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This Week in the ECAC WEST

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A Different Team

Since joining the ECAC West four seasons ago, it is no secret that Neumann has struggled. Over that time span, the Knights have a combined total of 10 wins and haven’t been competitive in many of the other games.

However, with an infusion of new blood, this year might represent the tipping point for Neumann becoming competitive.

In the first four games, the Knights have a respectable 2-2 record. Last season, it wasn’t until a January 25th upset of Hobart that Neumann earned its second victory of the season.

“We’re doing okay and working hard,” said Neumann coach Dennis Williams. “At 2-2, it is a good start with us. It took us to after Christmas to get our first win last year, so the guys are in high spirits.”

The two losses on the record books, each by only a single goal, came in a season-opening two game set at Geneseo, games that easily could have gone the other way for the Knights.

“The Geneseo games were good games that could have gone either way,” said Williams. “They are a good team, and are playing well. We outshot them both games but couldn’t find the net.”

The most telling statistic indicating the turnaround of the Neumann program is shots on goal. Last season, the Knights were outshot 1037-627 and that is the best ratio they had ever managed.

But this season, the tide appears to be turning. Neumann has outshot its opponents in all four games so far, enjoying a comfortable 131-76 margin currently and have a 14-10 advantage in goals.

“We just can’t put it in the back of the net,” said Williams. “It is nice to get some shots on net. You never know what is going to end up going in. Geneseo buried their opportunities and we didn’t on ours. We need to figure out how to finish more.”

One player who has started off his freshman season on a roll is Jesse Cole. He has tallied four goals and an assist in the first four games of the season.

“Jesse is doing very good things right now,” said Williams. “My expectations were that he would put the puck in the net. He has the opportunity to play on the power play and is capitalizing. He is playing with a lot of confidence right now. Anytime you can have a freshman averaging a goal a game, he is doing something right for us.”

Coach Williams has also been sharing the duties in net between his three goaltenders. Mike Collichio, Brett Leonhardt and Liam Johnson all have played complete games during this opening stretch of the season. However, don’t let the rotating goaltenders fool you into thinking that Collichio isn’t the go-to guy.

“I planned on [rotating goaltenders] at the beginning of the season to make it fair for everybody,” said Williams. “Mike Collichio has proven last year, and even this year, he is the guy that we are going to ride. He knows that and our expectations of him are high.”

No Quit

Even though the results in the record books aren’t much different from last season, this year’s Elmira team definitely has a different character about it.

In the Soaring Eagles 7-5 loss at Hobart on Saturday, the Statesmen took advantage of opportunities to build a 6-2 lead by the end of the second period. Last season’s Elmira team would have packed its bags at that point and just gone through the motions during the third period.

Not this year’s team, though. The players rallied during the intermission, came out with a real jump in the third period, and tallied a power play goal just fifty one seconds in to start a comeback.

However, a defensive lapse allowed Hobart to tally a goal at 8:51 to put a chill on Elmira’s rally.

“These guys come to the rink and want to work hard every day,” said Ceglarski. “That is a big difference in our team this year. We had the power play to begin the [third] period and we thought that if we threw the puck at the net that good things would happen. But we gave up a soft goal that took the wind out of our sails a little bit”

The Soaring Eagles have improved the speed of the defensive corps, and certainly have an improved attitude by the players. While starting out 0-3 in league play isn’t what the Soaring Eagles were hoping for, you certainly can’t count them out yet.

“Obviously, 0-3 in the league, and we don’t play another league game until after the first of the year, is not where we wanted to be,” said Ceglarski. “It is a long fifteen game season. We still have 80% of the season to go. It is disappointing, and it will come down that every game is important for us.”

Happiness House

Happiness House, located in Geneva, N.Y. with a satellite campus in Canandaigua, N.Y., provides programs and services to children and adults with disabilities. The Hobart hockey team, led by head coach Mark Taylor who is a member of the Happiness House Board of Directors, has reached out to support this charity in many ways.

Last season, the team played floor hockey with the children at the main facility in Geneva. Also in past years, the players have participated in the annual “Hike for Happiness,” an indoor community walk-a-thon that benefits the “Happiness is Helping” capital campaign.

The sixth annual walk-a-thon was held this past Saturday afternoon on the Hobart campus, but occurred immediately before the Statesmen’s game against Elmira. Coach Taylor still wanted to help out, though, and came up with the idea to add the gate receipts from the game to the walk-a-thon.

“Since our game was at four, we couldn’t be involved with [the walk-a-thon],” said Taylor. “So, I talked to our Athletic Director and we felt that it was the right thing to do. We like to try to do things with them as much as we can.”

Neumann Faces a Challenge

Even with Neumann’s quick start this season, the Knights might get a little bit of a wake up call this weekend when they host Utica and Manhattanville to open their league schedule.

“We have to be ready to go for two highly skilled and tough opponents this weekend,” said Williams. “We are playing the two best opponents in the league right now.”

Friday’s game against Utica holds a little extra meaning for coach Williams. Not only did he serve as an assistant under Utica head coach Gary Heenan two years ago, Williams and Heenan are also good friends who spend considerable time together during the summer in hockey camps and on the golf course.

“Utica is physical,” said Williams. “They play a tough game and have been disciplined. Gary [Heenan] has them playing very well. Being part of the Utica program two years ago, it stems a bit of a relationship between us. You want nothing more than to beat one of your mentors.”

Neumann isn’t looking past Utica, but a quick turn around to play a Saturday afternoon game against Manhattanville might mean a double whammy for the Knights.

“Saturday doesn’t get any easier with Manhattanville as an afternoon game,” said Williams. “They are strong and skilled, and it should be a good test to see what we really are. We are trying to prepare our guys with video. It is going to be a whole different game than they are used to. We are trying to teach them the importance of league games. It isn’t like junior hockey with 48 league games. We have fifteen.”

With two games against teams currently tied for the lead in the league this weekend, the young Knights will get a good indication of exactly where they stand and what league play is really like at the Division III level.

Century Cat

By Joe Haggerty
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Brady Leisenring had a pretty good idea just how fulfilling his senior season at Vermont was going to be — until it went horribly awry, that is.

The Catamounts forward and Stowe, Vt., native grew up in the shadow of the Burlington campus and as a youngster watched the likes of Martin St. Louis and John LeClair skate in Gutterson Fieldhouse — watching them perform on the ice and then getting to meet his heroes in hockey camps sponsored by the school.

In fact, Leisenring’s fondest UVM memory was a trip to Pennsylvania with his family where his parents, Dr. Dennis and Pam Leisenring, surprised their hockey-crazed son with a trip to an AHL game featuring his favorite former Catamounts star.

“I remember my family telling me that we were going to the dog races, and I was like ‘Yeah … okay. Real exciting,” recalled Leisenring of parents that have proudly owned UVM hockey season tickets for the last 25 years. “But it turned out that my parents took me to see the Hershey Bears play the Rochester Americans.

“I’ll never forget that.”

“[Former UVM standout] Ian Boyce was a player/coach for the Americans, and he ended up getting a game winning goal in overtime and passed the stick over the glass to me in the stands,” said Leisenring of the vivid snapshot from his childhood. “I got to go into the locker room after the game, and it was such a great memory.”

While the early hockey memory made an impression on the athletic aspirations of then-10-year-old Leisenring and led to the crafty UVM skater donning Boyce’s number 11 for Cats, he didn’t have a lot of sports choices growing up in the Green Mountain State.

“We didn’t have a football team in my town, so it was either hockey or downhill skiing,” said the 23-year-old. “That was a pretty easy choice.”

Fast-forward 12 years to last season, with Leisenring riding high after a junior campaign that saw him snare First-Team All-ECACHL honors, First Team All-New England, co-MVP honors on his Catamounts team, as well as a tie for the ECACHL scoring title.

The former U.S. Under-17 National Team member had amassed 35 goals and 47 assists in his three seasons at UVM, and looked to be a cinch to become the 39th Catamounts skater to eclipse 100 points in his career — a milestone he actually met in Friday night’s 6-2 win over Providence.

That is, until the second year co-captain felt a sharp pain in his groin during a November 13, 2004, game against Clarkson — an injury he immediately knew to be serious and possibly season-threatening.

Leisenring’s instincts were spot-on, and the Vermont native was relegated to fulfilling a role as an ersatz cheerleader and assistant coach during his all-important senior season. Despite the obvious adversity, Leisenring amazed the coaching staff and his teammates with his disdain for the self-pity and temporary depression that can overcome many athletes coping with a major injury.

“Getting Brady back has really helped soften the blow of losing Scott Mifsud, who had a real career year for us last season as a senior. He’s going to put up some of the points that might otherwise have been missing. He had to make a tough decision to rest for four months.

“He probably could have tried to come back [last season], but it might have been one of those situations where he plays one or two games and blows it out again,” said UVM coach Kevin Sneddon. “It was tough for him to sit out, but he showed up at the rink every day with a smile on his face.

“Facing a difficult situation, he responded to a ‘T’ and we were really excited to have him back this season,” added Sneddon.

“He was always helping guys out and doing whatever he could to lift the team’s spirits — something that very encouraging for the rest of us,” said UVM senior defenseman Jaime Sifers. “It might have been difficult for him watching the team playing so well and not being able to be part of it, but he was such a great leader in spite of that.”

Leisenring admits that it was a difficult year for him, as evidenced by the fact that when the strong-skating, quick-shooting star saw his parents and sister Gretchen — who likewise played hockey for the Catamounts — the oft-discussed subjects of frozen sheets of ice and pucks never came up.

“It’s just something I didn’t want to talk about or think too much about last season,” said Leisenring.

Luckily for Leisenring and the Catamounts, the senior only made it through six games before injury struck and he qualified for a fifth year of eligibility with the NCAA, given that had hadn’t played in 20 percent of the team’s games. One more game played would have eliminated Leisenring from a medical waiver request, but instead the 5-11, 195-pounder was cleared to return to Burlington for UVM’s first foray into Hockey East.

“When we first found out, I immediately became jealous of the junior class,” said Leisenring of the move to the new conference. “But things happened this year and I’m thankful I just have a chance to play hockey in a competitive league. They don’t have the back-to-back matchups in the ECAC that they do in Hockey East.

“I’m the kind of person who thinks that things happen for a reason, and I’m very fortunate to be playing with a very talented team this season,” added the soft-spoken Leisenring.

The results have been nothing short of spectacular for the formerly-felled scorer and the UVM squad he leads onto the ice.

The eighth-ranked Catamounts jumped out to an impressive 7-0 start, snatched their first Hockey East win in a solid victory over Northeastern at Matthews Arena, and the top line of Leisenring, Torrey Mitchell (three goals, 13 assists) and Jeff Corey (six goals, seven assists) has been lethal.

The right winger is tied for third in the nation in scoring with seven goals and 11 assists through 10 games, and has acted as a sniping threat on a well-oiled power play that fires up the lamp at an impressive .254 clip.

For the fifth-year senior, the scoring excursions and leadership he’s been able to impart to talented freshmen like Peter Lenes and Dean Strong have been great, but just being one of the guys in the Catamounts locker room has taken on new meaning — as has the 100-percent-healed groin muscle that has allowed Leisenring to leap right back into his storybook Vermont career.

“For me, the biggest part was the first day of practice and getting back into the locker room, suiting up and joining the other guys on the ice,” said Leisenring, who is the first redshirt hockey player in UVM history. “I was still on the road with the team last year and in the locker room, but I wasn’t lacing up the skates and that was the hardest part. As much as I wanted to be a cheerleader for the guys, there’s only so much you can do.

“There’s a huge level of both respect and trust on both the coaching and players’ end, and there’s something special going on up here under Coach Sneddon,” added Leisenring. “I was proud of the way they competed last year [without me] and I just keep thinking about how much better the team is going to be this year.”

One year after Leisenring suffered a season-ending injury that nearly tossed away his senior season, the newest member of the UVM 100-point club is no longer on the outside looking in.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: West

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Throughout the season, USCHO.com staffers Scott Brown and Jim Connelly will offer their views on the previous weeks’ action, alternating writing duties (and occasional potshots at each other) every Tuesday. Brown will focus on the West and Connelly on the East, in a regular column exclusive to USCHO Extra.

Uniform Application

When North Dakota had its appeal on the issue of its Native American nickname and imagery turned down by the NCAA on Sept. 28, the response was carefully structured to avoid denying the Sioux the right to host the NCAA West Regional next March. In particular, the Sioux Indian-head logos which dot Ralph Engelstad Arena were not required to be removed (likely impossible, logistically) or obscured.

That was probably a wise move by the NCAA, since an attempt to force North Dakota to alter the arena might have provided legal grounds for a breach-of-contract lawsuit. That would be because the NCAA’s policy on “hostile and abusive” Native American imagery was not in place at the time the university signed to host the regional.

Said NCAA Senior Vice-President for Governance and Membership Bernard Franklin, in part of the NCAA’s statement at the time:

However, the university will be allowed to host the Men’s Division I Ice Hockey Championship, West Regional, on March 24-25, 2006 at Ralph Engelstad Arena without altering its current contract. This decision was made because it is not reasonable to cover up or remove all of the Native American imagery in the arena, and the restriction was adopted by the Executive Committee after the contract was awarded to the university. The University of North Dakota will be restricted from hosting future championships in that arena.

But an issue that got lost in the hubbub was the fact that the Sioux could be required to remove their logos from team uniforms to participate in NCAA championship events. That issue has been rendered moot until Feb. 1, 2006, which is the date that the uniform policy will go into effect.

“The NCAA told us we didn’t have to stop,” Phil Harmeson, senior associate to UND president Charles Kupchella, told USCHO.com’s Patrick C. Miller. “We have a letter from the NCAA Championships Committee saying that we do not have to modify our uniforms.”

That freed up the Sioux to wear their uniforms for recent NCAA playoffs in football and women’s soccer.

But Feb. 1 is still before the West Regional takes place. For those not familiar with NCAA hockey rules on the subject, a school hosting a regional must play at that site if it makes the NCAA tournament, a likely outcome given UND’s performance so far this season.

And note that Franklin’s statement doesn’t say that the Sioux’s uniforms will be allowed to bear their Indian-head logos at the West Regional — only that it’s okay for the arena to do so.

Further action is in the offing. UND has already filed a second appeal with the NCAA.

A Night On The Town

In case you’ve been in Tibet, or in a cave, or in a cave in Tibet, for the past couple of weeks, several Gopher players under the legal drinking age were recently filmed by a local television station drinking at a Minneapolis bar.

I first heard the allegations, by Fox affiliate KMSP, during a Minnesota Vikings game on a Sunday afternoon, when Fox’s local commercial block aired its teaser for that night’s newscast. The tone and embellishment were the kind you’d expect to hear in an ad for a monster-truck rally at the Metrodome:

“Gopher hockey players … Violating team rules! … Breaking the lawwwwwww!” was the voiceover encouraging everyone to tune in that night at 9 p.m.

Now, I don’t want to make this seem like something it’s not — either more or less. College hockey, like other sports, has had its share of scandals, including those involving alcohol. This one hardly rates up there with Vermont’s “Elephant Walk” bombshell of a few years back, or other hazing-type violations. And no one is alleging that team or school officials were providing underage players with alcohol, which has happened at some places in the past.

No one is saying the players got out of hand, unlike the recent allegations against two Carolina Panthers cheerleaders, one of whom was underage and apparently in possession of a teammate’s ID. Since USCHO.com is known for its restraint and family-friendliness, I won’t repeat the salacious details involving those two — you can find them in about a million locations online or in print by now, if you’re so inclined and haven’t already.

Still, on first seeing the commercial, I had a pretty good guess — as most probably did — what the allegations were going to be.

I hardly think it’s news that college students drink. You can’t swing a cat these days without hitting a newspaper stand that has a story investigating the burgeoning booze business among underage students across the country. USA Today had one not long ago.

So these guys done wrong, and they got caught. I’ve covered Gopher hockey for USCHO.com for the entirety of head coach Don Lucia’s tenure, and I’m confident he’ll take the appropriate action. I’m sure the families aren’t exactly thrilled, either.

However, it’s the brazenness of this episode — or episodes, since KMSP filmed the Gophers on several occasions over a two-month period before broadcasting its allegations — that is a bit striking. And I don’t just mean the players.

The guys in question were apparently able to get into the bar with a handshake for the bouncers and no ID in sight, and to purchase alcohol with the same lack of verification.

Though I have lived in Minneapolis for 12 years, I’ve never been to Blarney Pub and Grill. That’s the Minneapolis bar a couple of blocks off-campus from which the KMSP report originated, and the place didn’t exist when I first got here.

But it took an organized failure on the part of the bar’s employees to let this happen. That’s one of the interesting things about it — maybe the most interesting thing.

When hockey players shake hands with bouncers and walk on by without showing ID, as KMSP reported, the security folks obviously know who they are. And just as obviously, the bouncers (and the bartenders who served the underage players) had to know those guys weren’t of the legal drinking age — particularly when some of the guys in question were high-profile freshmen.

So did management at Blarney purposely turn a blind eye to the legal ramifications in order to gain a reputation as a hangout for athletes? Or was this a matter of a few employees ignoring the rules, nothing more? Nobody knows quite yet.

Still, KMSP’s breathless, salivating style of “investigation” rubbed many the wrong way around the Twin Cities. Both the major local dailies, the Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, have expressed a reasonable level of concern about underage drinking while simultaneously rolling their eyes in disdain at the level to which the “scandal” was hyped by KMSP.

That’s not even to mention the entertainingly poorly-written and -edited article KMSP ran on its website. In terms of literary quality, it was the sort of thing you’d get if you asked a fourth-grader to write a one-page essay on the topic of “My Hidden-Camera Investigation.”

The contempt isn’t limited to the media, either. Backlash against the TV station is under way by Gophers fans: there’s even a t-shirt available with the inscription “I Hate Fox9 — The Snitch Station” emblazoned across the front.

Michigan Reclaims Top Ranking In USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

USCHO Staff Report
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A tie and a loss against Wisconsin knocked Colorado College out of the top spot in Monday’s USCHO.com/CSTV Networks Division I men’s poll, as the Tigers bequeathed the No. 1 ranking to Michigan. The Wolverines returned to the apex of the poll with 29 of 40 first-place votes after sweeping Northern Michigan last weekend.

The Badgers and the Tigers held down the Nos. 2 and 3 spots, respectively, followed by Maine, which beat Massachusetts-Lowell before dropping a decision to New Hampshire Saturday. Fifth was Cornell, which split its weekend, beating Harvard but losing to Dartmouth.

Boston College was sixth, beating New Hampshire last Tuesday and then Vermont Sunday, followed by North Dakota, which swept Minnesota-Duluth. No. 8 was Vermont; the Catamounts topped Providence before their loss to BC.

No. 9 New Hampshire leaped up four spots after two tough Hockey East wins over Boston University and Maine, and Minnesota rounded out the top 10 in the wake of a sweep of Alaska-Anchorage.

Denver fell to 11th after a one-point weekend against Minnesota State, followed by No. 12 Miami and then Michigan State, which experienced the poll’s biggest drop after losing twice to Nebraska-Omaha. Alaska-Fairbanks was next, and then St. Lawrence in 15th.

Bemidji State was No. 16, trailed by Colgate, BU, Harvard and Northern Michigan. Dropping out of the top 20 was Quinnipiac.

On The Flip Side: Feigned Outrage

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Allegedly, members of the Minnesota hockey team were caught drinking at a campus bar over the period of a couple of months.

You know what’s surprising about it? They were caught. Think about all of the places any college athlete has to drink beer — a frat house, the dorm, the living room of their sexy teaching assistant — and the fact that a group of Gophers risked being filmed in public throwing down a few cold ones is stunning. They could not have believed that the metropolis of Dinkytown, home to Blarney Bar & Grill, where the alleged stein-hoisting occurred, would afford them much anonymity.

Assuming the accusations are true, and the evidence that KMSP television presented seems convincing, have those players violated the law? Yes. Did they violate team policy? Yes. Did what they do hurt their team? Absolutely.

To borrow a line from Jim Bouton, “Pounding the old Budweiser” adversely affects their on-ice play. I’ll go one step further and say that those student-athletes set a bad example for all of the high school players who aspire to play for Minnesota some day. The athletes have to be punished in some fashion.

But please, after a months-long investigation by KMSP, they reached the following conclusion: College Students Drink. Pass out the Pulitzers now. I’m not even sure The Onion would write a fake headline that lame. Remember the old inspector from Casablanca, “I’m shocked to find there’s gambling going on here,” as he collects his winnings?

If any news outlet secretly followed any group of college students for a two-month period, they would encounter the underage consumption of alcohol. It does not make it right, but we ought to tone down the histrionics when confronting an issue that everyone knows occurs and that many accept as a fact of life. To expect a group of hockey players to act any differently from the rest of the U.S. violates common sense.

Feigning moral outrage is a cottage industry in this country. We go out of our way to expose other people’s flaws, while neatly ignoring the beam in our proverbial eye. Too much time is wasted playing the baiting game, all so we can have our jollies by forcing people like Minnesota coach Don Lucia to defend the honor of their institution by issuing public statements like this:

“I am disappointed and concerned with the choices that some of our student-athletes made in connection with recent reports of underage drinking. This is an issue we take seriously and one that we will deal with internally, just as we would with any other situation that arises within our program. This is an opportunity for myself, the University community and players’ parents to continue to educate these student-athletes on the issues surrounding underage drinking.”

You can bet that once the legal matter is resolved, we’ll force the players to issue a suitably remorseful public apology too.

Let me be clear that I’m not excusing the players’ actions, especially given the rise of binge drinking, but one has to question the type of zeal that leads to a news outlet staking out a bar for two months on this issue. Too often, the result is nothing but hypocrisy.

The author of the Book of Virtues has a gambling addiction. The leading crusader for moral rectitude on talk radio is addicted to OxyContin. Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” merits a massive fine and public flogging.

All of this petty squabbling distracts us from confronting the genuine moral calamities that befall our society. It took a hurricane to expose the deep poverty in New Orleans. The Washington Post reported this week that the CIA has several black-ops sites across the world where they allegedly torture prisoners. Let’s spend our investigative energies debating these issues.

Once upon a time, New York Times reporter R.W. Apple called his editor to inform him that President John Kennedy was having an affair. His editor told him that it wasn’t news.

After all, there was a Cold War going on.

My sincere hope is that the remainder of this underage drinking case is handled away from the public eye. Let the players involved quietly suffer whatever sanction Lucia imposes and hopefully they learn a lesson. And that the next time a news station or anybody discovers that a group of college students have gained illegal entry to a bar, they report it to the right people — local law enforcement.

Sparking a genuine conversation about underage drinking would be news. Discovering that college students drink? There’s a reason the movie was entitled Old School.

Other stories on the KMSP evening broadcast:

• Some people at a bar drink too much, then sing loud and off-key — Our hidden microphones captured it all!

• College dining hall food is not as good as Mom’s — In a blind taste test, we compared the meat loaf and the spaghetti and found that even with the soft serve fro-yo, the dining hall doesn’t measure up.

• Michigan State fans dislike Michigan — We’ve secretly videotaped thousands of Spartan fans and found that they used profanity when referring to the Wolverines.

• Without Will Ferrell, Saturday Night Live is not as funny — Contrary to what Lorne Michaels said, we’ve watched hours of SNL and did not laugh as much.

• Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father — Our hard-hitting news team has the CGI evidence to prove it!

North Dakota Files Second NCAA Appeal

By Patrick C. Miller
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In a deviation from its original policy, the NCAA will allow University of North Dakota athletes to wear uniforms adorned with the Fighting Sioux name and logo during NCAA-sponsored playoff events — at least until Feb. 1 next year.

Last Friday, UND filed a second appeal for review by the NCAA Executive Committee, the same body that on Aug. 5 implemented a policy against “hostile and abusive” American Indian nicknames, mascots and imagery. The policy penalized UND and 17 other schools and included an immediate ban on uniforms with Indian-related names or imagery during NCAA-sponsored post-season events.

“The NCAA told us we didn’t have to stop,” said Phil Harmeson, senior associate to UND president Charles Kupchella. “We have a letter from the NCAA Championships Committee saying that we do not have to modify our uniforms.”

This means that during the coming weekend, UND’s Division II men’s football and women’s soccer teams can compete in NCAA playoff games without being in violation of the policy while wearing their standard uniforms.

Since the NCAA issued the policy, three schools have been exempted from it, two have agreed to change their names and three — including UND — have had their initial appeals denied. UND filed its first appeal on Aug. 30 and was turned down on Sept. 28 by an NCAA staff review committee.

In UND’s second appeal, Kupchella said even though the policy enacted by the committee was “undoubtedly well-intentioned,” it was wrong, deeply flawed and should be withdrawn because it’s “inconsistent with the NCAA’s Constitution, rules, and regulations and based on vague and arbitrary standards.”

The appeal claims that UND has the approval of the Spirit Lake Nation to use the Sioux name, which was granted in a resolution passed by the tribal council in December 2000. That support has not been withdrawn, Harmeson said.

In granting appeals to Florida State University (Seminoles), the University of Utah (Utes) and Central Michigan University (Chippewa), the NCAA cited the permission of a “namesake sovereign tribe” to use such nicknames as a key factor in granting those schools exemptions from the policy.

However, in denying UND’s appeal, the NCAA said the university didn’t have approval from any of the three Sioux tribes in North Dakota. Kupchella argues that not only does UND have tribal approval, but also that the NCAA applied a different standard to UND than it did to FSU, Utah and CMU.

“The NCAA made multiple attempts to contact the Spirit Lake Nation,” Harmeson said. “All of them went unheeded. Those contacts went toward getting the answer the NCAA wanted rather than what the answer really was.

“The Spirit Lake Nation’s resolution meant nothing in relation to what the NCAA ultimately did,” he said. “One can only wonder what signal was sent to the tribe, that their resolution was irrelevant.”

Other points made in UND’s second appeal are that:

• UND has the “legal and moral right to use the nickname” — so long as it’s done respectfully.

• The NCAA has “dramatically overstepped” its constitutional authority by moving beyond the “basic athletic issues” it was created to address and into social and political issues best dealt with at the local level.

• By misusing its “monopoly power,” the NCAA has created “a serious breach of the public trust.”

• The university’s relationship with tribes in North Dakota is far more substantive than the “special relationships” the NCAA cited in granting exemptions to FSU, Utah and CMU.

• The NCAA has failed to define a legal standard for “hostile and abusive,” making it difficult to form the basis for an appeal.

• The NCAA has inappropriately granted its authority to a third party to change UND’s nickname, authority that lies with North Dakota’s State Board of Higher Education.

Kupchella invited members of the NCAA Executive Committee to UND for a site visit so that they could see for themselves what’s happening at the university. Harmeson said there’s been no response to the invitation. Regular dialogue on the nickname and other issues is continuing with tribal leaders in North Dakota, he said.

If the Executive Committee denies UND’s second appeal, the third and final step of the process would be an appeal to the NCAA Division II Presidents Council.

UND’s latest appeal mentions the possibility of legal action if the NCAA refuses to exempt the university from its policy. Recent news accounts quoted noted sports law experts at Duke and Marquette universities as saying that UND stood little chance of winning a court case against the NCAA.

Harmeson, who holds a law degree and serves as UND’s faculty athletic representative to the NCAA, said the university will not rule out that option.

“We would not consider heading down that trail if we did not feel that we had a reasonable chance of prevailing,” he said. “We’ve had many offers of assistance, not only from very good attorneys, but also offers to begin a legal fund to take care of whatever it might cost to litigate the matter.”

One legal avenue UND might pursue is suing the NCAA for breach of contract, Harmeson said.

“When we entered into the agreement to become a member of the NCAA, we knew what the requirements were at the time we contracted,” he said. “Clearly, there’s an attempt to change that without mutual consent.”

Tom Buning, UND athletic director, said the uniform ban could become a problem again in the spring if the university’s hockey or basketball teams make it into the NCAA post-season playoffs. Given that UND is still in the appeals process and that it takes at least six months to receive new uniforms, he said it would be nearly impossible to get them in time for spring playoff games.

The Week in Division III – November 11, 2005

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Balance of Power

Last weekend, the MIAC kicked off its season with a series of interlocking games with the NCHA. While most of the MIAC schools had the advantage of home ice, NCHA teams had a couple of games under their belts and have been the dominant league in the West for over a decade.

On Friday, the conferences split their games, going 3-3-2. But on Saturday, the MIAC went 6-2 against the NCHA, including a 7-4 win by Augsburg over second-ranked St. Norbert, a 4-3 Bethel over No. 9 Wisconsin-Superior and a 4-3 victory for Gustavus Adolphus at Wisconsin-River Falls.

“It was a great weekend for the MIAC,” said Bethel head coach Peter Aus. His Royals were 2-0, also defeating St. Scholastica 5-4 on Friday. “I think we’re closing the gap a bit. Not that the NCHA isn’t as good as they have always been-Superior isn’t going to lose many games this season-but I think the MIAC teams are getting better every year.”

Augsburg coach Mike Schwartz agreed. The Auggies were also 2-0 win wins over St. Norbert and Lake Forest.

“We don’t get as much attention as some other leagues, but this is a strong, competitive league,” he said. “The seventh place team can knock off the first and second place team. We’re very balanced.”

Against St. Norbert, the Auggies got off to a 6-0 lead and never looked back.

“I’m tempering the enthusiasm,” said Schwartz. “We played well, but we caught some breaks too. On one side I feel kind of lucky because we did get those breaks, but there have been plenty of other games where they went the other way.

“We certainly don’t have a false sense of how good we are, but I am very happy with the way we played. I haven’t seen that level of effort by an Augsburg club in quite some time.”

It was the first meeting between the two teams since 2001, and that may have been an advantage for Augsburg.

“We haven’t played them in four years, so none of our players had seen them before,” said Schwartz. “They didn’t even know what their uniforms looked like. They had no pre-conceived notions of what kind of team they were. We knew they were very good, obviously.”

Schwartz said the win over St. Norbert was a team effort, but also mentioned two players who he thought had especially strong games – junior forwards Aaron Johnson and Critter Nagurski. Johnson, who transferred in from Michigan Tech after his freshman year, had a goal and an assist against the Green Knights, and Nagurski had a pair of goals.

When I commented to Schwartz about how “Critter Nagurski” is an awesome hockey name, Schwartz told me, “His real name is ‘Christopher’, but when he was a baby his siblings couldn’t pronounce it, so it came out as ‘Critter”. And yes, his grandfather is “the” Bronko Nagurski.

At Bethel, Aus is also not getting too excited over a weekend sweep.

“It’s nice to start 2-0, but we can’t start thinking we’re better than we are,” he said. We have a long season ahead to prove ourselves.”

Aus says that while starting the season against strong opponents who have already played some games is a challenge, it beats the alternative of jumping into league play right off the bat.

“(Playing non-conference games first) makes more sense,” he said. “I’ve always thought that playing leagues games at the start of the season is the dumbest thing you can do. All games are important, but lets face it, the best way to make the NCAA tournament is to win the league.”

Based on their start, the MIAC might indeed get more than its champion into the NCAA tournament.

Game of the Week

There aren’t many better rivalries in Division III than Oswego and Plattsburgh. They’ve been the two dominant teams in the league since its inception 30 years ago and every meeting between the teams is a war.

As usual, the teams will play twice in the regular season, with the first meeting coming this Friday in Plattsburgh. Both squads are coming off weekend sweeps and are at the top of the SUNYAC standings.

When asked an assessment of the Cardinals at this point in the season, Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said, “The jury’s still out. We’re opportunistic. Last season we worked hard and generated chances but we weren’t able to finish them. This season we’re finishing more.”

Finishing so far have been senior Dave Friel and junior Ryan Busby, with four goals each so far. Friel also has five assists, good for nine points in just four games. Senior Craig Neilson has seen the majority of time in net, accumulating a GAA of 2.37 so far.

For the Lakers, it’s already been an up-and-down season. They started 1-2 but have won three in a row, including a sweep of Buffalo State and Fredonia last weekend, outscoring the opposition 16-3.

Leading the way was freshman Brendan McLaughlin, who scored a whopping five goals against Buffalo State and already has nine on the season. Another freshman, Peter Magagna, has six goals. Sophomore Ryan Scott has seen all the action for the Lakers so far in net this season, sporting a 2.68 GAA and a .919 save percentage.

“There’s a revenge factor,” said Emery. “They won in our barn last year, and we beat them at their place in the playoffs. That’s extra motivation – not that either team should need any.”

Never Forget

The college hockey community was saddened by the loss of former Army player Derek Hines, who was killed in Afghanistan on September 1. Unfortunately, Hines wasn’t the only former college player to die in the line of duty this year. Bryan Opskar, who played for two seasons at Concordia, was killed on July 23 in Iraq.

Opskar played defense for the Cobbers his freshman and sophomore seasons before leaving school to enlist in the Marines. “We knew that he was going to be a Marine, because he talked about it a lot,” Concordia coach Steve Baumgartner told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “He was a disciplined, hard-working young man who was well liked by his teammates.”

This column is scheduled for publication on Veteran’s Day. All veterans and active service men and women are in my thoughts and prayers.

NESCAC Preview

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Sawsadee!

Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand.

Seriously, this week’s column originates from Southeast Asia–not necessarily the hotbed of D-III hockey! They do have one ice arena here in Thailand and the No. 128 ranked team in the world so maybe someday we might see a player come out of this part of the world and play hockey in the U.S. Somehow I don’t see the recruiting trail passing this way but you never know as coaches look for talent anywhere and everywhere…

In what many coaches and fans believe to be the most competitive conference in the country, as recently evidenced in our own USCHO question of the week, NESCAC once again opens the new season with the defending national champions and lots of contenders for the league title ready to give chase and challenge Middlebury. Two conference teams represented the East in the Frozen Four last Spring and the talent and experience can be found among a number of teams in the conference that would like their shot at the top and to compete for league and national glory this year.

While some people consider parity a dirty word, consider this. Last year in NESCAC play only and excluding the crossover scheduling with the ECAC East which counts in the league standings, Middlebury finished with a 4-4-1 record in the conference and utilized their timely best play of the season and overall conference record to gain a number two seed in the league playoffs before winning the league tournament title and NCAA title. Coach Terry Meagher of Bowdoin prefers to refer to the overall excellence of the league as balance and the substance of the differing styles of play each of the teams brings to the rink each night. ” I think parity in some cases implies mediocrity and this league truly has teams performing at an outstanding level throughout the season. It’s why some terrific student athletes choose NESCAC schools to play hockey when they may have other choices. There is a mutual respect amongst the players to bring their best games every night and with the variety of coaching styles and strategies played here you see different things all of the time–this is not a trap league; it is very exciting hockey each and every night.”

Well the pucks drop in a bout a week for real so let’s take a look at what the NESCAC conference may have in store for us this season. Here are the pre-season picks in what is sure to be a last weekend of the season jockeying for playoff position.

1. Middlebury Panthers
2004-2005 Overall Record: 23-4-3
2004-2005 League Record: 13-4-2
2004-2005 League Finish: Second
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: First

Team Overview: At the end of the day there are just some things that you can’t go against. Yes, the Panthers lost some key leadership in the departed All-American Brian Phinney and Levi Doria but last year’s team excelled oin the basis of the maturing of some young players including goaltender Ross Cherry, forward Mickey Gilchrist and defenseman Tom Maldonado. Coach Beaney’s teams win with defense and goaltending and this team is experienced enough to avoid last year’s mid-season swoon and build off last year’s success in February and March. To beat the champ, you have to beat the champ–not many have accomplished that against the Panthers recently.

2. Bowdoin Polar Bears
2004-2005 Overall Record: 17-6-3
2004-2005 League Record: 11-5-3
2004-2005 League Finish: Third (tied)
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: Second

Team Overview: The Polar Bears are this year what Colby was last year – a very experienced team with a solid senior class who understands what it takes to compete at the highest level each weekend. Backed by George Papachristopoulos and led offensively by last year’s leading scorer, Adam Dann, Bowdoin is strong in all facets of the game and should challenge Middlebury for the top spot in the conference. “There is a lot to really like about this team, commented head coach Terry Meagher. We have a very experienced group that understands what it takes to compete which will take a lot of pressure off our younger guys.” Bowdoin sees rival Babson on the opening weekend and has a home and home with Colby in early December that should speak volumes about this team’s competitiveness.

3. Trinity Bantams
2004-2005 Overall Record: 21-4-2
2004-2005 League Record: 15-2-2
2004-2005 League Finish: First
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: Third

Team Overview: Last season’s regular conference champions and Frozen Four participant have some big shoes to fill with the departures of All-Americans Doug Kiselius and Joseph Ori. Up front the Bantams have enough firepower to compete each and every night led by sniper Cameron Finch. Brendan Timmins leads a solid defensive core in support of either Henry Breslin or Drew Barber who will assume the goaltending chores this season. If the goaltending proves to be anywhere near the great stats put up by Kiselius the past three seasons, don’t be surprised if Trinity can compete for a repeat spot at the top of the league standings.

4. Hamilton Continentals
2004-2005 Overall Record: 9-12-4
2004-2005 League Record: 8-8-3
2004-2005 League Finish: Seventh
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: Fourth

Team Overview: “Like a good baseball team, you want to be strong up the middle, noted head coach Phil Grady. We have maybe one of the best forwards in the country who makes other players around him better, solid defense and a strong goaltender who will be the go-to guy this year with the departure of Robbie MacNeil.” There is a lot to like about any team that sees Gus Katsuras and his 100-plus points supplying the offense on specialty teams as well as even-strength. John Gordon provides the leadership on the blue line and Gabe Tash assumes the starting role recovering from wrist surgery. Fighting for a home-ice spot will be a goal for the Continentals this season.

5. Williams Ephs
2004-2005 Overall Record: 11-12-2
2004-2005 League Record: 11-7-1
2004-2005 League Finish: Sixth
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: Fifth

Team Overview: The Ephs return a solid nucleus of players including last season’s surprise star in goal, Brad Shirley. Forwards Kevin Child, Brandon Jackmuff and Devon O’Rourke headline a group of experienced and speedy offensive players that can challenge any team in the league with their speed and ability move the puck up ice quickly. Shirley will need to be solid if the Ephs are to compete for home–ice in the league playoffs next spring.

6. Colby White Mules
2004-2005 Overall Record: 15-8-2
2004-2005 League Record: 12-6-1
2004-2005 League Finish: Third (tied)
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: Sixth

Team Overview: The White Mules enter this season having graduated a big senior class with a lot of talent and leadership characteristics. That being said, coach Jim Tortorella believes that the team this year may have the best leadership he has seen in quite some time at Colby. “This team really has come together under the leadership we have and our efforts this year are really going to be focused on the specialty teams in a way to be a difference maker in games beyond the 5-on-5 play.” Look for leadership from senior Jake Bayley and maturation from sophomore Arthur Fritsch who will anchor a strong defensive corps for the Mules.

7. Amherst Lord Jeffs
2004-2005 Overall Record: 13-10-2
2004-2005 League Record: 11-6-2
2004-2005 League Finish: Fifth
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: Seventh

Team Overview: Amherst enters the season minus the offensive talent and leadership of Beau Kretzman and looks to its young nucleus to carry the team forward this year. “We have a strong recruiting class this year, stated head coach Jack Arena. While it is heavily populated with defensemen, that is our major need and we will focus on where the goals will come from as we improve through the season.” Both Kyle Schoppel and AJ Greco will be expected to provide some offensive firepower for the young Lord Jeffs who will surely improve as the season progresses. They will need to continually improve as the end of the season brings some very tough road games at a crucial time of the year.

8. Tufts Jumbos
2004-2005 Overall Record: 12-12-1
2004-2005 League Record: 8-10-1
2004-2005 League Finish: Eighth
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: Eighth

Team Overview: Beyond qualifying for the playoffs last season, the Jumbos had some impressive wins last season including Amherst, Hamilton and Colby within the league. Goalie James Kalec had a standout freshman campaign and will need to follow-up his first season with similar stats for the Jumbos to improve on last season’s .500 record. A strong nucleus is ready to move to the next level for coach Brian Murphy and a strong recruiting class may have much to do with overall improvement in the league standings for Tufts.

9. Connecticut College Camels
2004-2005 Overall Record: 7-16-1
2004-2005 League Record: 5-13-1
2004-2005 League Finish: Ninth
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction: Ninth

Team Overview: The Camels will be led by senior forward Julian Madden in coach Jim Ward’s re-vamped line-up. Goaltending will be tested with the departure of Steve Oven who played virtually every game last season for Conn College. Four of the team’s top five scorers return for the upcoming campaign with a focus on improving the overall offensive production while continuing coach Ward’s emphasis on strong defense and limited mistakes in the defensive zone. This team will need significant contributions form the incoming freshmen in order to compete for a playoff spot this season.

10. Wesleyan Cardinals
2004-2005 Overall Record: 4-18-2
2004-2005 League Record: 4-13-2
2004-2005 League Finish: Tenth
2005-2006 USCHO Prediction Tenth

Team Overview: For head coach Chris Potter, the Wesleyan hockey team this year will be focused on regaining the position they attained two seasons ago in reaching the playoffs for the first time in several years. Goaltending, scoring and avoiding key injuries will be of great impact to the Wesleyan team as they look to regain the form and capability of any new activity.

USCHO Women’s Game of the Week:
St. Lawrence at Dartmouth

By Brian Schulz
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So far, St. Lawrence has lived up to the hype of its preseason No. 1 national ranking, reeling off seven straight nonconference wins to open the campaign. This weekend, the Saints’ quest to fulfill expectations of an ECACHL championship begins on the road against Dartmouth and Harvard, the two teams that have combined to win the last four conference titles. First up is a Big Green squad that has undergone major renovations but still has some established cogs and is eager to measure its new formula against the league’s best.

Game Time: Sat. 2 p.m. ET (Broadcast Links)

No. 1 St. Lawrence (7-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 ECACHL)

Top Scorers: Sabrina Harbec, So., F (4-7-11), Alison Domenico, Fr., F (2-7-9), Carson Duggan, Fr., F (6-2-8)
Top Goaltenders: Jess Moffat, Sr. (5-0-0, 1.20, .950), Meaghan Guckian, So., (2-0-0, 0.50, .977)
Scoring Offense: 3.71 (8th)
Scoring Defense: 1.00 (1st)
Penalty Minutes: 17.6 (5th)
Power Play: 6 of 28, 21.4% (6th)
Penalty Kill: 45 of 49, 91.8% (6th)

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Life is almost all good these days for Coach Paul Flanagan. His goaltending tandem has been restored with sophomore Meaghan Guckian now back from injury to complement senior Jess Moffat, who has picked up where she left off from last year’s playoffs. The veteran defense has been every bit as suffocating as advertised yielding just seven goals in seven games. The offense has featured a healthy mix of the old (Sabrina Harbec, Emilie Berlinguette, Crystal Connors) and the new (Alison Domenico, Carson Duggan, Lisa Batchelor). Flanagan has also had a chance to see his team win with relative ease and gut out close victories against three of last year’s conference champions (No. 4 Minnesota, No. 7 Mercyhurst, and Providence).

Life would likely be all good if not for two things. First, the contributions of the Saint freshmen forwards will take on greater importance given the unwelcome news that former ECAC Rookie of the Year Chelsea Grills will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery to heal a nagging injury this past week. Second, the Saint penalty kill has been stellar at 92% so far but perhaps that’s in part because the units are getting so much work. In just seven games, St. Lawrence has managed to log a whopping 23 penalties and 57 minutes more than its opponents. Only once (2003-04) during Flanagan’s tenure have the Saints have received more infractions than their opposition and even then, by just one penalty.

No. 8 Dartmouth (3-1-0 overall, 1-1-0 ECACHL)

Top Scorers: Shannon Bowman, Fr., F (2-4-6), Danielle Grundy, Sr., F (2-4-6), Tiffany Hagge, Sr., F (4-1-5)
Top Goaltender: Kate Lane, Sr. (3-1-0, 2.50, .892)
Scoring Offense: 3.25 (11th)
Scoring Defense: 2.50 (18th)
Penalty Minutes: 17.5 (5th)
Power Play: 3 of 27, 11.1% (25th)
Penalty Kill: 21 of 27, 77.8% (T-25th)

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Tiffany Hagge says, “It’s back to basics.” Indeed. With eight freshmen and 10 players overall who were not with last year’s team, there is a different learning curve for Coach Mark Hudak’s Big Green in 2005-06 compared to the veteran squad that went to its third straight Frozen Four a year ago. However, having the multi-talented Hagge as a cornerstone is a big first step toward building another winning team. The Minnesota native has already notched the gamewinning tally in all three Dartmouth victories this season, and in speaking about his captain, Hudak remarked, “No matter what happens out there…this team will follow [her]”. Junior assistant captain Caroline Ethier quietly bagged 11 goals last season, and Hudak also regains the services of seniors Danielle Grundy and Alex Zagaria to add a little more seasoning to the forward units. Add in Emily Nerland and Meredith Batcheller on defense, and senior Kate Lane in goal, and there seems to be at least some experience at every position.

However, youth must be served if Dartmouth is to contend for another Frozen Four berth. Sara Parsons never made it to Hanover this fall because of her inclusion on the U.S. National Team, but early returns still seem encouraging with first-year Shannon Bowman tied for the team lead in scoring and rookies at all three center positions. However, the progression of the three newcomers on defense may prove most critical. Last weekend’s viewing of No. 5 Harvard provided strong evidence that an abundance of freshmen defensemen can yield erratic early-season results on breakouts and defensive zone coverage. But then, the Crimson gutted out the win that day. Dartmouth already has two one-goal victories to its credit, and the winning experience for both teams no doubt trumps any aesthetic shortcomings.

This Week in the WCHA: Nov. 10, 2005

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First things first:

• So which is worse, the bad press from Minnesota’s subpar start to the season or the bad press from the shocking — shocking! — reports of underage Gophers players being at a bar and some of them drinking alcohol? I’m guessing that being 3-3-2 doesn’t rank at the top of the list of concerns right now.

• That bit of news this week is overshadowing the leadup to what should be one of the best series of the early part of the schedule. No. 5 Wisconsin hosts No. 1 Colorado College, and we’ll get a good perspective on both teams this weekend.

• It also overshadows Minnesota assistant coach John Hill’s first series against Alaska-Anchorage since resigning as the Seawolves’ head coach in the offseason. He probably has a pretty good scouting report ready, even though he won’t even be in the building for the games.

Allegations Shake Gophers

If you didn’t contribute one of the 32,000-plus views of the USCHO.com Fan Forum thread or see the footage or hear about it some other way, here’s the news of the week:

A Minneapolis TV station this week aired reports, including hidden-camera footage, showing underage Minnesota hockey players in a campus-area bar. Some of them were drinking, and there also were claims that Gophers players were allowed to enter the bar without ID checks or paying the cover charge.

The first report was aired by Twin Cities station KMSP on Sunday. On Wednesday, Gophers personnel made their first comments on the issue, with coach Don Lucia saying he was “disappointed and concerned with the choices that some of our student-athletes made in connection with recent reports of underage drinking.”

His statement went on to say the situation would be handled internally and made no mention of possible punishments.

The station’s report, detailed on its Web site, said over the course of a two-month investigation, eight underage players were filmed inside Blarney Pub and Grill. Those inside the bar were identified as R.J. Anderson, Justin Bostrom, Kris Chucko, Phil Kessel, Jeff Frazee, Alex Goligoski, Evan Kaufmann and Derek Peltier. Chucko, Frazee, Goligoski and Kaufmann were identified in the report as either drinking alcohol or holding a container of alcohol.

Further reports by the station, again as detailed on its Web site, showed underage players entering the bar without paying the $3 cover charge.

None of the pictures is especially flattering to Minnesota’s hockey program and athletic department, but the waiver of the cover charge might end up being troublesome in terms of NCAA rules, which prohibit players from accepting unadvertised discounts or cash equivalents.

Gophers players were made off-limits to the media this week, but before that order, captain Gino Guyer told the St. Paul Pioneer Press: “If anything, it’s going to make us stronger. “We’re in each other’s corners all the way.”

Trivial Matters

North Dakota has allowed 15 goals in its last three games, the most it has allowed since 2001, when it gave up 19 goals in a span that covered a game against Wisconsin and two against which WCHA team? Answer below.

Well Done, Schedule-Makers

There often are complaints about the WCHA’s scheduling, so here’s a compliment: Kudos to the league for scheduling four straight weekends with five league series early in the season.

This is week three of that stretch, and it makes a difference in that no team will be way behind another in terms of games played by Thanksgiving.

Last season, it took until Dec. 3-4 to get a weekend where all 10 league teams were in action against league opponents, and there were only three of those weekends for the entire season.

After Thanksgiving this season, there are five more weekends with five WCHA series, and after Jan. 7, there is only one non-conference game on the schedule for any league team — Wisconsin’s game against Ohio State at Lambeau Field on Feb. 11. With every game down the stretch counting for points, that should make things that much more exciting.

A Shot of Confidence

Minnesota-Duluth forward Andrew Carroll went six games without even a point at the start of this, his freshman season. That’s not uncommon for rookies, but considering he led the USHL with 32 goals last season, he was feeling frustrated.

He found a great time to break through. Carroll scored once in the Bulldogs’ tie with Minnesota last Friday and twice in their victory a night later.

“He wasn’t down, he just thought he could chip in,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. “But the kid works. He’s the last guy off the ice all the time, last guy out of the weight room. It was nice to see the puck go in. They weren’t the prettiest goals but you take that any time you as a player expect to score and you’re not. And obviously they were big goals.

“Those are the things: They get one and they feel a little bit better about themselves and maybe they’re not pressing as much. I think a lot of guys were, maybe our older guys trying to take the burden, which is understandable.”

Since starting the season 0-4 with 18 goals allowed in that span, the Bulldogs are 2-0-2 with 10 goals allowed in their last four games. Sandelin noted that better play out of goaltender Isaac Reichmuth gave everybody on the team a shot of confidence they now carry into a home series against North Dakota.

“I thought this weekend some of our young guys showed a lot of poise,” Sandelin said. “We got scrambling in the third period when Minnesota was coming pretty good. But that’s where Isaac came through. He’s probably one of the biggest differences, with his play.”

Those youngsters — 10 freshman played for UMD in last Saturday’s game — have make some improvements recently, too. There’s still a ways to go, however, and Sandelin is being patient.

“I said hey, let’s look at this thing at Christmastime because there’s going to be so many ups and downs,” Sandelin said. “I like the fact that the last two weekends we’ve played four or five pretty good periods and we’ve done a lot of good things. You look at performance, obviously. The win at Tech [two weeks ago] obviously helps when you go 0-4, to boost the attitude and the confidence.”

Speaking of freshmen, between Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota this weekend, the teams could put a combined 20 rookies on the ice, based on their lineups from their last games.

Senior Special

Wisconsin’s road sweep of North Dakota last weekend was special for the team’s seniors considering they were embarrassed at Engelstad Arena in their freshman season — also coach Mike Eaves’ first season — but Eaves doesn’t expect any kind of hangover from that in this week’s series against Colorado College.

“Last weekend, having the opportunity to win up there was just satisfying for the seniors,” Eaves said. “I mean, they were there the first year when we got spanked and the fact that they went in there, it wasn’t like a bunch of giddy kids. It was like, ‘We deserve this, we’ve paid dues to get this. This is our fourth year and we hadn’t won up there, and they’ve come through the whole process of working to get to that point to be able to win up there. And so I think being satisfied is more of the way that they’re looking at it and looking forward to the next step.”

Reality Check From Behind

Here’s some evidence for anyone who thinks the new mandate that all checking-from-behind penalties must be a major with at least a game misconduct is too harsh:

Last Friday, there were seven checking-from-behind calls, with at least one in each league game except the St. Cloud State-Colorado College contest.

The intent of the rule change makes sense: Most would agree that hits from behind near the boards are dangerous and need to be eliminated from the game. But there are those who think the mandatory major penalty leads to too much special-teams play.

As an aside, there was an eighth major penalty called last Friday, to Denver’s Andrew Thomas. The sophomore defenseman was called for a rare head-butting penalty, which also drew a game disqualification.

In Other Words

• League players of the week were Denver’s Ryan Dingle on offense, goaltenders Brian Elliott of Wisconsin and Reichmuth of Minnesota-Duluth as the co-defensive winners and Minnesota State goaltender Dan Tormey as the top rookie.

• Colorado College’s Brett Sterling was named the national player of the month for October by CSTV and the Hockey Commissioners’ Association.

• Former Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer is leading the U.S. national select team in the TUI Nations Cup in Germany this week.

• Denver’s Dingle scored twice in each game against Michigan Tech last weekend, including the game-winning goal both nights.

• CC winger Scott Thauwald returned last Saturday from a knee injury suffered in January and scored a goal in his first game back.

• Alaska-Anchorage has played from behind in all eight of its games this season. The Seawolves have allowed the opening goal of the game each time.

• David Backes and Ryan Carter each had a four-point night against Alaska-Anchorage last Friday. Backes had two goals; Carter had one.

• Tony Lucia, the Minnesota coach’s son, has verbally committed to play for the Gophers starting in 2007, according to Twin Cities media reports.

• Guyer’s next point for Minnesota will be the 100th of his career.

• Trivia answer: Minnesota State.

Final Word

Underage drinking — and its potentially lethal consequences — is something that needs to be addressed on campuses everywhere, so here’s hoping everyone can make some good out of Minnesota’s current situation. And not just about not getting caught.

UVM’s Atkinson Leaves School After Drunk-Driving Arrest

USCHO Staff Report
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Mike Atkinson, a freshman at Vermont, has withdrawn from school after his arrest on charges of driving while intoxicated, as well as careless driving, after a car crash on the Vermont campus on Oct. 2. He had already been suspended by the team.

Atkinson, 20, a native of Kinderhook, N.Y., was taken to a local hospital by police after crashing a car into a building at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 2. Atkinson’s blood alcohol content at the time of the accident was 0.212, over twice the legal limit in Vermont for drivers of drinking age.

He was suspended indefinitely at that time for a violation of the student-athlete code of conduct.

Atkinson, who is expected to be arraigned this week, decided recently to leave school in the wake of the incident, according to Vermont school officials. He was a three-year captain and team most valuable player at Salisbury School, scoring 23 goals and 47 points last year.

He had not appeared in a game this season.

This Week in Hockey East: Nov. 10, 2005

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A Hero Among Us

Sacrifice is a word invoked often in team sports. Without question, the collective willingness to subjugate the individual for the greater whole is often the difference between success and failure.

Here, however, it’s time to look at sacrifice in an even more significant context, one particularly appropriate in light of the observance of Veteran’s Day.

I speak to you of Derek Hines. You may have watched him skate for the Army hockey team and admired his speed and tenacity. Or perhaps you never saw him play.

Either way, Hines made the supreme sacrifice for his country on Sept. 1. An Army Ranger and First Lieutenant, he was killed in a firefight with insurgents in Afghanistan.

He was 25.

It’s a tragedy whenever a young person dies. A friend of my family survived his tour of duty in Iraq only to be killed recently in a motorcycle accident. In a horrific irony, his death came on the night on which he, along with many of his comrades, was to be honored for his service.

All such deaths are tragic.

But Hines was one of us, a member of the college hockey community.

“At 5-6 and 165 pounds, ‘Hinesy’ was certainly not the biggest player when he stepped on the ice,” wrote Army coach Brian Riley in his letter to the college hockey community. “But when the game started, he played as big as anybody out there. As a result of his hard-working attitude, he was a fan favorite here at Tate Rink. I know all college hockey fans would have loved to have Derek play for their team. You could not have asked for a better teammate than Derek.

“His biggest concern when he played was always for his fellow teammates. Derek never put himself before the team, and as a result, was respected and held in the highest regard by everybody with which he played. I know that every college hockey player would have considered it an honor to be a teammate of Derek’s.

“As a coach, Hines was exactly the type of person that you want all of your players to be when they are in your program. More importantly, he was exactly the type of person you hope all of your players become when they leave your program.”

If not for the likes of Derek Hines in past generations, we would not have the freedoms that we enjoy today. It’s an obvious fact, but one commonly overlooked.

Servicemen and servicewomen of this generation have, like Derek Hines, willingly chosen to put themselves in harm’s way because of principles that they believe in and are willing to sacrifice for.

Here’s a thank you to them all.

Standing At The Precipice

Massachusetts-Lowell went into its Nov. 2 game against Merrimack seemingly on the precipice of a second-straight disastrous start to a season. Last year, the River Hawks didn’t win their first league game until January 7. On that date, they were 9-0 in nonconference games, but that did them no good in the Hockey East standings.

This year, they entered the Merrimack game with three losses in their four league contests. Another loss would be all too familiar.

In fact, it might have been worse. While Lowell’s schedule in 2004-05 included the likes of Boston College, Maine, Boston University (twice) and New Hampshire — namely a gauntlet of Hockey East’s perennial powerhouses — this season’s early losses had included a sweep at the hands of Providence. The Friars were impressing a lot of people, but in the preseason Lowell had been picked to finish third and Providence eighth.

So if ever a Nov. 2 game fit into the must-win category, this matchup with Merrimack was it. The Warriors were also making a positive impression, but they’d been picked to finish last. If Lowell were to lose this game, it would be a steep uphill climb the rest of the season.

After two periods, the River Hawks trailed, 1-0, despite outshooting Merrimack, 35-15.

Gulp.

Oh, and by the way, the next three league games on the schedule were against Maine and New Hampshire. Followed by one against undefeated and sixth-ranked Vermont. And then another three against Maine and New Hampshire.

Not to belabor the point, but that added up to a seven-game stretch of league games involving three against second-ranked Maine, one against number-six Vermont, and three against 12th-ranked UNH.

Can you hand me the pain-killers, please?

And if the potential for deja vu wasn’t enough, guess when that murderers’ row of games ended? Yeah, the exact same Jan. 7 date that marked Lowell’s final breakthrough last year.

Entering that stretch with a 1-4 record within Hockey East would be a recipe for disaster.

And if players thought like fans, they’d grip their sticks so hard that their knuckles would be white and the flow of blood to the fingers would be cut off.

After the River Hawks scored three unanswered third-period goals to grab the comeback win, coach Blaise MacDonald explained.

“[The win was] enormous, but our M.O. was not about that,” he said. “It was about [giving our] best effort. We needed to play harder.

“I had no reservations whatsoever. If we lost that game, 1-0, and played like [we did], that was going to be a massive accomplishment for us. Getting the W obviously quantifies it.”

The way they got the win, by means of a tough comeback, made it even better.

“Going into this game, if you were to script the type of game that would unfold and we would end up getting a W, it couldn’t have been better,” MacDonald said. “We’ve had a problem fighting ourselves mentally.

“We played great [tonight] over 40 minutes, but didn’t have a lot to show for it. [But] there was no give-up; if anything there was more inspiration. This game should go a long way in our development.”

With consecutive league wins against BU and Merrimack under the River Hawks’ belts, MacDonald was then asked whether that built momentum that would make future games a bit easier.

“It should,” he quipped. “We’ve got a couple cupcakes coming up in Maine and UNH.”

Making A Difference At Both Ends

BU’s Brad Zancanaro earned kudos from coach Jack Parker after Friday’s win over Vermont for his play while down five-on-three and six-on-three.

“[He’s got] heart,” Parker said. “He’s a terrific competitor. He’s in great shape; he can play a lot. But even when he gets tired, he doesn’t stop. Some guys say ‘That’s it; I can’t go any more,’ and they stand there until the whistle blows, but he just keeps going.

“He’s such a great competitor; he’s smart, and he’s a very strong kid for his size. All of those things make him very valuable defensively.”

On Sunday, the 5-5 sparkplug flipped the coin to the other side, scoring the game-winner at Maine.

“In general Zancanaro has been playing like that the whole year,” Parker said. “I am glad to see he got rewarded for it.”

Quotes Of Note

Parker on BU’s win over Vermont: “At times we were absolutely terrific, and we’d be a 10 or 11 [on a scale of 1 to 10]. But there were a few times when I thought, ‘What are they thinking out there?’ We went brain-dead a few times, and we got away with it tonight.”

Parker on Peter MacArthur’s goal in that game: “It’s almost like the goalie’s saying ‘Hey, I didn’t know you were going to shoot it: Tell me when you’re going to shoot it next time, will you?’ He’s amazingly quick at getting his shot off, and he seems to disguise it. We’ve seen him get a number of goals from 40 feet because the goalie wasn’t quite ready for it.”

UVM assistant coach Damian Digulian after Vermont’s loss to BU: “We got away from the things that have made us successful so far this year — blocking shots, backchecking hard, playing hard along the boards, etcetera. I think we just got away from Catamount hockey for the evening, and they took advantage of it.”

Parker after BU’s win over Maine: “This was the best team we played all year.”

Maine coach Tim Whitehead after that loss: “They aren’t all going to happen just for us.”

MacDonald on Brian Bova scoring the game-winner at Merrimack, just 10 minutes from where he grew up: “That’s why you coach, to see guys like that get what they deserve in their hometown.”

Crank Up The Tivo

Get-A-Lifers, it’s time to put your Tivo into action. Starting on Friday, Nov. 11, there will be eight Hockey East games telecast in nine days, with eight of them being league contests. Five different television stations combine to provide this bonanza.

It doesn’t stop after the nine days. As noted in previous columns, this is a 70-telecast season for the league. But this amounts to a special nine-day stretch.

Upcoming Hockey East Television Schedule
Fri., Nov. 11: 7:00, NESN — New Hampshire at Boston University
Sat., Nov. 12: 7:00, NHPTV — Maine at New Hampshire
Sat., Nov. 12: 7:00, CN8 — Boston University at Massachusetts
Sun., Nov. 13: 3:00, ESPNU — Boston College at Vermont
Thu , Nov. 15: 7:30, CN8 — Harvard at Boston College
Fri., Nov. 18: 7:00, NHPTV — UMass Lowell at New Hampshire
Fri., Nov. 18: 7:00, CoxSports — Boston University at Providence
Sat., Nov. 19: 7:00, CN8 — Northeastern at Boston College

Congrats

Congratulations to Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon and his wife on the birth of their baby girl.

And that also goes to BU coach Jack Parker for becoming the first coach to win 300 Hockey East games. That milestone came in the Terriers’ win over Vermont on Friday.

Trivia Contest

In last week’s trivia contest, Scott Weighart was after a little alliteration. Earlier in his column, Scott referred to Terrier recruit Brett Bennett. His challenge for last week: For as many letters of the alphabet as possible, try to come up with one current or former Hockey East player who has the same first and last initial.

Scott received quite a variety of replies for this one. He ended up thinking that he should have had a mile-long list of fine print for the rules on this one — something like those worrisome “User Agreements” that one has to accept before being allowed to download software from the Internet.

Some people submitted all the names that they could think of that fit the alliterative pattern instead of trying to maximize the number of letters of the alphabet. Some pointed out that Scott did not specifically say that he wanted the names of Hockey East men and therefore submitted the likes of Gretchen Gottwald (Providence) and Vanessa Vani (Maine).

Sorry, folks. All I can say is that I’m glad that Scott asked to receive the entries instead of me, because I’m too senile to figure out who should have been declared the winner.

This question proved to be a great one for the Get-A-Life crowd, as it turns out that the one guy who has a first and last initial of ‘F’ played all of one game for UMass! Wow, that was challenging! A few other entries ran into problems because they named players who played at Hockey East schools before there was a Hockey East!

In the end, BU superfan Sean Pickett came up with players representing 14 letters of the alphabet — claiming top honors although he didn’t submit until 1:42 a.m. on Sunday morning. Here is his winning entry, with at least some of the other possible options following parenthetically:

Adrian Aucoin, BU (Anthony Aquino, Andrew Alberts); Brian Bova, Mass.-Lowell (Ben Bishop, Brock Bradford, Blake Bellefeuille); Carl Corazzini, BU (Chris Collins, Chris Chaput, Chris Classen); Dave Dahlberg, BU (Derek Damon, Dan Dennis, David Dartsch, Dan Donato); Fernando Fernandez, UMass; Glenn Grayton, Mass.-Lowell; Jacques Joubert, BU (Jon Jenkins, John Jakopin, Jon Jankus); Kevin Kielt, BU (Krys Kolanos, Kyle Kidney); Lucas Lawson (Maine); Mark Mullen, BU (Mick Mounsey, Mark Mowers, Mike Mottau, etc.); Pat Percella, BU; Rob Regan, BU (Rico Rossi, Rob Ricci); Sean Sullivan, BU (Steve Santini, Steve Slonina, Stephan Siwiec); Terry Taillefer, BU (Tyson Teplitsky, Tim Turner).

A few people came up with 13 but were stumped on matching Sean: not because of the immortal Fernando Fernandez but because of Glenn Grayton, who played quite a few games for Lowell in 1984-85. Thanks especially to Jonathan Fox for providing a lengthy and neatly alphabetized list!

Sean Pickett requested two cheers, which was granted in light of the difficulty of this question. His winning cheers are:

“Go BU!”

and

“Go, Cats, Go!”

The latter is not for New Hampshire, but rather Vermont, his second favorite team.

This week’s question is: Which UNH hockey player has a brother playing hockey at the University of Maine? There’s more to this one than meets the eye. Email my trivia account with your answer. The winner will be notified by Tuesday; if you haven’t heard by then you either had the wrong answer or someone else beat you to it.

Note: Submit suggested trivia questions to the same email address and if your question is used, you’ll get a cheer as well as long as you were first to submit it. Don’t forget to include the answers, since yours truly isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

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

• I’m sorry, but losing Theo Epstein was the unpardonable sin for Larry Lucchino and Red Sox ownership. Take Bill Buckner, Grady Little and every other Sox screw-up and put them all together and it doesn’t match the blunder quotient of this one. Folks, losing Theo, and especially in this way, was on par with the New York Yankees’ all-time chokeroo last year. There can be no excuse for this one. Make no mistake; this greatly affects the team’s chances this year and for many years into the future. And it forever taints this fan’s view of Lucchino.

• Unless rumors of Theo’s possible return become reality. “We Want Theo! We Want Theo! We Want Theo!”

• And what a duplicitous scumbag Dan Shaughnessy showed himself to be, as if we needed any further evidence. He wrote like Lucchino’s lapdog in his infamous Sunday hatchet job and then reacted with a “Who me?” attitude when Theo bolted.

• As for the Patriots, their current failings in the defensive secondary would be easily understood and considered even intuitively obvious if not for the group’s success last season. This is exactly what I thought would happen when Ty Law and Tyrone Poole went down a year ago. Instead, the Pats took street free agents and players who didn’t start in college and rode them to another Super Bowl. Yes, Rodney Harrison acted as the glue in the secondary and he’s sidelined now. But the unit was struggling this year even before he went down. I just don’t get it.

Thanks to Scott Weighart and Matthew Conyers.

This Week in the CCHA: Nov. 10, 2005

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Timing Is Everything.

In the Friday, Nov. 4 game between Ohio State and Miami, there were a total of 178 penalty minutes, 101 of which — stop smirking — were assessed to the Buckeyes.

Of course, I wasn’t there to see it.

This is the way every week before moving households should go: Secure the movers. Pack the belongings. Keep important documents separate. Supervise the movers on the actual day. Safely transport pets. Look around at new digs and say, “There’s a lot to do, but at least it’s all here.”

This is the way my week went: Secured a rental truck. Beseeched friends for help. Packed as much as I could in the limited number of boxes I begged, borrowed, stole. Hauled carload after carload of books and Pyrex collectibles — yes, I know — down the flight of stairs from the old place and across town and up the stairs into the new place. Taught grumpy-bordering-on-hostile writing students. Hauled more of the heavy stuff.

Tried to secure utilities before moving in. Hauled again. Taught more students. Was broadsided at an intersection near campus. Wept at my luck Saturday after six faithful friends spent the day moving my furniture. Transported very unhappy felines Saturday after the Miami-OSU game. Looked around and said, “I can’t believe how much there is to move still!”

In the whole blessed process, I missed Friday night’s game between the Buckeyes and RedHawks. I couldn’t have driven my car down to Oxford — and it’s a car new to me this year, rest in peace, beloved Gypsy — and had no time to secure a ride. As it was, I tuned in to the radio very late in the game and never even caught mention of the actual number of penalties and minutes.

At Saturday night’s game, Jess Bechard, the Miami sports information director, told me about the minutes. He said, “There were 178 minutes in last night’s game.” I said, “No!” He said, “Yeah!” and handed me the box (which I subsequently misplaced in Sunday’s continued moving).

This is what actually happens in press boxes.

From what I pieced together from folks on both sides of I-70, the game wasn’t particularly chippy — although that’s always a possibility when these two lovebirds get together — but rather that it became unmanageable. Certainly, the redoubled regulations enforcement played a hand in the total minutes, but I have to say that I admire the officiating crew’s handiwork at 7:10 of the first period, when all five skaters from each team — every player on the ice except for OSU goaltender Dave Caruso and Miami netminder Charlie Effinger — went to their respective boxes en masse.

Toward the end of the game, former OSU bad boy (at least he seems to be trying this season) Nate Guenin was given a 10-minute misconduct, probably for saying something he shouldn’t have to referee Craig Lisko. Lisko may have done Guenin a favor; six players were given 10-minute misconducts at 20:00 in the third period, and knowing Guenin’s patience — I said he was trying, not that he was reformed — had he been there he may have earned a little more than what he got earlier.

In between the penalties, they played some hockey in Oxford. Miami won 3-1. The Buckeyes were 0-for-8 on the power play, the RedHawks 0-for-9.

And I missed it.

I think I attended the last game in which OSU registered over 100 minutes, and I believe it was in 1998 (or was it 1999?) against Ferris State in Ewigleben Arena. That was the year that Buckeye Jason Selleke accidentally bit Bulldog Jason Hodel’s finger — in fairness to Selleke, Hodel was trying to fish-hook him — but I can’t recall if the 107 minutes were in the biting game (Oct. 17, 1998) or during the playoffs the following March.

(I caught OSU SID Leann Parker, who verified the minutes against FSU, on her cell tonight in her car. I can’t find my OSU media guide. Some box somewhere.)

So, it’s Thursday, I’ve just come home from spending more quality time with students, there’s still no heat in the apartment — although the hot water heater and stove now work — and I am, for once, grateful there’s no hockey within driving distance this weekend, not that I would actually drive my damaged car out of town.

And thanks to Tom, Tony, Sandy, Melissa, Tammy, and Mary for their help last Saturday.

Tony, I’m sorry about your Buckeyes. Good thing you’re a Blue Jackets fan, too.

And I’m making dinner for you six next week. I swear.

Miami Sweeps. Get Used to It.

One thing was clear from last Saturday’s Miami-OSU game; even though the Buckeyes were more than a little off their game, the RedHawks are absolutely for real.

In fact, I think it’s safe to say that if the early going is any indication, these are the respective seasons I thought Miami and OSU would have last year.

The RedHawks are solid from the net out, with the ability to rotate sophomore Charlie Effinger (.939 SV%) and freshman Jeff Zatkoff (.947 SV%).

“From Day 1, ever since we stepped on the ice, we thought that both guys could play,” said Miami head coach Enrico Blasi. “The nice thing is they’re the best of friends. They know that one’s going to play one night and one’s going to play the next and as long as they keep doing the job, we’re just going to keep going with it.”

In fact, it’s safe to say that Miami a team that understands the meaning of the old adage about defense and winning games. Much like the Michigan State Spartans of the 1990s — at least now, in the early going — the RedHawks are solid in net and led in scoring by a couple of defensemen, senior Andy Greene (3-5–8) and sophomore Mitch Ganzak (1-6–7).

And this Miami defense is as versatile as it is deep. At least in the game I saw last Saturday, the RedHawks kept the Buckeyes to many perimeter and Grade-B shots, opened up space for Zatkoff to see nearly everything coming, cleared pucks cleanly and took shots with bodies, and closed ranks when it had to.

Blasi credits a trio of freshmen defensemen — Raymond Eichenlaub, Alec Martinez, and Kevin Roeder — with opening up possibilities for other players on the RedHawk squad.

“We moved two defensemen up front. I don’t know if anybody knows that. Stevie Dennis and Matt Davis are usually defenseman, and we felt so confident in the three freshmen [defensemen] that we were able to move those two guys up and give us some depth up front.

“Stevie Dennis and Matt Davis do a great job killing penalties, defensively, and taking faceoffs. When we’re killing penalties, we have four defensemen on the ice, and that’s because of those three freshmen defensemen. They play poised, they play with confidence, and they stay within themselves. They’re earning the trust of their teammates, which is nice.”

Until Saturday’s game, the RedHawks had been 3-for-41 on the power play, including that goose egg for many chances in the Friday night contest, but aside from Greene’s empty-net goal, all Miami tallies were with the man advantage, a welcome sign for Blasi.

“It’s always been one of our strong points, ever since I’ve been at Miami. For whatever reason, we’ve had some players that buy into the plan and are able to execute. I thought tonight that Marty Guerin, Chris Michael, and Matt Christie really stepped up their game.”

It may be early in the season, but already the RedHawks are feeling last year’s injury- and illness-plagued campaign fade like an old scar.

“It was a tough start last year,” said Blasi. “We had a lot of adversity, but guys like Ryan Jones, Nate Davis, and Nino Musitelli, Mitch Ganzak, and Brad Robbins, guys that were freshmen last year played a lot, played in key situations when Matt Christie, Marty Guerin, and Chris Michael were hurt.

“That experience, we knew it would pay off down the road. We didn’t want to put them into the fire that quick, but it so happened that way and you see the confidence, especially in a guy like Ryan Jones. He’s a sophomore, he’s a captain.”

This week, the RedHawks travel to Sault Ste. Marie where, apparently, anything can happen.

They Play Hockey Outside of Ohio, Too, Paula.

So, listening to the OSU-Miami game last Friday, the Buckeye announcers, Neil Sika and John Mowat, were perplexed by their inability to procure a score for the LSSU-WMU game. They couldn’t figure out why no one at the Western press box was answering.

Well, now we know.

Lake Superior State beat Western Michigan 10-0 last Friday. That’s 10 goals for LSSU in one game, not one month. The Lakers went on to beat the Broncos 3-1 the following night, thus producing 13 goals in one weekend.

Think about this. LSSU scored 10 goals total in March 2005, 19 in February, 11 in January, 14 in December 2004 (including two five-goal performances), 15 in November (in spite of being shut out twice), and 14 in October.

Last season’s 15-1 exhibition win over Toronto doesn’t count.

Eighty-three goals for the 2004-2005 season. Thirteen goals for last weekend’s series vs. Western Michigan. I’d say things are looking up. Sort of.

This week, the CCHA suspended freshman defenseman Matt Wheeler for a spearing incident during that shutout against WMU. The incident occurred at 9:32 in the third period, after which Wheeler received a major penalty for spearing and a game disqualification.

Upon review, however, the league thought Wheeler should sit a total of four games, meaning he’ll miss this weekend’s series home series with Miami and a trip to Columbus the following weekend (Nov. 18-19).

And then there’s the controversy brewing about alleged NCAA violations at LSSU. On Oct. 25, LSSU reported two secondary rules violations to the NCAA, both of which allegedly occurred last season.

The first violated reported had to do with observing “for the purpose of evaluating student-athletes outside the playing season in September, 2004,” according to the CCHA website.

The second violation, also according to the CCHA — which received its information from the violations report — had to do with the number of “pre-season required hours” in “countable athletics activities per week” as regulated by the NCAA.

The violations report alleges that both actions were “deliberate,” and that there was a “willful” intent to cover up by the Laker hockey program.

In response, former Laker head coach Frank Anzalone, who lost his job at the end of the season, fired back through his attorney. In a statement that appeared in the Soo Evening News, Anzalone’s attorney Michael Dettmer denied that Anzalone had illegally observed practices and forced student-athletes to practice more than was allowed by the NCAA in preseason.

Dettmer called the actions “libelous and simply intended to destroy” his client’s career.

My favorite quote from the statement: “Their tactics, their malice and their failure to live up to their contractual obligations speak volumes about the state of Division I hockey at this school under this athletic director.”

Dettmer could have added, “…and play-by-play man” for accuracy.

What’s clear about LSSU is very little, at this point, except that the Lakers seem to be playing better under Jim Roque. Perhaps that’s a natural reaction to a coaching change when someone controversial exits; perhaps this is just one season later, given all of the well-chronicled troubles of last year’s team.

Regardless, goaltender Jeff Jakaitis is being given a chance to show that he’s for real, nightly, and that’s a real treat for CCHA fans.

And Anzalone is now coaching the Johnstown Chiefs of the East Coast Hockey League, and he’s smiling in his official picture. The Chiefs are in last place in the American Conference, North Division, with a record of 0-4-3. Thirteen former collegians grace the Chiefs’ roster, including four players from the CCHA, all former Buckeyes: Doug Andress, J.B. Bittner, Paul Caponigri, and John Toffey, who transferred to Massachusetts after his first season at OSU.

Alaska: Also Not Ohio

Last weekend, the ranked Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks traveled to Big Rapids, Mich., and earned three points from the hosting Ferris State Bulldogs. It wasn’t the anticipated sweep.

“Reflecting on it after the fact,” said UAF head coach Tavis MacMillan, “it is good. Sixteen of our 20 players were freshman and sophomores both nights.”

The Nanooks were also playing without senior Kelly Czuy (coach’s decision) and the injured Nathan Fornataro, who should be back when the Nanooks travel to Omaha Nov. 18-19.

The win was just the fourth all-time for the Nanooks in Ewigleben, a place that has been traditionally unkind to UAF. FSU still holds a 13-4-1 lead in this all-time series in Big Rapids, even after last weekend.

UAF’s young team is “making mistakes still,” said MacMillan, who added that his team has “gotten really good goaltending all year.”

Said MacMillan, “If we’re a six-cylinder vehicle, we’re only clicking on four cylinders. We get timely goal scoring and timely goaltending. The first night [vs. FSU] our skill guys really came through for us. Saturday, we got good goaltending — as did Ferris, I really like that O’Keefe kid — but it’s a tough place to play.

“We got three points in a rink where traditionally we’ve had no success.”

MacMillan is still high on the return of senior defenseman and captain Jordan Hendry. “He’s got a presence about him, just this aura. He’s such a powerful kid; he’s such a great skater. He can separate opposition from the puck; he can physically move you. He anticipates really well. His skating and speed allow him to do some things.”

And, for the record, “that O’Keefe kid” is freshman goaltender Mitch O’Keefe — what a great hockey name — who has a .909 save percentage through seven games.

Blueliner of the Week

Finally, my dear CCHA fans, a few nominations for Blueliner of the Week, and some truly worthy ones at that.

Some of you may not want to hear this, but we’re going back to Ohio for this week’s winner: Bowling Green’s Michael Hodgson. I believe that Hodgson, a sophomore, was nominated by family members, but that doesn’t negate his verifiable achievements, including his play on the penalty kill and his ability to force opponents to take penalties while staying out of the box himself.

Congratulations, Michael Hodgson, on your performance in BGSU’s two-game sweep of Nebraska-Omaha.

Thank you to everyone who wrote in with this week’s nominees, who included OSU’s Nate Guenin, FSU’s Joe Van Culin, Michigan’s Mark Mitera, and Miami’s Andy Greene. An OSU fan wrote in with Guenin, and I threw Greene’s name in; both were excellent defensively Saturday and by all accounts Friday.

I’m Just a Tease

I know the holiday-themed columns are usually the chattiest, but I can’t think of any occasion that occurs less frequently than the holidays that I actually look forward to less than Valentine’s Day than moving.

Guess what? That sentence is grammatically correct.

So you’re just going to have to wait until next week for a full-blown return to Games of the Week, trivia, and anything about FSU’s Matt Verdone and UAF’s Kyle Greentree.

I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that the moving-accident-moving-teaching-moving schedule didn’t allow me to connect with Bob Daniels, one of the CCHA’s nicest guys, or that I actually talked to Tavis MacMillan at length and completely forgot to ask about Greentree.

I’m pretty sure I left the brain on the truck last Saturday. Most of you long-time readers are certain of it.

I swear, next week it’s all about you.

This Week in the SUNYAC

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Some Answers But More Questions

So, after the first full weekend of conference play, some questions were answered. However, as is typical, even more questions got raised.

Heading into this past weekend, the questions to answer were when was Oswego going to wake up, how bad of a start would Potsdam get, is Geneseo prepared to repeat and will Plattsburgh return to dominating form?

The Oswego question was answered very quickly in their 10-1 blowout of Buffalo State. The game was never close as Oswego opened up a 2-0 lead after one, a 6-0 lead after two, and it was 7-0 before the Bengals even scored. Brendan McLaughlin was the star of the game scoring the first two goals en route to a five-goal game. Ryan Scott made 22 saves as Oswego outshot Buffalo State, 40-23.

A better test came the next night when the Lakers hosted Fredonia. The Blue Devils came in missing Neal Sheehan due to a fight the night before and then they lost their star, Matt Zeman, halfway through the Lakers game when he received a major and game disqualification for hitting from behind. They also received a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. They were already down a man seconds before on a high sticking call. Shortly afterwards, Fredonia received a slashing call.

Amazingly, Oswego never scored with all those penalties. However, the momentum did change because Fredonia was mounting a comeback at that point. After falling behind, 3-0, the Blue Devils scored two power play goals before committing the chain of penalties.

To add insult to injury, when Fredonia weathered the storm and finally got a power play of their own, Oswego scored a shorthanded goal with five seconds left in the penalty. Oswego went onto win the game 6-2.

Now that the Lakers have woken up, they will face the North Country test, traveling to Plattsburgh and Potsdam.

The Bears finally strung together two strong games even though they only won one of them. In the best game of the weekend, Potsdam lost to Geneseo, 4-3, in overtime. Potsdam took a 2-1 lead after falling behind 1-1. After Geneseo tied it up, Potsdam retook the lead, only to have Geneseo once again knot the game.

Potsdam had an excellent chance in overtime, but all that did was result in a Geneseo rush the other way and a spectacular goal by Mitch Stephens.

Potsdam’s Vince Cuccaro stood on his head at times making 27 saves in the loss. Jeff Pasemko got the win needing only 11 saves.

The following day, Potsdam’s good effort paid off, blowing out Brockport, 9-2, as the Bears went 6 for 12 on the power play.

Potsdam is looking forward to getting Oswego after they get worn out by Plattsburgh. But, they have no illusions of an easy time.

“Obviously, they are a high flying team,” Potsdam coach Glenn Thomaris said. “Oswego’s got some tremendous skilled forwards and they shoot the puck and their very aggressive. If they get a goal and get one, two, three, look out. We have to be very tight checking in our own end and keep them off the board as long as we can.”

First, Potsdam cannot overlook Cortland. “Cortland can certainly play very aggressive,” Thomaris said. “Matt Meacham in net is an outstanding goaltender for them. If he gets his game going, it’s tough to beat them. He’s done a good job on us keeping the puck out of the net.”

The Mitch Stephens goal capped a strong effort by Geneseo against Potsdam. It was a goal for the ages as he dazzled the crowd with his moves around the Potsdam defenders and then waited patiently for the Potsdam goalie to go down, before flipping it over him.

“Mitch is such a creative player that whenever he gets the chance and sees the hole, he is a guy that can hit that hole,” Geneseo coach Jason Lammers said.

However, that effort did not get carried over to the next night against Plattsburgh. Despite scoring the first goal, the Ice Knights got beat in every facet of the game as they came out flat and the Cardinals were ready to play. Plattsburgh scored seven unanswered goals for a 7-1 win.

“We just got flat out beat,” Lammers said. “They played a great game.”

That great game means Plattsburgh is now 3-0 in league play with the next four conference games at home. Are the Cardinals back? First, they have to make sure not to look ahead at their game against Oswego and stumble against Cortland. Especially since the Red Dragons stunned Fredonia in a 2-2 tie.

“I think when our guys look at that result, they will not take them lightly,” Emery said of Cortland. “I think our guys know how good the SUNYAC league is. Knowing that going into a game makes it a lot easier to play hard.”

Some questions were answered. Oswego woke up. Potsdam started to reverse their bad start. But, more questions remain.

Is Oswego back to form? Is Plattsburgh truly back to reclaiming the top spot? Will Geneseo rebound from a bad game? Will Fredonia maintain their composure and get back into the hunt? Does Cortland have more upsets on their minds? Is Potsdam truly heading in the right direction?

Some will get answered this weekend. Most likely, even more will get raised.

What Were They Thinking?

I’m not one to usually complain or criticize a league’s pick for players of the week. A lot of times, they need to spread things around and recognize different schools even when a selection may not be the absolute best choice. They have to look at the circumstances, the competition, and sometimes they don’t like to give the selections all to one school in a single week.

But this time, I have to scratch my head and wonder what in the world was the SUNYAC thinking when they did not give the player of the week to Oswego’s Brendan McLaughlin? In the Lakers against Buffalo State, McLaughlin scored five goals and one assist. Five goals! In just one game. I don’t care if it is a blowout against a team at the bottom of the standings. It’s still five goals. That’s more goals than some top players score a whole month.

Then, the next night, he scores a goal and two assists against Fredonia. That’s nine points for the weekend. And, he doesn’t get named player of the week?

SUNYAC Short Shots

Though Potsdam threw a lot of shots at net against Geneseo in the third period, only one shot was on net … Tempers flared in the Fredonia-Cortland game after Cortland scored what proved to be the tying goal at 6:17 of the third period. A fight erupted between Fredonia’s Neal Sheehan and Cortland’s Chris Corso. Both got fighting majors and game disqualifications. Sheehan also got an instigator penalty … Fredonia and Cortland traded their first goals twenty seconds apart … Potsdam’s Chris Brussa-Toi scored a hat trick, all on the power play, against Brockport and Oswego’s Peter Magagna got a hat trick against Fredonia … Three players registered four assists in a single game — Oswego’s Ryan Ellis against Buffalo State and Potsdam’s T.J. Sakaluk and Ryan McCarthy against Brockport … Geneseo had a weekend attendance of nearly 3,000 for their two home games.

Game of the Week

There really is no choice. There are other contenders. For playoff ramifications, as far as just making it into the postseason, the Brockport at Buffalo State game certainly could be very important down the road. The Geneseo at Fredonia game is intriguing. Both teams want to recover from what they would consider a less than stellar weekend. Plus, they both need to grab some points when they know the top two teams in the standings are going to beat each other up.

Geneseo coach Jason Lammers brushed off the importance of the game, noting how every game is important. “The SUNYACs are a tough league,” he said. “We prepare hard for every game.”

The obvious choice, however, is the Oswego at Plattsburgh game. There is, of course, the great rivalry between these two teams, and being at the Stafford Arena, it will be tennis ball and not bagels that get flung out after the first home goal.

First place is the real reason why this game gets the nod. The winner could, when the week is over, be in sole possession of the top spot.

“Oswego is a great hockey team,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “A very skilled team. If they give up anything, they are a young team. It should be a great game.”

Indeed it should.

Life Is Good

Well folks, you are not going to believe this. It’s best you sit down for this news.

Geneseo has a concession stand. Honest. No lie. Granted, I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see if for myself, but I’ve never lied to you before, so take my word for it.

It’s a full fledged, bona fide, albeit semi-permanent (does that mean mostly temporary?), concession stand. Located on one end of the rink on the player benches side, it uses a side hallway for it’s space. They serve pizza, drinks, cookies, and snacks. The prices are reasonable, and though I didn’t try any of the items (I ate before the games), they look very tasty.

The only drawback? You know what’s coming. No hot soft pretzels. But, you have to accept your miracles one step at a time.

This Week in the ECACHL: Nov. 10, 2005

By Timothy Muir McDonald
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The weekend’s most anticipated ECACHL game, a rematch of last year’s ECACHL Championship, will take place on Friday evening as throngs of Big Red hockey fans attempt to turn Harvard’s Bright Hockey Center into “Lynah East.”

Last season the two teams split during the regular season — Cornell won 2-0 in an early season encounter at Lynah Rink, and Harvard returned serve in early January in Cambridge with a tight 1-0 win — but it was the Big Red that had the last laugh, defeating the Crimson 3-1 and claiming the Whitelaw Trophy as League Champions.

The teams have been evenly matched over the last few seasons: both teams won two ECACHL Championships, Cornell took two of three head-to-head encounters in the Championship game, but Harvard has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons whereas Cornell faltered in 2003-2004 and didn’t even make it past the Quarterfinals of the ECACHL Tournament that season.

Much has changed in Cambridge since last hockey season ended in a 3-2 overtime loss to New Hampshire in the NCAA Tournament; goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris, defensemen Noah Welch and Ryan Lannon, and forward Tom Cavanagh, among others have all graduated. Those losses affect every aspect of the Crimson’s team, which last year drew its strength from the nation’s second-best defense, but they are especially felt on special teams, where the now departed seniors played key roles.

As for Cornell, there were some off-season changes in Ithaca. Still present on the roster, however, are Hobey Baker finalist in goaltender David McKee and leading scorer Matt Moulson, as well as the diminutive forward Topher Scott and hulking power forward Byron Bitz.

The parity that has existed between the two teams over the past few seasons may well remain, but because Cornell lost only a handful of players to graduation whereas Harvard suffered significant turnover at critical positions, it is incumbent upon the Crimson to prove that it can still keep pace with the Big Red. A win in front of the “home” crowd at Bright would go a long way towards proving that teams can still challenge Cornell for league dominance.

Weekend Sweep Brings Colgate Back Into National Rankings

A pair of solid road wins over Brown and Yale vaulted Colgate (5-1-1, 2-0-0 ECACHL) back into the national rankings, with voters slotting the Raiders at No. 17 in this week’s poll.

Much of the Raiders success, according to coach Don Vaughan, was attributable to the goaltending of Mark Dekanich, who was named the ECACHL’s Goaltender of the Week for his efforts.

“I thought Mark set the tone for us early and really gave us some momentum for the weekend,” Vaughan said. “He made some big saves when it was 0-0 against Brown and came up with a couple great ones when the score was 1-0.

“When the game was real close he came up big,” he added. “We were fortunate, the puck bounced our way a little bit.”

This weekend, Colgate will be facing stronger competition when it skates at Dartmouth (0-3-0, 0-3-0 ECACHL) and at Harvard (2-1-0, 2-1-0 ECACHL).

“We’ve had some great games against these two teams — Harvard and Dartmouth,” Vaughan said. “We’ve seen them, it seems like every year in the playoffs; I’d anticipate these games being our hardest so far this season.”

“Harvard was great in transition [against Dartmouth],” Vaughan added. “We’re going to be ready for an aggressive team.”

Lots of History Between Them

Vaughan’s comment about always seeing Dartmouth and Harvard in the playoffs was an exaggeration, but only slightly. Over the last four years, Colgate has faced Dartmouth three times in the ECACHL playoffs and the Crimson just once. Those four years have produced some memorable battles, though.

In 2001-2002, Colgate was swept out the playoffs in a first round at Hanover. A year later, the Raiders lost a quarterfinal series in Hanover, 2 games to 1. The Raiders’ lone win came in the first game of the series, an epic 4-3 victory in quadruple overtime. Dartmouth’s goaltender Nick Boucher made 66 saves over the 121-minute affair, and Colgate’s Steve Silverthorn came up with 50 stops. Somehow, after such a gut-wrenching loss, the Big Green rallied and won the next two games of the series, advancing on in the playoffs and forcing the Raiders to again watch from home. During the 2003-2004 season, the Raiders and Big Green met yet again, this time in the league’s Consolation Game in Albany where Colgate emerged with a 3-2 win.

The Crimson’s only recent encounter with Colgate came during last year’s ECACHL Semifinal, and it certainly was one for the scrapbooks. Billed, at least in part, as a matchup between two of the country’s best netminders, the game was low-scoring through its first 55 minutes as Harvard’s Dov Grumet-Morris and Colgate’s Steve Silverthorn both played well in net.

Harvard took a 1-0 on a power play goal in the second period, and that tally stood until Colgate’s Jon Smyth tied the game 27 seconds into the third. The team’s traded chances over the next fifteen minutes before the Crimson’s Charlie Johnson gave his team the lead at 16:01 of the third. Colgate responded 45 seconds later, when Joey Mormina’s slapshot was saved but the puck proceeded to take a tricky bounce up and over Grumet-Morris’s shoulder and into the back of the net.

Harvard replied in turn at 18:03, re-taking the lead on a great individual effort by forward Tom Cavanagh. Again the Raiders countered, this time at 18:39 when Mormina one-timed a shot past Grumet-Morris.

The first overtime passed with the teams getting only a few chances to score, and the second overtime was more than two-thirds expired before Harvard’s Kevin Du finally settled the game. Du — who was denied on a breakaway earlier in the game by Silverthorn — was fed a nice pass that resulted in another breakaway on Silverthorn and this time the forward was equal to the task, slipping the puck into the net and giving Harvard a 4-3 win.

Two years removed from an emotional multi-overtime win over Dartmouth, Colgate was on the opposite side of the scenario after its loss to Harvard. Vaughan and his team rallied, however, winning the Consolation game and earning themselves a bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Penalties Are Killers

Following a split with Hockey East foes Northeastern and Merrimack two weeks ago, Rensselaer coach Dan Fridgen saw both positive and negatives from his team’s play.

On the one hand, the Engineers did rally from a deficit against Northeastern and also overcame a sluggish first period to take a temporary lead over Merrimack. But on the other hand, Fridgen was somewhat frustrated with the slow starts and penalties that his team was taking.

The slow start was particularly problematic against the Huskies, who took advantage of it and outskated and outshot the Engineers in the first period. Against the Warriors, early penalties were the culprit, as Merrimack scored two power play goals on five chances in the first.

“Against Northeastern we dug a hole for ourselves by going down 4-0,” he said. “We were slow to get our skates under us, and we took some penalties that ended in power play goals.

“We have to be smarter,” said Fridgen. “Your best penalty killer is your goaltender, and in those situations you have to come up big. Mathias [Lange] has played very, very well for us in net. As a team, we didn’t support him very well.

“The easiest solution is to play more disciplined, and doing the little things you need to do to kill off penalties,” he added.

Heading into last weekend’s road trip up to the North Country, the themes of discipline and solid penalty killing were what Fridgen was emphasizing.

“Especially against Clarkson we’re going to have to be very, very careful about getting in the penalty box because their power play has been great,” he said.

Unfortunately for Rensselaer fans, penalties and the Clarkson power play did combine to hurt the Engineers. In a penalty filled affair — Rensselaer was penalized for 18 minutes, and Clarkson for 35 — the Golden Knights converted on 2 of their 8 chances with the man advantage; Rensselaer had 11 chances to play up a man, but only scored twice.

“Against Clarkson we took a lot of penalties and didn’t have our power play clickin’,” Fridgen said. “They had their power play clickin’.”

The end result was a 3-3 tie at the end of overtime; the next night against St. Lawrence, the Engineers were more disciplined and played well on the penalty kill, limiting the Saints to one goal from seven chances. Despite a strong penalty kill, the Engineers were outshot over the course of the game and lost 3-2.

“St. Lawrence is always a high energy team and fill of vinegar when they are playing in their own building,” said Fridgen. “We worked real hard against St. Lawrence.

“You’re always disappointed when you come back with only one of four points.”

Fridgen’s team will return home this weekend, hosting a pair against Princeton and Quinnipiac, but he doesn’t feel that home ice will be too much of an advantage for his squad.

“Quinnipiac — they’ve played a pair at Michigan — this is a team that isn’t going to be intimidated,” he said. “This is their first year in the league — they’ve got something to prove.”

“They’ve got a good skating team, and they like to shoot the puck,” Fridgen said. “They like to shoot the puck and get it to the net; and when you get it to the net the odds of good things happening go up.”

Quinnipiac’s Sweet Success

It was a tremendously successful four days for coach Rand Pecknold and the Quinnipiac hockey team. On Friday they won their ECACHL debut against Harvard in front of a boisterous home crowd of more than 5,000 fans at the Hartford Civic Center, and then on Saturday the Bobcats went on to win a 7-5 shootout over Dartmouth. And late Monday when the newest USCHO.com Top 20 Poll was announced, Quinnipiac occupied the No. 20 spot on the poll.

“It was a great weekend, the game against Harvard was a great event for Quinnipiac, [the Civic Center] was a great environment and we had I think 20 or 22 busloads of fans that came down,” Pecknold said. “The fact that we actually won the game was icing on the cake.”

The weekend sweep is what propelled the Bobcats into the Top 20 but it’s a mixed blessing, according to Pecknold.

“The sweep gives you some confidence that you can compete in this league,” he said. But it’s going to be a little harder to sneak up on teams after what we did.”

Princeton’s Play: Impressive and Entertaining

Despite winning its league opener against Dartmouth 3-0, despite shutting out a team that was nationally ranked to start the season, the highlight of last weekend was the Harvard-Princeton game, according to Tiger coach Guy Gadowsky.

“It was a very good hockey game,” Gadowsky said. “It really, really was a great hockey game. There was a good pace to it, there were chances on both sides, and good goaltending.”

“There weren’t many penalties, the officiating was good,” he continued. “That was actually one of the best hockey games we’ve ever participated in.

“It was just a great game to watch, and to be a part of.”

ECACHL Honor Roll

Two times this season a Colgate forward has been named the ECACHL’s Player of the Week; after last weekend’s successful sweep at Yale and Brown, the Raiders can boast of having both the Player of the Week (POTW) and the Goaltender of the Week (GOTW) on their roster.

While Colgate’s talented pair of forward Tyler Burton and goaltender Mark Dekanich are certainly deserving of the league’s recognition, I felt that the surprising pair of wins by Quinnipiac in its debut would warrant serious consideration of a Bobcats player for either POTW or GOTW. Because of that, I’ve added my own Honorable Mentions to highlight the play of Quinnipiac goaltender Bud Fisher and forward Mark Van Vliet.

Player of the Week

Burton, a sophomore forward for Colgate, was named the ECACHL’s Player of the Week on the strength of his five point weekend. On Friday night in the Raiders’ shutout of Brown, Burton recorded a power play goal and two assists for his first career three point game.

He helped start the scoring by assisting on captain Jon Smyth’s game-winning goal in the first and added an assist during a power play in the third period. In between Burton tallied his fourth goal of the season on a second period power play. The next night against Yale, Burton got the game’s first goal two and a half minutes after the opening whistle and added an assist during the third period.

As a rookie, Burton led Colgate in goals scored, tied for the team lead in points with Smyth, and was named to the ECACHL All-Rookie team. He finished the season with 19 goals, including 8 power play tallies and 4 game-winners, and 15 assists.

“Tyler Burton was a great rookie in this league last year,” said Colgate coach Don Vaughan. “He’s around the puck a lot, and he’s getting some good shots. If you give him chances, he’s going to get his share of points.”

Honorable Mention: Van Vliet, like Burton a sophomore forward, helped propel Quinnipiac to its opening weekend success by scoring three goals and adding two assists.

Against the Crimson, Van Vliet helped the Bobcats convert on a five-on-three power play two-thirds of the way through the final period, adding an insurance goal to the team’s 3-2 lead. The next night in a shootout versus Dartmouth, he assisted on two second period goals and then scored two power play goals — one of which was the eventual game-winner — in the final frame.

Through seven games, Van Vliet has three goals and three assists and has become increasingly important on the Bobcats power play unit.

Goaltender of the Week

Dekanich was named the ECACHL’s Goaltender of the Week after helping Colgate sweep Brown and Yale. He pitched a shutout on Friday night against Brown, stopping all 26 pucks he faced, including a third period flurry of 13 shots. The next night against Yale, Dekanich stopped 24 of 26 shots for his third straight win of the season.

“He made some big saves when it was 0-0 against Brown and came up with a couple great ones when the score was 1-0,” Vaughan said. “When the game was real close he came up big.”

Heading into the season, the sophomore netminder was largely unknown to league observers because he spent the majority of his freshman campaign on the Raiders bench backing up Steve Silverthorn. In the limited playing time he did see, though, Dekanich played well, posting a 1-1-0 record with a 1.85 goals against average and a .904 save percentage.

“We’ve always felt that Mark’s a good goalie,” said Vaughan. “This season he’s getting experience that he didn’t get last year playing behind Steve Silverthorn.”

Through six games, Dekanich has posted a 4-1-1 record with a 1.65 GAA and a .940 save percentage. Those numbers place him among the elite goaltenders in the country; currently Dekanich ranks 8th in the nation in goals against average and is tied for sixth with his .940 save percentage.

Honorable Mention: Fisher is the youngest member of this week’s Honor Roll, which might make his performance in net for the Bobcats all the more impressive. A true freshman, Fisher is 6-1-0 on the season, has posted a 1.90 goals against average and a .918 save percentage, and already has two shutouts to his name.

In Friday’s win over Harvard, Fisher stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced, including a barrage of 15 shots from the Crimson during the first period.

“Harvard was dominant out of the gate,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “Harvard was all over us and my goalie made some huge saves for us.”

Fisher stayed strong all night, allowing only two goals — one while his team was on the penalty kill and another when the sides were skating four-on-four — despite Harvard’s aggressive offense.

The next night against Dartmouth, Fisher entered the game at the start of the third period in relief of fellow freshman Wes Russell, and helped the Bobcats hold on for the 7-5 win over the Big Green.

This Week in the ECAC WEST

By
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Hobart’s (lack of) Power Play

Last weekend wasn’t quite what Hobart coach Mark Taylor was hoping for.
The Statesmen hit the road for games at Utica and Manhattanville, and
Hobart was swept.

“The games weren’t what we wanted outcome-wise,” said Taylor. “We
wanted to come out of there with some points, and didn’t. So we need to
make up some ground. The game Friday night [at Utica] was nice, because
it wasn’t a penalty-ridden game. We just didn’t capitalize on some of
our opportunities. We had quite a few grade A scoring chances that we
didn’t finish on. Both teams over the weekend finished better than we
did.”

Hobart outshot both Utica and Manhattanville in the games, but could
only muster a total of three goals on 55 shots. It didn’t help that the
Statesmen went 0-for-11 on the power play Saturday against the Valiants,
while Manhattanville scored two power play goals and chipped in an
empty-netter.

“We didn’t capitalize on our power plays at Manhattanville,” said
Taylor. “That is obviously something that we need to improve on.”

The Statesmen are currently last in the league in power play success,
only converting on ten percent of its opportunities.

Hobart has been rotating starts between two goaltenders this season.
The Statesmen haven’t had a goaltender dual since the 2000-2001 season
when Chris Connolly and Sam Weiner split time in net as seniors.

“I started Keith [Longo] to get experience at Potsdam, started Dimitri
[Papaevagelou] at Utica, and then Keith at Manhattanville,” said Taylor.
“I’m playing those two out and see how they separate from each other. I
feel both of them have done very good. It is healthy for them to feed
off of the competition of each other.”

At least statistically, it looks like Longo might be gaining the upper
hand. He has put up strong numbers as a freshman (.915 save %, 2.01
GAA) and turned aside 22 shots in Hobart’s 6-2 win over Potsdam to start
the season.

Lebanon Valley Rides Special Teams

Surprisingly enough, Lebanon Valley is at the other end of the special
teams extreme from Hobart. The Flying Dutchmen have the most potent
power play in the league at this early stage of the season, converting
on seven of seventeen opportunities for a stellar 41.2 percent success rate.

“Sometimes your power play is good, and sometimes it is lucky,” said
Lebanon Valley coach Al MacCormack. “Right now we are lucky. With
today’s penalty calls, we work the power play every day.”

Lebanon Valley started out with a tough loss at Geneseo, where the
Dutchmen tallied two quick 5-on-3 power play goals early in the contest
only to eventually lose 9-2. However, Lebanon Valley has bounced back
from that setback and piled on fourteen goals in wins against Cortland
and Assumption.

“I am very happy with our scoring,” said MacCormack. “We missed a few
chances against Geneseo, but we are creating a lot of scoring
opportunities.”

While the offense is clicking along, life in Lebanon Valley’s own zone
isn’t so rosy. The Flying Dutchmen are worst in the league in defense,
allowing an average of 6.33 goals per game, almost double what the next
worst team is running.

“We’ve had some success, but if you look at the scores I’m not that
happy with the number of goals that we have given up,” said MacCormack.
“It’s not that we are giving up a lot of opportunities, it’s just that
I’m not happy with our goaltending and defense.”

Last year’s steady goaltender, senior Sonny Holding, was yanked just ten
minutes into the game against Geneseo after letting in two weak goals.
Since then, sophomore Craig Vardy has seen all the time in net but has
only managed to amass an .830 save percentage.

Lebanon Valley will need both Holding, Vardy, and the rest of the
defense to stiffen up in order to continue its new found success this
season.

Actual Walls?

Hobart’s Geneva Recreation Center is the only non-enclosed rink left in
the nation in which NCAA hockey games are played. Despite several
attempts over the years to either enclose it, or build a new rink on
campus, fans and players continue to shiver during the winter months
while enjoying throwback hockey in the great outdoors.

Soon, just maybe, that may all be coming to an end. A proposed project
is currently under review by the Geneva city council to finally enclose
the rink.

“It is in the political cycle with the town and is in process,” said
Taylor. “I think something will be resolved in the next month or so.
There is support from a number of resources.”

The rink is owned by the city of Geneva. Hobart hockey is a major
tenant, but it is also used by youth hockey teams, for open skating by
townspeople, and in the summer as a roller hockey arena and open air
market.

This project has a projected cost just shy of $400,000 and includes
donated labor and materials by local businesses. Rendering drawings
have been made, and call for insulated glass panels on all four sides of
the building, a dehumidification system and upgrades to the building’s
HVAC system.

What makes this effort different from previous failed projects is from
where the driving force is coming. Previous attempts at enclosure have
all been originated by Hobart College. This time, the effort is being
led by a local businessman, who has formed a committee to drive the
project to fruition.

“It is being driven by a city businessman, who is a city tax payer and a
youth hockey parent,” said Taylor. “The only reason he discovered it
was a good cause was because his son plays youth hockey.”

With the driving force coming from local businessmen and taxpayers, this
project definitely appears more likely to succeed than past attempts.

Off the Schneid

After both teams went winless on the road last weekend, Elmira and
Hobart are each desperate to get some points this weekend when they face
each other at the Geneva Rec Center. The two teams split last season,
each winning on home ice.

“The league has proven by some of the scores that it is going to be a
pretty tight league,” said Taylor. “For both Elmira and us, this is a
big game because we both need to get points. With three games, it is
going to make it a more interesting league.”

The specter of posting three league losses this early in the season
provides both teams with plenty of motivation for this game.

MIAC Preview: Best of the West?

By C.J. Spang
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Even though the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference plays second fiddle to the five Division I hockey programs in the state of Minnesota, there are plenty reasons to keep a watchful eye on the MIAC this season.

For years, the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association has been considered the cream of the crop of the West. Last season, the MIAC made a big push for that honor, as St. Thomas made it all the way to the NCAA Championship game. The Tommies lost in the title game, but along the way they upset the NCHA’s best-St. Norbert-a team that is consistently in the upper echelon of Division III hockey.

This season, the MIAC starts with two teams ranked in the USCHO.com top 15, and four players on the Preseason All-USCHO West Teams. While St. Thomas and St. John’s both opened the season with losses at the hands of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and St. Norbert respectively, the rest of the MIAC picked up the slack and the MIAC went 9-5-2 against the NCHA.

While it’s early in the season, watch for the MIAC to continue their surge toward the top of the West.

Looking to Repeat

Fourth-ranked St. Thomas is looking to turn heads again this season with another trip to the NCAA title game.

After losing both regular season games against archrival St. John’s, the Tommies won the only two games against the Jonnies that mattered-the MIAC title game and the NCAA first round game, thus ending St. John’s season.

St. Thomas (1-1-0 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) went on to stun St. Norbert in the quarterfinals and advance all the way to the NCAA title game where their Cinderella run was ended in a 5-0 loss to Middlebury.

“Well we were playing really well at the time and we kinda regrouped and got things going at that time,” coach Terry Skrypek said. “It was a great run. It was a lot of fun. Guys were high and they skated on a high and rode it out as far as they could and we ran out of gas at the end.”

Expectations are undoubtedly high in St. Paul, as the Tommies return over three-fourths of their scoring and all but one defender from last year’s squad. But St. Thomas lost two All-Americans in Dustan Lick and Adam Blumer, two key components in last year’s success.

“(Lick and Blumer) are tough guys to replace,” Skrypek said. “I think some guys will come to the forefront here so you’re likely to see the cream rise to the top and we’ll see who comes up and becomes a leader.”

The Tommies also took a hit with the loss of two senior goaltenders, All-MIAC goalie Zach Sikich as well as senior Kevin Hennessey.

“I feel right now we’ve got two good goalies,” Skrypek said. “We’ll find somebody that wants to play and we’ll get it going.

Senior Jeremy Earl got the start in Friday night’s season-opener against Wisconsin-Stevens Point and allowed three goals on 30 shots in the loss.

“Well Earl I thought did an adequate job for us tonight,” Skrypek said. “I don’t think any of ’em were his fault.”

St. Thomas had its chances, but just couldn’t convert all game. It was a tough way to start the season after so much success last season.

“We had some great opportunities in the second period on that one power play,” Skrypek said. “Sometimes those missed opportunities…come back to haunt you. You only get so many in a game and if you don’t take advantage of ’em when you get ’em, then you’re gonna fall on the short end of it.

“I think there’s room for improvement,” Skrypek said. “We’re getting better as the season goes on. One game does not make the season.”

Still a Favorite

Last season, St. John’s went 14-1-1 in conference play to win their third straight MIAC regular season title. In a repeat of 2003-2004, the Johnnies were upset in the championship game by St. Thomas, 2-1.

St. John’s (1-1-0 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) had their chance for revenge in the first round of the NCAA tournament though, but once again was upset by the Tommies 4-1.

“I thought we played pretty well in the MIAC championship game,” coach John Harrington said. “When we came back in the NCAA tournament they just outplayed us. It’s not like they had a bad team, they certainly didn’t. They never do. As I’ve told people, they just have varying stages of great. They’re either unbelievably great or they’re great, they’re never bad, I don’t remember ’em ever being bad, so it’s not like it was an upset.”

The start of this season wasn’t any better. Seventh-ranked St. John’s opened the season at home against No. 2 St. Norbert. The Johnnies couldn’t manage a goal and lost to the Green Knights 3-0.

“Well that was their fourth game and our first and it looked like it,” Harrington said. “We just had to throw our guys out there and see what we had and then go back to work and kinda break it down and put things back together.”

But St. John’s bounced back on Saturday and picked up a 3-2 win over Lake Forest, thanks in part to a two-point night from senior captain Darryl Smoleroff.

“I always use the word “warrior” with Darryl because the bigger the game the better he plays,” Harrington said. “Darryl is a great talent and he certainly is a great leader for our team and he’s been a good player since the day he got here. He’s been a good one, one of the best we’ve had.”

St. John’s also returns its top nine scorers from the last year’s squad that averaged 5.13 goals per game. Senior assistant captains Scott Bjorkland and Aaron Getchell were the Johnnies’s top two scorers with 22 and 20 points respectively, and will be relied on heavily for both leadership and offensive production this season.

“Those are the guys that when you’re in the big games you look for to produce,” Harrington said. “So that’s what we’re gonna be looking from those guys and hopefully they’ll be able to continue what they’ve done for the last number of years and that’s be our offensive leaders.”

The main ingredient in St. John’s recipe for success is senior goaltender Adam Hanna. Hanna, the Preseason All-USCHO West First Team goalie, led the MIAC with a 13-1-1 record, a 1.78 GAA, a .929 save percentage and three shutouts.

“He always gives us a chance to win,” Harrington said. “He doesn’t get rattled by anything, whether it’s good things going for us or bad things going for us he doesn’t get rattled and he thinks the game really well.

“He’s not a goaltender who’s prime concern is stopping the puck, he knows he’s gonna stop the puck,” Harrington continued. “His concern is what he’s gonna do with it afterwards and he’s able to control rebounds and put rebounds where people aren’t. He’s always ahead of what’s going on and his numbers have shown that he’s certainly one of the best players at his position in college hockey.”

Smoleroff will anchor the defense in front of Hanna, a defense that allowed only 1.75 goals per game, tops in the conference.

“Certainly in any sport, not just hockey, it seems to me that if you have a great defense you have a pretty good chance of being successful,” Harrington said. “So we’re gonna try to do that but again we’ll see how the season goes.”

On the Edge of Greatness

In 2004-2005, Bethel finished in a tie for third in the MIAC with St. Olaf, with a 10-6-0 record and 20 points. The Royals’ season ended with a loss to St. Thomas in a four-overtime thriller in the conference tournament semi-finals.

“Against St. Thomas our guys were really ready to go,” coach Peter Aus said. “It was just a tremendous hockey game up and down the ice and both teams played well.”

Bethel (2-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) was led by seniors Kris Birch and Dan Ubl, who notched 22 and 20 points respectively, but those are the only two scorers the Royals don’t return this season. Junior Ryan Adams led last year’s squad with 12 goals and will be a big part of the Royals’ offense this season, an offense that was third in the MIAC last season averaging 4.50 goals per game, despite only getting points from 13 players.

“We have more firepower than we’ve had in the past,” Aus said. “We have three lines that are pretty well balanced and there are guys that can score on all three lines.”

Defensively, Bethel returns five of six defenders from team that was fourth in the MIAC in team defense at 3.50 goals per game as well one of the top goalies in the MIAC, junior Dustin Thompson, who went 10-5-0, with a 3.36 GAA and a .901 save percentage in conference play last year.

“You win the games with defense, and I think our goaltending is outstanding,” Aus said. “(Thompson) played very well last weekend for us and certainly is a key, but our team defense is a key to success.”

Bethel has started strong this season, picking up a pair of one-goal wins against NCHA foes St. Scholastica and No. 9 Wisconsin-Superior. Adams led the Royals with three goals and an assist on the weekend and teammates Jon Kramer and Dan McCauley each added three points on a goal and two assists.

“We have pretty high expectations but you don’t know how guys are gonna gel together,” Aus said. “I was really pleased with the way our guys played for the weekend and it’s good to start with a 2-0 record.”

Mighty MacMillan

St. Olaf finished 2004-2005 with an 8-4-4 conference record in tie with Bethel for third in the MIAC. The Olies won the play-in game over Gustavus, but lost 2-1 in double-overtime against St. John’s in the MIAC semifinals.

Freshmen Mike MacMillan led the St. Olaf offense that averaged 3.63 goals per game, with his 19 points, the highest freshmen total in the MIAC. The Olies had six other freshmen tally at least a point in conference play, including 11 from forward Jeff Budish and nine from defenseman John Paulson.

In two games this season, MacMillan has three assists, Budish has two goals and two assists and Paulson has a pair of goals, both on the power play.

St. Olaf (1-0-1 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) had the third best defense last season after giving up an average of 2.81 goals per game. The Olies return four of six defensemen from last year’s squad, as well as three underclassmen who also saw playing time.

In net for St. Olaf will be senior Dan Kehler and junior Jeff Wilde. Kehler had the second-highest save percentage in the MIAC at .913 and a GAA of 2.21, while compiling an 8-2-4 conference record. Wilde had a rougher go of it last season finishing 0-2-0, but picked up the Olies first win this season against Wisconsin-Stout.

The Offensive Defenseman

The Golden Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus finished fifth in the MIAC with a 7-8-1 record, but were unable to advance in the postseason after losing to St. Olaf in the play-in game.

This season, the Gusties (2-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) will undoubtedly be led by senior defensemen Keith Detlefsen. Last year, Detlefsen led the conference in scoring with 29 points on 10 goals and 19 assists, an average of 1.92 points per game.

Sophomore forward Cody Drysdale is leading Gustavus this season with five points in two games while teammate Steven Jensen has four. Six players have double digit point totals in the two games thus far.

Gustavus will desperately need to improve upon a defense that gave up an average of 4.00 goals per game last season, seventh in the MIAC. Senior goaltender Erik Kraska was the only goalie for the Gusties to pick up multiple conference wins. Kraska went 6-2-1 with a 2.86 GAA and a .889 save percentage. Senior teammate Steve Witkowski saw time in only one game last year, but has already equaled that this season when he picked up the 4-3 win over Wisconsin-River Falls.

Middle of the Pack

Despite having the sensational sophomore combination of Critter Nagurski and Aaron Johnson, who finished second and fourth in scoring in the MIAC last season, with 26 and 23 points respectively, Augsburg finished in a tie for sixth with 13 points and a 5-8-3 record.

Nagurski led the conference with 14 goals and Johnson led in assists with 20, but production dropped off after that. Junior Joe Haehn was the second-leading goal scorer for the Auggies with eight, followed by three players with five.

But in two wins this season, including a 7-4 upset over then second-ranked St. Norbert, three players have multiple goals, five others have lit the lamp once, nine players have multiple points and another six have one point, leaving only two skaters without a point.

If Augsburg (2-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) wants to move up in the conference, they will need to improve upon the fifth-best defense in the MIAC at 3.56 goals per game. The Auggies haven’t improved that defense yet this season, giving up four goals in each of their wins this season.

Augsburg will also need big year from senior goaltender Tony Ciro. Ciro went 5-8-3 against the rest of the MIAC with a 3.41 GAA and an .893 save percentage. But the senior netminder has gotten plenty of offensive support this season and is 2-0-0 with 59 saves.

St. Mary’s finished tied with the Auggies last season with a 6-9-1 record behind Chad Damerow’s 18 points. But Damerow graduated, along with goaltender Ryne Ess, who went 6-9-1 in conference play with 3.48 GAA and an .884 save percentage.

Senior forward Adam Fingerhut will likely pick up the offensive slack left by Damerow. Fingerhut notched 13 points on eight goals and five assists this season and has a pair of assists in two games this season.

The Cardinals (0-1-1 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) have four goalies listed on the roster, but the most likely to replace Ess will be senior Curtis Nosal and junior Nick Berra. Both goaltenders have seen time already this season, but Berra was the only one besides Ess to see time in conference games.

Bottom of the Barrel

Both Concordia and Hamline have a long way to go in the MIAC. Concordia had six points and a 3-13-0 record, while Hamline had only three points with a 1-14-1 record.
The Cobbers (3-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) will be looking for someone to replace last year’s leading scorer, Nate Ronning. So far, it looks as though junior Dan Perry is up to the challenge. Perry has 10 points on six goals and four assists in Concordia’s three wins.

If Concordia hopes to improve upon the second-worst offense in the MIAC, Perry is going to need to keep up his blistering pace all season long.

Nineteen freshmen are looking to help turn things around at Hamline. Last season, the Pipers were last in team offense, team defense, power play percentage and penalty killing and finished last in the MIAC for the second consecutive year.

Hamline (0-2-0 overall, 0-0-0 MIAC) will need their newcomers to play like savvy veterans if they hope to climb out of the cellar.

Revered Rivalry

While the Tommies versus the Johnnies rivalry may not have the same hype that the Minnesota Gophers versus the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs rivalry does, as far as St. Thomas and St. John’s are concerned, these are the only games that matter.

This season will be no different, especially after St. Thomas knocked off St. John’s in both the MIAC championship and the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Tommies travel to Collegeville on Thursday, February 2, in a game that is sure to see sparks fly and possibly a change atop the MIAC standings. The following night in St. Paul, the Tommies will have the home-ice advantage in another feisty confrontation between the two bitter rivals.

If you only watch the MIAC one weekend a year, that Thursday and Friday night will be the one to watch.

Culture Shock

By Dave Starman
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Changing the culture.

When coaches take over from the recently-released regime, that is the phrase you often hear.

It is very valid, and very true. Most of the time a coaching change is made, something had gone terribly wrong in the season or seasons prior. Did the coach lose the dressing room? Did the players stage a revolt like they did at Merrimack last season?

It reminds me of the line from the movie “Cocktail,” when the older woman says to Tom Cruise, “I’d hate for this to end badly.” Cruise retorts, “It has to end badly or it wouldn’t have ended.”

The exception, according to new Huskies head coach Bob Motzko, is his program in St. Cloud. He replaces 18-year veteran bench boss Craig Dahl, who resigned after last season shortly after the hiring of Motzko as assistant coach. Dahl has moved on to pursue business opportunities in the St. Cloud area.

In talking with Motzko earlier this week, one gets a different vibe regarding “changing the culture.”

“These kids really weren’t mentally beaten up,” said Motzko prior to the Huskies’ practice on Tuesday. “Roles had been established prior to Craig stepping down. The kids had a good summer and worked hard to get ready for this season before any of this happened.”

St. Cloud is in a great spot because it entered the season with a clean slate and no expectations. Picked low in the WCHA rankings, the Huskies realize that they have a golden opportunity to establish an identity, rather than change the culture.

“We won’t win a WCHA title this season,” laughed Motzko when discussing the building process. “However, we’ll do some things to open it up more and be entertaining.”

That process is what has made the WCHA so successful in recent years, and more importantly, so entertaining. Big rinks, fast teams that play loose, and an exceptional skill level have elevated the conference to elite status in college hockey. That is evidenced by the all-WCHA Frozen Four in Columbus last season, and the fact that the last four national titles belong to the conference (two for Minnesota and two for Denver, who match up at DU’s Magness Arena November 18 on CSTV).

Motzko is imploring his team to go out and have fun. Open it up, make plays, and play with speed and passion. They are not a run-and-gun team because they don’t have the gunners to win 7-6. However, with Providence transfer Bobby Goepfert in goal, they could win 4-3, or 3-2 — or 3-0, for that matter — on any given night.

Watch for them to activate their defensemen a lot and have them in the rush, much like the philosophy Motzko recently partook in as assistant coach with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. There, one could watch a defense that could be said to be among the best forechecking defenses in college hockey with the amount of time they spend up in the play.

“[Power play] and offense will challenge us, you’re right on there,” said Motzko. “However, we are improving and, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know how high the ceiling is regarding our improvement.”

Motzko is in an adjustment period also. He is learning a new program, a new set of players, and a new arena. Like fellow WCHA head coaches Dave Hakstol and Scott Owens, he polished his bench skills in the USHL as a head coach before advancing to the college game as an assistant. Other than a lot more administrative paperwork, Motzko feels the adjustment to head coach has been smooth.

Looking ahead, Motzko wants to see how this season plays out on the ice. Whether you are Colorado College or Michigan Tech, there are no easy weekends on the schedule. Everyone has to play Minnesota, Wisconsin, CC, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth (which just went 1-0-1 against Minnesota), and North Dakota, the perennial powers. Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, St. Cloud, and Alaska-Anchorage are not easy outs.

This is really the conference where you just worry about next weekend.

For Motzko to be successful, he has to get that team mentioned with the likes of Minnesota and CC when it comes to national contenders. The good fans in St. Cloud have been close but have not smoked the cigar when it comes to the Huskies being a big-time WCHA team. This is where the culture will change. It has to for the Huskies to land the recruits that the Badgers, Gophers, or Bulldogs are wooing.

New regimes are expected to produce, especially one being run with the impressive background of its new head coach. St. Cloud takes the road show to Michigan Tech this weekend. It is another chance for Motzko to evaluate where his team is, though he feels they are way ahead of the curve at this point. The record isn’t great: however, that record has come against the Gophers, Badgers, and Tigers in the past three weeks.

“We had a good team at Minnesota. Now, at St. Cloud, where the talent level is not the same as at the ‘U,’ you really get an appreciation of how good some of the teams in this conference are,” said Motzko.

And beating those teams in a couple of years is the goal. Change the culture. Go into Minnesota and sweep the Gophers, go into Wisconsin and sweep the Badgers. To do that, St. Cloud must win some recruiting battles. To win those battles, they must show kids they can compete with the elite.

Mike Eaves rebuilt the Badgers in three seasons, and should see light at the end of the tunnel this season with a veteran team that is all his. Rick Comley at Michigan State is in the same boat.

Motzko expects to be in that situation in three years or so.

Bet on it.

Dave Starman is national columnist for USCHO.com, and the analyst for CSTV’s broadcasts of college hockey. Previously, he coached in both the minor leagues and in junior hockey for 15 years. He is currently the associate coach for the EJHL’s New York Apple Core, as well as the Northeast scout for the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks.

This Week in the CHA: Nov. 10, 2005

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Les Reaney is quickly becoming a household name in western New York.

The Niagara freshman led the [nl]Williams Lake TimberWolves and the entire British Columbia Hockey League in scoring last year with 38 goals and 100 points and through eight games this year is tied for the NU scoring lead with senior Randy Harris. Both have 11 points.

But even so, the Division I recruiting season didn’t start until a few months ago for Reaney.

REANEY

REANEY

“Niagara started talking to me at the end of last season,” said Reaney, a 21-year-old native of Ceylon, Sask. “I had planned on going to Alaska-Fairbanks, but then they didn’t have any money for me and I was set with nothing. Then Niagara came into the picture, made me an offer and without even a fly-down, I accepted and here I am.”

With big numbers in juniors, one would think more schools would have been all over Reaney for his offensive prowess. The one factor many said was holding Reaney back was his conditioning.

“Les played last year at 253 pounds and he’ll tell you that, too,” NU head coach Dave Burkholder said. “Now, he’s down to 217. He’s on our top line with (Sean) Bentivoglio and (Justin) Cross and the chemistry there is unbelievable. ‘Benti’ is the speed, Cross is the playmaker and Reaney provides the physical aspect with the ability to score. He wasn’t signed at the end of last year and I know he was looking at going pro, but no school had pulled the trigger, so we got in there and got him signed.”

“At our first captains’ practice, (Bentivoglio, Cross and I) all put on the same jersey as a line and just clicked right away,” added Reaney. “We haven’t been split up since.”

This weekend’s series at Alabama-Huntsville will be Reaney’s first trip to so-called “foreign land.”

“Back home, I’m just north of the Montana-Canada border,” said Reaney. “Going to Alabama will be interesting because I’ve never been further south than, well, South Dakota. Being here at Niagara has also been a culture shock. I’m from a farm community and am used to it being just me and the cows. Here, there’s the big city (Buffalo) and just a totally different atmosphere. It’s hard to explain, actually.”

Reaney is the reigning CHA rookie of the week after a four-point performance against Wayne State at Dwyer Arena last weekend that included the overtime game-winning goal Friday night. He admitted many freshmen don’t see much action during their first year at any campus, but he was told by the Purple Eagles’ coaches at the end of the summer that he’d be looked to for some scoring punch.

“Everyone was concerned about our offense heading into the year,” said Burkholder. “We knew we’d have guys like (captain Jason) Williamson, (Matt) Caruana and Bentivoglio back, but to have Reaney’s line making such an impact, no, we didn’t expect that. That line has kept us in a lot of games so far.”

“I guess since bantams I’ve had the role of being a scorer,” said Reaney. “I love it. It’s a role I’m happy with, but I know it comes with pressure. You just have to prepare right for each game with a solid mental set and try to keep it going.”

Burkholder likes Reaney’s demeanor, saying, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the kid without a smile on his face. He’s a fun-loving guy who is really a calming influence in the room.

“He knows how important he is to this team.”

Chargers Get Second ’06 Recruit

Springfield Jr. Blues defenseman Davide Nicoletti has committed to Alabama-Huntsville for next year. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Nicoletti currently carries a 3-7-10 line with a plus-8 rating in 17 games for the Jr. Blues of the NAHL.

“We are very happy for Davide’s decision to play for UAH next season,” said Jr. Blues coach-GM Nick Pollos. “Davide is a first-class player and a first-class kid all around. He will be an asset to Coach Ross’ squad next season.”

Nicoletti, a 19-year-old from Etobicoke, Ont., came to Springfield from the Wexford Raiders of the Ontario Provincial Junior League.

“(Alabama-Huntsville) scouted me at Wexford last season and I went for an official visit last summer,” Nicoletti said in the (Ill.) State Journal Register. “I fell in love with the campus and players. I felt I could excel in hockey and education. I have pride playing for Springfield and I can’t let Alabama down by coming in there out of shape. I just love the game too much not to play hard.”

Colonials Also Get Another Newcomer For Next Fall

Aaron Clarke becomes eligible for Robert Morris next month after transferring from Niagara and next season, the Colonials will add Army transfer Ryan Cruthers and Oakville (Ont.) Blades left wing Kyle Frieday.

Frieday is a diminutive 5-foot-8, 175-pounder who has 16 points in 19 games thus far for Oakville.

Robert Morris doesn’t look to be adding many recruits any time soon as their current roster has one senior in Kurt Wright, three juniors in Bryan Mills, Doug Conley and Clarke (all three, ironically enough, started at Niagara before transferring), 17 sophomores and seven freshmen.

“I believe we’re off to a good start in our recruiting efforts this season with this signing,” said RMU head coach Derek Schooley. “This season’s recruiting class won’t be large in numbers as only Wright will graduate from our team this season. However, I believe Kyle and our future recruits will be capable of making a significant contribution during their careers.”

Wayne State Still Looking For First ‘W’

After Wayne State lost and tied at Niagara last weekend, the Warriors are still without their first win of this season.

Picked third in the preseason coaches’ poll, WSU is 0-5-1 overall with two games this week at home against Bemidji State. Even so, the team isn’t getting bogged down.

“We had our chances, no question, I thought we got a great effort from the team,” WSU coach Bill Wilkinson said to USCHO after Saturday’s 3-3 tie. “We battled pretty hard last night and it was frustrating not to come out with any points. We would have liked to get a win, but it’s nice to get a point on the road. I told the team after it is a building block for us and we have to keep putting blocks on top of each other.”

Sophomore forward Stavros Paskaris remains sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Bemidji State Celebrating 50 Years Of Hockey

This year, Bemidji State and the BSU Athletics Department have come together to celebrate 50 seasons of history for the hockey program. The 2005-06 season represents the 50th season of competition for Beaver men’s ice hockey, which began intercollegiate competition on Jan. 18, 1948.

Throughout 2005-06, Bemidji State athletics will pay special tribute to the men who helped establish the Beaver program over the last 49 seasons. To celebrate this historic anniversary, BSU will announce a lineup of the 50 greatest players in the history of the program and recognize those 50 at a special ceremony during the Robert Morris series, Feb. 17-18, 2006.

The lineup of “50 Greats for 50 Years” will be announced 10 players at a time, in alphabetical order, at various times throughout the season leading up to the Robert Morris series. Other events associated with the anniversary celebration are planned and will be announced at later dates throughout the season.

And before anyone questions the math, the program was on hiatus from 1951-59.

Air Force Defender Likes Team Chemistry

Junior defenseman Brian Gineo says his Falcons “just want to do as well as we can,” and though Air Force is off to a shaky start at 2-6-0, team chemistry isn’t suffering. In fact, Gineo says this year may be the best, chemistry-wise, that he’s seen.

“My freshman year, the seniors seemed to be on their own time,” said Gineo. “But this year, we’re all on the same page. We trust that if someone makes a mistake on the ice that on their next shift they’ll put it behind them and compensate.”

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Nov. 10, 2005

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Clash of the Titans, Part I

It may only be November, but it’s highly likely that the attention of many in Atlantic Hockey will be focused on Worcester this weekend as the league’s preseason favorites, Mercyhurst and Holy Cross, lock horns for the first time this year.

It’s a series that everyone involved would like to downplay. Truth is, though, these are two games that can define how seasons can go. True, championships can not be won this Friday and Saturday, but mentally, it’s possible for a championship to be lost.

When asked if these games have a little more meaning than others, Holy Cross coach Paul Pearl’s answer was simple.

“No,” said Pearl. “After halfway through the year when you see what the standings are you can figure out who is where, then games like these become more important.

“[Mercyhurst is] obviously a good team and I enjoy coaching against them. But it would dangerous for either club to make this a bigger deal than it is. Especially pre-Christmas, all you’re talking about is all the points you can get.”

Counterpart Rick Gotkin tried to downplay things as well, but admitted that, in a way, this series brings with it some meaning.

“I think it’s big because it’s Mercyhurst and Holy Cross and the coaches picked these two teams preseason; that makes it a great series,” said Gotkin, whose team had begun the league season 4-0-0, its best record since 1999-2000, when the Lakers started the year 6-0-0 in league play and 8-0-1 overall. “I think, as good as we are offensively, we’re going to have to be good defensively. We’ll have to find ways to generate some offense and finish our chances if we get them.”

Gotkin’s team, to date, has finished its chances. The Lakers are averaging a nation-best 5.17 goals per game, thanks in part to what Gotkin calls “a few tweaks.

“We’ve tried to free some guys up to open things offensively,” said Gotkin. “We’ve changed our forecheck and we like what we see. We’ve also changed our regroup in our neutral zone, and so far it’s been pretty successful for us.”

Defensively, the Lakers have been solid, despite having what some might consider a strange trio in net, with three goaltenders all currently playing the role of alternating number-one goalies. This weekend, little will change. Once again, Mike Ella will get the start on Friday night. Who plays Saturday will be a decision made by the coaching staff after Friday’s game. Thus far, this unorthodox system has worked well for the Lakers.

“It’s been a good situation,” said Gotkin. “The guys have been great with it. All three guys have worked very hard in practice and have pulled for each other.”

The experience of Holy Cross’ goaltending duo of Tony Quesada and Ben Conway is what Pearl hopes can slow the Lakers’ offensive attack.

“They’re up-and-down affairs, where goalies have to play well,” said Pearl of the importance of goaltending. To this point, Holy Cross’ goaltenders have surrendered just 1.80 goals per game, tied for sixth-best in the nation.

As for downplaying the series, the truth is that neither team would like to be swept. The ability of either team to overcome losing both games is there, but the mental toughness can often be hard to muster. That’s particularly true for Holy Cross, a team that started the season strong but with two losses this weekend would be on a three-game league losing streak. Though the Crusaders are filled with talent, it can be difficult to remain mentally tough through a losing streak.

All that said, expect some of the best hockey this weekend to be played in Worcester. If you don’t get a chance to see these games live, worry not. There’s a good chance these two teams will match up many more times this season, potentially in the league championship come March.

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week

Ryan Toomey, Mercyhurst: If there’s anyone out there who has a fantasy college hockey team, let’s hope that you picked up Toomey as a late-round steal. His eight points last weekend would put any fantasy owner at the top of the pack. Ironically, Toomey was held scoreless for the season up until last weekend.

Goaltender of the Week

Max Buetow, Canisius: It had been nearly 19 months since Max Buetow recorded a win for Canisius. As last weekend, he decided to shock everyone and not only pick up his first win since February 2004, but add a tie for good measure as the Griffs took three of four points on the weekend from Army.

Rookie of the Week

Jason Kearney, Bentley: A 33-save performance against Sacred Heart in a 1-1 last Friday was enough to earn Kearney rookie of the week honors. Though still winless on the season, Kearney has posted an impressive .907 save percentage.

Welcome Back, Buetow

It had been a long time since goaltender Max Buetow stood in the Canisius crease during the singing of the national anthem. Buetow, who backed up Bryan Worosz for his first two years at Canisius, had not started a game for the Griffs since December 18, 2004, a 4-1 loss at North Dakota.

As long as that may seem, it’s been even longer since Buetow has been on the winning end of things for Canisius. Buetow, a junior, earned his last in his freshman year, a 6-3 win over American International on February 28, 2004.

Last weekend, Buetow put both of those streaks to rest. Not only did he start twice, but he earned a win and a tie against Army, surrendering just three goals all weekend. His 17 saves on Friday were enough for a 2-1 overtime victory. Saturday, Buetow added 23 more saves, including five in overtime, to earn a 2-2 tie.

Definitely something that earns a tip of the cap.

Rebounding Falcons

The rollercoaster that has been the Bentley season took an upward swing last week when the club took three of four points against red-hot Sacred Heart.

It was much-needed for the Falcons, who had lost three in a row and four of five entering the weekend, allowing 24 goals in the five-game span.

If you’re looking for a reason for the turnaround, you might point to two areas: penalty killing and goaltending. Bentley’s penalty-kill unit had been atrocious, but last weekend killed 10 of 12 power plays for Sacred Heart.

“I thought that our penalty-killing unit did well, but more importantly than that we stayed out of the box,” said Soderquist. “We had only seven penalties on Friday and six on Saturday, which is pretty low with the penalties being called right now in college hockey.”

At the same time, the Falcons didn’t allow a single five-on-five goal to the Pioneers, and that’s thanks in part to the solid play of goaltenders Jason Kearney and Geordan Murphy (making his first start of the season in net).

When asked about giving Murphy his first start, Soderquist’s explanation was simple.

“He’s earned it,” Soderquist said. “He worked hard over the summer and in the first month we knew he’d give Ray Jean and Kearney competition. He worked hard in practice and deserved a start.”

Murphy delivered with a 25-save performance, 15 coming in the third period, to earn the win.

With Murphy’s play, Soderquist now will have to take a page out of the book of Gotkin and try to balance three goaltenders.

“We’ve been pretty pleased with the performances of all three goaltenders. It’s kind of a three-way battle right now,” said Soderquist. “It’s extremely hard to make the decision and it’s even harder when the three guys play well. I hope that one or two emerge and continue to have success.

“Approaching this weekend is still day-by-day. It’s Thursday and we’re still making the decision on who will get the start tomorrow night. Both goalies last weekend played well and deserve another shot, and Ray Jean has two big wins for us as well and deserves another start. It’s competitive, which isn’t a bad thing.”

If there’s one place where Bentley may need to improve, it’s in the scoring department. Soderquist said he can write off last weekend to playing a tough Sacred Heart team that doesn’t allow a lot of quality chances. But going forward, the lack of production needs to change.

“We talked about it today with the staff,” said Soderquist. “We’re not overly concerned from last weekend, but this weekend and next we need to have some point production.”

Veteran’s Day at West Point

If anyone is looking for a way to celebrate Veteran’s Day, you might consider a trip to West Point to watch Army battle rival Air Force. This is a fitting tribute to have the military academies do battle on the ice as the nation pays tribute to the many men and women of the Armed Forces who risk their life every day for our freedom.

Alumni in Cleveland

Be careful if you’re in Cleveland anytime soon. If you were to pick up the local sports section, you may think that Atlantic Hockey is moving its operations to Drew Carey’s hometown.

American Hockey League rosters aren’t exactly flooded with players from Atlantic Hockey. So the fact that the Cleveland Barons, the AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks, currently have two players from Atlantic Hockey should be stunning enough.

The fact that both of these players are currently among the team’s statistical leaders takes things a step further.

Alums Pat Rissmiller (Holy Cross) and Jamie Holden (Quinnipiac) are Cleveland’s current one-two punch. Rissmiller leads the team in goals with five, which Holden, recently recalled from the East Coast Hockey League, is on fire in net for the Barons.

This past Monday, Holden was named the CCM Vector/AHL Player of the Week after going 3-0-0 the week prior for his three AHL wins. Over the span, Holden saw plenty of rubber, stopping 100 of 105 shots.

Rissmiller, the only Atlantic Hockey alum to play in the National Hockey League, has 10 points overall, tied for the team lead in points, and has buried five goals.

Cleveland is now 5-6-0 on the young season, but riding a three-game winning streak heading into Hamilton this Friday night.

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