. Chiefs still rankles. We were facing one of the most highly skilled teams in the league and clearly could not compete if we allowed the game to be a one-on-one skills competition. Metro, however, was a full-check league at all age levels, so Dave Brien decided that we had to slow them down by being physical. Not dirty. Not goons. But we had to finish our checks. We had to emphasize taking the body. Otherwise they’d be dangling with the puck for three periods and putting many of them in the net.

Ryan on the rush.

Even so, the end of the game neared and we still were losing, 7-0. It had been the correct strategy to employ, but the skill disadvantage was just too great.

In the final minute, however, I was stunned to see the other team’s goalie skate to the bench as his teammates entered the offensive zone. I looked at the officials, but there were no delayed penalties signaled.

In a game played by nine-year-olds, the coach of a team leading 7-0 had pulled his goalie to try to add an additional goal.

In the post-game handshake, I came to the coach — who shall remain nameless, but has an unmistakably feminine voice and a name at the end of the alphabet — and said, “You pulled the goalie with a 7-0 lead?”

The coach averted his eyes and said, “I didn’t like the way your team played.”

We had played clean, getting only one penalty for a hit that had been excessive, but that fact didn’t matter to this guy. He had pulled his goalie with a 7-0 lead.

When years later his son, who had been a big-time star as a nine-year-old, failed to make it in Division III, the phrase “the sins of the fathers” came quickly to mind.

If that had been coaching behavior at its worst, I also saw parental behavior at its worst… and almost became a victim of it.

While still coaching Ryan’s town team, I corrected a player’s mistake after he came to the bench. I did so in an even tone and at low volume — as low key as you could get. After all, these were only 10-year olds. And even though the mistake was a point we’d been emphasizing, I was making the correction in as gentle a way possible.

“Go (bleep) yourself,” the kid said.

Hello?

I hadn’t gotten in the kid’s face. I hadn’t screamed and hollered. I had merely corrected a mistake. If youth hockey coaches aren’t correcting mistakes, they aren’t doing their job. And I had been told by a 10-year old to go bleep myself.

I motioned to the back row. “Sit back there,” I told him. It was the third period and he would sit there for the rest of the game. This wasn’t the first time the kid had been a disciplinary problem, but this had taken the issue to another level.

Afterward, the father confronted me. He was a mountain of a man without being six feet tall. At the time I was in pretty decent shape myself, but this guy had a bodybuilder’s muscle-bound physique. If we arm-wrestled, he might have snapped my forearm like a twig.

I explained the unacceptable behavior and the father responded that his son had Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

“That’s not ADD,” I said, mindful of the kid’s escalating disciplinary problems. “That’s bad behavior. And you aren’t doing your son any favors by blaming it on ADD.”

The guy went nuclear.

He pulled off his leather biker’s jacket and yelled, “I was in prison for three years! I ate guys like you for breakfast!”

Fathers of other players quickly moved in between us and pulled me into another room.

As they did so, I said, “I’m not afraid of him.”

It was a line of such absurdly misplaced machismo that it became comic fodder for one parent. If someone made a comment of monumental stupidity, that parent might nod and whisper to me, “I’m not afraid of him,” and we’d laugh.

It was funny until years later an enraged hockey parent, Thomas Junta, beat Michael Costin to death over an on-ice dispute.

After that, “I’m not afraid of him” didn’t seem funny at all.

Every decision that we made was a decision that we made. I didn’t dictate anything to Ryan. Our relationship was 99 percent best buddies and only one percent with me as a parental authority figure. It was an approach that would work only with an exceptionally mature kid, but Ryan was every bit that, as was his sister. I’d like to think that was because my wife and I did a lot of things right, but we were also very lucky.

Best buds. Taking a break while playing at Uncle Ray’s outdoor rink.

We’d sit down and discuss the alternatives and figure out what was best. This held true for small decisions — “North Andover’s power skating is tonight, wanna go?” — or big ones like leaving Pentucket Youth Hockey.

Leaving Pentucket Youth Hockey was surprisingly easy. Far easier than I would have expected years earlier and far easier than it should have been.

In what would have been Ryan’s final year as a Mite, USA Hockey instituted a six-month age change that would have kept him from moving on to Squirts. Since this would have been a developmental disaster, I petitioned the Pentucket board that he be allowed to “play up” as a Squirt.

The board granted that request on the condition that he be picked for the Squirt 1 team during tryouts. If not, he would remain a Mite.

That was a hurdle easily cleared. Outside evaluators brought in to perform unbiased assessments rated him as the fifth best Squirt out of somewhere between 40 and 50 kids, underscoring how pointless it would have been to remain a Mite. If you’re one of the top five players in the nine-and-10 year old category, you don’t belong playing against seven- and eight-year olds.

Politics, however, soon reared its ugly head. The composition of the board changed, as it did every year, and the new board ruled, without bringing in any of the affected parties to state their case, that this had been a one-time exception. When it came time for Ryan similarly to play up as a Pee Wee, he would instead be forced to play a third year as a Squirt.

I considered this backstabbing at its worst since I had served each year as a coach and also as the editor of the organization’s newsletter, yet I hadn’t even been given the courtesy of stating my case to the board. Sadly, jealousy often reigns supreme among those whose kids haven’t developed the skills to make the top team.

When we were eventually faced with that scenario of Ryan playing a third year as a Squirt, we concluded it was time to leave town hockey for good. An escalating number of conflicts between the two teams’ schedules — initially trivial, but increasingly frequent — made the decision only a matter of time, but the way it was done still left a sour taste in my mouth.

The Jr. Chiefs played and practiced at the Tully Forum, the same place where the Massachusetts-Lowell Chiefs — soon to be renamed the River Hawks — competed. Ryan and numerous teammates attended many games there, watching the likes of Dwayne Roloson, Christian Sbrocca and Greg Bullock. Ryan also attended many Hockey East tournaments, NCAA Regionals and Frozen Fours.

One Frozen Four, in particular, stands out. He was probably nine years old or so and was the only non-adult at a HOCKEY-L gathering between semifinal games, HOCKEY-L being a college hockey email distribution list that predated USCHO.

There was the usual socializing and many had dubbed me HOCKEY-L Dad of the Year for allowing Ryan to miss school so he could attend the Frozen Four. Missing school wasn’t something I took lightly, but it happened once a year and Ryan was an excellent student so there seemed no harm in it.

What became memorable, however, happened near the end of HOCKEY-L’s allotted time in the room. The organization that had rented the next time slot had hired the Hanson brothers of Slap Shot fame to make an appearance. They arrived early, decked out in Charlestown Chiefs jerseys, and began mixing in with HOCKEY-L people.

One of the Hanson brothers immediately spotted Ryan, knee high to the proverbial grasshopper, decked out in his Jr. Chiefs hockey jersey and wearing a baseball-style cap.

“Hey, kid, what’s your name?” asked the Hanson brother.

Ryan answered.

“I like your hat,” said the Hanson brother.

“Thanks,” Ryan said.

“I like your hat a lot,” the Hanson brother said, taking it off Ryan’s head and putting it on his own, flashing “the foil” in the process.

Ryan grinned from ear to ear.

“I like that jersey, too.” The Hanson brother began to pull it over Ryan’s head in the manner the self-styled goons would have attempted during a fight.

It was a hilarious sight that had everyone laughing.

Eventually, the clowning around was over and Ryan got his hat back. He also had a rare treasure … a story he could recount to his hockey buddies about the time he’d tangled with one of the Hanson brothers and lived to tell about it.

Part III of this series covers summer hockey.

NCAA D-III Quarterfinal Preview: Babson At Manhattanville

By Scott Biggar

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March 9, 2007

The Babson Beavers (18-9-1) and Manhattanville Valiants (20-1-5) men’s ice hockey teams have only met once. Back on Nov. 27, 1999, a newly minted Valiants team traveled to the Babson Tournament on Thanksgiving weekend to play the host team in only their sixth game ever.

Babson scored two goals in the final minute of the first period and then Eric Bookbinder added a natural hat trick in the second period to route Manhattanville 6-1.

On Saturday, the Beavers don’t expect it to be quite so easy as Babson travels to Manhattanville’s Playland Ice Casino for the NCAA Quarterfinals to play a Valiants team currently ranked second in the nation.

“Manhattanville is obviously a very good team,” said Babson coach Jamie Rice. “They have had great success this season and [coach] Keith [Levinthal] has done a terrific job. It will be a big challenge but one we are really looking forward to”

Babson won its first ECAC East championship since 1992 last weekend as the No. 6 seed Beavers rode over No. 3 Skidmore, No. 1 Norwich, and No. 2 New England during the league playoffs. With the title in hand, they earned the team’s first NCAA tournament bid since 1993.

“No one player was responsible for the championship wins this weekend,” said Rice. “It was a real team effort — everyone did the school proud! It’s a really great accomplishment for this team. Getting back to a place where we haven’t been in 14 years says a lot about the effort and commitment of these kids.”

Manhattanville won its second ECAC West title in the last two years last weekend, earning its third straight trip to the NCAA tournament. The Valiants defeated No. 4 seeded Elmira in the league playoff semifinals and then overcame a late charge to defeat No. 2 seed — and No. 3 in the nation — Neumann in overtime.

“It was a pretty intense game, well played, really good pace to it, and a really good atmosphere in the building,” said Levinthal. “[Neumann] is a really good team. They are probably the best team we have had to deal with all year. Any win over that team is a great win.”

Both teams are on a roll, with Babson 8-1-1 over its last ten games while Manhattanville is 10-1-3 over its last fourteen games.

“Babson is a very good team playing very well at this time of year,” said Levinthal. “They are very focused and disciplined. They are a kind of classic ECAC East-like team. I like where we are. In terms of health-wise, we are the best we have been in a month. But there is no more not playing well and getting away with it.”

Three players to watch on Babson are sophomores Brad Baldelli and Skyler Nipps, and freshman Casey Fazekas.

Baldelli leads the Beavers in scoring with sixteen goals and twenty assists, ranking third in the ECAC East in both power play points and goals per game. Baldelli is an important reason that Babson led the ECAC East in power plays this year converting on 22.7% of its opportunities.

Fazekas is Babson’s leading defensive scorer with two goals and nineteen, placing him as the top freshman defender in the league in scoring.

Skyler Nipps has been a rock for Babson in goal, playing in twenty two games this season and posting 2.61 goals against average and .903 save percentage.

“Skylar (Nipps) played very well — he gave us a chance to win and that’s all you can ask of your goaltender,” said Rice. “You don’t win games in March without good goaltending.”

Players to watch on Manhattanville are seniors Andrew Gallant and Chris Mills, and freshman AJ Mikkelsen.

Andrew Gallant, the ECAC West player of the year, has been in net for twenty four of the Valiants games this season, ranking second in the nation in both goals against average (1.81) and save percentage (.929). Fellow senior Chris Mills is third in the ECAC West with twenty seven assists, chipping in fourteen goals along the way as well.

Freshman AJ Mikkelsen is second in the league in defensive scoring with seven goals and fifteen assists, and is also tied for third with his teammate Matt Piezga in overall freshman scoring.

NCAA D-III Quarterfinal Preview: Bethel At St. Norbert

By Matthew Webb

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March 9, 2007

Many were expecting UW-River Falls to be traveling to St. Norbert this weekend for a NCAA Quarterfinal matchup. Instead, it will be Bethel making the trip to the Cornerstone after a strong performance carried the Royals to a 2-1 opening round victory over the Falcons on Wednesday night.

The Royals are making their first every NCAA tournament appearance and are now 1-0-0 all-time in NCAA play. Meanwhile, St. Norbert is making its 9th appearance in the NCAA’s, where it holds an all-time record of 8-8-1.

Heading into its opening round game with UW-River Falls, Bethel was receiving a high amount of praise for its speed and depth, as well as for its overall offensive skill. The praise was warranted as all played integral roles in its eventual win. According to head coach Peter Aus, however, it took a while for the Royals to get things rolling this season.

“Well, what we did is switch up our lines,” he said. “To start the season we had all the old guys playing with old guys, and all the new guys playing with new guys. It just wasn’t working, so we mixed everything up.”

He continued, “That was right before the Gustavus game, and then we came out in that game and fell behind by two right away, so I’m thinking ‘oh no, what did I do?'”

Aus decided to stick with his plan and it has paid dividends, as the Royals came back to defeat Gustavus Adolphus 4-3. Coincidentally, the win also marked the turnaround point in the Royals’ season, as since defeating the Gusties, Bethel has won twelve of thirteen games, culminating with this week’s NCAA first round victory.

Bethel’s success can largely be attributed to its balanced attack. Led by sophomore Nick Miller’s 28 points, the Royals boast eight players with at least 20, and six more who check in with double digits.

Heading into Saturday’s quarterfinal, this balanced attack is cause for concern for St. Norbert head coach Tim Coghlin.

“They are very deep up front,” he said. “They don’t have a superstar type player, but they have twenty guys who will score goals. They have a lot of guys out there getting quality minutes. They have at least three lines who are very dangerous offensively, and that makes them a dangerous team this time of year.”

Coghlin added, “I think they are a lot like us in a way. We have been fortunate at times to have a lot of depth and it can be a difficult thing for an opposing team to deal with. They present the same challenges.”

The Green Knights do indeed have similar depth. Led by Marc Belanger’s 38 points, St. Norbert also lays claim to eight players with at least 20 on the year.

According to Coghlin, to find success this weekend, the Green Knights must continue to play the solid team defense that they have over the past few weeks.

“We have been maintaining shot lanes, keeping pucks to the outside, allowing Kyle (goaltender Kyle Jones) to see the play, and not giving up three-on-two or two-on-one rushes. We’ve been doing that pretty well for the past month or so.”

Allowing only 1.76 goals per game on the season, it will be interesting to see how the Green Knight defense can slow down the Royals’ attack, as Aus praised his teams persistence following the win over River Falls.

“I think it goes back to the speed of our forwards. We have a lot of guys with speed, and who handle the puck well.”

St. Norbert and Bethel have met once this season, with the Green Knights prevaling 4-2, though the Royals held a 2-0 lead heading into the third period.

“We were up in that game,” said Aus. “Then they came back and we really hurt ourselves late with some mistakes in our own end. You can’t do that against them. This weekend will be difficult as its extremely tough to win over there.”

That’s not to say it hasn’t been done before, as in 2005 St. Thomas went into the Cornerstone for a quarterfinal meeting, and walked away having earned a trip to the Frozen Four, something that still weighs heavy on Coghlin’s mind.

“The situation that really stands out in my mind, most recently, was in ’05,” said Coghlin. “St. Thomas fought its way through the MIAC Playoffs, then came in here, did exactly what they needed to do, got ahead early, and we never came back.”

He added, “So we sit here now saying, were at home, yeah, but we know what can happen. We need to understand the urgency of the situation. Throw out all the statistics, the records, the powerplay percentages, whatever. It comes down to 60 minutes.”

Aus shared simlar sentiments, stating, “As I said, it’s tough to win over there, but one of our goals was to win the MIAC, and win a tournament game, and we’ve done that; Playoff hockey, you just never know what will happen.”

Whatever does happen, it will certainly be fun to watch two teams who mirror each other stylistically. In terms of excitement, if Bethel’s game with River Falls was a precursor to what everyone can expect Saturday night, fasten your seat belts, it could be a wild ride. The puck drops at 7:05 CT.

Series Notes

• Aaron Damjanovich (14-5-2, 2.48, .915) has started every game during Bethel’s hot streak, and will start on Saturday.

• Kyle Jones (24-3-2, 1.75, .915), as always, will be getting the call in net for St. Norbert. Jones has started every game for the Green Knights this season.

• St. Norbert is 14-1 at home on the season, but 14-0 at the Cornerstone Community Center. The loss came against UW-Stout at the Resch Center.

• Bethel has only defeated St. Norbert one time, and it was in 1989. Since then the Green Knights have won 17 straight over the Royals, and hold a 17-1-0 all-time advantage in the series.

• The last time St. Norbert hosted a MIAC team in the NCAA Tournament was in 2005, where it lost 3-2 to St. Thomas.

• MIAC and NCHA teams have met in every NCAA Tournament since 1998, with the NCHA holding a 9-4-1 advantage in the meetings.

This Week in Hockey East: March 8, 2007

By Scott Weighart

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March 8, 2007

Dave Hendrickson is not available to write the Hockey East column this week, as he has been very busy writing an important memo. Actually, it’s not really a memo; I guess you could say it’s just a long sentence. And come to think of it, it probably needs a verb to be a sentence.

The Lowell Lowdown

Recent reports indicating that UMass-Lowell’s membership in Hockey East is “under review” have led to many raised eyebrows, dropped jaws, and — if you read Jim Connelly’s column about it, steam emanating from the ears.

All for good reason: Any move that results in UMass-Lowell ending up anywhere else than in Hockey East would be a major step backward for the program. After speaking to River Hawk coach Blaise MacDonald, however, I feel more hopeful that the review process will lead the powers that be to a clear conclusion: UMass-Lowell hockey adds great value to the school and to the UMass system.

I found the initial report on USCHO.com somewhat confusing, as it suggested that not only was Hockey East membership in question; it also ominously noted that “perhaps the very future” of the Lowell hockey program was in question. MacDonald set the record straight on the latter.

“First of all, dropping the program is just not going to happen,” MacDonald said. “The program is absolutely going to stay Division I. You know, we have a new Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the UMass system and a new Chairman of the Athletics Committee, and they’re doing their due diligence to examine all athletic programs in the UMass system — not just Lowell hockey.

“Their M.O. is to make sure that the UMass system can brand excellence. We need to define what is branding excellence and what is Lowell hockey’s opinion of how we can brand excellence. It’s not as big a deal as it may seem — it is alarming to hear about it, but most businesses that are responsible go through a critical self-analysis, and that’s essentially what’s happening here.

MacDonald had nothing but classy things to say about the decisionmakers who are assessing the UMass athletic programs.

“I have a lot of faith in the Board of Trustees,” MacDonald said. “The people there are very intelligent businesspeople as well as academic people, so I feel that when you see the quality and value that Hockey East brings to a school like Lowell, it’s indisputable how positive that is for the City of Lowell, our alumni, for the community and obviously for our students and student-athletes.”

Another element mentioned in the initial report was the issue of finances. Citing a story in the Lowell Sun, the article referred to Lowell running at a $671,000 deficit in 2005-06 … not to mention a $1,130,343 deficit over at UMass in Amherst.

Mentioning the numbers to MacDonald, though, I told him I was hard-pressed to see how, say, moving the team into Atlantic Hockey would do anything to help the program’s financial fortunes. Trading a regular parade of top ten opponents for a schedule that includes programs like Mercyhurst — a great program but by no means a great attendance draw, and also a far longer trip from Lowell than any team in Hockey East — just makes no financial sense.

“You’re very astute,” MacDonald said, agreeing that leaving the league makes neither dollars nor sense. “Everybody wants to make sure that they’re as close to getting a dollar for a dollar as they can, but most athletic programs run at a deficit. But you want to make sure you’re getting the value for your money that you’re putting in. I don’t think it’s really an issue of finances at all.”

The issue, MacDonald believes, is much more one of “branding excellence.” So what about that for Lowell in Hockey East?

“I think if you’re a top three to six team in Hockey East, you’re going to be in the top 15 to 18 in the country. So that’s pretty much defining excellence in a lot of people’s opinion. In Hockey East for a school like Lowell, we were undefeated against Boston University this year. That’s significant. And in the last few years we’ve swept Boston College when they were ranked No. 1 in the country. We ourselves in the last five years have been ranked in the top 15 in the country for 28 weeks. That’s very important for a program like Lowell.”

More than anything, Lowell fans — and Hockey East fans in general — may just need to hang in there and be patient for a few more weeks. “We’re in a bit of a transition period at Lowell; we’re in the midst of hiring a new chancellor. Leadership is everything. We should have a new chancellor on board in the next two weeks, and I really think the new chancellor will get his arms around this. We’re down to three finalists now, and it’s my belief that this chancellor will be dynamic and probably one of the best things that’s ever happened to our hockey program.”

After talking to Blaise, I chatted with my wife about our conversation. She’s lived in Boston for over two decades, and she have had the best quote of all: “I don’t think I would know that UMass-Lowell existed if not for the hockey team.”

Let’s hope that all of this will be equally obvious to the UMass decisionmakers when the ice chips settle.

Easy Pickins?

If you were to believe Dave Hendrickson last week — and who does? — you would believe that picking winners in the Hockey East quarterfinals is the easiest picks week of the whole season.

I beg to differ. Hell, last week Dave faced the underwhelming challenge of picking the Providence/Merrimack two-game series. Let’s see: Providence wins, and the Friars are in the playoffs, and Merrimack has won three games all season. Hmmm … Who to pick? Hopefully Dave didn’t have to spend too much on his spiritual advisor to figure out who to go with in that one.

In contrast, what do I have to contemplate this weekend? Consider that Providence and Vermont beat UNH and BU, respectively, in the last games between those quarterfinal opponents — both less than two weeks ago. Then we have Maine — No. 12 in the PairWise Rankings — visiting UMass, tied for 13th in the PWR. Maybe Northeastern beating BC looks impossible? Well, that series was 1-1-1 this year.

Sure, the home teams will be favored in each case … but I will be more surprised if we have no road team advancing to the Garden than if we have one or two move on.

Octo-pucky

… And then there were eight. Now let’s turn our attention to handicapping each quarterfinal series. With the River Hawks out of the mix — and with Lowell in the news this week — I decided to enlist MacDonald’s help in handicapping the four series. I ran that question by him as to whether the biggest upset would be a lack of upsets this weekend.

“For me, Scott, it’s hard to say that they’re upsets,” MacDonald said. “I don’t think there’s a huge difference between one and eight. There’s a lot of talent there. The only difference I see is that Northeastern is a little less tested than everybody else. They rely on a lot of freshmen; their coaching staff has done a great job this season with them.

“Northeastern relies a lot on special teams; their penalty killing is fantastic. That can frustrate a team, and they can build momentum off of that. That series just has the biggest question mark for me because I don’t know how Northeastern will react in that element.”

I mentioned how Northeastern played amazingly well early on in its last really big game — the Beanpot semifinal against BU — but then how it played as the game wore on raised some question about how well the Huskies could handle that type of situation at this point.

“I would define the situation as being John Curry,” MacDonald said. “He kept BU feeling like ‘Hey, we’re playing fine,’ when really it was John Curry playing fine. When you have a goaltender playing that well, you can explore your potential. You’re unfazed by breakdowns and giving up great scoring opportunities, whereas if you’re not sure about your goaltending, there’s a lot of uncertainty that creeps in.”

With that in mind, let’s see how much uncertainty crept in as Blaise and I attempted to handicap the matchups.

No. 8 Providence at No. 1 New Hampshire

Providence record in last ten games: 4-4-2
Providence record on the road this season: 3-11-2
Providence power-play percentage: 9.9%
Providence opponents’ power-play percentage: 13.7%
New Hampshire record in last ten games: 4-5-1
New Hampshire record at home this season: 10-5-1
New Hampshire power-play percentage: 20.2%
New Hampshire opponents’ power-play percentage: 14.4%
Season Series: UNH 2-1-0 (home team won all three games)

Perhaps the most striking stat above is the two teams’ performance over the last ten games. There’s not a big difference in how the two teams have fared in the won-loss column of late, though UNH admittedly had a tough schedule down the stretch. Still, Providence could be a dangerous opponent here, as the Friars underachieved much of the year but seem to have all cylinders firing now.

“That matchup is very intriguing because Providence seems to be playing their best hockey right now, and they have the talent, they have the ability, to beat anybody,” MacDonald said. “But they’ve struggled maybe scoring goals at key times, maybe giving up one or two soft goals at the wrong time. But from the top to bottom, Providence is a very talented team. And UNH probably stumbled a little lately, but I think maybe they got it out of their system, and it’s enabled them to refocus on what they need to do to play well.

“In this series, goaltending is No. 1. Second is talent: Who’s healthy? Who’s available? I think both of those teams are pretty good in that regard. I just think for Providence to have success they need to play with the lead, and UNH has the ability of playing at home. There can be significant momentum swings because of their crowd. I think it’s going to be a three-game series; I think UNH is going to take that one but it’s going to be a hard-fought series.”

One other factor MacDonald didn’t mention here is special teams. The Friars have a rather woeful 9.9% power-play percentage, and they also lead the league with 10 shorthanded goals allowed. In fact, their scoring edge has been a mere 16-10 with the man advantage. So a good deal could hinge on what happens when Providence goes up a man. They have the talent to improve dramatically on their power-play success, but surrendering a shorthanded goal on the road in the playoffs could be crushing. Watch that carefully.

No. 7 Northeastern at No. 2 Boston College

Northeastern record in last ten games: 4-5-1
Northeastern record on the road this season: 4-9-3
Northeastern power-play percentage: 11.3%
Northeastern opponents’ power-play percentage: 11.6%
Boston College record in last ten games: 8-2-0
Boston College record at home this season: 11-4-0
Boston College power-play percentage: 16.9%
Boston College opponents’ power-play percentage: 12.7%
Season Series: Tied, 1-1-0 (BC won their only home game)

You could argue that Northeastern had a little bad luck in drawing BC as the seventh seed. I’d sure rather play No. 1 UNH right now, given that BC has not lost since the Beanpot final and is now on a six-game winning streak, including sweeps of Maine and UNH. Meanhwile, NU beat BU the last time out and has had over a week off to get ready for this weekend.

“First thing I look at again is goaltending,” MacDonald said. “The freshman [Brad Thiessen] has played very well; I think he’s going to be a big-time goalie in our league. But now it’s his first time in the Hockey East playoffs. How is he going to respond? It’s a question mark. The health of Northeastern: They’ve been banged up lately with [Mike] Morris and [Chad] Costello, even [Jimmy] Russo in the last month. How healthy are they? They’re very talented, and they’re almost playing with the track’s money because they’ve had a successful year.

“And now they can go in against a familiar opponent and just be fast and loose, so that plays to their advantage. But BC is probably one of the hottest teams in the country. I think BC’s forwards need to win this series for them. [Brian] Boyle has to be the prime-time player that he is, and [Nathan] Gerbe and [Brock] Bradford and the rest of the guys are going to step up. Is Cory Schneider the goalie he was last year? They need him to be that type of goalie to get the series done. I think BC can win this series in two, but it’s going to be two tough games.”

I do think Northeastern should be loose for this weekend. Perhaps the Huskies put a little pressure on themselves by going into the Beanpot with a bit of a swagger. The worst they can do is go in and get swept, which a lot of people expect. So why not go after the Eagles as hard as they can and see what happens?

No one thought that No. 8 BU could beat the top seed Eagles a few years ago, and we know what happened there. I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on the Huskies, but don’t be shocked if the Huskies make it tougher on BC than some might expect.

No. 6 Vermont at No. 3 Boston University

Vermont record in last ten games: 3-6-1
Vermont record on the road this season: 8-6-3
Vermont power-play percentage: 17.6%
Vermont opponents’ power-play percentage: 10.3%
BU record in last ten games: 5-2-3
BU record at home this season: 7-4-5
BU power-play percentage: 14.5%
BU opponents’ power-play percentage: 13.4%
Season Series: Vermont 2-1 (Vermont won at home and split at BU)

Not too often you have this kind of stat: Vermont’s record is better on the road (8-6-3) than it is at home (8-8-2). The same is true for BU. The Terriers are 9-2-4 on the road but just 7-4-5 at home. Hmm … I wonder if the higher seed should be allowed to request a series on the road?

Another note of interest is that BU did have an eight-game unbeaten streak until Vermont beat them at home less than two weeks ago. The funk carried over to the regular-season finale, as BU lost to Northeastern. So the Terriers are looking vulnerable … but so are the Catamounts. After playing what coach Kevin Sneddon thought was their best game of the year in a 3-1 loss at BU, the Catamounts won the next night. And then they faltered at home against Lowell, coming away with one point against a weaker opponent. Even one more point would have given them the No. 5 seed.

Hard to say how this one will go. My main advice would be to bet the “under” if an over/under goal total is offered to you. BU leads the league with a 1.82 goals against average, while Vermont is a close second with a 1.97 GAA. The two teams rank second and third nationally in that category, in fact, trailing only Notre Dame (1.75). Conversely, BU averages just 2.62 goals per game — fifth in the league — while Vermont has a paltry 2.28.

“Well, it’s interesting because we just played Vermont, and I follow BU very closely,” said MacDonald, former associate head coach of the Terriers. “Once again, I start with the goaltending. Joe Fallon struggled, I thought; he was fighting the puck against us on Friday, and he didn’t play Saturday. Then you have John Curry. Is he healthy? Is he ready? He played a lot of minutes this year in a lot of games. He’s a Hobey Baker candidate, for sure. Where’s he at? You start with the goaltending, and I can give Curry the edge for sure if everything’s even.

“Vermont’s excited to go on the road. They played pretty well at BU recently, so that’s an advantage to Vermont, really. And I think the other thing is that Vermont plays such a great defensive style that scoring the first goal and playing with the lead is vitally important for BU if they’re going to have success. I think BU needs their prime-time players, their leaders — Sean Sullivan and Kenny Roche — to step up, and I’m sure they will, but Vermont has great balance up front.

“They have a speed/skill line, their first line. The second line is big and strong and a real grinding type of line, and their third and fourth lines provide a lot of energy. So being able to play through Vermont’s grinding style is going to be critical for BU in playing for the lead. But I think BU can win this in three games.”

What does MacDonald make of BU’s relative lack of success on home ice? I mentioned how coach Jack Parker complained repeatedly earlier this year about BU wanting things to be easy and wondered if playing at home could make the team fall into that mindset.

“Having been around the BU program myself for a long time, you fight that a little bit. When you have a lot of talent, you think, ‘Well, somebody else is going to get it done and get us going here.’ Really, the kind of guy that they’ve leaned on so much is John Curry, and they almost take it for granted that he’s going to be there and stop everything. I think it’s easy for an opponent to come in to Agganis Arena and be jacked up to play there.”

Seemingly much of this series will come down to Joe Fallon. If he plays as he did on Friday and gives up a soft goal or two, this could be an easy BU sweep. If he plays to his capability, it could be a Vermont sweep. But don’t expect the goal judges to suffer from repetitive-stress syndrome.

No. 5 Maine at No. 4 Massachusetts

Maine record in last ten games: 5-5-0
Maine record on the road this season: 8-7-1
Maine power-play percentage: 25.2%
Maine opponents’ power-play percentage: 15.1%
Massachusetts record in last ten games: 6-3-1
Massachusetts record at home this season: 12-3-3
Massachusetts power-play percentage: 16.7%
Massachusetts opponents’ power-play percentage: 15.1%
Season Series: UMass 2-1 (Home team won all three games)

You’ve got to feel for Maine this weekend. After going on its longest league road trip last weekend — and getting swept to boot — it now has to drive back down to Amherst for at least two more games against a Minuteman squad that has emerged as one of the top home-ice teams in the nation. Even worse, there is no indication that the Black Bears’ top goalie, Ben Bishop, will play this weekend, as he has been recovering from a groin pull. So it will be an uphill battle for Maine.

But don’t count the Black Bears out. With an eye-popping 25% success rate on the power play — best in the nation — they remain a dangerous opponent. Given that the Black Bears are now just 12th in the PWR, Maine and its fans should assume that they need to get to the Garden at least to feel comfortable about a berth in the national tournament.

Don’t expect seniors Michel Léveillé and Josh Soares to allow their careers to end with a whimper. On the other hand, UMass is also facing the end of its season if it doesn’t advance to the semifinals. The Minutemen’s seniors won’t want that to happen; nor will a crowd of 6,000-plus at the Mullins Center.

“Let’s start at goaltending again,” MacDonald said. “Jon Quick seems to be playing fantastic. In the key game on Saturday night, Maine was outshooting UMass 29 to 11, but it was a 2-2 game [through two periods in a game that UMass ultimately won 5-3]. So they’re getting great goaltending, and I believe [Maine freshman goaltender Dave] Wilson is going to play again this weekend for Maine, and this is uncharted territory for him. How’s he going to respond?

“If UMass can get the puck down low and attack Maine’s defense, it’s an advantage for UMass. I think Chris Capraro and Matt Anderson — two senior forwards who are very talented — are going to be keys to that. I think obviously special teams will probably play a very key role. It’s on an Olympic sheet; it’s a bigger ice surface. UMass has played very well at home this year. As a matter of fact, the River Hawks gave them their first loss at home, a 2-1 victory. [Home ice is] a real bonus for UMass, and they’re feeling real confident. UMass can sweep this one in the first two games.”

I asked about how challenging it would be for Maine coach Tim Whitehead to get his team to believe that they can go on the same road trip two weekends ago and get a different result. Isn’t that a significant mental challenge?

“It is, but it’s new. Everybody’s at 0-0 now, and you can play that up as a coach. ‘Hey, everything’s in the rearview mirror; everyone is 0-0.’ But there is some confidence that plays in there, and the travel … Maine and Vermont have a bit of a grind this time of year. It takes its toll more mentally than physically — checking into the hotels, and here we are on the road again, laying around the hotel all day. So I think that’s a huge advantage to UMass.”

With UMass playing a big playoff series at home, it should be an exciting time to be in Amherst.

The Envelope Please

Now that the regular season is behind us, we can take a look back at how Dave and I did in predicting the order of finish. I honestly haven’t checked that out since October, but my hunch is that I took a few too many chances in my predictions and will pay for it now.

Here’s what we predicted:

DAVE

BC, BU, UNH, Maine, Vermont, Providence, UMass, Mass.-Lowell, Merrimack

SCOTT

BC, BU, Providence, Maine, UNH, Vermont, Northeastern, Mass.-Lowell, UMass, Merrimack

For good measure, here’s what the coaches predicted:

BU, BC, Maine, UNH, Vermont, Providence, UMass, Mass.-Lowell, Merrimack

This doesn’t look good for me, but let’s quantify it. We’ll count how many places off each of us was with each pick. So since we all picked Merrimack tenth and the Warriors finished tenth, that counts as a zero … and the lowest total wins.

DAVE has a total of 11 points, meaning that he missed the exact standings by a total of 11 positions. Despite being the only one to peg Vermont and NU at sixth and seventh, I ended up with a disappointing total of 16. The coaches ended up at 14.

Clearly my risky pick of Providence went bust, while Dave picking UNH to finish third was the closest to getting that one right. UMass getting home ice surprised all of us — especially me, as I had this relatively young team finishing out of the playoffs altogether.

Trivia Contest

Last week’s question asked who is the most recent Hockey East player to have been a captain for three consecutive seasons? Pat Foley (New Hampshire) and Jaime Sifers (Vermont) were popular responses, but the correct answer was Matt Anderson (Massachusetts). Anderson has been captain the last two years and was an assistant captain the year before that.

First to answer correctly was Kurt Zwald. His cheer is:

“You cannot stop Nate Gerbe … you can only hope to contain him. Let’s go Eagles!”

This week’s question is one last sadistic challenge for you all. As a dubious bonus, it’s also an egotistical one. As you’re in the home stretch of a season’s worth of columns by Dave and I, I challenge you to come up the highest-scoring “Dave” (or David) and the highest-scoring “Scott” in Hockey East history.

Note that you can only count seasons in which the player played for a team that was in Hockey East at the time. So Vermont players from before last season don’t count, for example. Likewise, if a player played one or more years before the league existed, you can count him … but you can’t count his totals for any year that he did not play in Hockey East!

After giving it some thought — but without consulting any source — I was able to come up with a Dave and a Scott who scored a total of 302 points while skating for their teams as Hockey East players. It’s possible that you can top that total, but if you don’t have at least 302 points, there is a better option out there.

E-mail Scott with your answer. The winner will be notified by Monday night; if you haven’t heard by then you either had the wrong answer or someone else beat you to it.

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

Over the course of the season, I have gleefully invented all kinds of reasons why Dave is not doing the column when I am covering for him.

I have claimed that he has been in professional eating contests, endorsing adult undergarments, and so forth. Poignantly, though, I recently reflected on all the ways in which I’ve bashed him. I think of all the concerns that I unnecessarily have raised about Dave — in fact, one journalist actually believed that Dave really did undergo stomach-stapling surgery and was worried about the outcome.

And how did Dave really feel, deep down, about all of these slanderous slights? Is it possible that he could be smiling on the outside but crying on the inside? Has he been squirting liquid Prozac down his throat with a turkey baster?

Yes, I reflected, I wish I could turn back the clock …

… and do it all over again.

Thanks — really — to Dave Hendrickson.

Fox Forgoes Final Two Years At Union

By Ken Schott

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March 8, 2007

Seniors Olivier Bouchard and Sean Streich aren’t the only Union hockey players who have completed their college careers.

Sophomore forward T.J. Fox, the Dutchmen’s leading scorer, will forgo his last two years of college eligibility and sign a contract with the San Jose Sharks, several sources confirmed Wednesday. An official announcement should come sometime next week.

Fox becomes the first Union player to leave the program and sign a professional contract since 1995, when Troy Stevens departed Union for Nashville of the ECHL during his sophomore season.

Terms of the deal have not been announced. Fox wasn’t available for comment. Union coach Nate Leaman would not comment on the matter, and neither would Fox’s father, Thomas, when reached at his Oswego home. A Sharks spokesman said he couldn’t comment.

Fox led the Dutchmen in scoring with 13 goals and 24 assists. His 37 poins tied the team Division I record for points in a year, set by Joel Beal and Jordan Webb in 2002-03. Fox had a pair of seven-game point-scoring streaks.

Ken Schott covers college hockey for the Daily Gazette in Schenectady, N.Y.

This Week in Women’s Hockey:
March 8, 2007

By Terese Karmel

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March 8, 2007

Katie Weatherston spent too many games sitting on the bench for Dartmouth this season. So when she got healthy as her senior season winded down, she knew it was her time to contribute.

She did just that, culminating with four points including a hat trick Sunday in the Big Green’s 7-3 win over St. Lawrence in the ECACHL tournament final in Hanover. Weatherston led the Big Green with nine goals in four ECACHL tournament games.

KATIE WEATHERSTON

“I was struggling early on getting back into the swing of it, so I had a lot of motivation to help in the postseason,” said the forward from the small community of Thunder Bay, Ont. “It’s definitely tough being injured your senior year. You have that much more motivation to come out in the postseason and enjoy the games with your teammates.”

Weatherston, like three other Olympians back at Dartmouth this season, took last year off to play with Team Canada in Torino, and she earned a Gold Medal with fours goals and an assist in the five games. She suffered a concussion at the end of the week in Italy and then after returning to school, injured her wrist which cost her eight or nine more games.

“The first part of the season really took away from her playing, her conditioning and her speed,” said fourth year head coach Coach Mark Hudak. “But she’s worked incredibly hard to get back. She has been very patient.”

Now she, Gillian Apps, and Cherie Piper, all seniors, all Canadian Olympians want to make history by becoming the first Dartmouth team to reach the NCAA finals and beyond. The Canadian trio were eliminated in the NCAA semifinals in each of their first three seasons. Dartmouth did not reach the ECACHL semifinals during the Olympic year, but that gave the team’s younger players an opportunity to develop. They have played a critical role in the Big Green’s ECACHL regular season and postseason titles – the first time the program has achieved that dual feat since 2001.

The road continues against Boston College, Saturday at 3 p.m. in Thompson Arena. Dartmouth (27-4-2) is seeded third in the national tournament; BC (23-9-2) is seeded sixth after losing in the Hockey East tournament final last weekend to UNH. The Big Green beat BC 2-1 when the teams last met, in each teams’ first game back from winter break.

“Everyone is playing with their hearts on their sleeves,” Weatherston said earlier this week, as she prepared for finals. Exams begin Friday at Dartmouth, which has a trimester system. The psychology major has only one test but three papers due.

Weatherston anchors Dartmouth’s second line. The first is comprised of Apps, Piper and freshman Sarah Parsons, who was also on Team USA last year in Torino. Weatherston skates with the two top scorers from the 2006 team, sophomores Shannon Bowman and Maggie Kennedy.

Because Weatherston is so strong, her presence, “gives us, in effect, two first lines,” Hudak said. And because of the quality of these players, defenses discover they can’t cover everybody and wear down.

Hudak said: “Weatherston is that good, regardless of whom she plays with.” And against, he could add.

“I think teams think, ‘If we can stop that …, if we can stop that… we have a chance,” he said. “Success for us is not just one thing. Opponents have to stop this line and stop that line. And they have to get by a pretty good goalie,” he said, referring to sophomore Carli Clemis.

Hudak acknowledged that Weatherston flew under the radar during her prep days at St. Patrick High School even though she had made the U-22 Canadian National Team. “There weren’t that many people who knew a lot about her but I’d been watching her for a couple of years,” he said. “She was definitely underrated but I saw a lot of potential in her. A lot of that comes from her competitiveness. She wants to do everything well.”

Is she a perfectionist? Yes, he replies with a firm tone.

Weatherston agrees that because she was from a small community where women’s hockey does not get much recognition, she did fly under the recruiting radar. “I thought I’d just be a third line player.”

But her freshman season at Dartmouth she played in 35 games and finished second on the team in scoring (47 points), and she took home a pile of ECAC awards.

“I really improved that year,” she said. “I was surrounded by good players and it was the first time I trained specifically for hockey. Team Canada noticed me, and I owe a lot to them for where I am today in my career.”

Weatherston hopes to play for Team Canada in the World Championships (camp is later this month in Manitoba) but right now that’s the farthest thing from her mind.

“We have experienced players who know what it takes to get to the Frozen Four,” she said. “We’ve been there three years and come out losing in the semifinals. There is real motivation to get past that,” she said. Right now they’re focused on defeating BC this weekend. “Now we just want to win the quarterfinals and move on. We take it one game at a time.”

“We have a very determined senior class, poised and ready to lead,” Hudak said. “They are all focused on the same thing,” adding that the experience and home ice should play to his team’s advantage. Also, for the first time all season, Dartmouth has 21 healthy players.

Much of BC’s strength resides in its freshman class — forwards Kelli Stack and Allie Thunstrom were First Team All-Hockey East, and goalie Molly Schaus has been among the nation’s best. Hudak said, “[BC] may figure they have nothing to lose,” he said. “At some level all of that youth and inexperience can be helpful.”

“We have experience and home ice but that doesn’t matter in BC’s mind,” said Weatherston. “We know we have to pick it up a little this weekend but we’ve come together at the end of the season. We’re all working well together at a great time of the year.”

This Week in the WCHA: March 8, 2007

By Eric Schmoldt

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March 8, 2007

Off the Top of My Head

• It’s time for the March Madness to really begin, starting with the Final Five. Here’s a complete rundown of this weekend’s matchups.

A Complete Rundown

No. 10 Alaska-Anchorage at No. 1 Minnesota

How they got here: The top-ranked team for much of the season, the Gophers jumped out to an early lead over their WCHA foes and sealed their second consecutive regular-season championship when they beat Michigan Tech last weekend. The Seawolves were a pleasant surprise early on. An even .500 at the holiday break, Anchorage sputtered, winning just twice since the calendar turned over, sending it into a freefall to last place in the waning weeks of the WCHA schedule.

Regular-season meetings: Minnesota had dropped four of six meetings, re-opening the race for the MacNaughton Cup, when the two teams met for their only series the first weekend of February. The Gophers got back on track in Anchorage, outscoring the Seawolves 10-3 in a sweep that started a four-game winning streak.

Who to watch: Jay Barriball and Derek Peltier both had two-goal games against the Seawolves this season as the Gophers scored eight goals in the first game of the series. Blair Tassone, who has just three goals and five points on the year, scored in both games against Minnesota. The goalie situations will also make things interesting. Kellen Briggs and Jeff Frazee paired up for Minnesota’s long unbeaten streak, but haven’t been as reliable as of late. Much of the same can be said for UAA’s Nathan Lawson. The junior has showed up big for the Seawolves this time of year before, and will need to stand on his head this weekend.

What’s on the line: Obviously, the Seawolves need to take the Broadmoor Trophy to find a way into the NCAA tournament. The Gophers, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, are No. 1 in the PairWise and are working on sealing up a No. 1 seed.

Prediction: The sputter continues for the Seawolves as Minnesota wins at home in two games, 4-1 and 3-2

No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth at No. 2 St. Cloud State

How they got here: St. Cloud State, ranked third in the country, solidified itself as the clear No. 2 in the league with a 12-game winning streak midway through the season. The Huskies’ MacNaughton Cup chances rose, but they went just 3-3-3 in their last nine games to finish four points back of Minnesota and four ahead of North Dakota. The Bulldogs spent the majority of their season in the WCHA cellar, but went 3-3-2 in their final eight league matchups and, due to Anchorage’s struggles, grabbed the ninth spot with a sweep of the Seawolves two weeks ago.

Regular-season meetings: St. Cloud won all four matchups this season with Duluth. The Huskies won 4-0 and 4-2 in the final weekend of November as Bobby Goepfert really started looking like he did last season. After a loss and tie to Minnesota State ended SCSU’s 12-game streak, it got right back on track against Duluth with a sweep at home the next weekend. Goepfert got another shutout, 5-0, before the Huskies had to hold on for a 6-5 win with Jase Weslosky in net.

Who to watch: St. Cloud freshmen Andreas Nodl and Ryan Lasch had points in all four games against Anchorage, combining for six goals and nine assists, and Goepfert should continue to impress between the pipes. For the Bulldogs, Mason Raymond, Bryan McGregor and MacGregor Sharp teamed up for four of the team’s five goals in the 6-5 loss.

What’s on the line: Minnesota-Duluth needs to win the Broadmoor to gain entry into the NCAA tournament. St. Cloud, which is fourth in the PairWise, is working on one of the No. 1 seeds.

Prediction: I expect the Huskies to win the series, and any time one team beats another in six straight games in a season it’s impressive, but it’s also pretty hard. I say St. Cloud in three games, 3-0, 3-4 and 4-1.

No. 8 Minnesota State at No. 3 North Dakota

How they got here: The Fighting Sioux hit rock bottom with their fourth straight loss Dec. 16 and were penciled in as perhaps the league’s biggest disappointment. All they’ve done since then is go 12-2-4, including a sweep at Minnesota and a three-point series at St. Cloud to finish third in the league, thereby avoiding the play-in game at the Final Five if they get by the Mavericks. Minnesota State had just three wins through the second week of December, but have gone 10-6-3 since then, including a sweep of Colorado College to close out the regular season. Their eighth-place finish is pretty deceiving.

Regular-season meetings: North Dakota swept the Mavericks in a series full of goals in Mankato the last weekend of October. The teams combined for 22 goals. The second series between the two teams, in February, wasn’t all that different. UND took three of four points in a 20-goal series.

Who to watch: If the regular-season matchups were any indication, anybody watching this game better be firmly planted in their seats, watching everyone for a full 60 minutes. Ryan Duncan has three goals and five assists against the Mavericks this season. Brad Miller had a hat trick and a four-goal weekend the first time the teams met and Jonathan Toews had 4 goals and two assists the second series. For Minnesota State, it’s always a safe bet to keep an eye on Travis Morin, who had three goals and four assists in meetings with the Sioux. And don’t forget about Steve Wagner. He had multiple points in all four meetings, finishing with a goal and eight assists against the Sioux in the regular season.

What’s on the line: Minnesota State needs to win the Broadmoor if it wants to go to the national tournament. North Dakota, sixth in the latest PairWise, went from the outside-looking-in early in the year to a solid No. 2 seed with perhaps room to move up with some help.

Prediction: If the Mavericks were playing just about any other team this weekend, I would think very hard about putting them through to the Final Five. As it is, they are hot in the second half, but North Dakota is looking like a national-title contender so I have to go with the Sioux, who have lost just once in two months. North Dakota in two 5-2 and 4-3.

No. 7 Wisconsin at No. 4 Denver

How they got here: The Pioneers looked like they would finish third for most of the year, but after starting 18-7-2, they’ve gone just 3-6-2 in their last 11 and were passed by North Dakota on the last night of the season. The Badgers, coming off a national championship, have struggled to find replacements for those they lost at the offensive end of the ice. UW won just four games before Nov. 25 and has been all over the map in the second half of the season.

Regular-season meetings: Denver continued its success at the Kohl Center in Madison by sweeping the Badgers early in the year. After a 2-0 shutout, they won in overtime, scoring six goals on the weekend. The teams met again in Denver in the first weekend of 2007 and skated to a split with Denver winning 3-1 before Wisconsin coming back Saturday and cruising 4-0. The Pioneers won just four WCHA games the rest of the way.

Who to watch: Both teams had a little bit of help from everybody when they met during the regular season. Rhett Rakhshani had a goal and four assists against UW during the year. Not one Badger scored more than one goal against DU, though Michael Davies had points in three of the four games. Keep an eye on the players between the pipes, as this should be a low-scoring series. Despite an 11-12-2 record, UW’s Brian Elliott has posted stellar numbers again this season. He leads the league in save percentage, goals against average, minutes played and is tied in the shutout department.

What’s on the line: If Wisconsin wants a chance to defend its title, it better win the WCHA Final Five. According to Jayson Moy in this week’s Bracketology, this series can’t really hurt or help Denver, though the Pioneers would love to be playing next weekend.

Prediction: I honestly have no idea where to go with this one as both teams have been so inconsistent in the second half of the year. Denver is 13-7-2 at home this year, and Wisconsin may win another one there, but I’ll take the Pioneers in what’s little more than a flip of the coin. Denver in three, 3-1, 0-2, 2-1.

No. 6 Michigan Tech at No. 5 Colorado College

How they got here: Perhaps there’s something going around in Colorado that’s contagious. The Tigers have followed the Pioneers and, after a solid start to the year, have folded in the waning weekends. CC was 16-10-2 after the first weekend in February, but has won just once since then, struggling through a fairly tough schedule but hanging on to the fifth spot by two points when all was said and done. Michigan Tech has ridden a bit of a rollercoaster throughout the year. After the Huskies won five of their first six games, they won just once in their next 10 tries and just three times in 16 attempts. But they’ve gone 8-3-3 since the second weekend of 2007, including a sweep of Wisconsin and three points from series with CC and Denver.

Regular-season meetings: The Tigers swept the Huskies the first weekend of November, setting off Tech’s dry spell through the middle of the year. The Tigers won 4-1 and 2-1 in Colorado Springs. Six weeks ago they met again in Houghton and Tech took three of four points in more low-scoring affairs. After a 2-2 tie Friday, the Huskies won 1-0 the next night.

Who to watch: Just looking at those scores, the goalies, in what could be another low-scoring battle in the Rocky Mountain state. Colorado College’s Chad Rau had a goal in all three games in which the Tigers garnered points. Tyler Shelast had a goal in both games that the Huskies grabbed at least a point. Rob Nolan earned the shutout for Tech. Matt Zaba allowed just five goals in four games against the Huskies.

What’s on the line: A lot … the most of any of this weekend’s games on the WCHA slate. Neither team is in the tournament according to this week’s Bracketology, and it will be tough to get in just by winning this weekend. However, being knocked out in this first-round matchup means the season is over.

Prediction: I feel like I’ve got to predict one lower seed to advance, so I’ll go with the Huskies here. And why not? For as troubled as the Tigers have been, the Huskies have been hot. Let’s try Michigan Tech in three games, 2-1, 1-4, 3-2.

In Other Words

• WCHA Players of the Week were Minnesota’s Evan Kaufmann and Michigan Tech’s Justin St. Louis on offense, North Dakota’s Joe Finley on defense and CC’s Bill Sweatt for the rookies.

• What a fitting end to what was one of the most exciting seasons for the WCHA. This weekend’s matchups were not determined until after Denver scored twice in the final minute and played to a draw with Colorado College. Simply a great season.

• Back on Feb. 8, I asked you to send me your final standings predictions. Though I didn’t get as many responses as I hoped, I feel obliged to at least give an update. Surprisingly, none of the guesses had St. Cloud finishing second, and although I did at least have the top two right, they were all as topsy-turvy as mine was.

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: March 8, 2007

By Chris Lerch

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March 8, 2007

Winner Take All

Atlantic Hockey will change its playoff format next year when RIT becomes eligible for the postseason. The 10 teams will square off in five best-of-three first round series at the top five seeds. But this season, it’s a single-game winner-take-all format in the quarterfinals, increasing the chances of an upset. Let’s look at each of the four games and see what each team must do to make it to Rochester.

No. 9 AIC at No. 1 Sacred Heart

How They Got Here: The Yellow Jackets (8-24-1) vanquished Canisius last Saturday, 2-1 in the play-in game. AIC opened the season 0-12, but took points in all but two of its final league series. Sacred Heart (20-10-4) won seven of its last 10 games to outduel Army for the top seed.

How Sacred Heart Wins: Shake off the rust; bury chances since AIC outshot the Pioneers in both previous meetings this season.

How AIC Wins: Outwork the more talented Pioneers, and get playoff-caliber goaltending.

Pioneers to Watch: Pierre-Luc O’Brien (Forward, 43 points), Alexandre Parent (Forward, 38 points), Bear Trapp (Forward, 37 points)

Yellow Jackets to Watch: Jereme Tendler (Forward, 28 points), Tom Fenton (Goal, .877 save percentage), Bryan Jurynec (Forward, 15 points)

Outlook: The Pioneers are the top seed for the first time in school history, winning 20 games so far. They’ve got to shake off the rust of almost two weeks off quickly, since anything can happen in a one-game playoff. There’s no room for error, even for the top-seeded team in the tournament. AIC played last weekend, while Sacred Heart didn’t.

“You deal with the situation you have, whether it be best two of three or just the one game,” said Sacred Heart coach Sean Hannah. “But with a single game, we have to be ready to play 60 minutes.”

Unlike the other three home teams, the Pioneers didn’t know their opponent until last Saturday night.

“I think it was an advantage,” Hannah said. “We just focused that first week on ourselves without worrying about who we were playing.”

School is on break this week, but Hannah says he still expects good fan support.

“We’re glad to have home ice,” he said. “We get good community support and the marketing department has done a good job reaching people who might only go to a few games a year and letting them know about playoff hockey.”

AIC took points against all but three teams this season, one being Sacred Heart, which is undefeated in its last nine games at home against the Yellow Jackets. But the Pioneers have been bounced out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals two years in a row, and Hannah is taking nothing for granted.

“They’re a tenacious team,” said Hannah. “They work hard. It was a nice win for them last weekend, so they have momentum. We need a solid game all around.”

No. 7 Bentley at No. 2 Army

How They Got Here: Army (15-11-5), picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll, was at or near the top of the standings all season. Bentley (12-21-1), last season’s runner-up, won just once in its final eight games of the season.

How Army Wins: They say defense wins championships, and the Black Knights hope so. They sport the top defense and second-best penalty kill in the league.

How Bentley Wins: Dictate an up-tempo pace and win the transition game. Get some puck luck to break its streak of 13 consecutive road losses.

Black Knights to Watch: Josh Kassel (Goal, .913 save percentage), Luke Flicek (Forward, 33 points), Tim Manthey (Defense, 24 points)

Falcons to Watch: Jeff Gumaer (Forward, 33 points), Dain Prewitt (Forward, 27 points), Anthony Canzoneri (Forward, 26 points)

Outlook: Last week’s column contained quotes by several coaches bemoaning a weekend off prior to the quarterfinals. Army coach Brian Riley wasn’t one of them.

“I liked it,” he said. “The way things are here, we don’t have any easy days, and we took advantage of the time off to hit the books and maintain on the ice last week and really start focusing on the task at hand this week.”

The task at hand is thwarting a group of speedy Bentley forwards.

“You want to make sure you’re not turning the puck over, or they’ll make you pay,” said Riley. “We have to make sure we make good decisions with the puck.”

As it so often does in playoff games, it may come down to goaltending and special teams.

“Discipline will certainly be a factor,” said Riley. “You don’t want to be killing penalties the whole game. And we need the kind of goaltending that Josh Kassel has been giving us all season.”

The teams last met on February 16 and 17 with Army coming away with a pair of two goal wins.

“Those were great games,” recalled Riley. “Two evenly-matched teams. The fans will be in for a treat.”

Last year the teams met in the quarterfinals at Bentley, with the Falcons winning in double overtime. This year, the Black Knights have gained a home-ice playoff game for the first time in decades.

“That was our goal all season,” said Riley. “The one game (playoff) opens the door to an underdog, and we’ve usually been in that position. We need to reap the rewards of playing at home. You can’t make the mistake of thinking that it guarantees you anything.”

No. 6 Mercyhurst at No. 3 Connecticut

How They Got Here: Connecticut (15-17-2) went 6-1-1 down the stretch to lock up home ice. Mercyhurst (9-16-6) was picked to finish first in the preseason poll, but has struggled this season.

How Connecticut Wins: Keep the momentum from the regular season, match the Lakers’ speed up front.

How Mercyhurst Wins: Offense, offense, offense. Force UConn to play the Lakers’ run-and-gun game.

Huskies to Watch: Matt Scherer (Forward, 34 points), Beau Erickson (Goal, .910 save percentage), Chris Myhro (Forward, 30 points)

Lakers to Watch: Ben Cottreau (Forward, 34 points), Scott Champagne (Forward, 26 points), Jordan Wakefield (Goal, .915 save percentage)

Outlook: This series features a couple of firsts: it’s the first time that Mercyhurst has been on the road for the Atlantic Hockey playoffs, and it’s also the first time the UConn Huskies have been at home. Unfortunately, the school is on spring break.

“The timing’s bad, but it’s still exciting,” said UConn coach Bruce Marshall. “The students won’t be around but home playoff games are special, and we’re enjoying that.”

While the Huskies have some dynamic forwards including senior captain Matt Scherer, its formula for success this season includes a heaping helping of rookie goaltender Beau Erickson, who is 9-5-2 since assuming the starter’s role after Christmas.

“It’s clear how well we’ve done since we made that decision, and what our record was prior to that,” said Marshall.

Erickson and company will have to thwart the potent Laker offense, which includes veterans Scott Champagne and Ben Cottreau, who were both bitten by the injury bug this season but are healthy now.

“It’s going to come down to which team can shut the other one down,” said Marshall. “They’re a dangerous team. They played a lot of quality teams four times in the conference. They had to battle all year and they’ll be ready for us. We have to limit the run-and-gun and not let them gain confidence.”

No. 5 Holy Cross at No. 4 Air Force

How They Got Here: The Falcons (16-15-5) set a school record for victories in a season on the way to a fifth-place finish and fourth seed. Holy Cross (10-19-5) started the season 6-3 in conference, but has won just three times since Thanksgiving.

How Holy Cross Wins: Limit the Ehn line’s chances and use its playoff experience.

How Air Force Wins: Stay out of the box. The Falcons have the weakest penalty kill in the league (78.6%)

Falcons to Watch: Eric Ehn (Forward, 60 points), Andrew Ramsey (Forward, 44 points), Jeff Hajner (Forward, 26 points)

Crusaders to Watch: James Sixsmith (Forward, 47 points), Dale Reinhardt (Forward, 34 points), Matt Burke (Defense, 18 points)

Outlook: Air Force will enjoy its first home playoff game in school history, but coach Frank Serratore doesn’t know what to expect in terms of fan support.

“We won’t know until Saturday,” he said. “We could have a great crowd or we could have 300 people. It’s tough because we’re competing with pro sports as well as Colorado College and Denver hosting playoff series this weekend.”

Serratore says he’s expecting a close game with the defending champion Crusaders.

“We tied both times we played them in the regular season,” he said. “They’re a good team. It will come down to what it usually does in the playoffs: goaltending and special teams.”

Serratore says he’s looking forward to next season when the quarterfinals change to a best-of-three, a format he greatly prefers.

“Home or away, I like the longer series,” he said. “Teams work hard for 28 league games and then it comes down to one game? You want the league’s best teams in Rochester. In a one-game deal something weird can happen.

“The home teams, which are supposed to be the better teams, have earned the right to have the lower seeded team beat them twice. If you get beat twice you weren’t the better team to begin with.”

The Air Force coach can’t say enough about junior forward Eric Ehn, who leads the nation in scoring and should be a Hobey Baker finalist.

“Some people will look at his stats and say, ‘Yeah, but he played in Atlantic Hockey.’ Look at the goals he scored against top teams like Colorado College and Denver. He didn’t get a goal against Notre Dame but [Irish head coach] Jeff Jackson said he was the best player on the ice.”

Weekly Awards

Just one game last week, but the league handed out awards nonetheless.

Player of the Week for March 4, 2007:
Mike McMillan, AIC — The freshman forward’s fifth goal of the season was his biggest — the game winner against Canisius with 7:35 left to play, ending the Griffs’ season and sending the Yellow Jackets into the quarterfinals.

Goaltender of the Week for March 4, 2007:
Tom Fenton, AIC — Fenton stopped all but one shot to lead his team to a 2-1 win at Canisius.

Rookie of the Week for March 4, 2007:
Jason Weeks, Canisius — Weeks got the lone goal for the Golden Griffins on Saturday, his 15th and last of the season.

Around the League

Canisius: Billy Irish-Baker finished his career at Canisius by setting the program mark for most consecutive games played at 115. Senior forward Mike Cohen signed a contract with Reading of the ECHL.

RIT: The Tigers’ season is over, but they’re still on the radar. RIT continues to get votes in the USCHO.com/CSTV poll.

This Week in the CCHA: March 8, 2007

By Paula C. Weston

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March 8, 2007

Wildcats, and Nanooks, and Mavericks — Oh My!

I couldn’t figure out how to fit “Lakers” into that … and besides, Lakers are ships, not ferocious beasts.

What a weekend of hockey in the CCHA. I expected the first round of the playoffs to be good, but not as good as these eight teams mustered. Here are 10 reasons to love your conference this week.

One …

… defenseman, two awards nominations.

Buckeye senior Sean Collins is a finalist for the league’s Best Offensive Defenseman and Defensive Defenseman awards.

It’s a measure of respect well-earned.

Two …

… fantastic first-round upsets, and I never saw either of them coming.

The No. 11 seed Alaska Nanooks became the first school in CCHA playoff history to win on the road three years running. This year, they eliminated No. 6 seed Western Michigan in three games. Last year, it was Notre Dame in two. In 2004-05, it was Bowling Green in two.

After going down two goals in the second period last Friday, the Nanooks responded with two goals 1:05 apart late in the third, Ryan Muspratt’s shorthander at 17:38 and Darcy Campbell’s goal at 18:43. Senior Lucas Burnett was the hero, his third goal of the season winning the game.

The Broncos pounded the Nanooks, 6-2, on Saturday, but Sunday’s game was all Alaska, with the ‘Nooks scoring in each period and Wylie Rogers stopping 32-of-33 shots.

Head coach Tavis MacMillan told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, “To beat a team as good as Western in their own building, you have to have a great team effort, and I thought we did, right from [player] one through 21.”

Those wins in Lawson were the 10th and 11th for the Nanooks this season.

And all it took, seemingly, for the No. 10 seed Northern Michigan Wildcats to upset No. 7 seed Ohio State was a change in goaltenders.

From the moment freshman Brian Stewart took the net for NMU in last Friday’s 6-2 loss to OSU — after Bill Zaniboni had allowed three unanswered goals before the middle of the second period — the Wildcats played better, more confident hockey.

Friday’s game was closer than the score, and Saturday’s 3-2 overtime NMU win was as good as any hockey game gets, and all because of the recharged Wildcats. The Buckeyes brought their game every night, and their freshman goaltender, Joseph Palmer, was excellent in the series.

But the 3-2 OT win in the little OSU Ice Arena, with a game-winner by Dusty Collins, gave the ‘Cats momentum that they carried into Sunday’s 3-2 win. After falling behind 1-0 after one, the Wildcats gained the lead in the second and never looked back.

“I think the biggest single thing,” said NMU head coach Walt Kyle, “is we changed goaltenders. And that’s no slight on Billy [Zaniboni]. We changed goalies and the kid was unbelievable. I mean, he was unbelievable.”

Stewart stopped 76-of-80 shots for a save percentage of .950 in the series.

The way his presence affected his team reminded me of what Dave Caruso did for the Buckeyes in the 2004 CCHA Super Six, when Caruso came in for Mike Betz in the first game.

Northern was transformed. The Wildcats worked hard and played with passion I haven’t seen from them for more than a season. They were truly impressive.

Three …

… series that went to three games.

The Nanooks and Wildcats took their series to three games and upset the higher seed, but the No. 8 Lakers prevailed on home ice against the No. 9 Bulldogs, even though it took three games to advance.

The Bulldogs beat the Lakers in overtime last Friday, 4-2, with Bomersback’s hat-trick goal winning it at 12:29 of the extra stanza. The final two contests were one-goal games, with LSSU winning 4-3 and 3-2. The winning goal in each of those games was scored in the third period, after the teams were knotted at the end of two.

And that fourth contest between No. 5 Nebraska-Omaha and No. 12 Bowling Green was no cakewalk. Yes, the Mavericks beat the Falcons in two straight games, but it took them 10 goals to do so — well, technically, nine, since they won 3-2 in OT Friday and 7-5 Saturday.

These four series defined what we all love about college hockey, and are a ringing endorsement for loving the one you’re with, that being the CCHA playoffs. We can only hope that this weekend’s series are half as exciting.

Four …

… goals in one period.

Bowling Green senior James Unger scored four goals in the first period of Saturday’s 7-5 loss to Nebraska-Omaha, a league playoff record. Unger had five goals on the weekend, having scored in Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss.

Unger had two goals in 19 games entering the series.

Five …

… skaters, plus a goalie.

Congratulations to the 2006-07 CCHA All-Conference First Team: forwards T.J. Hensick (Sr., Michigan), Scott Parse (Sr., UNO), and Mike Santorelli (Jr., NMU); defensemen Jack Johnson (So., Michigan) and Matt Hunwick (Sr., Michigan); and goaltender David Brown (Sr., ND).

Six …

… goals in four games.

Ferris State senior Mark Bomersback made a spectacular return after having broken his leg Oct. 6 by netting six goals in his last four games. The total included a hat trick in FSU’s Friday night 4-3 OT win over Lake Superior State.

Seven …

… winless games.

Alaska entered last weekend’s series with Western without having won since Feb. 2 (0-6-1).

Eight …

… teams left.

Here they are by the overall numbers. The stats after the slash represent their ranking among CCHA opponents for that category.

No. 1 Notre Dame

• Record: 27-6-3
• Record home: 12-2-2
• Goals per game: 3.44/fourth
• Goals allowed per game: 1.75/first
• Power play: .189/second
• Penalty kill: .905/first
• Top scorer: Erik Condra (13-26–39)
• Top goal scorer: Ryan Thang (17-17–34) and Mark Van Guilder (17-15–32)
• Top goaltender: David Brown (1.68 GAA, .927 SV%)
• Dirty little secret: Any skater on this team can score.

No. 2 Michigan

• Record: 23-12-1
• Record home: 13-5-0
• Goals per game: 4.19/first
• Goals allowed per game: 3.14/seventh
• Power play: .183/fourth
• Penalty kill: .819/ninth
• Top scorer: T.J. Hensick (17-39–56)
• Top goal scorer: Andrew Cogliano (21-21–41)
• Top goaltender: Billy Sauer (3.03 GAA, .899 SV%)
• Dirty little secret: Top offense in the nation.

No. 3 Miami

• Record: 23-1-4
• Record home: 15-3-1
• Goals per game: 3.45/third
• Goals allowed per game: 2.58/fourth
• Power play: .188/third
• Penalty kill: .889/second
• Top scorer: Nathan Davis (20-28–48)
• Top goal scorer: Ryan Jones (27-17–44)
• Top goaltenders: Charlie Effinger (2.67 GAA, .896 SV%), Jeff Zatkoff (2.25 GAA, .917 SV%)
• Dirty little secret: Steve Cady Arena.

No. 4 Michigan State

• Record: 19-12-3
• Record home: 11-3-2
• Goals per game: 3.12/seventh
• Goals allowed per game: 2.44/second
• Power play: .181/sixth
• Penalty kill: .863/third
• Top scorer: Tim Kennedy (13-20–33)
• Top goal scorer: Bryan Lerg (21-11–32)
• Top goaltender: Jeff Lerg (2.45 GAA, .912 SV%)
• Dirty little secret: Bryan Lerg leads the nation with eight game-winning goals.

No. 5 Nebraska-Omaha

• Record: 18-14-8
• Record away: 5-8-5
• Goals per game: 3.75/second
• Goals allowed per game: 3.00/sixth
• Power play: .194/first
• Penalty kill: .841/fifth
• Top scorer: Scott Parse (24-28–52)
• Top goal scorer: Scott Parse
• Top goaltenders: Jeremie Dupont (2.83 GAA, .887 SV%), Jerad Kaufmann (2.94 GAA, .893 SV%)
• Dirty little secret: Deepest offense in the league.

No. 6 Lake Superior State

• Record: 19-17-3
• Record away: 5-9-2
• Goals per game: 2.59/10th
• Goals allowed per game: 2.51/third
• Power play: .143/11th
• Penalty kill: .841/sixth
• Top scorer: Troy Schwab (6-21–27)
• Top goal scorer: Josh Sim (15-10–25)
• Top goaltender: Jeff Jakaitis (2.25 GAA, .931 SV%)
• Dirty little secret: Takes fewer penalties than any team in the league (13.28 minutes per game).

No. 7 Northern Michigan

• Record: 15-22-2
• Record away: 6-14-0
• Goals per game: 2.36/11th
• Goals allowed per game: 2.85/fifth
• Power play: .157/10th
• Penalty kill: .856/fourth
• Top scorer: Mike Santorelli (29-17–46)
• Top goal scorer: Mike Santorelli
• Top goaltenders: Brian Stewart (3.23 GAA, .904 SV%), Bill Zaniboni (2.56 GAA, .909 SV%)
• Dirty little secret: The senior class has awakened.

No. 8 Alaska

• Record: 11-20-6
• Record away: 4-12-3
• Goals per game: 2.65/ninth
• Goals allowed per game: 3.19/eighth
• Power play: .174/eighth
• Penalty kill: .820/eighth
• Top scorer: Kyle Greentree (21-20–41)
• Top goal scorer: Kyle Greentree
• Top goaltenders: Chad Johnson (3.07 GAA, .885 SV%), Wylie Rogers (2.90 GAA, .895 SV%)
• Dirty little secret: Eliminated Notre Dame in South Bend last season.

Nine …

… days from today, two teams will battle for the Mason Cup.

Ten …

… was the magic number.

After losing nine games in a row to Ohio State in Columbus — dating back to 1981 — Northern Michigan finally shook the jinx with that overtime win Saturday night.

Now they own a two-game streak in the OSU Ice Arena, where I’m sure the Buckeyes will never want to play again … as if they wanted to this time.

My favorite time of year…

By Jim Connelly

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March 8, 2007

Okay, so the second Thursday in March is pretty much my Christmas every year.

No, it’s not because St. Patrick’s Day is nearing (as a true Irishman, I consider St. Patty’s to be amateur night for drinking). I get jazzed this time of year for college hockey’s post-season to hit it’s stride.

This weekend, every single league will be in post-season form, kicked off tonight by the Hockey East playoffs. There will be the upsets, the Cinderella’s, the overtimes (possibly the best part knowing that at the 5-minute mark of OTÃ‚Â a buzzer won’t sound).

Forty-seven of college hockey’s 57 schools still technically have a chance at the national championship. But first things first. These same clubs must battle for a league titleÃ‚Â where six teams will punch their ticket to the big dance. For the other 41 schools, let’s hope your resume looks strong enough to earn an NCAA bid as the rest will be on the golf course by March 18.

To celebrate the start to the playoffs, here my picks for potential quarterfinal upsets in each league:

Atlantic Hockey: As much as Holy Cross over Air Force seems like the obvious choice, I have a hard time calling a five seed over a four seed an upset. I think that playoff experience will play a significant enough role for Mercyhurst to eliminate upstart UConn in the opening round. Lakers coach Rick Gotkin always used to complain about the single-elimination format (which is in its final year, thank God). But now Gotkin could be the beneficiary needing just a road win in Storrs to advance to the league final four for the eighth straight year (Atlantic Hockey and MAAC combined).

CCHA: I felt all year that Lake Superior was an underrated team and this is their chance to prove it. After surviving a three-game series at home last weekend against Ferris State, and given the fact that a number of upsets last weekend will keep Lake State from facing No. 1 Notre Dame this weekend, I almost think that the Lakers have a bit of a destiny to advance to the CCHA Final Four.

College Hockey America: Maybe it’s the fact the league has only five members, but never has this league seemed such a crapshoot. I think that whichever team (Wayne State or Alabama-Huntsville)Ã‚Â Niagara has to face in the single-elimination semi-final, the Purple Eagles are vulnerable. Niagara limped to the regular-season title, earning just two ties in its final three games and posting just one win in its final eight.

ECACHL: Despite being a national power all year long, Clarkson could be upset bait for Harvard. The Crimson lost just once in their final eight league games and, despite a slow start, swept past Yale last weekend in the opening round of the playoffs. The fact that the Crimson have been in post-season form for more than a month could help, as could the team’s experience, which boast a senior class that has won two league tournament titles and made three straight trips to the NCAA tournament.

Hockey East: I’m not joking that this might be the most difficult Hockey East quarterfinal round I can remember. Every single team beat the team it faces this weekend at least once. Top-seeded New Hampshire just got trounced by No. 8 Providence two weeks ago. No. 3 BU lost its season series, two games to one, but easily could’ve been swept. No. 2 BC split their season series with No. 7 Northeastern, and No. 4 UMass had to sweep Maine last weekend to get home ice and now must face the Black Bears yet again this weekend. I say that Maine is a definite to win while I think that Vermont has a pretty decent shot at upsetting the Terriers, if they can solve John Curry.

WCHA: Does anyone really think that the defending national champs are going to just roll over and die this weekend? It doesn’t matter that Wisconsin is the seventh seed, or that Denver won three out of four against the Badgers this year, Bucky will prevail in this series – mark my word!

There’s t-minus four hours until all this hysteria gets underway! And you wonder why this is my favorite time of the year.

(By the way, feel free to leave a comment with you upset picks!)

This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey:
March 8, 2007

By Matt Rennell

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March 8, 2007

Cinderella is alive and well.

With a 2-1 triple overtime victory over three-time defending National Champion Middlebury, the Amherst Lord Jeffs earned themselves the glass slipper for this year’s NCAA playoffs.

When Anna MacLean put the puck past Panther goalie Lani Wright, the 101 minute, 54 second marathon came to end. However, the real story of the game was on the other end of the ice. Freshman goaltender Krystyn Elek stopped a ridiculous 65 of the 66 shots she faced. Her performance was the main reason that Amherst skated away with the NESCAC Championship and a bid into the NCAAs.

Late Sunday night, Amherst and the rest of the country got word of who was in and who was left out of the D-III tournament. After the games were over, it was pretty clear who would make the field. There was no controversy because the aforementioned Panthers, as well as RIT both lost their respective conference tournaments. Since those two teams had such strong regular seasons, they were locks for the two Pool C bids. As a result, teams like Elmira, Wisconsin-Superior, and Utica were left home.

The five-two split favoring the east also allowed Plattsburgh, the top-ranked team in the country, to host the final rounds of the NCAA tournament next weekend. This weekend, the 25-0-2 Cardinals have a bye and will await the winner of the Amherst at RIT match-up. On the other side of the bracket, Middlebury will host Manhattanville. The Valiants upset RIT in the ECAC East Championship game. The winner of that game will meet up with either Gustavus Adolphus or Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the semifinals.

With the NCAA Quarterfinals commencing this weekend, let’s take a look at the three games on the slate.

Amherst @ RIT

The Lord Jeffs enter into the weekend coming off the emotionally driven victory over Middlebury. They are riding an 8-game unbeaten streak and are 16-1-3 since their 3-4-0 start to the season. Another interesting fact is that their last three wins have all come in overtime. They have shown that they can handle pressure and have the goalie to back them up when a defensive breakdown does occur.

Offensively, they are led by sophomores Tarasai Karega (17-16-33), Anna MacLean (15-17-32), Lindsey Harrington (15-15-30), and freshman Kate Dennett (12-16-28). They are scoring 3.63 goals per game and have only been shutout once this season — a 1-0 loss to Middlebury on Dec. 2.

The strong point of their team though remains goaltending. Specifically Cinderella herself, Krystyn Elek. Elek stands at 14-4-3 with a 1.60 goals against average. She has a save percentage of .940 and was named First Team All-NESCAC.

On the Tigers’ side, they boast one of the most potent offenses in the country. Averaging 4.67 goals per game, RIT is led by the nation’s leading point producer Danielle Nagymarosi (32-29-61), junior Isabelle Richard (21-31-52), and sophomore Maegan Geypens (16-25-41). The also have one of the nation’s top offensive defenseman in senior Stacey McConnell (11-25-36).

In goal, freshman Karen Quigley has an 11-3-1 record, allowing two goals per game. Senior Nikki Werner has also seen time this season, finishing 8-0-1 with a goals against average of 0.77. Combined, the Tigers have shut out nine opponents this season.

Of all the games this weekend, this matchup is the most interesting. A 22-3-2 Tiger squad, who is 2-2-0 against teams in the tournament, is facing off against an Amherst team who is 1-2-1 against tournament teams. RIT has been tough to beat all season, but failed to win its conference championship, while Amherst has been nearly flawless in 2007 and has proven it can beat anyone in the country. Fasten your seatbelts, this one could take a few overtimes to decide.

Wisconsin-Stevens Point @ Gustavus Adolphus

A week ago, not many people would have guessed that these two teams would be competing against each other this weekend. With victories over Wisconsin-River Falls and favorite Wisconsin-Superior in the NCHA playoffs, the Pointers jumped ahead of the Yellowjackets in the Pool B race.

The Pointers are led by goaltender Amy Statz, who earlier this season set the all-time career wins record for Division III goaltenders. Statz has a record of 15-5-2 and a goals against average of 1.87.

If there is a difference between this year’s Pointer team and last year’s edition, it is the goal scoring. The team is averaging 3.88 goals per game this season, almost a full point higher than last year. Led by sophomores Nicole Grossmann (15-11-26) and Michelle Sosnowski (12-9-21), the Pointers’ offense is improving. However, if they expect to win this game, they will need to be clicking on all cylinders.

Their opponent Gustavus Adolphus can score. Not often is a team this successful when two of their top three point producers are defensemen. Andrea Peterson (11-26-37) and Margaret Dorer (9-23-32) provide power from the blueline and forwards Kelly Crandall (17-16-33) and Molly Doyle (18-9-27) provide more spark to the explosive offense.

The Gusties aren’t too shabby in goal either. Oddly, four of their goalies have played in 8 games or more this season. Freshman Sarah Windhorst (10-0-0) and Breanna Scavo (7-1-0), along with senior Kitty Hurley (5-1-0) have carried the Gusties throughout the season. Sophomore Amanda Rosequist (3-0-0) has also been reliable when called upon.

If the Pointers expect to win this game they will have to play solid defense and capitalize on their chances. The Gusties are a formidable opponent and will not be defeated easily.

Manhattanville @ Middlebury

Is the third time really the charm? If so the Valiants should have a good feeling entering Friday night’s game. The last two years, Manhattanville’s seasons have ended on Middlebury’s ice in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Hoping for payback, the young Valiants will have their work cut out for them. The team without a senior has put up a record of 19-7-1 and surprised many by defeating RIT for the ECAC East title.

The Valiants are led offensively by juniors Amanda Nonis (16-16-32) and Jamie Longo (13-18-31) and sophomore Alex Blackwell (16-15-31). However, what doesn’t show in statistics is that in their five games against tournament teams, they are 1-4-0 and scored just six goals. They were shutout four times this season and 39 of their 105 goals came in four games.

Karine Turmel has seen the bulk of the action between the pipes, posting an 11-5-1 record, allowing 2.05 goals per game. Freshman Sophia Kokkonis has also seen action going 7-2-0 with a 1.22 goals against average.

When it comes to the three-time defending NCAA champion Panthers, the strongest part of their team has turned out to be their biggest question mark entering the season — goaltending. Junior Angie Todd has amassed a 9-1-2 record, a 1.10 goals against average, and a save percentage of .936. She has been complimented by freshman Lani Wright who broke out on the scene compiling a record of 11-2-0, a goals against average of 1.70, and a .912 save percentage.

The Panthers’ offensive weapons have woken after slow start. Seniors Abby Kurtz-Phelan (15-21-36) and Shannon Sylvester (14-18-32) are joined by sophomore Annmarie Cellino (13-18-31) as the key players in the Middlebury attack.

The favorite in this game is without a doubt Middlebury; however, as we saw this past weekend, anything is possible.

This Week in the ECACHL: March 8, 2007

By Brian Sullivan

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March 8, 2007

Second round. Quarterfinals, to be more precise, and a third of the league is done for the season.

Farewell and happy trails to Rensselaer, Yale, Brown and Union. See you again in October. Everyone knows they deserved better, but this is the ECACHL, and that means you have to earn it every single game.

Which brings us to those who have. Only Clarkson could afford to lose this series and still look forward to further postseason play; St. Lawrence is on the right side of the bubble, but achieving anything short of the finals will make for a tough sell to the selection committee.

Dartmouth, Quinnipiac and Cornell fall beneath the Saints on the PairWise Rankings, and will — in all likelihood — have to win out to qualify for the national tourney. Obviously, the same holds true for Colgate, Harvard and Princeton as well.

So let’s see get down to it.

Handicapping the quarterfinals

No. 8 Colgate 7-12-3 (15-19-4) @ No. 1 St. Lawrence 16-5-1 (20-12-2)

Head-to-head Draw, 1-1-0
Colgate on the road 2-7-2 (4-9-2 overall)
St. Lawrence at home 10-1-0 (12-4-0 overall)
Special teams power play: Colgate, 11th — 13.5% (14.5) SLU, fifth — 17.9% (15.9) penalty kill: Colgate, 4th — 85.3% (84.9) SLU, first — 90.3% (86.5)
Team offense Colgate, 12th — 2.41 (2.58) SLU, third — 3.32 (3.09)
Team defense Colgate, 4th — 2.73 (2.47) SLU, second — 2.50 (2.68)
Key matchup Colgate’s defense versus St. Lawrence’s offense.

The Raiders stepped into the playoffs as an enigmatic and potential-laden team, one situated directly beneath a pendulum at its nadir.

From the outside, it was unclear whether the plumb-bob of momentum was swinging for the ‘Gate or against it. The team had lost its final four games of the regular season and only scored five goals in the efforts. It had lost twice in three tries to first-round opponent Rensselaer, and was the unfortunate victim of a seemingly arbitrary three-goal curse: 0-14-1 when surrendering three-plus, 12-1-1 when scoring a trio or better.

But Colgate was the home team for a reason, and this prognosticator, at least, picked it to advance for a reason as well. That reason, in a word, is defense.

To add a word, it’s also goaltending … but those two concepts go hand-in-hand. Junior (yes, he’s only a junior) Mark Dekanich has held opponents to two goals or fewer in 23 of 36 games this season, including the two goals allowed (one each night) to the Engineers last weekend. His team as a whole has only been outshot in three of its last 10 games, and limited RPI to 44 shots in their two games. This team will gladly play for the 2-1 or 3-2 wins, even though they’ve broken out for bigger numbers before.

Sophomore Tom Riley had three goals over the weekend for Don Vaughan’s Raiders, Marc Fulton had three assists, and Tyler Burton had two helpers as well. Jesse Winchester scored a pair, including a penalty shot with six minutes remaining in the deciding Game Two. The seven-goal performance could be a sign that the offense is waking up from its midwinter slumber: the team hadn’t put together consecutive three-goal games since their last back-to-back wins, on January 20 and 25 against Yale and Cornell.

Vaughan, a former assistant coach under the well-tenured Joe Marsh at St. Lawrence, understands what kind of game Marsh likes to play. With tangible admiration and apprehension, Vaughan described the Saints as an incredibly intense, aggressive and hard-working team.

“They play so hard … they throw everything at you,” he said. “[We’re] not going to have a lot of time or a lot of space [against them].”

The Saints were happy to take the bye week off, having battled pervasive illness, a grueling schedule, and the longest in-league road trip of the year in the final week of the regular season.

“We needed it,” said Marsh in no uncertain terms.

The weekend off gave the squad time to rest the weary and unwell, and for the first time in months Marsh will have a full roster at his disposal. Fab-frosh Mike McKenzie will be ready to go once more after “limited” practice time this week, as will Charlie Giffin, both of whom missed significant time in January and February.

The Saints’ first half of the season was solid if not extraordinary, 8-8-1 overall before the holidays and 5-2-0 in the ECACHL. But the Cantonites really went heavy on the Wheaties over the break, and went on a protracted 12-4-1 tear, including an 11-3-1 league record to secure first place. While the Saints dropped the season finale at Princeton 4-1, it was only the second time in their final six games that the team was held to fewer than four goals.

This team is confident in its abilities and flexible in its style. The Saints have poured 35 shots on net in 11 games this season, but have also won a number of games in which their opportunities were significantly more limited. Marsh has molded a very physical and assertive group of players, who nonetheless maintain overwhelming discipline with the fewest penalty minutes per game in the league, roughly four fewer than the league average.

Senior forward Kyle Rank scored 13 goals with a dozen assists for 25 points in his 22 league games. Classmate Max Taylor is second on the team with 10 league goals, 11 overall, and sophomore Kevin DeVergilio has been the consummate philanthropist, dishing out 16 assists in ECACHL games and 21 this season on the whole.

After some early-season fiddling, Marsh and Co. settled — quite happily, as it turns out — on freshman Alex Petizian to man the pipes. In 24 appearances, the rookie accumulated a 14-4-1 record with a 2.26 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. Oh, not to mention a pair of shutouts.

Can Colgate beat St. Lawrence in two out of three, at Appleton? Anything’s possible, but it will require positively the best execution Colgate can muster. SLU can put a body on you more quickly and more effectively than any team in the league, so the Raiders will have to make all the right decisions in an irrationally short amount of time. It’s difficult enough to play smart hockey all the time, but factor in a shot-clock — so to speak — and that challenge just went from molehill to mountain.

Colgate can, I believe, keep Rank, Taylor, DeVergilio, McKenzie, Brock McBride, etc. in check if Dekanich can chip in a few key stops. But the biggest impediment between Raider Nation and Albany is the transition game. Colgate hasn’t demonstrated a consistent ability to put points on the board when necessary, and St. Lawrence runs far deeper than its flashy offense. The Saints might get a scare in a tight, low-scoring game this weekend, but this is a machine that won’t be stopped twice in three days.

No. 7 Harvard 10-10-2 (14-15-2) @ No. 2 Clarkson 13-5-4 (21-8-5)

Head-to-head Clarkson, 2-0-0
Harvard on the road 4-5-2 (4-6-2 overall)
Clarkson at home 5-3-3 (10-3-4 overall)
Special teams power play: Harvard, first — 23.4% (20.5) Clarkson, second — 21% (22.7) penalty kill: Harvard, ninth — 80.7% (81.1) Clarkson, second — 88.4% (86.2)
Team offense Harvard, sixth — 3.05 (2.81) Clarkson, first — 3.36 (3.59)
Team defense Harvard, eighth — 2.95 (2.74) Clarkson, first — 2.41 (2.5)
Key matchup Harvard’s forwards versus Clarkson’s defense at even strength.

Sluggish start? Last in the Beanpot? Losing record, four different three-game winless skids, seventh place, 0-4 against the North Country?

Who cares?

Harvard has won four straight, for the first time all season. It hadn’t even put together four games without a loss, much less a quartet of Ws all in a tidy little row. Following the 3-1 Beanpot consolation loss to Northeastern, the 5-1 loss at Yale and the 6-6 tie at Brown, the Crimson have miraculously come to their defensive senses just in the nick of time. The Cantabs only surrendered five goals in their last four games, while putting 14 in their own column in victories over Colgate, Cornell and the first-round sweep of Yale.

This isn’t the kind of team that won titles hand over fist in the late ’80s, as is clearly evident by the modest finish in the standings and the mediocre 4-5-0 out-of-conference record. However, it shares the same pedigree, from the coach on down.

Ted Donato played on the Crimson’s only national championship team in 1988-89, and he knows what it takes to get there. The program has qualified for the NCAAs for five straight years, but only the 15-15-4 Mark Mazzoleni-coached team of 2001-02 — the team that started the streak — had a tougher row to hoe to get there than this group. Harvard always seems to peak in March, and it seems that regardless of this weekend’s results, the same will have been true for this manifestation of Crimson hockey.

Harvard didn’t create a ton of offense this year, as only two players — Alex Meintel and Ryan Maki — attained double digits in goals (14 and 12 overall, respectively, and 10 apiece in league). However, the production was nicely dispersed, with nine players registering 10 or more points in ECACHL contests.

Freshman Kyle Richter played more minutes than senior Justin Tobe, but Tobe has come on strong down the stretch, and has now surpassed Richter’s stats across the board. Tobe started each of his team’s last four games, and stopped 92 of 97 shots in the process: a .948 save percentage when the season’s on the line is a beautiful thing. Well, for Donato and the Crimson, at least.

Harvard is most certainly a very dangerous team. When the power play and defense are clicking in tandem, and the rest of the offense just falls into line, look out … Boston College, Colgate, Quinnipiac and Yale will all vouch for that. But when the focus, intensity and execution are just a little bit off, the Crimson can be as dangerous to themselves as they’ve ever been to an opponent. Their 4-9-0 record before Christmas is proof enough, but the more recent slip-ups in late January and mid-February hold some water too, in that regard.

Clarkson has been a downright thrill to watch in 2006-07.

The Golden Knights have only lost — try to appreciate this for all that it is — three games, three games since Thanksgiving, 22 games and 15 weeks ago. They rolled off seven victories in a row crossing the break, took a breather with two ties, then called it an even 10-game undefeated streak with another win. Clarkson hasn’t lost consecutive games since a four-game losing skid before The Streak, Princeton was the only ECACHL program to beat the Knights twice this season, and Cornell was the only other school in the conference to escape the regular season with a winning record (1-0-1) against the Knights.

They’re a scary team. Scary good.

Coach George Roll enjoyed 12 double-digit scorers overall, and nine in league games. Fourteen different Knights scored against ECACHL opposition, and four — Shawn Weller, Steve Zalewski, Nick Dodge and David Cayer — reached the 20-league-point plateau. (Dodge did it in only 19 games played, too.) Weller and Chris D’Alvise potted 11 and 10 league goals, respectively, and they tied for the team lead in ECACHL power-play goals with five.

Junior David Leggio (Weller, Zalewski, Dodge and Cayer are also juniors … have fun next year, rest-of-the-league) made 32 appearances between the Golden pipes so far, and his overall and league figures are all but even: 2.25 goals-against average, .917 save percentage. He’s 5-1-1 in his last seven outings, and only the Princeton loss (7-1 Tigers, when all was said and done) blemished an otherwise bulletproof resume of late.

Sophomore defenseman Adam Bellows played 33 games this season, with eight assists overall to his name, but will miss this weekend’s series due to illness. He is the only expected unhealthy scratch for what had been a generally under-the-weather team the last week or two of the season, according to Roll.

Donato considers Clarkson “as talented offensively as any team in the East,” making a point of noting that he meant all Eastern teams, not strictly ECACHL competition. “Their top six or seven forwards really put up great numbers,” he said.

There isn’t a whole lot more to be said about Clarkson, specifically. They’ve won tight defensive games, they’ve won run-and-gun shootouts, they’ve won 5-3 and 2-1, they’ve won when outshooting or when outshot. It is a confident, resilient, and undeniably horrifying team to run into … and the only team in the league with an NCAA berth already wrapped up.

Harvard and Clarkson both have phenomenal power plays, and neither side really wants to get into a game decided by the special teams. Donato and Roll both conveyed a hope and desire for continuous five-on-five action, because both realize what an unforeseeable wildcard the power plays can be.

Donato expressed confidence in his team’s ability to match up with Clarkson speed-wise, though he admitted that the Crimson give up a few inches and a few pounds to the Knights. Expect Harvard to come out of the gates fast and furious, digging hard for the early leads and playing very aggressively on the forecheck and in the defensive zone. Speed is their bread-and-butter.

“We want to take away time and space,” stated Donato.

At the same time, the visitors are loath to get roped into an up-and-down contest, constantly trading scoring chances. Look for Clarkson to press the issue, attempting to play the up-tempo game with Harvard early on and trying to capitalize on aggressive Crimson mistakes.

Harvard likes to crash the net, and isn’t afraid to do so with wild abandon … it’s how Meintel racked up many of his goals. The team knows that sustained presence in the slot demands a price, but such is the price to be paid for success. Clarkson will have to work very hard to keep the rebounds and screened shots to a minimum for Leggio; it may eventually require abandoning a defensive scheme that only permits perimeter shots, and adopting a tighter, more ruthless approach to keep Leggio’s sightlines clear.

Harvard has played like a top-five team at times this season. But Clarkson has played like a top-five team most of the season. Even if Harvard’s best were better than Clarkson’s — which is equivocal to say the least — Clarkson has demonstrated a far better track record of consistency on an elevated plane.

No. 6 Princeton 10-10-2 (15-14-3) @ No. 3 Dartmouth 12-7-3 (16-10-3)

Head-to-head Princeton, 1-0-1
Princeton on the road 4-5-2 (5-6-2 overall)
Dartmouth at home 6-3-2 (10-5-2 overall)
Special teams power play: Princeton, third — 20.4% (19.2) Dartmouth, sixth — 16% (15.5) penalty kill: Princeton, third — 86% (82.7) Dartmouth, seventh — 82% (84.5)
Team offense Princeton, fourth — 3.14 (3.06) Dartmouth, fourth — 3.14 (3.07)
Team defense Princeton, sixth — 2.86 (2.84) Dartmouth, fourth — 2.73 (2.72)
Key matchup Dartmouth special teams versus Princeton special teams.

The Tigers started the year slowly, similar to Harvard, but managed to cluster enough wins at critical junctures to finish in the middle of the pack.

Princeton’s latest little hot streak began at Dartmouth’s expense, in fact, with a 3-0 victory over the Big Green at Hobey Baker Rink on February 10. The shutout was the first of six wins in eight games for the P-Cats … a streak that is put to the test Friday night at Thompson Arena.

The Tigers are a team dependent upon defense for success. That sounds self-evident, especially in the playoffs, but in 2006-07, the Tigers didn’t win a single game when allowing more than three goals — 0-9-0. The team was only average, 3-4-2, when allowing precisely three, as well. The Princeton offense, while perfectly capable of scoring four goals or more in a game (it did so 11 times this year), is not the engine nor the heart of Guy Gadowsky’s scheme.

Fittingly then, it was defensive intensity and execution that Gadowsky has focused on going up against Dartmouth.

“I think they’re a tremendous team … they have the best forwards in the league,” the coach said in his third year at the Garden State’s Ivy. “All four lines are scary; all four lines can beat you. They may have a first line, but the others are 1A, 1B, 1C.”

Clearly concerned with the Big Green’s depth, Gadowsky finds encouragement in the fact that in the Tigers’ last six wins, they have allowed a total of seven goals. The defensive zone is in experienced hands, with four senior blueliners and a senior goalie, as well.

That goaltender is B.J. Slapsky. Freshman Zane Kalemba played 450 more minutes than the veteran this season, but like Tobe and Richter at Harvard — yet another Crimson comparison — Slapsky has picked up his play just as Kalemba’s began to falter. Slapsky compiled a 7-3-1 record with a .911 save percentage, and has only had two really miserable outings in 10 games since the break (five goals on 33 shots in a 6-3 loss at Yale, four goals on 10 shots in one period’s work in an 8-4 loss at Cornell). Since the team-wide Cornell meltdown on February 17, Slapsky has stopped 73 of 78 shots against St. Lawrence and Brown.

Darroll Powe was the only Tiger to log 10 goals in league play this season, but 18 of the team’s 24 skaters lit the lamp at least once against the rest of the ECACHL. As mentioned last week, Powe and senior defenseman Daryl Marcoux were the only Tigers to play in all 22 league games. Sophomore Lee Jubinville led his team in league and overall points, as well as assists of both varieties.

Senior brothers Kevin and Brett Westgarth have made major contributions this season; older brother Brett earned nine assists overall from the blueline and played in all but one game, while Kevin — two years younger — tallied eight goals and 15 assists (six and 12, in league) in the same 31 games played.

The Big Green started the 2006-07 campaign nicely, 5-3-0 before Thanksgiving. A following 0-4-2 slump spilled over into January, but the six-game W-drought was all the lesson Dartmouth needed to get its game in shape.

Since the January 5 loss at Union, Dartmouth is 11-3-1, and rode a four-game winning streak into a first-round bye. Princeton gave Hanover hockey its last loss.

Dartmouth is simply immense. Twenty-two of the 27 players on the roster top 72 inches, a higher percentage of six-footers than any other team in the league (81.5%; Yale is 77% tall, while Brown, Colgate, Cornell, Princeton, and Rensselaer each edged the league average of 60%).

Bob Gaudet’s guys are big, and they play big. The squad scored five or more goals seven times in 29 games, and held the opposition to two or fewer 12 times (11-1-0 when doing so). Third-year goaltender Mike Devine started all but one game this year, logging just short of 1,700 minutes and 800 saves so far (799 right now, in fact). His overall and conference goals-against average were both around 2.60, and his save percentage was the same in both cases: .917. Devine’s 18-8-2 overall record last year was better than his 15-10-3 this season, but his save percentage is incrementally higher this time around. He certainly hasn’t lost a step since guiding the Green to the 2005-06 regular-season title.

Gaudet praised leading scorer David Jones as “clearly one of the top players in the country,” and his numbers certainly back that up: 15 goals, 24 assists in 29 games (an 11-20–31 line in league games). However, Jones has some exceptional help. Nick Johnson and T.J. Galiardi scored 12 and 10 league goals, respectively, and Galiardi, Tanner Glass, Ben Lovejoy, and senior defender Grant Lewis each contributed 10 or more assists in ECACHL play alone.

Gaudet stated that for pretty much the first time since the season began, he has a healthy roster. Plagued by injuries on defense early on, and up front in the second half of the season, the consideration that this team still accomplished what it has must be horrifying to anyone who now has to play a healthy Dartmouth side.

The bye week may have interrupted a nifty tear for the Granite Staters, but the benefits of the time off far outweighed a potential loss of momentum. The team rested its sick and weary, and studied hard for finals, which run concurrently with this weekend’s quarterfinal series.

Gaudet believed that his team was playing well enough at the conclusion of the regular season to win in the playoffs, but also said, “I think we have another level.”

Head-to-head, the Tigers have stifled the Big Green offense. Dartmouth managed only 19 shots in a 3-3 tie with Princeton in late November, and were then treated to the opposite frustration in mid-February in ‘Jersey: 33 shots on goal, nothing in the goal.

On the whole, I think Dartmouth is a prohibitive favorite. The team is — once more for effect — finally healthy, and it’s doubtful that one week off will lead to significant rust on what had been a steamroller firing on all cylinders (not terribly fast, but boy will it do some damage). Just ask Cornell and Colgate, the second- and fourth-best defenses in the league. The Green put 36 shots on the Raiders’ Mark Dekanich, and put five on the board against the Red.

Dartmouth is a team that can refocus and build momentum from scratch as a game wears on, while Princeton seems to suffer more of a hot-and-cold situation, riding offensive flurries and big games in net to victory. True, both teams come in hot, but Dartmouth’s stronger playoff experience from Devine on out, a true four-line threat, and a fierce home-ice advantage will likely swing things Dartmouth’s way.

No. 5 Quinnipiac 10-8-4 (18-13-5) @ No. 4 Cornell 10-8-4 (14-11-4)

Head-to-head Draw, 1-1-0
Quinnipiac on the road 5-4-2 (5-8-2 overall)
Cornell at home 6-3-2 (9-5-2 overall)
Special teams power play: QU, fourth — 19.3% (20.6) Cornell, 12th — 12.7% (13.9) penalty kill: QU, fifth — 84.6% (85.8) Cornell, 10th — 80.1% (79.3)
Team offense QU, first — 3.36 (3.61) Cornell, eighth — 2.91 (3.03)
Team defense QU, sixth — 2.86 (2.78) Cornell, second — 2.50 (2.55)
Key matchup Cornell’s discipline versus Quinnipiac’s energy.

The Quinnipiac Bobcats have made more than a splash in their second year in the league; they pretty much emptied the pool in the first half, at least.

The Q-Cats took off with first place, and remained there for a number of weeks before falling back into the pack. The team was 7-3-2 overall and 4-1-1 before Turkey Day after thumping Clarkson 6-4 at Cheel, dropping a 3-2 squeaker at Canton, and beating Cornell and Colgate in Hamden.

QU then slowed to a 4-3-2 record in the following nine contests, culminating in a four-point weekend against Brown and Yale on January 12 and 13. The Q proceeded to drop a pair at Niagara, and couldn’t manufacture consecutive wins again for the remainder of the regular season. The Bobcats endured their first-ever ECACHL loss at their home Northford Ice Pavilion on January 9 after starting the year 3-0-1 at the NIP, and going 4-0-0 there last season.

The TD Banknorth Sports Center opened for hockey on January 28, but the new home-ice advantage wasn’t so advantageous to the suddenly struggling Bobcats. They finished out the regular schedule 1-3-1 at the Bank, including final-weekend 4-1 losses to Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

But something happened as February became March; Union came to town for the first round, and the ‘Cats produced more offense than they had in a month with eight goals in the two-game sweep.

Senior defenseman Reid Cashman scored a goal with four assists on the weekend, junior Jamie Bates potted a goal and three helpers, the power play went five for 12, and the offense helped counter an off night for second-year goalie Bud Fisher in series-clinching game two (four goals on 22 shots in the 5-4 overtime win).

Head coach Rand Pecknold expressed concern over his team’s ineffective play in the first periods of each of last weekend’s games, possibly attributing the poor play to nerves.

“We’ve got to come out stronger,” he intoned.

Pecknold was likewise disappointed with the state of the Bobcats’ penalty kill of late, calling it “mediocre” for the better part of six weeks. He stated that “we’ve gotta get it back up to 90% [efficiency]”.

QU is aware that Cornell can win the low-scoring or shootout games alike, and is wary of what Pecknold called “very unselfish” play.

“They’ll do whatever it takes,” he said of his squad’s quarterfinal opponent.

The Ithacans themselves have had a bit of a different go at it than what coach Mike Schafer and the veterans have become accustomed to.

The Red enjoyed their bye week, getting healthy once more with the continued exception of soph defender Jared Seminoff. The team dropped its final two games of the regular season as well, 5-1 at Dartmouth and 3-1 at archrival Harvard, on the heels of a three-game winning streak.

Cornell started the season in traditional fashion, jumping out to a 4-1-0 league record and a 6-1-0 record overall, but wins straddling the holidays against Wayne State, Union and New Hampshire were only optimistic hiccups in the midst of a 3-7-3 slide that didn’t end ’til January 27. Since then, the Red are 5-3-1, and sneaked into the first-round bye with Quinnipiac’s late-season losses.

The Big Red have offense, to the tune of eight goals (once), six goals (twice), and five goals (four times) in a game. But in the early-winter slump, the goals mysteriously dried up and the mixed-experience defense was left to fend for itself.

The blueline features four upperclassmen and four underclassmen, protecting a pair of underclassman netminders. The corps has combined for three shutouts this season, but has also surrendered a five-spot or worse on five occasions. Sophomore goalie Troy Davenport has been lifted for frosh Ben Scrivens four times, and Scrivens pulled for Davenport once as well, not the sign of a dependable tandem.

Assist machine Topher Scott leads the team in scoring with four total goals and 21 assists, but the goals themselves aren’t coming from anyone in particular, for better or worse. Three forwards tied for the team lead with 10 overall goals, and no one had more than eight in ECACHL competition. What the offense lacks in superstars it makes up for in depth: nine of the Red had double-digits in league points at the end of the year, and six of them had significant numbers of goals and assists, signifying balance on both the team and individual scales.

This will be a very interesting series; at least, it is the one that stands out most as a coin-flip kind of pick. Pecknold and Quinnipiac are obviously still playing to win, but the coach confided that his team is in no mood for the keeping-it-tight, keeping-it-close kind of road hockey seen frequently at all levels. The Bobcats will come out hard, fast, and strong, and aim to exhaust and dizzy their hosts into submission.

Cornell, on the other hand, will be playing a very physical, very Cornell style of hockey. Control, discipline, and patience were words used by Schafer regarding his team’s perspective on the weekend. The bench boss stressed the importance of keeping Quinnipiac’s power play off the ice as often as possible, observing that “when they have success, their power play is clicking.”

Schafer didn’t intimate any specific matchups that he’d be looking for, preferring to “concentrate on ourselves” rather than adjusting to the opponent. This late in the season, he said, you’re in trouble if you’re worrying about altering your team’s style to better compete with another before the puck’s even been dropped.

The Red have a winning record at Lynah this season, including some blowouts (6-0 over Union, 8-4 against Princeton) and some tight contests (three one-goal victories). However, this is a team that is accustomed to dominating the opposition in ways that they just haven’t managed to achieve this time around. It would be naive to believe that there isn’t a fair amount of pressure on the Red to climb back on top, and to get into the NCAA tournament for the third straight season and fifth time in six tries.

On the other hand, Quinnipiac is gambling with house money, as they say. The new team on the block is the underdog against an historically national-caliber program in a mythically menacing venue. While anyone can go for broke, the Bobcats have more weapons than most mavericks.

This is an awfully tough call, but I don’t think Cornell is as consistent as they’ll need to be to beat the visitors. Sure, they’ve won two of three, even three of three already this season, but the goaltending and defense aren’t sharp enough as a unit to keep QU off the board for long. The Big Red can most definitely win this series — even sweep — but not without the help of a little poor execution and lack of intensity from the ‘Cats.

Random Thoughts: Playoff Edition

By Dave Starman

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March 8, 2007

As we hit the playoff and college hockey heats up, I have some opinions, some suggestions, and some observations as I watch my 100th NCAA game this season.

As Dennis Miller always said, “I don’t want to get off on a rant here, but…”

Let’s start with the officiating. I think it has been better than it was last season. However the biggest issue is still consistency. The question is there and unanswered: What is a penalty in 2007?

In a recent game broadcast nationally on CSTV, one referee saw fit to put his whistle away and not call very much. Now, it was in distinct contrast to a game the previous week where whistles blew as if in the pickup lane at the airport. It was the same conference that the game was being played.

I understand what criteria determine what a penalty is and what isn’t. I totally disagree with the criteria on some obstruction-related calls like hooking. Putting a stick on a guy should not be a penalty. Hooking his arm or impeding his progress should be. Way too many calls are made where a player has his stick on another player, and is not obstructing or impeding that player, and hooking gets called and it just isn’t right.

Now, many coaches I talk to aren’t complaining about the enforcement of the rules, just the inconsistency of the administration of justice. Way too many calls are made because of the appearance of a penalty when nothing actually happened.

That is easy to say for me or a viewer on TV (or at a game) because we are reacting from a better angle than the official. However it does not change the fact that some referees are calling a lot of penalties and some aren’t, and there is an abundance of film available to show that the action on the ice was the same in both cases.

I did not get to do many games in the CCHA this season, and I missed the interaction with that conference. Like the other conferences, the CCHA has people who are great to work with in terms of game prep.

Andrew Cogliano and the Wolverines don’t get to see much of Ohio State under the CCHA’s current scheduling system (photo: Melissa Wade).

I’d like to see the CCHA schedule better. Michigan head coach Red Berenson said it best when he said that it is hard for Michigan and Ohio State to create that rivalry feeling when each team plays at the other in alternate years unless they are clustermates.

So what can we do? Okay, a suggestion.

Like the Big 12 in football, break the CCHA into two six-team divisions in one conference. You can do a division of Michigan-only teams (Michigan State, Michigan, Western, Northern, Ferris and Lake State) and another of Nebraska-Omaha, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Miami, Bowling Green, and Alaska.

The CCHA plays a 28-game schedule. If you play two home and two away in your division (20 games) then you have eight games left for six non-division opponents and the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry dies altogether.

So do you do a division based on teams that have traditional rivalries outside of hockey? Now you are looking at Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State in one division with probably the other two Ohio teams included. However, that creates a division of Alaska, Western, Northern, Ferris, Lake State, and UNO.

Unless you re-seed in the CCHA playoffs, you are looking at the possibility of two of these four teams not being in the CCHA Final Four in Detroit (Michigan, MSU, ND, OSU) and the possibility of Alaska and UNO coming from their division to play for the CCHA title, and from a marketing perspective it just doesn’t work. Ohio State and Notre Dame will draw the casual hockey fan in greater Detroit because of their legendary school names and vast alumni support.

What I do know is this. CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos is a really bright and progressive guy and has made the CCHA a conference to envy in the way that it is run. He uses his people and his resources very well. The CCHA does not have the best buildings in college hockey, but every one of them is wired for video review and they are usually jam-packed with rabid fans.

Lastly, their “Road To The Joe” series is a great program, tied in with Hockey Day in Michigan, which is league-sponsored. As quite a few college hockey folks have said, “If Gary Bettman ever leaves the NHL, they should make the Anastos the commissioner before Bettman even finishes cleaning out his desk.” No argument from me!

So what about the OSU-Michigan situation on-ice, and the cluster format in the CCHA schedule? I don’t have the answer. Bet Anastos does!

I was told that NHL great Brett Hull will toss some money at Minnesota-Duluth’s hockey program as a donation when they hire an alum to coach the team. Will all those associated with the Duluth program submit your candidates, please? Not that I want to run the current staff out of there. Far from it! However, it just makes me laugh when people want to fire a coach and have absolutely no viable suggestion as to who replaces him that would upgrade the program.

The CHA situation is about to unravel, and it bothers me because there are good coaches facing bad situations because of the unstable status of the league. Derek Schooley has done a very nice job building Robert Morris, and Tom Serratore is just a flat-out great coach who has carried on a wonderful tradition at Bemidji State.

Dave Burkholder has made Niagara a very good and competitive program that does what all teams need to do to survive — win at home (they are unbeaten there this season). Bill Wilkinson has quite a record of accomplishment at the Division I level and has done well in a tough situation at Wayne State. Lastly, the fact the college hockey has done well in Huntsville, which has gone through about four different pro teams in three different leagues in the last 20 years, is a small miracle for which we can partly credit Doug Ross.

However, Bemidji State has applied to the WCHA (where the Beavers absolutely belong for many reasons) and Wayne State has applied to the CCHA (another very logical move). Without going into moratoriums, financials, and other assorted bureaucratic nonsense, don’t you think that we could find spots for Niagara, Huntsville, and Robert Morris?

Niagara would be perfect in Atlantic Hockey. Robert Morris would be as well, though both are closer geographically to the CCHA. Where do you put Huntsville? Believe it or not, the WCHA would actually be okay travel-wise because Memphis, the closet air hub to Huntsville (through Northwest Airlines), flies direct to Minneapolis (connect to Bemidji, Duluth, Anchorage) and Mankato is an easy bus ride from Minneapolis, as is St. Cloud. I also think Northwest goes direct to Madison from Memphis. From what I remember from coaching the Memphis RiverKings, you could also get to Denver direct from Memphis.

Okay. Would the CCHA take Bobby Mo and/or Niagara? Would the ECACHL reconsider and take Niagara? With RIT in the AHA alongside Canisius, Bobby Mo and Niagara have geographic rivalries. I’m probably not the first person to think of any of this, but I’m hoping those who get paid to do so pow-wow on this in Naples, Florida, during the annual coaches’ meetings in April for the betterment and continued growth of Division I college hockey.

Regardless, the future is later and there is a title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line when the CHA gets together in Des Moines this weekend. The title game is 4 p.m. ET on CSTV.

For those who want a shootout in college hockey, please keep your voices down. I could not think of anything that annoys me more than ruining the last bastion of pure hockey in America than adding a shootout to college hockey.

Most teams end their Thursday practices with a shootout competition in college hockey, and when judging those against some of the shootouts I have seen this season, the ones in practice have more drama. I might be in the minority here, but there is really nothing wrong with a tie. Want to better the odds of a winner in OT? Play a four-on-four period, and make it 10 minutes instead of five.

Having seen a lot of hard-fought and well-played ties this season, I have no problem ending a game 2-2. Most teams in the NCAA do not play to avoid losing late in a tight game. Teams go for it, and if they don’t get it, so be it. Shootouts are a novelty anyway and some friends of mine who thought the shootout would revolutionize the NHL game have told me they are bored of it already.

I’m a big believer in “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” There are things in college hockey that need fixing, but this is not one of them.

On those lines, here are some things I’d like to see that will just never happen.

• How about Alaska and Anchorage in the same conference?

• This violates every rivalry spiel I have ever written, but how about Harvard in Hockey East?

• How about Michigan State and Michigan playing the same night as their football teams’ annual game, at the other team’s barn (if the football game is in Ann Arbor, the hockey game is in East Lansing)?

• Could we have a mandatory weekend series between the teams that reached the NCAA championship game to open the following season?

• Wouldn’t you love a tourney where coaches Red Berenson, Rick Comley, Jack Parker, and Jerry York square off? That’s over 2,800 coaching wins combined in the same building.

• I’d like to see an annual tourney at the arena in Bridgeport, Conn., which would help teams advertise their programs to New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut kids, and there are a ton who are being developed in that region.

Enjoy the playoffs.

Ted Russell Tapped At Lebanon Valley

USCHO Staff Report

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March 8, 2007

Ted Russell has been named the new head coach of the Lebanon Valley men’s ice hockey team. Russell replaces interim head coach Howard Hutton, who has led the Flying Dutchmen since former head coach Al MacCormack resigned last December, and becomes the third head coach in the team’s history.

RUSSELL

The appointment of a new coach follows on the heals of the announcement by school president Stephen MacDonald on March 1 rededicating support for the team.

Russell served as an assistant coach for Lebanon Valley from 2001-2006, including the team’s most successful seasons as members of the ECAC Northeast.

“I am very excited to return to Lebanon Valley College,” said Russell. “I look forward to the challenge of leading the ice hockey program back to the level of success it has achieved in the past. Although this may not happen overnight, I am willing to put in the time and commitment that is necessary.”

Russell played collegiate hockey at the University of New Hampshire and also played six seasons professionally in the ECHL and British National League.

Part II: Youth Hockey

Series Notes

The Lowell Lowdown

Easy Pickins?

Octo-pucky

No. 8 Providence at No. 1 New Hampshire

No. 7 Northeastern at No. 2 Boston College

No. 6 Vermont at No. 3 Boston University

No. 5 Maine at No. 4 Massachusetts

The Envelope Please

Trivia Contest

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

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Off the Top of My Head

A Complete Rundown

In Other Words

Winner Take All

Weekly Awards

Around the League

Wildcats, and Nanooks, and Mavericks — Oh My!

One …

Two …

Three …

Four …

Five …

Six …

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Nine …

Ten …

Amherst @ RIT

Wisconsin-Stevens Point @ Gustavus Adolphus

Manhattanville @ Middlebury

Handicapping the quarterfinals

Friday — Quarterfinals

Saturday — Semifinals

Sunday — Finals

CHA Hands Out Hardware Thursday

All Teams Jockey In Final Weekend

Beavers Take Both From NTDP

Niagara Gets Tie, Regular-Season Title at UAH

Warriors Sweep Season Series From RMU

MacNicol Happy In ‘Bama

Bemidji Reels In MacIntyre From OPJHL

Warriors Secure Jets’ Blueliner

Latest Stories from around USCHO

Thanks — really — to Dave Hendrickson.