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This Week In The SUNYAC: Jan. 12, 2007

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Making Their Mark

Every year fans around the league wonder which of the new freshmen are going to make their mark and fulfill the promise that the coaches hoped for when they originally recruited them. With the second semester of hockey well underway, we can take a good luck at which freshmen have indeed made their presence felt.

Fredonia's Pat Street. (photo: Jerry Reilly)

Fredonia’s Pat Street. (photo: Jerry Reilly)

When Fredonia started the year out, the biggest question was who was going to be their goaltender. They were bringing in a trio of new recruits to replace their departing netminders. Quite a precarious situation to be in.

Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith admits he didn’t know who would come out as the number one. Lucky for the Blue Devils, not only did Pat Street out of The Gunnery School step up to assume the role, but he is ranked at the top of SUNYAC goalies. Amongst conference games, Street is third in GAA with 2.52 and second in save pct. at .921. Counting overall stats, Street moves up to the top in save pct. at .920.

“He’s a great shot blocker,” Meredith states it simply. “When he makes the save, you are amazed how many times it hits him in the stomach. He really works on his positioning. He’s not a goalie that gets down and out and has to scramble.”

The Annapolis, Md., native is so good at the fundamentals that he makes his saves look routine, thus not getting the oohs and ahhs more “spectacular” (but out of position) goalies get.

One thing Meredith will not have to worry about from the English major is ever having academic problems.

“He’s a focused guy,” Meredith said. “He had a 3.94 GPA in the first semester. An extremely intelligent guy.”

Two other freshmen goalies have also made their mark. Todd Sheridan has taken over the job in Brockport and is one of the key reasons the Golden Eagles find themselves as contenders. I’ve already mentioned all the good, bad, and the ugly concerning Ben Binga at Cortland, but despite the issues, the net result has certainly been on the positive side of the ledger.

As far as scoring, nobody has made a bigger mark than Pier-Luc Belanger at Plattsburgh. Not just for freshmen, but for any player. Not only does Belanger lead his team in scoring with a nice even ten goals and ten assists, but he is also sixth in conference scoring with 11 points (six goals and five assists).

“A great addition to our team. He’s been on our top line from the beginning,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “Anytime you have a freshman on your top line, that’s a great asset not just for now, but for the future.”

Belanger hails from Quebec, which can sometimes be an issue when making the transition to an American college.

Plattsburgh's Pier-Luc Belanger. (photo: Bill Roberts)

Plattsburgh’s Pier-Luc Belanger. (photo: Bill Roberts)

“He adjusted well to our culture which sometimes can be a problem for a French-Canadian kid,” Emery said. “He’s adjusted well academically. He’s very well liked.”

French-Canadian hockey players sometimes get the label of being one-way players. Not so with Belanger.

“Definitely a two-way player,” Emery said.

Any improvements Emery would like to see? “Sometimes I think he isn’t being selfish enough and passes off when he should be taking the shot. He has a great shot.”

Following Belanger in freshmen scoring are two forwards from Potsdam — Luke Beck and Connor Treacy. In conference play both have three goals and four assists tying them for second in rookie scoring with seven points.

Overall, Beck, from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, has slightly more points than Treacy with 19 thanks to 13 assists.

“Very, very smart hockey player,” Potsdam coach Glenn Thomaris said of Beck. “Possesses real good skills and plays well with the stick. He moves the puck around, getting good shots. He knows his way around the net.”

Even more impressive for Thomaris is Beck’s attitude: “He’s our leading scorer, and you wouldn’t know it from him. Great team player. Gets along with everyone. Pure hockey guy who loves to play the game.”

Treacy, from Markham, Ontario, has an even eight goals and eight assists overall.

“A tremendous competitor,” Thomaris said of Treacy. “Good battler. Has good speed. Generates offense out of that speed.”

Best of all for Potsdam, these two freshmen immediately fit right into the lineup as Thomaris put them with senior captain and star Ryan McCarthy.

“All three compliment each other extremely well,” Thomaris said. “I wouldn’t hesitate to match them up with any line out there.”

Not only did Fredonia have to replace their star goaltender, they also had to replace their leading scorer, Matt Zeman. Another Matt has helped that process, Matt McKeown, who has gotten a point a game with eight goals and seven assists. McKeown is a transfer from Cornell where a knee injury prevented him from ever playing at the Ivy League school.

“He hits like a truck, and he’s a good finisher,” Meredith said. “He got out of the blocks pretty quick, then ran into a stretch where he was putting pressure on himself because he wasn’t scoring goals. Last few games, he’s done a nice job.”

A couple of other new forwards to keep your eyes on as the rest of the season progresses are D’Arcy Thomas from Buffalo State and Sebastian Panetta on Geneseo. Each has three goals and three assists in conference play. Overall, Thomas has 13 points, third best on his team. Panetta has six goals and assists each, as he has carved an offensive niche out of a lineup stacked with talented players.

SUNYAC Short Shots

Neal Sheehan scored four goals and three assists in Fredonia’s 9-3 win over Johnson and Wales with their last two goals coming 27 seconds apart as the Blue Devils got off 50 shots … Sheehan added another two goals and one assist in their 4-2 win over Utica … Geneseo’s Mitch Stephens scored two goals as the Ice Knights lost to Hobart, 6-3, after being tied, 3-3, with 6:36 left in the game … Richard Curtis and Shareef Lebreche each scored twice as Buffalo State beat Morrisville, 7-2 … Stephens got a goal and three assists when Geneseo beat Lebanon Valley, 5-2, while letting up only 18 shots … Scott Bradley scored twice and Pat Street made 41 saves in Fredonia’s 4-1 victory over Wentworth … After being down 3-1 to New England College, Potsdam scored five unanswered goals including two within 13 seconds and three within 1:42 en route to a 6-4 win with Luke Beck getting four assists … Plattsburgh only committed three penalties and allowed two powerplays in their 2-0 win over Norwich … Brockport got just 16 shots on goal but tied Elmira, 2-2, after leading 2-0 with under six minutes remaining.

Game of the Week

Looking at this week’s schedule, no game jumps out. Fredonia and Buffalo State, on paper, appear to have two relatively easy games against Morrisville and Johnson and Wales, respectively. Though Potsdam scored an upset win over New England College, that was at home, and this weekend they travel to the number one team in the nation, Manhattanville, where it’s always tough to play. It may be a long weekend for the Bears.

Utica at Cortland and Brockport at Lebanon Valley don’t capture the imagination. Geneseo at Elmira could be an interesting game, but it would be a whole lot more interesting if we knew that Elmira really is back to last year’s playoff form. Hamilton at Oswego is another potentially interesting game.

So, what do we have left? Cortland at Morrisville gives us an opportunity to see if the Mustangs can beat another future SUNYAC opponent. So, that’s a candidate.

That just leaves us two games left, Curry at Plattsburgh and Plattsburgh at Skidmore. Curry did beat Geneseo badly, so this does potentially make their match up with the Cardinals an interesting comparison. But, I’m going to go with the Tuesday Plattsburgh game against the upstart Thoroughbreds. When this game was scheduled, Plattsburgh probably figured it was an easy “W.” Not anymore, as the wild parity in Division III hockey this year takes another test.

“Putting those two teams on our schedule a few years ago, people probably thought we were just looking for two easy wins, but that’s not the case anymore,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “The landscape of Division III hockey has changed — anybody can beat anybody. You have to show up every night.”

On The Periphery

By now, everybody has probably seen the embarrassing gaffe by Patrik Stefan when he muffed up an empty net goal to clinch the game only to have the Edmonton Oilers rush down the ice and tie it up with two seconds left. Luckily for Stefan, his Dallas Stars got the two points thanks to a shootout win.

True, when looking at the play closely, the puck hit something on the ice and bounced over his stick causing Stefan to whiff at the puck just as he was going to backhand it into the wide open net.

However, the real question is why did he wait that long to shoot the puck? He had an easy opportunity to score into the empty net on a forehand when he brought the puck into the zone all alone. That was really his major flub, not missing the backhander.

I have to wonder. Without having any idea what was going through Stefan’s head (though he said he carried it in close because of the bad ice), I wonder whether he was trying to put the Oilers away politely. So many times recently, we keep hearing how it is not sporting to rub it into the other team. In the NBA, a fight occurred between Denver and the Knicks because New York felt they were being “disrespected” by the Nuggets.

Has sportsmanship gone too far? Did Stefan not properly bury the opposition because he felt that would be unsporting? I’m all for sportsmanship, and the lack of it will rile me up like few things will, but sometimes you have to kick your opponent while they are down just to make sure they don’t get up. Sometimes you have to run up the score, because your opponent just may have the capability to comeback. It’s not bad sportsmanship to make sure you win a game (within the rules).

This Week In The ECAC West: Jan. 12, 2007

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Starting to Roll?

Elmira’s storied second half run last season is well known. With the Soaring Eagles underachieving again at the start of this season, everyone has been watching to see if they can put another run together. Perhaps, just perhaps, Elmira showed a little bit of that magical spark over the last couple of weeks.

The Soaring Eagles came back from the holiday break in strong fashion playing in the inaugural Oswego tournament. Elmira drew St. Thomas in the first round and had to shake off the rust in the first ten minutes of the game as the Tommies scored two goals in the first four minutes of the game. After that, it was all Soaring Eagles, who romped to a 7-3 win.

The scoreboard may have read 4-1 Oswego at the end of the championship game, but Elmira played well — really well — and that is what the Soaring Eagles really needed to start the new year.

“With the exception of the first ten minutes of the St. Thomas game, it is probably the best five periods of hockey we have played all year,” said Elmira coach Tim Ceglarski. “Even the Oswego game may have been the best game we have played in two years. We really played well, just couldn’t score.”

“The two goals [that Oswego got late in the third period] were two mistakes in the neutral zone. They have very good offensive players that capitalized on both. But the first seven or eight minutes of the period, we controlled play.”

Stringing together five solid periods of hockey is the positive that coach Ceglarski took out of the weekend, and Elmira carried that into last weekend’s pair of contests against league foe Lebanon Valley. But despite the 8-4 and 8-2 final scores, the Soaring Eagles reverted back to their old habits somewhat.

“We were very encouraged coming out of the Oswego tournament,” said Celgarski. “It gave us a little momentum based on how we played up at Oswego. We were very sloppy this past weekend, but it was good to get a bunch of goals because we have been struggling to score goals all year long.”

With eight of its last ten games against nationally-ranked opponents, and all eight of those being league games, Elmira needs to play more like the team from the Oswego tournament than the “sloppy” team of last weekend down the stretch.

Elmira lost two players over the holidays as Jason Fransky and Noel Lortie both left school. However, two other players have returned from long-term injuries, Chris Asplund and Matthew Blake, to fill in the void.

Thumping and Thumped

Manhattanville experienced two extremes last weekend. First they put a beat-down on Plymouth State Friday night by a score of 12-2 in a game where the goal differential could have been even higher. Then the Valiants themselves got schooled by a very talented US Under 18 team 7-3, again in a game that could have gotten out of hand going the other way.

The most remarkable sequence of the Plymouth State game came at the mid-point of the second period when the Valiants scored five goals in a 2:57 span. That certainly is a school record, and could be an NCAA record if they kept those kinds of stats.

“The goals were going quick,” said Manhattanville coach Keith Levinthal. “It didn’t seem like it was that quick during the game.”

With his team up 9-0 at that point, coach Levinthal called off the dogs.

“After that stretch of five goals, we shut things down and stopped forechecking,” said Levinthal. “I don’t think our forecheckers crossed the blue line again. They gave us a tremendous amount of respect, perhaps too much, and it led to that happening.”

The tables were turned the next night when Manhattanville took on the US Under-18 team in an exhibition game. Made up of the best 17-year-olds in the country, the US Under-18 team is a highly skilled and cohesive team.

The Valiants were able to keep up with the US Under-18 team for the first half of the game, trading a pair of goals each, but two goals for the Under-18 team midway through the second period got them off to the races.

“We haven’t trailed too often and played a team like that either,” said Levinthal. “They are the best team that we have played. In a big game situation, we played like a young team, made a lot of bad decisions and dumb step-ups. They move the puck so well that they made us look like fools at different parts of the game. The game could have easily gotten out of control against us. It just had that feel at a couple of points.”

The Under-18 team threw in three more goals in the third period to win 7-3, giving Manhattanville its first taste of on-ice adversity this season.

“It’s quite obvious we have a lot of work to do if we expect to compete with the best teams in the country and with all due respect there are at least a few teams that seem to be more ready to make a run at a championship right now,” said Levinthal. “Nevertheless, I’m happy for my guys as their work ethic has been excellent all year. We flat out got beat [against the Under-18 team] but played hard to the end.”

The Under-18 game was played in the Terry Connors Rink in Stamford, Connecticut. Manhattanville has reached across the nearby state border several times to work with various charities and youth organizations and this game was an extension of that outreach.

“We would like to play a game or two in Connecticut every year,” said Levinthal. “We had a pretty nice crowd there. It is a nice rink but is a little too far to be our home. We do a lot of community service in Connecticut and get involved in a lot of youth hockey there. The youth hockey associations gave us a good effort to put the game on, with the city of Stamford and the rink.”

The Valiants also added one player over the holidays, Dillon Henningson, whose recruiting process didn’t complete in time to join the team in the fall.

Game of the Week

It is slim pickings for Game of the Week this time around as the ECAC West wraps up the crossover schedule with the SUNYAC. While the games between Geneseo and Elmira have been interesting matchups over the last couple of years, the nod this week has to go to the pair of games with Potsdam at Manhattanville.

The last meeting between these two teams, on the very same weekend last year, saw Potsdam rack up three power play goals on seven opportunities, and give Manhattanville a real scare. That has been on the Valiants mind all week as they get ready for the Bears coming to town.

“Potsdam is a very dangerous team,” said Levinthal. “Their power play is very good and made us pay last year in one of the games. We are going to have to come ready to play because they can score goals. It will be a good weekend for us to get ready for league play again.”

Comley Joins ‘700 Club’

By Sean Caruthers
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Better make that reservation for a party of five.

With a 4-1 win over Miami last Saturday, Michigan State head coach Rick Comley became just the fifth coach in college hockey history to amass 700 career wins.

Comley joins an elite cast in the “700 Club,” which includes his mentor and current boss Ron Mason, Division II legend Bob Peters, Boston University bench boss Jack Parker, and Jerry York of Boston College.

“We’ve all represented the college game well. There’s a part of you inside that knows that we’ve done a good job because we’re college hockey coaches, and we have helped the growth of the game at this level,” said Comley. “I have such respect for them and I look forward to the spring to be able to get everyone together for a picture.”

Michigan State head coach Rick Comley addresses the Spartans (photo: Melissa Wade).

Michigan State head coach Rick Comley addresses the Spartans (photo: Melissa Wade).

Lucky number 700 will be one etched in Comley’s memory for its remarkable display of resiliency by his Spartans.

“That was a very sick group of kids,” said Comley. “I looked down the bench at one point and there was as many as three kids throwing up at a time. It got so ridiculous at one point that I had to check with the players to see if they could go on the ice between shifts.”

Somehow his flu-ravaged team struck for four unanswered goals in the third period to upset the sixth-ranked RedHawks in their magnificent new building, Steve Cady Arena.

It has been an interesting 34-year trip for Comley, who has taken the proverbial road less traveled to college hockey immortality.

“It means a lot to me because I grew up as a coach in programs that were really tough to win at. Here at MSU you are expected to win, but so many of those wins came at those extreme northern schools,” said Comley.

He began his head coaching career at the tender age of 25 at his alma mater, Lake Superior, filling a vacancy left by Mason.

“In all reality, no one grows up thinking that they are going to be a coach,” said Comley. “And so you’re 25 turning 26 and you don’t think about where that might take you or how long the road will be, and then before you know it, you’re in it. The first stage is deciding that this is what you want to do and college is where you want to be.”

That point came sometime after his first career win — a 5-3 victory over a Bowling Green team coached by Mason on November 16, 1973.

Still, Comley may be best remembered for his tenure at Northern Michigan, where he spent 26 of his 34 seasons and hoisted a national championship banner into a building for a program that he literally helped build from the ground.

His Wildcats captured the NCAA title in 1991 in one of the most exciting national championship games in history — a sensational 8-7 come-from-behind win over Boston University in triple overtime in St. Paul, Minn. Northern featured two Hobey Baker Finalists, Scott Beattie and Brad Werenka, who were joined by goaltender Bill Pye as All-Americans.

Now, just days away from his 60th birthday, Comley finds himself reunited with Mason — now his athletic director — at a university with a rich tradition of excellence and the funding to keep it that way.

“To come down to a program like Michigan State that’s very well funded and has an outstanding location, it allows you to get out and recruit for some of the best kids in the country. It doesn’t guarantee you anything, but it has certainly extended my ability to stay in the sport longer, and the new set of challenges here has reinvigorated me as a coach,” said Comley.

Others will remember Comley for being so much more than one of the college game’s greatest coaches. A family man, Comley gets just as much joy from spending time with his family, especially infant granddaughter Katie, as he does raising banners.

Congratulations on number 700 and here’s to 800, Rick.

Hockey Humanitarian Finalists Named

USCHO Staff Report
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The Hockey Humanitarian Foundation named the five finalists for the 2007 Hockey Humanitarian Award. This list of five was narrowed down from a list of 13 nominees that were released earlier in January.

The Foundation will look at all of the candidates and then announce the winner of the Award on Friday, April 6, 2007, at the Frozen Four in St. Louis.

The finalists are, in alphabetical order:

  • Jody Heywood, Jr., Ohio State
  • Andrew Joudrey, Sr., Wisconsin
  • Kirk MacDonald, Sr., Rensselaer
  • Kristin Savard, Sr., Yale
  • Lindsay [nl]Williams, Sr., Clarkson

    For more information on the Hockey Humanitarian and to find out about the accomplishments of these student-athletes, please go to www.hockeyhumanitarian.org.

    • Fast Leaves Denver

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Sophomore defenseman T.J. Fast, a native of Calgary, Alberta, has left the team and officially withdrawn from the University of Denver to pursue other opportunities, head coach George Gwozdecky announced.

    Fast tallied four assists in 19 games for the No. 7 Pioneers (15-7-2, 9-5-2 WCHA) this season. He finished his DU career with 11 points on one goal and 10 assists in 58 games. Fast is a 2005 second-round draft pick of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.

    This Week in D-III Women’s Hockey:
    Jan. 11, 2007

    By Matt Rennell
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    Quotas in college sports have not been kind to the state of Wisconsin as of late. Last month, the Badgers’ football team failed to qualify for the Bowl Championship Series, despite an 11-1 record and No. 7 national ranking. The BCS cannot take more than two teams from any one conference, and Wisconsin was stuck behind Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten. A similar logjam is on the horizon in D-III women’s hockey – and coincidentally, three of the teams involved come from Wisconsin.

    The related rule in D-III women’s hockey puts all teams from conferences with fewer than seven members in a category titled Pool B, from which only one team can qualify for the NCAA tournament. Currently the only conference in Pool B is the NCHA, whose top four teams all rank among the nation’s leaders in win percentage — Wisconsin-Superior (13-2-0), Wisconsin-River Falls (8-3-3), Lake Forest (7-1-3), and Wisconsin-Stevens Point (8-2-1).

    There is one difference between the BCS and the D-III NCAA situation. When the Badgers missed out on the BCS, they still received the largest non-BCS bowl payoff of 4.25 million in the Capital One Bowl. There they defeated Arkansas, while the Buckeyes and Wolverines were dismantled and embarrassed in their BCS games — and that is putting it lightly. For the three teams who don’t earn the Pool B berth in D-III women’s hockey, there will be no alternative opportunity for postseason play. Their seasons will be over.

    Thankfully, for the NCHA schools, players, and fans, the league will not be stuck in the Pool B swamp next season. The NCHA will have an automatic qualifier to NCAAs, because the addition of Concordia University will boost the league’s membership to the magical number of seven teams. However, that doesn’t help the situation this year any. With four teams in the hunt it could get very messy come March when the NCAA committee sits down to iron out the tournament field.

    Wis.-Superior has impressive wins over Elmira and Wis.-Stevens Point and two losses against highly ranked opponents in Gustavus Adolphus and the Pointers. The Yellowjackets have a long way to go, however, as they will face Wis.-River Falls and Lake Forest three times each before the end of the regular season. They also have to play Wis.-Stevens Point again as well as Gustavus Adolphus.

    Wis.-River Falls on the other hand has just one impressive win, coming at the hands of Wis.-Stevens Point. The Falcons have suffered losses to Gustavus Adolphus, St. Thomas, and Wis. Eau-Claire as well as ties against the Pointers, Hamline, and St. Mary’s. The Falcons will have to finish among the strongest of all the teams in the NCHA in order to be playing deep into March. They will get that chance as seven of their last 11 games come against the other three schools fighting for the one spot.

    Out of the four teams hunting for the Pool B bid, Lake Forest has had the easiest schedule to date. The Foresters’ best wins came in a weekend sweep of St. Thomas, who has struggled to date despite a preseason national ranking. The Foresters have lost to Wis.-Stevens Point and tied Augsburg, Finlandia, and Wis.-Eau Claire. With 10 of their final 12 NCAA games coming against Gustavus Adolphus, Wis.-Superior, Wis.-River Falls, and Wis.-Stevens Point, the Foresters have a tall order ahead if they hope to make it to the dance.

    If you had to pick the team with the easier road remaining it may be the Pointers. They have already faced Wis.-Superior and Wis.-River Falls twice each and Lake Forest once. They are just 2-2-1 in those games and that could hurt them down the road. They still have two games against Lake Forest and one each against the Falcons and Yellowjackets. They have disposed of Gustavus Adolphus already once this season and get another shot at them on Tuesday.

    So, what have we learned? Well I am just thankful that at the end of the day, I am not the one sitting on the committee, trying to figure out which team should get the nod. In a perfect world, one team will run the table and make this discussion mute. However, like everything else in life, it will not be that easy. It is going to be a very interesting month to see how everything plays out.

    Anthem Protocol

    Over the course of this season, there have been several discussions about what particular teams do during the playing of the National Anthem. There are several teams whose players stand perfectly on the blueline, remaining motionless until The Anthem is over. Other teams choose to stand in a pseudo-line with players shuffling skates and sometimes lightly bouncing from side to side in anticipation for the game they are about to embark on. This issue has spurned many debates beyond the Division III hockey world. While there is no right or wrong side of the debate, there is a certain sense of respect that should be shown while the Star Spangled Banner is played. I will say this however, as a spectator, teams who stand motionless on the blueline give off a better impression than those who do not.

    This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Jan. 11, 2007

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    Making Statements

    Atlantic Hockey scored a pair of impressive wins last week, as the top two teams in the AHA defeated the top two squads in the ECACHL. RIT defeated Quinnipiac 3-2 last Thursday, and Sacred Heart beat Cornell 2-1 on Saturday. Both games were on the road.

    The Pioneers’ win at Lynah was the second in school history, the first coming in back in on November 4, 2000. That one marked the first-ever win by a MAAC school over a “Big Four” conference opponent, But this time Cornell was ranked, owning the No. 11 spot in the USCHO.com/CSTV Poll entering the game.

    “It was a big win for us,” said Sacred Heart coach and Cornell alum Sean Hannah. “We were tied 1-1 in the all-time series so now we lead them 2-1. I was really happy with the way we played. We worked hard and got rewarded.”

    Junior Alexandre Parent scored the eventual game-winner on the power play with 14:29 to play and Jason Smith made it stand up, making 13 saves in the third period and 28 total in the game. The senior goaltender has allowed just one goal in each of his last four starts.

    “Smitty’s playing great,” said Hannah. “He’s really stepped it up. He’s our go-to guy. He was a little loose earlier in the season, but he’s really gotten into a groove.”

    The Pioneers got an early goal from Kyle Tuttle, and Cornell tied things up when Justin Kreuger scored midway through the second. That set the stage for Parent’s gamer in the third.

    “It was a very physical game,” said Hannah. “It was two teams battling, finishing their checks and playing hard. We were able to protect the middle of the ice and push them to the outside, limiting their chances.”

    Pierre-Luc O’Brien was held scoreless in the contest, so he had to wait to until Tuesday’s 3-1 win at AIC to continue his assault on the school’s record book. The senior from Nicolet, Quebec, picked up two assists on Tuesday. The first, on the eventual game winner a minute into the third period, gave him 143 career points, breaking the all-time mark of Martin Paquet ’03. O’Brien’s second assist of the game gave him 81 on his career, breaking that record. He needs three more goals to get that record as well.

    O’Brien and linemate Bear Trapp were two of five Atlantic Hockey players named on the ballot for the Vote For Hobey campaign. Fans can go to www.hobeybaker.com and vote for their favorite candidate.

    “It’s nice to see two guys from our program get the recognition,” said Hannah. “There are a lot of good hockey players out there and to have them in that select group says a lot about them.”

    The Pioneers now await a showdown with RIT, which comes into this weekend’s series with Sacred Heart in second place, trailing the first-place Pioneers by three points with two games in hand. RIT has been the surprise of the league so far, going 10-3-1 in league play after winning just four Division I games last season, its first after moving up from Division III.

    “They’re for real,” said Hannah. “It’s no secret that they’re a good team. RIT has a great tradition. They skate well, they’re physical. They work hard, and they’ve got great goaltending. I think we’ve got a good game plan. We have to go out and execute.”

    Weekly Awards

    Player of the Week for January 8, 2007:
    Jeff Gumaer, Bentley     – The sophomore forward had a six-point weekend, tallying a goal and two assists each night in a split with Holy Cross.

    Goaltender of the Week for January 8, 2007:
    Jason Smith, Sacred Heart     – Smith shut down Cornell, stopping 28 of 29 shots in the Pioneers’ 2-1 win at Lynah. Smith has allowed just one goal in each of his last four games.

    Co-Rookie of the Week for January 8, 2007:
    Jason Weeks, Canisius     – Weeks recorded his first career hat trick in a 4-3 Griffins’ win over Army. Two of the goals were shorthanded, the first time in the Division I era that a freshman had scored two shorthanded goals in a game. Weeks’ hat trick was the first for Canisius since March 3, 2000.

    Co-Rookie of the Week for January 8, 2007:
    Michael Coppola, Bentley     – Coppola also got his first career hat trick, helping UConn to a 5-4 win over AIC on Saturday. After getting his first of the game midway through the second period, Coppola’s unassisted shorthanded goal early in the third period tied the game, and he put the Huskies ahead for good with another goal two minutes later.

    So Far, So Good

    Air Force is at the midway point of its inaugural year in Atlantic Hockey, and currently sits in a tie for third place, along with fellow service academy Army. The Falcons have 11 wins so far on the season, equaling their total from all of last season.

    So far, so good, for coach Frank Serratore’s squad, which jumped to the AHA this season from College Hockey America.

    “It’s been great,” he said. “It’s kind of fun not playing the same teams over and over. It’s nice to have so many teams and so many league games. At this point last season we only had six league games to go. This year we have 14. We’re only halfway through the league schedule.”

    Serratore says it’s been a challenge every weekend for his Falcons.

    “There’s good balance,” he said. “Look at the goals for and goals against for the teams in the league. There are a few outliers but most teams are really grouped together, even more so than by wins and losses. All of our games have been competitive. We haven’t been blown out and we haven’t blown anyone out.”

    Air Force has just two losses in its last 10 games: a tough 2-1 decision at Denver and a collapse at Connecticut where the Falcons led 5-2 after two periods, but allowed five goals in the third and lost 7-5.

    “We’re looking for consistency,” said Serratore. “Our goaltending has been up and down, up and down. It’s what I worry about the most. We need to get the same thing every night.”

    That prompted Serratore to give senior Ben Worker his first career start last Saturday at Mercyhurst, and the netminder came through, allowing just one goal on 19 shots in a 3-1 Falcons victory.

    “That’s a great story,” he said. “Ben is a walk-on. He got into the academy on his own and we picked him up as a practice goalie.”

    Worker, who played high-school hockey in Thief River Falls, Minn., had played just seven minutes in his career prior to Saturday.

    “To be honest, the goaltending we got on Friday against Mercyhurst wasn’t our best and we decided to give Ben a shot. He played well and will get another start this weekend.”

    Air Force travels to Holy Cross this weekend, before returning home for a showdown with Army on January 19 and 20.

    Junior center Eric Ehn continues to lead the nation in points (40) and points per game (1.82) He has 97 career points to date. Linemate Andrew Ramsey has 91 points in three-plus seasons. Serratore is also within striking distance of a career milestone — he has 190 career wins, with 141 of them coming at Air Force.

    With 14 games left and at least one postseason game, 200 wins are in view.

    “We’re a little beat up,” he said. “We’ve been bitten by the injury bug the past couple of weeks, but I think we’ll be O.K.”

    Around the League

    Army: Wisconsin transfer Ken Rowe scored his first goal at Army in a 4-3 loss to Canisius on Saturday.

    Canisius: The Griffins have split all four home series so far this season, the most recent against Army, where they lost the first game 5-1 and fell behind in Saturday’s contest before scoring the final three goals of the game for a 4-3 win. It marked the first time in 29 contests that Canisius had trailed after two periods and pulled out a win. … Freshman Jason Weeks had a hat trick last Saturday against Army and followed that up with two more goals against RIT on Tuesday.

    Connecticut: The Huskies have won three straight league games, their longest streak since December, 2005. Freshman Michael Coppola’s hat trick was the third of the season for UConn, the most by any team in Atlantic Hockey.

    Holy Cross: After going 0-5-2 through the first of seven consecutive road games, Holy Cross wrapped up its long stretch of road contests with a split at Bentley. The Crusaders will host Air Force this weekend, and be home for six of their final 10 conference games. Senior captain James Sixsmith had a five-point weekend at Bentley and now has 138 career points, good enough for third all-time at Holy Cross.

    Mercyhurst: The Lakers continue their tailspin, now falling to ninth place. After a decent showing in three non-conference road games, the Lakers returned home but were swept by Air Force. Mercyhurst is winless in its last seven games dating back to Dec 2. The Lakers will look to turn the tide this weekend at Army — the Lakers lead the all-time series 14-5. Goalie Jordan Wakefield faced 95 shots last weekend against Air Force, stopping 88 for a .926 save percentage. … Speaking of goalies, sophomore Tyler Small, who lost the starting job to Wakefield, has left the team. Small told the Erie Times, “My heart wasn’t into it as much as it should have been and, if you’re not committed to giving your all at this level, then you’re in it for the wrong reason.”

    RIT: The Tigers had a busy week, playing three games in six days. RIT posted a big win at No. 16 Quinnipiac last Thursday, but dropped a 5-3 decision to No. 19 Niagara at home in front of a sellout crowd (2,100) at Ritter Arena. It was RIT’s first sellout of the season. The Tigers are second in the league in attendance, averaging 1,411 per game. Sophomore Steve Pinizzotto registered two assists in RIT’s 5-3 win over Canisius on Tuesday, extending his point streak to 10 games.

    And Finally

    Vote for Hobey: Besides Pierre-Luc O’Brien and Bear Trapp of Sacred Heart, three other Atlantic Hockey players are on the ballot for Vote For Hobey. You can also vote for Air Force’s Eric Ehn, Holy Cross’ James Sixsmith and RIT’s Jocelyn Guimond. Go to www.hobeybaker.com.

    Gone, but not forgotten: I made the comment in last week’s column that no AHA team had ever won a game at Cornell’s Lynah Rink. While technically true, several readers, including Chuck Bennedum from Sacred Heart, wrote to remind me that the Pioneers defeated the Big Red at Lynah in 2000 when Sacred Heart was a member of the MAAC. Army also defeated Cornell at Lynah in 1987, when the Black Knights were in the ECAC. Of course, Sacred Heart made all this moot by defeating Cornell 2-1 on Saturday.

    This Week in the WCHA: Jan. 11, 2007

    By Eric Schmoldt
    -

    Off The Top Of My Head

    • If the first weekend of 2007 was any indication, the second half of the season looks to be just as wild as the first.

    • Michigan Tech’s goaltending carried it through the first half of the season, but at some point you have to start scoring. The Huskies could be in some real trouble.

    • I know that’s how the standings look, but it just doesn’t feel like the bottom six teams of the WCHA are within three points of each other.

    You Can’t Take the Fight Out of The ‘Dogs

    Just as if someone found my column last week and decided to post it on the bulletin board in the Minnesota-Duluth locker room, the Bulldogs started off 2007 in relatively surprising fashion last weekend with a sweep over Michigan Tech.

    The Bulldogs showed that they aren’t just playing to get ready for next year, jumping from four points out of ninth place in the WCHA standings to a tie with Minnesota State, just two points out of seventh.

    “This was big for us, this was something we could really use. We wanted to start off good, especially at home,” Duluth’s Matt Niskanen told the Duluth News Tribune after the game. “We played a lot better defensively and with more confidence. For a lot of the game we shut them down.”

    Now, I’m not about to let a three-game winning streak make me change all of my predictions from a week ago, because the Bulldogs’ schedule the rest of the way is pretty brutal, but this was truly a step in the right direction, and something that I thought we would see much earlier this season.

    Sure, they are playing with a freshman goalie who has an unorthodox style, but the Bulldogs have so much talent in their sophomore class that it seemed like they could be a team with a first-round bye in the WCHA playoffs.

    Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves even went so far to say that he could see Duluth finishing near the top of the league.

    I said in my season preview that they could be the surprise of the WCHA this year. And they actually might be … though in the completely opposite way in which I thought they would be.

    Maybe they finally started showing who they should have been all season in this past weekend’s series.

    And it was the Bulldogs’ sophomores who came through in big ways. Sure, that class boasts Duluth’s top five scorers, but only two have more than 20 points.

    The sophomores grabbed four of the team’s seven goals on the weekend, including two by MacGregor Sharp, and Mason Raymond picked up the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honor.

    The schedule won’t help them at all, but if these players continue to pick it up, they could steal some points along the way.

    We’re (Still) Goin’ Streakin’

    In case you’ve been in hibernation mode, Minnesota’s unbeaten streak continues to roll and is now at a school-record and nation-leading 22 games.

    When a streak gets this long, it’s easy to get a feeling like it could go on forever, but also ask yourself: is this the weekend when it comes to an end?

    You know what almost any coach would tell you … it could happen on any given weekend in this league. Perhaps it could be this weekend for the Gophers, who travel to archrival Wisconsin, which is 5-2-0 after sputtering on a six-game losing streak.

    UW head coach Mike Eaves said this week that he can appreciate such a streak, as his teams have made similar runs in recent memory.

    “That’s difficult. We’ve had long stretches ourselves here in our tenure together, and, you know, you need to win on nights that you’re not your best, and they’ve done that,” he said.

    Minnesota did that this past Sunday, when an obviously tired group gritted out a 1-0 win over Minnesota State.

    But it’s rivalry weekend, so who really knows what will happen?

    What we do know is that we should see a battle of some great goaltending. Minnesota’s Kellen Briggs is putting together a season much like Brian Elliott’s Hobey-finalist season a year ago.

    Sophomore Jeff Frazee is not far behind, and Elliott’s numbers really aren’t that far off from last year’s, despite Wisconsin’s record.

    And we know that there is plenty of young talent to go around for these two teams, which should provide a good show for the packed Kohl Center this weekend.

    Other than that, it’s hard to predict what we’ll happen. The games were close — on the scoreboard — in a series at Mariucci earlier this year where Wisconsin was missing a key factor in Jack Skille.

    I guess we’ll find out.

    Some Stiff Non-League Competition

    Teams are most focused on league play heading down the stretch, but for teams that have non-conference opponents left on the schedule, it doesn’t hurt that they will face some tough competition when they have weekends off from the WCHA schedule.

    After a full slate of league games to open 2007 last weekend, both Denver and Michigan Tech will play non-WCHA foes this Friday and Saturday.

    Denver hosts Niagara and Tech hosts Bemidji State, both ranked teams from the CHA that will give the Pioneers and Huskies a test.

    While Denver has never lost to a College Hockey America opponent in 20 games, it cannot overlook the No. 17 Purple Eagles, who are riding a five-game winning streak and have lost just once since Nov. 3.

    Niagara sophomores Les Reaney and Ted Cook are both in the top five nationally in points per game and Cook leads the country as the only 20-goal scorer thus far.

    And Michigan Tech has to know that it cannot overlook Tom Serratore’s Bemidji State Beavers.

    BSU has already swept two WCHA series this year — at Minnesota State and a home-and-home with Minnesota-Duluth — and split with Colorado College.

    Furthermore, the No. 16 Beavers have scored four goals per game in those contests against WCHA opponents.

    While there aren’t many Bemidji statistics that leap off the page at you, the Beavers have been nothing but solid this season, and it will be interesting to see what happens between two teams that have been heading in opposite directions recently.

    North Dakota will take on the Beavers next weekend, while Minnesota State still has one matchup left with Nebraska-Omaha Tuesday and Duluth has a date with Northern Michigan Jan. 24 it what will be the final non-conference game of the regular season for WCHA teams.

    In Other Words

    • WCHA Players of the Week were St. Cloud’s Ben Gordon and Minnesota-Duluth’s Mason Raymond on offense, Minnesota goalie Kellen Briggs on defense and Minnesota forward Ryan Flynn for the rookies.

    • The league is investigating an altercation between Minnesota State assistant coach Eric Means and WCHA official Jon Campion following the Mavericks loss to Minnesota Saturday. The Gophers had 13 power-play opportunities last weekend, while MSU had four.

    • It will be interesting to see how the players who participated in the World Junior Championships will play this weekend, but also how some of them improve after the experience. I’m especially keeping my eye on what kind of half North Dakota’s Jonathan Toews puts out.

    • If Anchorage can find the back of the net four times against the Sioux this weekend, it will have equaled the number of goals that it scored all of last year.

    Hot Curry

    By
    -

    In a season where there has been a razor-thin margin between a win, a tie and a loss, Boston University fortunately has been led by a goalie who is razor-sharp.

    If anyone has any interest in debating whether senior John Curry is far and away the team’s Most Valuable Player as well as a contender for any number of postseason honors, consider a few facts.

    In politically correct parlance, we can say that BU has struggled through an offensively-challenged season. Although BU is second in the nation defensively — giving up just 1.72 goals per game — they are scoring just 2.39 goals per game, seventh-best in Hockey East. Curry is fifth in the nation with a 1.82 goals-against average and 11th with a .928 save percentage.

    John Curry mans the BU net (photos: Boston University Media Relations).

    John Curry mans the BU net (photos: Boston University Media Relations).

    Fourteen of the team’s 18 games have been decided by one goal or less. In fact, if Curry had given up just one more goal in each of the 16 games he’s played, the Terriers’ record would be a woeful 5-10-3 instead of 8-4-6.

    “I think that my expectations — as well as my teammates’ and my coaches’ — are a little bit higher this year,” Curry said. “We lost some good forwards, and we’ve struggled at scoring a little. I do think it will come around, and it’s starting to come around. But I might be forced to play that much better to get a win, and I expect that of myself. So if I play a good game, I don’t try to pat myself on the back too much. It’s just that’s the way I should play, and my teammates should expect that out of me.”

    Curry’s startling rise from third-string, walk-on benchwarmer to Hockey East standout in his sophomore year has been well-documented. Two years on from opportunity knocking when Stephan Siwiec and Karson Gillespie struggled at a season-opening tournament in Dayton, Ohio, Curry has matured into a remarkably poised, composed netminder.

    “It’s not more relaxed, but there’s more confidence,” Curry said. “There’s nothing unexpected. When you’ve been in pretty much every pressure situation besides the Frozen Four, the pressure’s not daunting, I guess. I feel like I’ve been there before and I don’t have to worry about getting messed up mentally too bad. So I go into a game probably with a clearer mind about what I need to do.

    “Two years ago — or even last year, a little bit — I went into games with confidence but also with a lot of uncertainty about not knowing how the game is going to go and maybe worrying about that too much. I don’t do that any more.”

    As unlikely as it would have seemed when Curry humbly started his BU career, Terrier fans have to start to reflect on Curry’s legacy in team history. Despite playing all of 310 seconds his freshman year, Curry has passed Terry Taillefer in career saves and is now fifth in team history with 2,067. He could finish second in that category, passing Michel Larocque (2,412), Cleon Daskalaskis (2,440), and Scott Cashman (2,468). Only Sean Fields (3,055) is out of his reach.

    He also appears to be a near lock to have the career save percentage and goals against average records, as he started the year with program-best marks of .920 mark and 2.11, respectively, and has improved on those figures to date.

    Of course, a skeptic may point out that college hockey has changed considerably since the era of a Cleon Daskalaskis. Goals are much harder to come by these days across the sport. Still, Parker insists that Curry has been at least as valuable to his team as any goalie in Terrier history.

    “In any era, he’d rank very, very high,” Parker said. “The difference is that I remember that Jim Craig used to talk about how this idea of greasy goals or bad goals given up by a goaltender — that’s ridiculous, that doesn’t matter at all. It was a late goal; it was a greasy goal — it never should’ve gone in. ‘The only thing that counts as a goalie,’ he used to say, ‘is after you give up three, you can’t give up any more.’

    “Now, in this day of age, it’s almost like once you give up one … or certainly once you give up two, you can’t give up any more. The game is over if you do. So he’s in an era where the goaltending is much better, the defense is much better. One of the reasons that goals are down — and I’ve said this a thousand times — is that no position in any sport has made the jump in how to play technically better than goaltenders have made in the last 10 years.”

    Parker also pointed out that some of the changes in college hockey have led to a counterintuitive development.

    Curry stones Maine's Ted Purcell.

    Curry stones Maine’s Ted Purcell.

    “The other thing that’s happened, however, is that because goals are so hard to come by, you’d think coaches would coach for more offense,” Parker said. “But the reality is that everybody’s coaching for more defense and playing it much more conservatively because if you give up two goals, the years of telling Ricky Meagher, ‘Hey, go and tie it up this shift’ — those days are long gone. So you can’t fall behind two-nothing.

    “It’s amazing how many times you see a team going up and down the ice, up and down the ice, team A scores, and Team B goes into a trap. They just pack it in because they can’t give up the next goal. They just say, ‘Let’s hang in and try to keep it close for a while.’ So there’s so much more emphasis on defense as well as great goaltending that it’s hard to judge Jimmy Craig versus Cleon Daskalaskis [let alone versus Curry].

    “But if you look at wins and pressure games in consecutive games, overall contribution, and value to the team, I don’t think that there are have been too many goals here who have been as valuable to their team as John Curry has. Maybe Cleon. Jimmy Craig played on great teams. Curry this semester alone has held us in, taken us by the bootstraps, and said, ‘We’re not going to take a dive while we’ve got these guys out with injuries or while we’re not scoring goals.’

    “He might be the MVP of the league.”

    Curry doesn’t think much about that — especially at a time when all parties agree that BU is deeper in goaltending than at any other time in its history. Junior Karson Gillespie was brought in to play but just hasn’t had many opportunities. The fact that Gillespie is 2-0 this season with a shutout and a .978 save percentage and still struggles to get more playing time says something about the play of Curry.

    Likewise, freshman Brett Bennett was on the U.S. Under-18 team last year and has NHL potential … but given the tight games and play of Curry, Parker laments not being able to get him even a minute of playing time outside of the opening exhibition game.

    For Curry, the competition has been both friendly and highly motivating. “I hear stories about other goalies on other teams, but the entire way up for me there were other goalies on the team that I had good relationships with, so this certainly isn’t any different,” Curry said. “We’re all really good friends. I probably talk to Karson more than anyone else on the team, and Benny too. You’ve got to be pretty good friends. We push each other. There’s definitely competition: They want to get in there, and I want to stay in there.

    “But it’s a good problem to have, I think, to have too much goaltending as it might seem. As we saw last weekend [against Dartmouth], when Giles gets in there, he plays really well. That helps to push me a bit more and also get some rest here and there. I like the situation. You get complacent if you don’t have competition every day. Even though I may have established my No. 1 position, every day I think I’ve got to keep going because these guys are good goalies, and I can’t give them any room.”

    Amidst all his success, Curry has remained an unusually down-to-earth and normal guy — especially as hockey goaltenders go. He shrugged when asked about superstitions, allowing that he has the same meal at Bertucci’s the night before each game. “But I don’t put my underwear on backwards on game days or anything like that.”

    Not just a standout netminder, Curry (with defenseman Sean Sullivan) is a

    Not just a standout netminder, Curry (with defenseman Sean Sullivan) is a “normal” guy, says head coach Jack Parker — a rarity among goaltenders.

    Parker has had some relatively normal goalies before, but not too many of them. “Eddie Walsh was a very, very normal guy, great goaltender, even-tempered guy,” Parker said. “[Curry] might as well be a forward or a defenseman in terms of the way he’s conducted himself around the team. Mostly goals have quirks: ‘Don’t talk to me before the game.’ Or they’re out there standing barefoot staring at the rink for an hour.”

    So what rinks will Curry be staring at in the future? It remains to be seen.

    “It’s interesting,” Curry said. “Coming in to BU, I didn’t know if I’d have an opportunity to play here. And opportunities beyond BU are coming up now. It’s something that it doesn’t help you too much to think about, so I’ll think about it when the season’s over. But it’s an exciting situation, I guess, and we’ll see what happens.”

    Parker acknowledged that one reason the team brought in Bennett was “you never know what’s going to happen. Curry could’ve signed this summer. I remember when Tommy Noble was coming out of Catholic Memorial, I tried to talk him out of coming [when he did]. I told him ‘We don’t have a scholarship for you. We want you to come, but we want you to come the year after-then we can give you a full scholarship.’

    “And he said, ‘No, no, I want to come now.’ And we said, ‘Okay, but you’re probably not going to play. We’ve got J.P. [McKersie], and we’ve got Derek [Herlofsky].’ And then J.P. ends up having an accident [on his bicycle] that summer, and he’s gone [with a serious head injury]. And Noble ends up winning the national championship for us.”

    Curry would love nothing more than to wind up his career as a guy who came in not expecting to play and who ended up winning a national championship — even if takes Three more years than it took for Tom Noble.

    If BU does make it to the Frozen Four for the first time since 1997, you can bet that a key component to its success will be the hottest Curry in college hockey.

    This Week in the CCHA: Jan. 11, 2007

    By
    -

    Robert Morris?!

    Okay. I’m over it. Sort of.

    It’s clear that Jeff Jackson’s Fighting Irish are.

    “It’s over.” That’s Jackson, directly. “They played hard, they played desperate, and we didn’t.”

    You know, for a woman who’s still haunted by the sting of four consecutive Super Bowl losses, closure can sometimes be an issue. But in the greater interest of college hockey, I’ll do my best.

    Congratulations, Rick Comley

    Congratulations to Michigan State head coach Rick Comley, who with the Spartans’ 4-1 win over Miami last weekend, became just the fifth coach in college hockey history to register 700 career wins.

    Coach, I’ll ask you the same thing I ask my mother every year on my birthday: How young does that make you feel?

    Congratulations, Ryan Miller

    Former Spartan and current Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller will start for the Eastern Conference in the 2007 NHL All-Star Game Wednesday, Jan. 24. What a moment for Miller, for MSU, for the CCHA.

    T.J. Hensick: Talisman

    T.J. Hensick is Michigan’s not-so-secret weapon. The ultimate set-up man, Hensick is second in the nation in points per game and leads the country in assists. He’s quick, sees the ice like few players can, and is the kind of playmaker who can change a game.

    And whether he knows it or not, he’s Travis Turnbull’s talisman.

    Turnbull, a sophomore forward, had nine goals last season but just one through his first 18 games this year but has three in his last four. The mini-streak started 42 seconds into Michigan’s 4-3 loss to Notre Dame Dec. 10. Late first-half injuries and the loss of Andrew Cogliano and Jack Johnson to the World Juniors forced the Wolverines to shake up their line charts, and head coach Red Berenson put Turnbull on a line with Hensick.

    The result, said Berenson, may be something less than tangible, but enough for Turnbull to believe in himself again.

    “T.J. wasn’t even on the ice” for that first goal, Berenson said. “[Chad] Kolarik stole the puck and passed to Turnbull.”

    Turnbull had goals in each of Michigan’s games at the Great Lakes Invitational tournament, but Hensick was the second assist on one, and Mark Mitera was the lone assist on the other.

    “Now he thinks he’s got to play with T.J. Hensick to be successful,” said Berenson. “He’s played four games with T.J. and he thinks he’s rocking and rolling. I hope he really has a good second half.”

    Berenson, a smart hockey man, knows enough not to mess with a young player’s mojo. Turnbull and Hensick are linemates, for now.

    Like a Roque

    Jim Roque has a simple approach to watching over his Lake Superior State Lakers: hands off, no worries.

    “They’re young men. Go to school. Play hockey,” he said.

    Roque believes that good kids — or rather, young men — can fend for themselves, and they have his trust unless they break it. That laissez-faire approach is working; the Lakers are tied with Michigan State and Ohio State for fourth place in the CCHA standings, and they show no signs of sudden dropoff.

    Another key, said Roque, is perspective. “It’s only hockey. Our guys have worked hard. I think they’re having fun. I think the biggest thing for me is that the guys are enjoying it. At the end of the day, it’s only hockey. They say they love it. If you love it, then play hard. It shouldn’t be that hard to play hard.”

    The Lakers shook another monkey off their collective backs last weekend when they took three points in two overtime games from Nebraska-Omaha at home. Until that series, no Laker had beaten the Mavericks in Taffy Abel Arena.

    “Our guys played hard,” said Roque. “I thought Friday, Nebraska played well. … I thought Saturday we were the better team, it just took us a long time to score.”

    Roque credits a number of factors for this year’s success. Senior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis is “a great kid” who “works hard, competes, and battles.” Roque said that the Laker defense has “done a good job around the net, clearing rebounds and giving [Jakaitis] the best look at the puck.”

    He also praises Laker assistant coaches Jim Christian and Joe Shawhan for their recruiting abilities. “I didn’t think we’d be where we are today [without them]. Joe and Tim have done a really good job of bringing in some freshmen who could play from day one, which is huge.”

    Roque added, “We’ve been healthy. We’ve been really fortunate that we haven’t lost any key players to injury.”

    Things are going very well in Sault Ste. Marie — so well, in fact, that it’s snowing. Laugh if you like, but winter warmth is bad for business in northern climates, and no one can build a backyard rink without freezing temperatures.

    Ask Roque. He’ll tell you.

    Wild Kitties

    No, not the way my cats react to their new toy, which I’d recommend by brand name if I were paid money to do so.

    I’m talking about that Northern Michigan hockey team.

    Before you light up the wires with your email, I’m referring to an article that appeared in the Marquette Mining Journal. In last Saturday’s recap of Friday’s win over Ferris State, head coach Walt Kyle told my esteemed colleague Peter Pietrangelo that the NMU coaching staff was tired of losing games on opponent power-play goals, so they made the conscious decision not to hit the Bulldogs.

    “Seriously, we did,” Kyle told the Mining Journal. “We did not check, we did not finish an offensive-zone check. We did not hit.”

    Through 23 contests, the Wildcats have earned 403 minutes for an average of 17.5, putting them at No. 37 on the country’s list of most-penalized teams. Their opponent last weekend, those scrappy Ferris State Bulldogs, are second in the league in average PIMs (22) and tied for 10th in the nation.

    Here’s a wild thought: maybe the fewer penalties — the less physical play — took the Bulldogs off their game in more ways than one on the Olympic sheet.

    Whatever the reason, the win snapped a seven-game losing streak. Kyle said this week that he’s happy the streak is broken, but that stretch isn’t the only thing that defines Wildcat hockey this season.

    “I’m not going to let four weeks or six weeks or whatever wreck our whole year. We were projected by the coaches to be in eighth place and that’s pretty much where we are.”

    There are a couple of reasons for NMU’s place in the standings so far, said Kyle. “Number one, for the past four years we had a group of guys who bit off so many minutes. Sometimes you take for granted how valuable they are to you. Sometimes players take for granted … who’s giving you that success.

    That second reason? “Our biggest issue has been our inability to score goals.” During that seven-game losing streak, the Wildcats scored just 13 goals, averaging less than two per game.

    And that lack of scoring, said Kyle, is something that can feed on itself. “Once you start doing it … I know we have a lot of guys who thought they’d have better seasons.”

    Games to Watch

    Just five points separate third-place Michigan (18) from the two teams perched at the top of the standings, Notre Dame and Miami. Both the Wolverines and the Irish have two games in hand on the RedHawks.

    Then there’s the logjam at fourth place, where LSSU, MSU, and OSU each have 17 points. Alaska and Western Michigan are tied for seventh with 17 points, and through it all, ninth-place UNO is just six points out of third, and No. 10 NMU a mere seven points behind the Wolverines.

    Because there are five league series this weekend, any number of things can happen. Ohio State slipping in the standings is nearly guaranteed, as they are idle this week. The games to watch this week, though are between the Lakers and the Irish, and the Wildcats and the Wolverines.

    Notre Dame vs. Lake Superior State

    The most remarkable thing about Notre Dame this season is that the Irish are so unremarkable. They don’t have that breakout offensive player to change the game. They don’t do anything flashy. Yes, David Brown is having a career season in net, but the Irish don’t draw attention to themselves in any other way except for their consistently good play.

    Take that paragraph, change “Notre Dame” to “Lake Superior State,” “Irish” to “Lakers,” and “David Brown” to “Jeff Jakaitis,” and you have a great match this weekend.

    “Our teams mirror each other,” said ND head coach Jeff Jackson.

    The Irish are coming off that split against Robert Morris (Robert Morris?!), so, said Jackson, “In some ways it’s more about us than it’s about Lake Superior. We have to respond from the last game. We have to be sharper from the execution and get back to what was successful earlier.

    “Our success has been more about our balance and overall team play than it has been any one individual player.”

    “Notre Dame’s always had talent,” said LSSU’s Jim Roque. “I think Jeff’s been able to get that talent to work cohesively and get them to work as a team. They work really hard, too. I just expect it to be really good hockey.”

    As for the Irish loss to Robert Morris (Robert Morris?!), said Roque, “We played them here last year. We beat them in overtime. Sometimes those teams have nothing to lose, so they just go for it.”

    The Lakers had to recover from a three-goal deficit to tie UNO Friday night, a performance that Roque said would “help this team down the road.”

    Jakaitis has the second-best save percentage in the nation (.949); Brown (.927) is 12th. Brown was not in net for the loss against you-know-who.

    The Irish have the sixth-best scoring offense in the nation and the second-best defense. The Lakers are 29th offensively, eighth defensively. Watch the play of Nathan Perkovich (see note about hair below), this week’s Rookie of the Week, who has six power-play tallies this season.

    Northern Michigan vs. Michigan

    Walt Kyle isn’t convinced that the Wolverines are having a “down” year. “Trust me. This isn’t the team we’d want to be playing right now.”

    But, added the NMU coach, “I couldn’t tell you who we’d want to play right now.”

    The Wildcats are hoping for a strong run down the stretch. “We’ve played pretty well,” said Kyle. “Coaches try to look at these things realistically. Over the last several years, we’ve had good success in the second half. We’ve had good success in the playoffs. We’ve gotten to The Joe each of the last four years.”

    The Wolverines, who had last weekend off, beat Bowling Green 5-0 Tuesday night. “It was an important win,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “We finally got our team back together.” Michigan was banged up in the latter part of the first half, and Andrew Cogliano and Jack Johnson were off winning the U.S. a bronze medal in World Juniors action.

    In the first half, said Berenson, “We were finding ways to lose rather than finding ways to win. We wasted two valuable home games in big losses against Western and Notre Dame.

    “We are what we are. Johnson and Cogliano are back. I think our team is refocused.”

    Berenson said the first-half trouble is no mystery. “We’ve given up way too many goals. The big problem with Michigan is not the goals for but the goals against. Our penalty killing hasn’t been very good. Our goalkeeping has not been as good as it should be.”

    While Billy Sauer earned his second career shutout Tuesday night, the sophomore is allowing 3.24 goals per game, making him No. 57 of 76 ranked goaltenders in the nation. And his save percentage is .892 (50th).

    “When you’re under .900 in this league as a goalie, you’re not going to be in the top echelon,” said Berenson. “I’m glad we were playing at home; had we played down there [at Bowling Green] it could have been reversed.”

    While Kyle isn’t taking the Wolverines lightly, neither is his opponent overlooking the Wildcats this weekend. “They lost seven in a row going into their Ferris State weekend,” said Berenson. “They’re going to be very hungry.”

    And we’ve seen that Michigan is beatable at home.

    Like his opponent for this series, Berenson looks for redemption in the second half. “It’s not what it could be, but we’re not bad. I still think we can make a run for it.”

    The difference, of course, is that the Wildcats may make a good run at (and may, indeed, catch) a home playoff spot, but the “it” in Berenson’s sentence refers to the league title.

    NMU’s junior forward Mike Santorelli is among those having career seasons. The forward leads the nation in shorthanded goals (four), is averaging 1.22 points per game, and is sixth in the nation in goals per game (.74).

    On the other side of the ice, Michigan senior forward David Rohlfs is doing the same thing, with 12 goals so far this year.

    Northern Michigan has the advantage on special teams — so Kyle might want to rethink the policy on hitting — and in net, but Michigan has the advantage five-on-five, up front, and in depth.

    Another Lesson in How Numbers Can Deceive

    The Alaska Nanooks are 5-6-3 in conference play and dropped two road games to Ohio State last weekend, but there is no question that the Nanooks are better than their numbers.

    The Nanooks dropped two games to the Buckeyes last weekend and earned no points for their effort, something that both coaches said seemed unfair after the Sunday 3-2 loss.

    UA head coach Tavis MacMillan was understandably a little down after the 6-2 Friday night loss, but that was a 3-2 game going into the third, when the Buckeyes just took momentum from their third goal and took command of the game.

    MacMillan wasn’t thrilled with the play of Chad Johnson in that game, but I thought there was only one goal of the four that he allowed that was questionable, and I thought that Wylie Rogers was solid Sunday, too.

    Alaska was fast and passionate — there was a great third-period rumble in the Sunday game — and I liked its power play. The Nanooks outplayed OSU five-on-five several times during the weekend, and they hemmed the Buckeyes in along the boards in both games.

    Their weaknesses included their penalty kill, their lack of puck presence, and some of their decisions with the puck. But they can take any team I’ve seen play this season, with the notable exception of Minnesota.

    A bright spot on the team is the all-freshman line of the brothers Dion and Branden Knelsen and Jeff Lee, whom MacMillan called the “Kid Line” post-game Sunday. (It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a coach coin a phrase, especially one that I like so well.) The trio netted two of the four Nanook goals against the Buckeyes.

    The younger Knelsen, Dion — who turned 18 in Columbus the Thursday before the series — has the ability to develop into a real playmaker. And Lee is fast with great hands.

    Kyle Greentree was easy to watch as well. The junior winger leads the Nanooks in scoring with 16 goals and 13 assists.

    Shades of Mike York

    Buckeye Tom Fritsche scored a goal from the red line that so reminded me of one I saw York score for the Spartans against OSU that I got goosebumps. It was the third OSU goal, in the second period in last Friday’s 6-2 win, and it spurred the Bucks onto their three-goal third-period performance.

    What a goal, with a sliver of space between Johnson’s left arm and the right post on which to score. Crazy deja vu. It’s not the kind of goal you think you’ll see twice in a lifetime watching college hockey.

    Zach Pelletier’s Greatest Hits

    If there’s a CCHA player who hits harder than OSU’s Zach Pelletier, I’m not sure I want to meet him.

    I can’t remember which Nanook Pelletier laid out — cleanly — in Friday’s game, but I’m sure the guy on the receiving end remembers every waking moment of every day.

    Pelletier is a fourth-liner who alternates playing time with a few other Buckeyes, but his hits of the game are inspiring for OSU players and fans alike.

    Remember when I told you all how good Minnesota was when they came to the Schott? That weekend, I learned one other college hockey truism for 2006-07: no one hits like Zach Pelletier.

    Some enterprising local auto-body shop could make a pretty penny with the Pelletier hit of the game. What better advertising could a collision center want?

    Remember that Long-Promised Cookie Recipe?

    For the past couple of seasons, I’ve published my mother’s cut-out cookie recipe at holiday time, and I’ve teased you all with promises of a fantastic Czech bar cookie recipe.

    Well, Dolly Weston has come through. I think. She dictated the bar cookie recipe over the phone, and she claims it’s the one. I haven’t tested it, and it seems awfully simple to result in the cookies that I remember as so delicious, but if you’re brave and want the recipe, email me and it’s yours.

    And I’ll make them this weekend myself and let the rest of you know.

    And Thank Heavens It’s Over

    This is my favorite weekend of the year, the year after the final Ohio State football game of the season. While there’s endless local media dissection of what went wrong Monday night, at least there’s no hype for the next big game.

    I have nothing against OSU football. I think Jim Tressel is a class act, and I enjoyed watching OSU and Big Ten football this season.

    But when you live in Columbus and are not a member of Buckeye Nation, football season is more wearing every year.

    Now that it’s over, I’ll finally hear about something far more important, the ever underperforming Columbus Blue Jackets.

    And One More Thing

    Every time I see snapshots in the league’s release in the section lauding the players of the week, I think, “What’s with the hair?”

    I mean, seriously guys. This season — what’s with the hair?

    Y’all make me feel old. Almost as old as Rick Comley.

    Perfect Timing

    By Tom Reale
    -

    It may be one of the highest forms of praise a team can hear from an opposing coach in early January.

    “There’s a chance for [St. Cloud State] to go to the Frozen Four,” said Alaska-Anchorage coach Dave Shyiak after the Seawolves were swept at the hands of the Huskies last weekend. “There really is. Right now, they’re starting to feel it. They’ve got enough talent on that team with great goaltending, good speed, and a quite disciplined style, to be real dangerous down the stretch.”

    For a team that tends to catch a lot of flak for its lack of success late in the season, it’s an eye-opening statement.

    Shyiak should know. He was a senior captain on a Northern Michigan team in 1991 which not only set a WCHA record with 26 consecutive games unbeaten, but also made a visit to the Frozen Four — and skated off with a national championship.

    St. Cloud State is in the midst of a school record 15-game unbeaten streak dating back to early November. The streak has been somewhat overshadowed by the 22-game roll going on just an hour and a half down I-94 in Minneapolis, but the Huskies do have one thing that Minnesota can’t claim: the last 12 games of that streak have all been wins. It is the longest winning streak in Division I hockey this season.

    Evolution

    The Huskies surprised most pundits last year. Coming into the 2005-06 season, the conventional wisdom was that St. Cloud State was probably still a couple of years out from being a contender. There was turnover at the top, with longtime coach Craig Dahl stepping aside, and there were question marks in almost every facet of the game. The coaches picked SCSU to finish ninth out of ten — the same position they had finished a year earlier after arguably one of the worst seasons since the team joined the WCHA.

    But the team caught fire instead, riding strong play from transfer goaltender Bobby Goepfert and a fresh approach to the game from new head coach Bob Motzko to a respectable sixth-place showing, a result they managed to ride all the way to the championship game of the Final Five.

    Goepfert sees a difference in the team’s confidence building on last year’s successes.

    After a rough patch, Bobby Goepfert is playing like the netminder who won First Team All-WCHA honors a year ago (photo: Jason Waldowski).

    After a rough patch, Bobby Goepfert is playing like the netminder who won First Team All-WCHA honors a year ago (photo: Jason Waldowski).

    “From my perspective, the difference between last year and this year is that last year we might get down early and it’d start feeling like it was insurmountable, like we’d have to dig down deep in order to come back. Now, we just aren’t letting it get us down when stuff like that happens. We’re playing the full 60 minutes regardless, and it’ll bring us back.

    “It’s definitely a confidence-builder when you win games you’re not supposed to win, when you win games where we don’t have our best stuff. It makes the season that much more enjoyable.”

    Confidence isn’t in short supply in the St. Cloud locker room.

    “It’s good coming to the rink knowing that all four lines are going to be out there working hard and finding success,” says junior assistant captain Andrew Gordon. “We have a great cohesiveness as a team. There’s not one person back there that is unreliable, so we look to each other for inspiration. Everyone’s working on a common goal. Confidence is huge in this game, and just knowing that when you’re down, there’s someone else to help pick you up, it’s a great feeling for the team in general.”

    It’s even a trend the younger players are beginning to pick up on. “The first few games, you’re nervous as a freshman,” says rookie forward Andreas Nodl, “but now my confidence is much higher and I think that’s true of all of [the freshman class]. It’s a big part of my game — as long as I’m confident I can play really well.”

    “We had some younger guys that have adapted to the system at the same time that some of the upperclassmen began elevating their game,” says senior captain Casey Borer. “We’ve come together as one — there’s really no class separation whatsoever. Everyone hangs out with everyone else off the ice, so when we’re on the ice, that sense of unity carries over. We’re a team, and we succeed or fail together.”

    Youth

    “You don’t want to put any pressure on freshmen coming in, but we were eager to see what kind of contribution they could make,” said Motzko.

    It’s been no small role. Freshmen Ryan Lasch and Nodl have become an integral part of the St. Cloud State offensive scheme. Lasch leads the WCHA in league scoring, with 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points. Nodl leads the Huskies in assists with 17, and is tied with junior Andrew Gordon in overall scoring with 27 points while sitting second nationally in freshman scoring, trailing Maine’s Teddy Purcell.

    Andrew Gordon is tied for the team lead in scoring with 27 points.

    Andrew Gordon is tied for the team lead in scoring with 27 points.

    Their involvement has led some to consider both to be top candidates for WCHA Rookie of the Year. Neither seems to be too interested.

    “I don’t know about that,” says Nodl. “I’m lucky to play on a good line with Gordon and Dey. I’ve worked hard to earn ice time. There are so many good players like Kyle Okposo and Erik Johnson [of Minnesota] and some guys at Denver who deserve that kind of thing. I’m not even looking into that.”

    “I don’t look at the stats,” says Lasch, insisting that he wasn’t aware that he leads the WCHA scoring race by three points. “I just try to approach the game the same way I always do and see how things turn out from there.”

    Freshmen have been playing important roles on the other side of the puck as well. Defenseman Garrett Raboin has become an everyday player, adding gritty physical play and solid defensive awareness to the Husky blueline, and freshman Jase Weslosky — Goepfert’s heir apparent in net — has already appeared in four games for SCSU, winning all four with a GAA of 1.00.

    “We’ve got an All-American goalie [in Bobby Goepfert], but we’ve played our freshman [Jase Weslosky] in three of these games, and we aren’t afraid to get him in on things in the future,” says Motzko. “He’s been a pleasant surprise, and we’re going to get him in some more in the second half. It allows us to build for the future while he helps us win now. It’s also good to give Bobby that mental rest to keep him sharp.

    “Weslosky goes in there and the guys have already learned that they’re going to get a good effort out of him. It’s not even something we have to talk about, we can just go out and play no matter who we have in net.”

    To Motzko, the contributions of Lasch, Nodl, Raboin, and Weslosky are key to St. Cloud State’s success. “Those four guys are entrenched into the very heart of our team right now as regular contributors and regular players.”

    Defense

    The season started off with more of a lurch than a bang for St. Cloud. The Huskies won only two of their first eight contests, and defense was an issue. As a team, SCSU had a goals against average of 3.13 in those first eight games, and returning All-American Goepfert seemed downright human, with a 3.29 GAA, a far cry from the 2.20 he posted last season when he was named First Team All-WCHA.

    “I don’t feel like I was playing bad, [though] I was unhappy with some of the goals that were going in,” says Goepfert. “There really wasn’t anything that I changed and I don’t feel like anything’s really even changed since then other than that those goals aren’t going in anymore.”

    If that’s the only thing that’s changed, it certainly is making a world of difference for the Huskies. Since the beginning of their current 12-game winning streak, Goepfert’s GAA has been superb at 1.56. Chalk at least some of that up to the defensive corps stepping up its play.

    “We were pretty bad early on with goals against,” admits Borer, a defenseman who is in his second campaign as team captain. “We just realized as a group that we had to bear down and help our goalie out.”

    “We expected guys like Justin Fletcher and Casey Borer to be dominating on defense,” says Motzko, “but the work we’re seeing from guys like Grant Clafton and Matt Stephenson defensively has improved our defensive corps significantly.”

    Adding contributions from freshmen Raboin and Weslosky has only helped make the defense even more rock-solid. During the last 12 outings, the Huskies have not allowed more than two goals in a game.

    “That’s the one thing that ties these last few weeks together in such a positive fashion,” says Motzko. “We’re keeping our goals against statistic down.”

    For the season, that statistic now stands at 2.05 goals per game, good enough for sixth in the nation.

    An effective penalty kill has enhanced those numbers. While the Huskies are the second least-penalized team in the nation (only 10.8 PIM per game), their penalty kill has shut down the few opportunities that opponents get, killing penalties at a rate of 89.7 percent, third-best in the NCAA.

    Focus

    The team has a uniform approach to its record-setting streak.

    “Guys aren’t dumb,” says Borer. “They know we’re on a streak. It’s not like we’re in the locker room with our lips shut, but at the same time we aren’t slapping each other on the shoulders talking about how great we all are. We know we’re putting some wins together, we just don’t want to read into it too much.”

    “It’s not one of those things we really look at other than just for fun,” says Goepfert. “We got off the ice last Saturday and said ‘How many is that now? Nine? Twelve?’ We’re realists. It’s going to end sometime, but it does create kind of a nice atmosphere for us around the rink.”

    “At this point, we aren’t looking at it in terms of extending the streak, we’re looking at it as winning more league games,” says Gordon.

    Motzko echoes all three sentiments in one. “It’s not a voodoo thing where we won’t talk about it at all, but we don’t spend time talking about it among the team because all we’re concentrating on is the task at hand. We prepare each week for our opponent, and we get into our routines. That’s our focus.”

    Improvement

    Despite the winning ways, it appears that few on the team are entirely satisfied with the way things are developing.

    “We have a lot of room for improvement,” says Lasch. “There’s always room for improvement and we’re going to improve every day as long as we remember that.”

    Throughout the streak, Motzko has continued to tinker with the team, trying to find optimal results. “We’ve played our whole roster besides our third goalie during the last two months. We’re rotating eight defensemen in and we’re constantly working with forward combinations to become a better team depth-wise throughout our whole lineup.

    “We want to create a more balanced offensive attack. It’s coming, but it’s not there yet.”

    Motzko feels that preparing for the end of the streak is probably more important than trying to perpetuate it.

    “The biggest thing that we have that I’m anxious to see is how the team reacts to some real adversity. It’s not that we’re inviting it or looking forward to it, we’re just being realistic — it’s going to happen. This level is too tough to go through without running into difficulties. When we hit our first big snag, whether it’s an injury or just getting knocked down, it’ll be exciting to see what we have when we hit that adversity. We’ll have to fight through it and it’ll make us a better team.

    “They’re a terrific group of kids. I’ve been very fortunate to have such good kids to work with. They work hard, they’re attentive, they always want to get better, and they’re excellent students. We’ve had very few instances where we’ve had to take someone aside and do some extra coaching on the side.”

    Future

    Are Shyiak’s words a foreshadowing of things to come?

    “You appreciate those kind of compliments from your peers,” says Motzko, “but it’s too early for us to start thinking about that. We’re going to start concerning ourselves with home ice, period. I don’t see any benefit to thinking that far ahead.”

    “That’s a long way away,” agrees Borer. “Everyone who plays college hockey dreams of going to the Frozen Four, no question. If we’re playing our best and get a few bounces here and there, yeah, we’re capable of going there. But there’s a lot of work that we have to do between here and there. It’s a mountain to climb and there are things we need to do before we can get ourselves near the peak.”

    “We can go wherever our level of play is going to allow us to go,” says Gordon. “We never expected to come into the season and go on a streak this long; even when we realized we were on a streak, we didn’t expect that we’d still be here talking about it this long. It doesn’t change anything, though. We still are going to come out hard every night until we get outplayed and until we deserve to lose a game, I don’t think we’re going to be satisfied with it.”

    “I don’t like looking into the future too far, but I think we can maybe do something special in March or April,” says Goepfert. “Right now, its one weekend at a time, we want to take care of business and not look too far ahead, but it’s always there in the back of your mind, those goals that everyone wants.”

    Goepfert slaps an NCAA logo on the door for emphasis, without saying it. “We want it.”

    Motzko may be working to keep the team’s focus on the present, but his long-term plans are a little more far-reaching than even St. Louis.

    “We’re a relatively young program. We’ve only been in the league for 16 years, and that isn’t a really long time at the Division I level when you consider that some of these programs have been around for a century or more.

    “We play in a great state where hockey is almost a way of life. We’ve got a lot of proud programs in our state, between Minnesota, Duluth, Mankato, and us, and I don’t see why there can’t be more real ‘power programs’ in our state. You look at the city of Boston, where BC, BU, and Harvard have all won national titles. That’s one city with several top programs. There’s no reason why there can’t be a second ‘power program’ in this state. We’re just too great of a hockey state with too many good players to go around.

    “Ultimately, we want to become the best program that we can in the ‘State of Hockey.’ That’s where we want to take this.”

    If that’s the overarching goal, now may be the perfect time for Motzko and the Huskies to grasp the brass ring.

    Hockey Humanitarians

    By
    -

    The list of nominees for the 2007 Hockey Humanitarian Award have been announced. The award, established in 1996 by John Greenhalgh and Jeff Millman goes each year to “College Hockey’s finest citizen” as a way to recognize the good work being done by hockey-playing student athletes. Men and women playing NCAA hockey from all Divisions are eligible. Buffalo State’s Rockey Reeves won the award in 2002, so far the only Division III men’s player to be a recipient.

    Two Division III men are nominated this year (out of 13 total nominees). They are:

    Don Jaeger, Senior, Fredonia – Jaeger is heavily involved in his community, leading or participating in everything from leaf raking to volunteering with the local youth hockey’s Learn to Skate Program.

    Brian Soik, Senior, MSOE – Soik organizes a yearly “Toys for Tots” broomball tournament and does tutoring on top of keeping up with his own schoolwork.

    Congratulations to both players. Finalists will be announced in the next week or so with the winner announced during the Frozen Four in St. Louis.

    This Week in the ECACHL: Jan. 11, 2007

    By
    -

    Pattern recognition. It’s a good thing.

    Hosts went 2-5-0 this week. Back in the habit, I suppose. Rensselaer dropped its pair to Harvard and Dartmouth, while Princeton and Quinnipiac each went 0-1-0 on home ice. Union (beat Dartmouth, fell to Harvard) and Yale (gritty victory over Brown) represented the Hosts adequately. Harvard led the Visitors at 2-0.

    Overall standings: 28-21-6. Hosts slipping up… but with a chance to make a move in the ten games this weekend.

    Goalie Watch

    I can’t justify a weekly Dan Rosen Watch, so I’ll just slide it in here.

    He only played one game this weekend, stumbling a bit from his previously ethereal play, allowing four goals on 26 shots at Yale. Now second to Vermont’s Joe Fallon in overall goals-against average (1.68 to Fallon’s 1.65), the Brown frosh is still tops in the country in save percentage, his .950 mark a thousandth of a point above Lake State’s Jeff Jakaitis.

    Am I personally applying too much pressure to the young netminder? Doubtful, considering his performance has exceeded everyone’s expectations by barge-loads already.

    The ‘tender who bested Rosen at Ingalls was the Elis’ Alec Richards. No stranger to the rarified air atop statistical leaderboards, the sophomore held Bruno to three goals on 44 shots. His save percentage is ten points lower than last year’s final .912, but his goals-against is 20 points better at 2.82.

    Also on a hot streak is Union’s Justin Mrazek, in allowing only 11 goals in his last five starts, with a save percentage of .924 in that period.

    Mark Dekanich hasn’t had a sub-90% game since November 11. Despite carrying a modest 6-5-0 record since then, his goals-against was only about 2.20 in that period, and his save percentage was .935.

    Alex Petizian has been hot virtually all season, with only two four-goal games and a shutout to his name. First-year Crimson Kyle Richter has only allowed five goals in his last 206:00 of action, Clarkson’s David Leggio backstopped every game of the Knights’ current seven-game win streak, and even the inconspicuous Zane Kalemba has won six of his last eight at Princeton.

    While he may not be streaking, it is most certainly worth noting that Big Green’s Mike Devine is the only ‘tender in the league to have played every goalie minute for his team. (Bud Fisher at Quinnipiac is close, but freshman Zach Kleiman saw 15 minutes of ice time so far this season. Tough break, Bud.)

    Brown biding its time

    After a slow start, Bruno has run off a string of 11 games with only three losses in the mix. Rosen has certainly played a large part in some of those wins, but coach Roger Grillo is pleased with his offense’s production as well.

    “We’ve played some great hockey,” he said. “The Yale game was disappointing… part of the issue is that we’ve run into some hot goalies.”

    Indeed, Mercyhurst’s Jordan Wakefield stopped 54 shots in a 3-2 Brown overtime win at the Denver Cup, and as aforementioned, Yale’s Richards frustrated the Bears as well. Grillo’s team only managed one goal against Clarkson’s Leggio on 29 shots early in December.

    “It’s a combination of that, and the need to be sharper around the net. We’re getting quality scoring chances… I don’t really have much to complain about. Things will even out.”

    Grillo also pointed out that five road games in a row, beginning at Yale and culminating with a match at Lynah on January 20, are a kind of blessing in disguise for his squad.

    “We don’t have classes ’til the 24th… these games help us get out, get away from campus a bit… change things up,” he explained.

    On a brief down note, sophomore defenseman Mike Stuart will be out for the season after suffering a torn ACL. He is scheduled for surgery next week.

    Saints winning when it counts

    Despite a lackluster 4-7-1 record in non-conference games, the Saints are on a roll in the point games.

    At 5-2-0 in ECACHL play, St. Lawrence can truly wrest momentum this weekend with home games against Cornell and Colgate.

    “This weekend is huge,” said assistant coach Bob Prier. “At this point — with only seven games played — it’s still anyone’s league. We still understand the importance of regular games…we can certainly learn from our losses… but we definitely stress the league games a little more.”

    Prier stated that the team is going into this weekend treating both games as must-wins.

    One of the brightest spots for the Saints is freshman forward Mike McKenzie. The son of Canadian TSN hockey broadcaster Bob McKenzie, St. Lawrence was actually the only school to offer the younger Mac a scholarship.

    “His skating in the last three and a half months has improved drastically,” said Prier.

    “He already had great hands, he’s great around the net, he has great vision… we’ve been watching him since he was 16. We got to know him a bit better [than other schools], and he really wanted to come here.”

    McKenzie leads the team in scoring with seven goals and ten assists in 19 games, including an astounding four game-winners. One of these was the overtime penalty shot that beat Boston University goalkeeper John Curry to advance SLU to the finals of Dartmouth’s Ledyard Classic.

    The assistant coach also advised that Kevin DeVergilio and Brock McBride bear watching in the second half. DeVergilio is finally feeling healthy again after enduring chronic shoulder pain in the first half of the year, according to his junior hockey coach, David McCauley of the Eastern Junior Hockey League’s Bay State Breakers.

    As the Saints march ahead into 2007, they will have to do so without the services of third-year forward Charlie Giffen. The six-goal, six-assist Ontario native suffered relatively serious concussion symptoms against BU, and has been away from campus of late.

    Bobcats in transition

    Rand Pecknold and the Q-Cats are dealing with your Aunt Martha’s water-jug-full-of-pennies amount of change these days.

    Senior d-man John Doherty jumped ship to play pro with Columbia of the ECHL. The former New Hampshire transfer logged two goals and four assists in 16 games this season.

    Fellow senior Dan Travis is sidelined for the remainder of the season, after sustaining a major injury last Saturday against Princeton. The team’s fifth-leading scorer, with four goals and 10 assists, was also a one-time New Hampshire Wildcat.

    Those losses compound the preexisting roster issues caused by freshman Chris Meyers and senior Michael Bordieri’s early season-ending injuries. Three of the four lost team members are forwards.

    On the brighter side, Quinnipiac’s new TD Banknorth sports complex nears completion. The Q successfully requested that the ECACHL split the Yale-Brown weekends as to allow for a crosstown rivalry game as part of the facility’s opening festivities; Yale at Quinnipiac is on the books for February 2.

    Between two games against Princeton’s suddenly hot Kalemba and upcoming games against the en fuego Rosen, Richards and Niagara’s Juliano Pagliero, how does a team stay cool and collected in the face of such imposing goaltending?

    “We have to go into a game thinking we’re gonna be lucky to get one or two goals, and play well defensively,” said Pecknold. As goalies acclimate to the league and to the flow of the season, “goals are just harder to get as the season wears on,” he allowed.

    Fortunately for Pecknold, he has 12- and 10-goal scorers Brandon Wong and David Marshall, respectively, along with power-play specialists Jamie Bates (five PP goals) and Bryan Leitch (four), all backed by All-American offensive defenseman Reid Cashman.

    Third-years leading Clarkson to glory

    It might slip the notice of the casual observer, but Clarkson’s top four scorers and starting goaltender are all juniors. What accounts for such a talent-laden group?

    It’s actually very simple, and an overwhelming testament to the appeal, effort, and eye of George Roll and his staff.

    Nick Dodge, David Cayer, Steve Zalewski, Shawn Weller and David Leggio — along with Grant Clitsome and Mike Arciero — were Roll & Co.’s first full recruiting class.

    “Every one of them has a chance to have a career in hockey,” praised Roll of his most familiar charges.

    Dodge leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and 13 assists, followed closely by Cayer (nine and 12), Zalewsky (11, eight) and Weller (eight, nine). It is by far the most prolific class, combining for 89 points as a group, and Cayer leads the team with six power-play goals. Dodge and Zalewski each have five, while Weller has four of his own.

    Leggio has been spectacular in net, holding a .929 save percentage with a remarkable 2.24 goals-against average. Leggio has only allowed more than three goals in a game twice: a 5-1 loss to Lake Superior State, and a 6-4 loss to Quinnipiac. In his nine games since QU, he has allowed a paltry 13 goals on 256 shots: a .950 save rate.

    Not too shabby for a guy who is “his own goalie coach,” according to Roll… the team doesn’t carry a netminding instructor on staff.

    Snapshots

    Union’s roster is another man short these days, as freshman defender Dustin DeGagne has elected to transfer to a D-III program. Further details are as of yet unavailable. The 21-year-old Winnipeg native played in only two games for the Dutchmen this season.

    Yale will skate without David Germain this weekend. The junior forward is sidelined with an undisclosed injury; all the hockey offices would say is that he will be out for this weekend’s tilts at Princeton, and home against Quinnipiac.

    Colgate didn’t duck the injury bug either, as second-year winger Peter Bogdanich and soph defender Mark Anderson will be in the bleachers for the team’s trip to the North Country. Bogdanich is out with a knee problem, while Anderson is dealing with a high-ankle sprain. Freshman forward Ethan Cox is questionable with a hip-flexor. Fortunately for the Raiders, senior defenseman Mike Campaner is back and healthy.

    While Dartmouth is just about back to full strength, the Green will still be without freshman forward Peter Boldt. Boldt broke his ankle against Yale back on November 17, but head coach Bob Gaudet is hoping that Boldt will suit up again in early February.

    The Golden Knights will be playing shorthanded against Colgate, so to speak, as top scorer Dodge is forced to sit with a game disqualification. The penalty was assessed when he followed through a bit too eagerly while trying to control a puck in the exhibition game against McGill. Roll said he understood the call, but was also perturbed by the fact that, in his opinion, had McGill players worn full masks, a la NCAA regulations, the play could’ve resulted in nothing worse than a two-minute minor.

    Mailbag!

    Here’s a question that should scare up some responses: who is the most underappreciated figure in the league today? Coach, player, administrator or otherwise. Let’s hear all about it! Email me at [email protected]. I even check it sometimes.

    This Week in D-I Women’s Hockey:
    Jan. 11, 2007

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    The sophomore slump is a phrase that means nothing to the University of New Hampshire hockey team.

    Since 2002-03, second-year players have led the team in points and placed among the highest in the nation every season.

    This season, sophomore Sam Faber is holding up her end. Entering the weekend games, Faber has 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists) and leads the team in this category. She had another two points in UNH’s 6-2 win over Connecticut on Saturday.

    “Your freshman year is the time to get all the jitters out,” said Faber. “Your sophomore year, you’re also used to playing at this level,” the forward from Mt. Sinai, N.Y. continued. “You’re a lot calmer out there.”

    As is the entire team. Last year a 5-4 loss to Minnesota in the Frozen Four semifinal left many players disappointed. Complacency may have been partly the cause.

    “Last year we had to find new challenges to keep us in check,” said junior All-American defenseman Martine Garland. “We want to get back to that game and redo it.” Garland said she felt on the bench that it was going to be a problematic game. “I always have a feel for games and I had a feeling during that game we weren’t mentally there,” she said.

    “We know what we want. That [Frozen Four] game was so back and forth, we gave it our all, but it wasn’t enough,” said Jennifer Hitchcock, who leads the team in goals with 15 and is second overall in points (21).

    Saturday’s win put the Wildcats (16-2-3, 7-1-0), ranked second in the nation, within a point of UConn (11-8-1, 7-3-1) for first in the Hockey East standings with three games in hand. The victory also gave senior goalie Melissa Bourdon 75 for her career — a new school record.

    Faber, Garland and Hitchcock all feel this is a special year, one that is being driven by a solid freshman class, by a taste of losing in the Frozen Four and by a closeness on and off the ice, unique in their collegiate experience.

    “There are a lot more people on the same page,” said Hitchcock. “Last year we felt was special but it was our first year transitioning into top level play. We got a taste. This year is a different story.”

    Garland is on a more special mission since she has a year to make up. Her sophomore year (2004-05) in a game against Connecticut, she was skating backward on a power play, fell awkwardly and broke her ankle. Since it was only her fourth game, she could redshirt so this season she’s a fourth year junior.

    “I had come into that year with a lot of high hopes,” she said. Initially she took the injury pretty well, but she struggled after her surgery. “It was tough to watch the team play and I could only be on the bench supporting them,” she said.

    “Since I wasn’t doing anything on the ice, I was obsessed with going on the workout bike,” she said. Towards the end of February after she had been cleared to skate, she ventured out on the ice for the first time when no one else was around. “It was foreign to me,” she said. “I felt like I had never skated before.” She had lost 15 pounds during the ordeal which weakened her.

    She skated around the rink and then went off. “It took a while to get my confidence back” she said. But practicing the last two weeks of the season helped, and last year she returned with a vengeance, finishing the season as the top scoring defenseman in the country, averaging 1.09 points a game.

    “I really developed a solid work ethic when I was in training,” she said. “When you have nothing else to do, you go on the bike. It also helped me to be on the bench because I got to see a lot of people in ways that I wouldn’t have if I had been on the outside.”

    UNH’s remaining schedule is not as challenging as the front end, although a Jan 28 game at Dartmouth looms large because the Wildcats tied them at home. The season’s third meeting against BC, who beat UNH 7-2 earlier this season, also looms large.

    “We played with a lot of different players in the early games to see what would develop,” said UNH coach Brian McCloskey. “If we continue to win the majority of our games we’ll be in the top eight regardless of the outcome of the tournament,” he said, concerning NCAA tournament selection. The Hockey East Championship is in Durham this year – previously they had always been in Boston – and that may help UNH secure the automatic bid.

    “We can’t be a one team league,” he said, and that’s been improving. “But we need a couple of other teams to be in the top 10. It can’t just be us and BC.”

    McCloskey likes his team’s chances this season because it has two important ingredients: depth and balance. “The key is really the supporting players,” he said.

    He’s also well aware of his sophomore streak and agrees it’s an indication that the recruiting classes are getting stronger. Next year’s class is the best he’s recruited in his five years, he said.

    “Good kids want to play with good kids,” he said.

    This Week in the CHA: Jan. 11, 2007

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    Greg Gardner has come full circle at Niagara University.

    The former goalie was part of the first senior class on Monteagle Ridge back in 2000 and is now back on campus as an assistant coach.

    After a stellar netminding career, Greg Gardner has returned to Niagara as an assistant coach (photo: Niagara media relations).

    After a stellar netminding career, Greg Gardner has returned to Niagara as an assistant coach (photo: Niagara media relations).

    It’s his first-ever coaching gig at any level, but he seems to be a natural. And he likes his job, too.

    “I’m really enjoying this,” said Gardner. “Last year, I had several offers to stay in Europe and play for teams in Austria, Italy and Germany, but when Albie (O’Connell) left to go be an assistant at Holy Cross, (NU head coach) Dave (Burkholder) and (assistant coach) Jerry (Forton) offered me the job.”

    One of his duties is obviously working with the trio of Purple Eagle goaltenders and in that realm, Gardner came in knowing two of them in senior Allen Barton and sophomore Juliano Pagliero, both of whom have worked Gardner’s summer hockey school in the past.

    Gardner, now 31, played the past two years overseas, but it was Gardner’s initial work in juniors that got NU noticed in the first place 10 years ago.

    “It was the spring of 1996 and we were in the (Ontario) Provincial League finals,” said Gardner, who played with the Thornhill Islanders. “(Former head coach) Blaise (McDonald) and Burky told me they were starting a new Division I team at Niagara and asked me to be one of the first recruits.

    “There was no rink, no jerseys, no anything. Blaise told me that the project of starting a new team was like a project in your backyard. You feel a sense of pride because you get dirty and you do it all yourself and don’t leave it for someone else. He asked if I would help him out and I liked how that sounded.”

    The first couple years were rough at times, said Gardner, but of the 26 players who came to Niagara that fall, 15 stayed all four years and graduated in 2000.

    In March of 2000, NU made the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid after winning the CHA tournament (no autobid in those days) and drew New Hampshire in their first game. UNH was favored, but Niagara was determined to pull the upset.

    And they did just that with a 4-1 win in Minneapolis.

    “People were still skeptical of us, even after we got the at-large bid,” said Gardner, who went 29-8-4 that year. “But no one really knew us and there was no doubt in my mind we could beat UNH (and goalie Ty Conklin). I stopped an early breakaway and then we scored on a nice tip and went from there. We were something like 25-1 that year when we scored first. That win put us on the map.”

    The next evening, NU’s Cinderella run ended with a 4-1 loss to North Dakota, but started a new chapter in Gardner’s career, a run at Niagara that saw him post an NCAA record 12 shutouts during the 1999-00 season as well as an NCAA single-season record 1.53 goals-against average.

    Gardner shows off his Columbus Blue Jackets' jersey after his signing (photo: Niagara media relations).

    Gardner shows off his Columbus Blue Jackets’ jersey after his signing (photo: Niagara media relations).

    Over the course of his senior season, Gardner knew NHL scouts were eyeballing him and that came to a head that summer when the Columbus Blue Jackets made him their first official signee.

    “St. Louis, Minnesota and Columbus had shown serious interest,” remembered Gardner. “But under the CBA, being that I was 24, I could only sign a one-year contract, plus one. Columbus offered the best opportunity and I took it.”

    Once training camp arrived, things had changed in Gardner’s personal life and that potentially affected his NHL hopes. He did, however, play in two exhibition games, beating Nashville, 2-1, and losing to Buffalo, 2-1.

    “My dad died in 2000,” said Gardner. “And that whole season (2000-01), I just wasn’t myself. I played in the AHL that year with Syracuse and also played in the ECHL with Dayton. The next year, I again played in Dayton and Syracuse, but Columbus had drafted Pascal Leclaire in the first round in 2001.”

    Gardner headed to the ECHL’s Mississippi Sea Wolves for two years and found the experience eye-opening. He won 30 games in 2004 and 32 in 2003.

    “Being a Canadian (from Mississauga, Ontario) living in the south where I could wear shorts to the rink in November was something I definitely wasn’t used to,” laughed Gardner. “But the fans there were great. They had all the support you could ask for.”

    Then two years ago, Gardner had a free-agent tryout with Buffalo and had hopes of being the No. 3 goalie behind Mika Noronen and Martin Biron with a chance to move up if Noronen was dealt.

    “Mika stayed for two more years,” said Gardner. “I had no chance.”

    Gardner said that with his future a bit cloudy, he started asking around about what European culture was like and what the hockey side of Europe could offer.

    He settled on a team in Germany, Bremerhaven REV.

    “It worked out great,” Gardner said. “It’s a whole different world over there, literally. Last year, we finished first and I was named top goalie, so that was a nice little way to cap my career.”

    Now a married man for two years to his wife, Laura, whom he met while a student at Niagara, and father to their two-year-old daughter, Ava, the Gardner clan resides in Amherst, N.Y., in the same house the family lived in prior to Gardner accepting the coaching position.

    The circle is complete. But another ring — symbolic of a championship — wouldn’t hurt.

    Robert Morris Pulls Huge Upset at Notre Dame

    All the buzz last weekend was about Robert Morris’ game against Notre Dame at Mellon Arena. Little did anyone know that the buzz would continue on over to South Bend on Sunday.

    The Colonials pulled off the biggest upset in Robert Morris athletics history, upending second-ranked Notre Dame, 4-2, on the road Sunday afternoon. RMU rallied from a 2-0 deficit to post its first victory over a ranked squad and improve to 7-10-1 on the season.

    “This is the biggest win in program history,” said Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley. “To be able to go into the No. 2 team in the nation’s building — where they are undefeated — and knock them off is very exciting for our program. I’m very proud and excited for our players. I couldn’t be happier about the way our guys competed. I’m very proud of our team right now.”

    The only other win that a Colonial team has posted over a ranked opponent in recent history came this past fall when the football team beat Central Connecticut State in overtime, 23-17. The Blue Devils came into that game ranked 19th in I-AA by The Sports Network.

    Senior goaltender Joe Tuset, making just his fourth start of the season and seventh of his career, posted 34 saves in the victory to improve to 2-2 this season.

    Junior defenseman Jeff Gilbert, junior David Boguslawski and sophomore Jason Towsley scored for the Colonials.

    “Things probably started going wrong the minute we left Pittsburgh (on Friday night),” said Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson. “We just weren’t ready and I take full responsibility for that. Obviously, I’m disappointed with the way we played. I think we thought we could turn it on at any time and I told them that they were putting themselves in jeopardy of letting something else take over. That’s how these things happen. Robert Morris played hard so give them credit. Their goalie played well, they blocked a lot of shots. It’s a great victory for Robert Morris.”

    “We’re not happy and we shouldn’t be because clearly they wanted it more tonight than we did,” said Irish forward Mark Van Guilder. “It doesn’t matter about rankings or talent or anything when one team works harder than the other they are usually going to win and that’s what happened today.”

    On Friday as part of the Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase, Notre Dame beat Robert Morris, 6-2. The Colonials played in front their largest-ever home crowd and the second-largest crowd to witness a RMU home event as 3,420 fans filed into Mellon Arena for the game.

    Ross Officially Announces ’06-07 Is His Last

    Alabama-Huntsville head coach Doug Ross made it official last week that he has decided to retire after 25 years as the Chargers’ bench boss, at the end of this season.

    Ross had hinted at retirement at the start of the season.

    “I have coached ice hockey for more than 30 years and I am very proud of my work here at UAH for the past 25 years,” said Ross. “I’m proud of all of the accomplishments of the hockey team and will always remain supportive of the university mission and athletics department’s goals.

    “Many of our hockey graduates live in Huntsville and are very productive in the community. They have been great ambassadors for UAH and the state of Alabama throughout the years competing against the top NCAA teams in the nation and that is something I am extremely proud of.”

    Ross helped start the youth termite program in the Rocket City and has led numerous youth camps and clinics, including those for the Huntsville Hockey Amateur Hockey Association (HAHA).

    The dean of coaches in College Hockey America, Ross’ legacy began in 1982, taking over the reins of the program from Joe Ritch. Ross led UAH to back-to-back club national championships in 1983 and 1984 and his squads in the mid-’90s ranked among the best in the nation as UAH won national titles in 1996 and 1998 and finished second in 1994 and 1997.

    Since the 1998-1999 season, when UAH went Division I, the Chargers have won two CHA regular-season championships under Ross, who also coached his son, Jared, from 2001-05.

    “During my career, I have placed an emphasis on loyalty, trust, team spirit and friendship and provided continuity,” noted Ross. “I am 100 percent a UAH Charger and will continue to be a huge fan and supporter of the program.”

    A national search for the third coach in the history of the program is expected to begin right away by a search committee comprised of UAH staff, community members and members of the local hockey community.

    A Web page has been established at www.uah.edu/Athletics/hockey/tribute.shtml for fans’ comments and well-wishes. UAH plans on publishing them either in the final game-day program or in a booklet by themselves if they get enough responses.

    UAH Alum Munroe Dresses For NHL Games

    Former UAH Charger Scott Munroe has made history in the NHL this season (photo: Philadelphia Flyers).

    Former UAH Charger Scott Munroe has made history in the NHL this season (photo: Philadelphia Flyers).

    Following his standout career at Alabama-Huntsville, former goalie Scott Munroe has become the first former Charger to dress in an NHL game after serving as the backup netminder for the Philadelphia Flyers in three contests recently.

    “It’s been very exciting, especially being on the road and seeing all the different rinks,” remarked Munroe. “It was also exciting to play against Tampa Bay and Carolina, the last two Stanley Cup champions. Just to look across the red line in warm-ups and see the guys who last year I was watching on television is just very exciting and a real honor.”

    The former Charger was called up from the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL last month after seeing action in 16 games and posting a 3.03 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage. Munroe spent time with the Flyers during the 2006 playoffs as Philadelphia’s third goaltender, but did not dress.

    A 2006 graduate of UAH, Munroe played four seasons with the Chargers, amassing a record of 49-35-8 with a .918 save percentage and a 2.76 goals-against average. He proved to be UAH’s ironman in the 2005-06 season, breaking single-season records for games and minutes played, shots faced and saves.

    Bemidji State Frosh Lehrke Coming Around

    After scoring two goals last Friday against Wayne State, Bemidji State freshman Tyler Lehrke looks to be adjusting well to the college game.

    Playing on a line with junior Matt Pope and classmate Joey Moggach, Lehrke is emerging with the Beavers.

    “There’s a huge learning curve for freshmen,” Serratore said in the Bemidji Pioneer. “But after the holidays freshmen are no longer freshmen. We have big expectations for our young players here. That line has size, speed and great hockey sense.”

    Lehrke, from Park Rapids, Minn., committed to Bemidji two years ago, but before that had other ambitions.

    “As soon as I committed to BSU in my senior year I stopped being a Gopher fan,” Lehrke told the Pioneer. “I started coming up to games here and I was excited to come and play here. I struggled right off the bat this year. It was tough. But I just kept working hard and good things started to happen.”

    The win Friday also gave BSU head coach Tom Serratore his 100th career win.

    “It’s really hard to believe I’ve been coaching for six years,” Serratore added in the Pioneer. “It’s a benchmark win. It feels good.”

    The series sweep continues BSU’s historic domination of Wayne State, as the Beavers improved to 21-6-4 all-time in the series. BSU, now ranked No. 16, has not lost a game to WSU in Bemidji since Nov. 16, 2002.

    Wayne State a ‘Pain’ at Bemidji State

    Wayne State was swept at then-No. 18 Bemidji State over the weekend, losing on Friday, 3-2, and Saturday, 7-5.

    The Warriors built a 5-3 lead midway through the second period Saturday, but the Beavers stormed back with four unanswered goals, including Shane Holman’s game-winner with 1:15 remaining.

    WSU senior goalie Will Hooper took both losses and is now 1-11-0.

    “They’re a pain to play against,” Serratore said of the Warriors in the Pioneer. “It’s hard to sustain anything against them.”

    After a nonconference series this weekend with Ferris State, the Warriors get back to CHA play with Robert Morris coming to town next weekend.

    Purple Eagles Continue To Win

    Niagara took two wins last weekend in road contests at Colgate and RIT.

    Friday at Colgate, NU’s 3-2 win gave head coach Dave Burkholder his 100th career victory.

    “It’s an honor,” Burkholder said. “It just shows that I was surrounded by dedicated young men and great coaches.”

    Saturday against Burkholder’s alma mater, the Purple Eagles won their fifth straight, 5-3 at RIT.

    Senior goaltender Allen Barton made a career-high 38 saves in front of his hometown crowd to improve to 4-0-1. Senior captain Sean Bentivoglio and junior Matt Caruana combined on a pair of shorthanded goals, including the game-winner 20 seconds into the final period. The penalty-killing unit held RIT scoreless on three chances.

    “Our penalty kill won the game for us tonight,” said Burkholder. “The shorthanded goals were key, but, as always, the most important player on the penalty kill is the goalie, and Allen was tremendous.”

    This weekend at Denver, No. 17 NU will look to improve on their record when playing as a ranked team. All-time, Niagara is 17-4-3 when ranked, including 2-0-0 this year.

    RMU To Sponsor ‘Hanson Brothers’ Lookalike Contest

    USCHO Staff Report
    -

    Robert Morris University’s Sports Management department will be hosting the first Hanson Brothers Lookalike Contest at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center, Saturday, February 17, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. as RMU’s Division I men’s hockey team takes on Miami.

    Dave Hanson, one of the famous Hanson Brothers from the movie Slap Shot, and also General Manager of the RMU Island Sports Center, will serve as the Master of Ceremonies for the event.

    Participants in groups of two to three will have the opportunity to pose as the Hanson Brothers to compete for various prizes including a Penguins Prize Pack, Slap Shot DVDs, and Hanson Brothers posters and bobblehead dolls.

    All participants will receive free admission to the game and will be judged based on costume creativity, including hairstyle and attire.

    If you are interested in participating in this event, just simply show up the night of the contest prior to the start of the game in your Hanson Brothers attire. For questions and concerns, please contact Amanda Giewont at (814) 490-2785 or [email protected].

    To learn more about the Hanson Brothers, please visit hansonbrothers.net.

    This Week in Hockey East: Jan. 11, 2007

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    Interesting Times At The Heights

    There were plenty of eyebrows raised when Boston College coach Jerry York stripped the captain’s and assistant captain’s letters off Brian Boyle and Joe Rooney, respectively. No doubt the rumor mills in some locations shifted into high gear. Drugs? Police charges? Barroom brawls?

    “It’s strictly an academic issue,” York explains. “Both Joe and Brian weren’t going to class to my liking. They’re eligible as far as institutional [criteria]. There were no felonies committed, no problems other than just not going to class.

    “To be a leader, to wear a C, you have to show great effort academically. If you’re not an A student, that’s fine, but [you have to] work hard academically like you work hard in hockey. There is a correlation between leadership that carries on off the ice as well as on the ice.”

    As for how that might affect a player’s mentality, York minces no words.

    “It has nothing to do with hockey,” York says. “It makes you a better person. It’s not going to affect hockey one way or the other. Practicing hockey, [working on your] skill level, watching tapes — that makes you a better hockey player. This will make you a better person.”

    The reprimands won’t necessarily last the rest of the season.

    “I’ll watch their behavior academically just prior to the Beanpot and make a decision,” York says. “Clearly, I will be checking with professors and making sure they go to class.”

    While York’s actions have intended consequences off the ice, they might also spark Boyle on ice as well. Last summer, the senior turned down lucrative offers to turn pro and most expected that he’d put up monster numbers this season. While his seven goals and nine assists are hardly chopped liver, they’re rather pedestrian compared to expectations.

    “We certainly feel that he has to be a real force in the games — if he’s not scoring, at least knocking people down and being a real physical player,” York says. “I think he’s at his best when he’s very physical and, of course, scoring goals.

    “He’s working real hard at it. We’re pushing him real hard at this end. We expect him to really step up in goal production as the season progresses.

    “The other teams, of course, know exactly who he is and they’re shadowing him and working very hard defensively on him. That makes it more difficult. But I think he’s capable of doing a lot better for sure.”

    Boyle has been shifted to left wing, with Benn Ferriero taking over at center on the top line.

    “We’re trying to create a little more offense,” York says. “Benny has played center in the past for us. I think Brian plays more along the wall. He’s more of a power forward rather than a clever little center-ice man. So I think his contributions can be more effective as a power left wing for us.”

    Meanwhile, Nathan Gerbe and Dan Bertram returned from the World Junior Championships hoping to show the extra jump in their step that many pick up during that marquee event. Bertram won the gold with Team Canada; Gerbe the bronze with Team USA.

    “It’s an unbelievable experience,” York says. “It’s a [lifetime] memory situation for all the players that play in the World Juniors. To wear, with Danny, a team Canada sweater or, with Nathan, a USA sweater, it’s a terrific feeling.

    “I think all the players that play in the World Juniors benefit from it. Maybe not immediately because they’re tired especially when it’s overseas, but Nathan has a bronze medal and Danny has a gold medal and they’ve got memories now for the rest of their lives.”

    Coincidence or not, Gerbe scored a goal and Bertram assisted twice in BC’s Wednesday night win over Merrimack.

    A past member of Team USA, goaltender Cory Schneider, got to relax during the break now that he’s too old to be eligible, which perhaps is a good thing considering the workload he carries.

    “I think the rest was certainly good for Cory, but also it was a long time without stopping shots,” York says. “So it was great to see him come back and play so well against Northeastern and Providence.

    “I think he was a little bit rusty, but he’s going to be a workhorse and play every game that he’s eligible for us health-wise. We’ll need him down the stretch here.”

    As for that stretch run, the Eagles need to crank up the performances to solidify their position within Hockey East and in the national picture.

    “The team has been up and down during the course of the year,” York says. “We really haven’t hit the stride that I think we need to be a consistent winner in Hockey East. It’s proven by our record. I feel that we have our second half surge left in us.

    “Every game now, points are so important to our team. New Hampshire is having just an incredible year as far as wins and loses and how they’re playing the game. For our team we need points. We need to put a good stretch of play together here.”

    Up And Down And Back Up Again

    It’s been quite an interesting season so far for the Maine Black Bears. They opened 8-0-1, going until Nov. 12 before recording their first loss.

    But what a loss — an 8-2 thumping by one of their primary rivals, New Hampshire, and at home, no less. Then came another defeat at Alfond, this one to Boston College, followed by a third straight downer at Vermont.

    Since then, however, the Black Bears have been almost perfect during a 6-0-1 stretch, including one of the league’s few bright moments in the holiday tournaments, wins over Western Michigan and Cornell to take the Florida College Classic championship.

    “We’re excited about the possibilities here, but obviously it’s early and UNH has jumped out to a pretty serious early lead,” coach Tim Whitehead says. “We’ve got a lot of ground to make up.

    “It’s a very competitive schedule that we’re up against, but we knew that coming [into the season]. We knew Hockey East would be very strong again this year. With Vermont joining the league, our conference is even that much stronger.”

    Freshman Teddy Purcell has been a major sparkplug all season long, but especially of late, scoring two goals in each of the last three games. He’s now recorded points in all but two of Maine’s 19 games, totaling 12 goals and 16 assists.

    “Quite frankly, we probably made a mistake not bringing him in last year,” Whitehead says. “When I saw him in the [USHL] Buc Bowl last fall, I [thought], ‘This guy should be at our place right now.’

    “We knew he’d be ready this year. Obviously, you never know a guy is going to be this productive, but he’s certainly made the most impact of a freshman forward since Michel Léveillé for us.”

    Another underclassman, sophomore goaltender Ben Bishop, has taken his game to the next level, recording a 1.97 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage.

    “Bish’s improvement has been great,” Whitehead says. “This year, his challenge has been to become an elite player at this level and I really think he’s doing that. He had a dip in November just like the rest of our team, but he’s bounced back strong as he always does.

    “He’s really improved as a puck stopper. He’s always had a great presence in the net and the ability to impact the game handling the puck. Now he’s really emerged as a great puck stopper, too.

    Joining Bishop on Whitehead’s “Most Improved” trio are senior forward Mike Hamilton and junior defenseman Travis Ramsey.

    “Ramsey has become more assertive in every way,” Whitehead says. “We lost arguably our two best defensive defensemen from last year in Travis Wight and Steve Mullin, so there was a big hole that needed to be filled.

    “Ramsey had already been their protégé for the last couple of years and [this season] he has really asserted himself in the penalty kill, five-on-five, and the occasional cleanup duty on the power play. Just his overall physical presence [has been important].

    “Hamilton has elevated his game in every area. He’s really playing a complete game of hockey. I moved him to center and he’s really taken off with that.

    “He’s strong down below the dots. He can skate with anybody. He’s strong on the puck. He’s got his scoring touch back and he can [move] the puck.

    “He’s just a real positive team player. He can play in any situation: power play, PK, five-on-five, and in the first and last minute.”

    Whitehead hopes all those assets will continue to produce wins this weekend when Maine hosts Boston University for two games that could go a long way in determining the Black Bears’ chances of closing the gap with first place.

    “[BU is] very quietly right in the hunt for both the NCAAs and the Hockey East title,” Whitehead says. “They’re building a lot of momentum mostly with defensive play right now.

    “They’re playing very smart hockey. They take care of the puck and they know where to put it when they don’t have a play. I’m just very impressed with their team.”

    Positive Signs

    Until its loss on Wednesday night to BC, Merrimack had taken two of its last three league contests. The Warriors defeated Massachusetts before the break and then split a home-and-home series with the Minutemen last weekend.

    “It’s not so much about the opponent as it is how you play,” Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy said in the lull between the weekend and the BC contest. “At least that’s how the coaches look at it.

    “The players have different levels of belief based on their own performances. So having a good performance the first time against UMass helped us believe that we could play with these guys.

    “We’ve been playing better over the last three weeks anyways (not including the long lay off, obviously). We just weren’t getting the results.

    “Goalscoring is such a [scarce and important] commodity and we have a tough time doing it. When we score goals, we’re going to be in games. We’re going to be able to play with anybody because I know we can defend.

    “It’s when we have trouble putting the puck in the net that things really break down. So we’re not at the stage where we can exchange chances with people, but if we’re able to capitalize on ours then we can play with most teams.”

    Getting four points on the weekend each from freshmen Matt Jones and Pat Kimball was an additional encouraging sign.

    “It’s an upperclassmen-laden league,” Dennehy said. “It always has been. Who’s probably the best freshman in the league this year? You could argue probably Teddy Purcell. Well, Teddy got his first goal in the league this weekend. So as well as he’s played he hadn’t scored in the league until Friday.

    “I knew coming into this season it was hopefully going to be a Tale of Two Halves with our team. It’s going to take your freshmen at least half a year to get themselves acclimated. Some guys will get out of the gate faster than others, but overall you look to them to have an impact the second half of the season.

    “Hopefully this is a sign of things to come with Pat Kimball and Matt Jones.”

    Freshmen now rank as four of the team’s top six scorers.

    “[That’s a good omen for the future] only if everybody continues to get better,” Dennehy said. “Just because you’re a sophomore doesn’t mean you’re going to garner the same ice time you did your freshman year unless you’re moving in the right direction.

    “I see progress with our players on an individual basis, young and old. I think that has translated into the team itself. So we’re encouraged. I think we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves. We need to make sure that we continue to make progress.”

    Calling His Team Out

    BU coach Jack Parker was characteristically blunt after the Terriers settled for a scoreless tie with Northeastern one night after defeating Providence, 5-1.

    “We weren’t mentally ready to play,” Parker said. “I could tell at the pregame meal that this team was [of the attitude that], ‘We’re all set now; we’re on track now.’ They constantly want it to be easy.

    “It’s bad leadership. That just goes right down the line when seniors don’t take hold of it and make sure it doesn’t happen. And some of our seniors and juniors were our biggest offenders. Guys who had great nights last night were horrible tonight.

    “I said, ‘Are you guys kidding? You’ve got to change this now because what we’re doing is awful.’ And they didn’t.

    “It’s as if they want to be college students playing a sport. We could be playing volleyball. You know, ‘We’re in second place in the intramural volleyball league with a Friday night win; let’s go have some fun tonight.’

    “They don’t want to be hockey players; they want to be something else. They don’t want to pay the price you have to pay to be focused and ready to go, game in and game out, practice in and practice out.”

    Raising The Bar

    After the same game which prompted Parker’s diatribe, Northeastern coach Greg Cronin had a more positive view, albeit without becoming complacent. Combined with the Huskies’ defeat of Boston College the night before, Northeastern went to 4-2-1 in its last seven games.

    “You look at the schedule and you see BU and BC back to back and you get three points, you’re happy,” Cronin said. “But at the same time, as I told [the players] after the game, you’ve got to keep raising the bar. It’s a heck of a lot better than a loss, and you’ve got to keep putting points in the bank and going up in the standings.

    “What I like about our team is we didn’t have [Mike] Morris, we didn’t have [Andrew] Linard, we didn’t have [Chris] Donovan. We’ve got some cavalry coming in, so hopefully we’ll be able to sustain the kind of hockey that we’re playing.

    “But that game is over and now we’ve got Vermont coming.”

    Wesleyan Sweeps!

    There will be a separate article one of these days about Wesleyan’s four-game sweep of Europe, but those games didn’t count in the standings. Last weekend’s sweep, however, of Southern Maine and Salem State was huge.

    Goaltender Mike Palladino allowed only two goals on the weekend, stopping 30 shots. “Dino” now leads NESCAC with a 1.70 GAA. His .927 save percentage ranks second.

    The power play, which had been struggling, had a monster weekend, going 4-for-9 against Southern Maine and 2-for-6 over Salem State. Kudos especially to the top unit, typically comprised of Will Bennett, David Layne, Taylor Evans, Jeff Beck and Dallas Bossort.

    When you finish a weekend 6-for-15 on the power play while your opponents go 1-for-12, you’re going to win a lot of games.

    Basing the standings on winning percentage, the Cardinals are now in a three-way tie for third place in the NESCAC. Overall, they are 5-3-2, their best mark at this point since 1988-89.

    Another huge weekend beckons with a trip to New England College and St. Anselm’s, followed by a Tuesday matchup with Trinity.

    Playoff home ice, bay-bee!

    Trivia Contest

    In a rare moment of magnanimity, last week Scott posed a trivia question that did NOT involve anagrams, long names, short names, or anything else that forced our more masochistic readers to comb hockeydb.com for hours or to wake up in a cold sweat barking answers into a digital voice recorder.

    He posed a somewhat easier brain-teaser, asking readers to name THREE current or former Hockey East players OR coaches who either have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada OR who have a RELATIVE who was has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Scott knew of three players who fit the bill but wisely refused to swear that there weren’t more than that … especially since both Scott and I have sailed about as smoothly as the Titanic when it comes getting our own trivia questions correct this season.

    Sure enough, there were more than three possible correct alternatives. Scott had in mind Chris Bourque of BU, son of Ray Bourque — certainly the easiest one to remember. He also was thinking of former UMass forward Jeff Blanchard, nephew of the legendary Bobby Orr, and Fernie Flaman, former coach of Northeastern who was a THIRD famous blueliner.

    However, Scott overlooked a current player, Vince Goulet of Providence, son of former NHL great Michel Goulet. Figures.

    The first to get this one correct was Bob Murgia, who beat out Paul Gentile by 47 minutes! His cheer is:

    “TBD”

    This week’s trivia question honors BU coach Jack Parker and his 750th career win by asking for the date and opponent of the following Parker wins: his first, 500th, 600th and 700th.

    E-mail my trivia account with your answers. If you haven’t heard back by Tuesday, assume that someone else beat you to the right answer.

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

    I can’t imagine a more perfect gift than what my daughter Nicole gave me for Christmas. She found a book entitled Why A Daughter Needs A Dad: 100 Reasons.

    Here’s a sampling: “A daughter needs a Dad … to teach her what it means to always be there.” “A daughter needs a Dad … to help her take the risks that will build her confidence.” “A daughter needs a Dad … to show her that true love is unconditional.”

    But what really set off Niagara Falls was what she wrote on the inside cover:

    Dad,
    Thanks for giving me all of this and more.
    I love you!
    Nicole

    NHL Releases Midterm Scouting Rankings

    By
    -

    The NHL Central Scouting Service (CSS) released its midterm rankings for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft Wednesday, with New Hampshire recruit James van Riemsdyk leading the list of players with college affiliations.

    Van Riemsdyk, currently a member of the U.S. National Team Development Program, led a list of seven current or incoming college players ranked among the top 30 North American skaters. Notre Dame freshman-to-be Brad Phillips, ranked fourth, is the top North American goaltender with college ties.

    Minnesota freshman James O’Brien, ranked 20th among North American skaters, is the highest ranked current collegiate player. He is the only current college player among the top 30 North American skaters.

    Other highly-ranked incoming college freshman include Kyle Turris (Wisconsin, center, ranked fifth), Tommy Cross (Boston College, defense, 10th), Kevin Shattenkirk (Boston University, defense, 13th), Max Pacioretty (Michigan, left wing, 23rd), Patrick White (Minnesota, center, 25th) and Colby Cohen (Boston University, defense, 27th).

    Angelo Esposito, currently playing with the Quebec Ramparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, is the top-ranked North American skater. Trevor Cann from the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League is the top North American goaltender at midterm.

    The CSS will release final rankings for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft in late May. The 2007 NHL Entry Draft is scheduled to take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, June 23, 2007.

    CSI: D-III

    By
    -

    CSI: D-III

    If you caught the latest episode of CSI, you know that Gill Grissom is taking a sabbatical to teach at Williams College. Maybe while he’s there he can do some sleuthing and figure out just what the heck happened in various D-III rinks in New England/New York on Friday.

    Riddle me these:

    • Skidmore 4, Middlebury 2
    • Conn College 4, Norwich 3
    • St. Anselm 3, Bowdoin 2
    • New England 2, Colby 1
    • Babson 10, Amherst 1
    • Neumann 7, Utica 1

    I think Gill would conclude that parity is here – especially since almost all of those teams that won on Friday lost on Saturday. For instance, Utica came back the next night to defeat Neumann. NEC had a nice weekend, rebounding from a tough pair of games in Oswego the week before.

    It used to be that the top D-III teams had at least 15 games a season where they could just show up and win. No more.

    Halfway There

    By Joe Haggerty
    -

    One couldn’t fault the Massachusetts hockey team for looking a little bit ahead to see what the second half of the season will bring, but seasoned veterans like senior Chris Capraro aren’t likely to let that happen.

    “In my experience in both life and hockey, I think it’s always best to keep your entire focus on what’s going on right now,” said Capraro, who had his personal philosophies put to the test when he left the team for a season due to personal reasons before returning last season. “There’s no sense in worrying about what’s happened in the past or what will happen to you in the future … you come to the rink every day focused on just that day.”

    Don

    Don “Toot” Cahoon oversees his charges.

    After missing several games to begin the season, Capraro and the Minutemen have done just that — building up a 6-5-1 record in Hockey East that has contending for home ice in the Hockey East tournament and cracking the USCHO.com/CSTV Top 20 for the first time since their almost-Cinderella season of 2003-04.

    Though the Minutemen are currently just outside the national rankings, observers around Hockey East have kept a keen eye on what’s going on out in the pastoral Amherst campus.

    “They really have a strong hockey club that can really skate, and they were very impressive to me,” said Boston College hockey coach Jerry York. “They also have a good goaltender in [Jon] Quick, and you’re going to have some success when you put those two ingredients together. I think [UMass head coach] Toot [Cahoon] has done an excellent job there, and they’re for real.”

    There are holdovers from the 2003-04 Minutemen squad that was one Jimmy Howard performance away from capturing the Hockey East tournament title and earning its first NCAA Tournament berth — with the aforementioned Capraro, defenseman Mark Matheson, forward Matt Anderson, and power forward Kevin Jarman all playing roles on that team.

    While this squad doesn’t have the star power that skaters like Thomas Pock, Greg Mauldin and Nick Kuiper brought to that team’s table, these Minutemen do have a nice combination of quick, skilled forwards, strong, offensively skilled defenseman capable of scoring points and frustrating opposition with their forecheck, and a big, agile goaltender.

    “You got the feeling back then that you could beat any team at any time because of the special players we had on the ice,” said Matheson, who leads the team with 10 goals after entering his senior season with only seven goals in 93 career games. “I don’t think we have the same individual talent, but this team can skate, play good defense and has good goaltending — if we’re playing hard, then good things should happen for us.”

    These Minutemen also have constant reminders all around the locker room of what they’re shooting for — a return to the success that the previous squad enjoyed.

    “There are framed pictures of those players and moments from that UMass/Maine triple-overtime game all over the locker room, so we know where this program has been and where we want it to go,” said Minutemen winger Chris Davis, third on team in scoring with seven goals and eight assists. “Coach is always telling us about what it takes to get there and the price that needs to be paid and we’re just trying to go out on the ice and apply that.”

    It’s been an interesting mixture of youthful exuberance and seasoned experience, as the old guard with postseason experience has done its part and youngsters like former Catholic Memorial player Cory Quirk, freshman Wil Ortiz and Quick have also emblazoned their stamp on the team.

    “I like to think that we all bring a little something to the table,” said Quirk. “I think Capraro just seems to make things happen and really knows how to set guys up; Chris Davis is a burner and beats people with his skating speed; P.J. Fenton is just a classic goal-scorer and is looking to shoot with every opportunity; Matt Anderson is another guy that really knows what to do with the puck.

    “I think I’m just a guy that tries to kind of hide out and sneak up on people,” added Quirk, who leads the Minutemen with eight goals and nine assists through 19 games. “I try to always be in the right position to make a play.”

    The improvement on offense has been a difference-maker for the Minutemen — as they’ve gone from scoring 2.1 goals per game last year to 2.63 this year — but Quick has also been a gift from the hockey gods after being the most highly-touted and heavily-recruited goaltender coming out New England as a prep schooler.

    In his first season as the unquestioned starter after sharing duties with Gabe Winer last season, Quick has blossomed into a ‘tender who can steal a game or even score a goal — against Merrimack — something that’s given opposing teams something to worry about on both offense and defense.

    The 20-year-old Quick is tied with UVM goaltender Joe Fallon for the Hockey East lead with a .929 save percentage — good for seventh in Division I — and has a sparkling 2.15 goals against average.

    “He’s so quick and athletic back there and he really sponges up all of the rebounds when things are a little hectic in front of the net,” said Matheson. “As a defenseman, he allows you to take chances and be a little more aggressive on D because you know he’s back there.

    “He was up-and-down a little bit as a freshman last year, but he’s come into his own this year.”

    “From the beginning, we knew he was athletic and capable,” added Cahoon. “He was a highly-touted recruit for a reason. He won championships at Avon Old Farms and the Los Angeles Kings thought highly enough of him to draft him in the [third] round.

    “The key was him growing up a little more, getting to know himself more … what he needed to do away from the rink to be [his best]. He’s made great strides there and has been solid for us, game in and game out.”

    The biggest question for the team is the second half of the season, and how this mix of young and old players will deal with the heightened intensity and bigger stakes that come with a run to the playoffs. It’s a query that Cahoon believes still awaits his team after a weekend home-and-home split against Merrimack that moved its record at the Mullins Center to a dominant 7-1-1.

    “The big thing is staying in the present and not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” said Cahoon, who clearly hasn’t fallen in love with his team’s promising start. “You just have to prepare yourself as best as you can and bring your best game to the rink to give yourself the best chance of winning. Because anything less than your best in this league is likely to result in an L.”

    That’s the kind of never-say-die attitude that pushed the Minutemen to the brink of NCAA glory in 2003-04 — and may just place them there again this season with a strong second-half surge.

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