A watch list of 28 first-year NCAA women’s hockey players was announced today by the Hockey Commissioners Association.
One of these talented rookies will likely be voted National Rookie of the Year by the nation’s assistant coaches. At season’s end, a ballot consisting of each Division I conference’s Rookie of the Year will be presented to the assistant coaches and they will vote, one vote per school, to identify the winner.
This year’s National Rookie of the Year will be announced during the Frozen Four in Duluth, Minn., in March.
HCA Women’s Rookie of the Year Watch List
College Hockey America
Tessa Janecke, Penn State, F (30 GP, 17-17-34)
(Orangeville, IL)
Thea Johansson, Mercyhurst, F (28 GP, 13-18-31)
(Ljungby, Sweden)
ECAC Hockey
Elyssa Biederman, Colgate, F (27 GP, 12-14-26)
(Franklin, MI)
Madison Chantler, Quinnipiac, F (29 GP, 10-5-15)
(London, ON)
Carina D’Antonio, Yale, F (23 GP, 12-9-21)
(Mississauga, ON)
Jade Iginla, Brown, F (23 GP, 11-4-15)
(Lake Country, BC)
Jordan Ray, Yale F (23 GP, 8-15-23)
(Viera, FL)
Riley Walsh, Union, F (27 GP, 13-6-19)
(Duxbury, MA)
Hockey East
Lara Beecher, Vermont, F (29 GP, 8-9-17)
(Buffalo, NY)
Brooke Campbell, UConn, F (29 GP, 6-4-10)
(Essex, ON)
Brooke Disher, BU, D (27 GP, 3-8-11)
(Fort St. John, BC)
Reichen Kirchmair, Providence, F (30 GP, 11-9-20)
(Oakville, ON)
Lily Shannon, Northeastern, F (27 GP, 5-7-12)
(Andover, MA)
Lilli Welcke, Maine, F (27 GP, 6-13-19)
(Heidelberg, Germany)
Luisa Welcke, Maine, F (27 GP, 7-12-19)
(Heidelberg, Germany)
NEWHA
Avery Farrell, Franklin Pierce, F (26 GP, 10-9-19)
(Otsego, MN)
Jill Hertl, Franklin Pierce, G (2.05, .924, 4 ShO)
(Highland Park, IL)
Brooklyn Pancoast, Saint Anselm, F (18 GP, 8-6-14)
(Helena, MT)
Alexis Petford, Stonehill, F (30, GP, 15-18-33)
(Balgonie, SK)
Sydney Russell, Stonehill, D (29 GP, 1-7-8)
(Nashville, TN)
WCHA
Josefin Bouveng, Minnesota, F (24 GP, 9-6-15)
(Vassunda, Sweden)
Laila Edwards, Wisconsin, F (28 GP, 6-10-16)
(Cleveland Heights, OH)
Caroline Harvey, Wisconsin, D (26 GP, 8-22-30)
(Salem, NH)
Madison Kaiser, Minnesota, F (27 GP, 4-8-12)
(Andover, MN)
Nelli Laitinen, Minnesota, D (19 GP, 3-10-13)
(Lohja, Finland)
Taylor Otremba, Minnesota State, F (28 GP, 8-10-18)
(Lakeville, MN)
Emma Peschel, Ohio State, D (28 GP, 4-6-10)
(Edina, MN)
Kirsten Simms, Wisconsin, F (28 GP, 10-13-23)
(Plymouth, MI)
The Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association has announced this year’s semifinalists for the Women’s Hockey Goalie of the Year Award.
Eleven goalies from four Division I conferences have advanced from a watch list of 28 outstanding netminders. Voting was carried out by a panel of coaches, administrators and media members from across the country.
It is an experienced dozen, with eight of the 11 either juniors, seniors or graduate students. Four are repeat semifinalists.
The semifinalists have an international flavor to them with four from the U.S., three from Canada, two from Sweden, and one each from Germany, Slovenia and Sweden. Four are sophomores, one is a junior, three are seniors and three are graduates.
Three finalists will be announced during conference championships and the winner will be announced during the NCAA Frozen Four in Duluth, Minn.
Finalists for 2023 Women’s Hockey Goalie of the Year Award
Steven Holtz has had his junior season derailed, but the junior isn’t letting sickness hold him back (photo: Michigan Photography).
This is a story about Steven Holtz, a player you may not know who nearly lost his life to adenovirus in November.
This is also about an interim head coach whose approach exemplifies a new – and welcome – way of defining what it means to be a college coach.
It’s also the story of how frightening the world can feel since we’ve witnessed a pandemic firsthand.
And this is the story of how Jacob Truscott’s late-night trip to the bathroom on Nov. 13, 2022, saved Steven Holtz’s life.
We’ll start with that last part first.
Holtz and Truscott share a house with teammates Eric Ciccolini and Philippe Lapointe. Early in the morning of Nov. 13, the Wolverines had returned from South Bend, where they’d split a pair of games with Notre Dame. Holtz stayed behind in Ann Arbor because he wasn’t feeling well.
When his housemates got home following the trip, they checked on him in a typical way, calling through the door of his bedroom and asking if he needed anything. “They told me later that I told them to get away and leave me alone,” Holtz said.
Told him later, Holtz said, because he has no memory at all of what happened – not that night, not from the days leading up to that night, not for about a week afterward. “I almost look at it like it’s the story of someone else,” said Holtz.
Around 10:30 that Sunday night, as Holtz tells it, Truscott “thankfully” had to “take a pee.”
“He heard me in my bedroom, wheezing,” said Holtz, who demonstrated with big, whooping breaths in and out, “gasping for air. My room is right next to the washroom. He heard it and he said he stopped and stood in front of my door to see what it was, because it sounded so abnormal.
“He said that all of a sudden it stopped, and then he opened the door, and I was sitting, having a seizure.”
The housemates called 9-1-1. The police arrived and asked if there was any chance of drug use. (There wasn’t.) Could someone have been in the house with Holtz, they wanted to know. (Other than his girlfriend Emma, very unlikely.) Could this be a suicide attempt? (No.)
An ambulance took Holtz to the University of Michigan hospital, where he was admitted to the ICU. “They think that I had another seizure in the ambulance as well,” said Holtz. “I had two seizures that they know of. They think I could have been having seizures all day that day because of my condition when they found me.”
HOLTZ
Soon after being admitted to ICU, Holtz was intubated and put in a medically induced coma. “I’m not sure of the duration,” said Holtz. “A couple of days.”
Holtz was told afterward that no one initially knew what was wrong with him, that medical staff had considered the possibility of several pathogens including bacterial meningitis, a highly contagious, potentially lethal infection that can escalate quickly.
Here’s where the story takes a turn that plays on our COVID-heightened sensibilities. Many players on the Michigan team also got sick, and Truscott was one of five additional players who were hospitalized. No one but Holtz had seizures and memory loss, but since medical staff didn’t know at first what was causing the outbreak, there was an additional element of apprehension. Truscott began to feel sick the night that Holtz was hospitalized, and he admits that he was scared.
“Obviously, you see that and you don’t want that to happen to you,” said Truscott. “We didn’t know what it was. I wasn’t really feeling well, so a teammate slept in the living room with me to keep an eye on me. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep.”
It was the following day that Truscott went to the hospital himself. “I was just there for the night,” he said, “getting some tests and making sure I didn’t have meningitis.”
All of the hospitalized Wolverines except for Holtz were released soon and recovered quickly. Adenovirus is a common respiratory illness, usually causing cold symptoms. It’s rarely life threatening.
Holtz’s experience seems to have begun the first weekend of November, when Michigan traveled to play Penn State. Holtz said that a couple of players weren’t feeling well, that one player didn’t make the trip. “I started feeling sick that following Tuesday,” said Holtz. “I just had the classic flu symptoms like chills, headache, just feeling under the weather.”
He said that he remembers going to lift weights that day and that he couldn’t manage 100 pounds. “I felt so weak, just so drained. I ended up not practicing that day.”
After visiting a campus clinic, he was sent home and told to stay hydrated, eat well, and get some rest. “They sent me home. It was a classic cold.”
Until it wasn’t.
On Nov. 8 – the day that Holtz visited the campus clinic – the University of Michigan issued a statement warning that increased local cases of “COVID-19, seasonal influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus and many other respiratory viruses” could disrupt end-of-semester plans for the campus community.
Two days later, the Wolverines left for South Bend, and that’s the day that Holtz thinks that things got bad for him.
“I have a problem with memory,” said Holtz. “I ended up having to go back and look at all my texts, looking to see who I was texting through that first week.” He said he remembers texting his parents and his girlfriend.
“This is where I’m pretty unclear,” said Holtz, “and to be honest, everyone is pretty unclear. My mom and dad said I called them on Thursday saying that I woke up that day and felt somewhat better. My girlfriend had brought me food and she basically forced me to eat and drink.
“Apparently, I cleaned the whole house on Thursday because I felt bad. My roommates said I disinfected the whole house. Apparently, I was driving around. I went to Panera. I don’t remember any of this. It’s really weird. I don’t remember a single thing. This is all from my parents and girlfriend telling me what happened.
“I ended up having to go get tested again for flu and mono, I think, the night before I got put into the hospital, but I don’t think anyone really knows what happened from Thursday to Saturday.”
That part, the stretch of time when no one had a good grasp of what was unfolding, is something that Holtz’s teammates will safeguard against in the future.
“It was pretty tough seeing what happened,” said Truscott. “It brought perspective on life, how important it is to check in on your teammates because you never know what can happen. From then on out, we’ve talked as a group about the importance of checking in on each other, especially when guys are sick.”
Teams leave sick players behind all the time, thinking that they’ll ask for help when they need it. Young, strong, healthy athletes are not hospitalized for the common cold.
“We don’t know what led to that,” said Truscott, “but it’s important that we’re there to make sure that guys are taken care of.”
The culture of caring that’s further developed since Holtz’s illness and the team’s brush with adenovirus extends beyond the players. First-year, interim head coach Brandon Naurato is transparent about a more holistic approach to coaching. He credits his staff – director of hockey operations, Topher Scott, and assistant coaches Rob Rassey and Bill Muckalt – for creating an atmosphere where players are encouraged to communicate about more than just the game they’re playing.
“Topher does a lot of individual meetings about life skills and leadership talks with them,” said Naurato. “[Trainer] Brian Brewster and the strength coach Joe Maher are another support group that the kids feel comfortable with.
“We’re just trying to be there for these guys. We’re not going to motivate like these old-school coaches through extrinsic motivation like fear and verbal abuse. We’re going to be honest with them and be firm, but it’s all to help. If we help every individual player become better or more mentally strong, then collectively it helps the group. We’re not perfect, either, but we’re trying to communicate with the kids and give them a voice.”
After serving as an assistant coach at Michigan under Mel Pearson for the 2021-2022 season, Naurato was named interim head coach last August when Michigan declined to renew Pearson’s contract following an investigation that alleged that Pearson created a toxic culture in the Michigan hockey program.
Taking the interim position under such circumstances would have been enough for Naurato to be sensitive to what returning Michigan players might need, but in October of last year, the entire Michigan hockey family was dealt the unexpected blow of equipment manager Ian Hume’s death. Hume had been with the program for 33 years. He was the equipment manager when assistant coach Bill Muckalt was a player on two national championship teams in 1996 and 1998. Hume was there from 2005 to 2009, when Naurato was a Wolverine.
Holtz has compiled three assists so far this season, last playing Nov. 4-5 at Penn State (photo: Michigan Photography).
And as the Wolverines were dealing with Hume’s death, they almost lost Steven Holtz.
“I’ll never forget the phone call from Jacob Truscott and what he said to me, and then just for 30 minutes not talking to anyone else and not knowing,” said Naurato. “Then even the updates that I got, they weren’t good updates. We had no clue what it was or why. You didn’t suspect foul play with a kid like Holtzy. And then for him to come out of it was almost like a miracle, after everything we were told.”
Truscott credits Naurato’s guidance for Michigan’s success this season.
“The stuff he’s been through, especially for a first-year head coach, is insane,” said Truscott. “He’s done a wonderful job. He’s unbelievable. He’s one of the best humans I’ve ever met. I speak highly of him.”
The Wolverines are now 4-2-0 in their last six games, having swept Penn State last weekend and split with both Minnesota and Ohio State, all teams ahead of them in the Big Ten standings. Truscott said that as cliched as it may sound, everything the Wolverines have faced this year has brought them closer together on and off the ice.
“We know we’ve had a special team all year long,” said Truscott. “We’re realizing we can do something special with all the stuff we’ve faced.”
As for Holtz, he’s waiting to clear academic eligibility again before he can play. A mechanical engineering major, Holtz is finishing up the incompletes he took last semester on top of his current course load.
“He’s a smart kid,” said Naurato. “He’s been working double time even with everything going on to catch up. I think that’s his light at the end of the tunnel, getting back from a hockey standpoint.”
Truscott said that he and his housemates have to resist the urge to be overprotective of their friend.
“He likes doing stuff on his own,” said Truscott. “We have to respect that and not be there too much. We have to give him his space as well as being there for him. He’s done a good job getting back into things. He works his butt off every single day. You can see how hard he works.”
Holtz experienced some profound memory loss with his illness. He couldn’t remember his girlfriend, or the names of the freshmen on the team, or that Naurato was now his head coach rather than an assistant. That’s something he’s had to work on.
And he’s sought help for the emotional trauma that came with his experience.
“Trust me, I’ve sat thought ‘what ifs.’ What if they didn’t come back from Notre Dame? What if I had this big seizure when they were gone? What if Jacob didn’t have to pee?”
Holtz said that he started talking to a counselor a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving. “That’s when I started to have the ‘what if’ thoughts, lots of trouble sleeping, lots of bad dreams.” Holtz said that he’s never “really been one to go and talk to people about that stuff,” but he knew he needed support and additional medical help to process everything. “It’s helped out a lot.”
His experience has “completely changed” his perspective, said Holtz, and he hopes that sharing it will help people think about their priorities. “People worry about small, little things. Not everyone has to have this huge impact on the world. It could be something as simple as looking out for a friend or making someone smile.”
Holtz said that he’ll never take hockey – or his hockey people – for granted again. “Every one of my teammates, the coaches, the staff, they’re all family to me.”
In summing up his experience, Holtz had difficulty in part because it’s an ongoing process, but also because he said he feels “weird” saying something so simple. “It’s just so cool to be living.” Who can argue with that?
“Two months ago, I was in a coma,” said Holtz. “I feel pretty damned good, all things considered.”
Following a thorough national search, Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America have named Michelle Morgan as their next commissioner.
“I am honored to be named the next commissioner of Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America,” Morgan said in a news release. “I’d like to thank the search committee for their dedication throughout the process. I’m excited to get back to my roots in the sport of hockey, to serve our member institutions, student-athletes, coaches and fans at the highest level.”
Morgan, who has served as the senior director of athletics at John Carroll University since 2018, becomes the second commissioner in Atlantic Hockey history and the third commissioner in College Hockey America history. She replaces outgoing AHA and CHA commissioner Robert DeGregorio, who is retiring from both roles at the end of the 2022-23 season after 20 years with Atlantic Hockey and 13 years with the CHA.
“After an exhaustive search by our selection committee, the conference is extremely excited to have Michelle Morgan to lead Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America into the future,” Atlantic Hockey selection committee chairman and Air Force senior associate athletic director George Nelson said. “She highlighted herself to be the best of the best throughout this process and we look forward to the impact she will make on both our men’s and women’s programs.”
“In Michelle Morgan, College Hockey America and Atlantic Hockey have found a prepared and proven leader that will provide a strategic vision for our future,” added CHA board chairman and Syracuse senior associate athletics director Jamie Mullin. “Michelle demonstrated many qualities that resulted in her selection as commissioner and those qualities will enable her to build upon our established success. I’m confident that the future is in good hands with Michelle.”
Morgan, who will begin her duties with the AHA and CHA on April 17, has overseen a period of tremendous growth and success for John Carroll athletics during her tenure at the University Heights, Ohio school. The Blue Streaks have won 39 Ohio Athletic Conference championships and have made 37 NCAA postseason appearances. Under her leadership, JCU won the OAC All-Sports Men’s Trophy in 2018-19, 2020-21, and 2021-22, and came within a point of the program’s first-ever OAC All-Sports Women’s Trophy in 2020-21.
During the celebration of 100 years of athletics at John Carroll, Morgan helped to establish a $500,000 fund for the creation of the Champions Endowment, which will help to sustain success at a national level for all Blue Streak athletic programs. Her tenure also saw the addition of women’s wrestling as JCU’s 24th varsity sport and $4 million in athletic facility improvements of the university’s athletic facilities that greatly enhanced training, competition and quality of experience for the more than 700 student-athletes under her oversight. The university is also breaking ground on a new athletic, wellness and event space that is slated to open in Fall 2024.
In recognition of her efforts on behalf of JCU athletics, Morgan was presented with an Honorary ESPY as the Administrator of the Year in July 2022.
Morgan is also an active associate member of the Chicago Blackhawk Alumni Association. As the association’s director of events, she spearheaded efforts for a pair of alumni games prior to the NHL Outdoor Stadium Series game in 2016 in Minneapolis and the 2017 NHL Winter Classic in St. Louis. In this role, she served as the liaison to the NHL, Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues, and the Chicago Blackhawks organizations for the alumni weekends at both events. The two games, held at TCF Bank Stadium and Busch Stadium, respectively, hosted nearly 40,000 fans for contests featuring the Blackhawk alumni.
An active member on the national intercollegiate athletics scene, Morgan was appointed to a four-year term on the NCAA Division III Management Council in 2019. She assumed the role of chair of the council in Jan. 2022, which is a one-year appointment. Previously, she served as the vice chair of the management council.
Morgan also serves on the NCAA’s Division III Championships Committee, Division III Advisory Council, Division III Administrative Committee, NCAA Strategic Planning and Finance Committee, Division III Joint Legislative Steering Committee, NCAA Convention Planning subcommittee, the Division III Football Concussion Task Force, and the Division III Strategic Positioning Platform Working Group. She holds membership in NACDA, the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIIAA), and Women Leaders in College Sports.
Morgan spent eight years at her alma mater, St. Thomas, with her last position being the senior woman administrator and associate athletic director. In that role, she served as the athletic department’s liaison to the university’s marketing, insights, and communications team, leading external relations, branding, and marketing initiatives. She led negotiations for the first department-wide athletic apparel contract at St. Thomas in 2014, which outfitted all athletes in Nike apparel and accessories.
One of Morgan’s biggest achievements occurred in 2017 when she played a key role in the Tommie-Johnnie football game. She negotiated an agreement with the Minnesota Twins organization for the game to be played at Target Field, securing Oppidan Investing Company as the game’s presenting sponsor. She guided the planning and execution of all game operations, including fan experience, ticket sales, merchandise and marketing for the largest football game in Division III history at that time. The record crowd of 37,355 outdrew 28 FBS games and 56 of 57 FCS games that took place the same weekend.
Prior to St. Thomas, Morgan worked for the NHL’s Minnesota Wild as an account executive for corporate sponsorships. During her five years with the organization, Morgan’s responsibilities included corporate sponsorships sales for the Minnesota Wild, Minnesota Swarm of the National Lacrosse League, the WCHA Final Five, and Minnesota State High School League boys and girls state hockey tournaments, as well as negotiated annual suite leases. She held positions in corporate partnerships with the Minnesota Vikings and marketing with the Blackhawks.
Morgan currently serves as an adjunct at John Carroll teaching graduate-level coursework in Sports Studies. Additionally, she serves as a board member of Women in Sports and Entertainment (WISE), Cleveland.
The Brookfield, Ill., native holds a degree in Business Administration – Marketing Management, with a minor in Public Relations and an Executive Masters of Business Administration degree from St. Thomas.
An accomplished student-athlete, Morgan played on two MIAC regular-season championship teams in her four years as a member of the St. Thomas women’s hockey team.
Hobart looks to continue their winning ways and balanced scoring from Tanner Hartman and others in NEHC action this weekend starting with Skidmore on Friday night (Photo by Kevin Colton – HWS )
It is February and that means there are precious few weeks to earn wins and points to improve your standing, seeding and otherwise build momentum heading into the most crucial part of the season. There continues to be a lot of movement in most of the conferences but not so much at the very top where three teams remain unbeaten in league play. Last week’s picks tanked at 6-5-2 (.538) which brings my season total down to 90-45-11 (.654). Time to get my own playoff push going and no time like the present. Here are this week’s picks with some key conference and ranked team battles on tap:
Thursday, February 2, 2023
Massachusetts-Dartmouth v. Framingham State
The Rams have already dropped two games against the Corsairs but have been playing better hockey to close out January. Look for a lot of scoring from both teams and maybe a goal needed in extra time to decide a winner – FraminghamState, 5-4
Friday, February 3, 2023
Salve Regina v. (5) Curry
The prior games between these two teams included a blowout Curry win and a 1-0 game also won by the Colonels. Combination of Zhukov and Kent is tough to stop by anyone and they get the offense rolling for a season sweep of the Seahawks – Curry, 4-1
(2) Hobart v. Skidmore
The Statesmen will need to be very disciplined against a Thoroughbred team that loves to pressure the puck. Goaltending a key in this one as Damon Beaver outduels Tate Brandon for a big road win in conference play – Hobart, 3-2
Colby v. Hamilton
The Mules certainly want to stay in the hunt for a home-ice playoff position and battle a team that has the same vision to move up closer in the standings. The Continentals have been very good at home and eke out a one-goal win to tighten things up in the NESCAC standings – Hamilton, 3-2
Rivier v. Anna Maria
The AmCats are very familiar with the Raiders and would like to replicate their performance on the road against them last month. Cam Tobey and company get things going on the power play on the way to a solid win – AMC, 4-2
St. Michael’s v. St. Anselm
It’s a Friday night and it’s Groundhog Day so which Hawks team is going to show up on home ice? Thinking that a matchup with a long-time rival will get the home team away from their own shadow early on the way to an exciting win against a team that is red-hot in the NE-10 – St. Anselm, 5-4
(9) Geneseo v. (12) Oswego
The best thing about a streak that ended is the opportunity to start a new one. The Knights lost at home to the Lakers for the first time in a long time and would love to return the favor and keep the battle for the top spot interesting in the SUNYAC over the remaining schedule – Geneseo, 3-2
Wilkes v. Nazareth
Ahhhh, nothing like home-sweet-home! The Golden Flyers will be looking to build on their impressive home record against a team that has found its game in the second half. The Colonels’ win streak is on the line as Nazareth looks to rebound from a tough weekend in Utica. It is a big home win that shows this team is going to be a tough out in the UCHC – Nazareth, 3-2
Saturday, February 4, 2023
(15) Babson v. (8) Norwich
This game always seems to be low-scoring with a playoff feel to the intensity. The Cadets have been very opportunistic and take advantage of a power play in the third period for a one-goal win with another solid game from Drennen Atherton – Norwich, 2-1
King’s v. (1) Utica
The Pioneers like the look and feel of owning the No.1 ranking and start out fast against the Monarchs who have trouble matching the speed and depth of the home team. Early lead helps the Pioneers on the way to a very comfortable win.– Utica, 7-3
Wentworth v. (4) Endicott
The Gulls may need to watch out for the dreaded TRAP GAME ALERT against a Leopards squad that plays hard for the full sixty minutes. This one is a lot closer than the home squad would like with an empty-net goal, or two providing the final margin – Endicott, 5-2
(6) Plattsburgh v. Buffalo State
Beware the Bengals who always seem to make things difficult against the SUNYAC elite. Power play is actually a source of strength for the Cardinals in this one as they rally for a big conference road win – Plattsburgh, 4-3
I would say it has been scoreboard-watching season pretty much the entire season to date but even the coaches who deny doing it are going to have to watch the other scores just to figure out the impacts on their own position and future. Of course, controlling what happens in the ice in your own game is the real scoreboard to watch – “Drop the Puck!”
Ian Shane has been steady in the blue paint this season for Cornell (photo: Matt Dewkett/Cornell Athletics).
With the calendar month turning to October, conversation around college hockey is bound to center on the national tournament, the contenders, the pretenders, the bubble teams, possible Cinderellas and spoilers, and anything in between.
Dark horse discussions are more prevalent than ever as teams ramp their best hockey into form, and the idea among the media, message boards, and blogs is to intensify the expectations as goals become more singular in their focus.
In ECAC Hockey, most of that rightly belongs to Quinnipiac, which moved to No. 2 nationally while grabbing four first-place votes, while Harvard grabbed moments of the Bobcats’ sunshine after improving to No. 8 in the latest USCHO Division I Men’s Poll with its own six-point weekend.
Further down the poll, third place Cornell is living in a world constructed around top contenders and down-ballot underdogs. With a 13-7-1 overall record and a 10-4 league record, the No. 11 Big Red have more than overcome a slow start to their season, and as February dawns, it might be worth taking a look at the team that drew first blood from first place since it just might be the best team nobody’s talking about.
“We still have room to grow,” said Cornell coach Mike Schaefer. “We started the year with some tough road trips where we were on the road at Minnesota Duluth for two games before going right into the Princeton-Quinnipiac road trip and the trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson, which are all tough places to play. We knew that starting a season with those six games wasn’t [easy], but we talked about it in the fall that we wanted to be playing our best hockey in January, February and March.”
Beginning a season with a trial by fire isn’t unique in the ECAC, but Cornell’s opening rounds hardened the Big Red prior to a four-game winning streak around Thanksgiving. A 6-0 win over UConn at Madison Square Garden in New York City loudly announced the team’s renaissance, and after losing in overtime to seventh-ranked Harvard, Cornell ripped off eight unbeaten games over a nine-game stretch before losing last Saturday in a road rivalry rematch with the Crimson.
That fast and furious seasoning isn’t unique in ECAC, but it positioned Cornell to make some national noise through the year’s last month. Nobody really talked about the Big Red after their resounding, 4-0 win over then-No. 1 Quinnipiac, and the loss to seventh-ranked Boston University largely went unnoticed despite Cornell holding it to a last-second goal that sank the Big Red in regulation.
Neither the loss to BU nor the loss this weekend to Harvard sank Cornell in the Pairwise Rankings, where the Big Red are tied for 11th with Michigan Tech despite a decisive lead in the RPI, but it still feels like the team is overlooked. Its 13 wins are tied with Notre Dame among teams currently on the proper side of the tournament bubble, but the Fighting Irish’s barely-.500 record is kept afloat by the Big Ten’s overall strength and lower numbers compared to ECAC, where seven teams are in the bottom half of the Pairwise with three in the bottom 10.
Cornell doesn’t have the luxury of games to spare, and as an Ivy League team, the lower number of overall games places even more premium on a team that ranks among the nation’s best in several key areas. The scoring offense is 13th in the nation while the defense is holding teams to a seventh-best 2.24 goals per game with a 10th-best scoring margin. The power play is one of three teams scoring better than 28 percent, but the penalty kill is likewise in the top-15 in the nation.
Only one team – Mercyhurst – has been penalized less than Cornell’s 9.14 PIMs per game, which means the team hasn’t had many opportunities to score more than its one shorthanded goal all year, and goaltender Ian Shane is the recipient of a 1.92 goals-against average – sixth-best in the nation – because he’s part of a greater defensive effort limiting opponents to under 22 shots per game.
Despite the gaudy numbers, Cornell doesn’t have a player with more than six goals. Ten different players have anywhere from four to six goals, and 17 different players have at least two goals. The Big Red lost forward Matt Stienburg earlier this year to an injury, but the train just kind of kept rolling because of its ability to remain deep, strong, and committed to its values on the ice.
“Guys got off to a rough start this year and didn’t score early on,” Schaefer said. “That was kind of a surprise, but I think it put an emphasis on the fact that there are lots of different ways to win games. The foundation has to be that you’re good defensively, so when the goals don’t come, you have an opportunity to win.
“We’re a team,” he reiterated. “I think that’s always been our emphasis at Cornell, and the best teams I’ve had received contributions from different guys. We lost Matt Stienburg, but we just kept clicking, and that’s a testament to our guys on the team. We’ll get production from somewhere.”
It has the Big Red uniquely positioned to ruin somebody’s season while simultaneously boosting their own postseason stock. Few teams are hotter in ECAC, and February features a number of games against teams currently relegated to the first-round home-ice battle. Five of the remaining eight games are at home, and though a home-and-home with travel partner Colgate looms next week, a sandwich of series at Lynah Rink bookend games against Rensselaer and Union with Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
Short of the games at Brown and Yale to end the season, it’s increasingly likely that a road to Lake Placid will go through Ithaca, and for a team that suffered its only loss at home in that aforementioned game against Harvard, the possibility of postseason dreams crashing into an unforgiving red wall looms large for whichever team is fortunate enough to escape a first round single elimination game.
“This has always been a tough place to play,” Schaefer recalled. “Even last year when it wasn’t normal, things are pretty much back to normal. With our fans and our rink, it’s always been tough, and that’s just been increased a little bit because we’re a little bit better. Teams love playing up here, and in our league, it’s a great environment. That’s one of the things that makes us a better hockey team. We’re getting everybody’s best, and you’re going to get a team that’s coming in and sleepwalking through a game here or there.
“Eventually, that makes us better by the end of the year, too.”
Manhattanville upsets #12 Nazareth, winning 2-1 in overtime (Photo by Karin Rosario)
Coming off another weekend of women’s hockey out east we saw an upset occur ending a huge streak in the UCHC. Also, we see another relatively newly established team eying their first ever conference title in the CCC. Meanwhile, Cortland has been busy winning games after some wrote them off.
Manhattanville pulls off a Valiant upset
Prior to Friday’s game between the Valiants of Manhattanville (9-8-1) and the Golden Flyers of Nazareth (13-4-0) inside the “Playland Ice Casino” (I just enjoy saying the name Ice Casino if I’m being completely honest), there was a win streak of 36-straight UCHC games held by Nazareth on the line.
In this game, the scoring was scarce, the first goal not coming until late in the 1st period at the 19:43.1 mark on the powerplay by Nazareth’s Makenna Wiljanen. The 2nd period would be scoreless, and it wasn’t until early in the 3rd period when Manhattanville scored the equalizer on the powerplay (Grace Felicio, 2:28 of the 3rd). The winner would then be scored by Manhattanville’s Senior Forward Morgan Miller 3:23 into overtime. Goaltender Franny Gerardi made 39 saves for the Valiants only allowing one goal on 40 shots faced.
Manhattanville has another huge matchup as they visit #15 Connecticut College (10-7-1) tomorrow (Friday, February 3rd) who can be dangerous, depending on which team shows up that night as they’ve had their share of highs and lows this season. With that being said however, the USCHO voters & Pairwise seem to hold them in a higher regard than their record may suggest, so we’ll see what happens on Friday.
In terms of the UCHC, this Nazareth loss opens the door now for Utica who’s had an exceptional year, sitting at 13-0-1 in conference play (16-1-2 overall). The Pioneers, who are looking to win their first ever UCHC title in program history have 41 points, one point above Nazareth (40). These two teams will meet in their season finale in a two-game series in Nazareth on 2/17-18.
For Manhattanville, this was an important game as they’re looking to get the highest UCHC position possible, currently with 30 points in 3rd place, tied with Alvernia and 5 points above Chatham, but Alvernia has only played 14 games to Manhattanville & Chatham’s 16, so they can easily move back into the 3rd spot with a win. Should be interesting the rest of the way, especially the season ending series between the defending UCHC champion Nazareth and Utica.
Suffolk eying the CCC title
Suffolk’s an overlooked team that isn’t getting the credit they should. A program established in 2018 that was in the NEHC for two seasons and moved to the CCC where they’re in their 3rd year (incl. covid year of eight games). Currently the Rams sit in 1st place (13-5-1 overall, 11-1-1 in-conference) 5.5 points clear of 2nd place Endicott, both with an equal number of games played in-conference (13). This would be the first ever conference title for Suffolk, led by 5th year Head Coach Taylor Wasylk who has the Rams rolling along nicely considering how relatively new the team is.
Suffolk’s eying a CCC title, would be the first ever for the program (Photo by Suffolk University Athletics: Mike Broglio)
Most recently, Suffolk got a weekend sweep of wins vs the up-and-coming Western New England, winning 5-0 & 2-1. The weekend leaders for points were Suffolk’s Jenna Caballero (2 goals, 1 assist), Sam Molind (1 goal, 1 assist), Miranda Gaudet (1 goal, 1 assist), and Jesse Kennedy (2 assists). Goaltender Lily O’Neil recorded 27 saves in the 5-0 shutout victory, while goaltender Hannah Gordon recorded 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 victory.
Next up for Suffolk is a road game tomorrow (Friday February 3rd) vs University of New England at 7pm ET and then they host Nichols on Saturday at 4:50pm ET (I’m always curious how some of these start-times are decided).
Welcome back Cortland?
It’s been an odd season for Cortland as they made a run last season and due to their slow start this season of 4-3-0, they were written off by many and have been making a comeback. Winning 11 of their last 12 games, including an 1-0 shutout win over (current ranking) #4 Plattsburgh, their only loss in that stretch coming to #5 Hamilton who’s been on fire as of late vs top competition.
Cortland’s 15-4-0 and making a comeback after their slow start to the season (Darl Zehr Photography)
Currently in 2nd place in the NEWHL holding a record of 15-4-0 overall and 10-2-0 in-conference behind #1 Plattsburgh who’s 12-1-0 in-conference. Plattsburgh has tallied a 10-game win streak since their 1-0 loss to Cortland (first time Plattsburgh had been shutout since November 24, 2018 vs Adrian, the Bulldogs won 1-0). The NEWHL tournament should be interesting as last year the Red Dragons & Cardinals met in the final with Plattsburgh winning 4-3 in OT, scoring a quick 59 seconds into the extra period.
Cortland hits the road this weekend for a nice wintery five-hour drive to the North Country where they face #4 Plattsburgh on Friday/Saturday at 7pm/3pm ET.
Aidan McDonough has been a solid contributor this season for Northeastern (photo: Jim Pierce).
Growing up in Milton, Mass., in the figurative shadow of the TD Garden, Aidan McDonough was that rare youth hockey player from New England who didn’t necessarily dream about someday wearing a Bruins jersey.
For McDonough, it was all about the Beanpot.
“I didn’t want to play in the NHL — that’s a far-fetched dream,” said McDonough, who will take the Beanpot ice for the third time on Monday with the Northeastern men’s hockey team. “I wanted to play in the Beanpot. When Northeastern approached me, it was a great opportunity for myself, and it was a dream to play in the Beanpot. I fell in love with it right away.”
As a freshman, not only did McDonough get to realize his dream of playing in the Beanpot, he got to hoist the iconic trophy as the Huskies won their third straight title following a three-decade drought. McDonough scored a goal and two assists in the 5-2 win over Boston University.
“We’d go to The Fours, a restaurant right outside of the Garden — I think it’s closed now,” said McDonough, who currently leads all Hockey East scorers with 12 goals for an overall line of 12-12-24 in conference play. “We’d go there for a nice bite to eat, then we’d go watch a game and a half, and then we had to head home because it was a school night. I had to be in bed for school on Tuesday.”
Whether or not McDonough has an early class on Tuesday is unknown, but if he does he’ll be a little tired. The Huskies will play defending champ and No. 3 Boston University in the late game on Monday, the opening night of the 70th edition of the Beanpot. The first game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. (Eastern) puck drop and will feature Boston College and No. 8 Harvard of ECAC Hockey. The games will be broadcast on NESN.
McDonough is far from the only Massachusetts native involved in this year’s tournament. First-year BU coach Jay Pandolfo, a native of Burlington, said his team, despite winning last year, enters this year’s Beanpot as a hungry group.
“We did win the Beanpot last year, and that was great for these guys, but they want more,” said Pandolfo, who played for the Terriers for four years from 1993-96, a stretch in which BU twice won the Beanpot. “I’ve been really impressed with these guys and how they’ve brought the group together and held each other accountable. It’s been a lot of fun and has made my job easy.”
Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe, who grew up in Billerica, and won a state championship at Matignon High School in Cambridge as a player, said the rivalries are what make the Beanpot special.
“It’s for bragging rights, it’s against your rival, and all four teams have a legit chance of winning this thing. “It’s a lot of fun this time of year, and our guys get really excited for it.”
Harvard coach Ted Donato was born in Boston, which leaves first year BC coach Greg Brown as the odd man out among the four coaches, having been born in Hartford, Conn. Nevertheless, Brown’s connection to the Beanpot goes deep.
While he never won the Beanpot as a player for the Eagles from 1986 to 1990, Brown spent 14 seasons behind the bench for BC from 2004 to 2018 as an assistant on former head coach Jerry York’s staff. During that stretch, the Eagles won the Beanpot eight times, including five straight from 2010 to 2014.
Brown said the rivalries among the four competing schools are fierce but are also fortified by tremendous mutual respect.
“It’s like beating your older brother,” he said. “You still love them, but you want to beat them more than anything else in the world.”
The University of North Dakota Athletics Department mourns the loss of Travis Dunn, who passed away suddenly on Feb. 1, 2023.
He was 65.
Dunn had his fingerprints all over the North Dakota hockey program after his playing days concluded, starting as a color commentator on hockey broadcasts alongside Pat Sweeney for 12 years beginning in 1984 into the mid-1990s on WDAZ before reviving his role with Tim Hennessy on the radio beginning this season.
“He was a kind and gentle man who loved Sioux hockey and everything around it,” said Hennessy, who called Dunn’s games during his playing career at UND. “He just loved hockey at every level and will be greatly missed.”
The Winnipeg native played two seasons at North Dakota, helping the Fighting Sioux reach back-to-back NCAA Frozen Fours in 1979 and 1980 as a defenseman. After capturing a McNaughton Cup in his freshman season, Dunn and his team dropped a heartbreaker in the national title game, 4-3 to Minnesota in overtime before rebounding with a 31-8-1 season the following year to earn another WCHA regular-season crown and a trip to the national championship game.
In that infamous 1980 championship game against Northern Michigan, Dunn notched an assist on UND’s second goal of the game en route to a 5-2 victory and the third national title in program history. Following the season, Dunn inked a professional contract with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the Central Hockey League.
Over his career, Dunn finished with 13 points in 62 career games for the Sioux.
“The North Dakota hockey family is saddened to hear of the passing of Travis Dunn,” said UND coach Brad Berry. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dunn family at this time.”
Dunn spent this past season in the radio booth with Hennessy, serving as the color commentator for Fighting Hawks home games.
The Collegiate Hockey Federation (CHF) and the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) will partner to launch AAU College Hockey, a new model of collegiate hockey in the United States, the organizations announced in a joint statement Jan. 19.
The program will commence with the 2023-24 hockey season and be operated as a varsity-level sport under the AAU, representing a key part of their new Collegiate Division.
“We are excited about the launch of the AAU College Hockey program”, said AAU president J.B. (“Jo”) Mirza in a statement. “The Amateur Athletic Union strives to provide unique, quality participation for athletes of all ages. This initiative will allow student-athletes to continue to play the sport they love at a high level while also pursuing their post-secondary education.”
“The mission of the CHF since our inception has been to raise the profile of our valued student-athletes, dedicated member programs, and loyal conferences,” added Mark Purowitz, Collegiate Hockey Federation chairman. “We believe the move to AAU College Hockey and partnership with the oldest and most reputable sports organization in the country demonstrates our commitment to achieving this mission.”
Considering that less than three percent of all youth and junior players in the United States can play “traditional varsity” NCAA collegiate ice hockey for less than the 140 school programs available across Division I and Division III, the CHF and AAU have come together to create another class of varsity hockey. While Division I NCAA schools will retain the sole purview of offering athletic scholarships, AAU College Hockey will offer its participants significant options for playing a very high level of college hockey while continuing to make education their highest priority.
“AAU is extremely excited at the opportunity to help establish another level of varsity hockey for our collegiate programs that raise awareness of the talent these student-athletes have and should be recognized throughout university athletic programs, noted AAU board member and national hockey chair Keith Noll.
The Collegiate Hockey Federation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, will assume the legal and financial aspects of AAU College Hockey and continue to maintain control of its organizational structure while taking advantage of everything the AAU brings to its student-athletes as the premier governing body across 45 amateur sports and over 770,000 members.
AAU College Hockey will initially include men’s Division 2 and Division 3 levels, as well as a women’s Division, while a committee has been empaneled to plan for a projected launch of a men’s Division 1 program in the 2024-25 season. Additional plans for new events under AAU, including AAU high school Hockey recruiting showcases and AAU College Hockey invitational tournaments for schools in each of its six conferences, are under consideration.
“The needs of our members are of primary importance as we continue to grow and expand, and our players-first approach guides everything we do across the CHF,” said CHF executive director Scott Solomon. “As a ‘players first’ organization, we are constantly striving to offer our members the best experience in collegiate hockey and believe this step forward raises the recognition for our current and future student-athletes playing a high level of college hockey while gaining a first-class education.”
The new AAU College Hockey national championships will replace the Fed Cup Tournament for the first time on March 10-15, 2023, in West Chester, Pa., when 40 collegiate programs across CHF Divisions 2 and 3 will compete for national championships.
Stonehill won’t be included in calculations impacting selection for the 2023 NCAA Division I men’s hockey tournament, USCHO has learned.
The school, which is in its first season reclassifying to Division I from Division II, is ineligible for the tournament but its games against other Division I teams could have factored into the Ratings Percentage Index.
The NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee, however, was presented with the issue of whether to count Stonehill’s games in the RPI on Wednesday but chose to agree with the NCAA’s recommendation to exclude them.
The reasoning relates to part of the Division I championship by-laws, specifically:
Per Bylaw 20.10.7.1 and 20.10.7.3.1, a school in its first year of reclassification to Division I can only be considered a Division I opponent if they meet the Division I scheduling requirements.
According to the NCAA, the number of minimum games for DI Men’s Ice Hockey is 25 games. Per Bylaw 20.10.7.1 an institution shall schedule and play 100 percent of its contests against Division I opponents to meet the minimum number of contests (e.g., 25 for hockey). If that team plays more than 25 games, the institution should schedule and play 50% of its contests beyond the number (25) against DI opponents.
Stonehill is currently 14-2-2 with seven additional games currently scheduled (with one game postponed and not yet rescheduled) for a total of 25 games. Per the bylaws noted above, all 25 games currently scheduled would need to be against Division I opponents for Stonehill to be considered Division I.
The Skyhawks have played only one game against a Division I opponent — a 7-1 loss to Long Island on Oct. 8 — and have four more on the schedule. Two more of them are against LIU and two are against Lindenwood.
USCHO has adjusted the RPI and PairWise Rankings to take the committee’s decision into account.
Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger are joined by Minnesota Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin, talking this year’s Bulldogs, some early-season injuries, the 10th anniversary of the NCHC, modern video and analytics, rule changes, and the Minnesota Duluth’s weekend series with Western Michigan.
This podcast is sponsored by the NCAA Men’s Division I Frozen Four, April 6th and 8th, 2023 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Secure your seats at NCAA.com/mfrozenfour
Denver’s Carter King is chased by Colorado College’s Bryan Yoon last Friday night in the teams’ game at Ball Arena (photo: Justin Tafoya/Clarkson Creative Photography).
Last Friday’s Gold Pan rivalry game between Denver and Colorado College at Ball Arena, home of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, didn’t mark the first time that Denver had played there.
But there was a huge difference between the in-state rivals’ latest meeting and DU’s last game downtown, back in 2012.
On Oct. 7 of that year, Denver and British Columbia skated to a 2-2 tie inside what was then known as the Pepsi Center. That came in the same week that the University of Denver hosted the first United States presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
When the Pioneers returned on Friday to face their big rivals from 70 miles down Interstate 25, Denver and Colorado College drew the nation’s biggest crowd for an indoor college hockey game since February 2018. A total of 17,952 fans — nearly twice the combined capacity of DU’s Magness Arena and CC’s Robson Arena — were on hand to watch goals from Jared Wright and Connor Caponi, and 23 saves from Magnus Chrona give the de facto host Pioneers a 2-0 win in their first of four meetings this season against CC.
The teams meet again this Saturday at CC, ahead of a home-and-home series March 3-4.
The venue for Friday’s game was announced Nov. 22, and Denver athletic director Josh Berlo recalls the process being similar to events he played a part in putting together earlier in his career. During stints at Notre Dame and then Minnesota Duluth, where he was UMD’s athletic director for nine years until last summer, Berlo helped organize Shamrock Series and Icebreaker Tournament games for those respective schools.
Friday’s showcase event against CC was different, though, in part because of how quickly it came together. Berlo contacted Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which owns Ball Arena, the Avalanche and the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, before his official start date at DU, allowing time to get the ball rolling on contracts and scheduling.
“It was about 65 days between the announcement and the game, and everything moved very quickly, but the Avalanche were exceptional hosts,” Berlo said. “Colorado College was excited about the prospects, so they were flexible, and it was really a great story of everybody pulling together to make a special event happen in a short period of time.”
Many entities pitched in. The light rail system that runs by DU’’s campus doubled its train capacity so that 3,000 students could get to Ball Arena without having to drive there, and the university’s alumni association held a sold-out pregame event next door to the arena.
“Ancillary events helped elevate a game like this into another status,” Berlo said, “and I couldn’t be prouder of the DU athletic staff and how they rallied around this event. They saw the potential for it, not just for hockey and the athletic department, but for the university.”
Former DU chancellor Daniel Ritchie dropped a ceremonial puck before the game, and Logan O’Connor, a 2017 national champion with the Pioneers who went on to win the Stanley Cup last season with the Avalanche, was also honored. Content produced for the evening highlighted non-athletic aspects of the DU campus on a night made that much more memorable by the bumper crowd.
DU and CC have played to one of those before in Denver. In 2016, over 35,000 fans attended an outdoor game between the teams at Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies.
Don’t be surprised if Denver hosts another such event.
“The energy of the atmosphere on Friday was palpable, and fun to be a part of,” Berlo said. “I’ve been a part of some really cool events in my career, but this one was definitely toward the top. We plan to do this again, and I’m not going to say it’s an every-year thing, but it’s something we want to do when it makes sense. We’ve got to have some things fall into place, like the right opponents and the dates of the events, but we’ll continue to work to do these every so often. I don’t want it to be too long before the next time.
“There’s clearly an appetite for this. Colorado is such a great sports state with incredible hockey success, and we’re looking to continue to be a part of that and continue to celebrate that.”
Nicholas Niemo has been a bright spot up front this season for Bentley (photo: Maddie Schroeder/Bentley Athletics).
Bentley coach Ryan Soderquist knew that his young team would need some time to gel.
With nine freshmen in the lineup, he expected growing pains, and the Falcons’ record though the first half of the season reflected that.
At Christmas, Bentley was 5-13-0 and had taken points in two of five conference series. But since then, Soderquist’s team is a respectable 3-4-1, including a non-conference win over Northeastern, and gained points in all three league series in January. Last weekend, the Falcons split with Mercyhurst, losing 4-3 on Friday before taking Saturday’s contest 5-3.
That made the long bus ride from Erie, Pa. to Waltham, Mass., a little more tolerable.
“It’s always better to end the weekend with a win,” said Soderquist, in his 21st season at Bentley. “Lose on Saturday and the whole week stinks.”
Things have been brighter in general thanks to an improved record over the past three weeks. A contributing factor has been the line of freshmen Nicholas Niemo, Stephen Castagna, and Arlo Merrit.
“We put them together after Christmas,” said Soderquist. “They’ve found some good chemistry with each other.”
The line has scored 10 goals since. Niemo leads the team in scoring (six goals and 12 assists) and has recorded a point in seven straight games, 13 in all over that span.
Soderquist also decided to platoon goalies Nicholas Grabko and Connor Hasley. Grabko, a junior, has posted wins over Northeastern, Niagara and Mercyhurst, while Hasley, a freshman, has a win over Niagara and a shootout victory over Canisius.
This may be a temporary solution for Soderquist, who says he hopes someone wins the job down the stretch.
“I think our guys are confident in both goaltenders,” he said. “To be honest I’d prefer it if we had one guy. Both are improving – their second half has been much stronger than their first half. There could be a situation where we continue to play both, especially if both are playing well.”
Next up for the Falcons is a home series with Holy Cross, which has also seen success recently. The Crusaders, who feature former Bentley goalie Jason Grande, are 3-2-2 in the new year and coming off a split with first-place Rochester Institute of Technology.
“They’re a natural rival with our campus’ fairly close,” said Soderquist. “And they’re playing really well, fast and physical. I expect two good college hockey games.”
Under the new playoff format, the two teams at the bottom of the Atlantic Hockey standings won’t make the conference tournament. Bentley currently sits in one of those spots. The Falcons are in ninth place, trailing eighth-place Canisius by three points with eight games to go.
It’s been tough for teams to move up recently as splits have become the norm in conference play. Last weekend, Rochester Institute of Technology took four points at Holy Cross and was able to gain a point on the rest of the league because the other three conference series all ended in splits.
Soderquist says his team is focused on what it can control.
“It’s been hard to gain traction due to all the splits,” he said. “We’re focused on ourselves. We’re not looking at the standings, just trying to win each series. We’ve broken the second half into individual series and what we can do to be successful.”
PairWise watch
After Atlantic Hockey went 2-13-4 in non-conference play the first two weeks of the season, some pundits, including me, speculated that the league’s chances of getting an at-large team in the NCAA tournament were already gone.
The assumption has been that the league needs a winning percentage of at least .400 in order to bolster the PairWise Ranking of one or more of its teams to 16th or higher.
While the conference is only .363 in non-league play, RIT (18-7-1) is currently sitting at 15th in the PairWise, moving up from 18th last week due to a win and overtime loss at Holy Cross. The current RPI/PWR formula gives teams 1/3 of a win for an overtime loss, with a factor of 1.2 for a road game, so the loss wasn’t as damaging as it might seem. RIT got almost 40% of a win…from a loss.
The Tigers will need a lot of things to break their way to stay in contention, but stranger things have happened.
Lake Superior State defenseman Jacob Bengtsson helped the Lakers to a series split last weekend with Bemidji State (photo: Lake Superior State Athletics).
By most measures, it’s been a tough winter in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
A team that was predicted to be in the mix for home ice advantage and potentially competing for a CCHA title before the season started, Lake Superior State has found itself in a place it never would have expected: In the basement. At 5-21-2, it’s a far cry from the team that won a conference tournament title and made an NCAA tournament appearance just two seasons ago.
Head coach Damon Whitten said it’s the opposite of what he expected at the start of the season, and the Lakers are just now starting to figure out the best lineup combinations to help the team get better results.
“It’s been disappointing that some guys didn’t have the years we expected them to have, so we’ve made some changes,” LSSU’s ninth-year head coach said Monday. “We’ve gone a little bit younger, giving some other guys an opportunity to fill in and step up and the good positive news is that those guys are doing it and giving us a chance to compete and win.”
The Lakers won just one game in regulation during the first two months of this season (a 5-1 victory over Clarkson). Since then, more victories have come, but it’s been slow.
It wasn’t until January that things seemed to have clicked – at least a little bit – for the Lakers, as they went 2-6 last month. They were also 2-6 in December, but the performances since the calendar turned to 2023 have been much stronger.
The Lakers split with Ferris State on Jan. 13-14 before going to Mankato to be swept by the Mavericks. However, in that series they earned a point by taking MSU to overtime on Friday before losing a close game Saturday 3-1 (the final goal was an empty-netter). And this past weekend, they split with Bemidji State by a pair of 3-2 decisions (they split with the Beavers back in December, too).
Whitten said the biggest difference he is seeing in this team is defensive consistency. In January, the Lakers had a 3.23 goals-against average. In the previous three months combined, it was 3.60.
“We’ve been better in even-strength situations in particular, and just giving ourselves a chance by cutting down our goals-against average and a better attention to detail defensively,” Whitten said, noting it was a small thing, but it at least means they are more competitive. “That’s giving us a chance to stay in games and win some games, and get to overtime, things like that.”
Beyond that, Whitten said he noticed some other locker room issues were happening affecting the mood of the squad. He didn’t elaborate but said refreshing the lineup and using different line combinations has paid off on the ice.
“I think as you sort through a challenging season you become aware of some other issues or things that are going on in the locker room,” he said. “I think we’ve made some changes to the lineup that strengthened our room. Even though we have some strong leadership at the top with guys like Louis Boudon and Jacob Bengtsson – they’ve done a good job, and they’re still contributing and a big part of our group – but as we’ve made some other changes and separations, it’s partly opportunity and partly getting the right people on board in the right place.
“It’s a combination of guys taking advantage of their opportunity and also getting the right guys in the right spots.”
Two of the youngsters who have seen the most key minutes and are taking advantage have been sophomores Timo Bakos and Dawson Tritt, who each have 13 points. Bakos has a point in each of Lake State’s last four games – including a goal against Bemidji State on Friday – while Tritt scored twice in the Lakers’ win over Ferris earlier in the month.
“They’ve stepped up and done a lot of good things for us and have played in a lot of situations,” Whitten said.
Going forward, the Lakers have six more games before the CCHA playoffs begin. They are currently in eighth place with 14 points – seven points behind both Northern Michigan and St. Thomas, who are tied for sixth place. Both the Wildcats and the Tommies have two games-in-hand, but there’s some reason for optimism, as the Lakers get to face both teams head-to-head in the final month of the season. The Lakers travel to Northern Michigan this weekend, then have a bye week before hosting the Tommies in the Sault. They will end their season at Ferris State.
Considering Lake State was just seconds from sweeping Bemidji State this weekend – the Beavers scored the game-winning goal with just 17 ticks left on the clock on Friday – Whitten has a reason to feel like the Lakers can go on a run in the last month of the regular season. (The Lakers, conversely, scored their own game-winner with 13 seconds left on Saturday.)
“We’re 17 seconds away from taking six points on the weekend,” Whitten said. “It’s progress, and we’re going to take it. We’ve got to keep growing and find a way to disrupt some things, see if we can make a push to change our standings and make a push going into the playoffs.
“Is our goal to win the playoffs? Absolutely, but before that, we need to focus on winning the first five minutes on Friday night. We’re just going to focus on practice this week, find the right pieces, continue to play better, more consistent, better defensively. We need to go into Marquette and win a game on Friday night. That starts with the first 20 minutes. It’s more the few inches in front of your face that you have to worry about now.”
Penn State’s Kevin Wall (21) and Connor MacEachern (29) celebrate a recent goal against Notre Dame (photo: Craig Houtz).
Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Dan: Happy Tuesday, everyone! I don’t know if everywhere feels like Massachusetts, but I woke up this morning to spring skies and a 50-degree warmth that sent me right to the driving range with a group of trusty clubs. The good news? It felt like early March. The bad news? My mid-iron swing is as bad as ever.
Speaking of March, though, this past weekend felt like an early preview of some postseason action when a number of conference rivalries renewed their acquaintances. As things typically happen in college hockey, the chaos started there, and we open this week with Minnesota back in the No. 1 national ranking after St. Cloud pratfalled in Duluth.
Jimmy – you and I actually called this one in our weekly USCHO Edge podcast when we said Minnesota-Duluth, for reasons we couldn’t pinpoint, would beat the Huskies, straight up. The Bulldogs did better than that with their sweep, and after a weekend in which I think I picked every winner, that series really set the tone for A LOT of unpacking we really need to do around the weekend, don’t you think?
Jim: Aside from St. Cloud, the top of the poll impressed me. Minnesota handled Michigan State without a problem. Boston University swept their rival, Boston College, 6-3 and 3-1. And Quinnipiac was impressive enough to find a way to win the Connecticut Ice Tournament.
The Bobcats Saturday win in the title game over UConn was impressive, coming back from 3-2 down through two to find a game winner late in regulation.
The Connecticut Ice tournament is curious to me. Obviously it imitates the Beanpot, though is played on consecutive nights as opposed to over two weeks. But according to reports I read on social media, I felt like the spirit of the event might have been lost by what seems like a maneuver by this year’s host, Quinnipiac, which reportedly tried to keep other team’s fans out of the arena to skew the home-ice advantage. If this event hopes to become a sustainable event, you need a constant flow of fans from all of the schools to have an ability to attend, no matter the venue
In my opinion, it makes sense to move this event into a neutral site – either the XL Center in Hartford or the pro building in Bridgeport where Sacred Heart used to play – seems sensible.
What makes the Beanpot so sustainable (next Monday will be the 70th edition) is the support it’s gets from all four fan bases. The first night of the event is considered a true social event and that’s something the Connecticut Ice tournament could achieve IF tickets are easily attainable by all four fan bases
Do you have thoughts on this?
Dan: As someone who grew up in and around Boston, I realize it’s sacrilegious to say what I’m about to say, but for a number of years and a number of reasons, I always called the Beanpot the most overrated tournament of the year. I specifically remember how ECAC had to schedule around Harvard, which meant a certain number of teams couldn’t play the Crimson in February because of the travel component, and it drove me insane that people got hung up by a tournament that had been won by Boston University on an annual basis. Boston College’s rise tilted some of that, but the lack of championships surrounding Northeastern and Harvard made the tournament, to me, an overrated, nostalgic piece of an outdated era.
That was me in a younger era, but my hunt to prove my line of thinking back then got me squarely fixated on Connecticut as an alternative state for New England college hockey. I always thought the idea of a Connecticut-style Beanpot – much like the Connecticut lobster roll – was tailor made for the college hockey fan. The four teams each had their own tradition – even Sacred Heart, which played at the Milford Ice Pavilion in those days – and I felt like there was a real opportunity to showcase the state’s hockey tradition.
I had several conversations with Sacred Heart coach CJ Marottolo about the old days in and around the cities of the state, and the way he talked about the youth hockey culture made me wonder aloud if we were overlooking the state a little too much.
It felt natural that the Connecticut Ice could succeed, but you bring up a good point that, frankly, Quinnipiac should be skewered over. Tournaments are only as good as the buy-in, and if Quinnipiac wanted to make it a four-team invitational to its home building, it should have invited the teams for a travel weekend somewhere along the way. The tournament could have just been scheduled as non-conference games and not a special event because the UConn fan base deserved better than what it received, based on the reports trickling out of Hamden.
You think about what the state has to offer – Yale is one of the oldest programs in the country, Quinnipiac is a consistent powerhouse, UConn is a rising power in Hockey East, and Sacred Heart has the newest, shiniest building in college hockey. Instead of celebrating state culture, we were treated to a bunch of Quinnipiac home games. Cool.
The reason there’s even an argument over the Beanpot is because people care way too much about it. For what it’s worth, I’ve come back around on the tournament, and as someone who revisited his personal roots over the past 10 years, I’ve come to realize how much I love the neighborhood feel. The Nutmeggers deserve better.
Speaking of the Beanpot, you mentioned BU’s sweep from this past weekend and how the Terriers took six points from Boston College. I think BU is arguably the best team in the country right now, and it feels like the Beanpot is coming at a unique time for Jay Pandolfo’s first year at the helm.
Much of our attention is rightfully sent out west to Denver, Minnesota, St. Cloud and the like, but where do you stand on Pandolfo’s first year, and should we talking more and more about how we could be barreling towards the restoration of the original New England powerhouse?
Jim: Before I move past the Connecticut Ice, I want to go back to your comment. You talked about “what the state has to offer.” Well, really, it still isn’t much. None of the programs – even Yale – has some massive established blue blood tradition in college hockey. The Bulldogs won an incredible national title in 2013. Otherwise, Connecticut is still pretty much a newbie in the sport.
Don’t act like one if you want to be established. Bush League moves like keeping opposing fans out of a tournament is just stupid and childish. This event needs to be above it if it wants to succeed.
You asked about Boston University, and I’ll admit I was one of seven voters to give them my first-place vote. The Terriers have been consistent of late (eight straight wins and a 13-2-0 mark in their last 15). Goaltender Drew Commesso is suddenly playing his best hockey of the season and looks like an Olympic goaltender (interestingly his Canadian Olympic counterpart Devon Levi looks just as impressive for Northeastern). So barring any major injuries for the Terriers, I’d expect them to be the favorite heading into the Hockey East tournament.
That may be easier to pick than, say, Big Ten. Right now, it seems safe to slot Minnesota into the league’s top spot and Wisconsin in the bottom. The other five slots are open. Given that, I feel like Minnesota is an easy pick for favorite, but do you have one or two dark horses in that tournament?
Dan: First, I also voted BU as the No. 1 team in the nation for the same reasons you mention above. But to answer the burning question of the week, I did not sing “Go BU” when I did it.
As for the second question, I think a dark horse is hard to predict because it’s the team we can’t see coming. It’s too easy to look at a Penn State or a Michigan and expect a championship run, especially given the way that we’ve seen them both play this season. Michigan State is even a sexy choice in that regard because the Spartans have shown a propensity for picking off wins against teams like Penn State and Michigan.
So to go for a dark horse, I’m going to a team that I really don’t think will win the Big Ten championship: Notre Dame. Listeners to our Edge podcast know I have no love for this year’s Irish team, but that’s exactly why I think they have some potential in there. Let’s think back to a couple of weeks ago to when I said that Notre Dame felt like it couldn’t win on Friday nights. You corrected me by pointing out how the Irish were something like 4-6 on Fridays and had actually played better than it felt. So when we broke it down, it showed how the numbers were there, even if the good feels weren’t.
For that reason, I think we might see something out of Notre Dame. I think Wisconsin is better than advertised, but Notre Dame swept the Badgers and beat Penn State on a Friday two weeks ago. Few coaches are built for primetime like Jeff Jackson, so, yeah, I’d be hammering the Irish in those future bets right now.
Before we walk away this weekend, I want to throw it over to you. We’ve got about a month left. Is there a dark horse that we should be talking about in general, not just to win the league, but that could really ruin someone’s tournament chances the rest of the way? We both predicted Minnesota Duluth to win last week’s game over St. Cloud. Even if the team misses the tournament, if I’m a team angling for one of those final bubble spots in the Pairwise, which one really has to watch itself here in the last month?
Jim: Dark horses are difficult for me to predict as we all have different definitions. Are we talking about a team no one is thinking about reaching the Frozen Four (like RIT?) Are we looking for a team no one thinks can win their conference tournament (maybe Bowling Green). And are we maybe talking about a team way down the PairWise right now that can possibly win a national tournament?
I think both Harvard and Northeastern strangely each have certain components to win a national title (though both need to qualify). So if I had to look at a team that I almost guarantee will qualify and not enough people are talking about, I’m going with Penn State.
When the Nittany Lions were 50:1 to win the title, I was trying to tell friend to throw a few dollars on them as they felt like a great long shot. Now at 16:1, the value might not be there as much but if the goaltending and defense come together for Guy Gadowsky’s team, they’ll make a fun postseason run.
The Johnnies and Auggies played the first ever MIAC game at the Hockey Day in Minnesota event Friday. (Graham Miller/Saint John’s Athletics)
Cold weather. An outdoor rink. A game between two rivals in a key MIAC game under the lights in Minnesota’s Polar Lake Park.
The setting couldn’t have been any better for the Division III showdown featuring Saint John’s and Augsburg last Friday night.
The ending was even better, with Jackson Sabo of the Johnnies scoring a goal 2:16 into the overtime to lift Saint John’s to a 5-4 come-from-behind win.
The goal was his third of the year and lifted Saint John’s to a Hockey Day in Minnesota victory.
The Johnnies opened the weekend with a win over the Auggies in a Hockey Day in Minnesota game. (Graham Miller/Saint Johns Athletics)
Nick Michel had tied the game at 4-4 with 1:03 to go in regulation, forcing the OT.
Auggie Moore scored twice in the opening period for the Johnnies, who led 2-1 after those goals.
Gavin Holland, however, was equally impressive and would end his night with the first hat trick of his career. He scored twice off the power play and added a third goal in the final period to give the Auggies a 3-2 advantage.
Jack Johsnon tied the score at 3-3 before Eric Palmqvist put the Auggies back on top with under five minutes to play in the third.
It was fitting that the game played out the way it did considering it was the first MIAC game held on Hockey Day in Minnesota, which began in 2007. It was only the second ever Division III game held at the event. That game between St. Thomas and UW-Stout was played at the Xcel Energy Center in 2017.
Jack Robbel made 17 saves for Augsburg. Bailey Huber tallied 29 saves for Saint John’s.
The two teams played again on Saturday on Saturday in St. Cloud, and this time the Auggies got the win, holding on for a 6-5 victory to snap their two-game losing streak.
Jared Blackowiak scored twice and dished out three assist to place the Auggies, who improved to 10-8-1 overall and 6-4 in the MIAC. Saint John’s is now 11-8-2 overall and 7-4-1.
Blackowiak scored two of the Auggies’ final three goals. Austin Dollimer added a goal and an assist.
Samuel Vyletelka made 28 saves for his eighth win of the year.
Rob Christy and Matt DeRosa both tallied a goal and an assist for the Johnnies.
Saints still in first place
St. Scholastica earned a pair of wins against Hamline this past weekend to keep its hold on first place in the MIAC.
After winning 2-0 on Friday, the Saints edged the Pipers 4-3 on Saturday to complete the sweep. They improved to 12-5-2 overall and 9-0-1 in the conference and are four points ahead of the Johnnies in the standings. The Pipers are 9-9-1 overall and 2-8 in MIAC play.
Nathan Adrian came through with an unassisted goal in OT to give the Saints the win. Jack Boestedt made 38 saves. Kevin Lake tallied 26 saves for Hamline.
St. Scholastica led 2-1 after two periods. Brandon Bissett’s goal with 31 seconds to go in regulation helped Hamline tie the game at 3-3 and force OT. Hamline held a 41-30 edge in shots.
Cobbers are on a roll
Concordia is getting hot at just the right time. The Cobbers wrapped up their second series sweep over the weekend with a pair of 5-2 wins over St. Olaf.
Once down and out, the Cobbers have surged into the conference tourney picture, moving into fifth place and sitting just two points out of third. The Cobbers are 9-9-1 overall and 6-4 in the MIAC after beating the reigning conference tourney champs. They haven’t allowed more than two goals in any of their games during the current win streak.
On Saturday, Justin Fitzgerald made 16 saves for his fifth win of the year. Kevin Ness scored a pair of goals for the Cobbers. Lukas Haugen tallied 19 saves for the Oles, who are 11–9-1 overall and 5-7 in the MIAC. St. Olaf is in sixth place now but just one point behind the Cobbers for fifth.
Blue Devils earn split with Pointers
UW-Stout came away from the weekend with a hard-earned split over nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point.
The Blue Devils ended the weekend with a 3-1 win. The No. 10 Pointers won Friday’s game 4-1 and are still in first place in the WIAC standings with a 13-5-3 overall mark and 9-2 record in conference play. UW-Stout is 15-5-1 overall and 6-4-1 in the WIAC.
In Saturday’s showdown, the Blue Devils scored twice in the third to secure the win.
Matt Daehlside and Dylan Rallis gave the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead before Fletcher Anderson cut the advantage to 2-1. Caleb Serre finished off the scoring for UW-Stout. Tyler Masternak made 28 saves. Ryan Wagner tallied 25 for the Pointers.
On Friday, Sean Bunting scored his first career goal for the Pointers’ first goal of the game to highlight the win. Wagner made 28 saves. Dawson Green came up with 22 saves for the Blue Devils.
Ahern notches first win
It was a big night for Colin Ahren in Saturday’s game against Northland as the UW-Eau Claire goaltender notched the first victory of his college career.
He made 16 saves in a hard-fought 5-3 win against a Lumberjacks team that didn’t make things easy.
In fact, Northland (1-19-1, 1-10) scored the first goal of the game thanks to Jake Lamberty, who was sidelined last year by a battle with cancer.
The Blugolds would score the next two goals before Andrew Liwiski tied the game at 2-2 just near the midway point of the third period. Back-to-back goals by Ryan Green in a span of under five minutes put the Blugolds on top for good.
Colin Stein scored the final goal for UW-Eau Claire (14-6-1, 7-3-1), which has now won its last three games. Viktor Wennberg made 34 saves for the Lumberjacks.
The Blugolds needed OT to hold off the Lumberjacks on Friday night in a 4-3 win. Up 3-1, Taylor Ewing and Luke Harge scored a little over seven minutes apart in the third to tie the game. Quinn Green, though, would respond for the Blugolds in OT, scoring with less than a minute to play. It was his second goal of the game. He also tallied two assists.
OT is kind to the Yellowjackets this time
UW-Superior has played eight games since Dec. 2. Four have gone to overtime. In all four games, the Yellowjackets couldn’t pick up a win.
But that changed on Saturday as C.J. Walker scored 15 seconds into the extra session to lift UW-Superior to a 2-1 win.
The Yellowjackets improve to 12-7-2 overall and 7-3-1 in the WIAC. MacGregor Sinclair scored the other goal for UW-Superior. He also had an assist in the win. Charles Martin finished with two assists.
UW-River Falls is now 7-13-1 overall and 1-9-1 in the WIAC.
The Yellowjackets end a three-game winless streak on Friday with a 1-0 win over the Falcons. Martin’s power play goal in the third accounted for the only scoring of the game.
Trine Time
The Thunder faced an uphill climb in Saturday’s game against nationally ranked St. Norbert. They trailed 2-0 after one period but remained unfazed as they rallied for a 3-2 win in overtime over the Green Knights, who are currently ranked 14th in the USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll.
Brendan Prappas was the hero. He tied the game at 3-3 with less than two minutes to play to force OT and then scored the game-winner just over a minute into the extra session as the Thunder improved to 13-7-1 overall and 6-6 in the NCHA.
Trine pulled off an upset of St. Norbert on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Trine Athletics)
Goals by Michael McChesney and Mark Brendan put the Green Knights up 2-0 after one. St. Norbert got off 13 shots in the opening period. The Thunder answered with two goals in the third, including one by Drew Welsch.
Johnny Roberts made 25 saves for the Green Knights. Cristian Wong-Ramos tallied 19 for the Thunder. Wong-Ramos was tough late as St. Norbert took six shots in the final 15 seconds of play. He made two saves during that stretch and Brett Tierney came up with a huge block.
On Friday, Trine fell 4-2 to St. Norbert.
The Thunder led 2-1 before the Green Knights scored the final three goals to seal the deal. Adam Stacho’s goal with less than four minutes to play proved to be the game winner.
Sabres shine against Spartans
Marian scored three goals in the final period of play to secure a 3-1 win over nationally ranked Aurora in NCHA action.
Mason Richey scored twice and Daunte Fortner scored his sixth goal of the year as the Sabres improved to 3-2-1 this season against ranked opponents.
The Sabres are 8-11-2 overall and 5-7-2 in the conference. Aurora is 15-4-2 overall and 11-1-2 in the league. Ty Mosimann tallied three assists in the win.
Aurora won 5-4 in OT on Friday thanks to a goal by Matt Weber a little over two minutes into the extra session. The goal by Weber was his second of the game.
Fortner had tied the game at 4-4 with less than two minutes to play to force OT.
Gustavus Senior Forward Tina Press scores vs St. Catherine’s to reach the 100 career point mark (Photo by Jordan Modjeski – Gustavus Athletics)
This week in the wild west, we saw another player join the 100-point club and a massive upset in the NCHA occur. Meanwhile, a team I highlighted earlier this season is in the process of having a program-best season with their 3rd year head coach at the helm. We also take a deep dive into the USCHO poll to analyze some of the recent movements, particularly involving a specific western team.
Tina Press Joins the 100 Point Club!
Gustavus’ Senior Forward from Cottage Grove, Minnesota Tina Press reached the 100-point milestone this past weekend in the 6-1 win over St. Catherine’s. Entering the game, Press had 99 points and needed only one to reach the milestone, she decided to get three, tallying two goals and one assist to end the game with 102 career points. She becomes the 13th player in Gusties program-history to reach this mark. Tina is also now 11th on the Gustavus women’s hockey history all-time points list.
#2 Gustavus (16-2-0) visits #1 UW-River Falls Tuesday January 31st (Today) at 7:05pm CT.
Lake Forest pulls off the massive NCHA upset
This past weekend Lake Forest (9-7-3) faced #5 Adrian (17-2-0) twice in a weekend home series. Adrian shutout the Foresters 4-0 in game one, however, in game two things were different as the Foresters pulled off the huge upset winning 3-2 in overtime. In this game, the 1st period was quiet, no scoring, but things turned up from the 2nd period-on. Adrian’s Une Bjelland scored the first goal on the powerplay at 9:06 of the 2nd period, while Lake Forest would tie it quickly after at the 10:22 mark (Samantha Shoebottom) and take the lead at the 15:00 mark on the powerplay (Abby Meyer). In the 3rd, Adrian tied it up early in the period as Jessica VonRuden scored a quick 1:35 into the period. We needed overtime, and it delivered us a winning goal scored by Danielle Selby at the 2:09 mark to win it and take down #5 Adrian.
Lake Forest shocks #5 Adrian, winning 3-2 in OT (Photo by Yanna Glaspy)
Something must be in the Lake Forest water; the women’s & men’s team have both pulled off their fair share of upsets this season. On the men’s side, the Foresters (ranking was at the time of game) defeated #14 Aurora 7-0, tied #11 Aurora 3-3 & 5-5, they then tied #3 Adrian 4-4 and defeated #3 Adrian 5-3. The women added to this total with a 1-1 tie vs #14 Aurora, a 3-3 tie vs #15 St. Norbert, and now a win over #5 Adrian… Yes, I’m considering a tie an upset due to the huge difference in records. Crazy stuff going on.
An appreciation for St. Olaf
I made sure to highlight early in the season St. Olaf’s great start and how they were on pace for a program-best season. In case you forgot, during the years 2013-2020, the Ole’s had a record of 21-137-17… going winless in the 2018-2019 & 2019-2020 seasons. Well, things have changed, the Ole’s currently sit at 12-5-2 and are on an eight-game unbeaten streak. I spoke to 3rd year Head Coach Tracy Johnson earlier this year and her words have stayed true to this day considering the success story she’s leading thus far.
St. Olaf is on pace for a program-best record, currently 12-5-2 on an eight-game unbeaten streak (Photo by Hannah Robb)
Not to go off topic of St. Olaf, but I think with recent controversies such as Adrian’s 19-0 & 11-0 wins over Finlandia (0-21-0) who have a record of 39-382-13 since the established year of 2004. We need to realize that these programs aren’t completely doomed but won’t improve just because you put new heads in helmets, and you begin each season undefeated at 0-0-0. It’s about investing in the program and getting the right people at the helm. St. Olaf went 0-55-5 from 2018-2020 and just two-three years later, they’re 12-5-2. The program seemed to really make an attempt at becoming competent and even more so, a winning program. I know there are currently other great coaches that are turning around programs such as St. Norbert’s A.J. Aitken or Suffolk’s Taylor Wasylk, but Coach Tracy Johnson should be in a conversation for some sort of most improved or coach of the year conversation considering the program is now at a .684-win percentage, taking over a historically bad (outside of a few years) team.
Analysis of the recent USCHO polls
I understand everyone involved here is qualified and competent to the degree that a very good poll can be created based on the current voters’ thoughts and/or opinions. However, this week’s poll (along with some others), has me confused and I’m not sure how to comprehend some aspects of it. I’m going to keep the focus mainly on a single west team here as it’s the most concise way to explain the thought process.
UW-Eau Claire is 17-3-1, ranked #9 in the USCHO poll (Photo by Shane Opatz – UWEC Photo)
Let’s talk about UW-Eau Claire, sitting at a pretty good record most would say of 17-3-1, holding one poor loss (statistically) to Concordia (Wis.), but other than that, they’ve won all their games and only lost to #1 UW-River Falls & #13 St. Norbert, with a tie to #15 Augsburg. Most recently this past week, winning three games (two vs UW-Stevens Point, and one vs St. Scholastica). After all this, they managed to fall a spot to #9 and sit behind #8 Middlebury (10-5-2) & #7 Norwich (14-5-1). UW-Eau Claire’s SOS (strength-of-schedule) is rated 25th, not bad, not great, Norwich is 32nd, also not exactly honorable. So, I simply ask how UWEC wins three games in a week and are tied with Norwich in the previous poll at #8, but now fall a spot and Norwich rises not one, but two spots for beating a team twice with a total record of 4-16-1 (New England College)?
We now move to Middlebury who sits at #8, this past week Middlebury tied 1-1 and lost 2-1 to Connecticut College (9-7-1). I understand they’re in the NESCAC and it’s arguably the best conference in women’s hockey, but at the same time, we can’t act as if this conference is the SEC of D-III women’s hockey where the mid-tier teams are automatically better than other conference’s top teams. There’s also something to be said for beating the teams on your schedule, by this logic, you’re asking UWEC to nearly go undefeated and not lose a game, nor tie, meanwhile, we have teams getting rewarded for losing and tying nearly double the number of games as another proven team who in case you forgot, has made the NCAA tournament four times in the past five years. Coach Erik Strand is 138-51-16 (.712), it’s not as if his Blugolds are a one-hit-wonder… I understand we’re talking about 2 spots here and not 10, but the poll should have credibility and principle, I don’t enjoy seeing it lose that by the week. Just a thought.
Minnesota celebrates Matthew Knies’ OT winner Jan. 20 against Michigan (photo: Matt Krohn).
Getting 38 first-place votes this week, Minnesota moves up one spot to become the new top-ranked team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll.
Quinnipiac earned four first-place votes and moves up one spot to No. 2, while Boston University jumps up one spot to No. 3, picking up seven first-place votes, and Denver is also up one to No. 4 and garnered the last first-place vote in this week’s rankings.
Michigan moves up one to No. 6, Ohio State is up one to sit seventh, Harvard jumps up two to No. 8, Penn State falls three to No. 9, and Western Michigan falls one spot to sit 10th this week.
Two previously unranked teams are in the poll this week as Omaha is No. 19 and Notre Dame is 20th.
In addition to the top 20 teams, 10 other teams received votes.
The USCHO.com Division I Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 50 voters, including coaches and media professionals from across the country. Media outlets may republish this poll as long as USCHO.com is credited.
Katey Stone has spent 27 seasons behind Harvard’s bench (USCHO.com file photo).
In a Boston Globe report, Harvard women’s hockey coach Katey Stone is being accused of racist behavior and abusive behavior towards members of the Crimson team.
One incident in the report is how Stone allegedly berated two former players who are North Americans of Indigenous descent.
“I had learned to navigate a lot of her toxic environment,” defenseman Maryna Macdonald said in the report. “But now she was disrespecting me and my family and my heritage in front of everybody.”
According to the Globe report, Stone, now in her 27th season with Harvard, accused the players of showing her too little respect and turning into a collection of skaters “with too many chiefs and not enough Indians.”
Macdonald subsequently left the team and Sydney Daniels, an assistant coach who had captained the 2016-17 Harvard team, also left before suing Harvard for alleged racial and other forms of discrimination related to Stone and the athletic department. Harvard has until Feb. 8 to respond to the complaint.
The Globe report further states that Stone’s tirade led to a review by the university, which decided to retain her as head coach, and “triggered a backlash that continues to reverberate among former players who say Stone has emotionally damaged them, all while she has established herself as one of the most renowned coaches in the history of women’s ice hockey.”
Stone declined to comment to the Globe, as did Harvard athletic director Erin McDermott and the university.
Sixteen of Stone’s former players told the Globe they fault Harvard for keeping her on the job despite numerous complaints about her alleged abusive coaching practices, according to the Globe, while Macdonald and 2022 Ivy League rookie of the year Taze Thompson are among 14 recruited players who have left Stone’s program since 2016, including three this season.
Stone, in a letter emailed to her current team after being contacted by the Globe about this story, wrote, “This year, I have made it a priority to acknowledge and respond to direct feedback from the women in my program about my coaching style, and make a concerted effort to better support my players’ experiences.”
McDermott then forwarded Stone’s letter to hundreds of former Harvard women’s hockey players, about 45 of whom then sent the Globe a letter supporting her.
